Chapter 65: Display of Value

From Jiang Jingqi’s reply, it was clear she knew where Gao Yun was from and also knew that he had learned street dance. Her attitude was extremely enthusiastic and friendly; she even invited Gao Yun to her dance studio for lessons and boasted that she could teach him.

At this moment in online communication, the importance of value display becomes apparent.

If chatting on WeChat, you display value through your Moments; on TikTok, you use your own video content.

Gao Yun’s value display on TikTok could be described as a massive success. Coupled with his follower count and popularity, it had cast a halo of an internet celebrity around him.

Therefore, in the social sphere, during the initial stage of meeting new friends, anyone who watched his TikTok videos would instantly develop a favorable impression and hold a high mental score of him, making them much more willing to spend time getting to know and understand him.

Suppose Gao Yun’s TikTok page was completely blank with zero followers—would Jiang Jingqi still have given that kind of reply?

Obviously not. In fact, there is a high probability she would have ignored him entirely and never replied at all.

Who do you think you are? Why would I reply to you? With the time it takes to chat with you, wouldn't it be much better to just scroll through some videos?!

Thus, this is the function of value display in social interactions.

What should you do if you lack value and have nothing to display?

Hurry up and improve yourself, focusing on self-construction:

Work out and exercise more, strive hard at work to make money, read books to boost your emotional intelligence and communication skills, and finally, learn music, dance, or other skills to enrich your hobbies and spare time.

Possessing a talent actually adds massive bonus points in social settings.

Take music and dance, for instance. Not only can you show off in front of girls, but they also serve as a substitute for language to create emotional resonance with them. And if you can monetize these skills to generate extra income, that would be even better.

Lastly, even if you have value, you must know how to display it. Do not deliberately show off by proactively telling a girl what you can do, how great you are, or what honors you’ve won—that makes you look extremely low-class.

You can upload related videos via your Moments or TikTok, or let others subtly mention it to the girl through casual conversation.

Bragging directly about how much money you have or how formidable and awesome you are is just tacky. Even if the facts match your words, it will still breed resentment.

With Gao Yun’s current level of value display, let alone looking for people to chat and make friends with on TikTok,

many beautiful women were already taking the initiative to slide into his direct messages with sexy photos, trying to flirt and tease him.

It was utterly morally bankrupt and utterly shameless!

Gao Yun simply ignored such messages unless the sender was exceptionally gorgeous!

"Alright, as it happens, I'm heading to the capital in a couple of days to visit my teacher, and I also have some work matters to take care of, so I might be staying there for a while."

"Once I arrive in the capital, I'll drop by your dance studio on the way."

What does it mean to openly repair the gallery road while secretly crossing Chencang, making the real look fake and the fake look real?

This was the textbook definition.

Had this been the old Gao Yun who didn't know how to pursue girls, upon seeing Jiang Jingqi’s words: "If you ever come to the capital, you can drop by my dance studio to learn, and I can teach you,"

he would have immediately replied: "Great, I'll come to the capital to learn dance from you in a couple of days."

That is a classic negative example. The intent is far too obvious. With so many people in the entire world who know contemporary dance, why on earth would you make a special trip all the way to the capital just to learn from her? Aren't you doing it because you have feelings for her?

Jiang Jingqi might outwardly agree: Sure, come on over, I'll teach you.

Yet deep down, her guard would instantly go up, generating wariness—an inescapable biological instinct.

This instinct stems from ancient times, when early humans faced the lethal dangers of wolves, leopards, and other predatory beasts. For survival, generation after generation evolved and left this mechanism deeply imprinted in the brain.

No matter what kind of predator is chasing them, humans naturally feel a sense of danger, prompting them to either run or fight back, resisting the approach of that entity.

Therefore, pursuing a girl is much like hunting: you must quietly and slowly close in on your prey, avoiding startling the snake in the grass and scaring the prey away. Once you have reached a sufficiently close distance, you strike with a single fatal blow.

To translate it more bluntly, when approaching a girl, you need to project an attitude of nonchalance—conveying that you don't particularly care for her, that you aren't into her, and that you merely want to be friends, thereby masking your underlying intention to win her over.

For instance, during the initial stage, when you want to ask a girl out to meet up, don't say directly:

"I want to see you, let's go get dinner together."

Change the approach, and it might turn out much better:

"A friend of mine just opened a new restaurant and wants people to test out the dishes. Me and two other friends are planning to go check it out. Why don't you bring your bestie along too? It's his treat."

"I heard a certain movie is quite popular lately, and a few of my friends are going to watch it. Are you coming?"

You go to dinner because the restaurant owner needs food testers, and I just wanted to gather a few more people to help taste the flavors.

You go to the movies because my friend wants to see it, not because I want to watch it with you specifically; I'm merely asking along the way whether you want to tag along.

You must approach women with this kind of mindset. Do not treat them specially or make a grandiose fuss about it.

"(Smirk) Sounds good. If you have time over the next couple of days, you can check out some other contemporary dance performances and their developmental history to learn a bit more about it."

Is this what they call meeting an online friend in real life? It was her first time experiencing this.

Jiang Jingqi found it quite interesting, and a faint sense of anticipation stirred within her heart.

"Well, for the sake of convenience, let's add each other on WeChat."

Seeing that the other party had a great attitude and was very responsive in the chat, Gao Yun immediately wanted to upgrade the relationship—by adding WeChat.

Jiang Jingqi didn't hesitate and rattled off her WeChat ID.

"Sure, my WeChat ID is..."

Once the two became friends, the very first thing to do was naturally to browse each other's Moments.

After a quick glance, Gao Yun noticed that the content was quite similar to what she shared on TikTok—mostly dance practices, food, daily life records, and selfies with friends, just with a more mundane, everyday vibe.

"I never expected this. I thought I'd have to chat for two or three days just to get her WeChat, but it went quite smoothly. Added after just a couple of lines."

"It must be because Big Brother has grown even more handsome lately. Ah, this uncontainable charm of mine."

Gao Yun smoothed down his long hair. He wasn't in a hurry to chat via WeChat yet, intending to let things cool down temporarily, spend the next few days properly studying contemporary dance theory, and then use that as an excuse to smoothly break the ice later.

"Knock, knock, knock~"

"Come in."

Without even lifting his head, Gao Yun kept his eyes glued to his phone, analyzing Jiang Jingqi's personality and preferences from her Moments, occasionally tapping the keyboard to take notes and enrich the electronic character profile document.

"Busy?"

Diao Jun casually pulled over a chair and sat down. Catching a glimpse of the computer screen, he cracked a wide grin and said, "New target?"

"You piece of work!"

Gao Yun shot him a sideways glance and reprimanded, "What kind of talk is that? Treating women like prey? Treating romance like a game?" His tone grew heavier: "This is called a new friend!"

Diao Jun sucked his teeth, genuinely too lazy to argue back. After inspecting the screen more closely, he couldn't help but吐槽 (complain/roast): "Personality, hobbies, astrological sign, favorite color I can still understand, but you've even mapped out the places she frequently visits?! You're making it sound like some secret agent assassination mission!"

"You've got too much time on your hands. One of these days, I'll make a profile document for you too, tracking your shifting personality traits and behavioral dynamics in real-time. I'm doing this for the sake of studying psychology, understand?!"

"Heh! I totally believe that!!"

Thanks to "Little Sister My Lord", "ai himself", and "Pan Huaijin" for their generous tipping support. Thank you so much!!!

(End of this chapter)