Chapter Twenty-Two: The Story of Liangliang and Langlang

So what if it ruins childhood memories? After all, Luo Chen’s childhood had long since been thoroughly destroyed. In fact, perhaps it wasn’t just his childhood that was ruined.

Now, whenever Luo Chen saw the Chancellor Wang from Three Kingdoms, he couldn’t help but laugh; when he saw Jackie Chan, he thought of shampoo commercials; when he saw Lan Xiang, he immediately thought of “which school is the best for excavator training?” And yet, no one else in reality seemed to share these associations with him—how could that be right? The shadow of absurdity should cover the entire world! So, let it begin with the story of Liangliang and Langlang.

“Boss, another Häagen-Dazs, please!”

“Tianyi, aren’t two servings enough?” Luo Chen snapped back to himself and reflexively refused, but it was already too late. In front of Luo Tianyi sat a neat row of seven empty cups—she was currently locked in battle with the eighth.

How much money was this going to cost?

“No more, alright? This is the last one.” When the shop owner brought over another Häagen-Dazs, Luo Chen couldn’t bear to send it back, though the owner probably wouldn’t have wanted to either.

“The bill, please.”

“That’ll be 540 yuan, card or cash?”

The Häagen-Dazs owner looked at Luo Chen with open admiration—a real man, willing to spend so much on his girlfriend.

Luo Chen read the thought in the owner’s gaze and sighed. If only she were his girlfriend. Sadly, this was his sister—his actual, blood-related sister—and there was no hope of ever recouping the expense.

“Card,” he said, swiping with a heavy heart. Then, he dragged his still-eager-to-eat sister away—any longer, and he’d have to stay and work off the debt.

By the time they’d idled the day away and returned home, it was nearly seven o’clock. Streetlights along the road had long since flickered on, and dusk was settling in. After changing into slippers at the door, Luo Chen was greeted by a pile of audio equipment on the floor and Yanhe, standing quietly to the side, waiting for him.

“Yanhe, didn’t you go home? How come—?”

Luo Chen glanced at the equipment with confusion. Yanhe had just gone home earlier today, hadn’t she?

“I just went back to report in, that’s all.” Yanhe smiled warmly at Luo Chen.

“To report in…”

Luo Chen was at a loss for words when it came to that brawny man named Yan. How could he be so at ease, letting his daughter stay at someone else’s house?

“So what’s all this equipment for?”

Seeing that Yanhe had no intention of leaving tonight, Luo Chen turned his attention to the pile of audio gear. Was her earlier departure just to buy all this?

“Of course it’s useful!” Before Yanhe could answer, Luo Tianyi stepped forward, hugging a large speaker, and made for her room.

“At least tell me what all this is for?” Luo Chen took the speaker from her arms and carried it into the room to help.

“Tianyi’s planning to—”

“Don’t say it!” Luo Tianyi glared, cheeks puffed, at Yanhe, who was on the verge of spilling the secret.

Yanhe raised her hands in surrender to show she wasn’t trying to keep anything from him.

“It’s for music, right?” Luo Chen looked over the equipment. What else could it be for?

“Hey, how did you know?” Luo Tianyi looked at her brother in puzzlement, then followed his gaze to the floor.

“Ah! Out! Get out!” Face flushing red, she pushed her brother out of the room in embarrassment.

After locking the door, Luo Tianyi dove onto her bed, pulled the blanket over her head, and rolled back and forth across the mattress.

“Is it really necessary to keep it from Luo Chen? Wouldn’t it be better if he knew?” Yanhe watched Luo Chen leave and spoke to the girl trying to play ostrich under her blanket.

“Of course it’s necessary! What if no one wants to watch my video? Then I’ll just embarrass myself in front of Luo Chen!”

Tianyi poked her head out from under the covers and looked straight at Yanhe.

She’d planned to show her brother only after the video became a hit, as proof she wasn’t just a glutton—at least, not entirely. But if it flopped, she’d quietly stash it away. Who could have known such a perfect plan would be exposed by Yanhe?

Yanhe could only smile wryly. Who was it, just days ago, who brimmed with confidence? Besides, dignity was long gone by now.

“Yanhe, shouldn’t we tweak the lyrics a bit?” Luo Tianyi picked up her draft, troubled. Lyrics she’d once been happy with now seemed bland and uninspired.

“Actually, it’s already very good,” Yanhe said gently, trying to reassure her anxious friend.

But really, how much did this girl care about her brother’s opinion?

Outside the door, Luo Chen stood alone, inexplicably feeling as if his little sister was being lured away by someone else. He sighed helplessly, then returned to his small room. Sitting down, he booted up his computer, logged into his Stardust platform profile, and opened up his latest work to check on its stats.

How to Make Children Fall in Love with Studying?
6.91 million plays
820,000 favorites
25,400 live comments
2,163 tips
2,721 current viewers

After less than a day’s recommendation on Stardust’s front page—not even the most prominent spot—his clicks had jumped by more than 400,000. As expected of the largest streaming platform in the country.

At this rate, he’d break a million views by tomorrow morning.

He’d also noticed that plenty of copycats had begun releasing similar content, hoping to ride the wave.

Time to prepare the next project.

Though waiting until the current video’s popularity waned before uploading the next one would maximize returns, Luo Chen was not one to procrastinate once he’d made up his mind.

After logging out of the website, Luo Chen typed “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” into the Qiandu search engine and opened episode 69.

The plot and characters were all so familiar, yet the feeling was completely different. What had once been a classic now seemed like a goldmine for absurdity: Zhuge Liang and Wang Lang, Wang Lang and the Commander, the Commander and Jiang Wei, Jiang Wei and Zhuge Liang—almost every line was a punchline.

No wonder this theme had exploded in his previous life, dominating the absurdist video section for so long, even threatening to overtake the music meme charts. Luo Chen had seen more than a dozen versions back then, and all the funniest moments were etched into his memory—he could now laugh just by watching the original.

After downloading the video, Luo Chen set to work, aiming to recreate the scenes from his memory and combine the highlights of various works into a masterpiece of his own. He edited, arranged, and spliced footage, working tirelessly late into the night before finally finishing.

Once done, Luo Chen solemnly opened the absurdist video he’d poured so much energy into, nodded in satisfaction, and felt that his skills had noticeably improved—this time was much easier than the last.

After confirming there were no errors, he uploaded the video and published it for the world to see.