Lu Chen’s hometown was Binhai City in Zhedong, a beautiful small seaside town.
His father, Lu Qingsheng, had started his own business early on, and by the time Lu Chen was in elementary school, he was already a well-known local entrepreneur. While Lu Chen couldn't quite be said to have grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, he could at least be considered the child of a wealthy family.
However, unpredictable are the fortunes of life. In Lu Chen’s second year at Nanjiang University, the outbreak of the global financial crisis dealt a severe blow to the operations of local foreign trade enterprises in Binhai City. Lu Qingsheng’s business suffered massive losses as a result, pushing him to the brink of bankruptcy.
Large sums of payment for goods could not be recovered, and banks and suppliers came knocking one after another, ultimately causing his capital chain to snap!
The company’s assets were liquidated, their family villa was auctioned off, and even their car was towed away...
Although Lu Qingsheng did everything in his power to turn the tide, he was drained of physical and mental strength and fell seriously ill. Before long, he passed away, leaving behind his wife, Fang Yun, and three children: Lu Xi, Lu Chen, and Lu Xue.
Lu Chen’s destiny underwent a drastic change as a result. From an envied young master of a wealthy family, he became a down-and-out nobody, abandoned even by his girlfriend, and forced to rely on a work-study program to make ends meet.
Yet, in the absence of the family’s pillar, his mother Fang Yun—a gentle, kind, and strong woman—bravely stepped forward and shouldered all the responsibility.
Fang Yun sold off all their family property, including the jewelry she had brought as a dowry when she married, moved the children into a rented apartment, and signed repayment agreements with the creditors, beginning her arduous struggle for a new life.
Having endured the initial agony and failure, Lu Chen did not give in to despair and sink into ruin. To help his family pay off this huge debt, he applied early for a social internship at the start of his senior year, packed eight hundred yuan of savings he had earned from odd jobs, and traveled alone to Beijing to make his way in the world.
Right up to the present...
Water rushed down, washing over his body, with tiny droplets splashing onto the stained floor tiles.
It felt as though they were splashing into the depths of Lu Chen’s heart, where bitter memories grew wildly like weeds, seizing control of his mind and spirit!
"You said it yourself, crying like a child..."
"Unwilling to love me just a little bit more!"
Suddenly, a howling, banshee-like singing pierced through the wall, assaulting Lu Chen’s ears like sonic torture.
What the heck!
Startled, he shivered involuntarily, quickly turned off the faucet, and dried the water off his body with a bath towel.
The singing next door was still going on, leaving Lu Chen with the urge to burst into tears!
Yet the sentimental sorrow brought on by reminiscing about the past was largely diluted as a result.
Wiping his hair and hurriedly changing into a clean set of clothes, he left his tiny cubbyhole and ran over to the door next door.
He reached out and knocked on the wooden panel. There was no answer, but the door wasn't latched shut, and the agonizing, untuneful howling continued to stream endlessly through the crack.
"Brother Li, what on earth are you doing?"
Lu Chen simply pushed the door open and shouted into the room, "Noise pollution is punishable by a fine!"
The person living in this room was none other than Li Feiyu, a salesman at a car dealership in Beijing who got along quite well with Lu Chen.
Lu Chen knew that Li Feiyu was very fond of pop music and would often belt out a few notes with his tone-deaf voice, but never with such "passionate" intensity as today—it was simply unbearable!
If he let him keep singing, the tenants in the other rooms would probably all run over to protest.
The scene that met his eyes made Lu Chen freeze.
Although they lived in the same large basement and had the same partitioned cubbyholes, Li Feiyu’s room was undoubtedly much more luxurious than Lu Chen’s. The floor was covered with composite wood flooring, the walls were entirely wallpapered, the Simmons bed and furniture were basically brand-new, and there was even a small refrigerator tucked in the corner.
Li Feiyu was sitting in front of a computer desk, wearing headphones and singing into a microphone with an intoxicated expression on his face. The 24-inch LCD screen displayed real-time footage captured by a webcam, along with several scrolling lines of subtitles.
What was he doing?
Curious, Lu Chen walked over and tapped the other man on the shoulder.
"Whoa!"
Unprepared, Li Feiyu jumped in fright and almost knocked the microphone flying.
Realizing it was Lu Chen, Li Feiyu let out a huge sigh of relief, quickly took off his headphones, patted his chest, and said, "You scared the life out of me! Xiao Lu, why did you come over? Were you drawn here by my singing?"
He chuckled with a smug expression.
Lu Chen said disdainfully, "Drawn? I just came to see how you're going to get yourself beaten to death!"
At that moment, he noticed that his own reflection had appeared on the LCD screen, and the volume of the scrolling bullet comments suddenly spiked!
"Whoa! A handsome guy has arrived!"
"Brother Fei, Brother Fei, please send the handsome guy's Feixun number, Feixin number, height and measurements, and naked photos!"
"Could this be the anchor's feeder coming to feed him?"
"What feeder, clearly that's his bro, the anchor's good bro!"
"I want to listen to singing, I don't want a handsome guy! I want to listen to singing, I don't want a handsome guy!"
"333333333~"
"......"
As the bullet comments multiplied, shiny little stars began to appear on the screen, radiating a brilliant and dazzling light.
In the information panel on the right side of the screen, rows of system messages scrolled past simultaneously.
System notification: Crystal Jelly (Bronze 2) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: Crystal Jelly (Bronze 2) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: Not Shooting Planes Tonight (Iron 5) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: ......
Lu Chen was somewhat dumbfounded, but he finally figured out what was going on.
Over the past year or two, a new form of mass entertainment had emerged on the internet: online live streaming for the masses.
Initially, mass live streaming was mainly targeted at online games. Many gaming experts broadcasted their matches or gameplay on live streaming platforms as anchors, earning popularity and tips in return.
Because mass live streaming closely matched the entertainment demands of netizens, it developed rapidly, giving rise to famous live streaming platforms such as Sky Live, Whale, and Starlight Fantasy, along with a large batch of various types of anchors.
Moreover, the formats and contents of live streaming were no longer restricted to gaming; singing, dancing, instrument playing, talk shows, and various outdoor lifestyle contents began to pop up one after another, attracting a massive number of netizens to participate.
Lu Chen had majored in computer science in university. Although he had been too busy working odd jobs over the past year or two to spend much time on the internet, he still had some understanding of this newly popular trend of public live streaming—he simply hadn't had the time to get involved before.
Without a doubt, Li Feiyu was running a live stream; he was what people called an online anchor!
What puzzled Lu Chen, however, was how someone with Li Feiyu’s screeching voice—capable of scaring away an entire street—could actually attract people to listen to him sing, and apparently quite a few at that.
The status bar at the top of the screen showed that the anchor "Brother Xiaofei ab" had 1,425 star-fan followers, and his online popularity count had actually reached 287—more than the customers who had listened to Lu Chen sing at Forget-Me-Not last night!
It wasn't that he didn't understand, but rather that the online world changed far too quickly!
"Hahaha..."
While Lu Chen was dazed, Li Feiyu burst out laughing, leaned his head toward the microphone, and said, "Thanks for everyone's tips! Let me introduce you all to my good buddy, Xiao Lu!"
"Xiao Lu, say hello to everyone!"
Before Lu Chen had fully recovered his wits, he subconsciously nodded and said, "Hello everyone!"
New bullet comments instantly flooded the screen.
"Handsome guy, hello! Same-sex relationship looking to date!"
"Little Deer? Such an adorable name, I like it!"
"Little Deer! Little Deer! Little Deer! Little Deer! Little Deer! Little Deer! Little Deer!"
"......"
Three dark lines instantly rose on Lu Chen’s forehead.
Li Feiyu chuckled and said, "Not that kind of 'little deer' [Lu], it's the 'Lu' from land and army [Lu]. Although Xiao Lu isn't as handsome as Brother Fei, his singing skill has already reached one-tenth of Brother Fei's! Do you guys want to hear him sing? If you do, shower him with some more Starlight!"
The moment his voice trailed off, bullet comments and Starlight drifted up simultaneously!
"Yes!"
"No! No! No! No! No! No! No!"
"Brother Fei is trying to scam Starlight again!"
"The anchor is selling out his bros, making a million a month!"
"I want to hear the handsome guy sing!"
"......"
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: New Yorker (Silver 4) gifted the anchor 100 Starlight!
System notification: ......
The New Yorker must have been a wealthy tycoon, as he actually unleashed a hundred-hit combo in one breath, gifting 10,000 points of Starlight!
Li Feiyu was grinning from ear to ear. He pressed both hands on Lu Chen’s shoulders, making him sit down in his own chair, and then said with a beaming smile, "Xiao Lu, hold down the fort for a second while I go get your guitar!"
With that, the fellow took off running.
Lu Chen was truly between laughter and tears, yet he didn't feel any aversion. This was his first time coming into contact with online live streaming, and the thought of his image appearing on hundreds of computer screens while communicating with hundreds of people simultaneously felt extremely novel.
While waiting for Li Feiyu, he briefly studied the anchor platform called [Starlight Show] and discovered that it had quite a few features.
Before Lu Chen could figure them out, however, Li Feiyu impatiently brought his guitar over.
This Brother Xiaofei acted like a total flatterer, helping Lu Chen adjust the microphone, turning off the instrumental music playing on the computer, and even bringing him a bottle of mineral water. He was so attentive he practically offered to make the bed, tuck him in, and massage his legs!
Clasping the guitar, Lu Chen sat in front of the computer facing the microphone and webcam, and his mood gradually calmed down.
His idea was very simple: just to help Li Feiyu drum up some support while experiencing being an online anchor to satisfy his curiosity.
At this very moment, Lu Chen would never have imagined that his life would embark on a completely different path because of this!