Wen Xiyu opened his live streaming app…
If there were truly such a thing as karmic retribution in this world, then Wen Xiyu felt he must have started doing bad deeds back during the Qin Dynasty.
When the hospital bill arrived on his phone, he had just finished his evening class and was preparing to leave the academic building.
Clicking open the image sent from the other side, the long string of numbers at the bottom was terrifyingly sharp to the eyes. A few books he was holding in his hands accidentally slipped, slamming heavily onto his foot and causing him to utter a soft “hiss” of pain.
Just then, someone happened to be passing by. Seeing this, the person quickly bent down to help him pick them up and handed them over: “Classmate, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Wen Xiyu endured the pain in his foot as he took them back, lifting his face to smile at him slightly. “Thank you.”
The boy who had helped him pick up his books froze as he looked at Wen Xiyu, his face flushing deep red in an instant.
Wen Xiyu politely turned down the other person’s request to add his WeChat, put the books back into his crossbody bag, and unlocked a shared bicycle at the school gate to ride home.
The apartment he lived in was not far from the university. The location, environment, and security were all top-tier, and naturally, the rent was terrifyingly expensive. He had rented it when he first enrolled, paying two years of rent in a single lump sum at the time, with less than a year remaining now.
In just one short year, his life had been turned completely upside down; describing it as plummeting from heaven into an abyss would not be an exaggeration.
A few months ago, the supply chain of his biological father’s company suddenly snapped, followed immediately by bankruptcy liquidation, and several family villas were all auctioned off. Then, his biological dad absconded overseas with all the remaining money in the house, leaving behind only his mother, who had been hospitalized out of sheer rage, and a younger sister who was still in high school.
Turning overnight from a rich second-generation into a debt-ridden second-generation, Wen Xiyu had still been unable to recover from such a sudden, drastic shock even now.
Since matters had come to this, everything was probably retribution for his terrible temper when he was younger.
In fact, Wen Xiyu had also considered trying to sublease the apartment to find a cheaper place, but there were really no better options nearby, and subleasing and moving were exceptionally troublesome.
There was another, even more crucial reason: the soundproofing of this apartment was extremely good, allowing him to stream without disturbing the neighbors.
Yes, Wen Xiyu was a streamer. Although he had always been lukewarm and couldn’t earn much money, it was still far more cost-effective than taking part-time manual jobs.
His phone chimed once. Wen Xiyu picked it up and opened WeChat.
[Strawberry Recruited: How is it, Xiao Yu? Are you ready?]
[Song in the Rain: Full day of classes today, just got home.]
[Strawberry Recruited: Do you want me to come over and help you put on makeup?]
[Song in the Rain: Forget it, I don’t really want to put any on.]
[Strawberry Recruited: True, our Xiao Yu is a natural beauty, no need for makeup at all. Let me know when you go live; I’m going to order some takeout first.]
[Song in the Rain: Okay.]
“Strawberry Recruited” was his good friend Tan Jingzhi, and she was also the one who had suggested that he do a face reveal during his streams.
Wen Xiyu used to be a gaming streamer. Although his gaming skills were mediocre and he only showed a pair of hands during streams, his audience kept growing because of his pleasant voice and attractive hands.
However, the streamer scene was overcrowded. Without a sufficient edge, Wen Xiyu’s popularity remained mediocre. Ever since the incident at home, Wen Xiyu had begun taking streaming, which had originally been just for fun, seriously, but there was still little progress.
When Tan Jingzhi found out about this, she suggested that he try streaming with his face showing.
“You’re so gorgeous; not showing your face in streams is simply a waste of natural gifts. Listen to me, if you show your face, there will definitely be tons of people scrambling to send you gifts.” Those were Tan Jingzhi’s exact words.
After much hesitation, Wen Xiyu’s need for money ultimately won out, and during his last stream, he released a preview announcement that he would be doing a face reveal.
By the time he finished eating and taking a shower, it was already past nine o’clock. Wen Xiyu had even specially washed his hair, leaving it to hang casually behind his back after blowing it half dry.
His hairstyle was a classic long, straight black look with neat front bangs that he had maintained for many years. Reaching down to his waist, the hair texture was smooth and glossy like satin; the longer he grew it, the more reluctant he was to cut it.
He opened the streaming platform, tapped into his account named “Cat Cat Yu,” and skillfully sent out the go-live notification with one click.
A few minutes later, more than a thousand people flooded into the stream one after another, and then the viewer count hovered around this range, fluctuating up and down.
The bullet comments scrolled rapidly across the screen, and those wearing fan badges were viewers Wen Xiyu was familiar with.
[Good evening, Xiao Yu! Why did the streamer start so late today?]
[Didn’t we agree on a face reveal today? Why is the camera screen black?]
[Hurry up and reveal your face! I’ve been looking forward to this for days!]
“Wait a moment, I’m adjusting the camera,” Wen Xiyu said in a gentle tone. “Sorry, I had a full day of classes today, so I’m a bit late.”
[I have to say, the streamer’s voice is so nice to hear; it makes my bones go soft.]
[As everyone knows, people with nice voices are usually ugly. Is the streamer some two-hundred-pound guy? Is that why he’s hiding his face?]
[? Are you looking for trouble? Didn’t the streamer say he’s doing a face reveal today?]
[You don’t even have a fan badge; what’s it to you? Mod, please kick out the shit-stirrers.]
After the moderator kicked out a few trolls, the stream restored its calm. Tan Jingzhi, who had received his message, also entered the stream and sent a gift to back him up.
“Thank you to ‘Strawberry Recruited’ for sending ‘A Short Letter with Long Feelings.’ The boss is generous!”
Wen Xiyu finally adjusted the camera. The lens shook twice before lighting up, and his face appeared on the screen.
“Can you see me?” Wen Xiyu asked in a low, somewhat nervous voice.
The stream of bullet comments froze for a few seconds before suddenly starting to scroll wildly.
[HOLY CRAP?! Who are you?]
[Not kidding, my heart stopped beating for two seconds from this beauty…]
[Is that you, Cat Cat Yu? Cat Cat Yu, is that you? This isn’t the streamer I usually watch, right!]
[Damn, you look like this and you didn’t reveal your face sooner!]
[Is the streamer a guy or a girl?]
[Oho, it’s a guy with long hair.]
[My god, is this actually you? Hahaha, I didn’t hold back on gifts on purpose before; I just hadn’t gotten paid yet. Look at how this turned out; why didn’t you say you looked like this earlier? If I send gifts now, can I contact you privately?]
The bullet comments scrolled too fast for Wen Xiyu to make out clearly. He stared blankly at the screen for a long time before barely managing to read a few.
“Everyone is too enthusiastic,” he said with a light chuckle. “Scroll a bit slower; I can’t read the comments anymore.”
His looks had inherited the excellent genes of his parents. He had received a lot of attention growing up because of this, and while he knew he was handsome, he didn’t think he was ridiculously, earth-shatteringly gorgeous.
“I didn’t show my face before because I wasn’t used to it… I didn’t expect so many people would want to see what I look like, so I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”
The face on the screen was tiny, as if it could be covered entirely by a single hand. His eyelashes were thick, dark, and curled, and his flawless, snow-white skin radiated a jade-like glow under the light.
In truth, his facial features were exquisitely gorgeous, but his almond eyes, with their slightly downward-sloping outer corners, and his plump lip peak softened that sharp visual impact. When he tilted his gaze upward to look at the camera, he appeared pure, innocent, and completely harmless.
[So cute! Streamer, don’t look at me like that, I’m afraid I’ll commit a crime!]
[Streamer, has anyone ever told you that you have such a ‘white moonlight’ first-love face?]
[The streamer looks like a little cat, no wonder he’s called Cat Cat Yu.]
More and more people kept flooding into the stream room, including many passersby without fan badges. The viewer count in the top right corner kept climbing, and gift special effects burst across the screen one after another.
“Thank you ‘Little Cat Number One in the World’ for sending True Love Roses, thank you ‘Xiao Yu is My Wife’ for sending a sports car, thank you ‘Cloud Taro Paste Roll’ for sending a Palm Pearl… New friends coming in, hit follow! You can join the fan group by giving a light badge.”
The number of people sending gifts today was several times more than before. Wen Xiyu knew that a face reveal would work, but he hadn’t expected it to be this effective.
While chatting with the audience, he opened the game he was currently playing.
The game was named Jianghu Night Rain Lantern, a recently booming open-world Xianxia MMORPG.
Wen Xiyu was considered a launch player for this game. At first, he only played it to pass the time. Later, he started streaming to claim a time-limited cosmetic reward, and unexpectedly, more and more people came to watch, leading him to build up his streamer path step-by-step.
Logging into the game, his account was a female character. Her class was a Qinist (zither player) within the Mage branch, and her avatar was a slender, beautiful zither-holding fairy.
The fairy spawned in the bustling main city of the game, bearing a long ID above her head: “It’s Raining Little Cats.”
A batch of quest notifications instantly refreshed in the top right corner. Wen Xiyu busied himself clearing his daily tasks before starting on the limited-time event he hadn’t finished yesterday.
[Streamer, check the shop!]
[Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu, are you going to buy the newly released cosmetics? They really look amazing!]
“Cosmetics?” Seeing the comments urging him to buy them, Wen Xiyu tapped into the shop to take a look.
The shop had indeed stocked a new set of cosmetics with a Merfolk theme. The female set featured snow-white long hair and jingling ornaments, along with a shimmering, deep-blue fish tail; it was indeed very pretty.
However… Wen Xiyu looked at the price tag. The acquisition method this time was spinning a wheel for individual parts, and guaranteeing the full set would likely cost at least four figures.
In the past, he had indeed loved buying all sorts of flashy cosmetics and weapon skins, but ever since the crisis at home, he had never bought any again.
“I won’t buy it…” Wen Xiyu exited the shop. “I don’t really like this style.”
[No way, you won’t even buy cosmetics, and you’re still a streamer? Earning so much money and being this stingy?]
[Pressuring a little cat?]
[Whether the streamer buys it or not is his freedom, alright? If you’re so generous, why don’t you throw money to buy it for him?]
Wen Xiyu maneuvered his Qinist to the event map. There was a limited-time solo dungeon here that dropped rich rewards upon completion, but the difficulty was somewhat great, and the place had been packed with players over the past few days.
This was already Wen Xiyu’s third attempt at this dungeon, and he was fully prepared with guides this time. After finishing the cutscene, he stood before the final boss once again. This boss had a massive health pool and complex mechanics; Wen Xiyu got flustered and pressed the wrong skills several times, but thankfully, the guide proved very useful, and he finally managed to clear it.
The bullet comments mocked him one after another.
[First time watching, is the streamer always this bad at playing?]
[It feels so painful to watch, how about I carry you, streamer?]
[Alright, seeing these familiar controls, I can confirm the streamer hasn’t swapped out for someone else.]
Wen Xiyu maneuvered his Qinist to walk back. In between, he glanced at the comments and glared at the camera with dissatisfaction: “You guys aren’t allowed to laugh at me! This dungeon is really hard!”
He opened his inventory and located the reward chest given by the quest, which was rumored to drop top-tier weapons for many people. Full of anticipation, he opened it; the chest glowed with a blue light, dropping a B-grade low-tier spiritual sword.
“…” Not only was it literal scrap metal, but it also didn’t match his class.
[LOL, the streamer is still as unlucky as ever.]
[Don’t be sad, baby, I’ll send you gifts.]
After streaming for over three hours, Wen Xiyu exited the stream under the reluctant farewells of the bullet comments.
He opened the backend dashboard to look at his earnings for the day, which were several times higher than usual.
Although he had been quite unlucky today, the face reveal had gone smoothly, and more and more people were watching his streams.
Wen Xiyu’s mood improved a little. After changing into his pajamas, he got into bed and fell asleep.
The next day was a weekend without classes. When he woke up in the morning, Wen Xiyu felt an aching pain in his foot. He sat up to look; there was a large bruise on his fair instep, likely caused by the books that had dropped on it yesterday.
There was a pharmacy right downstairs from the apartment building. Wen Xiyu planned to go downstairs to buy a tube of ointment and grab lunch while he was at it.
As he pushed open his door to leave, he realized that the door to the vacant apartment across from him was open, and two cleaners were inside tidying up the place.
Wen Xiyu lived in a one-bedroom apartment, whereas the unit across from him was a four-room (three-bedroom, one-living room) layout, extremely spacious and luxurious, with a sky-high rent. As a result, no one had rented it ever since he moved in.
He hadn’t expected someone to move in now. Could it be a schoolmate of his?
The thought flashed through his mind briefly, but Wen Xiyu didn’t pay much mind to it. After a glance, he walked toward the elevator at the end of the hallway.