Leaving the east gate of Jingming Community, crossing the street, and walking south along the sidewalk for fifty meters brought them to Yangliu Lane after a right turn. Walking all the way to the end of the lane led straight to Master Chen’s Private Kitchen.
Master Chen was from Huainan. He was not a certified master chef, but he cooked an exceptional style of Huaiyang cuisine. A few years earlier, upon retiring to take care of his grandchildren, he and his wife had settled in Beijing.
Life in Beijing is notoriously difficult and expensive. To help cover daily living costs, Master Chen had rented an old house in Yangliu Lane and opened a private kitchen. Relying on his genuine culinary skills and honest character, he managed to scrape together a modest living.
Deep within the old alleyway sat a humble house with a tiny courtyard, furnished with just five or six wooden tables and dozens of dining chairs. When Lu Chen and Li Feiyu slipped through the front door, the place was already packed solid, leaving not a single empty seat to be found—business was simply booming!
Fortunately, Li Feiyu was a regular customer. He grabbed Master Chen’s wife, who doubled as a waitress, and called out "Auntie, Auntie" with winning affection. With a flurry of sweet words that left her beaming from ear to ear, he managed to wheedle an extra table into the courtyard.
All they could get was a student’s writing desk paired with two small plastic stools. Nothing else was left.
Yet both Li Feiyu and Lu Chen were completely satisfied.
Master Chen’s Private Kitchen was truly the epitome of high quality at low prices. Many gourmands arrived well before mealtime just to stake out a table. If not for Li Feiyu's silver tongue, they would never have managed to squeeze in!
Braised pork meatballs in brown sauce, Three-Decker Duck, squirrel mandarin fish, braised shredded dried tofu, along with two bamboo steamer baskets of crab roe steamed buns—all authentic Huaiyang dishes, washed down with four bottles of Yandu beer—left Lu Chen, who hadn't enjoyed a proper meat dish in ages, practically moved to tears.
By the time most of the plates were empty and three bottles of beer were finished, a well-fed and thoroughly satisfied Li Feiyu opened the floodgates of conversation.
And the topic was still online streaming.
Li Feiyu had been dabbling in online streaming for about a month now. He had even bought a dedicated, high-quality microphone and an HD camera, hoping to cut a dashing figure online while making a little pocket money on the side.
He started out streaming on Whale, following the path of a gaming streamer. Unfortunately, Whale's three most popular online games—Hero City and Planet Overlord—were ones he played terribly. After lingering for half a month with barely a handful of viewers, he hadn't even earned back his electricity bill.
Half a month ago, he switched over to Starlight Show, dropping games for a lifestyle show where he told jokes, bantered with people, and belted out songs while making a fool of himself. Surprisingly, he managed to scrape together a bit of popularity, earning a solid 0.3 in Starlight currency.
0.3 meant 30,000 Starlight points, equivalent to 300 yuan. However, according to Starlight Show's rules, "wild" or unsigned streamers like Li Feiyu only received a 50% split.
Well, his electricity bill was covered at least, but two weeks of hard work barely beat a single day of hauling bricks!
Recalling his bitter streaming career, Brother Xiaofei poured out an endless stream of grievances, completely unable to stop himself, until even Lu Chen couldn't help but shed a sympathetic tear for him.
"Xiao Lu, you know what?"
Li Feiyu took a big gulp of beer and said, "Our colleague Xiaomei made over twenty to thirty thousand in tips on Starlight Show last month. That's five or six times her salary at the 4S shop! She's quitting and won't be coming to work next month."
Xiaomei was someone Lu Chen knew of. She was the front desk receptionist at the 4S shop where Li Feiyu worked, blessed with big eyes, a V-shaped face, a slender waist, and long legs... Most importantly, she was twenty years old and single, making her the resident flower of the company and an undisputed target of pursuit for countless bees and butterflies, not to mention a host of secret admirers!
Lu Chen knew so much about her not because they were acquainted, but because he had heard about her from Li Feiyu at least N times.
Yes, this guy was a card-carrying member of the Xiaomei Secret Admirer Club!
"Is she very talented?" Lu Chen asked curiously.
Li Feiyu explained, "She doesn't sing and she doesn't dance. She just streams herself putting on makeup, eating, acting cute, and chatting..."
Lu Chen was left speechless—you could actually do that?
"It really works!"
Li Feiyu perked up and said, "Forget about acting cute and chatting. On Starlight Show, there are people streaming themselves sleeping, watching TV, cooking, and even writing novels. If you can think of it, there's nothing they won't do on there!"
"Xiao Lu, with your talent and strength, you'd have a huge future on Starlight Show!"
Turning serious, he continued, "Right now, the seven biggest stars on Starlight Show pull in at least one hundred thousand a month. The biggest name, Yan Manni, reportedly signed a contract worth over five million, and she endorses quite a few commercials. Her follower count on Starlight Show has reached two million. Just imagine how much she makes in tips on an ordinary day!"
Lu Chen couldn't help nodding. He had just been messing around using Li Feiyu's account, and he seemed to have earned quite a bit in tips already.
A following of over two million Starlight fans—just thinking about it was terrifying!
Li Feiyu gave a bitter laugh and said, "There's no way I'll ever reach that level, but you're different, Xiao Lu. You sing well, you're handsome, and damn it, you can even write your own songs. You genuinely have the potential to blow up on Starlight Show!"
"Just think: you sang three songs earlier, and I checked the tips—they came out to 2.8. If you cash them out right now, you get 1,400 yuan. Tell me, isn't that better than working part-time at KFC, or working shifts at a bar?"
Lu Chen was genuinely tempted!
His family was saddled with massive debts. Relying solely on part-time jobs would probably never pay them off in this lifetime, even with his family chipping in.
Right now, he was sitting on a treasure trove, but turning that treasure trove into tangible benefits was no simple matter. One only had to look at the harsh contract Su Qingmei had presented to know that for a nobody like him, just raw talent and ability were far from enough to make it in this industry.
And a streaming platform like Starlight Show, a stage belonging to ordinary grassroots folks, was undoubtedly a shortcut to making money!
Striking while the iron was hot, Li Feiyu pressed on: "Xiao Lu, I'm not planning to stream anymore. I'll just give you my Starlight account. You can change the name and personal details however you like, and I'll give you the streaming equipment too—it's useless to me anyway."
Lu Chen was startled and quickly said, "How can I do that...?"
"Why not?"
Li Feiyu stared at him and said, "This is called rational resource utilization, and I'm not getting the short end of the stick either. I'm not asking you to split the tips currently sitting in the account; otherwise, I wouldn't even get this much selling it secondhand!"
Even though Li Feiyu put it that way, Lu Chen knew those two pieces of equipment couldn't possibly be bought for a thousand yuan even at a secondhand discount, not to mention that the account itself was inherently valuable.
"Brother Li..."
"If we're brothers, cut the crap!"
Li Feiyu waved a hand, exuding an overbearing aura as he declared, "It's settled! If you really appreciate your Brother Li, then when you become a big star one day, you can let me be your errand-running assistant!"
Lu Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Brother Li, you're drunk!"
"Rubbish!"
Li Feiyu said with disdain, "Two bottles of Yandu beer can make me drunk? Add a zero and maybe. Enough talk, let's go back now and change the account details. Time to pay the bill!"
He paid the bill and hauled Lu Chen back toward their rented apartment.
Back in their basement pigeonhole, Li Feiyu impatiently turned on the computer and logged back into the account.
First, he cashed out all 3 points of Starlight currency currently in the account, and then he began updating the profile information.
The Starlight Show streaming platform allowed hosts to modify their information, including account nicknames, security questions, bound mobile numbers, and payment details, making the transfer to Lu Chen's name very convenient.
Of course, few streamers would casually change their nicknames because it affected their popularity, and they also had to send out notifications to their followers, making it quite troublesome.
Since Lu Chen was a beginner, taking over Li Feiyu's account incurred no losses while retaining the popularity earned that morning.
"Xiao Lu, change your streamer nickname first!"
Li Feiyu rubbed his hands together and reminded him, "It has to be domineering, something that can shake the whole house!"
Lu Chen chuckled and typed his own name, "Lu Chen," into the keyboard, but a prompt popped up immediately.
Nickname already taken!
Lu Chen tried "Xiao Lu" instead, but it was still taken!
Li Feiyu laughed, "All the good names have already been taken by dogs. I wanted to register 'Brother Xiaofei' originally, but that was taken too."
Lu Chen thought for a moment and typed in two characters: "Lu Fei."
To his surprise, the name actually passed, showing it was available!
Without hesitation, he hit confirm, and the modification was successful!
"Lu Fei?"
Li Feiyu looked surprised, then grew excited: "This name is good, really good!"
*Lu* from Lu Chen, and *Fei* from Li Feiyu!
Although Li Feiyu didn't plan to stream anymore, he still had a deep fondness for the account and desperately wanted Lu Chen to carry it forward and become a shining star on Starlight Show!
Precisely because of this, seeing Lu Chen choose the nickname "Lu Fei" left him both excited and moved.
He couldn't resist throwing a playful punch at Lu Chen's shoulder: "Good brother!"
Lu Chen smiled without a word.
Aside from his connection to Li Feiyu, the most important reason he chose this name was a line that had just echoed in his mind:
"I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"
It really was domineering!
With the nickname changed, the streaming account now belonged entirely to Lu Chen.
Lu Chen didn't start broadcasting immediately; instead, he familiarized himself with the various operational functions of the streaming platform.
Logging into the host account naturally granted him full permissions for the broadcast room, such as basic settings, accompaniment, subtitles, kicking users, banning chat, sending blessings, and leaving messages. With Li Feiyu guiding him along the side, he naturally picked it up very quickly.
Next, Lu Chen sent a mass message to all his follower fan groups, informing them of the name change and the transfer of ownership.
Interestingly, his streamer inbox contained over a hundred messages, most of them sent just a short while ago. They consisted of greetings from fans, praising remarks, requests for his Feixun number, and pleas for attention...
Then, in less than half a minute, new messages poured in one after another, all expressing congratulations and joy!
"That's great! No more suffering through Brother Xiaofei's sonic torture. Scattering flowers!"
"Lu Fei, I love this name. Handsome, keep it up!"
"When are you going live? I want to listen to *The You of the Same Desk* 10,000 more times!"
"Supporting you all the way!"
"……"
Lu Chen found it all quite heartwarming and felt things getting more and more interesting.
Li Feiyu said, "Once you reach ten thousand fans, you can sign a contract. Signed streamers get different revenue split ratios based on their tier. At your follower-growth rate, you should hit the minimum requirement after at most two more streams!"
Lu Chen nodded, the reflection of the screen sparkling in his eyes.
It was as dazzling as a starry sky!