"Famous"

The mood picked up again amid a flood of cheerful comments.

As the stream drew to a close, everyone clamored that they hadn't had enough.

Yu Nian soothed them as usual. "All right, I have an eight a.m. class tomorrow. How about I stream until the early hours when I'm less busy?"

Yu Nian's fans were suckers for this. After his gentle voice coaxed them for a while, they still said their goodbyes graciously, looking forward to his next stream.

After ending the stream, Yu Nian checked his earnings over the past few days.

Usually, apart from his base salary, Yu Nian earned his money from their monthly subscription renewals. Gifts actually accounted for only a relatively small portion.

Now, gifts made up the largest share instead, and Y was still his biggest contributor. In just these few days, Y had already sent him over a hundred thousand yuan in gifts.

Thinking about how the platform would take almost half of that hundred thousand, with taxes coming out on top of that, Yu Nian couldn't help feeling the pinch.

Still, looking on the bright side, at least his income had increased, and he could put away another sum of money.

Yu Nian took stock of his current situation. His income was fairly stable, and the new contract he had signed here offered slightly better pay and benefits than Huajia. He didn't spend recklessly, either, and had some savings, so he should be able to support himself until graduation.

Yu Nian set aside some spare money and roughly divided it up, then transferred it to two separate accounts the next day.

The first was something like an intermediary account. Yu Nian added the recipient's account details to the transfer note and wrote down its purpose: clothing and school supplies.

The second was a personal account.

Not long after he sent the money, a call came from the other end.

Yu Nian had just finished class and found somewhere quieter to answer.

"Nian-Nian, why have you sent so much money again? Do you have enough for yourself?"

The voice on the other end belonged to an older woman.

Yu Nian smiled. "Yes, plenty, Auntie Liu. I've made quite a bit lately."

Auntie Liu was still worried. "You're still in school yourself. What money could you be making? I've asked around. That game-streaming job of yours is something you can only do while you're young. You need to save some money for yourself."

Auntie Liu had been the director of the Children's Welfare Institution where he used to live, and she had helped Yu Nian a great deal.

Warmth filled Yu Nian's heart, but his tone was smug. "It's fine. I'm good-looking and look young. I'm sure I can retire a few years later than everyone else."

Auntie Liu laughed at his teasing. "Oh, you."

"Anyway, don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing. It's getting cold, isn't it? Buy everyone some warm clothes so they don't freeze. And you too-take your medicine when you need it. Don't skimp on that little bit of money."

"It's an old condition. Nothing serious. All these years, you're the only one who's kept thinking about these children after leaving, when you're still just a child yourself..."

"I'm twenty already, Auntie Liu. I've been grown up for ages."

"No matter what, you'll always be a child in my eyes."

"I'm telling you, don't send this much money again, or I really will block you."

Yu Nian couldn't help laughing. "Where did you learn to threaten people like that, Auntie Liu? You even know how to block people now. Pretty trendy."

"Do you think I'm some stuffy old woman who doesn't know anything?" Auntie Liu chided. "The children loved the paintbrushes and toys you bought them last time. They all said they wanted to make drawings for you. I've collected their drawings so you can look at them together when you come back."

Yu Nian was pleasantly surprised. "Really? Then I'll have to make a trip back this year."

"That's right. You didn't come back over summer vacation, and Kangkang and the others kept asking me where their Brother Little Fish had gone, and whether he didn't want to come see them anymore."

Yu Nian's heart softened at that, and he hurriedly said, "All right, all right. I'll definitely come back this winter break."

Yu Nian hadn't expected to become "famous" online again.

It began after Qinggang was fired from Huajia. Not long afterward, he moved to Sea Star, where he talked at length during his streams about the current state of the industry, praising Sea Star to the skies and saying the site had a promising future and so on. He hadn't hidden the fact that he was going for an interview, either.

But Sea Star hadn't wanted him.

That made things very awkward.

Qinggang found it embarrassing and hadn't been able to bring himself to mention it at the time. Everyone in his chat thought he must have signed with Sea Star and congratulated him.

To keep the lie going, Qinggang was too embarrassed to move to another platform, so he could only grit his teeth and keep streaming on Sea Star.

Soon, people noticed that several new streamers, including Yu Nian, had received dedicated slots on the homepage for a while, giving them plenty of exposure. Qinggang, however, hadn't received one, and people rarely even came across his streams.

Someone observant compared their traffic data and discovered that Qinggang had received practically no traffic from the platform.

Qinggang's fans protested on his behalf, feeling that he was being bullied. Even smaller streamers with fewer followers than him got featured slots, so why didn't their streamer get one? What else could this be but deliberate targeting?

The matter reached the platform's staff, whose reply was very official-and also rather telling: Hello, we have received your feedback. We are happy to answer your question. Our exclusive featured slots were introduced in 20XX as a benefit specifically for contracted streamers. For details, please click "Sea Star Contracted Streamer Benefits Plan." If you have any further questions, please contact us at any time...

People who caught on began to wonder whether Qinggang had never signed with Sea Star at all.

More and more people questioned him and dug up evidence. Qinggang's haters started mocking him too, and, unable to take it anymore, he had to admit the truth.

But he redirected the blame, turning around and tearfully airing his grievances. He implied that, despite working his way up all these years, he had been fired on a whim simply because he had no powerful backing, and now that he wanted to switch platforms, they didn't want him either.

"I only felt comfortable going for the interview because I thought Sea Star was a fair and impartial platform. I'm not sure what their criteria are, but you've all seen the result. Some small-time streamer with two hundred thousand followers got signed. Heh. I didn't."

"Tell me, isn't that a slap in the face?" Qinggang choked up in agitation in front of the camera, his eyes reddening. "All the guys in my chat know I care about saving face, but I've always acted according to my conscience. I don't know how to pull those dirty tricks."

"I haven't dared say anything all this time. Whatever I've suffered, I could only keep it to myself. Back then, I really thought... Who knew I wouldn't get picked? There's nothing wrong with Sea Star itself. It's a good platform. But some people... Ah, I shouldn't say too much. Guys, I guess I only have myself to blame for not having enough connections..."

Qinggang's tearful speech was loaded with implications. It even obscured the fact that he had pretended Sea Star had accepted him to save face. Everyone's attention was on the supposed person who had used connections to take Qinggang's spot.

A clip of this speech quickly spread, and comments piled up beneath it.