He didn’t have any classes in the first period, and since he couldn’t sleep, he simply sat up and turned on his computer.

The moment he logged into QQ, a compressed file from Wall popped up.

Wall: The video is edited, take a look.

Xiao An clicked the download button, thinking that the other person’s work speed was insane.

The file downloaded in no time. After unzipping it and pressing play, he suddenly felt a little nervous. He wondered what the jam would actually look like on his lips.

He dragged the progress bar forward, watching as the jam was packaged and handed over from one end. Then came a seamless transition—on the other side, Wall received the express delivery.

It really felt like they were close to each other.

With his headphones on, Xiao An could hear the sound of the utility knife cutting through the package. He also heard Wall say, “Good-looking.”

He exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and couldn’t help but laugh. Sitting cross-legged on his swivel chair, he continued watching quietly.

In the video, Wall picked up a clean, small brush—about the size of a regular lip glaze applicator—and dipped it into the jam jar.

The jam was thick, coating the brush head completely. Wall scraped off a little on the edge of the jar before applying it.

Outside the video, Xiao An unconsciously held his breath as the brush head touched the lips he had seen countless times.

The top layer of jam was a light blue-purple, sheer rather than heavy, with a glossy surface that sparkled. The finely cut edible gold foil scattered across the lips like golden sequins.

Wall’s skin was already pale, and now, with the deep grape-purple layer settling in, the contrast made his lips stand out even more.

And they looked soft.

For the first time in a while, Xiao An felt genuinely flustered. His cheeks and ears burned as he watched.

The brush swept over the curve of the lips, this time picking up the darkest black layer from the bottom, meticulously coating every corner.

A sudden, ridiculous thought popped into Xiao An’s head.

It felt like… he was kissing the other person with the jam he made.

At first, the idea had been nothing more than a playful whim—he had been influenced by Wall’s friend who had put lipstick on him before. He’d wanted to use something to color that beautiful mouth too.

Now that he had achieved his goal, a strange rush of excitement surged through him. But it wasn’t enough. It felt like the pleasure was building, just out of reach.

Wall, with those black-stained lips, looked cold but almost beautiful—like a villain straight out of a stage play. Xiao An wasn’t even paying attention to what he was saying anymore.

Wait… No lip-licking this time?

Xiao An licked his own slightly dry upper lip and was about to get up for some water when the camera shifted again.

Wall held up a slice of bread thickly coated with jam and took a bite from the edge.

The jam inevitably smudged his lips, and without a second thought, he licked it off—starting from the corner of his mouth and swiping upward, only licking the delicate curve of his lips.

It was such a simple movement, not even a second long, yet Xiao An felt like his whole body had short-circuited.

The preparation time for the master-disciple cooperation video was set at one week, with the release responsibility falling on the apprentice. This arrangement was relatively fair and also served to attract more new fans to the apprentice’s account.

He Yuan and his friends released the video on Saturday night. After it went live, He Yuan casually forwarded it to his feed, and the number of views instantly began climbing.

It had been a long time since He Yuan switched to live streaming on the V site. Now, watching the constant influx of new comments under the cooperation video, he felt a bit nostalgic.

He replayed the video, observing the seamless editing. He had personally edited Wall’s segment, and the results were significantly better than before. The special effects and inserted sounds made the video particularly engaging.

As for the latter half, which He Yuan handled, the shot of him eating toast with jam and licking his lips at the end had been cut.

The idea of the lip-licking had originally been proposed by Xixizi, but it was also Xixizi who suggested deleting it.

After watching the first edited version, Xixizi had hesitated before speaking, eventually sending an emoji of a little yellow bird plucking its wing feathers one by one. Finally, Xixizi messaged, “I think the lip-licking part is a bit sudden. Why not delete it?”

He Yuan didn’t mind much. It was better to have mutual agreement on the video, so he simply removed it.

When the progress bar reached the end, He Yuan didn’t exit the video. Instead, he scrolled down to the comment section.

In the past, he hadn’t been keen on reading comments, but this time, curiosity got the better of him.

The first hot comment: Ah, the jam-flavored lipstick is so delicious and beautiful, I’m done!

Comment 1: Double chef ecstasy! I used to be a fan of Wall, but now I’m also a fan of Xixizi. Their combination is amazing!!!

Comment 2: This is the first time I’ve thought blue, purple, and black could look so stunning. My big Wall is smashing it. Everything looks good when painted on him (I cried 555).

Comment 3: I remember doing this as a kid, especially with red dragon fruit. The color was really something [little dinosaur likes.jpg].

Hot comment 2: The jam is so beautiful, it looks like a jar of the starry sky! [starry eyes.jpg]

Comment 1: Xixizi, an old craftsman.

Comment 2: To be honest, I doubt the edibility of this thing. If I mix three kinds of jam together, I won’t get poisoned, right? ←,←

Comment 3: The up master is very attentive. Looks like he has artistic talent.

Hot comment 3: Fairy love awsl!!!!!!

He Yuan was quite satisfied with the previous comments, but when he got to this one, his hand paused.

He stared at the hundreds of likes under this comment and blinked.

What was this? Where was the love?

The replies under this comment were even more enthusiastic than the ones above. Commenters were typing furiously.

Comment 1: Why is it that someone who used to cook mediocre meals or outright failures is now making jam so attentively? Did I get it [dog head]?

Comment 2: Why is it that someone who used to mock the color and texture of new products is now willing to put this black chicken and hemp chicken color on his lips and keep praising it as beautiful? Did I get it [dog head]?

Comment 3: I never thought I’d be able to catch this live [cat and cat laugh.jpg]. Just look at how they edited the video separately. When are they going to meet in person? QAQ

Comment 4: I’m new here, don’t hit me, but when did these two become a couple? [scratching head.jpg]

He Yuan read halfway through, still completely lost on how these people had managed to make such connections. He took a screenshot and sent it to Xixizi.

Within two minutes, Xixizi replied with, “I’ll be there soon,” and in the blink of an eye, they appeared in the comment section personally.

“What is Xixizi Eating Today?” commented: Don’t talk nonsense, my master and I are not really in love [Little Yellow Bird with a serious face.jpg].

Someone immediately replied to Wall: Then why did you like the comment? [Cat Head]

He Yuan stared at the particularly conspicuous “The up master thinks it’s great” and sent a question mark to Xixizi’s private chat.

Xixizi didn’t reply but proceeded to like all the previous hot comments before vanishing from the comment section.

He Yuan: “…”

=================

Just like with the first collaboration video, the website’s evaluation this time would only consider data from the first 24 hours. The platform would then select the best-performing master-disciple pairs based on the ratio of video views to likes.

Compared to the previous event, the winning rewards this time were much more generous.

He Yuan hadn’t thought much about winning, but Xixizi was clearly aiming for the first-place “double travel award” and had been waiting an hour in advance.

Since several of them often played games together, Big White Goose had pulled Xixizi and Ye Miao into their small group of four, making the chat much livelier.

Huahua Kindergarten: Are the results out?

What is Xixizi Eating Today: Five minutes and thirty-six seconds left [Little Yellow Bird Hatching Eggs.jpg]

Big White Goose: Xixizi wants first place that badly?

What is Xixizi Eating Today: Of course.

What is Xixizi Eating Today Five minutes and twenty-eight seconds.

Big White Goose: [Laughing and crying.jpg]

Pick up a 98k: @Wall, are you really not considering meeting him? We’re all so familiar with each other already.

He Yuan thought about it for a moment before typing a reply.

Wall: Let’s see.

Maybe if I really win first place, I’ll go on a trip with Xixizi.

Huahua Kindergarten: Wall, are you scared online love will fail in public? [laughing]

Ye Miao Eating Alone: Absolutely not. Xixizi’s quality is top-tier. [Patting chest.jpg]

He Yuan didn’t reply. His mind was on something else.

As the announcement time drew closer, the group chat gradually quieted down—everyone was probably staring at V-site, waiting.

At exactly 8 PM, Huahua Kindergarten was the first to message.

Huahua Kindergarten: What a pity.

Big White Goose: Just missed it! But still pretty good!

The others joined in, but Xixizi remained silent.

He Yuan already had a rough idea of the results but still clicked into V-site to confirm.

Sure enough, he and Xixizi had placed second, winning two high-end fully automatic massage chairs.

For some reason, as soon as he saw the prize, He Yuan pictured himself and Xixizi lying side by side on the chairs.

Shaking off the thought, he opened his private chat with Xixizi and picked an emoji from him usual Little Yellow Bird pack.

Wall: [You pat the Little Yellow Bird’s head.jpg]

An An: Brother… we got second place.

An An: Just a little bit short.

An An: I tried so hard, but it’s still only second place.

Before this, He Yuan hadn’t realized just how much he wanted to win.

If he had known earlier, he would have spent more time and effort preparing. He really seemed down about it.

Wall: It’s okay.

Wall: Any place is good.

An An: Brother, did you get the system message?

A strange feeling crept up on He Yuan.

He switched back to V-site. Normally, he received a ton of private messages, so he hadn’t noticed any new ones.

Clicking into his inbox, he saw the latest unread message—from V-site.

He opened it.

[From V-site: Tall and handsome “Wall,” thank you for participating in the first “Mutual Help” event. With your enthusiastic support, your apprentice’s account has gained 15,555 new followers and received the following rewards…]

Below, a list of stats appeared, including their victory over “Ye Miao Eating Alone” in the video competition and their second-place ranking in the collaboration event.

He Yuan hadn’t paid much attention before, but it turned out that Xixizi had improved so much over the past month.

[The first “Mutual Help” event has officially ended. You and “What is Xixizi Eating Today” will now be unlinked as master and apprentice. Thank you for witnessing your apprentice’s growth and for your hard work this past month.]

He Yuan froze.

Had a whole month really passed that quickly?

Returning to his chat with Xixizi, he hesitated, hands hovering over the keyboard, unsure of what to say.

Once this connection was severed, they would probably stop talking as much.

An An: Brother, I must’ve caused you so much trouble this past month. [Little Yellow Bird hangs its head.jpg]

He Yuan typed a reply.

Wall: No.

He stayed quiet for a moment before sending another message.

An An: Thank you, Brother. Really.

An An: I’ve been so happy this past month. [Little Yellow Bird rubs your palm with its head.jpg]

He Yuan stared at the emoji, suddenly feeling as though his palm was itching.

Wall: Study hard.

Wall: If you don’t understand something, you can ask me.

An An: What about other times?

Wall: ?

An An: When I don’t have any questions, can I still message you?

He Yuan understood what he meant—he wanted to know if they could still chat.

Of course. Even if they weren’t master and apprentice anymore, they could still play Deserted Island Paradise together. Actually, they could do anything.

He started typing “Okay,” but before he could send it—

An An: !!!!!!!!!!

Xixizi, who had been depressed just moments ago, suddenly exploded with excitement like he had been injected with chicken blood.

An An: Brother, brother, brother!!!

An An: I got another system message!!! [Little Yellow Bird spreads its wings and soars.jpg]

He immediately sent a screenshot.

He Yuan glanced at the top—it was a message congratulating “What is Xixizi Eating Today” for surpassing 20,000 followers.

Before he could read further, he eagerly highlighted the key point—

An An: V-site invited me to participate in the anniversary event!!!