Chapter 38 (Second Update)

Clenching her fists, An Tong mentally reassured herself: It’s okay, Yu He just got lucky. All these wealthy patrons are busy people; they won’t stay in Yu He’s live broadcast room forever. Once this big sister leaves, I’ll make sure Yu He gets beaten back to a pulp.

Being the top streamer in the fitness section, An Tong indeed had some skills. She retreated to the wall, placed her hands on the ground, and kicked up into a handstand against the wall.

[Barrage: "This sister is playing dumb again. Last round when Yu He had fewer gifts, she said she could do a one-handed handstand on a Red Bull can for 100,000 gifts. Now with over 10 million gifts, she’s not mentioning the Red Bull can stunt."]

Yu He glanced at his palms; the imprints from the Red Bull can were completely swollen, and in some places, blood was oozing out. He shook his hand in front of the camera: “Let’s forget about the Red Bull can stunt. I'm not like her. Dear bosses, give me some face, and don't follow the rhythm in her live broadcast room, okay?"

[Private Message from Qi Ge: "Don’t be soft-hearted. She was so arrogant when she bullied you."]

[Yu He: "Let's not do things that tarnish our reputation. Consider it building up virtue."]

[Private Message from Qi Ge: "…If you keep this up, who will spend money on gifts next time? People just want to see the other side suffer. Oh, by the way, adding the top donor on WeChat is an international practice. I’ve already talked to the new top donor, Pan An Ni. She has sent her WeChat ID to you in a private message. Remember to add her later."]

[Yu He: "Got it."]

Pan An Ni was sending gifts so fiercely; she had already sent over a million in this single round. What kind of rich woman was she? Yu He didn’t even have time to advise her to stop.

For such generous gift givers, Yu He would usually send a private message to ask if everything was okay, in case it was a child using their parents' card, or someone borrowing money or moving funds around to donate. Making money without affecting others’ normal lives was Yu He’s bottom line. He wasn’t short on money and almost never actively asked for gifts.

Since his childhood, Yu He has harbored a dream: with such a vast population in China, if every person gave him one yuan, he would have over a billion.

Now, as a live streamer, Yu He still clings to this idea. Douya Live, the platform he streams on, boasts 500 million users, with a daily active user base of 200 million. If each person could gift him a 5.20 yuan rose, that would amount to a billion yuan.

However, Yu He’s dream seems quite elusive. Douya Live focuses on esports, and esports players earn from contracts with the platform rather than from gifts. There are very few users who give generous amounts of gifts, so even though the esports section is the most popular, esports players hardly ever make it to the top of the monthly donation rankings.

This has established a culture on the Douya platform where most of the audience are spectators, not gift-givers. While there might have been instances of single donations amounting to millions on other live-streaming platforms, this is a first for Douya Live.

The top donor, Pan An Ni, is still in the live broadcast room. An Tong is momentarily speechless due to her punishment, and the barrage in Yu He’s live broadcast room has gradually become more harmonious.

[Barrage: "Sister An Ni is so domineering."]

[Barrage: "Thanks to Sister An Ni for defending my wife, Yu He. Punish her again, and my wife is going to have morning sickness."]

[Pan An Ni [Top Donor]: "Morning sickness?"]

The barrage eagerly enlightens Pan An Ni about the 'pregnancy' incident involving Yu He.

Yu He, with his hand over his nose and wearing a mask, coughs lightly: "Ahem, that embarrassing incident of mine, you guys just love to bring it up, don't you?"

The barrage completely ignores Yu He's words, continuing to flood with thanks for An Ni.

[Barrage: "Thanks to Sister An Ni for standing up to injustice, putting an end to that idiotic Tong Bao's vile rhetoric."]

[Barrage: "Tong Bao? Doesn't she claim to be Sister Tong, taking on a mature and graceful persona?"]

[Barrage: "Ugh, in front of her fans, she's the proud Sister Tong. In front of the top donor, she becomes the delicate Tong Bao. Just wait, she'll start crying in no more than two minutes, complaining about her waist and wrist hurting, saying she got injured during a previous live broadcast and can't do a handstand."]

This user clearly overestimated An Tong. Less than a minute into her punishment, she fell from the wall, stubbornly massaging her wrist.

Before Yu He could say anything, she spoke first: "I'll do it for you right away! What’s the hurry? My wrist is sprained."

Yu He responded: "Big sister, I haven’t said anything yet. Isn’t this the moment when you fell and told me not to play dead?"

An Tong sniffled, squatting on the ground, not uttering a word, tears streaming down her face.

Usually, when crying during a punishment, An Tong was somewhat acting. But this time, she was genuinely aggrieved. She couldn't understand why she couldn't beat a small streamer with only a few hundred thousand followers, or why the god-like rich patron who could throw millions in gifts in one round wasn’t her fan.

She had finally climbed to the top of the fitness livestreamers; those wealthy patrons should be gifting her instead!

That Pan Anni sounds like a wealthy lady; she must have given such generous gifts because of Yu He’s good looks! Maybe there's something shady going on between Yu He and Pan Anni.

What a shameless act.

Ang Tong is filled with righteous indignation, seemingly forgetting her own affairs with the top-ranking brother in a hotel room.

"I told you I would give you a punishment!" Ang Tong lifts her face to look at the camera, shouting, "You’re a guy, relying on your good looks and casually showing off your abs to get female fans to give you millions in votes. My votes were crowdfunded by my family. So what if you have more votes?"

Ang Tong walks up to the camera, pointing at Yu He: “I don't believe your sister will always be in your live stream. Dare to not run away after this round.”

Yu He raises his eyebrows, leaning his head on the back of the gaming chair, and says nonchalantly, "Yeah, I won’t run. Can you still do a handstand? I haven’t even asked you to hold up a Red Bull yet, have I?"

Hearing that she might have to hold up a can of Red Bull, Ang Tong is scared to the point of sobbing.

She has many fans and a solid foundation; she rarely loses in PK battles. Even when PK-ing with other top streamers, she does not propose overly harsh punishments. However, before today, even streamers with hundreds of thousands or millions of fans were easy for her to handle, but now she has hit a snag with Yu He.

Now, everyone in her live stream knows that there is a godlike wealthy supporter in Yu He’s live stream. Who would still give her votes?

The score is now 1:1. If Pan Anni doesn’t leave, she’s bound to lose. Then, everyone will know that Ang Tong, the top girl in the fitness section, lost miserably to a small streamer with just over a hundred thousand fans.

600 bags of Bean Sprout No.1, someone is bound to edit this video and she will be hung on the pillar of shame, never to come down.

"Wuuuuuu." Ang Tong feels like she's in a dream, experiencing an extremely surreal feeling, not understanding why she plummeted from the top in the blink of an eye.

Ang Tong doesn’t even bother with the punishment, she pulls up a chair, sits in front of the camera, and starts crying on the table.

Ang Tong's room manager keeps sending her private messages.

[Room Manager: Stop crying. There are over a hundred thousand people watching in the live stream. Can you be a bit more professional?]

[Room Manager: Hurry up and give him his punishment. Do you still want to work in this field?]

[Room Manager: It’s okay if we can't outdo him in gifts, but the punishment must be done, and it must meet the standards.]

Ang Tong wipes her face with a tissue and happens to see this string of relentless messages. In an instant, she just wants to turn off her phone and ignore everyone. The PK battles, which used to boost her confidence, now seem like a man-eating tiger, instilling fear in her heart.

In the camera, only Yu He’s beautiful peach blossom eyes are visible, and these eyes have won him quite a few fans for his looks.

Yu He's eyes are usually lazy, and he slacks off a lot during his live streams. If he is not doing a punishment, he just lies on the table.

Once, he started a live stream just to accumulate streaming time without doing a PK battle. At first, he interacted with the comments, but later he just lay on the table and fell asleep. This laid-back attitude has a strangely attractive, world-weary charm.

At this moment, Yu He watched Dang Tong with his arms crossed, not rushing her at all. His gaze was cold, a rarity, and devoid of any emotions. It wasn't disdain or contempt; he simply looked on indifferently, like a celestial being weathering tribulations in the heavens, carelessly observing the sorrows of the mortal world.

Dang Tong felt a surge of sorrow. Even though Yu He was just a small streamer with a hundred thousand followers, and she, Dang Tong, would still be the top streamer in the fitness section of Douya Live after this game, she still felt overwhelmingly sad. Why is it that even though we are all human, Yu He is handsome and lucky, effortlessly earning hundreds of thousands in a single live stream?

Yu He quietly watched Dang Tong cry for a while. After seeing messages in the live chat urging Dang Tong to do her punishment right away, Yu He pressed his palms together in prayer: "I'm really grateful for all the support from the big spenders, especially Boss Pan. But I'm sorry, everyone. After all, she’s just a girl. The handstand is a move that I find challenging myself, and she's obviously not in a good place emotionally right now. So, if there are any big spenders who sent gifts wanting to see her do the punishment, please send me a private message backstage. I, Yu He, will return all your gifts."

The room manager, Qi Ge, sent Yu He a string of exclamation marks.

[Qi Ge: !!!!! Are you crazy??]

Yu He chuckled, a warmth and maturity beyond his years flowing through his eyes: "My room manager says I'm crazy."

[Qi Ge: ...]

[Chat: Ahhh, why does his smile look so good!!!]

[Chat: I'm stunned, forgot to take a screenshot.]

[Chat: Are you crazy? I am the one who's crazy; I've fallen for you. Baby, are you really 19? Would you consider a 25-year-old aunt? Auntie has money, all for you.]

The live stream screen burst into an array of gift special effects and fireworks, with the chat flooding the screen, almost completely covering Yu He's face—all repeating the phrase "Auntie has money, all for you."

Yu He shook his head with a light smile, amused by the quirky comments from his fans.

Dang Tong ultimately didn't dare to renege for the entire game. Her agency's manager called her three times, which she didn’t answer. A message from him hung prominently on her phone screen.

[Manager Li Ge: Still live streaming, huh? Go do your punishment. Losing one game doesn’t matter. The other side only has one big spender guarding. After this, just outdo him in the number of firework tubes sent, and you win. The company will help you with the numbers. Besides the fans, we have hundreds of company accounts. Surely we can beat him.]

The firework tube is a type of gift, priced at just 19.8 yuan. Each account can only send one, and any additional sent won’t be counted in the total. In the end, the streamer with more firework tubes sent wins.

Dang Tong instantly snapped back to reality.

That’s right. She won the first game, and losing this one makes it a tie. With her fan base being hundreds of times larger than Yu He's, plus the support of hundreds of company colleague accounts, she thought, "How could I possibly lose in terms of numbers? I may not have a big spender like him, but in terms of fan quantity, I will not lose.”

Wiping away her tears, she said, "I'm sorry, my dear viewers, I lost control of my emotions just now. I will do the punishment right away." Dang Tong looked at Yu He: "I will make up for the time wasted just now, and the time from the previous round after this game."

This manner of venting followed by calmly accepting punishment appealed to the bystanders, and Dang Tong's live stream room finally shifted from skepticism to gradually including more encouraging words.

Dang Tong held her title as the top streamer in the fitness category with some merit; doing a handstand for one round wasn't a challenge for her. However, since becoming popular, she seldom lost. Other streamers, wary of her top streamer status and afraid of being harassed by Dang Tong's fans, dared not make things too difficult for her during PK (Player Kill/Player versus Player) sessions.

Transitioning from frugality to luxury is easy; Dangtong has gotten used to sitting on her chair every day, occasionally performing a twenty-minute fitness routine to earn money. Enduring a whole round of handstand brings her more psychological shame than physical fatigue.

It's okay; as long as she perseveres through this round, she can still win.

Best of three rounds; as long as she clinches the final victory, the millions in tips from Yu He's live broadcast will be her stepping stone.

Defeating a broadcaster with millions in tips is an opportunity not everyone gets.

"Dear fans, there's no need to cast your votes this round. Let's show our team spirit in the next one." Dangtong regains her confidence and shouts towards Yu He, with her back facing him, "Yu He, you have a God-level patron. I won't be guarding the tower this round either. I'll make up for the three minutes of guarding the tower with a penalty."

Yu He had no objections; he lay on the desk playing Candy Crush, responding indifferently with a hum.

[Bullet Chat: I just love how Yu He doesn't seem to care about anything.]

[Bullet Chat: We're feeling so bad for him, but he seems to not feel bullied at all.]

[Bullet Chat: Most broadcasters would take this chance to be gleefully vindictive, but he's just casually playing Candy Crush, not caring at all. He truly is my treasure of a broadcaster, Yu He.]

[Bullet Chat: How did a rapper even get in here?]

[Bullet Chat: Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter. Such a quirky broadcaster with quirky fans.]

Yu He was very focused on his game of Candy Crush, and as the round was about to end, he called Dangtong back.

Though Dangtong had been doing a handstand for ten minutes and felt okay, seeing Yu He calling her back early and the big "FAILURE" on her screen made her feel uneasy.

Yu He, with one hand supporting his head, said, "I won; apologize to my fans."

Dangtong initially wanted to argue about the best-of-three rounds, but she quickly realized that if she didn't apologize now, many viewers who wanted to see her apologize would send gift rockets to Yu He in the next round.

Dangtong's face changed colors several times before she finally pushed her gaming chair away and gave a sincere bow, "I'm sorry, fans of Yu He. I delayed the penalty time in the last round when I was changing my skirt. I've made up for it in this round. Please forgive me."

Yu He hadn’t expected Dangtong to suddenly bow. He was startled and sprang up from his gaming chair in the moment she bent over, avoiding her bow.

[Bullet Chat: Ahh hahaha, I'm sorry but that was just too funny. Yu He looked like he just flew up.]

[Bullet Chat: He did fly up.]

[Bullet Chat: Look how scared the kid is.]

Dangtong lifted her head and found that there was no one in front of the camera.

After seeing Dangtong seated, Yu He reappeared in front of the camera.

“I lost this round. The loser gets to set the rules for the next.” Dangtong’s live stream had ten times the viewership of Yu He’s. She tied her sweat-soaked hair back with a headband, “Do you dare to compete with me on the number of gift rockets sent?”

Yu He didn’t speak; he directly found the option for challenging with gift rockets, “What's the upper limit?”

Dangtong said, “9999, and each user can only send one. You know that, right?”

Yu He nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

On the other side, Pan Anni, sitting in front of her screen, was utterly confused.

If each user could only send one gift, how could she send gifts to Yu He?

Pan Anni quickly pulled out her phone and sent a DingTalk message to the contact saved as ‘Big BOSS’.

[Finance Department—Pan Anni: Boss Fu, the new rule for sending gift rockets is one per person.]

[Big BOSS: Understood.]

After closing the chat with Pan Anni, Fu Yunzheng edited a notice and directly sent it to the Fu Corporation's middle management group chat.

The next second, middle managers from Fu Corporation all over the country saw the notice in their DingTalk group.

[Fu Yunzheng: Urgent notice, all middle managers are required to immediately instruct their employees to download the Douya Live APP and go to the following live stream link. Purchase a blue gift rocket and send it to the broadcaster. This notice must be executed within 13 minutes; it will automatically become void after that [attached link]. Report the actual number of participants after 15 minutes, which will be included in the year-end performance assessment. Finance assistant Pan Anni is responsible for handling subsequent reimbursement matters.]

[Finance—Pan Anni: Received.]

A minute later, employees from all of Fu Corporation’s branches saw the new pinned task in their respective work group chats.

Meanwhile, Fu Yunzheng closed the DingTalk message, exited the live stream, and shut down his computer.

Ten minutes later, when Yu He returned to the study, Fu Yunzheng had already picked up a well-known book on humanities and history to read.

Seeing Yu He walk in, Fu Yunzheng looked up at him, “Is the live stream over?”

Yu He didn’t seem particularly happy about winning the PK, appearing rather indifferent, “Ah, a fifteen-minute PK round. I completed my wish list in eight minutes. The broadcaster I was PK-ing with was dumbfounded, said she was feeling unwell, and then went offline. Probably has never seen a wish list completed so quickly before.”

Fu Yunzheng didn’t say anything.

He thought to himself: With the year-end performance appraisal tied to it, how could I not finish this quickly?

Yu He continued, "I didn't expect to gather all 9999 blue firework tubes in an instant. I really am lucky. Last round, a wealthy sister helped me out, and this round, so many kind-hearted people stood up for justice. There really are more good people in the world."

Fu Yunzhuang remained expressionless, said nothing, and just lowered his long eyes to continue reading.

Yu He thought that Fu Yunzhuang didn't understand the live-streaming jargon, so he briefly explained it and concluded, "In short, it's a premature victory. No need to play the full fifteen minutes. You were looking for me just now, weren’t you? So, I ended the stream. What's up?"

Fu Yunzhuang, without lifting his head and flipping through the book, said indifferently, "It's nothing. I heard a loud bang and was afraid you had fallen to your death."

At first listen, the tone of his words seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it was surprisingly piercing.

Yu He smiled, realizing that Fu Yunzhuang was a bit upset. Last time he fell while practicing a backflip, Fu Yunzhuang had also jabbed him with his words like this.

Yu He sat down next to Fu Yunzhuang on the sofa and forcibly changed the subject: "What are you reading?"

Fu Yunzhuang flipped over the cover to show Yu He—

"Ancient Mythology and Ethnicities."

Yu He looked at Fu Yunzhuang somewhat surprisedly, "Mythology? Since when were you interested in this?"

"Don't you love listening to these stories? You really enjoyed the story of Shen Sanzhen last time." Fu Yunzhuang closed the book and placed it on the desk, "You mentioned wanting to attend the traditional Chinese medicine course at Feng University; why haven't I heard anything about it since?"

Yu He lay back, covering his face with the book, "Ah, how could you not have heard? Yu Qingyan messages me every day, asking me to accompany him to the open courses. With the university's winter vacation approaching, how could there be so many classes?"

Fu Yunzhuang wheeled his chair to the cabinet on the wall to fetch something, casually saying, "If you decide to study there next semester, I'll buy a house nearby for you to live in, to save you the trouble."

Yu He rolled over, the book sliding off his face, falling onto the sofa, and then rolling onto the floor. Without lowering his head, Yu He reached out, groping on the carpet for the book while saying, "You've been quite keen on sending me away to live elsewhere lately; something’s not right."

To others, the main point of Fu Yunzhuang’s previous words would likely be on 'buying a house for you,' but Yu He's focus is always so unique.

Fu Yunzhuang, with a medicine box on his lap, wheeled over to the side of the sofa, bent down to pick up the book from the floor, and put it back on the small coffee table. As he opened the medicine box, he said, "Thinking too much; don’t you always get car sick?"

"Even if I get car sick, I still have to come back and find you." Yu He sat up from the sofa and, with one hand, grabbed Fu Yunzhuang's chin, deliberately splashing dirty water on Fu Yunzhuang, waiting to hear him coax him, "In case you find someone else while I’m not around."