novelraw Chapter 122 : Unexpected Popularity (2)
Chapter 122 : Unexpected Popularity (2)
Chapter 122: Unexpected Popularity (2)
The sudden popularity left him at a loss. Only then did he understand why Sichuan Girl would rather die than expose her male-disguised appearance.
Simply put, the internet was the internet, and reality was reality.
Online, he could shamelessly mess around, but not in real life—because in reality there were acquaintances, and he had to keep face!
And now, he felt as if a hand had reached out from the screen to tease him—and not just one hand, but a whole crowd.
If he had an alternate identity like Sichuan Girl’s “Li Shiya,” it would have been fine. But he didn’t. And worse, this video was filmed unusually clearly—his face, his clothes, everything was easy to see. With the abilities of netizens nowadays, if they wanted to find him, it was only a matter of minutes.
He quickened his pace. Fortunately, it was only a video that went viral, and no one around him recognized him.
By the time he stood at his cousin’s door, the sky outside had already darkened.
As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw his cousin Su He and Liu Rushuang laughing nonstop on the living room sofa.
“Yo, the Excavator Hero is back. Not bad, cousin—you’ve even got the guts to play hero. And you actually know how to drive an excavator? What’s your principal’s surname, huh?”
Seeing Lin Mo return, his cousin Su He jumped off the sofa and teased him as she walked over. Yet from the way her eyes sized him up and down, he could still feel her shock.
Logically speaking, knowing how to drive an excavator wasn’t a big deal—hardly worth such a fuss. But she had never once imagined that her cousin had such a skill.
If not for watching the video, she wouldn’t have been able to picture her cousin not only driving an excavator, but also saving someone. It was surreal.
Fortunately, from the video she also knew Lin Mo was fine. Otherwise, there was no way she could stay this calm.
And online, there wasn’t just the one video Lin Mo had seen. There were plenty of others filmed from different angles. But because of poor quality or bad angles, none of them went as viral as the one Zhang Wei had forwarded to him.
Even so, those other videos of him still racked up quite a few views.
Hearing Su He’s words, Lin Mo immediately understood that his cousin had also seen the video. But seriously—“Excavator Hero”? Was that name for real? Way too low-class!
“I know a little. Just enough to drive.” Lin Mo smiled.
At that, cousin Su He glared at him, her expression turning serious.
“A little? No way. You looked way too skilled in that video. Just knowing ‘a little’ and you dared to save someone?
This time you were lucky. But what if that person had fallen off the excavator—then who would be responsible?
By then, even those three melons and two dates you own wouldn’t be enough to pay for damages.”
That was a real relative talking. Others only saw him driving an excavator to save people—cool, handsome, amazing. But Su He’s first thought was, good thing nothing went wrong, otherwise her cousin’s life would have been ruined.
If he got into a lawsuit before even graduating college, at best he’d lose a huge sum of money. At worst, he might go to jail.
As someone who had graduated years ago and worked in society, Su He, being older than Lin Mo, understood clearly just how big the risks were.
The human heart was unpredictable. She never dared gamble on human malice. But she knew if anything had gone wrong during the rescue, if that mother and daughter had suffered any accident, their family would almost certainly not let it go—even if Lin Mo’s intentions were purely to save them.
Lin Mo was silent for two seconds before finally speaking:
“I was wrong, cousin. Next time I run into something like this, I won’t act recklessly.”
Though he was confident in his skills, he knew Su He was speaking the truth—and that she genuinely cared about him.
After all, he didn’t even have an excavator driving license, and the machine he used wasn’t his—it was taken without permission. If something had happened, at the very least he would bear secondary responsibility, with a very real chance of being the main one at fault.
At first, he had felt a bit proud of himself, especially after seeing his video go viral. He hadn’t said it out loud, but deep down he felt a bit smug.
But after hearing his cousin’s words, he instantly calmed down a lot. Ever since he gained his “shopping page,” he hadn’t realized it himself, but arrogance had started to creep into his mind.
Before, even if he knew how to drive an excavator, chances were he wouldn’t have risked using it to save someone. Honestly, he had just wanted to show off a little.
Sure enough, once a person gained an external advantage, it was like a poor man suddenly becoming rich—the mindset became unstable.
But what was done was done. He didn’t want to regret his actions today. After all, he had saved two lives. Whether morally or ethically, he had a clear conscience. He just needed to remind himself—not to let arrogance grow just because of his shopping page.
“Hey, hey, hey. Enough already. What, my little brother does a good deed and that’s a problem? Xiao Mo, sis supports you—you did great! If what your cousin said had really happened, I’d pay the legal fees and compensation for you myself. Geez!”
Seeing the tension between the two, Liu Rushuang, who had been sitting on the sofa, immediately got up and walked over. She shot her best friend a look, then pulled Lin Mo down to sit on the sofa beside her.
Truth be told, she also understood everything Su He had said—maybe even more than her. But that didn’t mean Lin Mo had done anything wrong.
On the contrary, she thought Lin Mo’s actions showed a kind of purity. This was exactly how a university student who hadn’t yet graduated should be.
Because he was still young—not yet molded by society—he still carried the purity and courage of youth.
“Don’t act like you’re the good guy here. That’s my cousin. Why are you shielding him like I’m the villain?” Su He rolled her eyes, then turned back to Lin Mo.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“I had some noodles.”
“Good. If you’re hungry, there are dishes in the pot. Now tell me—what exactly happened?” Su He asked.
Though the matter was already resolved, as his cousin she still wanted to know the details.
Hearing that, and seeing both of them staring at him, Lin Mo sighed and recounted everything that had happened after work today.
When the two of them heard how he had just rescued them and then the bedroom was immediately consumed by flames—even without seeing it firsthand, they couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. It was too close. Luckily, the ending was good—misfortune within fortune.
“But now, our Xiao Mo is famous. Just look how hot this video is! And these comments—tsk tsk. I knew it. My thoughts were completely normal, weren’t they? And compared to those girls in the comment section, I’m way better, right? They’re not even pretending anymore.
Even if I dislocate my jaw, I’d still admit it. Xiao Mo, you’ve got it, hahaha!”
As she said this, Liu Rushuang laughed uncontrollably. Reading the comment section, she felt like she had found her people. Her judgment had never been wrong.
Lin Mo didn’t want to say anything. Nor did he want to recall that colorful comment section.
“Get out of here. Normal, my foot—you’re practically dripping oil!” Su He spat.
Unconvinced, Liu Rushuang shot back:
“If it were just me, fine. But if so many people think the same way, then we’re all wrong?”
“That’s only because you female hooligans all gather in the comment section! Do you even want to see what they wrote?” Su He said angrily.
Clearly, she had also read the comments. Honestly, if it were some other video, she might have been one of those voices too. Birds of a feather flock together—if she could be friends with Liu Rushuang, their personalities must share similarities.
But this time was different. This time, the protagonist was her cousin. So all she could do was grumble on the sidelines—she absolutely wouldn’t dare join in herself.
At that, Liu Rushuang pouted, then casually threw ten thousand Dou+ into the video and said:
“Do you dare open your Douyin inbox and let the two of us see it?”
Su He: “Ahem, pretend I didn’t say anything.”
It had to be said, trust between people collapsed this quickly. Clearly, Su He also had sides that Lin Mo didn’t know.
Lin Mo thought the matter would end here. But unexpectedly, the video’s popularity kept skyrocketing. In just a few hours, it had over two million likes, and tens of thousands of comments. Even official media began reposting it.
What seemed at first like just another viral short video had suddenly been elevated to another level.
Meanwhile, the rescued mother and daughter, along with other related parties, also grew curious about Lin Mo’s identity, and began investigating.