TGPA Chapter 1: Opportunity Comes, Fortunes Turn
"Son, no matter how good it is outside, it's not as good as home. Your dad and I miss you. Our new house is ready, all with underfloor heating, and the bathrooms are inside the rooms. Your room is beautifully arranged by your mom. Son, Beijing is covered in smog. Come back home..."
In the bustling ant nest area of the metropolis, on the rooftop of a very ordinary three-story building, every bit of space below is maximized by the landlord to squeeze in as many people as possible to earn an extra penny. Being down there feels suffocating, yet this small platform couldn't provide Chen Hao with a clearer sense of breath.
A son travels thousands of miles, causing his mother to worry. His parents were only expressing their concern for their son, who has been wandering outside for years without any notable achievements. Their words warmed his heart but also made Chen Hao feel a bit more guilty. After hanging up the phone, he extinguished the cigarette in his hand, placed his hands behind his head, disregarding the dirty and cold platform beneath him, and lay back, greeted by a rare sight of stars filling the sky.
Tonight, the night sky is truly clean.
Go home?
Four years of failed attempts at art schools.
Climbing up as an extra only led to being a body without a line or being a pedestrian who dies without even showing their face.
Four years of drifting in the north, achieving nothing, with only 1200 yuan in his pocket as his salary.
Among the multitude of internet streamers, he failed to stand out, not even obtaining the qualification to start live video streaming. His contract with the guild he signed with was temporary. Although he once earned as much as 2220 yuan in a month, a number he will never forget.
A few hours ago, after working as a stand-in twice and laboring for over ten days, the promised supporting role with a dozen lines was snatched away by a relative of an assistant director, a slick-haired guy driving an old Jetta. He wanted to punch him, but in the end, he just smiled and left. Despite putting in a lot of physical effort over the past ten days, getting bruises all over his body from a stand-in role, and almost falling off the edge of an air cushion during a stunt, if punching him would have made a difference, Chen Hao wouldn't have minded. He knew clearly that it wouldn't. That small role was definitely gone, so he left, but before leaving, he "accidentally" let the crew's small cart roll down the slope and crash into the old Jetta.
As a result, he even lost the opportunity for extra work, but he didn't care. Being at the bottom, did he need your pity? Not causing trouble doesn't mean he won't find a way out for himself.
A few hours ago, Chen Hao was released by the mid-level management of his guild on Lele, the largest voice and video entertainment live platform in China. The guild was one of the unknown small guilds among many on Lele. Even in such a guild, Chen Hao was just a bottom-tier streamer who only warranted one-to-many management by the mid-level management. At the beginning of the month, he just received his salary. In a private chat, the manager subtly suggested for the nth time that Chen Hao should be more sensible, and the guild would give him more opportunities.
Would a man who had been drifting in the north for four years not understand what this meant? But that 1200 yuan was too heavy for him to afford to waste even a single penny. He had been proud of one thing over the past four years: not taking a penny from home. Every month, the money his parents deposited into his bank account remained untouched. That bank card was still at the bottom of his box, untouched for four years.
With 1200 yuan, plus occasional income from being an extra, living in a city like Beijing for a month, including a 400 yuan rent and transportation costs, Chen Hao, though never one to self-pity or blame the heavens and earth, also wouldn't waste a single penny. Giving "gifts" to management to get more opportunities, opening back doors for himself, he couldn't afford to spend this money.
Perhaps because Chen Hao didn't comply, the management just coldly informed him that his time slot for climbing up had been changed to 3 a.m. to 9 a.m., a time period that meant something obvious on an internet entertainment platform.
Chen Hao remained calm and not angry. But he wouldn't sit idly by either. He also knew that he had nowhere to retreat now. Endure once, step back once, endure twice, step back twice. Since there was no retreat, he had to do right by himself.
He made a call to management, calmly saying, "You're lucky we're not facing each other right now. Otherwise, I believe the mop in my hand would let you experience the joy of being filled from behind!"
He was released. Before finding a new guild to sign with, he didn't even have the qualification to sing on any sub-channel of the music channel as a streamer. Even if he found a new guild, he would have to start from scratch. Although he was at the bottom before, at least he had a bit of footing. The tiny bit behind the decimal point still required him to start over.
With this situation, could he go home?
Chen Hao used a light smile to replace shaking his head. There was no self-mockery. Once, on the train to Beijing, he was seen by an old man who looked like a swindler to 99.9% of people. The old man said he had a swallowing-the-sky mentality. Chen Hao believed him because even in his current situation, he didn't feel like he would be knocked down. The sun will rise tomorrow as usual.
"Haozi, I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't think there's anything worth announcing in advance. The family has arranged a job for me. I've been drifting for ten years, and it's about time to go back. I bought a train ticket, and the money left is only enough for this meal. There's nothing to say to others, only you."
Ten minutes later, when Chen Hao was about to get up and return to his room, his roommate, Liu Dong, a grassland man, came in carrying a plastic bag from the supermarket, filled to the brim. In his other hand was a worn-out laptop, and there was a bitter smile on his lips, full of sorrow and reluctance.
"It's been ten years, and I'm still living here..."
People who lived here were indifferent to the comings and goings of others. It was common to see someone living here for a year, coming back ten or twenty times. Liu Dong was twenty-eight years old, drifted in Beijing for ten years, slightly better off than Chen Hao, just slightly. Even though it was only slight, it made Chen Hao envious. At least Liu Dong could livestream and had his own broadcast room. At this moment, he was livestreaming his farewell with Chen Hao and about a hundred or so viewers in his Lele room.
Chen Hao didn't try to persuade him. Liu Dong had complained and lamented to him many times before. He just treated it as Liu Dong's farewell to the people in his Lele room. He had mentioned going home before, and Chen Hao was mentally prepared. He simply listened quietly to Liu Dong's last recounting of his "miserable ten years," accompanying him in drinking, eating roast chicken, ham, and supermarket snacks that they would never normally indulge in.
Chen Hao had never told Liu Dong about the time when his income exceeded three thousand yuan, nor did he mention what had happened to him in the past two days. So, when he heard Liu Dong recounting his "miserable ten years," it sounded like a refreshing stream to him. If Liu Dong decided not to leave and continue struggling, Chen Hao would tell him that tranquility is also a kind of happiness. With their experiences side by side, it seemed that Chen Hao should be the one complaining and seeking comfort.
Liu Dong quickly got drunk, pushed the laptop in front of Chen Hao, and turned off the video stream. "Haozi, there's nothing more to say. That illness emptied all your savings. I, as your older brother, am worthless. This laptop may be broken, but it's a keepsake. I didn't have the nerve to ask for money from home, but after I return, I'll transfer that money to your account..."
Chen Hao didn't refuse. It was only right to repay debts. There was no need to put on a show of righteousness in his current situation. But he couldn't take the laptop.
It turned out that arguing with a drunken person over a trivial matter of right and wrong was not a wise thing to do.
"Why, Haozi, do you look down on me..."
With a slap, Liu Dong directly smashed the still-on laptop to the ground, looking very angry as he turned and left. Before leaving, he also knocked over the bottle, and the remaining liquor flowed onto the broken laptop.
Although Liu Dong's blow was quite severe, and the shell did indeed crack and fly, at first glance, it seemed quite embarrassing, but Chen Hao subconsciously reached out to grab the laptop. At that moment, he didn't think about anything. Perhaps his instinctive reaction could still fix it. Maybe only the shell was damaged, and the inside was fine.
Having drunk nearly a bottle of baijiu and several cans of beer, Chen Hao was also a little tipsy. His consciousness, body, and reaction were all slightly slower. This slight delay allowed the liquor to come into contact with the broken laptop. When he reached out, there was a crackling sound, and a spark flashed, coinciding with the unusually clean night sky in Beijing. A star suddenly shone brightly, and if you were staring at it directly, it would have seemed very dazzling.
The brightness in the sky disappeared in an instant, and the laptop that Chen Hao touched also flashed brightly for a moment, dazzlingly. Then it disappeared in an instant.
Chen Hao had never experienced an electric shock before, so he didn't know what it felt like. He just felt numb all over, as if something had entered his body along his fingers, and then... nothing.
"Is that it?"
Chen Hao shook his head and used a broken wooden stick from the platform to pry open the laptop. He glanced at the ground and the food still in the plastic bag, but didn't bother to clean up. He picked up the broken laptop, went downstairs, and returned to his room. Inside the room, he could already hear Liu Dong snoring. Feeling a bit dizzy from the electric shock, should he go to the clinic at the street corner? Maybe he had drunk the wine too quickly today?
In the small toilet separated from the room, you could still faintly hear the voices of the two roommates. Shaking his head, besides feeling a little tipsy, Chen Hao didn't feel any other discomfort. He placed the broken laptop on the small cabinet next to Liu Dong's bed and climbed onto the top bunk. Soon, he entered dreamland...
"Conductive carrier—Earth, Huaxia Lele Entertainment Platform, meets standards. Transmission carrier—Earthling Chen Hao, with strong mental and physical attributes, exceeds normal Earth standards, reaching the level of excellence of the mother star, ready to attempt comprehensive transmission. Perfect Anchor System, activating comprehensive transmission mode, automatically initiating stage unlocking mode..."
NEXT