Perhaps some readers still remember that a few years ago, Teacher Root wrote an article titled "From 'Little Ma Yun' to 'Qin Shihuang,' This Family Formed the Internet's Most Abstract 'Baki Universe,'" which remained featured on our official account for a long time. The article was indeed worthwhile; it was not only a record of Fan Xiaoqin's series of circumstances from 2015 to 2023 but also an outstanding piece of writing. So much so that whenever I think of Fan Xiaoqin, I recall the ending of that article—
"But now, at least he can eat hot meals every day, is no longer bullied by his older brother, and many people are willing to play with him.
"He doesn't need to know their intentions; as long as the Beer Immortal and his cousin don't hit him, he remains the happiest Mr. Tree in the entire village."
However, narrative articles do not freeze the passage of time. After this article was completed, Fan Xiaoqin's life continued.
We don't know if he is still that "happiest Mr. Tree in Yanhui Village," only that he and his cousin are still updating videos. The video style largely continues the previous thread, continuing to play out the scripts of "Little Ma Yun as CEO" and "Baki Universe演绎 (enactment)," cyclically paying homage to his previous meme images—
Then, like all internet celebrities, let the traffic slowly consume the spectacle of his era.
Until his life, or "story," reaches a certain node.
Whether in scripts or in reality, this node is always related to "boy meets girl." Often it is due to sexual desire, occasionally due to love, and Fan Xiaoqin is no exception.
In "Hello, Mr. Tree," the village's happiest Mr. Tree sees a young, beautiful deaf-mute girl in a car and boards a bus to Jitai County for the first time. Upon returning, he helps a friend prepare for a wedding, pacing back and forth in his friend's house, and for perhaps the first time in his life, asks his friend a question: "How much does it cost to marry a wife?"
On May 5th this year, Fan Xiaoqin, who had just celebrated his 18th birthday, took a car from Yongfeng County back to Yanhui Village once again, faced the camera to act out the video script, and announced his eighteenth year to the world, along with his possessed "love."
From many video materials, his love interest seems to be a delicate girl who is somewhat asymmetrical to him.
Judging by the reactions of many netizens, this does not seem to be a story where everyone would surround him, applauding and saying "Omedetou."
Judging by the themes of the videos he posted, his cousin, who directs the filming, finally found a new topic, continuously exploiting Fan Xiaoqin's naive understanding of gender relations.
And judging by Fan Xiaoqin's own expression... oh right, people actually can't see his true expression; they can only see him repeating his catchphrase, "I'm not XXX, I'm Fan Xiaoqin," before turning around and laughing loudly while running around in front of the camera.
But this time, what enveloped Fan Xiaoqin's laughter was a sharper gaze.
This sharpness is directed at Fan Xiaoqin's overly blunt mating behavior.
Eighteen is the legal milestone of adulthood. Although it is not the start of puberty, it is the age when permits for behaviors typical of puberty should appear. Perhaps Fan Xiaoqin, finally obtaining the permit, driven by instinct and received external information, developed a longing to "comb his hair like an adult"; or perhaps the person holding the camera realized upon seeing him get the permit that he could begin to taste some topics that were originally "forbidden fruit."
So, under the lens, Fan Xiaoqin, stumbling towards eighteen, put on ear studs, dyed his hair red, started live streaming, and loudly asked fans, "Do any of you fancy me?"
Like a peacock spreading its tail feathers.
Facts enlighten the ignorant.
Accompanying the changes in his appearance was a series of "scandals"—or rather, "laughable incidents."
These "scandals" are无一例外 (without exception) the kind of "stupid things" that male humans in estrus might do, such as finding a girl on QQ and sending voice messages to confess feelings, proposing a relationship in exchange for "buying her a skirt."
As these chat records spread widely, many pieces of information, difficult to distinguish as true or false, began to appear. Some said Fan Xiaoqin publicly "sought porn" on social apps, others said he sent photos of his genitals to girls, earning him the nickname "Optimus Prime" from netizens, and still others claimed Fan Xiaoqin was deceived by a male fan disguised as a female netizen during his "courtship"... and so on.
Thirsty and naked, straightforward yet clumsy, in these chat records and rumors, Fan Xiaoqin presented another face. By common sense, this is a more human-like face; by traffic standards, however, "the happiest Mr. Tree in Yanhui Village" became greasy and off-putting, no longer resembling the previous "innocent mentally disabled child," and thus his reputation collapsed.
Actually, related topics wouldn't attract so many comments if they involved any ordinary adolescent going through puberty. Boy meets Girl has been played out in so many TV series, and rarely have we heard that the public doesn't enjoy watching it—if you don't believe me, check out the comment section of "You and Me, Exactly Opposite."
But why did it cause such a huge reaction when placed on Fan Xiaoqin? I think the reason is mostly similar to the feeling of watching your pet mini-pig grow into a large white pig. Child stars losing their looks, swans turning into ducks, pure electronic pets for amusement growing up and beginning to show human aspirations and conflicts—it's too much of a mood killer.
Therefore, people say "Little Ma Yun has gained intelligence" on one side and "Fan Xiaoqin has become diligent" on the other, holding up their phones to围观 (spectate) this cruel tale of a special child's youth—
Not a standard youth, but cruel enough for him personally.
Puberty is synonymous with acting foolishly. Driven by both physiological and psychological turbochargers, murky emotional venting occurs in various corners. If those things really happened, Fan Xiaoqin probably didn't expect the issue to blow up so large. Unfortunately, modern society has cameras, allowing people worldwide to see the peacock in the zoo spreading its tail.
And what he might not have expected even more is that peacock displays are considered animal performances by modern people. No matter what your original intention was, people traveled far just to see this, so you must display whether you want to or not.
Thus, the filming team's scripts inexplicably included many more memes. In front of the camera, the "fans coming from afar" sincerely presented birthday gifts: cups, tissues, large underwear, and a large cake filled with the words "Optimus Prime."
Facing these gifts, Fan Xiaoqin could only repeat over and over, "My name is not Optimus Prime, my name is Fan Xiaoqin."
Since then, in the video scripts he films, in addition to repeating memes like "eating grilled gluten and spinning in circles," there are now fixed segments like "giving skirts" and "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Perhaps until the recent May 20th, when Fan Xiaoqin "officially announced" he had a girlfriend and filmed some "couple daily life" videos with her, igniting the topic "Fan Xiaoqin is in love," Fan Xiaoqin still didn't truly understand what those videos were pointing to.
But the audience understands clearly. After stories like "rural kid looking like Jack Ma," "tragic youngest son of a family with dwarfism and level 2 intellectual disability," and "the messy family drama of the Baki Universe," both the audience and the filmmakers discovered that "this kid can actually come up with some new tricks."
The surging traffic once again made Fan Xiaoqin a topic of discussion. His hair, his ear studs, the contrast with his past self, and his "love," described by netizens as "men aren't lustful, women aren't greedy," became the new show for this somewhat faded internet celebrity.
Countless gazes once again turned toward Fan Xiaoqin.
The gazes also drowned Fan Xiaoqin and his newly emerged life proposition.
Last year, Phoenix Weekly filmed a short documentary about Fan Xiaoqin. In the film, they asked Fan Xiaoqin what he wanted to do when he grew up.
Fan Xiaoqin said, "When I grow up, I want to make money, and after making money, I'll come back to marry a wife." Then he paused and added—
"Is that wrong?"
Everyone has their own proposition. For some, it's money; for others, career or family. Fan Xiaoqin's proposition is simple, like all children: "What if one day I grow up."
In front of many cameras, Fan Xiaoqin has expressed his desire to grow up a bit. However, for most people, "growing up" is an abstract concept, but for Fan Xiaoqin, who has dwarfism, it is a concrete concept. Perhaps in his understanding, "growing up" is something very specific: age increase, height increase... Once these are achieved, he can go "make money and marry a wife."
Once these are completed, he feels he might have some autonomy.
A year later, he became an adult. Then, his "growing up" rapidly decayed into various scripts, mixed with trivial matters for the audience's entertainment.
Can he do those things? It seems he can, but only under scrutinizing gazes.
Starting from 2015, Fan Xiaoqin's life seemed to be a continuous cycle of being watched.
When he was young, he was watched by his father's gaze asking, "When can you work?"
When he was older, he was treated as "Little Ma Yun," shown to the real Ma Yun, taken by businessmen to reality shows, and displayed to film crews, guests, and audiences.
Later, he was taken to shoot short videos, acting out the "Baki Universe" for the audience, selling big pot dishes to passersby, and showing off to his cousin.
After becoming an adult, the first thing he did was start live streaming, showing himself to everyone.
As an internet celebrity, being watched is his profession.
But as an individual, we actually don't know if he ever expected a fate and life beyond being watched.
In that Phoenix Weekly documentary, there is a small narration: Fan Xiaoqin returned to his home in Yonghui Village after a month and went out to play in the wild. In that record, his father, other villagers who viewed him as a celebrity, and his former playmates did not care where he went. Outside the lens, no one was watching him—
Except for his mother, who also has intellectual disabilities.
Often, when looking at Fan Xiaoqin's experiences over these years, it's hard not to compare them to Jim Carrey's famous movie "The Truman Show." From birth to love, from making friends to working, and even including sleep that should belong only to oneself, Truman lives under the recording of cameras.
Is Fan Xiaoqin another Truman? Yes and no. He doesn't live as extremely, but his life is far less warm than Truman's. Not everyone joined this spectating with goodwill; some might just want to join the circle and spread the "Optimus Prime" meme. And if he wants to escape this studio focusing on him, it won't be like Truman, finding a wall, opening the door, and walking out to end it.
Truman was confined by a fake studio, but Fan Xiaoqin is trapped by a real-life reality show.
The real world is an infinite theater. Wherever he goes, under the交织 (interwoven) gazes of people, he enters that scrutinized life—most of the time as "Little Ma Yun," occasionally as "Boss Fan." They kindly approach him for photos, but they may not care about what he is actually doing.
Wave after wave of traffic brought him to an unknown world, turning him into a spectacle in the online world. Fan Xiaoqin's existence is a fabricated one, yet he seems to depend on it to live authentically.
Looking at it rationally, Fan Xiaoqin, who has both dwarfism and intellectual disabilities, has little room for growth in either intellectual or physical labor. Only in this era where the internet is full of opportunities did he get the chance to live in a decent house, eat hot meals, and occasionally have KFC, without having to intercept cars at the entrance of Yonghui Village, unsure of when they might arrive.
From birth, he fell into an irresistible current, slowly gnawed away by something unknown beneath the tide, until the waves finally deposited him on some beach for a brief respite, waiting for the next wave to sweep him back into the vortex and devour his newly grown flesh.
But so what?
From many people's perspectives, he is already living a good life.
The life lived under surveillance cameras today has nothing to do with him, nothing to do with his cousin, nothing to do with us, and nothing to do with anyone at all.
As long as he continues to make videos, grows up, and pursues romance... under the gaze of traffic, he can always remain "the happiest Mr. Tree in Yanhui Village."
