The two walked together until they reached their destination.
Su Yue looked up at the building.
Neon lights. Heart-shaped decorations. A sign that read "Rest & Stay" in stylized letters.
It was a love hotel.
She slowly turned to Lin Feng.
"This is..."
"Don't have any strange thoughts," he said flatly. "Unless you want to put on your bunny outfit in the dorms with your roommates watching?"
She violently shook her head.
The two walked in.
Su Yue stood behind Lin Feng as he approached the front desk, her gaze fixed firmly on the floor. Her face felt like it was on fire.
The receptionist glanced at her, then back at Lin Feng.
A knowing smile spread across their face.
They gave Lin Feng a thumbs up.
Lin Feng sighed.
He took the room key and walked away, Su Yue hurrying after him.
...
They reached their room and stepped inside.
The interior was... exactly what you'd expect from a love hotel. Dim mood lighting. A large bed with red sheets. Heart-shaped pillows. A jacuzzi tub visible through a glass partition.
Su Yue's blush deepened.
Lin Feng ignored the decor entirely.
"Go take a shower if you want," he said, setting down the shopping bags. "Test the outfits while you're at it. Then change into one of the normal ones we bought for streaming."
He began unpacking the equipment.
"In the meantime, I'll set everything up and prepare for the stream."
Su Yue blinked.
"Stream? Here?"
He nodded.
"Of course I'll rearrange things so people won't notice we're in a love hotel. The background will just look like a normal room."
He glanced at the walls.
"The soundproofing is good too. So you don't have to worry about... what the other guests are up to."
Su Yue's face turned an even deeper shade of red.
Lin Feng noticed her expression and sighed.
"Don't worry. This is just for today since we were unprepared. Next time, I'll find a proper place."
She nodded slowly, still looking flustered.
Then she gathered the outfit bags and retreated to the bathroom.
The door clicked shut behind her.
Lin Feng turned to face the room.
Now then.
He began setting up the equipment.
…
A while later.
Su Yue stepped out of the bathroom.
She had changed into a simple but cute outfit - a pastel sweater and a pleated skirt. One of the "normal" outfits they had bought earlier for streaming.
Lin Feng had finished setting up the equipment. The camera was positioned on a tripod, the ring light casting a soft glow over a section of the room he had carefully arranged to look like a normal bedroom corner. All traces of the love hotel's... unique decor had been pushed out of frame.
He sat a few paces away from the camera, phone in hand.
"Should we start now?" Su Yue asked.
He nodded.
"You have an account, right?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "I signed up when I was checking things out."
"Good. Add me as a moderator."
She pulled out her phone and did as instructed.
Lin Feng then guided her to a spot in front of the camera. He placed her phone on a small stand just below the lens.
"This is where the chat will be," he explained. "You can interact with them if you want. And if they say something dumb, just ignore them."
He stepped back.
"For now, just sing."
He returned to his seat, then held up his hand.
Three fingers.
Two.
One.
They went live.
...
Su Yue exhaled deeply.
She was staring at the camera. Below it, her phone displayed the chat - empty except for the viewer count.
[1 viewer]
That one viewer was Lin Feng.
She forced herself to relax and began singing.
The songs had been preselected by Lin Feng - popular tracks that most people would recognize. Easy to sing along to, easy to enjoy.
As she sang, the viewer count slowly ticked upward.
[5 viewers]
Lin Feng watched from his phone. Five viewers now. Though he wasn't sure if any of them were real - no one was sending messages. Perhaps they were just lurking. Or perhaps no one wanted to be the first to speak.
Well, he had prepared for this.
He switched to his alt account.
Username: poorbusinessman
He opened the stream and made a donation.
He sent a rocket - worth about 100 yuan.
Along with it, a song request.
...
Su Yue noticed the notification pop up on her screen.
"Ah…"
She blinked.
Then she glanced at the viewer count.
[12 viewers]
"Oh! Someone requested a song." She looked flustered. "I'm so sorry, there are already so many people here. I hadn't realized."
She bowed her head slightly.
"I'm new to this. Please bear with me."
She looked at the donation notification.
"Let's see... thank you, Mr. poorbusinessman, for the rocket! I'll sing your song now."
She exhaled and began.
...
Lin Feng watched from the side, a small smile on his face.
She's quite a natural at this.
He supposed she had picked it up from working in sales. Talking to strangers, maintaining a friendly demeanor - it translated well to streaming.
Although she was a little clumsy...
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing in this industry. Viewers often found it endearing.
He glanced at the chat.
Messages had started appearing.
[wait is this real?]
[i thought it was a bot stream on loop]
[is this the legendary jade beauty??]
[chat is this real???]
And thanks to the gift, the algorithm had started pushing the stream.
[20 viewers]
And counting.
...
Two minutes later, Su Yue finished the song.
She looked at the screen.
Her eyes widened.
"Whoa…"
The chat was scrolling faster than she could read.
"It's moving so fast! I can't read that fast."
She glanced at the viewer count.
[50 viewers]
"Ah, there are fifty of you here now?"
She smiled nervously and waved at the camera.
"Hello everyone! Welcome to my stream. I'm new here, so please go easy on me."
She looked at her song queue.
"Let's see... woah, so many requests!"
She scratched her cheek.
"Um, today was actually just a test stream, so I don't think I can do all of these. I'm really sorry!"
She glanced at the gift notifications.
"But thank you so much! Thank you, little_star_88, for the candy. Thank you, midnight_wanderer, for the flowers. Thank you, sleepy_penguin, for the…"
Suddenly, the screen flashed.
A brilliant golden light filled the chat interface.
Su Yue froze.
The light coalesced into a massive golden cruise ship that sailed across the screen. Stars rained down from above. Huge letters appeared at the top of the display:
[ROYAL CRUISE]
[poorbusinessman has gifted Royal Cruise x1]