Chapter 4: An Explosion of Popularity!

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The comments section erupted!

‘Damn it! It’s really a panda! This priest is simply too amazing. How did he manage to rear a panda?’

‘F*ck! This is truly an eye-opener! How can an outdoor livestream feature a panda?’

‘Damn it! Priest, your panda is on the loose!’

‘This priest is too composed!’

‘Judging from the panda’s excellent size, it is an adult.’

From the screen, everyone could see clearly how the huge panda, which stood as tall as 1.6 meters, was happily feasting on the bamboo in the forest.

Ning Fei heard the sounds and hurriedly stood up to take a look.

“What the…?! My bamboo! Stop eating!”

Ning Fei became anxious when he saw the panda eating the bamboo.

The bamboo was a type of extremely expensive and special bamboo named Inky Cloud Bamboo. It could be used to make musical instruments that fetched a high price.

When the Inky Cloud Bamboo was roasted over fire, the juice that was produced was a kind of valuable and precious herbal medicine, which could be used to treat lung-related ailments.

Ning Fei had pinned his hopes on this bamboo forest to improve the quality of his life!

In the end, the bamboo forest which he had painstakingly taken care of, was being destroyed by this panda!

Ning Fei picked up the trowel which he was using just now, and he rushed towards the huge panda in a rage.

‘What is the priest doing? Is he going to hit the panda?’

‘Priest vs panda! This is interesting.’

‘Brother! That is a national treasure!’

‘Since the livestream is still ongoing, let’s take a photo of this.’

The comments surged in quickly.

Ning Fei stopped by the edge of the forest and watched as the panda munched on the bamboo. He was on the brink of tears.

It was a national treasure, and according to the law, there was nothing he could do to the panda unless the panda provoked him intentionally or his life was threatened. If not, he couldn’t do anything to the panda.

Besides, using violence was a problem too. If he won, he would be imprisoned. If he lost, he might end up as the panda’s dessert.

One shouldn’t underestimate the adorable appearance of a panda. It was after all a bear.

In ancient times, Chi You, a mythological warrior, rode a panda to war.

A panda’s strength and its bite were incredible!

A tame panda reared by humans might not be as dangerous, but even a tiger wouldn’t dare to provoke a wild panda like this one.

Under these circumstances, Ning Fei could only try to persuade it.

“Master Panda, I think you have eaten enough. Don’t you think it’s time to leave?

“This bamboo is too tough, and it’s not nice to eat. There is a green jade forest in the South. Why don’t you head there?”

“Brother! Stop eating!”

Despite Ning Fei’s pleas, the panda continued to sit on the ground, looking mightily calm and composed. It munched on the bamboo as it watched him.

It was very arrogant!

At this moment, the screen was filled with incoming comments.

‘Hahaha! This priest is really pitiful! I want to laugh at him! What should I do?’

‘Awesome! So he didn’t rear this panda!’

‘Host, it should be addressed as Grand Master Panda. You should wait upon it. It’s after all just a bamboo forest.’

‘Excuse me, I think that bamboo is called Inky Cloud Bamboo. It needs years to grow, and each shoot can fetch at least a thousand yuan¹. This entire forest should be worth at least 100,000 yuan².’

‘What? 100,000 yuan?’

‘What in hell? Is bamboo that expensive?’

‘I’m not kidding. My family is in the traditional medicine business. Inky Cloud Bamboo is exceedingly expensive.’

‘Hahaha. No wonder the priest looks so heartbroken.’

The viewers were all having a fervent discussion.

Perhaps everyone felt pity for Ning Fei, and within seconds, his webcast room was filled with gifts. Most of the viewers gave him bird pellets, while some even used their card to give him money.

A rich boss even gave him 10 “rockets” that could be exchanged for money! Every rocket was worth 500 yuan!

Ning Fei’s webcast room was gaining popularity swiftly, and he soon had 50,000 viewers.

This was just the beginning. After all, how could one disrespect the national treasure of China?

The management of the Battling Birds Webcast Platform soon discovered that an amateur webcaster had gained immense popularity. One of them clicked into the video and was stumped for words.

“What the hell?! How dare someone feature a panda? Is he trying to get banned?”

After he read the comments, he finally understood what was going on.

So a wild panda had trespassed into the temple’s territory and was eating the host’s bamboo. The priest was just trying to get the panda to leave.

This was a good story!

A wild panda had trespassed into a household. No rules were broken.

The management realized that this new webcaster had joined just a day ago, and he hadn’t yet signed a contract with Battling Birds Webcast Platform. Withholding his judgment, he was soon shocked by the name of this webcast room.

When did a new webcaster have such a random yet excellent name?

At this time, another employee from Battling Birds Webcast Platform also discovered Ning Fei’s webcast room. They had to filter strictly before signing a contract with any of the webcasters.

There were simply too many webcasters, as anyone could choose to do so. However, very few would manage to land a contract. The management had to first do a thorough consideration regarding a webcaster’s ability to draw in viewers.

Their appearances, how they talked, their style and class, and the content of their livestream shows — all were factors.

Without any surprise, they instantly contacted Ning Fei to sign him on.

At the same time when the panda had appeared, many of the viewers went to other webcast rooms to promote Ning Fei.

And so, Ning Fei’s webcast room exploded in popularity.

However, he didn’t have the time and energy to pay attention to that. Every bamboo shoot that the huge panda ate had caused his heart to bleed.

He and his master had planted these Inky Cloud Bamboo painstakingly!

He needed them to earn money!

In less than a month, the bamboos would all have been fully grown. Yet, a “thief” had gotten its hands on them instead.

And unfortunately, there was nothing he could do!

After eating several more bamboo shoots, the panda seemed to be full. It stood up, and with its plump buttocks swaying, it left.

Ning Fei watched as the panda ambled away, and he felt a gust of cold and miserable wind blowing against him.

He glanced at the bamboo forest again and saw that the panda had eaten nearly a quarter of it! He had lost almost 20,000 yuan!

‘Hahaha. The back view of the priest looks so dismal and bleak!’

‘At this time, I feel that the accompanying music should be the song with the lyrics of snowflakes drifting… The North wind is cold…’

‘This is interesting! I like this priest!’

‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone trying to talk reason with a panda.’

Helplessly, Ning Fei began to clear the “crime scene” as he tidied the bamboo forest.

After that, it was nearly afternoon and time for lunch. He suddenly remembered that the webcast was still ongoing. He took out his phone to have a look.

For a moment, he suspected that his eyes had played a trick on him.

The number of viewers was 110,000.

The comments were filled with praises such as ‘The priest is so handsome.’, ‘You’re awesome.’ and ‘I’m sending you a rocket!’.

Ning Fei was stunned. A panda could attract so many viewers?

The mountain was near the rivers, and wild pandas would often trespass the farmers’ houses.

The village head had already made it clear that if anyone spotted a panda, they should ignore it and avoid any confrontation with it. If not, one should wait upon it, and any losses would be borne by the village.

However, Ning Fei knew that the village head had a cap of 500 yuan for the compensation. For a loss of 20,000 yuan, it would be futile to look for the village head.

“Thank you everyone for your support,” Ning Fei said to the screen.

Ning Fei clicked into the app to check on his earnings, and he soon discovered that he had earned more than 6,000 yuan!

He had merely started the livestream in the morning, and he had earned 6,000 yuan?

This money seemed quite effortless!

Actually, the sum of money was correct. That boss had given him 10 rockets, which was worth 5,000 yuan. He had also received rockets and gifts from others.

Although the panda ate 20,000 yuan worth of bamboos, the advertising effect it brought was far more effective than what he could have gotten if he had used the money to advertise himself!

At this time, Ning Fei realized that this saying was right!

There was no weal without woe! Fortune and misfortune depended mutually on each other.

At the thought of this, his mood had lightened up.

Ning Fei glanced at the statistics, and he saw that his popularity had reached 6,300 points!

He was qualified to enter the lucky draw!

“System, give me two Silver lucky draws!” Ning Fei said quietly in his heart.

The lucky draws were categorized into categories of Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Divine. The higher the level, the better the prizes were. So he didn’t want to waste too many of his popularity points.

“Ding! Host has requested the Silver lucky draw!”

“As this is the first time that the host is entering the lucky draw, the chances of getting a prize is higher…”

“Congratulations to Host for winning the skill of angling! It’s the basic level.”

“In the midst of the luck draw…”

“Congratulations to Host for winning some equipment! It’s ten fish baits!”