Falling for a streamer in the live streaming world is actually a very simple thing—as long as she catches your eye, you’ll stay for her.
Yibiao Tangtang was in exactly that situation right now.
He made up his mind.
【Yibiao Tangtang sent Xiaoyu Glow Stick 66×1】(6,600 Meow Coins)
“Thank you, Yibiao Tangtang, for the set of 66 glow sticks.”
You Yu thanked him with a smile, then immediately prepared to sing the next song—she couldn’t waste the featured spot.
She sang for half an hour straight, and by the end, the hoarseness in her voice was clearly audible.
【I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: Your voice sounds a bit hoarse? Singing for half an hour straight without professional technique can damage your throat】
【Yibiao Tangtang: Stop singing, the featured slot is about to end anyway】
Yibiao Tangtang glanced through her ranking list. She was clearly a brand-new streamer, which didn’t match Maoya’s usual style where only those with real revenue could sit in the front rows—most likely her guild had gotten her the featured spot.
Afternoon traffic was indeed rather low. After half an hour of singing, only a limited number of people remained in the live stream room, with more people coming and going instead.
“Alright.”
You Yu nodded, picked up the water cup beside her, bit down on the straw, and gulped it down.
She played a soothing song as background music.
“Have you all had lunch yet?”
【I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: It’s past that time, I’ve already eaten】
【Yibiao Tangtang: What time is it? Normally dinner’s coming up soon】
【Yibiao Tangtang: Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten yet?】
Today was her first day of streaming, and since there was a lot to prepare, plus coordinating with her guild binding, things didn’t wrap up until almost two o’clock.
She nodded honestly. “It’s my first day streaming today, and there was a lot to prepare, so I haven’t eaten yet.”
【I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: Then why don’t you go offline and get something to eat】
Her phone buzzed. She picked it up—it was a message from Lin Yuanyuan.
She quickly read the contents.
Then looked back up at the camera.
“Our operator just messaged me telling me to stream again at seven tonight. The evening traffic is better.”
【I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: Perfect timing to grab a meal】
【Yibiao Tangtang: Go eat, hurry】
“Mm-hm, then I’m going offline.”
“Bye everyone, see you at seven tonight.”
She waved both hands at her sides with a sweet smile.
After clicking to end the stream.
She glanced at the time—it was only four thirty.
You Yu grabbed her bag and headed out.
After a simple meal at a nearby restaurant, she made her way, familiar with the route, to a scalp care center nearby.
She greeted them expertly, “Xiaoshi, is Jason here today? I’ve come for a hair treatment.”
Ever since You Yu started making money from Voice (Platform) streaming, she hadn’t washed her own hair—it was all left to the professionals.
Because she loved dyeing her hair, it was severely damaged, so she had to visit the wash and care center twice a week—once for a regular wash, once for a proper treatment.
The reason her hair had always been so glossy was entirely thanks to money spent on maintenance; otherwise, it would have long since turned into a bundle of straw.
Xiaoshi at the front desk exclaimed in delight, “Sister You, you’re here! Jason’s in—you’ll see him as soon as you go in.”
You Yu nodded to her. “Great, I’ll go find him then.”
You Yu passed one care room after another, finding the one at the very back.
“Jason, wash my hair for me.”
As her words rang out and the door swung open, You Yu darted inside.
“Yu Yu~ Long time no see!”
The man in front of her, dressed in a classic Tony suit, clutched his heart and dramatically lamented her heartlessness.
“It hasn’t been that long—it’s only been a few days. I don’t think you missed me; I think you wanted to make money off me.”
You Yu crossed her arms, chin slightly raised, and said with exasperation.
Jason hurriedly said, “No way, sit down, sit down.”
You Yu sat down in a multifunctional sofa chair, and Jason took out his equipment and tested her hair as usual.
“Yu Yu, your hair is in great condition. If you want to dye it next, there won’t be any problem at all.”
“Has your brother’s place been running any dyeing promotions lately?”
Jason ran a scalp care salon, and his brother owned a barbershop. The two often referred customers to each other. Doing your hair damages it, damage means you go get hair care treatments, and once your hair is healthy again, you go dye it—a perfect one-stop service.
You Yu was a regular at both shops.
He paused. “Oh come on, why do you care about promotions? Even with a discount, it wouldn’t save you much.”
Seeing You Yu frown, he carefully added, “Besides, there’s this gradient color that’s been really popular lately. Lots of people are getting it—bookings are backed up until the second half of the year. It looks absolutely gorgeous.”
You Yu: ?
“If it’s booked until the second half of the year, how am I supposed to get it dyed?”
Jason’s face immediately lit up. “What’s our relationship? You go over tomorrow, and I’ll definitely get you bumped up the queue.”
You Yu seemed tempted. She lowered her head and calculated her bank card balance, then remembered that Maoya only allowed withdrawals from the 25th to the 30th of each month. Today was only the 2nd. Never mind that she hadn’t earned much from streaming yet—even if she had, she couldn’t spend it right now.
You Yu instantly deflated, as if she’d suffered a heavy blow, and said weakly, “Next month, then…”
Coming out of the scalp care center, You Yu glanced at her watch. It was almost seven.
So she hailed a taxi home.
Since it wasn’t far, she arrived in five minutes.
She finally started her stream just before seven.
Lin Yuanyuan had set a target for her tonight: three PK Battles in a row.
Time was tight, and she hadn’t even caught her breath when she went live.
She looked around for a mirror but couldn’t find one, so she had to fix her hair facing the camera.
I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes entered the Live Stream Room.
[I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: A critical hit right as the stream opens…]
“Ah… welcome, Tomato.”
Yibiao Tangtang entered the Live Stream Room.
“Welcome, Tangtang.”
“Good evening, everyone.”
You Yu somehow pulled out a comb again and started combing her hair in front of the camera.
“The operator gave me a task today, telling me to do a few random PK Battles.”
With that, she put down the comb, moved her mouse, clicked around on the computer, and matched with someone at random.
The screen quickly split in two, and after a second of black screen on the right, a female streamer appeared, wearing a nude-pink fitted top, with a great figure.
You Yu glanced at her ID: Miracle|Wanwan.
Generally, Maoya streamers had their guild’s name as a prefix. Since You Yu’s guild had only recently joined and hadn’t set any requirements on this yet, her ID didn’t include a guild name. Clearly, this streamer was from Miracle Guild.
You Yu greeted her first, “Hello, Wanwan.”
Wanwan nodded and said sweetly, “Hello, Zui… Xiaoyu.”
A Maoya streamer connection doesn’t always mean a PK Battle—sometimes, for the sake of the show, streamers connect just to chat. That’s why Maoya has all kinds of streamer circles, even circles made up of big spenders.
A random PK match usually means you have to fight, after all—you don’t know each other, so if it’s not for a PK Battle, what else would it be for?
Still, before fighting, you should politely ask whether the other side has the strength to take you on.
“Want to have a match?”
You Yu had connected precisely to fulfill the quota Lin Yuanyuan had given her, so naturally she wouldn’t refuse.
You Yu: “Sure, sure.”
The moment she agreed, a flood of viewers poured into her Live Stream Room from the other side.
[A new streamer? You dare accept her PK Bar?]
[The other side has a big spender.]
[Fifth victim.]
[The big spender over there is forty-fifth on the weekly leaderboard.]
The PK Bar opened, and the score was instantly crushed under.
The other streamer covered her mouth and exclaimed in delight: “Thank you, my Brother Bao, for a Treasure Map.”
[Bao gifted Wanwan Treasure Map ×1] (5,000,000 Meow Coins)
The most expensive gift on Maoya is the Treasure Map. It also has a special property: half a minute later, viewers can dig for free Silver Beans, which usually attracts dozens of treasure-digging viewers.
If gifts worth over 2,400 are sent within ten seconds, a platform-wide banner appears, which viewers can click to enter that streamer’s Live Stream Room.
You Yu had only just started streaming on this platform and didn’t know the story behind this channel; she just blinked her eyes.
[Yibiao Tangtang: The other side is from the dance section. Recently a big spender with a fresh account has been splurging like crazy, going around looking for people to PK Battle with]
“Huh?”
Before she could process that message, another burst of delighted cries came from the other side.
[Bao gifted Wanwan Treasure Map ×2] (10,000,000 Meow Coins)
“Thank you, my Brother Bao, for another Treasure Map.”
You Yu’s PK Bar was instantly crushed down to one centimeter.
With the other side scoring that much, if she couldn’t score a single point, she’d absolutely get flamed.
After all, PK Battles exist to stimulate revenue—to spur big spenders into spending money.
You Yu hadn’t expected a random match to be this strong.
She’d assumed top streamers wouldn’t participate in random matching, and that the rest would all be small streamers. She’d thought she could smile her way through and scrape up some dignity points, but now she couldn’t smile at all.
You Yu let out a long, mournful sigh. “Is there any big spender who could help me get some dignity points and save this poor fish?”
[Yibiao Tangtang gifted Xiaoyu Glow Stick ×188] (18.800 Meow Coins)
You Yu: “Thank you, Tangtang, for the set of 188 Glow Sticks. Thank you, Tangtang, for the dignity points.”
[I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes gifted Xiaoyu Glow Stick ×66] (6.600 Meow Coins)
“Thank you, my Tomato, for the set of 66 Glow Sticks. Tomato, I’m so touched, boo-hoo-hoo.”
As she spoke, You Yu wiped the corners of her eyes.
[Yibiao Tangtang: ?]
[Yibiao Tangtang: You’re touched by her? What about me?]
You Yu: “Touched, very touched!”
With that, she clenched her hands into fists, closed her eyes, held them up to her eyes and rubbed them side to side, complete with boo-hoo-hoo sound effects—though halfway through she lifted one eyelid to sneak a peek at the screen.
[I Don’t Like Eating Tomatoes: So cute… I want… …]
[Yibiao Tangtang: Histrionic personality?]
You Yu giggled.
A PK Battle usually lasts twenty minutes. By the ten-minute mark, You Yu’s PK Bar hadn’t budged at all.
Wanwan: “How about we leave it here for now? I have something to do in a bit, sorry!”
Cutting off a PK Battle halfway through is quite rude.
But when the skill gap is so uneven, it just delays the other person from collecting gifts, so You Yu was more than happy to end it quickly.
You Yu nodded. “Okay, so do I still have to do the punishment?”
Wanwan: “No, it’s fine, no need!”
With that, she disconnected.
[Yibiao Tangtang: Running off so fast—she’s in a hurry to grab her next bite.]
“In that case, won’t Brother Bao run away?”
The words had barely left her mouth.
[Bao gifted Xiaoyu Rocket No. 1 ×1] (1,000,000 Meow Coins)
What does it feel like to be caught talking behind someone’s back?
You Yu never expected this big spender to suddenly show up and send a Rocket No. 1.
“Thank you… Brother Bao’s… Rocket No. 1.”
[Bao: Depends on whether I run or not.]
It was even more mortifying that the person himself responded.
You Yu’s face instantly flushed red. “Oh…”
Even the live stream filter couldn’t hide her reddened cheeks.
[Bao: You’re blushing.]
[Yibiao Tangtang: Is Brother Bao here to pay the medical fees?]
You Yu hurriedly covered her cheeks. “I’m not blushing… Thank you, Brother Bao, for the medical fees.”
Then she changed the subject. “Two more matches to go—let’s play the next one.”