Ji Yunsheng was an ordinary person living on Earth. To be fair, his life growing up had been no different from anyone else's; while he certainly wasn't the child of a wealthy family, he wasn't poor either.
The time was December 8, 2019. Having lived in Yunnan all his life, Ji Yunsheng had rarely traveled to other cities. This trip to Chongqing had only happened because his grandfather had passed away. He didn't have many personal memories of his grandfather, knowing what kind of man he was mostly through his mother's stories.
When Ji Yunsheng was a child, he used to ask his mother what his grandfather was like. Over the years, his mother had told him countless times. She would always say, "Yunsheng, back when you were little, your grandfather adored you the most! For the first few years after you were born, he would always sneak behind your grandmother's, your dad's, and my back to take you out to play. You weren't a picky eater back then, and your grandfather fed you until you were chubby and plump. When he played with you, he'd even let you ride on his shoulders—he spoiled you rotten. Sometimes he'd even slip you some pocket money. Your grandfather used to be a military officer in the army, you know."
That year, a major global event began to unfold. Just a few days after returning to Yunnan from Chongqing, people on the streets started frantically hoarding supplies. At first, it seemed rather strange, but after a while, he learned online what all the hoarding was about: a novel coronavirus infection was spreading across the globe. Because Ji Yunsheng lived in a small town right on the border, people were stocking up on supplies, but his daily life hadn't changed all that much, so he didn't pay it too much mind.
Aside from staying home, Ji Yunsheng spent most of his time at internet cafes. He was particularly fond of playing League of Legends, going to the internet cafe to play every single day without fail, to the point where the owner knew him by heart. A few months into the pandemic, a friend asked him, "Old Ji, how come you never go out and look for a job? You're just grinding League at the internet cafe every day." Ji Yunsheng always replied, "What's the point of working? You work yourself to the bone day in and day out and can't even save any money. Why on earth would anyone want to do that?"
Several months into the pandemic, even though Ji Yunsheng went online every day, he began to learn about the live-streaming industry. Full of enthusiasm, he decided to try his hand at being a gaming streamer, believing that as long as he reached ten thousand followers, he could stop working and still make money. In reality, though, even though he streamed games every day, months passed and his follower count remained stuck in the dozens, causing his mood to instantly plummet.
Time flew by, and more than a year passed in this same old routine before he even realized it. On February 12, 2021, Ji Yunsheng's life was divided between the internet cafe and home. On this day, he invited some friends to go into the county seat to grab some food and look around. The journey from the small town to the county seat took about forty minutes. Ji Yunsheng and three friends arrived in town; since none of them had eaten before heading out, Ji Yunsheng suggested they find something to eat first. The others had no objections, so they wandered around the county seat to see what was available. When they reached the new bus station, Ji Yunsheng looked around and spotted a newly opened eatery, saying, "How about we go eat at this place?" The others took a look—it was a newly opened maocai restaurant—and readily agreed, "Sure, let's eat here." The guys rode their electric scooters over, parked them properly, and walked into the restaurant.
As they walked in, Ji Yunsheng remarked, "Man, I always see videos of Chengdu maocai on Kuaishou, but I never thought they'd actually open a shop here. I wonder if it tastes any good." The others laughed, "We'll find out once we eat." Checking the prices and finding them quite reasonable, they went over to order their dishes and found a place to sit down and wait. As soon as they sat down, Ji Yunsheng began handing out cigarettes to his three friends before settling back into his seat. No sooner had they lit their cigarettes than Laowei suggested to the group, "Should we grab a couple of bottles to drink?" Ji Yunsheng replied, "Whatever you want." The other two didn't object, so Laowei got up to fetch the drinks. Since their alcohol tolerance was each worse than the last, Laowei only brought back a single bottle of beer for each of them.
After a while, the maocai was served. The guys ate, drank, and chatted. Xiaohei said, "Old Ji, if your live stream ever becomes a huge hit, you've gotta take us along with you!" Lao Sha chimed in, "Yeah, if you become a big internet celebrity, we're going to follow your lead." Ji Yunsheng laughed, "As if it's that easy! I stream every day and end up with barely a few people watching."
Xiaohei asked, "Do you even post short videos?" Ji Yunsheng replied, "I post them! And I even edit and produce my videos, it's just that nobody watches the streams." Laowei said, "How could being a streamer be that simple? Take it slow, no need to rush." Lao Sha agreed, "That's right! And Old Ji, you still haven't found a girlfriend, just streaming League every day—that's probably not gonna work out, you know!" Xiaohei added, "You haven't found a girlfriend and you just grind games all day, and you're already twenty-three!" Ji Yunsheng said, "It's not that I don't want to find one; I just don't have the money! Besides, even if I had money, what's the point of finding someone if it's not for the purpose of getting married?"
The guys didn't say anything more after that, just eating and chatting lazily back and forth. Once they were full and satisfied, everyone headed back home.