Chapter 156: Popularity Brings Trouble

Although the October revenue had broken through the one-million mark, with the majority coming from commercial partnerships and video earnings accounting for less than a third, Bai Rinzong was already quite satisfied.

This meant that their studio's public fund was now close to two hundred thousand, allowing them to visit more places in the future, even exploring shops in other provinces or overseas.

Moreover, the crucial point was that they finally had extra money to hire a legal advisor for the studio.

Recently, as Bai Rinzong's popularity soared, video piracy had become increasingly rampant. They had to find a way to curb the arrogance of these people.

"I will add some translucent watermarks to the videos soon," He Guang replied, "marking them with 'Old Bai from D-Station' to prevent those people from stealing them wholesale."

"Or, should we try publishing across all platforms?" Wang Bei tentatively asked, "Anyway, D-Station doesn't restrict it. We can manually post everywhere, although the earnings on other platforms might not be much."

"There's no need for that," Bai Rinzong shook his head. "Most video thieves are self-media creators, which has nothing to do with the platform. Only by taking legal action, making an example of a few self-media creators who enjoy stealing the most to warn the others, can we curb this trend."

"I'm just afraid it's a drop in the bucket..." Han Jiayi muttered. "After all, the laws in this area are still imperfect."

"Oh, come on now!" Li Mohan chimed in at this moment. "Let's not talk about such a mood killer. Let's eat, time to eat!"

"Speaking of which, a lot of copycats imitating Old Bai have appeared recently," Wang Bei smiled as she replied. "There are quite a few imitators, but none of them are as popular as Old Bai."

"Oh, I know," Bai Rinzong sneered. "That Gourmet Roaring Bro, right?"

"There's one in the gaming category too, what's his name..." Wang Bei thought for a moment and said, "Game Inquisitor Ah Yu. Anyway, both of these guys are imitating Old Bai, reviewing food and games, but they ended up getting flamed to death."

"Because..." Bai Rinzong thought for a moment, then pointed to the mantis shrimp in front of him. "Let's use this Typhoon Shelter mantis shrimp as an example."

With that, Bai Rinzong said solemnly, "This bowl of Typhoon Shelter mantis shrimp, after being cooked, is marinated with ginger and cooking wine, coated in starch, and deep-fried. The shell is fried until crispy and delicious, while the meat inside is plump and juicy, rich in garlic flavor and full of salt-and-pepper seasoning. However, the overpowering salt-and-pepper and garlic flavors mask the inherent freshness of the mantis shrimp itself, and it's a bit greasy, making it more suitable as a snack with alcohol."

Having said that, Bai Rinzong looked at Wang Bei. "This is called a review—expressing both the advantages and disadvantages objectively."

Wang Bei and Han Jiayi nodded.

Bai Rinzong changed his tone and posture, saying indignantly, "These salt-and-pepper mantis shrimp have way too many side ingredients! When you eat them, all you taste is garlic and salt and pepper; you can't taste the flavor of the mantis shrimp at all! It's sheer garbage!"

After saying this, Bai Rinzong's expression returned to calm as he turned to Wang Bei. "This is called a hater—ignoring the merits of the dish and tearing it down to worthlessness. Compared to a proper evaluation, this kind of person is mostly just venting their emotions. That Gourmet Roaring Bro is precisely this type. Even though the dish itself has bright spots, he stubbornly fixates only on the flaws, so of course he gets called out by people who like this restaurant."

"Hey, it really seems that way..." Wang Bei mused. "Then what about Game Inquisitor Ah Yu?"

Bai Rinzong pointed to an empty cup on the side, then pretended to speak with simulated anger, "Of course you have to drink alcohol with Typhoon Shelter mantis shrimp! How can you eat it without drinks?! What an amateur, and he calls himself a chef? He should just quit right now!"

Bai Rinzong turned back to Wang Bei. "This is called a nitpicker. He understands nothing about the dish, failing to hit the key points of the critique, but just to show off, he stubbornly and frantically picks on some insignificant elements in the areas he happens to understand."

"Ah, exactly, exactly! That Game Inquisitor is really like that!" Wang Bei laughed. "Every time, he goes on a rant about how unnatural the scene modeling in the game is, or how cliché the game plot is... But as long as the game is fun, that's enough. Why talk about whether a game is scientific or not? Can taking medicine to restore health ever be scientific?"

"Therefore, an objective and neutral review is not that simple either," Bai Rinzong replied.

Only then did Li Mohan smile and ask, "Then, do you think this dish cooked by your sister-in-law is unpalatable?"

"No, no! It's delicious! It's especially great for pairing with drinks!" Bai Rinzong quickly explained, then turned to urge Han Jiayi, "Mumu, pour me another glass of beer! I'll propose a toast to Old He and Sister-in-law!"

"O-okay..." Han Jiayi replied, desperately holding back her laughter as she poured him another glass.

"Come, come, Old He," Bai Rinzong said, raising a toast to He Guang.

"You don't have to force yourself to drink," He Guang said, lifting the cup with both hands to clink it against his. He then lifted it to his mouth with great effort, took a sip, slowly lowered it, and almost knocked the cup over, but managed to steady it in the end.

Everyone pretended not to notice this. Han Jiayi silently kicked Bai Rinzong under the table, shooting him a look that seemed to say, "This is all your fault." Bai Rinzong tossed back a look that meant, "My bad," and turned to Li Mohan. "Sister-in-law, a toast to you too. Next time, teach Jiayi how to make Typhoon Shelter dishes as well."

"Hey, if you want to eat them, just come over to your sister-in-law's place. No need to trouble your sister-in-law-to-be," Li Mohan smiled, patting her daughter's head. "Yueyue really likes it when you guys come over too; she's always quite happy every time."

"Because I told my dad that I'm with the studio of a very famous up-master on D-Station, and then all my classmates were so envious," the little girl smiled. "Uncle Bai, can I take a picture with you?"

"Oh, sure," Bai Rinzong replied somewhat sheepishly. "Let's wait until after dinner."

After dinner, the three of them prepared to leave, and Li Mohan came out to see them off before their departure.

"Thank you for visiting so often; Old He has become much more cheerful now," Li Mohan whispered with a smile. "In the past, he used to lock himself in his room all day long, not speaking a word to anyone, and occasionally when he did speak, it was just to argue. Now, during his work breaks, he frequently comes out to chat with me and the kids. This is all thanks to you guys. You must come and hang out more often in the future, okay?"

"Yeah," Bai Rinzong nodded.

Han Jiayi happily hugged his arm. "We will!"

Getting into the car, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

"Seeing their family getting better, it really feels wonderful," Wang Bei said with a smile.

"Yeah, but... how should I put it," Han Jiayi sighed helplessly. "Knowing that his physical condition is only going to get worse makes my heart feel so heavy... After all, this illness is terminal."

"Let's be optimistic," Bai Rinzong patted her little head. "Perhaps in the next few years, there will be tremendous advancements in medicine that can solve this problem? We have to live on with hope."

"Yeah..." Han Jiayi nodded, then looked up at him. "Are you still live-streaming tonight?"

"Streaming, anyway we have time," Bai Rinzong checked the time and said, before Han Jiayi could feel sorry for him, he added, "But I'll tell the audience in advance that I won't stream tomorrow, and I'll spend the whole day properly with you. Sound good? Do you want to go out on a date? We can go catch a movie, stroll around the streets, buy you some clothes or shoes, and then..."

"No, I want to cling to you at home," Han Jiayi shook her head hastily. "It's rare to have a day off, so I want to relax at home."

"Ahem," at this moment, Wang Bei cleared her throat to remind the two of them that she was still in the car and was driving.

Only then did Han Jiayi snap back to reality and quiet down, but she reached out and grabbed his palm, their fingers interlacing.

After the two returned home, Bai Rinzong started his live stream, while Han Jiayi lay on his bed planning what they should do tomorrow.

"I'll go down to the restaurant in the morning to give instructions for the day's tasks, then come back at noon to cook for you, and in the afternoon..." Han Jiayi lay across his pillow, dangling her pretty legs as she talked to herself.

As for Bai Rinzong, he played a maintenance match of League of Legends, but this game left him extremely frustrated.

His mid-laner's lane exploded right at the start, so Bai Rinzong couldn't be bothered to help him either. He also stopped his support from going mid, and instead called his top-laner to teleport bot for a four-man dive. After establishing a massive advantage for his own bot lane, he and the support invaded the enemy's lower jungle to expand his own advantage as well.

At this point, the game state was looking fantastic. However, the mid-laner threw a tantrum, directly blaming Bai Rinzong in the chat box for not coming to help him.

"See that? One of the league's baffling operations: getting solo-killed in lane and blaming the jungler," Bai Rinzong sneered, then said sarcastically, "Why didn't you come help me? If you came to help me, would I have gotten solo-killed?! It's all your fault!"

Bullet comments: "Your mid-laner is Clownfish." "He's Clownfish, and he's live-streaming too."

"Clownfish?!" Bai Rinzong frowned and asked. "That streamer-turned-pro jungler? Diamond IV? His rank is even lower than mine?"

Although Bai Rinzong didn't watch many live streams, he knew of Clownfish because this guy was too famous.

From Season 4 to Season 5, the opponent relied on the champion Shaco in the jungle position to climb into the top ten of the Chinese server. However, being too old to play professionally, he could only transition to becoming a streamer. After becoming a streamer, he switched to playing mid-lane Fizz, hence earning the nickname Clownfish.

To be honest, Clownfish's streaming career wasn't very smooth because, despite his good skills, his broadcast performance lacked entertainment value. Thus, he eventually degenerated into one of those internet-violence beneficiaries who disgusted audiences to farm bullet comments and then took ads for quick dirty money.

Yet even using this method, the guy had only around a million popularity after streaming for two or three years, whereas Bai Rinzong had already hit over nine hundred thousand popularity within a single month of streaming.

Bullet comments: "It really is him, I just went and checked." "Indeed, right now he's brutally roasting you in his stream." "Can you忍 (endure) this? Brothers, go raid him!"

"Sigh, forget it," Bai Rinzong frowned. "I'm not a League of Legends streamer; I'm just playing this one match. Let's just play properly, and don't go stirring up trouble in his streaming room, or don't blame me if you get banned."

Following that, this game became utterly ugly. Because Bai Rinzong didn't go to help Clownfish, the guy simply began intentionally feeding kills, refused to group with teammates for team fights, and played a single-player game the entire time.

The most ironic part, however, was that in the end, Bai Rinzong and the other three teammates actually carried Clownfish to a win because the enemy's bot-lane duo also ended up fighting with their teammates!

"Sigh, the environment in the Summit of the Canyon is just about who can play worse," Bai Rinzong rolled his eyes after winning the game.

Bullet comments: "Clownfish is brutally roasting you in his stream, saying you incited your fans to flame him in his chat." "I just tried to explain two sentences for you and got banned." "He said you should queue into him next match, and he'll beat you so hard your mom won't recognize you."

"Sigh, whatever," Bai Rinzong waved his hand. Originally, he didn't want to play anymore since he was just playing a maintenance match anyway, but on second thought, he queued up for another game.

And remarkably, Clownfish actually ended up on the opposing team in the very next match!

"This fellow is sniping my queue," Bai Rinzong chuckled mockingly. "Fine, then let's play a proper match."

The Summit of the Canyon only had so many players, so the next match basically consisted of the previous game's teammates and opponents. Bai Rinzong was matched with the opposing team's top-laner from the last game, the mid-laner who had utterly crushed Clownfish, and his own bot-lane duo from the previous match.

Three minutes into the game, Clownfish came into the jungle to cause trouble for Bai Rinzong. Anticipating this, Bai Rinzong had communicated with his teammates in advance, teamed up with his mid-laner to kill Clownfish, and then went to gank Clownfish's lane, establishing a massive advantage for his own mid-laner.

After that, there was nothing much left for him to do. His mid-laner not only treated Clownfish like a pig to be slaughtered in lane, but also roamed bot and teleported top, single-handedly carrying the entire game.

Bai Rinzong did nothing at all; he just farmed the jungle and won. The game ended in eighteen minutes.

At this moment, the bullet comments uniformly flashed a single phrase: "Mid diff."

Although Bai Rinzong couldn't say it out loud, in his heart he only wanted to express one feeling: satisfying.

When the game settlement screen appeared, Bai Rinzong saw Clownfish furiously arguing with his teammates in the chat box. All four teammates were flaming him, the viewers in the streaming room were flaming him, and Clownfish was practically bursting with rage, hurling filthy curses and greeting the mothers of the bullet comments.

For a League of Legends player, there was nothing more therapeutic than this moment. At that time, Bai Rinzong swept all his worries to the back of his mind and let out a hearty laugh.

Bullet comments: "Laughing like a pig." "Schadenfreude much?" "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, I just thought of having such a pretty girlfriend, I'm happy," Bai Rinzong laughed and said.

"Huh?" Han Jiayi raised her head curiously from the bed, looking at him. "Are you calling me, Old Bai?"

"I'm telling the bullet comments that you're cute," Bai Rinzong placated her with a smile.

If there was anything happier than utterly destroying your idiot teammate from the previous game, it was running away immediately after crushing them without giving the opponent any chance for revenge.

Therefore, Bai Rinzong nodded with satisfied smiles and said, "Alright, let's end the League of Legends session here for today and play something else."

Bullet comments: "Just running away after winning, smooth operation." "Too treacherous, but I love it."

"You guys better not go cursing and stirring up trouble in his streaming room, let me emphasize that again," Bai Rinzong said, suppressing his smile.

Bullet comments: "Implicitly meaning that laughing it off right here in this stream is enough."

"Hey, Xiaobei, mute the person who sent this bullet comment for one minute as an example to others," Bai Rinzong pointed at the bullet comment and instructed. "By the way, let everyone know, I'm taking a day off tomorrow. I've been streaming continuously for a month, time to accompany Jiayi."

Bullet comments: "Request denied!"

At this point, Han Jiayi leaned over in front of the camera and smiled, "The viewers in our stream are both handsome and generous; they'll definitely agree. Right, chat?"

Bullet comments: "Granted."