Time rewinds to half an hour earlier. Li Yiyan had just stepped out of the bathroom after a shower, his body still enveloped in a faint mist of steam.
At that moment, he noticed his phone on the table ringing incessantly. While drying his damp hair with a towel, he walked over to check it.
He discovered it was a call from his friend Ji Muzhi. As soon as he answered, an intense barrage of complaints erupted from the other end: “Li Yiyan, what do you mean by this? I’ve called so many times before you finally picked up.
How many times have I told you to come to my live streaming room and send me a Carnival? Is it really that difficult? You never show up—what are you even thinking?”
Faced with his friend’s rapid-fire accusations, Li Yiyan remained calm, his tone indifferent as he replied, “I was just taking a shower. The sound of the water in the bathroom was too loud, so I didn’t hear the phone ring.”
Ji Muzhi persisted, refusing to let it go: “I don’t care. I’m about to start my stream now! If I don’t see your Carnival, you’ll see what happens! We’re done!”
Li Yiyan asked, somewhat puzzled, “Are you short of three thousand yuan? Can’t you just create a burner account and gift yourself?
With your financial resources, doing that would be effortless. I’m sure even topping the leaderboard wouldn’t be a problem for you.”
On the other end of the line, Ji Muzhi felt like he was about to explode with anger. He roared, “Is that the same thing? Stop wasting time. I’m going live. You figure it out yourself!”
With a “beep,” Li Yiyan’s call was abruptly ended. Although he felt somewhat reluctant—after all, he had never been interested in gifting or similar activities—he knew he had to give his friend some face, especially since Ji Muzhi had repeatedly and insistently requested it.
Among his social circle, there were plenty of people who enthusiastically gifted streamers, but Li Yiyan had always found such behavior unappealing.
Nevertheless, he opened Douyin on his phone, entered his friend’s account name in the search bar, and tapped to enter the live streaming room.
Li Yiyan wasn’t sure whether it was because his friend had just started streaming or because the content itself lacked appeal, but when he entered the room, it was eerily quiet with only ten viewers.
He planned to send the gift and leave immediately, only to realize he had forgotten to top up his account. To save himself the trouble of having to recharge again in the future, he decided to deposit a larger sum all at once.
During the time it took to complete the transaction, the number of viewers in Ji Muzhi’s live streaming room saw a slight improvement, increasing from the initial ten to fifty.
Unconcerned with these changes, Li Yiyan, once the recharge was complete, went straight to the gifting section and decisively sent a Carnival.
He then prepared to exit the live streaming room, but fate had other plans. By accident, he swiped the screen, failing to exit and instead landing in another live streaming room.
This room had a significantly larger audience, with over 50,000 viewers. Initially, he had little interest and was about to leave when Yun Yun took the stage.
For some reason, that fleeting glance captivated him, holding his gaze for what felt like an eternity.
Later, he watched as others received Carnival gifts, their joy evident in their animated, celebratory gestures.And that little girl named Yun Yun could only clap silently in the corner, which inexplicably left a sour taste in his heart.
Thus, for the first time in his life, he acted so impulsively. Aside from the Carnival he had gifted to a friend, this was his first time sending a gift in a live streaming room.
Initially, he had only intended to send one Carnival, treating it as a spur-of-the-moment show of support.
But after sending one, he thought to himself: others have three, so how could she only have one? He couldn’t lose to others.
By the time he sent the fourth, he had already surpassed three. Yet, seeing her surprised and envious gaze, he completely lost control, and his fingers involuntarily continued tapping on the Carnival option.
Only when he could no longer click did he suddenly realize he had already sent ten Carnivals.
At that moment, he secretly regretted it—why had he only topped up so little money? If he had known, he should have added more.
Ten Carnivals were not the limit of his financial capacity but rather the limit of the amount he had topped up this time.
He had thought that since he never usually sent gifts, this small amount would surely be enough.
But reality proved him wrong—not only did he send gifts, but deep down, he also felt an urge to keep going.
(Ji Muzhi: When you sent me gifts, why didn’t you think like this!!!)
Especially after he finished sending the gifts, Yun Yun stepped back and clapped silently. Her eyes held surprise and envy, and she seemed to think the gifts were for someone else, showing a lack of confidence. This made him want to give her a bit of confidence.
When she realized the gifts were for her, she sincerely bowed to him, her tone carrying a hint of unease and overwhelming gratitude. At that moment, an unprecedented, intense desire to protect her surged within him.
So, after Yun Yun bowed and expressed her gratitude, he somewhat dazedly exited the live streaming room.
He felt he must have gone mad, just like those addicted to live streaming, succumbing to the act of sending gifts.
After leaving the live streaming room, he sat quietly on the sofa in the living room for a while, trying to calm his somewhat chaotic emotions.
Then, he got up and went to the study to handle work matters.
By 10 p.m., Yun Yun had clocked out early.
After all, it was her first day at work, and she was still in the trial streaming phase, so she didn’t need to participate in the final intense and competitive Vote Solicitation Segment.
At 10:30 p.m., after finishing his work, Li Yiyan hadn’t expected that he would unconsciously open that live streaming room again.
But this time, the figure he had eagerly anticipated did not appear.
So, he sent another floating screen message: [y: Where’s Yun Yun?]
Xiao Wu saw his message and quickly explained, “Emperor Y, Yun Yun is a newcomer, so she isn’t participating in this Vote Solicitation Segment. She clocked out early. If you’d like to see Yun Yun, you can come back tomorrow at 7 p.m.”
Li Yiyan sent a floating screen message: [y: I see. I’ll come back tomorrow then.]
Xiao Wu smiled brightly. “Alright, bro. Come back tomorrow to see Yun Yun. Thank you for your strong support of Yun Yun today.”
After that, y exited the live streaming room. Almost at the same moment, a notification popped up on his phone screen: “Yun Yun has followed you.”