Tang Hua had never been this speechless before.
She had always been the type who didn’t like to talk much. In the past, to minimize communication with clients, she would pretend to be a 38-year-old unemployed, creepy uncle when dealing with the shop owner of Taobao. She had always maintained a "hitman persona"—take the order, read the requirements, complete the order, and collect the payment. No unnecessary words.
Although the process was often bumpy, encountering many clients who didn’t understand the "beauty of grandeur" and who criticized her work due to their low aesthetic standards, those were all in the past. They had long been washed away by the tides of her new life.
But now, Bai Xing’s "the cat calling out the cat" attitude was really getting on her nerves—
"You’re the one who didn’t study it properly, yet you go and complain to the boss, saying it’s my fault… You’re really… asking for it."
Tang Hua looked at Bai Xing’s pitiful little expression in the group chat, and her mood soured a bit.
In her eyes, the issue Bai Xing was facing was actually very simple—it was just a matter of "not grasping the essence."
First of all, she was certain that what she had sent Bai Xing was the complete version of the succubus L2D, without any shortcuts.
After all, they were part of the same community, so Tang Hua had no reason to screw her over. On the contrary, she even had an obligation to answer Bai Xing’s most basic "technical questions."
However, that "gentle gaze" wasn’t something that could be explained in just a few words.
It was something one had to figure out on their own. It was normal not to get it right away, but blaming others for not getting it wasn’t polite.
"Hmph, back then, I had to think long and hard, under the boss’s praise, being treated to meals, being watched and loved, before I finally understood and was able to infuse that kind of emotion into my 'work'…
Now you’ve only spent a few hours, pulled an all-nighter, and you’re trying to figure out the 'mystery'? That’s way too confident."
Tang Hua couldn’t be bothered to teach her, nor did she feel like arguing in the group chat.
She just sat in her ergonomic chair, curled up, and reached out an arm to click open an old project in CSP—
【Sister Original Design】.
The full folder was named 「Boss·Novel Cover Illustration·Girl Next Door·8K」.
The suffix meant it was priced at 8,000 yuan, and the prefix indicated it was the highest-tier order, requiring her to activate 【Destiny Mode】 to complete it.
Now, Tang Hua opened it, wanting to revisit her past masterpiece.
She had a habit, and that was 「regular self-appreciation」.
—Appreciating her own beauty in the mirror, appreciating her own performance in her works, and appreciating the 「soul」 she had poured into the boss’s work.
Clearly, Tang Hua and Lu Qing shared a common trait: 【Works without emotional investment aren’t worth creating; if you’re going to do it, do it to the best of your ability.】
In this regard, Tang Hua’s approach was selective—
She would pour her soul into the boss’s work, but for small external orders, forget it. You get what you pay for; don’t expect a masterpiece for a few hundred bucks.
Lu Qing’s approach was all-in—
But only for his 「original creations」. Since it was original, he had to take responsibility for its quality, pushing his current creative limits to manifest all the beauty.
Thus, Tang Hua’s creative investment was 「limited to one person」, while Lu Qing’s creative path was one of brilliance.
They were both similar and different.
But in their attitude toward "soul," they overlapped significantly.
Looking at the slowly opening project on the screen, at the girl-next-door beauty with her arms spread, cheeks flushed, smiling seductively at the camera—
Tang Hua secretly gloated.
【The boss probably didn’t notice, right?】
【This expression—back then, I had stood in front of the mirror, opened the camera, and recorded for dozens of minutes against the backdrop of those cardboard cutouts on the wall before finally capturing the most satisfying frame, which I then repeatedly admired and used as a reference to draw the final product.】
"Fufu~"
Even though she was a big sister,
this big sister—
"is a fake."
Tang Hua laughed smugly.
She laughed so happily.
……
7 p.m.
Two hours before the broadcast.
Seeing Bai Xing’s plea for help, Lu Qing couldn’t sit still anymore.
"Senior! Where are you? I… I’m so nervous!"
The girl sent a voice message:
"I’m shaking all over… You might laugh at me for saying this, but even when I debuted on Xsoul using Hoshizuki Rina’s avatar for the first time, I wasn’t this anxious… I’m so scared… I’m scared of embarrassing you…"
It was clear that Bai Xing was in a very bad state.
The kind of bad where you’re so panicked that you’re spinning in circles, completely lost.
"This is bad…"
Lu Qing, who had been too busy to check his phone, finally realized that things might go south if this continued. He immediately took his hands off the external keyboard of his tablet, sat in the center of the sofa bed, and focused intensely, deep in thought.
"What should I do?"
He knew.
Bai Xing had tested the 「Prototype」 several times over the past few days, but she was dissatisfied with the on-camera results and had even started doubting herself.
Even though she was a seasoned streamer with a record of a thousand subs, with experience and stats that were well-rounded, she was this nervous before her debut broadcast today…
It seemed he had to step in.
"Bai Xing, tell me, what exactly is the problem?"
Lu Qing sent her a private message and waited for her response.
"It’s… it’s just this unease! I watched the demo video that Meibia sent, and I’ve been trying to mimic it all day, but I feel like… compared to her, I’m not natural enough… I can’t make the audience want to donate just by looking at me. I feel like something’s missing," Bai Xing said bluntly.
When it came to her senior and serious matters, she wouldn’t pretend to be strong.
"I see."
Lu Qing pondered her words.
From what he could gather, she was facing two main issues—
One was a lack of confidence in her earnings, worrying that she wouldn’t meet the expected standards; the other was setting too high a bar for herself, leading to anxiety and a vicious cycle.
To resolve this, it was actually quite simple.
【Find a way to turn her unease into calm.】
Once she calmed down and focused, many of her difficulties would likely resolve themselves.
"Alright,"
Lu Qing said, "Do you remember the plan I sent you earlier?"
Bai Xing: "Mhm! You said that tonight, I don’t need to speak or respond to any chat messages. I just need to make natural expressions in front of the camera.
But it’s precisely because I don’t have to do anything that I feel lost… I’m afraid I won’t meet your expectations, that I won’t bring out the full value of the avatar!"
Lu Qing immediately understood.
Bai Xing’s original streams were a mix of voice acting, singing, chatting, cuteness, and various show effects, with the entire script written by her agency’s staff and assistants to guide her. She just had to follow along.
In other words, while Xsoul restricted her speech, it also provided her with a fixed route, lowering the difficulty of streaming.
Now, he was asking her to "not speak, just naturally perform," focusing on 「companionship」. For her debut, she didn’t need to speak at all.
This instantly raised the difficulty to "no right answer," relying entirely on her personal aura and ability to improvise.
One misstep, and she could face a barrage of hate from antis.
Lu Qing had already grasped the core issue Bai Xing was facing.
He quickly reassured her: "Don’t worry, even for your debut, I won’t demand that you hit a certain number of subs or earnings. Just follow our theme and express 「companionship」 in your own way.
Stay calm, go with the flow, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, and don’t feel like you have to imitate Tang Hua.
After all, she’s an artist, so it’s natural that she has a deeper understanding of the avatar. So, I want you to calm down and relax."
"Wuwu… Senior, I know that’s the right way to think, but I… I really can’t do it!"
Bai Xing was on the verge of tears, pleading in her voice message:
"Senior, I’m so scared, I don’t want to embarrass you. I don’t know how to calm down… I… I don’t want to waste your money… Wuwu…"
"…"
This was bad.
The more he tried to comfort her, the worse it got.
She was already crying.
It was clear that her stress was genuine, not an act.
Lu Qing scratched his head, feeling the situation was getting out of hand.
He thought hard,
I couldn’t think of a good solution.
Suddenly,
a voice sounded from behind:
“On such an important day, why don’t you go and spend time with her?”
“!”
Lu Qing thought he was hearing things, his pupils froze for a moment, and he was stunned for a few seconds.
But then he realized the familiar voice was even closer to his ear—
“What I mean is, since it’s just a door away, why don’t you go straight to her place, sit by her side, and comfort her up close? Only then will Bai Xing truly feel at ease and focus on helping you, right?”
“!?”
……
……