Volume One, Chapter 96: An Unexpected Livestream

As the old saying goes, three women make a play—how true that is. Even Jiang Yu found himself at his wits' end, casting a pleading look at Su Muyu for rescue.

Su Muyu couldn't help but laugh. “Why don’t we go eat first?” she suggested.

Her words finally saved Jiang Yu from his predicament. “Good idea! I’ve been on a plane all day and I’m starving!” he replied, grabbing his luggage and making a quick escape.

Watching Jiang Yu’s antics, the girls burst into laughter, their joy infectious enough to turn the heads of passing strangers. Some even looked at Jiang Yu with envy—what kind of luck did this masked man have, to be welcomed by such beauties?

Inside a restaurant with an air of old-world charm, the sisters continued their lively discussion about Jiang Yu.

It was the most open among them who broke the ice. “Hello, superstar! My name is Qin Shuyao. Xiaoyu calls me Yaoyao, you can do the same,” she said with a wink.

With Qin Shuyao leading, the other two girls introduced themselves as well.

“Hello, superstar! I’m Fang Shanshan. Just call me Shanshan.”

“I’m Tong Yuan. Superstar, can I get your autograph later?”

Jiang Yu scratched his head and smiled. “You’re all Su Muyu’s best friends. Just call me Jiang Yu. If you keep calling me ‘superstar,’ I’m going to feel dizzy—and I haven’t even had a drink yet.”

The girls all laughed heartily.

“Look at that handsome face—no wonder our Xiaoyu’s always thinking about you,” Qin Shuyao teased.

“Ahem!” Su Muyu nearly choked on her wine. Not wanting these wild women to continue, she quickly changed the subject.

“Xiaoyu, the program ‘China Has Rappers’ reached out to my aunt again. They’re starting recording next week. Do you have anything you need to handle?”

“No problem on my end,” Jiang Yu replied.

“And the ‘Mandarin Music Golden Melody Awards’ sent an invitation. You’re nominated for Newcomer of the Year, and several of your songs made it into the Golden Melody selection. Auntie asked me to go with you.”

“Alright,” Jiang Yu agreed.

“And also—”

“Enough, enough!” Fang Shanshan jumped in. “We finally get to go out and play, and all you talk about is work. Su Muyu, give it a rest!”

“Exactly! And with such a handsome guy here, your company still piles on so much work for him. Typical corporate greed!” Tong Yuan chimed in.

Except for Qin Shuyao, who was surprised by the programs Su Muyu mentioned. “China Has Rappers” was considered one of the top music shows, and the Mandarin Music Golden Melody Awards were a big deal. The Newcomer Award was only given to one person a year, and after that year, it was gone for good. Yet Jiang Yu was not only in the running for that, but also for other major awards.

Previously, when she learned how much Su Muyu cared about Jiang Yu, she had been curious about what kind of man could win the affection of such an exceptional woman. So she looked into him. What she found startled her—within just two months, Jiang Yu had reached heights others could only dream of. Now, he was even set to compete on stage with established artists. How could she not be surprised?

After some thought, Qin Shuyao turned to Su Muyu. “Xiaoyu, can I ask you a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you ask Jiang Yu to do a livestream on my platform?”

Jiang Yu was a little taken aback. Su Muyu’s gaze flickered when she heard her friend’s request.

Qin Shuyao, despite her alluring, confident demeanor, was actually the most ambitious among them. She had spotted the potential of video platforms early on and founded the Doule Livestream Platform, which had gained a decent following.

“What do you think?” Su Muyu looked to Jiang Yu. This was his decision to make; she didn’t want her friendship with Qin Shuyao to sway him.

Jiang Yu smiled and nodded. “Of course! In fact, I have some things I’d like to discuss with my fans.”

In his previous life, celebrities often did livestreams for great exposure. So, upon hearing Qin Shuyao’s suggestion, he nodded, “But I have one condition.”

“All livestream revenue can go to you, and I’ll also pay you an appearance fee—just name your price,” Qin Shuyao answered immediately.

A star of Jiang Yu’s caliber would bring a huge wave of traffic to the platform, but that wasn’t the most important thing. More importantly, Jiang Yu would be the first celebrity to livestream there. If it went well, more stars might follow, bringing long-term benefits far beyond the immediate cost.

“As for the appearance fee, you can discuss it with my company,” Jiang Yu replied with a smile. “What I want is for the gift channel to be closed during the livestream.”

In his previous life, some stars would disable the tipping and gift features during their streams. While it meant less money, it greatly improved their reputation.

“What did you say?” Qin Shuyao’s eyes widened—he was basically turning away real money.

Even Su Muyu looked surprised.

Jiang Yu chuckled. “Since President Qin said all revenue goes to me, I suppose I’m allowed to disable the tips?”

“Of course,” Qin Shuyao replied quickly, but then bit her lip. “Are you sure? Maybe you should discuss this with Xiaoyu?”

Jiang Yu glanced at Su Muyu, who gave him a gentle, encouraging nod.

“You really are interesting,” Qin Shuyao laughed. “Our platform doesn’t have a function to disable gifts yet, so give me an afternoon. I’ll also do some promotion—would tomorrow work for the livestream?”

“No problem at all.”

…

The next day.

Thanks to Doule’s publicity, news of Jiang Yu’s upcoming livestream spread across the entire internet. The official Doule platform even put him on the front page.

Fans, upon hearing the news, flocked to the livestream room early. Though the darkened room was empty, the barrage of messages already filled the screen.

The preview announced Jiang Yu would go live at 7 p.m., but fans gathered as early as five or six, waiting eagerly.

Because millions tried to enter the stream at once, the traffic crashed the site’s servers.

“Are you kidding? Why is the site so laggy?”

“Such a big platform, and this is all they can manage?”

“If you don’t have the skills, don’t take on such a big job!”

Even the Doule staff were stunned. Their top streamers usually only drew tens of thousands of viewers per session. No one expected Jiang Yu’s first stream to attract over a million viewers—far beyond their predictions.

“President Qin, the traffic is overwhelming. Our servers aren’t prepared,” reported a staffer.

Qin Shuyao frowned. “Increase capacity immediately. Use every backup we have. We must keep things stable tonight!”