A live stream that dramatically transformed a depressed schoolgirl shocked netizens across the count

The group sat around the table, the night breeze from the top of Cangshan Mountain carrying the rich aroma of matsutake chicken soup, dispelling the chill of the plateau.

Li Jianguo carefully picked up a piece of M9 Wagyu beef with a perfect caramelized brown color and put it in his mouth.

The moment your teeth close, the abundant juices burst open in your mouth, and the rich, creamy flavor of the top-quality oils rushes straight to the top of your head.

He chewed twice, then suddenly froze.

After a full five seconds, the burly man's Adam's apple bobbed, he put down his chopsticks, and let out a long sigh.

"Brother..." His voice was a little hoarse, and his eyes were visibly red.

"I've lived most of my life, traveled all over the country, and never eaten anything this delicious."

He paused, his gaze lowered, staring at his hands, which were covered in calluses and still had traces of engine oil under his fingernails.

"If my dad were still alive... I wish I could let him have a bite of this."

"He suffered his whole life, and before he passed away, all he wanted was to eat some stewed beef until it was tender. Unfortunately, he didn't live to see it."

Wang Mei secretly reached under the table and gripped her husband's thigh tightly.

Li Jianguo suddenly came to his senses, roughly rubbed his face, coughed dryly, and picked up the bowl to shovel down two mouthfuls of white rice as if to cover up his embarrassment.

Chen Lang didn't speak. He simply and casually flicked his wrist, using the serving chopsticks to silently transfer the thickest, perfectly cooked piece of Wagyu beef from the plate into Li Jianguo's bowl. He also poured him a glass of warm water.

The camera on the floating ball accurately captured this scene, and the barrage of comments that was scrolling wildly in the live stream paused briefly.

[A middle-aged man choked back tears as he ate his rice... Damn, those who know, know. That unfinished sentence was the most damn heavy.]

Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched. My parents are getting old, and I owe them a good meal; I don't know if I'll ever be able to make it up to them in this lifetime.

[Brother Lang's calm and collected chopsticks move was brilliant. No persuasion, no emotional appeals, just a true man.]

I'm not watching anymore, I'm going to video call my mom.

Before the slightly melancholic silence could spread, Li Duoduo started shouting.

"Mom! Mom, look at this shrimp! This shrimp is bigger than my head!!"

Li Duoduo held a huge black tiger shrimp tightly in both hands, her two pigtails trembling with excitement.

The rich garlic sauce smeared onto the tip of her nose, but she was completely unaware, and turned her head to squeeze towards Shen Qingci.

"Sister Qingci! Look! Have you ever eaten such a big shrimp before!"

Shen Qingci was slightly taken aback.

The little hands holding the shrimp in front of me are very serious, and the sauce on the tip of their noses is quite comical.

As if possessed, she reached out, pulled out a tissue, and gently wiped the sauce off Li Duo's nose.

Li Duoduo looked up at her intently.

"Sister Qingci, your hands are so cold."

Shen Qingci's fingers suddenly stiffened, and she subconsciously tried to pull them back.

"Is that so?" She lowered her eyes, her thick eyelashes concealing the panic in them.

"Mmm!" Li Duo didn't stand on ceremony at all, and directly grasped Shen Qingci's slender, cool fingers with her small hand.

The little girl covered it tightly with her chubby, warm little hands.

She tilted her head back, looking as serious as a little adult: "Mommy said that cold hands are because no one warms them! Don't worry, sister, Duoduo will warm them for you!"

The whole table fell silent instantly, with only the chicken soup in the casserole still bubbling away.

Just as Wang Mei was about to scold her daughter, Li Jianguo couldn't help but let out a muffled laugh, and was then glared at by his wife, causing him to lower his head and eat his rice.

Shen Qingci lowered her head, staring intently at the small hands that were carefully covering her.

The heat emanating from those hands was astonishingly hot, burning along her icy fingertips and into the desolate ruins of her heart that had been barren for over a decade.

Her throat felt like it was stuffed with a wad of waterlogged cotton, tightening in waves, and she couldn't utter a sound for a long time.

In her memory, whenever she didn't get first place, all she received was her mother's cold curses, hysterical smashing and throwing, and being forced to stand in the biting cold wind as punishment in winter.

No one ever told her that if her hands were cold, someone could warm them up.

Finally, she only managed a very low, trembling reply: "Mmm."

Shen Qingci's hands, which had originally intended to pull away, instead gently squeezed Li Duo's hand and never let go.

The chat in the live stream paused for a few seconds, then a flood of comments appeared.

My hands are cold because no one warms them... I'm a rough, nearly thirty-year-old man, and I've been completely crushed by a four-year-old girl. Tears are streaming down my face.

Did you notice? She initially tried to pull her hand away. She's used to not being touched. It was only because Duoduo held on tightly that she stayed.

[The God of Pure Love has fallen on the spot! So the way Chen Lang held her hand all the way wasn't some greasy physical contact at all; he was using his body heat to warm a heart that had been cold for eighteen years!]

I've also experienced depression. That feeling of having ice-cold hands and feet is real. It's like being submerged in ice water; even a slight touch from someone would startle you. For Duoduo, those hands… are more effective than any medicine.

Wang Mei sat beside her, watching this scene, a soft light appearing in her eyes.

She didn't say anything, but simply picked up the serving chopsticks and quietly placed the last piece of Wagyu beef with glistening bone marrow on the edge of Shen Qingci's bowl.

Shen Qingci noticed it out of the corner of her eye.

This time, she didn't refuse with the polite but insincere aloofness she used to.

She lowered her head, silently picked up the piece of meat, and put it in her mouth.

As she chewed, she turned her face into the shadows, her long eyelashes trembling violently in the night wind. A drop of clear liquid landed on the black walnut wood table, instantly dissipating.

On the other side, Li Hao had already finished his meal in a whirlwind.

He quietly pulled a piece of candy from his worn-out pocket, blushed, and pushed it toward Shen Qingci's hand, his voice muffled.

"This... is for you. It's sweet."

The boy's ears burned bright red, and he didn't dare to look at Shen Qingci at all. He turned his face away and pretended to be studying the snowy scenery of Cangshan Mountain in the distance.

Shen Qingci looked down at the candy.

Transparent candy wrappers filled with orange fruit filling.

His fingers lightly touched it, pinched it, and held it tightly in his palm.

"Thank you, Li Hao."

The boy's back stiffened instantly, and he let out an extremely unnatural groan. As if to cover it up, he grabbed a large piece of garlic shrimp and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it without even peeling the shell.

Chen Lang leaned back in his large folding chair, fiddling with a windproof lighter in one hand, taking in the whole scene.

A rare tenderness flashed in his deep eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

He didn't say anything, just looked down and refilled his glass of iced soda.

At that very moment, at the edge of his retina, a dark gold system panel silently slid out, a soft halo flashing by.

[Ding! Detected that the core defensive barrier of the target "Shen Qingci" has been completely shattered!]

[Ding! The host has successfully completed the ultimate psychological intervention using "human touch"! The target's healing progress has increased to 65%!]

[Congratulations, host, for achieving the hidden achievement "Melting the Ice"! You have been granted one chance to win a divine prize!]

Chen Lang didn't even lift his eyelids; with a slight thought, he turned off the panel.

Even without system prompts, it was clear that the girl in front of them had come back to life.

The group of people at the table were making a lot of noise.

Li Duoduo chattered on about who pulled whose hair at kindergarten, Li Jianguo jokingly scolded her not to move around while eating or her chin would fall off, and Wang Mei gently wiped her daughter's greasy mouth with a tissue.

Shen Qingci sat quietly among them.

She was surrounded by the pure, warm voices, by the clean night breeze of Dali and the starlight atop Cangshan Mountain, and by a sense of complete relaxation and security that she had never experienced in her eighteen years.

The curve of her lips, starting almost imperceptible, gradually rose upwards.

getting bigger.

It's becoming more and more realistic.

Until those cold, lifeless eyes, which had been dead for eighteen years, were completely freed from the gloom of the abyss, and filled with the dazzling Milky Way above.

She smiled.

There was no pretense, no fawning, no calculated, standard smile designed to please her mother and teacher.

Her smile was clean, tinged with a sense of brokenness, as if she had survived a catastrophe.

That smile overshadowed the night view of Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake, stunning the entire year.

The 8K ultra-high-definition lens of the suspended ball precisely captured this stunning scene.

The entire live stream, with its hundreds of thousands of viewers, experienced a brief pause of 0.3 seconds.

Then, everything collapsed!

[Holy shit...]

[A goddess descended to earth?! My screen cracked but it couldn't block the light from that face!!!]

She's alive! Look into her eyes, all the lifelessness is gone, she's completely back to life!!

[Li Duoduo's words about no one offering warmth, Aunt Wang's piece of meat, Li Hao's candy... these were all the perfect remedies! In the end, what healed her wasn't the scenery of Dali, but the warmth and humanity of everyday life itself!]

[Brother Lang is a legend. He sat there tonight without saying a word or touching a single bite, but the entire atmosphere, rhythm, and balance at the table were maintained by him. He personally and steadily received the most vibrant kindness from a family and handed it to her.]

I've been diagnosed with COVID-19 for three years. Medication, follow-up appointments, relapses after relapse. But looking at this smile… I suddenly feel that this messed-up world is still worth enduring a little longer.

Just as the barrage of comments was flooding the screen, a striking blue comment with a verified "V" suddenly crossed across the center of the screen.

[Shen Jianguo (V) of Hongyuan Building Materials: Daughter, Dad saw you smile. Dad has never asked for anything in his life, but today I pray to God that you can smile like this every day from now on. Chen Lang, thank you.]