The next day, she arrived at the company full of joy, only to be greeted by the operations manager’s stern face. An Mengyue sensed something was off, and sure enough, she was called into a brief meeting.
To summarize:
A new member would be joining today, and the livestream would switch to a six-person lineup with dual center positions.
The big spender needed to be properly maintained.
Her contract would be extended.
She tilted her head up to stare at the ceiling, her index fingernail scraping against the desk with a rustling sound. She felt like a deflated balloon as she picked up her phone and opened the chat window with MZ.
Should she tell him about this?
But she didn’t know how to explain it, so she silently turned off the screen.
She let out a long sigh.
She had finally found someone who supported her, yet she couldn’t even give them fair treatment. Wasn’t it too unfair to let them be her fans?
The makeup artist regretfully told her that she still needed to stay consistent with the others and couldn’t stand out too much.
Her hair was tied up into a high bun, and she wore a very light, “plain water” style of makeup. At least there was no messy eyeshadow or terrifying exaggerated lower lashes.
The makeup artist couldn’t help but add a pearl necklace and pearl earrings to her look, then stood behind her to check the overall effect in the mirror.
Her fresh and refined aura was impossible to hide. Even just sitting there quietly, she looked like an elegant, noble black swan.
Dai Daiyu wore a white strapless slip dress, her hair curled into loose waves with a ranunculus flower pinned on the right side. Her makeup was extremely elaborate.
An Mengyue was checking messages on her phone when her shoulder was bumped. She almost dropped her phone. Looking up, she met Dai Daiyu’s contemptuous gaze, and the other girl even brushed off imaginary dust from her shoulder.
What? Is this girl crazy? Watched too many Korean dramas?
She certainly wasn’t going to put up with that. She shot back, “If you’re blind, go get treatment.”
With that, she flipped her hair, letting it whip across the other girl’s face, and walked away without looking back.
Dai Daiyu wiped her face, grinding her teeth in fury.
She had already privately messaged Coolest Villain several times.
[Little Fish shouldn’t have been angry at you on stage. I’m sorry. Can you forgive Little Fish?]
[I cried all night last night. My heart still aches.]
[President Ku, please reply to me]
…
All her messages had sunk like stones into the sea. And now, seeing An Mengyue grinning stupidly at her phone, she was going crazy with jealousy.
Today’s theme backdrop had been changed to a black-and-white Instagram-style design, and all six members’ outfits followed the same black-and-white color scheme.
The livestream started promptly at three o’clock. The initial surge of traffic peaked at 1,600 concurrent viewers before stabilizing at around 400.
Fu Yuexiang, who had watched the entire weekly competition yesterday, arrived at the livestream room right on time—only to notice something was off.
[Fu Yuexiang: Cat is the weekly champion. Why isn’t she the center?]
Shark explained, “A new sister joined the livestream today. With six people now, it’s dual centers. Cat is also a center, sis~”
But in reality, Dai Daiyu stood more toward the center and would deliberately block An Mengyue from view. Combined with the height difference between them, An Mengyue had to stand further back just to keep the visual composition uniform.
There was also a clear disparity in styling and makeup, yet even so, when the six stood together, the eye was still drawn to Dongdongmao.
Fu Yuexiang felt this was very unfair, but dwelling on it wouldn’t do any good either.
When the veteran fans in the livestream heard about the new member, they all became curious and started scanning the screen.
[Is the one in the middle the new girl? She’s so pretty!]
[Is that Dongdongmao? Did she restart with a new account or something?]
The bullet comments were scrolling by extremely fast. It seemed that today’s full-team style change was working well, and the overall atmosphere was pretty good.
During the arena battle segment, Coolest Villain arrived just in time. With him around, there were no surprises—An Mengyue directly secured a perfect 39-win streak.
【Coolest Villain: Finally back to normal】
Seeing this bullet comment, An Mengyue immediately put her hands on her hips, pouted her little mouth, revealing dimples of different depths, while tapping her toes on the ground in rhythm.
【Coolest Villain: Such a smug little cat】
After going offline, Tutu linked arms with An Mengyue and pulled her over to the break room.
“Cat cat, you’re really so lucky. Things just keep getting better for you—I’m so jealous~”
“You’ll get there too. The world is so big, we’ll all meet people who like us and support us.”
Tutu was the closest to her in the group, and the two of them had bonded because they both had mediocre performance numbers.
“Today the others told the new girl that Coolest Villain originally came to support Dai Daiyu, but you stole him away. She also said she chatted with that big spender, said the conversation went pretty well, but then the next day, for some unknown reason, he came and started supporting you… Anyway, the insinuations were pretty nasty.”
An Mengyue felt helpless. She was just as puzzled herself—no one had understood Coolest Villain’s moves on day one, and what exactly that “to make it up to you” meant, she still hadn’t figured out.
Speak of the devil.
Dai Daiyu walked over arm-in-arm with Xiaoyang, speaking in a hostile tone, “You’re pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”
“I really want to know what you said to President Ku. Teach me too—how exactly do you seduce someone else’s big spender?”
An Mengyue furrowed her brows. This kind of thing couldn’t be explained, and more importantly, didn’t need to be explained. The bad blood between them was already set, and she had no interest in doing anything to please others.
She then spoke flatly, “You don’t need to be sarcastic with me here. My conscience is clear. Whether a big spender comes or goes isn’t decided by me.”
Being polite to people was how she was raised, but if someone pushed too far, she could also say some very unpleasant things.
As she walked away with Tutu on her arm, she could still hear them muttering behind her back, “Shameless.”
An Mengyue’s steps paused, and she turned right around to face them. “Say that again?”
The two hadn’t expected her to come back for round two, and their voices lost their earlier confidence. “Do you dare to say you did absolutely nothing?”
“I dare. Stop trying to find your sense of existence with me. If you really think he’s yours, then fight to get him back. I don’t care.”
She rolled her eyes after speaking and turned to leave, while Dai Daiyu across from her was so angry her face turned pale, stomping her feet and muttering under her breath.
Tutu followed alongside, enjoying the show. “Look at how smug she was before, buying milk tea for everyone. Serves her right—she’s just jealous.”
【A Yue: Thank you, boss, for showing up again today!】
【mz: Happy?】
【A Yue: Happy! I’m full of motivation every day】
【A Yue: Boss, I’ve realized that ever since I met you, I’ve been so lucky every day!】
【mz: Shouldn’t you be in the C position?】
Sure enough, anyone with eyes could see something was off with the positioning.
【A Yue: Well… I found out when I got there. There’s a new girl today, so now there are six of us, which means it became a double C position—two people stand in the middle】
【mz: They added someone just to take you out of the C position? Bullying you?】
An Mengyue was roaring like an inner dragon. Yes!! But there was no need to burden her boss with her troubles.
【A Yue: It’s the company’s arrangement. It’s fine. Boss, just focus on your own things—don’t worry about me】
【mz: Okay. If anything comes up, you can talk to me】
She was even more curious about this big spender. He had sent quite a few gifts these past few days, and she hoped he wasn’t just showing off, only to end up in the awkward situation of having to request a refund.
[A Yue: Mm-hmm! What does the boss do for a living?]
[mz: Internet]
An Mengyue thought for a moment, recalling that the photo didn’t quite match up. She searched her memory for a moment before replying politely.
[A Yue: A programmer?]
[mz: Yeah]
A programmer’s salary was decent, and their social circle was narrow, so tipping a female streamer wasn’t unreasonable. But still, he was a salaried worker, and she was worried he might get carried away without thinking.
[A Yue: Boss, focus on your life! I’m just a passerby on your internet. Remember to spend wisely (heart)]