Chapter 53: The Cross-Dressing Game Streamer is Actually… (5)
The original owner’s laolao‘s hospital was also in the Imperial Capital, but it was half a city away from the original owner’s school. It took nearly three hours via bus, subway, and five transfers to reach the destination.
Huo Yuan, who had almost been squished into a cat pancake, said with lingering fear: [Huo Xian, you need to hurry up and earn money to buy a car and a house.]
In the last world, Huo Xian had a bicycle during his student days, and later had a private car for transportation. He had never even taken a bus, let alone the subway. So, apart from seeing the grand spectacle of buses and subways in movies and TV shows, this was Huo Yuan’s first personal experience. If Huo Xian hadn’t been protecting him, he definitely would have been squished into a cat pancake by now.
Huo Xian had also forgotten that this world’s background was very similar to the last world’s in some aspects; for example, the capital’s crowds and traffic congestion had extreme similarities.
But, to be fair, if he had taken a taxi to the hospital, not to mention the fare, just with the weekend traffic, he might not even have reached the hospital in two hours. Thinking of this, he felt genuine admiration for the original owner’s laolao, who had insisted on making the round trip every day while she was having her surgery.
When they finally arrived at the hospital, Laolao was just going for an examination. If there were no major issues, she could be discharged.
Huo Xian actually preferred to let Laolao stay in the hospital a bit longer. Although they were also people from the Imperial Capital, the Imperial Capital also had rural counties. They were typical rural people who had moved to the city; their living conditions were not comparable to those in the city. If Laolao went home, the elderly woman would have to live alone. It would still be some time before his school break, and he wouldn’t feel at ease with no one to care for her. At the hospital, at least they could hire a caregiver to look after her.
While he was pondering, the water in the kettle boiled. Laolao also returned from her examination. She was stunned when she saw him, then immediately scolded him for being disobedient and making the trip again.
Huo Xian knew this old woman had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, so he naturally wouldn’t take it to heart. He poured her some water. This water was spiritual spring water; he had saved up a few days’ worth and brought it over.
After Laolao had nagged for a while, he asked the doctor about her examination results. Laolao‘s condition was good post-surgery, with no complications, and her recovery was progressing well. She could be discharged.
Before Huo Xian could suggest that Laolao stay in the hospital a bit longer, Laolao had already opened the cabinet, displaying her already-packed luggage in front of him, directly expressing her determination to be discharged with her actions.
Huo Xian had a bit of a headache. If he hadn’t come today, Laolao probably would have handled the discharge procedures herself and gone home.
He could only voice his concerns. To this, Laolao‘s reply was: “Your Laolao has been doing farm work since she was young. My body only got weak because of the cancer. Now that I’m better, I could even climb the Great Wall and back. When you come home for winter break, it’s not certain who will be taking care of whom.”
Huo Xian: “…”
The original owner had been working part-time since junior high, and Laolao handled all the household chores. So, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with what Laolao said?
In the end, Huo Xian couldn’t win against Laolao. He could only help her with the discharge procedures and take her home. After all the hassle, he couldn’t be bothered to go back to school. He decided to take advantage of the remaining sunlight to air out the house, tidy up, and dry things in the sun.
The original owner’s home had four rooms in total. The main hall faced south, and the east and west bedrooms, along with the hall, took up three rooms, while the kitchen took up one. There was also a spacious courtyard with a small plot for growing vegetables. Originally, there were chickens in the yard, but when Laolao was diagnosed with cancer and preparing for treatment, she half-killed and half-sold them. The yard was very empty now.
After finishing his chores, Huo Xian went to buy groceries. The happiest one was, of course, Huo Yuan. Huo Xian was a responsible chanshiguan (cat owner), so he had brought cat food and goat milk. But he hadn’t expected to come home, and now that the cat food and milk were gone, he had to find something else to feed him.
Huo Yuan couldn’t wait to taste human food. He wasn’t picky; even a simple bowl of noodles from Huo Xian would do.
But, would Huo Xian make him noodles?
No.
However, even without noodles, Huo Xian would find a way to get him something to eat.
Carefully deboned fish paste, a fresh egg, and fish broth—that was Huo Yuan’s menu for the day.
[The fish paste and egg are delicious, but the broth is bland.] Huo Yuan relished the rare change in diet, eating with gusto, though he disdained the fish broth.
[The fish broth is nutritious, drink some more.] Because they were at home, Huo Xian didn’t communicate with him directly.
Under Huo Xian’s persistent feeding, Huo Yuan could only smack his lips and drink another half-bowl. After that, it was time to rinse his mouth and clean his teeth. Since he hadn’t brought his dedicated dental tools, Huo Xian used a cotton swab to clean them carefully, making Laolao‘s eyelids twitch as she watched.
“Xianxian, I’ve been meaning to ask you, are you raising this cat?” Laolao finally asked, her expression constipated after watching Huo Xian “serve” the kitten through the whole process.
Huo Xian nodded in confirmation.
“Your school lets you keep cats? Even if you do, why raise one so tiny? Is it even a month old?” Although Huo Yuan was indeed cute in the eyes of Huo Xian and his fan chanshiguans, in Laolao‘s eyes, he was equivalent to trouble, far less convenient than the neighbor’s Da Hua.
Huo Yuan heard the disdain in Laolao‘s tone, meowed softly, and burrowed into Huo Xian’s embrace.
Huo Xian rubbed his head and smiled, “I can keep him. He’s already two months old, just a bit small for his size.”
The little kitten was a gift from Yin Pei to the original owner. However, Yin Pei had never bought a cat before and didn’t know that the kitten he bought, besides looking scrawny like a stray, was also naturally frail. Weak and small, and the original owner had no experience raising one, so Huo Yuan’s condition wasn’t great after he entered the kitten’s body. He was much healthier now, thanks to that spiritual spring water. A drop or two in his goat milk every day, combined with Huo Xian’s meticulous care, naturally improved his condition significantly.
“Why the sudden urge to raise a cat?” Laolao was rather puzzled.
“Probably the runt of the litter, abandoned by the mother cat. I felt sorry for him, so I took him in.” Huo Xian used the excuse Yin Pei had given the original owner.
Huo Yuan meowed in dissatisfaction.
Laolao‘s mouth moved. She wanted to say that he had to study and work part-time, and with the family’s situation, he could barely support himself. Raising a cat was just asking for trouble. But then she thought about how Huo Xian had also lost his father when he was young and was abandoned by his mother. Perhaps he felt a sense of kinship with this cat. In the end, she didn’t say anything, just sighed silently.
“Does it have a name?” Laolao asked casually.
Huo Xian replied, “Yes, his full name is Huo Yuan, and his nickname is Yuanyuan.”
“Giving a cat a full name and a nickname, you really have too much time on your hands (xian).” Laolao grumbled.
[Because your name is Huo Xian, of course you’re xian (idle/free).] Huo Yuan meowed twice.
Huo Xian chuckled softly and squeezed his tender little paw pads.
=v=
The next day.
Huo Xian first went to open a new bank card for his streaming income.
The platform hadn’t given up on signing him, and some guild recruiters had also reached out. Huo Xian didn’t bother looking into any guilds; he stuck to his original intention—not signing with anyone.
When he returned to the dorm, Zhao Xiyou was in the middle of a stream. Hearing the noise, Zhao Xiyou looked over and greeted him. He even heard Zhao Xiyou telling his fans that it was just his roommate returning, not his girlfriend, and other such flirty nonsense.
Huo Xian took Huo Yuan out from his clothes. The dorm was warm with heating, but it was freezing cold outside, so he naturally had to put the kitten in a warm place.
“Mew.” [Huo Xian, I’m hungry.] After spending so many years together, Huo Yuan the kitten no longer stood on ceremony with him, blatantly demanding to be fed.
Huo Xian stroked his fur twice and said dotingly, [Wait a moment, I’ll go get it for you.]
Having tasted fish and eggs, Huo Yuan felt a bit unsatisfied going back to bland cat food. But thinking of Huo Xian’s promise to make him some fishy snacks during the winter break, he silently ate his cat food and drank his goat milk.
While Huo Yuan was eating, he noticed Zhao Xiyou glancing at Huo Xian several times, looking like he wanted to say something but was hesitating, so he couldn’t help but remind Huo Xian.
Huo Xian was naturally aware of the other person’s gaze in the room, but he paid it no mind. Instead, he focused on serving the little kitten. He always fed Huo Yuan strictly according to the kitten feeding guide: small, frequent meals. Only when Huo “Kitten” Yuan’s belly was round and full did he clean up after him.
“…Bro, anyone who didn’t know better would think you were raising a little ancestor.” Zhao Xiyou didn’t use Huo Xian’s name directly, just teased.
Huo Xian scooped Huo Yuan into his arms and replied smoothly, “Mhm, he is a little ancestor.”
“Meow.” [I am not.] Huo Yuan nibbled lightly on his finger.
Huo Xian lowered his head and gave him a kiss on the head.
Huo Yuan: ???
“Huo… uh, anyway, want to run a dungeon? We’re short one person.” Zhao Xiyou couldn’t stand watching the endless interaction between the man and the cat and finally interrupted.
“Which dungeon?” Huo Xian asked.
“The Level 20 advancement dungeon [Corpse Ridge]. Need a DPS. You in?” Zhao Xiyou said.
[Corpse Ridge] was the same type as [Wild Wolf Cave]—both were mandatory dungeons. There was one every 10 levels, and you had to get an item to proceed to the next main story quest, making it very unfriendly for solo players.
Huo Xian didn’t know if the extra attribute point reward was only for the first-time solo clear, but he didn’t mind losing 2 attribute points to join Zhao Xiyou’s team. If the original owner’s memory was correct, Zhao Xiyou’s team had a healer with the ID “Jiangshan Rugu,” and that was Yin Pei.
Yin Pei indeed wasn’t using his old computer, but the Steam account was his. Zhao Xiyou using his account to play games would leave a game history. He had always thought it was the original owner using it. Therefore, before playing Immortal Realm, he returned to the dorm once, which led him to unexpectedly see Zhao Xiyou’s game ID. Of course, he just assumed it was the original owner.
Yin Pei was interested in the original owner, but he didn’t dare to pursue him in real life, so he could only secretly try to win favor in the game. Unfortunately, when the truth was revealed in the end, it instead became a story between him and Zhao Xiyou.
The original owner wasn’t clear on what happened between Yin Pei and Zhao Xiyou, but Huo Xian could judge from the original owner’s memory that Yin Pei was a boy of few words but was inherently kind-hearted. As for Zhao Xiyou, one couldn’t say he was a bad person, but he was definitely shrewd, and because of his past identity as a professional esports player, he was arrogant about his skills and looked down on people a bit.
If Zhao Xiyou and Yin Pei were truly fated, Huo Xian didn’t intend to break them up. However, he didn’t want Yin Pei to mistake Zhao Xiyou for him, or rather, for the original owner.
After logging into the game, Zhao Xiyou and Huo Xian added each other as friends, and then Zhao Xiyou invited him to the team. Zhao Xiyou’s game ID was “Qie Jian Tianxia.” In the team, there was a “Ruoshui Gu” (Flowing Water Valley), one of the 12 Immortal Cultivator healing sects, and also a couple with the IDs “Yuan De Yixin Ren” (Wish for One Heart) and “Baishou Bu Xiangli” (Never Apart Till White Hairs), both ranged classes.
The game had party voice chat. You could use your real voice or the built-in game voice. Zhao Xiyou was using the game’s built-in voice.
“Dashen, did you find someone?” The small speaker icon in front of “Yuan De Yixin Ren” in the party list flashed, and a female voice asked.
“He’s here, [Mozun], my roommate,” Zhao Xiyou replied. He paused, then complained, “…Why did you pick a name like that?”
Huo Xian had just finished loading the map. Hearing his question, he replied, “Just typed it randomly.”
“Bro, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?” “Baishou Bu Xiangli” said in a rough voice. “In the late game, before ascension, the top three Demonic Cultivators in combat power can get the ‘Mozun’ (Demon Lord) title. Wearing it gives a glowing particle effect.”
Huo Xian smiled faintly, “I didn’t play in the closed beta.”
“Then how did you ‘randomly type’ [Mozun]?” “Yuan De Yixin Ren” pressed.
“Maybe I saw a closed beta player mention it while browsing Tieba or forums and just remembered it,” Huo Xian replied.
“That’s possible too.” Zhao Xiyou said, changing the subject. “Mozun, where are you? Did you bring enough health and mana potions?”
Huo Xian: “At the dungeon entrance. Going in now.” He didn’t answer the second question.
Zhao Xiyou: “OK, waiting for you.”
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