Lin Yu fell ill

"Ah... I'm so sleepy."

Lin Yu rubbed his sore, swollen eyes and checked the time. Six in the morning.

Before he knew it, he had worked through the night. The avatar was finished, and he had ground out the video too. All that remained was to upload it to the account.

Closing his laptop, Lin Yu lay down on the sofa and slowly shut his eyes. I'll sleep first and deal with the rest when I wake up.

Not long after closing his eyes, Lin Yu suddenly opened them and sat up. One glance at the date, and he felt as if the sky had fallen.

I'm screwed. I have work today!

Lin Yu had no choice but to reluctantly leave the sofa, wash up, put on his shoes, and go out to buy breakfast.

After eating his portion, he put Firefly's in a pot to keep it warm and headed out.

Riding his beloved vehicle, he arrived at the café where he worked. As soon as he entered, he saw the manager sitting by the window, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. The morning sunlight streamed in, creating a very distinctive atmosphere together with the retro décor.

"Good morning, Manager."

Noticing Lin Yu by the door, the manager folded the newspaper in his hands, set it on the table, and turned to greet him.

"Good morning. You're pretty early."

Lin Yu covered his mouth and yawned. "Ah... yeah. I barely slept before coming."

"Oh? So busy you don't even have time to sleep?"

Holding his backpack against his chest, Lin Yu sat down in the chair opposite the manager. It was still early, before opening time, so there was no rush. He would chat with the manager first.

"Yeah, some things have come up lately, so I've been pretty busy. Oh, right, Manager, these are what we agreed on before."

As he spoke, Lin Yu took two sixteen-inch picture frames out of the bag in his arms and placed them on the table.

"Oh, you finished them! Let's see how they turned out."

The manager picked up one of them, and the painting immediately caught his eye. It was an oil painting with a hazy quality, but the scene was still recognizable as a retro-style café, the same style as his own. A hunched figure sat with his back turned by the window, the orange-red sunset falling over him with an indescribable sense of the vicissitudes of life.

"Damn, this is really good. It fits the café's style nicely. I didn't know you dabbled in oil painting too, Lin Yu."

"Sort of, but I haven't done much oil painting. I thought it suited this piece, so I took it as a challenge to try a style I wasn't good at."

As they spoke, the manager picked up the other painting. This one was also an oil painting, but it looked much plainer than the first.

There were no unnecessary embellishments in the painting, only a cup of coffee and a hand holding it. It showed a first-person view looking down at the surface of the coffee, where the café's name, [Time-Gathering Corner], was written.

"Mm, this one's good too. Nice work, Lin Yu. I didn't expect you to finish so quickly. Feeling that inspired to create?"

"No, no, haha..." Lin Yu scratched his cheek and gave an awkward laugh.

He had actually conceived all of these ideas long ago, but he had never had time to create them, so only now had he finally painted them.

Putting the two paintings away, the manager went into the back to fetch some tools, then began choosing spots to hang them.

Lin Yu went into the changing room as well, put on his uniform, and walked to the entrance to flip the closed sign to open. When he returned inside, the manager pulled him over for a photo together, saying they should commemorate the occasion.

"Hello, I'd like an Americano..." Just as they were about to press the shutter, a customer entered.

"Ah... ah! Coming! Manager, the photo will have to wait." Lin Yu pulled free of the manager's large hand and hurried to greet the customer. With that, the day's work officially began.

Noon.

"Ah... what rotten luck." Lin Yu lay slumped over the checkout counter, letting out a miserable groan.

He had originally only needed to work until one before going home today, but the person taking over his shift had suddenly had something come up and couldn't make it. He had been planning to lie down and catch up on sleep as soon as he got home. Now he had to wait until the person on the last shift arrived before he could leave.

He was already so sleepy he could barely stand it. He swore he would be a dog if he ever pulled another all-nighter!

After a long wait, Lin Yu finally reached the end of his shift.

"Yahoo! I'm here for work!" A lively, enthusiastic girl with long pink hair entered the café, wearing a white hoodie and a short black plaid skirt. She was Tang Mumu, the café's third employee.

Seeing Lin Yu, Tang Mumu pointed at him in confusion. "Huh? Why is it you? Did I remember wrong?"

"Ah... he had something come up and couldn't make it, so I covered for him." In contrast to Tang Mumu's liveliness, Lin Yu was nearly burned out, his voice weak and listless.

"Oh, I see. Thanks for the hard work! Just leave the rest to me."

"Yeah, I'll leave it to you." Lin Yu went into the changing room, took off his uniform, and picked up his backpack, ready to go home.

"Bye-bye!"

"Bye."

After saying goodbye to Tang Mumu, he stepped outside and looked up. Dark clouds filled the sky. It looked like rain was on the way.

Rummaging through his bag, he found he had brought neither an umbrella nor a raincoat. Should I borrow an umbrella from the café? But on second thought, he decided against it.

Home wasn't far, so he should be able to get there before it rained. Clinging to that hope, Lin Yu headed home.

But he had miscalculated after all. He was only halfway through the ride when a bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. A bean-sized raindrop landed on Lin Yu's forehead, then countless more fell. All he could do was hurry home.

By the time he got home, however, he was already soaked to the skin.

"Ah... achoo-!"

"Lin Yu, are you okay?" Firefly looked worriedly at Lin Yu, who was shivering with a blanket wrapped around himself.

"I'm... I'm fine."

Though he said he was fine, his body told the truth. He had already showered, so why did he still feel cold?

He had considered that he might be sick, but his temperature was 36.7°C. He didn't have a fever. How strange.

"Ah... right, Firefly, bring the laptop over."

Firefly brought the laptop from the table and placed it in front of Lin Yu. He logged into her account. Since he had helped create it, he naturally knew the password too.

He had been too busy that morning to upload the video, so he could only do it now.

"Oh, right, Firefly, when do you want to start streaming?"

"Well... I don't know. You decide, Lin Yu. I'll do what you say!"

Firefly couldn't make up her mind about starting a livestream. It was her first time, and she didn't know much about it, so she would leave it to Lin Yu, who had more experience in this area. Besides, this was a major matter that would determine whether she could earn money. There was no room for carelessness!

Seeing Firefly's serious expression put Lin Yu in a difficult position. He hadn't intended for her to rely on this to earn money. After all, making a living on the internet wasn't as easy as it seemed.

But Firefly seemed to have high hopes for it. The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. He was truly afraid it would hurt her confidence when the time came.

But the arrow was on the string; there was no turning back. Besides, he couldn't let Firefly down! It seemed he would just have to work harder.

"All right. Since I'm deciding, I think we shouldn't rush. Let's wait and see how the video's numbers look."

"After that, I'll teach you how to use editing software and find inspiration for videos. Then you can run this account on your own."

"Yes, sir!" Firefly stood up excitedly and gave Lin Yu a precise salute, like a soldier who placed complete trust in her commanding officer on a battlefield fraught with danger.

That night, Lin Yu didn't stay up late but went to bed early instead. He had gone nearly a day and a half without a wink of sleep and could barely hold on. Within a minute of closing his eyes, he was fast asleep.

Early the next morning, he tried to get up, only to find his whole body weak and his head dizzy. When he tried to speak, his throat hurt as though a knife were slicing through it, accompanied by a violent cough.

"Cough, cough, cough-!"

I'm screwed, Lin Yu thought. Now I've got a fever.