ATLAS TRANSLATES

Sunday.

Lu Xiaohan arrived at school early and was speaking quietly with the class entertainment committee member, Wen Qi.

“Why is everyone copying others?” Wen Qi said angrily. “Besides, Sister Lian wrote this song and Yan Lu sang it. Xiaohan is just a fan of the song – how is that riding on someone’s popularity? I’d say Bai Shaoqi is the one trying to ride on Sister Lian’s popularity!”

Lu Xiaohan had only used a guzheng music segment during her face-changing performance.

Bai Shaoqi became famous because of “Betting on Wine,” and was planning to record “Another Autumn” next.

The entertainment committee member frowned, “It’s one thing to call it copying, but they’re also criticizing Xiaohan’s playing skills.”

“It’s fine,” Lu Xiaohan quickly composed herself. After being a content creator for so long, she had developed thick skin. “It’s just some comments. In a few days when the hype dies down, these voices will disappear.”

When Bai Lian and Ning Xiao entered the classroom, their voices became much quieter.

There was an inspection today. Bai Lian wore her blue and white school uniform and placed her backpack on her seat, raising her eyebrows: “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, just some internet stuff,” Lu Xiaohan shook her head. She didn’t want to affect the two top students’ studies, so she changed the topic: “Do you think your grandfather would agree to make our graduation Chinese-style outfits? I want to make a video about it…”

That’s just how the internet is. Lu Xiaohan knew Bai Lian didn’t use the internet and didn’t want this matter to affect her mood.

Bai Lian unzipped her backpack, took out her pen, and said to Lu Xiaohan: “You can try asking.”

Lu Xiaohan’s eyes lit up.

That meant there was a chance.

She took out her notebook and started writing plans.

—

After school in the afternoon.

Lu Xiaohan followed Bai Lian back to the Ji family home.

Ji Heng was embroidering a robe in the courtyard. After Lansi returned to the country, his colleagues had admired his clothes and asked Lansi for the same style.

Jiang He sat beside him reading a large book.

Jian Zhongyou brought out Bai Lian’s guzheng, sat cross-legged under the banyan tree, and lazily plucked the strings without any particular melody, just playing randomly.

Lu Xiaohan was afraid to disturb this scene when she stepped into the courtyard.

She quietly walked in, handed Jiang He a handful of fruit candies, and only spoke to Ji Heng when he looked over.

Class 15 wanted to order custom graduation outfits together, and she also wanted to record a video.

Ji Heng would usually refuse other requests, but for this one, he hesitated: “You want to record a completely traditional Chinese style graduation outfit video for your graduation photos?”

“Yes, Grandfather.” Lu Xiaohan sat beside him, helping massage his shoulders.

“Do your other classmates also want to wear these kinds of clothes?” Ji Heng wasn’t sure.

Lu Xiaohan was surprised, “Of course, I’ve asked them already.”

Since they were using class funds, she had asked in the group chat. Everyone was already curious about the clothes Bai Lian usually wore, and when they heard about getting custom-made outfits for graduation photos, everyone was excited.

She showed Ji Heng her phone with all the excited messages from the group chat.

Ji Heng remained silent for a moment before saying: “Alright.”

Lu Xiaohan cheered.

Lu Xiaohan was very proactive. Seeing Ji Heng agree, she wanted to start filming some details today. She hadn’t brought her camera, so she called her father to bring it over.

Bai Lian stood beside Jiang He, holding her school uniform jacket and wearing a loose T-shirt. The shirt had an embroidered Chinese cabbage on it that didn’t match her style, with a bright red sun on the back.

Jiang He sat on a raised stool, swinging his legs slowly as he unwrapped a fruit candy and handed it up to Bai Lian.

Bai Lian accepted it, and he unwrapped another candy to find Lu Xiaohan in the storage room.

Lu Xiaohan was busy filming Ji Heng’s fabric collection with her phone and didn’t take the candy, instead just opening her mouth: “Ah—”

Jiang He: “…”

Six o’clock.

Lu Xiaohan’s father couldn’t find the door to the Ji family home, so Bai Lian put down her review materials to help him, since Lu Xiaohan was busy.

The alley had many twists and turns.

Bai Lian saw a middle-aged man at the entrance of Qingshui Street. He was of average height with a somewhat round face, holding a black bag in one hand and looking down at his phone in the other.

“Uncle Lu?” Bai Lian hesitated.

Upon seeing Bai Lian, Uncle Lu quickly wiped his eyes, “Ah, Student Bai, I’m sorry to trouble you to come get me, I don’t know the way.”

He walked over with quick steps, giving Bai Lian a smile.

“It’s no trouble,” Bai Lian walked beside Uncle Lu without wearing her jacket, “What’s wrong?”

She was always direct.

“Don’t laugh, but,” Uncle Lu knew young people all used Weibo, and he had seen the entertainment committee members always liking their comments, so he thought Bai Lian knew about Lu Xiaohan’s situation, “I just felt bad seeing those comments.”

Uncle Lu knew Lu Xiaohan was a content creator, and he liked, commented on, and shared her videos every day. He would report malicious comments and send her private messages.

These past few days, because of Bai Shaoqi, Lu Xiaohan’s videos had been flooded with hate comments.

Some were from paid trolls, others from regular users.

These people hadn’t even watched Lu Xiaohan’s previous videos but were cursing in the comments of her latest video, saying all sorts of things.

Lu Xiaohan had long known she would encounter this as a content creator and adjusted quickly, but her parents weren’t as mentally strong. With only one daughter, when they encountered a hater before, her father could stay up all night arguing with them.

Now seeing those comments naturally made them upset.

“Don’t tell Xiaohan,” Uncle Lu quickly said to Bai Lian, scratching the back of his head.

At his age, being seen crying by his daughter’s classmate was quite embarrassing. He straightened his chest and walked forward.

Bai Lian led him to the courtyard and opened her phone to download an app.

She had almost no entertainment apps on her phone.

But she remembered which video app Lu Xiaohan used, and after downloading it, there was a registration page. She was too lazy to fill it out and just clicked “Use Current Phone Number” to enter.

She sat next to Principal Jian, with her back to the well, her eyes lowered.

Her elbow rested casually on the stone table, and though she was in the gentle evening sun, she somehow seemed dangerous.

“What are you doing?” Principal Jian called out to Bai Lian twice, and seeing her being very perfunctory, he put down the guzheng.

He came over to find her.

Bai Lian had just logged in.

Principal Jian happened to see her with the username “User2589741,” clearly a new account, “You really don’t use the internet?”

He spoke in shock.

He had always thought Bai Lian was just brushing him off, but now Principal Jian was truly bewildered.

“Mm.” Bai Lian lazily clicked on the search bar.

Principal Jian didn’t have a habit of peeking, so he sat back down and chatted with her about Yan Lu’s new song.

Bai Lian searched for the account “One Bowl per Meal” and clicked on it. There were not only user results but also lots of recommended videos.

The first video was an entertainment news clip of Bai Shaoqi’s livestream.

It was a recording of Bai Shaoqi chatting with fans, “It’s okay, it doesn’t matter, everyone knows I don’t care about these things. If they want to copy, let them copy… My playing is soft? It’s fine, there’s no need to argue with people who don’t understand guzheng, we just need to play well ourselves.”

“I’m still in Xiangcheng, Principal Jian? I’m not sure… Everyone, stop spamming, if they want to use it, let them use it. How could they understand the style of ‘Betting on Wine’ better than me?”

Bai Lian pressed her lips together.

She took out her earphones and found Bai Shaoqi’s video segment to listen.

Bai Shaoqi’s guzheng segment had added drums and she had made some minor adaptations. From Bai Lian’s perspective, it lacked emotion and was too soft, unlike how she had written it.

She had watched Lu Xiaohan’s video segment yesterday.

It was a face-changing video that only used the “Betting on Wine” music during the general’s face change.

Although Lu Xiaohan’s technique was average, this segment had been guided by Jian Zhongyou, so the emotion of “Betting on Wine” was captured very well.

She was from Xiangcheng and naturally held great respect for this song. Combined with having seen Yan Lu practice with the spear, this emotion could only be understood by those who truly knew.

Bai Lian returned to Lu Xiaohan’s video homepage. Her new video already had 290,000 comments.

Surfing Expert: [Don’t you really know the background music is from a fraud? (smile)]

Hehehe: [These days anyone can be a content creator, can officials please ban these ignorant attention seekers who only know how to ride on others’ popularity?]

ww Night Covers Eyes: [@Bai Shaoqi is a top student at North City First High, has performed at Jiangji Music Academy, and will become a master of guzheng in the future? May I ask which school is the blogger from, where have you performed? Oh, Xiangcheng First High]

[Poor mountain villages produce evil people (shy)]

[…]

Bai Lian had never used the internet before and didn’t know some people could be so hostile.

She also didn’t know how widely this spiral of silence phenomenon could spread. Lu Xiaohan’s performance actually captured the emotion very well, but these kinds of comments were all buried beneath the other side’s comments.

This created an unstoppable situation where everyone was cursing at Lu Xiaohan.

New internet users could easily be swept up in this rhythm and join the frenzy.

The two most liked comments were—

Wave Fighter: [Don’t let any trash come and randomly copy, how dare you judge when you know nothing? How could you understand the style of “Betting on Wine” better than @Bai Shaoqi?]

[One Bowl per Meal, how fat are you? Is the reason you never show your face because you’re too ugly?]

Bai Lian took a deep breath.

She stood up abruptly, her face extremely cold.

Beside her, Principal Jian was startled. He stopped plucking the strings and looked up at Bai Lian, “What’s wrong?”

Bai Lian shook her head without speaking and went to find Lu Xiaohan.

Lu Xiaohan had finished filming Ji Heng’s storage room with her camera.

“Finished recording?” Bai Lian leaned quietly against the doorframe, waiting until she finished before raising her eyebrows.

“Mm.” Lu Xiaohan nodded, reviewing the video she had recorded. Her father was talking with Ji Heng.

The two men were subtly praising their own granddaughter and daughter respectively.

Bai Lian nodded, “Alright, let’s record a video.”

Lu Xiaohan followed behind Bai Lian as they went out. She took a big step over the threshold, not understanding, “What video?”

Bai Lian walked to the stone table and looked down at Principal Jian, “Let me use the guzheng for a bit.”

Principal Jian handed her the guzheng casually: “It’s yours to begin with, what do you mean ‘use it for a bit.’”

He stood up at the same time, giving his seat to Bai Lian.

This stone was specially set up by Ji Heng for Bai Lian to play guzheng, slightly raised. Bai Lian sat down on the ground and casually placed the guzheng on her lap.

“Sister Lian,” Lu Xiaohan watched her actions and seemed to know what she was going to do, somewhat excited, “Sister Lian, are you going to record se…”

“No,” Bai Lian’s fingers pressed on the strings, interrupting her: “I’m recording ‘Betting on Wine.’”

Lu Xiaohan suddenly froze, staring at Bai Lian in shock.

The courtyard’s big light turned on, casting a cold glow on Bai Lian’s head. Under the light, her eyes were extremely dark, “Why are you like Yan Lu?”

Her fingertips still rested on the strings, her posture casual yet imposing, “The style of ‘Betting on Wine’ – how could they understand it better than me?”