For the third divination, Shen Zhiyao randomly selected someone to connect with.
The question this time was simple. Shen Zhiyao resolved it quickly, and the person, very satisfied, happily sent two Douyin Number Ones.
The fans in the stream wanted to chat a bit more with Shen Zhiyao, but she just said, "See you tomorrow," and quickly went offline.
She had been starving for two days and had streamed for a whole evening. If not for her strong willpower, she would have collapsed long ago. She was in no mood for idle chatter.
She eagerly opened her creator dashboard to check her earnings.
Tonight, she had received two Douyin Number Ones, one "Dragon in the Abyss," plus some scattered smaller gifts like "Hearts" and "Beers," totaling 4,860 yuan in value.
The Douyin Live dashboard allowed for direct withdrawal to her account, but a system notification popped up:
[As you have not yet signed a contract with the platform, a 60% commission will be deducted from all gift withdrawals.]
[Please click "I want to sign a contract" to lower the commission rate.]
Shen Zhiyao's lips twitched. She forced out two words: "How audacious!"
In the end, her withdrawable earnings came to 2,430 yuan. It was finally enough to live on for a while.
Clutching the phone that had just received the deposit, she rushed out to buy food.
The place she rented was in an urban village. The environment wasn't great, but just a hundred meters to the west was a food street with a rich variety of options.
Before long, Shen Zhiyao had bought all sorts of snacks: grilled squid, grilled mango, grilled cold noodles, and more.
She had originally wanted to try the very popular luosifen, but she backed out before even reaching the shop.
'It smells so bad!'
She overheard someone nearby commenting, "Sigh, you can't get authentic luosifen outside of our hometown. The local version isn't stinky at all and is delicious."
Shen Zhiyao had never seen authentic luosifen; she only knew that the street food she bought was all delicious.
The grilled squid was fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside, the mango was crisp, and the grilled cold noodles were savory and rich. Every bite was exceptionally fragrant…
Every single dish was so much tastier than the food from her original world!
In the Cultivation World, those with a Spirit Root were all busy cultivating.
Ordinary people were busy surviving and had no time to research gourmet food.
As a result, the food there was either boiled or stir-fried.
If it hadn't been so disgusting, Shen Zhiyao wouldn't have cultivated so hard to reach the Bigu stage early.
After eating and drinking her fill, Shen Zhiyao began to meditate and cultivate.
The Spiritual Energy in this world was far too thin. She had tried cultivating a few days ago, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, but had only managed to gather a tiny bit of Spiritual Energy.
At this rate, she would die of old age before even reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage.
However, when she cultivated again after today's stream, she was surprised to find that the Belief Power from her online fans could actually be converted into Spiritual Energy. Her cultivation was now many times more effective.
She didn't have many fans yet. If she had more, it would be even more beneficial to her cultivation.
What's more, she had once been an early-stage Divinity Transformation Realm expert. She knew her Cultivation Technique like the back of her hand. If she could make good use of her fans' Belief Power, she could reach the Divinity Transformation Stage again, and perhaps even far surpass her previous life.
'It seems live streaming is the right path.'
...
Meanwhile, Zhou Ye was so agitated he couldn't sleep all night.
The next day, he opened Weibo to find that videos of Shen Zhiyao's fortune-telling stream were spreading like wildfire, with a crowd of people tagging him in the comments.
Because of this, his company's manager specifically called Zhou Ye in for a tongue-lashing. "If this matter isn't resolved, the company will shelve you. As for the breach of contract fees for your canceled endorsements, you will be responsible for them alone."
"Well, well! President Zhang, you seem to be in quite a temper. Who are you planning to shelve?"
A gentle female voice sounded as the office door was pushed open, revealing a stunning figure.
The newcomer was dressed head-to-toe in designer brands, exuding an air of nobility just by standing there.
"Sister Xin'er!"
Zhou Ye, who had been meek and submissive just a moment ago, immediately brightened up and shot to his feet.
Kang Naixin was the pillar of Yuanqi Entertainment Company and also the niece of the company's owner, so her status was very high.
She had been abroad filming a Hollywood movie for the past few days and had only just returned this morning. Hearing that Zhou Ye was in trouble, she rushed to the company at once.
Zhou Ye had once been her supporting actor in a role. The two had hit it off and subsequently began their relationship.
By riding Kang Naixin's coattails, Zhou Ye got the opportunity to act in popular web series despite being a singer.
To be with Kang Naixin, Zhou Ye had to abandon Shen Zhiyao, but who knew it would cause such a storm.
President Zhang stood up and said to Kang Naixin, "This incident has blown up. We've built up Zhou Ye's public persona as an innocent idol. If this isn't resolved, and I don't need to tell you this, his entertainment career will be over."
Kang Naixin looked impatient. "Then just solve the problem, can't you?"
President Zhang hesitated. "The best way is to get that woman to post a statement admitting that she and Zhou Ye were just ordinary classmates."
"You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it." Kang Naixin waved her hand, dismissing President Zhang.
Once there were no outsiders left in the conference room, Zhou Ye moved to take Kang Naixin's hand.
Kang Naixin yanked her hand away and sat down, annoyed.
Zhou Ye began cautiously, "I was trying to contact her all last night, but she's blocked my number and my WeChat..."
"Don't you contact that woman again!" Kang Naixin's tone was clearly laced with jealousy.
She was jealous of the nine years Shen Zhiyao and Zhou Ye had spent together, and furious that this woman had nearly ruined the man she had single-handedly propped up.
"She's just a cheap bitch, so why is she pretending to be so devoted? All that drama before was just to leech off your popularity and get famous. Zhou Ye, you must have been blind to have liked someone like her!"
Zhou Ye said, "I was young and naive back then, with no other choice, and yes, I was blind. Sister Xin'er, you have to help me. I can't let her ruin me like this."
Kang Naixin snorted. "No one gets to ruin an artist that I've built up! I hear she's doing fortune-telling streams now?"
Speaking of which, Zhou Ye also found it strange. "I'd never heard of her knowing how to do any of this. She was just a bookworm, completely useless besides reading, cramming for exams, and getting scholarships."
Of course, he would never mention where Shen Zhiyao's scholarship money had gone.
"So you're saying she doesn't know how to tell fortunes at all?" Kang Naixin immediately grasped the key point.
"She knows jack shit! Don't I know exactly what she's worth and what kind of person she is? She just leeched off my fame and started putting on this whole mystic act to get attention. I watched last night's stream; she just got a few people to act along with her. I can't believe some idiots actually bought it."
Zhou Ye knew Kang Naixin despised his ex-girlfriend, so he made sure to disparage Shen Zhiyao as much as possible.
Sure enough, Kang Naixin's anger subsided considerably.
"Even if she wanted to clout-chase, she shouldn't have picked a fight with Kang Naixin's man. So she wants to be an internet celebrity? I'll make sure she can't survive on Douyin!" A vicious glint appeared in the woman's eyes.
The next evening, Shen Zhiyao started her live stream again.
Building on her first stream, her follower count had now reached a thousand.
The moment she went live, many people who had watched the day before flooded in.
[The streamer is finally live! Ever since watching your stream yesterday, all other streams have been boring.]
[Streamer, streamer, what time do you go live every day? I've been waiting since eight, and it's past ten now.]
[You peasants, what are you doing watching a stream? Hurry up and help Brother Zhou Ye by keeping an eye on this woman! Don't let her cause him any trouble!]
[Yeah, exactly! The streamer is clout-chasing off the famous star Zhou Ye. Shameless!]
[Zhou Ye's braindead fans, get out of the stream! Streamer, look at me! Do my reading first, I just got paid and have money for a divination!]
[Get lost, why should you get the first reading! Me first! Streamer, look at me, do mine first!]
[Me too, me too!]
Just after going live, the viewer count was already in the double digits. With the platform's algorithm pushing her stream, it quickly shot into the four digits.
As more people joined, more people wanted a divination.
"From now on, I will go live at 10 PM every night and perform three divinations per day. As the number of requests has increased, I will randomly select fated individuals."
Shen Zhiyao lacked experience during yesterday's stream, so she hadn't paid attention to many details. Tonight, she decided to refine the rules first.
The stream's popularity soared, and she quickly shot to number one on the new streamer rankings.
More and more people were clamoring for a divination, and some even suggested the streamer do more than three readings a day.
Shen Zhiyao explained, "..."