Celebrity Neighbor: My girlfriend is a big star?
Chapter 29. Liu Xin’an’s Literary Youth Syndrome

Chapter 29: 29. Liu Xin’an’s Literary Youth Syndrome

But after Bae Juhyun’s antics, Liu Xin’an inevitably became interested in soju again, which he had only drunk once or twice before.

Drinking was naturally not a problem.

"Do you want to drink too?"

"...Can’t I drink?" Bae Juhyun was also baffled. She paid for it, and then she couldn’t drink?

What kind of nonsense was that?

But soon she seemed to understand what Liu Xin’an meant.

"I really can drink a lot."

She tried to defend herself, but there was no helping it. Her heroic feat of gulping down two cans yesterday really left her argument untenable.

Seeing his increasingly strange expression, Bae Juhyun took a deep breath and stood up.

"I’m going to buy it now!"

It wasn’t too late yet, and the convenience store near the neighborhood was definitely open.

To prove that her drinking capacity was not as bad as yesterday, Bae Juhyun was ready to go all out.

"Now?" Liu Xin’an was startled by Bae Juhyun’s high motivation. He hurriedly got up, taking two large strides to catch up with Bae Juhyun, who had already taken five steps ahead.

Having long legs was an advantage.

Liu Xin’an hurriedly reached out his hand to stop Bae Juhyun, saying with a half-smile, "Are you crazy? It’s dangerous for a girl to go out alone at this time."

"What danger could there be?"

This was, after all, a high-end residential area, and the security environment inside the community was entirely trustworthy.

Although it was already evening, as long as she disguised herself properly, she could definitely still go unnoticed.

At least she could ensure she wouldn’t be recognized.

"Absolutely not. How can a girl go out alone at this time?"

Family education made it impossible for Liu Xin’an to allow a girl to go out alone to buy alcohol late at night, and he was very firm on this.

Bae Juhyun did not respond, just standing in front of Liu Xin’an, lifting her head to look at the man who was a head taller than her, and even more.

Being stared at by a beautiful girl like this, even someone with a lot of opposite sex appeal like Liu Xin’an felt a bit overwhelmed. He lowered the arm that had been blocking Bae Juhyun’s path, frowning, "Do you really have to go buy it?"

Bae Juhyun nodded. No matter what, she had to wash away her "two-can drop" tragic impression today.

She had a strong competitive spirit in such strange situations.

This point had often been ridiculed by the younger sisters in her group...

"Really, wouldn’t beer do? I still have beer at home."

"No!"

"Alright, alright, you can go, but I can’t let you go alone. It’s really not safe at this time."

Liu Xin’an gave in. It was okay to go buy, but he couldn’t let Bae Juhyun go out alone.

Bae Juhyun blinked her beautiful eyes, her small head working hard to understand Liu Xin’an’s meaning.

His intention wasn’t hard to grasp, and she soon snapped back to reality, "Are you coming with me?"

"Otherwise? I can’t stop you.

"Ah? Wait... wait a minute!"

This time it was the previously very insistent Bae Juhyun who became a bit flustered.

In the worst case scenario, if she went out alone to buy something, she might just get recognized.

Being recognized was just that, being recognized. Going out to buy something at night was not really big news, at least in Seoul, where one could bump into celebrities and stars all the time, it was nothing newsworthy.

But being recognized while out buying things late at night with Liu Xin’an...

Just the thought of it made Bae Juhyun break out in a cold sweat.

"No way!"

She rejected him outright, her tone firm.

This time, Liu Xin’an was thoroughly confused about what she meant.

"Huh?"

The atmosphere was thus deadlocked.

Liu Xin’an tried to understand Bae Juhyun’s intention. Did she insist on going out alone to buy soju late at night? He could understand that, right?

And Bae Juhyun was trying hard to think of a perfect, all-encompassing excuse.

Indeed, a lie really does kill. One lie indeed needed countless others to back it up. She dared not even think about the shock it might cause Liu Xin’an when her identity was eventually exposed one day...

After thinking for a long time without any suitable excuse, Bae Juhyun finally had to make a choice.

Rather than having her identity exposed or even being photographed by the media, she could only let herself be misunderstood by Liu Xin’an for another day.

"I suddenly don’t want to go anymore. Tomorrow! I’ll prove it to you tomorrow!"

Having said that, Bae Juhyun returned to the sofa as if fleeing, then secretly fanned her face, trying to dispel the embarrassment.

As for Liu Xin’an, he was completely silent.

He somehow felt that he had been played by her.

———

Feeling stupid about her actions, Bae Juhyun did not linger in Liu Xin’an’s house. After hastily eating a bit, she made up an excuse to leave.

Liu Xin’an didn’t stop her either. After Bae Juhyun left some kimchi, he walked her to the door and watched her enter her home before he shut the door with relief.

Afterward, it was his time to rest and edit videos. However, because of the "soju" incident, tomorrow night’s schedule was claimed by Bae Juhyun.

Of course, having dinner with such a pretty girl was something many people dreamt of, so Liu Xin’an wouldn’t resist at all. As for tomorrow’s live stream... his fans would surely understand.

Hmm, he needed to come up with a good excuse for taking a leave, might as well use the excuse of having a date with a beauty. Anyway, Bae Juhyun wouldn’t know.

Liu Xin’an cheerfully changed the title of the live stream in advance, then continued to sit in front of his computer, efficiently editing videos.

As time ticked by, Liu Xin’an, exhausted from editing videos, lazily lied back in his gaming chair and scrolled through videos on his phone.

While engrossed in scrolling, a video call startled him.

Liu Xin’an hurriedly sat up, debating whether to answer the video call.

The caller was none other than his childhood friend, Li Chenglu. Honestly, he could have guessed why she was calling.

Indeed, he still had to explain. It was a small matter if Li Chenglu misunderstood, but if it got to his mom, now that would be serious trouble.

The moment he pressed the answer button, the screen showed a pretty girl with long pink hair and fair skin.

Hmm... pretty only for others, but for Liu Xin’an, who had known her since childhood, Li Chenglu was just alright.

"What’s up?"

As they were close friends, Liu Xin’an naturally asked.

"You didn’t even notice I changed my hair color?"

Liu Xin’an grappled internally with whether to let out his usual cheeky retort—how could he not notice such an eye-catching hair color? If he hadn’t noticed, he might as well be blind.

"It suits you. So, why did you call?"

"Really? The cold Liu Xin’an. What’s with your live stream title? Found true love over there?"

"What true love, she’s just a friend. We made plans in advance. I needed a title that would make it easy to get leave, that’s all."

"You call this a satisfying leave for everyone? Come on, you have more female followers than male followers now. Are you trying to make all the women in your live stream unfollow you?"

"If they unfollow, so be it. It’s a good chance for me to clean out my followers anyway."

Actually, Liu Xin’an was quite dissatisfied with his live stream’s chat lately.

Before showing his face, the chat was mostly filled with game-related discussions, an atmosphere he really liked.

But now?

It’s all flirtatious comments like "Husband, notice me."

It was one thing for girls to do it, but even the guys followed suit. Sometimes when Liu Xin’an tried to interact with the chat during his streams, all he saw were these unhelpful comments, which he found extremely annoying.

If changing the title could discourage some of those followers who were there only for his looks, fantasizing unrealistically, he would be overjoyed.

"There you go again. Have you even counted how many ’captains’ you’ve added recently?"

"Captain" referred to a type of VIP in the live stream. Usually, paying for a one-month captain subscription cost about 140 yuan, of which he would receive half.

In other words, having "captains" was a sign of a hot live stream.

Before showing his face, his live stream had about two thousand captains which was quite a respectable number on the entire small broken site, ranking it at the forefront of the platform.

But after he accidentally showed his face, the viewers who followed him for that reason grew exponentially, and so did the number of captains, almost doubling.

This was a drastic outcome, considering he wasn’t backed by any agency or manipulating figures. This genuine increase in paying followers was all loyal users from the small broken site.

To think that Liu Xin’an was talking about letting go of such a substantial income now?

This damn fool was being his usual "complacent" self again.

Always thinking he’s made it big, wanting to do what he likes...

Courting viewers isn’t shameful; making money first is the priority before doing what he loves, and Li Chenglu was highly dissatisfied with Liu Xin’an’s approach.

"One thousand eight! You want to just scrub away one thousand eight captains?"

"...then look at the live stream chat right now. It’s giving me a headache."

"Earn money! This is your job now, catering to your audience is your job, my brother!"

Liu Xin’an couldn’t help but smirk at Li Chenglu’s critical words, even if he stopped streaming...

Alright, having been a content creator and streamer for so many years, he really didn’t know what else he could do if he quit now.

"Well, I already wrote it, can’t really change it, can I?"

Changes to the live stream title aren’t notified, but surely, there are always people hanging out in his stream, so the change of title must have already spread among the fans by now.

"Changing it might not be necessary; just explain later. It’s just a date, not like you’re in a relationship... but speaking of which, are you really going on a date?"

After Liu Xin’an ceased to insist, Li Chenglu also remembered the true purpose of this call.

She was originally aiming to hear some juicy gossip.

Li Chenglu’s curious voice from the phone made Liu Xin’an helplessly face-palm. He let go of his phone, letting the camera aim at the ceiling, no longer bothering to look at her pretty face.

"It’s not a date, just a dinner and chat with a friend."

"Eh? You actually managed to make a friend? That’s rare."

"??"

"Xin’an brother~ Could you please go to a signing event for me~" Li Chenglu’s voice changed abruptly on the phone, a sweet tone that made one feel nauseous echoed.

Liu Xin’an quickly pressed the end call button, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

He was almost nauseated by her antics.