ACIFITFDB – Chapter 11

Chapter 11: With My Looks, Shouldn’t I Be an Influencer…

To get to Fanggu Village, one needed to take a three-hour long-distance bus to C City, and then transfer to a town within that prefecture-level city.

From the town to the village, there was a shuttle bus that ran only twice a day.

The old shuttle bus swayed precariously, its air conditioning mostly broken. Fortunately, it was spring, so it wasn’t stiflingly hot enough to cause heatstroke.

A faint sour smell wafted through the cabin, and the seat cushions had long since lost their original color.

Yet, in this environment, Qin Xian slept soundly.

Or rather, he had slept through the entire journey, seizing every moment to recover his energy.

“Hey, fellow villager, do you know where to get off for Fanggu Village?”

“This bus’s second to last stop is it. There’s a road sign next to it, you can see it yourself.”

“Thanks, brother.”

Hearing the keywords, Qin Xian opened his eyes and took a look. In front of him sat a burly middle-aged man with dark skin on the back of his head and hair shaved down to a short stubble.

This person was also going to Fanggu Village; Qin Xian wondered what for.

Qin Xian closed his eyes again. When he heard the driver call out the name of Fanggu Village in his broken Mandarin, he picked up his heavy backpack and got off the bus.

In the spring, the green of the mountains was interspersed with a bit of yellow from the unrecovered withered grass. Crisp bird calls echoed from the woods. The sun was setting, and wisps of smoke curled up from farmhouses in the distance.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a peaceful rural scene. This kind of place was quite suitable for raising dogs; there was plenty of space, no need for walks. He wondered how the new member of the family was doing. He had already explained everything in detail to Lin Qizhi, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.

Qin Xian shifted the weight of his backpack and started walking forward.

“Hey, little brother.”

The man who had also gotten off the bus called out to him.

Qin Xian turned around, standing there silently, waiting for the other to speak.

The man scrutinized Qin Xian. His gaze was frank and not at all off-putting.

“Little brother, my surname is Huang. I’m here to visit relatives. Are you a local?”

Qin Xian shook his head.

The other person chuckled, “You don’t seem like one either. Are you here for… tourism? Sketching?”

Qin Xian replied, “Sorry, I don’t like to talk too much with strangers.”

The man awkwardly scratched his head. Seeing Qin Xian turn and walk away, he still rushed forward, persistently striking up a conversation, “Hey, actually, I’m not here to visit relatives. I know someone here who earned over a million in two months streaming! I’m here to learn from him. I heard that many influencers and streamers in Fanggu Village make a lot of money.”

Qin Xian ignored him, walking forward silently.

The man continued, “It’s great, I want to be an influencer and make money too. Hey, little brother, don’t ignore me. The road is still at least a ten to twenty-minute walk. I can’t stand being idle, I just want to talk to someone. What’s your name, little brother?”

“Qin,” Qin Xian finally offered a single word.

The man was overjoyed, “Hello, little brother Qin! Is it okay for me to call you that? I’m a bit older than you, you can call me Brother Huang. Of course, you can also call me by my name, I’m Huang Quxie.”

Qin Xian casually responded, “Oh, okay.”

Then, he fell silent again, looking around as he walked ahead with his head down.

Huang Quxie scratched his head, still eagerly trying to engage, “Little brother Qin, you’re from the city, right? Are you also interested in streaming?”

Qin Xian turned his head, “So what if I am? So what if I’m not? You keep asking me this, what are you trying to say?”

Huang Quxie’s expression became a little more serious, “If you’re interested in streaming, it’s better not to. ”

Qin Xian asked, “Do you want fewer people to share the pie?”

“No,” Huang Quxie quickly denied. “I heard that there are some illegal activities in this village, and some streams are not very legal. Of course, I’m not afraid. I’m an ex-convict myself and can’t find any good jobs. You look like you just graduated from college. You’re also good-looking. Going to a place like this mountain village is even riskier. It’s better to find a proper job.”

After listening, Qin Xian lifted his head and smiled.

This was the first time Huang Quxie had seen him smile, and he was stunned.

Qin Xian moved the braid hanging from his shoulder to his back, revealing his fair side neck, and smiled in a way that made eyes go wide.

He parted his lips slightly, “With my looks, wouldn’t it be a shame not to be an influencer?”

His appearance was indeed striking. Even with a poker face, he had a dangerous and eye-catching aura, and he was even more so when he smiled.

Huang Quxie: “…It’s not illegal. You can start a stream and just sit there, and people will send you money without you even speaking. Then you wouldn’t even need to come to this mountain village!”

Qin Xian’s expression returned to being emotionless, “It’s none of your business, you’re really nosy.”

Huang Quxie: “…”

This appearance was indeed infuriating. Huang Quxie could only grit his teeth and sigh, giving Qin Xian a look of disappointment before falling silent and following him.

Fanggu Village wasn’t particularly remote. The cement roads were well-paved, and electricity, water, and internet were all connected. Some houses along the road had already built small villas.

As soon as they entered the village, Qin Xian saw someone streaming.

A villager was making exaggerated faces in their yard, using a delicate hand gesture to touch their chest repeatedly, their movements quite disgusting.

“Thank you, brothers, for the gifts. Ah Hua has money to buy good food for Mama today!”

The voice, speaking in a nasally tone, was clearly a man’s. But he was wearing a dress and had messy makeup on his face.

Huang Quxie pointed to the villager and said, “See? With powerful beauty filters now, even people like this can pretend to be beautiful and trick people into giving donations. With beauty filters, everyone is a handsome man or a beautiful woman. You don’t have a sweet tongue and you don’t like to talk. It’s best to go back and do proper business.”

Qin Xian hadn’t expected him to be so persistent in trying to dissuade him. He retorted, “Are you cursing me so I can’t make money? You should worry about yourself more; there are even fewer people who like your type of persona.”

Huang Quxie: “…”

This time, he completely fell silent, possibly successfully attacked by Qin Xian.

There were quite a few people streaming in this small village. Passing by several households, they were all streaming. Even from a distance, one could hear villagers interacting with netizens.

“Wuwuwuwu! Thank you, all my family members! You guys are amazing. Yesterday, our family was worried about unsold fruits, and today more than half of them have been sold! You are all my reborn parents! Hey, new family members can also take a look. These juicy peaches are homegrown. Where else can you buy them for 29.9 yuan!”

From more than ten meters away, Qin Xian watched as the fruit-selling villager crushed a peach in their hand, the juice overflowing and looking delicious.

But along the way, he hadn’t seen anyone planting peaches.

Qin Xian and Huang Quxie continued forward. A young man holding a phone looked at them, then ran over with his phone raised.

“Hey brothers, hmm!” The young man yelped, holding his phone up and bringing it close to Qin Xian, then continued speaking loudly into the phone, “Originally, I planned to show you guys the cages I set in the river last night. But now there’s something more interesting. Our village has actually attracted a handsome guy!”

The phone screen was almost pressed against his face. Qin Xian recoiled in displeasure.

The young man’s attention was mostly on the live stream. Seeing this, he chased and adjusted the angle to show Qin Xian’s face. As a result, when their faces were in the same frame, a comical scene unfolded.

Because the young man had maxed out his beauty filters, with functions like face slimming, eye enlargement, skin smoothing, and whitening, even though he looked sallow and his mouth protruded in reality, on the phone screen, he appeared to be a handsome young man.

But Qin Xian was different. His already handsome face, after being excessively reshaped by the beauty filters, had a jawline sharper than a shoe, eyes bigger than a frog’s, and skin as white as paper.

The live stream immediately displayed comments: [Holy crap, did your village discover an alien!?] [So funny, how much beauty filter did the streamer turn on?] [As expected, another fake handsome guy. I’m really curious what an ugly face you actually have.]

The young man’s face darkened. He muttered that the signal wasn’t good and quickly ended the live stream.

He thought he had found good content, but it backfired and he would definitely lose a lot of fans.

The young man glared at Qin Xian’s face with displeasure and said in a very quiet voice, “I really want to peel your face off.”

Qin Xian asked, “What?”

The young man snorted, “Nothing. Who are you? You look like someone from the city, what are you doing here?”

Qin Xian, without anyone noticing, took out a box of facial cream and said to him, “I sell cosmetics. I know your village is very good at streaming, and I want to find someone to talk business with.”

Although the young man was a bit suspicious, his attitude improved. “Talk business? This is the first time I’ve seen someone come in person. Who do you want to talk to?”

Qin Xian countered, “I contacted someone before, but now I see many people in your village doing this. You’re also a big streamer, aren’t you? You have quite a lot of fans.”

Flattered by the term “big streamer,” the young man’s expression softened again. “Ah, my fan count doesn’t even rank in our village. So, are you looking for the one with the most fans?”

“Yes, since I’m here, I naturally want to choose the best. Can you help me find the way?”

The young man instinctively glanced towards the depths of the village, but immediately showed a look of resistance.

“Go further inside, there are a few houses that are really good at selling. You can go and see for yourself. I still need to find a way to explain to my fans. Tsk, it’s all your fault… #&”

As he spoke, his venomous complaints gradually became too quiet to hear. After all, it was his own recklessness. Even if he found trouble with this outsider, the lost fans wouldn’t come back.

Besides…

The young man glanced at the sturdy Huang Quxie beside him and shut up, walking away.

City people are city people, they even bring bodyguards when they come.

Huang Quxie had no idea he was mistaken for a bodyguard. He caught up with Qin Xian and said, “Now you’re saying you’re here to talk business?”

Qin Xian didn’t reply, heading directly into the village for another three hundred meters or so. The houses in this area clearly increased, but what was special was that at a glance, seven or eight of them were newly built villas, looking particularly grand.

Soon, a middle-aged woman ran out of a house.

Seeing Qin Xian, she greeted him enthusiastically, “Oh? Little Yang from outside said a big boss is coming to talk business? What’s the boss’s name?”

Qin Xian was direct, “Sorry, rather than talking business, I’m more interested in learning from you.”

The woman’s expression immediately changed, her eyes rolling upwards. “Tch, another one.”

But soon, her eyes rolled back. She sized up Qin Xian and said, “However, you might actually be suited for this. Come on, you can join my sales stream.”

Author’s Note:

———————-

At this moment, Qin Tangyuan at home: Dissatisfied with tearing clothes!

This novel will not feature the protagonist becoming an influencer [weak player]. It will only appear in this small instance.

A friend on Weibo asked if I could add more updates. In that case, I hope everyone will collect it more! After entering VIP, I will update 6,000 characters daily for two to three weeks. Anything longer is not feasible as it would consume too much of my manuscript. I get anxious when my manuscript drops below thirty chapters because I am not a full-time author and have a lot of other work to do. [Pitiful]