What It's Like Being a Vampire

Since the incident had already taken place, Xiang Kun didn’t bother dwelling on it any longer. After having You’s grandnephew’s friend delete the video from Bilibili, he decided not to take any further action for the time being.

As for having someone track down and delete all related parody videos or re-edits shared on various platforms, he didn’t give it a single thought since it wouldn’t make any significant difference.

If he were to widely distribute cease and desist letters, he would only draw more media attention.

While he watched the video, Xiang Kun compared the details in the footage with his memories of the event, confirming he had not exhibited any overly abnormal abilities. Generally speaking, his portrayal in the video – being good-looking yet somewhat oblivious, casually suave with a hint of goofiness – there was negligible chance anyone would deduce from this video alone that he was a vampire.

Xiang Kun did entertain the idea briefly. Should he seize this opportunity and treat the video as the first promotional clip for the “Youlong Restaurant”?

However, he quickly dismissed this idea. Although he had not demonstrated any extraordinary abilities in the footage, he was not suited to be in the public eye. If he ever accidentally became an internet celebrity, he would be easily recognized on the street, which would be quite inconvenient. Besides, it wasn’t fitting for him to be intertwined with “Youlong Restaurant.”

Furthermore, the video showcased his preparation of bamboo-rat meat, not his specialty – rabbit meat. Anyone knowledgeable in cookery would have noticed that the bamboo rat dish he prepared was, in fact, a failure. This fails to serve as advertisement for the dish itself, and his rise to popularity wouldn’t mean anything.

For now, the only thing he could do was to allow it to fade into obscurity, hoping netizens would soon forget about it.

As for his publicity plan for “Youlong Restaurant,” Xiang Kun believed there wouldn’t be any effect for the time being. No one had yet identified where the video was filmed, and he never specified the location. The video had a very generalized discussion about the direction of the cooking show. The character settings, shooting scripts, and three-step publicity they later shared individually with Mr. and Mrs. You Meng were not included in the video.

So, whatever they had to do next would remain the same. As for the videos related to Xiang Kun, they would just wait for their popularity to decrease on its own.

After chatting and explaining the situation with the video in their group conversation, he bid goodbye to everyone and left Xia Libing’s house.

Once he got home, he was naturally met with a long-winded sermon from his mother. However, after having the breakfast that he had spent a lot of time preparing from four a.m., his mum was suddenly in great spirits again. She believed that with his cooking skills and hard-working attitude, it shouldn’t be too difficult for her son to find a girlfriend…

After spending a few more hours preparing lunch, Xiang Kun bid his parents farewell and headed to the high-speed rail station, leaving Citong City.

Before leaving, Xiang Kun left the “Memorial on the Subject of Stepping Down from Official Duty” for his father to “look into” when he had time.

Although his father had never practiced calligraphy himself, he was pretty good at telling good from the bad. At least, he wouldn’t mistake “guests are as

at home” for “the treasure of women” or “diligence can make up for deficiencies” for “Du Fu can act.”

After reading the “Memorial on the Subject of Stepping Down from Official Duty” that Xiang Kun wrote on practice rice paper, his father’s comment was, “Not bad, somewhat improved.” His father had seen him start learning calligraphy and always knew his son’s rough skill level and thought this piece showed improvement from before.

Before heading to the station, Xiang Kun specifically visited the hospital where Xia Libing worked. He found her and handed her a piece of calligraphy he wrote the night he returned to Citong, aside from the “Memorial on the Subject of Stepping Down from Official Duty.”

Standing at the doorway of the hospital, Xia Libing was rather puzzled as she looked at the practice rice paper rolled into a scroll that Xiang Kun handed to her.

He had written out the lyrics from Mao Buyi’s song “People Like Me,” which totaled 301 characters. He took about two hours to finish.

He wrote three pieces that night and kept two for his father and Xia Libing, to see if they would create a similar resonance and relationship to the woodcarving.

Of course, even if these writings could establish a connection, it would have to wait until after he drank blood this time.

Plus, his emotional state while writing these pieces was different from when he was carving. There should be no appearance of the horrific eight-armed, eight-eyed monster. When he was writing the first piece, he was feeling “nostalgic,” and while writing the second, he felt “lonely.” He wanted to test if his hypothesis was correct, that the item could influence those nearby to experience the same emotions and create similar dreams.

After much contemplation, he believed this type of experiment should not harm the subjects; otherwise, he wouldn’t have given the writings to his father and Xia Libing.

However, Xia Libing’s first reaction after receiving the piece was:

“What I wanted is a wood carving.”

“Er, this is not a birthday gift, the wood carving is still in progress. This is what I wrote casually when I came back this time. You had asked me about my singing at Nana’s birthday event, right? This is the song I sang, these are the lyrics. I just thought you might want to see it. I think my handwriting is not bad, maybe keeping this could appreciate its value if I become a famous calligrapher in the future…”

After listening to Xiang Kun’s explanation, Xia Libing accepted the handwriting.

However, after Xiang Kun left, she immediately took the handwriting to the doctor’s lounge to inspect it carefully. Knowing Xiang Kun as she did, his sudden gift must have a reason. It would not be as simple as him casually writing a few characters to show off to others.

Of course, after looking at it for more than ten minutes, Xia Libing still couldn’t figure anything out from the handwriting. She couldn’t help but take a few pictures with her phone, then carefully rolled it back up and carefully put it away.

Xia Libing sent the pictures to an elder who was quite knowledgeable in calligraphy, asking how the handwriting was written. The reply she received was just four words:

“Not so good.”

After getting in the train to return, Xiang Kun casually sensed the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving, much like checking his QQand WeChat for new messages—of course, it was much simpler and quicker than that, just a thought.

Then he had a “surprise”. After sensing the wood carving, he once again felt emotions that weren’t his, and this time, there were also blurry images.

Even more absurd was that there were countless unclothed women lying on the bed, along with the person from whose perspective Xiang Kun was seeing. These women were all naked, but their faces were blurred, and Xiang Kun couldn’t distinguish their features. Near the grand entrance of the room, there was a line of people standing.

Just like those women on the bed, the faces of the crowd were somewhat blurry but relatively clearer. They were old and young, men and women. It looked just like a big family.

Judging from those emotions not his own, Xiang Kun understood the scene in front of him right away. This was a person being caught in the act of infidelity.

No matter those many indecent womanly bodies on the bed or the fourteen or fifteen family members near the door, they should all be exaggerations brought about by fear.

But what Xiang Kun found ridiculous was a monster that was over two meters tall with eight arms and eight eyes. It, dressed in a suit that seemed like a tight outfit, also stood among those with blurred faces, and its arms were wrapped around the people next to it. The absurd creature acted like a family member who was involved in catching the infidelity act.

The one experiencing these emotions, however, did not notice the sudden appearance of the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster, just like the previous man in the hospital room. It seemed normal for the monster to be there.

Subsequently, through that man’s perspective, Xiang Kun watched his family members showing expressions of disgust and contempt before they turned around to leave together. Even though their faces were blurry, their attitudes were strangely clear. The only creature in clear view, the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster, also glanced at the person on the bed with contempt in its eight eyes before leaving with the others.

The fear in the mind of the person having these emotions intensified rapidly.

He lowered his head, looking at his own arms and legs, looking at his stomach. There were disgusting blisters all over his body, and they were spreading and worsening at a visible rate…

After the images and emotions vanished, Xiang Kun gazed absent-mindedly at the scenery rushing by outside the train window. He speculated that the person he had sensed this time wasn’t Tang Baona’s grandfather. From the initial view of the skin, the person should be an adult male.

What he feared becoming was probably being despised by his entire family, and his body collapsing due to certain behavior.

Most likely, he had committed infidelity in reality and carried a certain amount of guilt and remorse. After his infidelity, he might have suspected that he had contracted some disease, thus having these hidden fears..