After the stream ended, Su Yue collapsed to the ground, still in the nurse costume, breathing heavily.
"Is it off?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's off," Lin Feng confirmed.
She lay there for a moment, catching her breath. Then she slowly got up and walked over to him.
She came to stand beside him, looking at his laptop screen.
He got up from the chair.
"Here, have a seat."
"Thanks," she said, sinking into it gratefully.
He leaned over and pulled up the statistics.
"Here's today's numbers."
Total stream duration: 1 hour 5 minutes
Peak concurrent viewers: 2,594
Average viewers: 1,298
Total gifts received: ¥20,864
Chat messages: 10,549
Su Yue's jaw dropped.
"So high?!"
"It's mostly because of the race to the cosplay," Lin Feng explained. "While there weren't any major whale donations, there were a lot more smaller gifts from people competing."
"I have to say, for your second stream, this was an absolute success. Even if today was just your peak, you should be able to maintain about fifty percent of those viewers and earnings going forward."
He looked at her with a smile.
"You've got sponsor money and now this. You're so rich."
His expression turned thoughtful.
"Maybe I should have my parents come propose marriage."
"Stop teasing me," she said, a blush creeping across her cheeks.
She looked away.
"Why don't you do it yourself..." she whispered under her breath.
"Say what?"
"Nothing."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't press further.
"Anyway," she said quickly, changing the subject, "how do we split the sponsor money? Is it the same as before?"
"Well, kind of," he said. "Usually, no - the talent keeps the sponsor money entirely. But since I was the one who found the sponsorship, I take a percentage as a finder's fee."
He held up a finger.
"I'll just take the previously agreed fifteen percent to keep things simple."
She nodded.
"That's fair."
She pulled out her phone and made the transfer.
A moment later, his phone buzzed.
[Personal account has been credited with ¥2,300.00 from account ending in ...]
Lin Feng stared at the notification.
Holy...
Su Yue really was his golden goose.
He turned and bowed to her at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
"Thanks, boss."
"Stop doing that!" She swatted at him. "You're embarrassing me."
He simply smiled and straightened up.
Then he glanced at his phone and noticed the time.
"Ah, would you look at that."
He began packing his things into his backpack.
"It's almost curfew. I'll be heading back."
He slung the bag over his shoulder.
"You don't have to rush. Freshen up, get some rest. Just sleep here tonight."
"Ah, okay…"
"Goodnight."
He was out the door before she could finish her sentence.
Su Yue sat there in the empty apartment, still in her nurse costume, staring at the closed door.
"...goodnight."
…
Lin Feng made it back to the dormitory just before curfew.
The room was dark. His roommates were already asleep, their breathing slow and steady.
He quietly climbed onto his bed and pulled out his phone.
He summoned his system.
[Infinite Money System]
[Total System Balance: ¥8,881.00]
[Available System Balance: ¥8,881.00]
[Personal Balance: ¥12,069.00]
His eyes widened.
So much...
He smiled.
It seemed the 750 yuan from the sponsorship money had also been counted. He had been quite worried about that.
He thought back to his plan.
First, he had taken out ten thousand yuan and added it to the pool of money in Tianji Capital. His hope was that this would transform it from personal money into company money.
Then he had talked with Yu Shen about sponsoring Su Yue. They had agreed as a company to allocate five thousand yuan for the sponsorship. Yu Shen had refused to take it entirely from Lin Feng's share, so they had each contributed 2,500 yuan.
Since they had finalized the deal as a company, the money wasn't counted as his anymore - at least, that was what he had theorized.
And the final nail was having Su Yue acknowledge his share as payment for legitimate work and give him a cut.
He smiled.
While the system had quite a few restrictions, as long as he was smart about it, he should be able to easily game it.
He quickly transferred all the available system balance into his personal account.
Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
…
Wednesday, October 21st.
The four roommates sat around the study desk for their usual meeting.
Chen Ming was practically glowing as he delivered his report.
"...and thanks to Brother Lin's Outstanding Citizen award, our popularity has absolutely soared."
He gestured enthusiastically.
"We're now fully expanding into the senior years. The applications for delivery contractors have been flooding in too, some are even from seniors themselves!"
Lin Feng nodded slowly.
He turned to Li Jun.
"From now on, this matter will be handled by you as CEO."
Li Jun straightened up.
"The two of you can discuss it together and pick candidates that fit well," Lin Feng continued, glancing between Li Jun and Chen Ming. "When in doubt, consult me."
They all nodded.
Then Chen Ming glanced at Lin Feng with a smile.
It was the kind of smile that made Lin Feng immediately wary.
"What?" he asked.
Chen Ming slid over and wrapped an arm around Lin Feng's shoulder.
"I saw sister-in-law streaming yesterday."
Lin Feng's eye twitched.
"She was even sponsored by your Tianji Capital," Chen Ming continued, his grin widening. "That's definitely not a coincidence, right?"
He leaned in closer.
"Next time, can you connect us with her too? For a sponsorship? You know, for when we're planning on expanding outward."
Lin Feng looked at him.
Zhang Wei and Li Jun were also staring at him. Their expressions were almost pitiful - like puppies begging for scraps.
Lin Feng cleared his throat.
"She's not your sister-in-law."
Chen Ming nodded sagely.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Brother Lin."
Lin Feng sighed.
"As for the sponsorship - I'm her manager."
He looked at Chen Ming.
"You're our CMO, so you should allocate a marketing budget. Since I'm also a shareholder here, I'll definitely give you a good deal."
Chen Ming flashed an okay sign with his fingers.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Brother Lin."
"Just get back to work."
…
Later that day.
Lin Feng climbed a seemingly endless flight of stairs.
One floor.
Two floors.
Three floors.
By the fifth floor, he was gripping the railing, legs burning.
He finally reached the top and bent over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Fuck..."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"My luck with elevators has been terrible ever since I regressed."
He pulled out his phone and checked the address again.
Is this the place?
He looked up at the door in front of him.
Room 502.
He walked up and knocked.
No response.
He knocked a second time.
Still nothing.
He knocked a third time, harder.
Finally, the sound of shuffling footsteps came from inside.
The door creaked open.
A girl stood in the doorway.
She wore huge round glasses that dominated her face. Her hair was shaggy and unkempt, falling in tangled clumps around her shoulders. Dark circles hung beneath her eyes. An oversized, stained t-shirt hung off her thin frame.
She looked more like a homeless person than anything else.
Her eyes were dull as she stared at him.
"Who are you?"
Lin Feng smiled.
"Shen Mengqi?"
A flicker of something passed through her eyes at the sound of her name.
He maintained his smile.
"How would you feel about debuting as an idol once again?"