Chà Chà Novel

Su Nuo tore open a bag of spicy gluten strips, the one lucky survivor left in the snack cabinet, and sniffed it reverently.

The stream was still on, and the fans melted. Look at our baby, drooling like he’s never had spicy strips before! Send him gifts! Buy him more!

Su Nuo looked at the lineup. He was in fifth position, picking last, with no priority. Seeing that the first player had picked a mage, he muttered, “We’ve got a mage. Perfect. I’ll grab Yao and finish my snack.”

The comments lit up. “Baby, you just revealed a big problem.”

“So you only play mages and supports?”

“Picking a freeloader hero like Yao? Your teammates are definitely going to report you!”

“I thought baby would confidently pick a jungler and wreck everyone. And then???”

“I feel like I’ve been tricked by baby’s face. Anyway, are there any esports dramas looking for an actor? He’d be perfect!”

The fans’ comments were all friendly, but mixed in were fans of other stars who couldn’t stand Su Nuo, and gamers who’d clicked in from the platform’s homepage recommendations.

“Bad is bad. Stop pretending to be cute. I hate noobs like this.”

“Pre-locking Yao? Gross. Can you not troll in ranked?”

“Without a jungler carrying you, you’re nothing.”

“This newbie’s image is collapsing fast. Did nobody give him a script for the stream?”

There was no end to the mockery, and some of it was even nastier. There were probably paid trolls in the mix, too. Whoever was behind them, they sure thought highly of a newcomer who’d just debuted.

Su Nuo munched on his spicy strips and blinked. “Let me just double-check. I’m playing a Diamond ranked game on my alt account, right? I didn’t accidentally walk into the World Championship finals?”

His fans, who’d been about to go off on the haters, burst out laughing instead. “Cheeky baby, you’ve learned to throw shade.”

“Turns out our baby is sweet on the outside, savage on the inside. Mama can relax.”

“Exactly. My baby’s just playing a game. Do you need to make it such a big deal?”

“So what if we’re here for his face! You wish you had one like it!”

Su Nuo sighed. “Why does everyone call me ‘baby’? Aren’t I a handsome young man?”

He really did love his fans. They made him feel genuine, wholehearted support and affection.

He didn’t want to act to win other people’s approval. He wanted to fulfill his own dream and make up for past regrets. But getting love from his fans made him happy too.

“Because you’re too cute, baby. I used to be a girlfriend fan too.”

“Adorable and doesn’t even know it.”

“He really is young, waaah, how is he this fresh-faced? Can’t bring myself to make a move.”

“Been a fan since the stills dropped. The joy of watching baby grow up!”

Su Nuo was getting a lot of attention. Wei Sinian often featured him, and under the Weibo posts of other cast members, he came up a lot too. He was clearly the whole cast’s favorite.

Especially after seeing the everyday moments shared by the actors and crew, the strikingly handsome young general who’d only existed on screen gradually took on a real-life image: young, very sweet, and sometimes caught sneaking snacks on set and scolded by his manager.

As soon as he picked Yao, his matched teammates were clearly not thrilled. The jungler sent a string of ellipses.

Su Nuo happily typed: “Don’t worry, big bros, I’m super good at Yao~”

The marksman asked: “You a girl? Know to buy the support item at the start?”

Su Nuo immediately replied: “Of course~”

“Okay. Stick with me,” the marksman said.

Su Nuo clicked his tongue. “See that? Adding a tilde when you type is a pro move. They definitely think I’m a girl, so suddenly they’re way more patient.”

Fans: “???”

Can’t tell much else, but now we know you’re a total gaming addict with a whole bag of sneaky tricks.

Su Nuo bought the support item, followed the marksman, and admired his skin. “Yao is so cute. How could anyone yell at Yao? Once I hit level four, I’ll hop on his head and eat my spicy strips.”

Fans gave up. “Baby, you’re kind of a rebel.”

“Go ahead and roast him. This kid’s doing it on purpose.”

“Also, what are all you straight esports guys doing in this stream? Just to be clear: this is an entertainment newbie doing a fan service stream. He really can’t play.”

“You keep calling him bad but you won’t leave the stream. Kind of weird.”

“There are already enough mom fans. We really don’t need guy fans coming to steal our baby!”

“Who’s going to end up with our baby someday? He’s this gorgeous already. Once he grows up a bit more, he’ll be dangerous.”

“Getting off track. Come watch baby play. LOL, he got first blood and now he’s all timid.”

Su Nuo stood still and typed: “Big bro, I really didn’t mean to.”

Then he explained to his fans: “That first skill auto-targets. Who knew it’d hit someone on low health? Hope the marksman isn’t tilted.”

The marksman was a bit petty about it, but since Su Nuo had apologized first, he let it go.

They two-on-one’d the bottom lane and pushed fast. Five or six minutes in, they’d already taken two towers, which put the other team on alert. The enemy kept coming to gank them, and their own jungler came to back them up. After a few team fights, Su Nuo showed his fans just how far Yao could be pushed.

Timing it right as the shield was about to break, he jumped off the marksman’s head, took a full chain of crowd control and turned into a deer, immediately swapped forms, refreshed his skills, landed his own crowd control, buffed his teammate with the support item, and in the blink of an eye was back on the marksman’s head.

All that hopping on and off had the fans convinced. “Sneaky baby, saying you’d go AFK and eat snacks while gripping your phone that hard.”

“LOL, that’s literally me when I game. Team fight starts and I sit up straight and go all in.”

“Wow, he has more kills than the marksman.”

Su Nuo’s stats looked great, but the marksman he’d been guarding so closely couldn’t take it anymore. “Yao, can you stop stealing my kills?”

Su Nuo pouted. “Doesn’t he know how hard I’ve been working to keep him alive? Kills go to whoever earns them.”

The jungler had long since figured out this Yao wasn’t a freeloader. Seeing him clash with the marksman, the jungler tried to poach him. “Yao, come with me. I’ll give you blue buff.”

Su Nuo jumped off the marksman’s head without a second thought. “Jungler big bro, here I come~”

The Wei Sinian fans lurking in his stream got a little jealous. This kid had never once called their Best Actor “big bro.” No matter how nice their Best Actor was to him, he always just politely called him “senior.”

What, was their Best Actor not even as good as a random teammate?

On the surface they joked, “Wei Sinian, look who’s finally getting a taste of it,” but deep down they really wanted to see Su Nuo treat Wei Sinian as well, or even more warmly.

Watching Su Nuo, they had this awkward “bride’s family” feeling, and their Best Actor Wei was like the new bride who’d shown up at the door only to be treated badly.

Baby, why are you kind of a heartbreaker?

With the jungler backing him up, Su Nuo had an even better time. With both buffs in hand, he dove in with the jungler to start fights and rack up kills. Meanwhile, the marksman, now without a support, got caught again and could only lie there dead, and that was when he wanted Su Nuo to protect him again.

Su Nuo lectured his fans: “See that? You can’t keep teammates like that. First he complains I’m stealing kills, now he wants me back? Dream on.” Munching on spicy strips, he gave his verdict: “When you play support, either follow the strongest player or the one who causes the least drama and doesn’t mess up your mood by yapping.”

Fans asked how he’d gotten so good and who he used to play with. He answered, “My best friend, of course. His girlfriend plays jungle, so I always tag along with her.”

The fans were a little disappointed. So the person who played with their baby wasn’t single. They’d hoped to dig up some dirt on this gamer boy’s love life.

The match was over. After exiting the results screen, he answered his fans’ questions. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

I’m hoping for a boyfriend.

“My type? Older than me, with a gentle personality.” Mm. Exactly like his brother.

Wei Sinian’s fans started thinking: is our Best Actor gentle? Kind of… not at all!

Wei Sinian, step it up! Come see what kind of person he likes!

Wei Sinian was watching Su Nuo’s stream, though not from his main account, of course. Otherwise it would end up trending and cause Su Nuo trouble.

Hearing Su Nuo describe what he looked for in a partner, Wei Sinian’s smile faded and his expression turned grave.

No one else would know, but he was very familiar with that look on the boy’s face.

When he talked like that, it meant he already had someone in mind and was thinking about him.

Who was it, that just thinking about them made the boy smile so sweetly?

Hearing the door open, Su Nuo fumbled to hide his spicy strips but didn’t make it in time. His panic made the fans curious. Why did it look like a kid caught doing something bad by his parents?

Su Nuo flipped the camera face down. The fans couldn’t see anything, only hear.

Su Nuo sounded sweet and scared. “Brother, you’re still up?”

Fu Baihan smelled the very obvious spicy-strip scent in the room and confiscated the half bag left. “Not worried about stomachaches anymore? Stocking the snack cabinet with spicy strips again.”

Su Nuo shook his head. “I didn’t buy them!” Then, quietly: “Auntie might have put them there.”

Everyone at home knew Fu Baihan was strict with him, so Fu Mingyuan and Su Jing had become his main enablers.

“Doesn’t matter who put them there.” Fu Baihan pinched his cheek. “Look at the time and you’re still not asleep.”

“Brother Chen told me to interact with my fans more.” Su Nuo tilted his face up to let him pinch it, so sweet it was heartbreaking.

Fu Baihan couldn’t bring himself to scold him. He coaxed him instead. “I’ll have someone talk to him. Go change your clothes. You smell like spicy strips.”

Su Nuo tugged up his collar and sniffed. “But I’m one star away from ranking up. Brother, play one round for me?”

Fu Baihan said coolly, “Don’t you have plenty of ‘big brothers’?”

After watching the kid’s stream until now, Fu Baihan had long wanted to pick him up and swat his butt a few times.

Calling everyone “big bro.” Heartless little rascal.

Su Nuo hooked his finger. “No, you’re the best. That was just to show my fans a trick.”

The fans, deadpan: so we’re all just tools.