The Streamer's Allure: Top Fans Vying for Her Affection - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
“How dare you apply here with such a low level of education? Go back and find a man to support you!”
Jiang Zhouzhou’s meticulously prepared resume was crumpled into a ball and tossed into the trash can. Her small, palm-sized face flushed crimson as she sat awkwardly in her chair, fiddling with her fingers to hide her embarrassment.
“Still not leaving? Our time is precious. Could you stop wasting the next candidate’s time?”
The stern-looking interviewer glared at her coldly, harboring a sense of unprovoked hostility.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
Jiang Zhouzhou scrambled to her feet, keeping her head low as she hurried out of the interview room.
Once she was gone, another interviewer asked in confusion, “That girl was very pretty, and she was only applying for a receptionist position. Why were you so hostile?”
The woman rolled her eyes and said with disdain, “Tsk. I rejected her exactly because she’s too pretty. There are plenty of young girls like her who rely on their looks and want to be a receptionist just to hook up with the boss or clients.”
***
Back in her rented room, Jiang Zhouzhou felt like a wilted eggplant-listless and completely drained of spirit.
As a recent college graduate, she never expected adult society to be so cruel. All her former classmates had found jobs they liked, while she… she had been brutally humiliated just for interviewing for a receptionist job.
“What am I going to do… if I don’t find a job soon, I’ll be eating dirt!”
Jiang Zhouzhou lay on her bed, her mind filled with the insulting words from the interview.
“Go back and find a man to support you…”
She rolled over and suddenly sat bolt upright.
Back in college, she was the recognized campus belle. Her roommates had once egged her on, saying that with a face like hers, if she started livestreaming, men would shower her with tips even if she just sat there without saying a word.
However, Jiang Zhouzhou wasn’t someone who liked being in the spotlight, so she hadn’t taken her roommates’ words seriously.
But now…
She was so poor she could barely afford to eat. Who cared about pride!
And so, Jiang Zhouzhou decided to give it a shot. If livestreaming didn’t work out, she would continue looking for other jobs.
She quickly downloaded the most popular streaming app on her phone-Shark.
Following the on-screen prompts, she linked her ID card and bank card, registered as a streamer, and gave herself the username: Century Egg and Pork Congee.
Looking at the streaming interface, a flash of nervousness crossed Jiang Zhouzhou’s watery eyes. After all, she had watched some livestreams before and knew they were filled with beautiful women. She had no special talents or skills; all she had was a decent face…
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Zhouzhou couldn’t help but turn on the beauty filters. She narrowed her rounded chin into a point, elongated her almond eyes, and turned the skin whitening up several notches.
Finally, looking at the face in the screen that was so beautiful she could barely recognize herself, Jiang Zhouzhou gave herself a silent nod of approval-perfect.
She clicked: Start Stream.
After adjusting her phone’s position, Jiang Zhouzhou faced the camera nervously. Perhaps because it was a newcomer’s first stream, viewers began trickling into the room, most of them being accounts with generic numbers for names.
[User 3077585321 has entered the room]
[Delicious Crab Roe Bun has entered the room]
[Vote for Bear has entered the room]
Jiang Zhouzhou’s eyes lit up. Just as she was about to welcome the viewers, she saw the viewer count drop from five to one…
As expected, the livestreaming industry was so saturated that it was incredibly difficult for a newcomer to break through!
Jiang Zhouzhou idly picked at her fingers, her mind already drifting toward what kind of job she should look for tomorrow…
[Sexy Mother Cockroach has entered the room]
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: Just asking, is the streamer performing a meditation session?]
Seeing that someone had finally spoken in the chat, Jiang Zhouzhou hurried to respond, “No, I’m not. This is my first time streaming… I’m a bit… I don’t really know what I should be doing.”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter. Even though she was interacting with the camera and an audience, it felt like she was just talking to herself.
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: Do you have any talents? You can perform something you’re good at.]
Jiang Zhouzhou blinked. “I’m pretty fast at mental math. Does that count?”
The chat went silent for a moment.
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: 158082 + 5640738 = ?]
Jiang Zhouzhou said seriously, “6589407.”
After answering, she didn’t forget to give a playful wink. “Tell me, was that fast or what!”
[Pfft, looking at how serious the streamer was when she answered, I almost thought she got it right.]
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: 6]
[Sexy Mother Cockroach gifted the streamer Heart * 1] (0.1 Fish Balls)
[Sexy Mother Cockroach followed streamer Century Egg and Pork Congee]
Seeing that she had received her first follower and gift, Jiang Zhouzhou’s eyes lit up.
She made a finger heart toward the camera. “Thank you, Baby Cockroach, for the Heart and the follow.”
Jiang Zhouzhou’s voice was delicate and soft. Unlike other streamers who intentionally used a high-pitched ‘clamped’ voice, hers sounded naturally sweet and endearing, making it very pleasant to listen to.
[So happy over just one Heart? New streamers really are easy to please.]
[If I gift the streamer a Sports Car, will you dance the Ace of Spades for me?]
On the Shark Platform, there was a specific top-up currency called Fish Balls.
Topping up 100 RMB = 100 Fish Balls.
The value of one Heart was 0.1 Fish Balls, which was ten cents.
A Sports Car, on the other hand, was worth 100 Fish Balls.
Zhouzhou frowned as she read the comment. She said honestly, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to dance.”
[Then surely you can at least sway your hips? Streamer, you can stand up, hold onto the back of your chair, and sway for the camera.]
[Do it for a full minute, and I’ll gift you a Sports Car.]
[Tsk tsk, it’s so easy for female streamers to make money.]
[Sway for us! Sway for us!]
Before she knew it, over a dozen people had entered the stream.
Even as slow-witted as Jiang Zhouzhou was, she knew these hecklers were intentionally teasing her.
Her face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head, as she always did when she felt overwhelmed.
[Sexy Mother Cockroach gifted Century Egg and Pork Congee Sports Car * 1] (100 Fish Balls)
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: Why are you being so stingy over a single Sports Car? If you don’t have money, stop acting like a big shot.]
Seeing Sexy Mother Cockroach suddenly give her a gift, Jiang Zhouzhou’s mouth fell open. She hurriedly thanked them, “Thank you, Baby Cockroach, for the Sports Car!”
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: Streamer, are you a pushover? When people like that cause trouble in the chat, just kick them out.]
Jiang Zhouzhou suddenly felt like Sexy Mother Cockroach was like her primary school homeroom teacher; she felt like she was being sternly lectured through the screen.
She lowered her head and couldn’t help but whisper, “I… it’s my first time streaming, I didn’t know I could kick people.”
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: …]
[Sexy Mother Cockroach: Fine. Make me a moderator, and I’ll kick them for you.]
Jiang Zhouzhou looked at Sexy Mother Cockroach’s comment and fumbled with her phone for a while before she finally found the setting to assign a moderator.
A moment later, she set Sexy Mother Cockroach as a moderator for her stream.
But just as she finished setting it up, a PK request suddenly popped up.
Since it was Jiang Zhouzhou’s first stream, she didn’t know what a PK was and instinctively clicked ‘Accept’.
The stream screen was immediately split into two. A decent-looking male streamer appeared on the screen and said to the camera, “A newbie?”
His tone wasn’t particularly polite, and the background behind him distorted slightly as he moved.
Jiang Zhouzhou could tell at a glance that this male streamer, like her, had his beauty and face-slimming filters turned up very high.
She clicked on his profile and saw that he had over a hundred thousand followers. His name was Chenguang, and his homepage was mostly filled with videos showing off special effects from gifted items.
“Yes, today is my first day streaming.”
Jiang Zhouzhou exited his homepage and began to interact with him.
Perhaps thanks to him, as soon as they connected, over thirty new viewers joined her stream.
[Chenguang is back to bullying new streamers again.]
(Guide for new readers: 1. The streaming platform settings are based on Douyin and Douyu. 2. Stream PKs and game punishments are based on real-life streaming. 3. All streamer names are made up; any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental.)
