Chapter 46 - Famous Again

Chapter 46: Famous Again
Translator: 
Dragon Boat Translation 
 
Editor: 
Dragon Boat Translation
Once he went back to the dormitory, Meng Fan changed into his workout clothes and ran his usual 10 kilometers to blow off some steam. After showering, he once again thought of the misunderstanding he had with Mr. Ma.

That won’t do.

He assumed he had to make another run to the police station, not clear if proof was still attainable. He still had to try; after all, this was his professional course selection on the line.
Chen Da Qiang burst in, Meng Fan’s meal in hand. He then said,
I sent you the money on WeChat.


What money?
Meng Fan responded.
I said I would treat you. If you don’t go, it’d be a waste.

As he spoke, he picked up his phone and carefully turned off its airplane mode. Suddenly, seven missed calls and over twenty text messages buzzed in along with fifty WeChat messages. It was quite a spectacle.
The texts were evidently scams, but the phone calls had been made by people he knew. But among the WeChat messages, half were accidentally sent out, while the other half were from people who were bored and were looking to chat.
Of course, there were also the casual WeChat messages asking for donations and votes.
Of these, one was the red envelope that Chen Da Qiang had sent. It was exactly 1002 HXB. Meng Fan had never mentioned how much that meal at Mu Shang cost; evidently, Da Qiang was considerate enough to remember.
Meng Fan opened it and sent the money back.
My salary from drawing illustrations is not bad, at least enough to treat you three to a meal. Count it as a gift in advance.


Today my tutoring salary came in, plus they gave me a 500 HXB bonus. If you want to treat us, you have to at least be here. Next time, we will definitely eat your wallet empty.

Chen Da Qiang sent the money again. He looked at the time, then said,
It’s settled then, I’m going on a date. Oh right, judging by how you turned on your phone, you probably don’t know you’re famous again, right?

Leaving Meng Fan to ponder the ambiguous statement, Chen Da Qiang sprayed on some perfume he pulled from Xing Ta Ge’s special cabinet and ran out the door.

I’m fcking eating.

Meng Fan, still holding his food, quickly sidestepped to avoid the perfume. As for what Chen Da Qiang had been saying, Meng Fan would find out as he continued reading his WeChat.

Gagagaga! Fatty you’re famous again!

That was a voice message from Zhang Zhou Wei. As soon as he opened it, a toad-like cackle erupted from the other end, followed by a video message.
After clicking it open, he saw a guy who was roughly 30 years old with small eyes feeling up a fat guy’s bag. A passenger next to the fatty had warned him. The small-eyed man glared at him with threatening eyes. Soon after, all one could see was the clumsy fat man sitting on the pickpocket in one swift motion, crushing the small-eyed man under his butt.
Excitement then filled the bus. The passengers were filled with indignation but still somewhat restrained. Moreover, an old man was reminding everyone to remain civilized.
After that, the bus driver shouted and drove the bus straight to the police station.
The fat man suppressed the thief for the whole trip. His expression was firm, not showing the slightest sign of compromising with the evil forces. He was witty too. For the while he was on top of him, the fatty had searched the thief’s entire body, pulling out a knife from the thief’s pocket that had been used to cut open bags.
The passengers all praised the fat man’s unparalleled bravery.
Of course he had searched him. He had sat on the blade when he suppressed the thief. How could he sit comfortably without removing it?
That should have been a video of a brave confrontation with a thief. One’s heroic effort. One depicting the united prowess of civilians. A video criticizing the actions of pickpockets. It should have been… But after looking at it this way and that, it just made one happy.
The careless arrogance to sit on a thief could be counted as something that was seldom seen.
At the end of the video was a voice message from a recorder.
This little warrior is a student from Hua Xia Academy of Fine Arts. I’m proud to be a student there!

His ‘thumbs up’ dance had already blown up due to his +2 validation, but now that it increased by another +6, the attention he received was even more different.
Who would’ve thought someone would see a pickpocket in action from the moment he began, and they were filming as well. The recorder was a faculty member at the Academy who recognized Meng Fan on the bus from his ‘thumbs up’ dance.

After adding +8 validation, I’m flammable material now?

Meng Fan mumbled to himself. True, he was a little excited. For with that video, he could explain himself in front of Mr. Ma.
He was beyond just a little excited. Let him be famous, for he didn’t think for real that he would become some sort of an internet star or idol. The former could be disregarded for most of them were short-lived. The latter, despite being glamorous, was also not easy to go long term.
On this, Meng Cai Wei had already ‘presented’ the reality.
Buzz.
A WeChat message came in from someone nicknamed
Comrade Ma
.

Meng Fan, I want to apologize to you for the words I said after class. I didn’t ask about the specifics and misunderstood you based on past experience and prejudice. The things I’ve said to you were a bit offensive, and this is a reflection of my professionalism and personal quality. Please forgive me. In addition, I am proud to have a brave student like you.

Meng Fan finished reading the awe-inspiring message and quickly responded,
Professor, your words are too harsh. It’s my fault for being so undisciplined most of the time. If you are going to be this strict on yourself, I’m going to be too scared to take your class in the future!

Comrade Ma replied,
Skipping class again? Don’t even think about it!

…

Great job!

Meng Fan had just entered the studio when he saw the administrator slamming him with a thumbs up in praise. She had obviously seen the pickpocket video. At the same point, she pointed towards the studio, revealing the smile of a mother-in-law to Meng Fan.
Meng Fan went inside and saw the petite and cute girl with freckles.
Was the girl still scared to go to the fifth-floor studio because of what happened yesterday? Or because she didn’t think Meng Fan was a bad person anymore and built up the courage to come here?
Thinking back carefully, last night must have been a misunderstanding. There was definitely no evil plot for revenge or a cruel prank. So… wait, how did the administrator know the freckled girl and Meng Fan knew each other?
Meng Fan’s continuous puzzling netted no results.
At the same time, he looked at the freckled girl. She also looked at him; after all, his sense of ‘validation’ was sitting there, drawing all the gazes in the room to Meng Fan the moment he entered the studio. It didn’t matter how dedicated they were to their painting, for everyone had to respect the
+8
validation.
Meng Fan nodded in acknowledgment to the freckled girl, then walked to the other side of the room and sat down. He took out his drawing papers. He set up his phone stand and opened the 8th station streaming APP.

I almost forgot!

After being caught up in the pickpocket madness, Meng Fan just remembered the 1000 points he had gained from finishing task phase 3 of [Adoration Fever].
Including the 1000 points, he had a total of 1253 points right now.
With these points, he had to exchange for some new equipment. If the
presence masking hat
didn’t have a prerequisite, Meng Fan would have bought it without hesitation.
As for now, he had his eyes on the
Streaming Assistant
from the [Famous Streamer] task.
Meng Fan took a look around him and decided to wait until he found a quieter place before redeeming it.
He updated the announcement of his stream in the group chat. ‘Stream begins at 19:30 sharp.’
For today’s streaming content, he would do five drawings of Hua Xia’s historical architecture style, and then five illustrations for ‘Rampage and Repair the World’.
That was his second batch of illustrations for the book ‘Rampage and Repair the World’. Meng Fan entered FlatHeadBro’s public profile and saw the reactions to the first batch of illustrations.

Not bad.

Once he reached the third drawing, his viewer count broke 10,000!
By the sixth drawing, the peak number had reached 15,000.
The eighth one, 16,000.
The ninth one, 18,000.
After he finished the tenth drawing, his online viewers had reached 19,000. It almost caught up to the numbers he received when he had been on the recommendations list.
The +6 validation was doing its thing!