Apple Sweet was the top supporter for many male streamers.
While not exactly stirring up storms online, she was still a notable figure. Ever since watching Gu Yanqiu’s livestream, she had been so captivated that she could barely eat or sleep.
A clean-cut young man singing beautiful songs in front of shabby audio equipment – it instantly brought her back to the early days of Douyin.
Perhaps chance encounters create classics. She only regretted being completely mesmerized by that handsome face and forgetting to make a screen recording.
Hearing his singing voice, seeing his smile, and witnessing his shy expression when teased by netizens – he was practically a walking charm king, utterly intoxicating.
Fortunately, someone had taken screenshots, which she immediately used to search across all platforms.
And she actually found him.
Gu Yanqiu wasn’t some nameless amateur – he was a debuted idol.
In this era of internet popularity, even those kid brothers and kid sisters become slick after a few years in the industry. She had rather negative stereotypes about celebrities.
If not for that chance glimpse in the livestream, how would she have known there existed such a refreshingly handsome young man with a divine face?
She immediately followed him, and from his profile found the official fan group. Upon joining, she discovered many active members online.
As was her habit, right after joining she aggressively sent five red envelopes of twenty thousand yuan each.
The people chatting in the group didn’t pay much attention to the newcomer. After all, since gaining popularity from “The Singer,” people joined and left the group daily.
Initially, the group admin Moon would lead welcome greetings, but eventually became somewhat numb to it.
Unexpectedly, this newcomer was so generous, even sending red envelopes. Everyone casually clicked to claim them.
“19,450!” The eyes of those who grabbed the red envelopes widened in shock. Refreshing the page revealed many people claiming around 120 yuan, with plenty others getting over 80.
The key point was the display showing one thousand red envelopes had been sent.
How much money was that?
Most of Gu Yanqiu’s fans were students without much money!
“Sister, did you send these by mistake? If so, contact the group admin and we’ll return them to you.”
“Could it be a kid sister playing with her parents’ phone?”
Instead of joy from getting red envelopes, everyone’s eyes showed fear about minors spending recklessly.
Group admin Moon immediately @mentioned her, looking ready to call the police on her behalf.
Apple Sweet said in the group: “No mistake. I’m happy today.” Originally worried he might be an amateur who didn’t maintain public presence, discovering he was a celebrity with so much direct material in the group made her delighted.
Before even checking the archaeological material, she found the most downloaded file package in the group. Opening it revealed nothing but treasures.
There were photos taken during Gu Yanqiu’s livestreams, each radiating different levels of handsomeness.
What really got her blood pumping were the complete song videos.
Heaven knew how much she regretted not recording the screen.
She immediately downloaded the videos to her phone.
Listening to the song again, it was so beautiful. The imagery from one song was so vivid, she felt like she’d watched an entire youth campus drama.
The melody was also addictive. After one listen it felt catchy, after two listens she could almost sing along. And upon checking, this song was actually his!
Now she understood what unmined treasure meant. If this were in the streaming world, he’d be praised to the skies. But in the entertainment industry, he remained virtually unknown.
The entertainment industry is truly terrifying, Apple Sweet thought to herself.
The people in the group chat were completely stunned by her extravagance.
A rough calculation showed this sister had distributed 100,000 yuan in red envelopes just after joining the group.
When everyone checked her profile, they discovered she was a genuine rich woman. Though she hadn’t posted much, even the glimpses she revealed showed her wealth – yachts, villas, cleared-out Disneyland, full diamond custom luxury cars and more.
The group instantly erupted.
“Wow, our rich sister has arrived!”
“My idol’s life is really looking up now.”
“We’re all sisters here.”
“I grabbed 120 yuan from the red envelopes – gonna treat myself to that university district barbecue I’ve been wanting but couldn’t afford. Thanks for the treat, Apple Sweet!”
“Thank you, Sweet. You must be a new fan, right? Make sure to follow our brother’s Gazing at the Stars fan site. The fan photographer posts godly photos there.”
Following the recommendation, Apple Sweet clicked through and saw two absolutely divine photos that made her fall in love instantly.
If she had thought he was just a refreshing young man from the videos, these two photos genuinely made him look like a top-tier idol.
She had never been a fan before. But Gu Yanqiu’s photos kept making her heart flutter occasionally. Maybe being a fan wasn’t so bad after all!
…
Apple Sweet didn’t go online that night. Many major livestream influencers seemed distracted, frequently checking their phones and sending her numerous private messages.
After all, without their top supporter present, all those small one-cent gifts from others were meaningless no matter how many came. They ended their streams hastily after waiting a while.
Actually, the influencers had their own group chats too. Everyone was asking where Sweet had gone and why she wasn’t responding to messages.
But nobody knew.
At that moment, Sweet had already started watching the three-year-old talent show in chronological order, thoroughly enjoying her new hobby.
She was generous with her gifts and usually enjoyed watching big streamers either act cute or compete for her attention.
But she had never watched talent shows before.
Having returned to China just a few years ago, she had become obsessed with livestreaming immediately and never paid attention to the entertainment industry. Now, seeing the selection criteria in talent shows, she realized all the tall, handsome men who knew how to flirt with fans were in the entertainment industry.
The key was they even had fan meetings. Just by buying two albums, you could even get clay sculptures of them. She suddenly felt all those TikTok gifts and carnivals she’d gifted were wasted – they only earned her a “thank you, my top supporter.”
But these meetings even allowed you to hold hands with idols interlocked.
The more she watched, the more addicted she became. Especially seeing how young, fresh, and skilled Gu Yanqiu was in the training camp, truly shining on stage.
These entertainment industry fans usually ate too well.
…
Meanwhile, Gu Yanqiu learned about the appearance of a rich fan in the group.
His manager told him.
This rich fan was different from others – she directly private messaged the group admin Moon to express her desire to spend money. Especially after hearing from group members that he even paid for café private bookings out of his own pocket, she felt heartbroken.
The consequence was her strong insistence on spending money. The problem was nobody knew where she could spend it. Other celebrities had their own brands and albums, but he seemed to have nothing.
Group admin Moon was also troubled and had to privately message the manager, who was absolutely thrilled. Such influential fans were rare and hard to come by.
He practically rushed the company to create activities and endorsements for them.
The manager brought news from the company, saying there was an A+ campus web drama looking for him to play the second male lead. This kind of pie used to be exclusively for Li Ziyue.
Moreover, this role didn’t require acting skills—just good looks. It only took fifteen days to film, with a package price of one million. If it became popular, there would even be red envelopes to collect.
Both Gu Yanqiu and the manager were stunned by the extravagance of the film and television industry.
It really was a different world from what they were used to. That was the kind of income people imagined celebrities earned.
The manager knew Gu Yanqiu had said he wouldn’t act in TV dramas or web series, but this time he wanted to persuade him to take the role.
After all, survival came before dreams.
There was also a hidden thought: to cash in on this wave of popularity quickly, before it faded and left them with nothing.
But before he could convince him, Li Ziyue from the company exploded.