Chapter 5 – I… I Can’t Do It
Half an hour later, Du Yan arrived, carrying bags full of snacks and groceries.
While Shi Cha busied himself in the kitchen, he told Du Yan to make himself comfortable.
Du Yan kept saying, “Don’t worry about me,” as he neatly sorted the vegetables and meat he had bought into Shi Cha’s double-door refrigerator.
After all, Shi Cha didn’t just suffer from social anxiety—he also had a touch of OCD. The fridge was packed, but everything was arranged so neatly that it didn’t look messy at all.
By the time Du Yan finished, Shi Cha was coming out of the kitchen carrying the freshly cooked dishes.
Du Yan pulled a can of Coke out from one of the snack bags, twisted it open, and took several big gulps with a loud “glug glug,” letting out a satisfied sigh and teasing Shi Cha.
“Whenever I come to your place, I have to bring my own drinks.”
Shi Cha kept his head down as he set out the bowls and chopsticks. “I have drinks here.”
“What kind of young person drinks goji berry tea every day—or chrysanthemum and honeysuckle tea? Shi Cha, you live healthier than my grandpa.”
Shi Cha took off his apron and hung it in the kitchen, countering, “It helps protect my voice.”
Du Yan took another few sips of Coke and shrugged. “Well, I’m not planning on going down the voice acting path anyway. Come on, let’s eat, I’m starving.”
“Sure enough, you made my favorites—spicy diced chicken and poached fish in chili oil!”
As he spoke, Du Yan fished out a large piece of fish from the red-oil-and-chili-laden broth, yelping dramatically from the heat and spice.
Seeing Du Yan so enthusiastic made Shi Cha feel much more like eating.
As he ate, Du Yan praised him, “Shi Cha, you’re so capable—your future wife is going to be lucky.”
Shi Cha’s chopsticks froze mid-bite.
He probably wouldn’t ever have a wife.
After all, he didn’t like women.
Du Yan kept eating with huge mouthfuls, but that didn’t stop him from talking. At the table, his voice was the only one that could be heard.
“That guy in our class who’s eternally second place—Lu Lecheng, the one who always scores just below you on every test—he went and joined a talent show.”
“I mean, he graduated from a legit acting program. Fine if he doesn’t want to act, but at the very least he could’ve gone into voice acting. What the hell was he thinking, trying to become an idol on one of those shows?”
Shi Cha’s chopsticks paused again. He subtly glanced up at Du Yan.
Du Yan, sweating from the spicy food, didn’t notice at all.
Shi Cha went quiet for a moment. He thought to himself: I’m ranked first, and I didn’t go into acting or voice work either. Du Yan doesn’t know I’ve become a small-time streamer… right?
He probably wasn’t implying anything about me, right?
Shi Cha bit down gently on his chopsticks and murmured, “Mm.”
Getting a response only made Du Yan talk even more excitedly.
“Still, even though Lu Lecheng isn’t much to look at, his professional skills are decent. This time, he actually debuted as center in the talent show. At least he didn’t embarrass us from A University.”
Shi Cha felt like he was about to lose his appetite.
He became a small-time streamer, didn’t make any money, and even burned through what little savings he had left.
Now that was a real embarrassment to A University.
Du Yan ate quickly—just like how he did everything else, fast and decisive.
He grabbed a napkin, wiped his mouth, and downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.
“Wow, that was delicious. I’m stuffed!”
He leaned back in his chair, looked across the table at Shi Cha with a confused expression.
“I’ve been talking non-stop and already finished eating. You haven’t said a word—and you still have half a bowl left?”
“You need more exercise. Staying at home all day with no physical activity… low energy means low appetite. I’m telling you, this isn’t healthy. Look at me.”
Du Yan patted his stomach. “This is what a healthy body looks like.”
Shi Cha glanced at his stomach and gave a three-word verdict: “You got fatter.”
Du Yan: “……”
“This is called being well-nourished. You skinny types don’t understand. With this body type, if I lived in the Tang dynasty, I’d be a top-tier heartthrob.”
Shi Cha swallowed his last bite of food.
“Tang dynasty women considered plumpness beautiful—not men.”
Du Yan: “……”
With his belly full, Du Yan sprawled out on the sofa in Shi Cha’s living room.
After lying there for a while, he started trying to persuade Shi Cha to go out more and socialize.
“Look at you, staying home alone all the time. You barely go out once a week. You probably don’t even say a word when you’re at the store checking out, right? If you keep this up—going a whole week without speaking—I swear next time I see you, you’ll have turned mute!”
Although Shi Cha’s current amount of daily talking probably equaled what he used to say in a whole month, it was all done online. He had no intention of letting Du Yan know he was working as a streamer.
So, he didn’t argue back.
But Du Yan was right about one thing—he really did need to go out.
After all, his bank balance was down to just 300 yuan.
“By the way, do you have any job leads? Could you recommend something to me?”
Du Yan thought he was in for another long round of nagging that would go nowhere, so he was caught off guard when Shi Cha suddenly asked for a job.
He sat up straight right away and said after thinking a moment:
“There’s actually quite a few jobs. Xiao Man and the others just started a studio last month, and they’re hiring. You know all of them, so it should be an easy adjustment. If you don’t want to do voice work, I also know a few drama crews that are casting small supporting roles. With your looks and skill, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
Those were all good options, but…
Whenever Shi Cha thought about having to interact with people for long periods of time, his scalp would start to tingle.
“Is there any kind of work that doesn’t involve dealing with people? Like that time I did voiceover for the movie.”
As soon as Shi Cha mentioned it, Du Yan understood.
“You mean that animated movie dubbing gig? That time the company came to our university to recruit voice actors. I was the one who signed you up. They had already rented a sound booth just for you to use. I can only say that was a rare exception.
You know how it is—normally, whether it’s for TV, film, or animation, voice actors are either well-known professionals or hired through established studios. Even if they go with a freelancer, that person still has to work on their schedule and coordinate with their team.
Can you really manage that now? If you can, I’ll keep an eye out to see if any production teams are looking for voice actors.”
Shi Cha lowered his head and scratched at the sofa cushion. The truth was, he probably couldn’t—but right now, survival was a bigger concern.
If he couldn’t find a job that required zero human interaction, he’d have to compromise.
He stayed quiet for a moment, then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I can do it.”
Du Yan gave him a surprised look—what brought on this sudden change of heart?
“Um… would it be possible to find something short-term? With fast payment? Ideally, something where I can get paid within a week or two. I don’t mind if it doesn’t pay much.” Shi Cha brought up his request a little awkwardly.
He still wanted to minimize social interaction as much as possible.
Given his current situation, his savings and supplies would last at most two more weeks.
Now that he was an adult and had graduated, he obviously couldn’t keep asking his family for money.
When he heard Shi Cha’s request, Du Yan had a moment of realization—he must be short on cash.
That explained why Shi Cha was suddenly willing to step out of his comfort zone.
“Don’t force yourself. If you’re short on money, I can lend you some. I mean, I don’t have a ton, but I can still scrape together a few tens of thousands for you,” Du Yan offered.
Shi Cha had entered university at sixteen, the youngest in the class. Du Yan, being outgoing and warm, had always looked out for the socially anxious kid.
Sometimes he couldn’t help referring to himself as Brother Yan, even though Shi Cha had never once called him that.
Shi Cha shook his head. “It’s not exactly that I’m short on money—I just need to get out there and work, earn some wages. I can’t just keep sitting around, burning through my savings.”
Du Yan studied Shi Cha’s face. He didn’t look like he was forcing himself, so it probably wasn’t an emergency.
Then he remembered—the apartment Shi Cha lived in wasn’t cheap. Word was, it belonged to Shi Cha’s older brother. As long as nothing had happened at home and no one needed money urgently, then things were probably fine.
It really did seem like the kid didn’t want to ask his family for pocket money anymore and was trying to support himself.
“Alright, I’ll ask around for you. I’ll get back to you within this week.”
Du Yan stayed a bit longer before finally heading out.
Unlike Shi Cha, who spent all day holed up at home, Du Yan was always out and about, constantly busy.
Just before leaving, he sighed once more and said, “I’m always eating at restaurants or ordering takeout, but your cooking is still the best, Shi Cha. If only I could eat like this every day.”
Shi Cha hesitated for a moment, then finally replied, “I’m not very good at that.”
Du Yan laughed heartily. “Alright, alright, I know you’re socially anxious. I’m off now.”
Over the next few days, Shi Cha continued his livestreams as usual.
Although the viewer count wasn’t as high as the day he trended on the hot search, the numbers still remained impressive.
In fact, even though the online viewership gradually declined over the following days, it was still a level Shi Cha had never reached before.
Ever since that day when he refunded all the tips from viewers who asked him to stream using Lin Ran’s voice, no one had made that kind of request again.
That alone was a huge relief for Shi Cha.
Otherwise, he might have had to borrow money just to pay them back.
Many of the viewers had originally come because of the trending topic, but over time, they were completely won over by Shi Cha’s voice.
Fans began commenting one after another, declaring that they had discovered a rising star in the voice acting world. If they became fans now, they could proudly call themselves “OG fans” when he eventually made it big!
Despite the sudden spike in followers and the flood of live comments, Shi Cha didn’t show much of an emotional reaction.
Except—when someone asked him to speak in his high-pitched “cutesy” voice again, he visibly cringed and firmly refused while curling his toes in embarrassment under the desk.
What a joke—he swore he would never use that voice again in his life!
On the other side, Du Yan proved true to his word and got back to Shi Cha before the weekend with a response.
Shi Cha looked at the contract file Du Yan sent over, and his heart began to race wildly in his chest.
He hadn’t even signed the contract yet, and he was already nervous.
On the other end of the phone, Du Yan said:
“So? Pretty impressive, huh? Your big brother Du pulled it off. This is a really popular variety show lately. Each episode is filmed over two days and one night, and the whole thing is live-streamed.
There’s one guest spot reserved for a non-celebrity. You have no idea how competitive that is. Thousands of people lined up just to submit their applications. Luckily, Director Qi has very high standards—even the guest has to be insanely good-looking.
I pulled some strings to get your resume to the top, and within half an hour, they called me back. Guess what the first thing they said was? Haha—they asked me, ‘Are you sure he’s not a celebrity?’
Let’s just say, only you, Shi Cha, could pull this off—your ID photo looks like a professional portrait. Anyone else wouldn’t have stood a chance.
The production team handed me the contract on the spot. I’m heading to your place now. Once we sign it, I’ll deliver the contract to them right away.
Let’s do this quick and clean!”
Shi Cha was so nervous he started to stutter.
“I—I don’t think I can do it…”
Du Yan instantly sounded exasperated, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“What do you mean you can’t? Come on, Little Shi Cha, pull yourself together! Look, even though you’re just a guest and not a celebrity, your appearance fee is still way more than you’d make from voice acting—at least ten times more.
Now think about that paycheck. Don’t you feel like you can do it after all?”
Shi Cha really wanted to say he honestly couldn’t.
But like Du Yan said, he was doing this to earn some money. And if two days of work could bring in this much, he really had no reason to complain.
Before he could object again, Du Yan cut him off.
“I’m your temporary manager now, so just listen to me. If I say you can do it, then you can. That’s final. I’ll be there in a minute.”
After hanging up, Shi Cha sat frozen, staring at the photo of the contract Du Yan had sent him.
It felt like the sky was falling.