LAVW – Chapter 150 Tony the Teacher

After the three of them swore brotherhood, they quickly settled into calling each other Big Brother, Second Brother, and Little Sister.

Merlin and Delin were in charge of calling out the titles; Guan Yunfei was in charge of answering to them.

At present, Merlin had only mastered one dish. It was fairly simple, and they quickly agreed on how to split the earnings. Deep down, none of the three believed this collaboration would make big money.

But for people who were all poor, even a mosquito’s leg was still meat.

On the first day of the “new business,” there wasn’t much movement. Two days, three days later, the double boost of a new variety plus good flavor made the improved dish mildly popular.

When they settled the accounts, they found they’d made a small profit.

Merlin took her share and overheard her big brother and second brother discussing adding more hands.

The foreign girl wasn’t very good at arithmetic. She picked up a calculator nearby and pressed away at it, her heart racing wildly as she stared at the final number.

Merlin suddenly spoke up, interrupting Guan Yunfei and Delin. “I can make other dishes too!” She had even already learned two very similar Eastern dishes.

Guan Yunfei: “How many more?”

“A lot.”

Shi Qian: For that, credit goes to the several streets of school snack stalls, and to Chen Niu’s tireless practical experiments carried out to stop Nanyin from eating street food.

Chen Niu knew how to make many kinds of snacks, and later could even improve them himself—clearly a man of skill. But at the beginning, it was simply because Lin Nanyin’s tastes had changed as she grew older. She went from light flavors to preferring heavy, strongly seasoned food.

With money as motivation, Shi Qian didn’t need to do anything at all. Merlin herself seized the time to learn dishes, cook them, and teach them.

Shi Qian’s job was just to follow her around, letting the “learning aura” cover the “head chefs” who were cooking.

The people learning to cook felt Merlin was amazing—like cooking became more interesting and easier just by learning alongside her.

With that, products updated quickly, and they were able to retain more customers.

To ensure supply, the snack stalls kept adding manpower. Even some idle but nimble-handed elderly folks from the gang went out to earn money.

As more and more people learned from her, Merlin’s “magic” was completely exposed.

“Third Sis is really good at teaching people!”

“When I learn with Third Sis, cooking feels super interesting.”

“I used to hate cooking because I was bad at it. Now it’s way better—my egg pancakes are so fragrant now, and my heat control is top-notch.”

This “Third Sis” referred to Merlin. As the gang’s income kept rising, everyone switched to a more respectful form of address for her.

Because she was young, calling her that felt even more amusing, like they were teasing her.

Everyone got busy, and Shi Qian—who had deeply hidden his merits and fame—didn’t even need to teach boxing anymore.

Shi Qian squatted outside Jack’s wire enclosure.

Delin was still filming, but the python Jack’s scenes in Apocalyptic Serpent-Man had already wrapped. The withdrawn Jack had returned home, curling up in his safe wire house to enjoy life.

At the moment, half of Jack’s body was soaking in the pool, the other half exposed outside, hiding under the shade of a tree, looking utterly unwilling to move.

Shi Qian: “Roar, roar.”

Jack, come out and play.

After meeting a few more times, Jack wasn’t as afraid of the little tiger as before.

But sticking firmly to the principle of “no contact if it can be avoided,” Jack hissed once and slid smoothly into the water.

Watching that massive body glide in without even splashing a single drop, Shi Qian shouted in his heart: Awesome!

Beside Shi Qian was Merlin, who had recently found some rare free time and given herself a day off.

Looking at the little tiger’s wide eyes, she screamed inwardly, He’s just too cute.

Unable to resist, Merlin stepped forward and hugged the little tiger.

Shi Qian couldn’t even be bothered to dodge. As his fur grew coarser, Merlin no longer liked kissing him anyway.

A hug was fine—hug if you want. Either way, he was going to shed fur.

Merlin hugged and petted him. “Qian, shall we go watch TV? You’re on today! Your first time!”

Shi Qian, who had been really looking forward to it: …

Why does that sound weird when you say it?

Still, he wanted to watch. Shi Qian got up and headed toward the large house with the TV.

The Hong Gang was too poor. With such a large group, there were only a few TVs. And among those, only one—the one in the large house used as a lounge—was paid up to watch Morbis Realm.

So humans and tiger had to gather in one room to watch TV together.

The moment Shi Qian entered, someone immediately made space for him and even shook open a large carpet for him—very ceremonious.

“Qian loves being clean, he only lies on the carpet.”

“Smarter than Jack!”

“You can tell from the name—Jack is everywhere. I’ve seen plenty who didn’t even finish elementary school.”

“Don’t say that, Jack’s pretty smart too. He never scares people.”

“That’s because people scared him first.”

Merlin rubbed the tiger’s head. “Qian, hear that? Everyone’s praising you. Be good and watch TV, okay?”

Shi Qian lifted his chin, signaling Merlin to scratch it.

Only those who’ve experienced it know—chin scratches feel really good.

Outside the TV, someone was petting a tiger; inside the TV, the show began.

On the screen, amid beautiful icy plains, a small tiger with black-and-white markings appeared.

Round-headed and round-brained, the little tiger perfectly embodied adorable tigerish cuteness, instantly winning people over.

Then Ross walked into the frame. Handsome in appearance, and playing a character whose sinister, powerful aura was completely different from his own pure personality, he blended it all into an outstanding youthful image. His popularity was sky-high.

Almost the moment he appeared, young men and women in the room cried out, and the more looks-focused ones all smiled.

Even Merlin couldn’t help saying, “They really filmed him with so much charm.”

Shi Qian turned his head and asked softly, “Roar—?”

Regret blocking him?

Merlin: “Shh—”

Shi Qian turned back and continued watching himself interact with Ross on screen. The feeling was a bit strange, but also quite fresh.

The overall visual style was beautiful. Little tiger Will caused a small mishap, dragging his owner into bad luck as well, making the audience in front of the TV burst out laughing.

The original author of Morbis Realm gave Will and his owner quite a few “privileges,” making both characters exceptionally likable. Although they belonged to the villain camp, they still had many adorable sides.

Even Shi Qian himself felt that he was rather cute. His pair of blue, watery eyes were filmed like sapphires—stunningly beautiful.

The magnificent, ethereal ice plains were merely a setup scene for him and Ross.

They received orders, set out, and made contact with the protagonist team.

Ross’s owner was portrayed as intelligent, while Will was sometimes clever and quick-witted, sometimes displaying a dazed innocence that caused a bit of trouble. But none of it was a real problem—the owner still maintained firm control of the situation. Viewers admired the villains’ high-IQ maneuvers, while their worry for the protagonist team tightened their hearts, rising and falling with the soundtrack of Morbis Realm.

The episode ended.

Shi Qian heard countless cries of “No!” by his ears, along with people so excited they wanted to grab the director.

Merlin was also clawing at her heart: “How can it be over already?!”

Shi Qian: …You’ll see what comes next when you film it.

Alright—actually, he wanted to see what came next too.

The previously scattered acting scenes, once stitched together, were truly a joy to watch. The overall quality was exceptionally refined—no wonder Morbis Realm enjoyed enduringly high ratings.

Film-level audiovisual effects; sound, color, light, and shadow; a storyline faithful to the original yet stunning and outstanding; the director team’s elevated aesthetic; the actors’ all-out performances…

What the audience ultimately received was an extremely satisfying viewing experience!

And because Morbis Realm was so explosively popular, the moment Will—played by Shi Qian—appeared, he drew enormous attention.

The next day’s newspapers ran a piece of news— “Morbis Realm Readers Get into a Street Fight over Demonic Tiger Will Not Matching the Original Setting.”

The headline said “fight,” but the article explained that the cause was one reader being utterly won over by Shi Qian, while another was dissatisfied; the two ended up in an argument.

This news was just a tiny corner of a massive audience base. When Shi Qian arrived at the set, he heard more news—the production office phones had been ringing nonstop.

Many book fans were dissatisfied with Shi Qian’s image!

The director who had been filming with Shi Qian felt a bit of a headache—but wasn’t worried at all. “They’ll all regret it.”

Given Morbis Realm’s plot, Will only grew more tragic along the way. Who could be so cruel as to keep blaming Shi Qian for not fitting the image? Most would probably be wailing in the middle of the night—lamenting that their earlier complaints about Shi Qian had been far too harsh.

“Come on, baby. We’ll be concentrating on filming your final segment over the next few days. You’re about to become the most popular tiger in the world!”

The director greeted Shi Qian with a smile, his eyes bright, as if lit by a flame of anticipation.

Shi Qian knew what the director was anticipating—future audiences crying, and taking joy in that.

It was… a rather peculiar kind of fun.

Quite twisted, really.

Shi Qian swore that he would absolutely not watch the scene of Will’s death that he acted in—it was too tragic, truly too tragic.

The demonic tiger Will, who helplessly swallowed his owner into his own body, endured pain and suffering, and finally set foot on the path of revenge for his master.

But as a villain, he was fated to be a tragic piece that could never succeed.

People had already predicted that Will would not succeed. Even though the demonic tiger legion under his command was immensely powerful, throwing both camps into chaos and leaving them at a loss, unable to deal with him.

Yet who could have imagined that the once-majestic Will would be injured again because of a tiny relic left behind by his owner—struck down, losing the upper hand.

In the end, he was surrounded and killed. His death was heartbreakingly painful, as he collapsed in the “homeland” he had built single-handedly—a stretch of snowfield.

As he fell, the sky reflected in his eyes the image of the departed.

He let out a whimper, more cutting to the heart than the icy wind.

This long sequence took a full two days to finish filming.

When the final shot ended, Merlin, who had been acting along, cried uncontrollably. Shi Qian’s emotions also stayed low—he had gotten too deeply into the role and couldn’t pull himself out immediately.

Even the twisted director wiped the corners of his eyes before continuing to review the footage.

After checking it, the director shouted loudly, “Will’s scenes are finished! Perfect!”

At that moment, some of the crew were still immersed in sorrow, gazing at Shi Qian with reluctance, while others let out celebratory roars.

But the circle of people around the camera was unusually silent—even the director was quiet.

There were tears on several faces!

They had all been stunned, genuinely heartbroken over Will’s death.

“Good heavens, this acting is absolutely shocking—my heart is shattered.”

“Is it really just a tiger?”

“This is a miracle, the true Will bestowed upon us by God…”

“So many close-ups—every single one pierces the heart. I’m going to drown in Will’s sorrowful eyes.”

“Qian has his own world of performance—he’s truly incredible.”

“I’ve already fallen in love with Will. I heard some viewers aren’t satisfied with Qian right now—they’ll definitely end up crying for their mothers, loudly cursing us, and thanking heaven that we found Qian!”

Shi Qian openly eavesdropped, thinking to himself: I like Will too.

He didn’t like tragedies, yet Will’s tragedy was so reasonable. It could only be blamed on how perfectly the author had chosen an animal character—the persuasiveness was overwhelmingly strong.

In reality, there truly are loyal little animals who can give everything they have for their owners. No conditions, no reasons—single-mindedly devoted, even foolishly so.

Merlin cried until her eyes were swollen and couldn’t drive. After Shi Qian wrapped his filming, Guan Yunfei took him back to the Hong Gang territory.

When Merlin received another large sum of profit-sharing, she finally forgot her sadness.
“Boss, is our business really this profitable?”

Guan Yunfei replied, “Business has been even better these past couple of days. The profits haven’t been fully calculated yet.”

Merlin: !

She picked up the calculator again. After crunching the numbers, she realized that once the Hong Gang’s stalls had expanded on a large scale, the earnings far exceeded what she made acting in luxury stores.

And recently, because Merlin had been acting too often, many familiar customers had complained—she barely had any shifts left.

After calculating it all, Merlin simply decided to take a few days off and focus on researching new dishes.

With the free time, she also planned to read and take the exam for an animal actor agent’s license.

She knew very clearly that Shi Qian was about to become the rising star of the animal world.

Qian loved acting, and Merlin felt she could do more. With an agent’s license, she could better take care of Qian’s acting career, preventing others from cheating him or dragging him into trouble.

Hearing her packed plans, Guan Yunfei felt a bit of pity for the foreign girl and advised, “Don’t work yourself too hard. There will be enough money.”

Merlin, looking a little thinner, smiled. “It’s not too hard—much better than before! Thank you for your concern. You’re just like the big brother I imagined.”

Shi Qian swore he saw Guan Yunfei blush.

But in reality, Merlin—the unintentional flirt and little rascal—truly regarded Guan Yunfei as an older brother. She spoke sweetly but never carelessly; everything she said came from the heart.

When Guan Yunfei didn’t know what to say, Delin, who had just gotten off work, hurried back.

Delin also liked Merlin, and he showed it quite obviously. Guan Yunfei listened to the two foreigners talking, staying silent.

From Merlin, Delin learned about making money and praised her: “You’re amazing. None of us know how to make so many delicious Eastern dishes, yet you know so many—and can even come up with new ones.”

Merlin quickly explained, “I didn’t come up with them myself.”

“Then who taught you?”

Explaining would be too troublesome, and the Thousand-Arts Master was far too mysterious—he needed to be kept secret. Merlin had a sudden idea. “It was Teacher Tony! A mysterious Eastern person who refuses to reveal his name.”

The first person the Thousand-Arts Master took care of was Qian—so it must have been because Qian helped her the second time as well.

And Qian watched sunrises, moons, and stars, doing all sorts of strange things—those must have been secretly taught again by the Thousand-Arts Master.

The Thousand-Arts Master was like Qian’s teacher. Add a little cover, and that made him—Teacher Tony!

The chicken drumstick in Shi Qian’s mouth almost fell out.

The little tiger stared blankly at Merlin, suspecting he had misheard.

How long had it been since he last heard the word “Tony”? And now those two characters had turned into four.

Tony… with “Teacher” added!