Stream Off
What do you think their relationship is?
If the one implying things about Lu Zhenqiu were only Lou Yifeng, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Lou Yifeng was originally a new streamer and wasn’t very famous on her previous platform, so her fan base wasn’t large. But Lu Yan’s repost of the matter was rather intriguing.
After Lu Yan reposted it, the popularity of the incident shot up rapidly. She had a huge number of fans in the entertainment section. Last night, those who participated in the PK included not only tycoon fans1 but also many regular netizens. Now, seeing this Weibo post, the netizens all started tapping on their keyboards: 【Is it for real?】
【F#ck, you can play like this?】
【If you can’t afford to lose, don’t play. Isn’t this cheating?】
Of course, there were also opposing opinions.
【Um, I think it’s pretty normal. Some streamers sign with guilds2, and the guilds will heavily promote them.】
【Exactly, being capable is what truly matters. I heard that new streamer sing yesterday, and f#ck, she was incredible!】
【Which new streamer? Anyone have a link?】
A netizen @-ed Lu Zhenqiu under this comment.
Lu Zhenqiu was currently in a private chat with her administrator. The administrator asked her: 【You really didn’t gift them to yourself?】
Truthfully, it wouldn’t matter if she had. At the end of the year, many streamers would pay out of their own pockets. After all, there weren’t that many tycoon fans who could shower them with so many gifts in every single event. But those things were done in private. Bringing it out into the open changed the meaning entirely.
Moreover, Lu Zhenqiu was a newcomer. If she really had gifted them to herself, she wouldn’t be able to clear her name, and this matter would surely become the biggest joke on Sanshui this year.
Lu Zhenqiu typed: 【It really wasn’t.】
If she had that much money, she would have long made a down payment on a house. What was the point of spending it on this? If she lost money, who knew when she’d be able to earn it back!
The administrator was also undecided. In her heart, she certainly hoped it wasn’t Lu Zhenqiu who did it. It wasn’t easy to find a promising streamer she could take a cut from, and besides, Lu Zhenqiu had a pretty good temper and didn’t have the airs of the top-ranking streamers. She was very comfortable to get along with. The administrator grit her teeth: 【I’ll go ask the person in charge again.】
The person in charge of the entertainment section was chatting with Lu Yan. Lu Yan was calling him “Zhou-ge” this and “Zhou-ge” that, and the person in charge was lapping it up.
Lu Yan said, “Oh Zhou-ge, isn’t there any punishment for her? It’s too much. I was so embarrassed yesterday.”
However, knowing that Lu Zhenqiu had gifted them herself put Lu Yan in a much better mood. This meant that everything on Lu Zhenqiu’s side was fake, but her side was real, and so was her charm.
Once her mood improved, her voice became even more coquettish.
The person in charge said, “We’re still investigating. If it’s true, there will be a corresponding punishment.”
The so-called punishment depended on whether someone reported it. If someone filed a report, Sanshui would definitely handle it accordingly. If no one reported it, then the matter would just be considered over.
Lu Yan certainly didn’t want this matter to just pass. She said, “I understand, Zhou-ge.”
After saying that, she sent the person in charge a transfer of 2,888.
Just as the person in charge received the money, Lu Zhenqiu’s administrator came looking for him, addressing him as Zhou-ge this and Zhou-ge that. However, the person in charge was clearly dismissive, his attitude not very enthusiastic.
The administrator had no choice but to ask proactively, “Zhou-ge, I asked about our Qiuqiu’s matter. She said it wasn’t her.”
“Just because you say it wasn’t her, it wasn’t her?!” The person in charge’s tone was heavy. He smacked a screenshot over. It showed that Lu Zhenqiu’s IP3 and the Boss’s had a clear overlap rate. The administrator was rendered speechless.
The person in charge hadn’t originally planned to investigate Lu Zhenqiu. After all, no matter how much she spent on gifts, half of it went into Sanshui’s pockets. Sanshui was guaranteed to profit, and if she became famous, it would also benefit the platform. There was really no need to investigate. But someone had reported her for affecting the PK rules, so he had looked into it. It just so happened that Lu Yan came to complain, and he mentioned it offhandedly. Now that it had blown up, he definitely had to protect Lu Yan.
The administrator said, “Zhou-ge, Qiuqiu just arrived, she’s a newcomer. She doesn’t understand anything, so it’s inevitable she’d make mistakes. Let’s…”
“If she knows she made a mistake, then she should bear the consequences.” The person in charge’s tone was low. “It’s not like we don’t give her a chance to make mistakes, but this mistake of hers is a bit big. Who was she PK-ing against yesterday? Lu Yan, hey! You know what Lu Yan’s fans are like. If this really blows up, who can handle it?”
The administrator furrowed her brows. The person in charge was clearly siding with Lu Yan. It was obvious when you thought about it. Lu Yan had a million fans, while Lu Zhenqiu had less than a tenth of that; she couldn’t be newer. But did this matter really need to be blown up this big? If he hadn’t told Lu Yan, would Lu Yan’s side have even made a fuss? The administrator was furious but didn’t dare to vent, so she could only bottle it up.
Seeing the “It really wasn’t me” message from Lu Zhenqiu made her even angrier. The administrator from the gaming team next to her saw her expression and asked, “What’s wrong? Got scolded by the boss again?”
She glanced towards the office of the person in charge and said, “Is it about that new streamer?”
The administrator turned her head. “You’ve heard about it too?”
“Heard about it. It’s a hot potato!” the gaming administrator said. “Hey, do you know why Old Zhou is backing Lu Yan so much?”
The administrator leaned closer. “Why?”
“What else could it be? Bribing him, of course!” the gaming administrator said. “He gets this much every month.” She held up five fingers. “How could he not back Lu Yan?”
“Isn’t he afraid of being reported?”
“You need evidence to report him, and Old Zhou is as cunning as a fox,” the gaming administrator said. “Besides, do you think this new streamer’s issue is a big deal? It’s just gifting. But she just had to run into Lu Yan. Lu Yan must feel like she’s lost face. It’s quite possible that the ones who reported the new streamer were Lu Yan’s fans.”
The administrator sighed.
She was at her wit’s end now.
Seeing her like this, the administrator from the gaming section said, “Do you really want to protect her?”
The administrator turned her head. “Is there still a way?”
“It’s not really a solution, just something I’ve used before.”
The administrator’s spirits lifted. “What is it?”
The gaming section’s administrator said, “Find the higher-up leadership.”
The administrator: …
That was as good as saying nothing.
The gaming section’s administrator patted her shoulder. “Just give it a try. Just say that this matter wasn’t a big deal to begin with. Isn’t it better to resolve it privately than to air it out in the open? And she dropped hundreds of thousands in one go. What if the new streamer really has some powerful backing? What’s the benefit in offending her, right?”
Hearing this, the administrator nodded, seemingly convinced. She had originally been prepared to wash her hands of the matter, but now she thought she should still go and fight for it with the general manager.
Lu Zhenqiu was unaware of all these twists and turns. Her stream room hadn’t been affected yet. Everyone was clamoring for her to sing. Two fans had requested songs. Lu Zhenqiu put on the music. Jin Shuilan had switched to an audio-only mode; she hadn’t left the stream room, but she wasn’t looking at the bullet comments. She was listening to the song while revising a script.
She had just submitted the script for the radio drama. Now, all that was left was a movie script scheduled to start filming next year, and her new novel. She had already written a third of the new novel. Just as she opened the document, the person in charge of the Sanshui platform contacted her, sending her a plan for nurturing new streamers.
Nurturing new streamers involved corresponding promotional activities based on their popularity and gift rankings. Originally, the most promising one in this batch was Lou Yifeng, who came with her own fanbase and had Lu Yan helping to promote her. But once the streams officially started, they discovered that Lu Zhenqiu was the real qianlima4, leaving all the other newcomers far behind in the dust!
Among the new streamers this time, the primary target for nurturing was Lu Zhenqiu.
Jin Shuilan was very satisfied upon seeing the list and typed a “1”. The general manager was just about to send him a message when he heard a knock on the door. The voice of the entertainment section’s person in charge followed, calling out, “Boss.”
He frowned. “Come in.”
Zhou-ge opened the door and entered, asking, “That new streamer development plan, have you sent it to the Boss?”
The general manager asked, “What about it?”
“Well, we have a bit of a problem here,” Zhou-ge said with an anxious look, sighing heavily. “That new streamer, the one called Zhenqiu, she’s a problem.”
The general manager put down his typing hands. “A problem?”
He had just sent the plan over. His face instantly paled. “What problem?”
Zhou-ge said, “She paid out of her own pocket during that PK. We could have suppressed that, but the one she PK-ed against was Lu Yan. Now Lu Yan’s fans are demanding an explanation, and—”
The general manager’s face was full of displeasure. “And what?”
“And more than one person has reported her, saying she violated the PK rules.”
As Zhou-ge spoke, he kept glancing at the general manager’s face. Only when he saw the general manager’s face darken did he continue, “I think this matter needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. It’s almost the end of the year. If it’s not handled well, the Boss will definitely be unhappy.”
The general manager glanced at him, then went on Weibo. The first thing he saw was Lu Yan’s Weibo post, along with several gaming marketing accounts5 posting about the new streamer’s issue. Lu Yan’s fans were indeed in an uproar.
【Hehe, if we can’t win in a fair fight, that’s one thing, but what’s the deal with cheating?】
【Yesterday, our Xiao Lu did so many squats and even accepted the punishment. But some people have it good, huh? Money really can let you do whatever you want.】
【Don’t say that. Even if she gifted them herself, it just means the new streamer is rich.】
【Right, she’s rich, but that doesn’t stop me from despising her! Stepping on an established streamer to climb up, how impressive. Well played, well played.】
The general manager frowned at these comments and asked Zhou-ge, “Did it have to get this big?”
Zhou-ge: “I failed to stop Lu Yan.”
“How did Lu Yan find out that the Boss and the new streamer were the same person?”
Zhou-ge was silent.
A few seconds later, he said, “Someone reported it, so we checked the IP.”
“You—” The general manager glared at him angrily. Old Zhou said, “How about this? Let’s have the new streamer stop streaming for a few days first to let this die down?”
The general manager pondered for a few seconds, then nodded. “Let me think about it. You can leave first.”
Zhou-ge said “Okay” and left the office, his expression smug and triumphant, as if he could already see Lu Zhenqiu’s fate. He felt there was little room for maneuver in this matter. The fact that Lu Zhenqiu and the Boss’s IPs overlapped was indisputable. No matter how much of a fuss she made, she was in the wrong. Besides, would she even dare to make a fuss? Zhou-ge smiled and left the general manager’s office.
The general manager rested his head in his hands, browsing Lu Yan’s Weibo. Related marketing accounts, smelling blood in the water, immediately jumped in to fish in troubled waters. A hashtag about the new Sanshui streamer dropping 500,000 on herself had already appeared. He sighed and called his assistant on the internal line, “Have the HR Manager come to my office.”
The assistant acknowledged and quickly contacted the HR Manager for him. After all, the person was introduced by the HR Manager. He had to inform him about any punishment.
The HR Manager had just come out of a meeting. Receiving the notice, he got on the elevator and came face-to-face with the administrator. The administrator recognized him and quickly called out, “Manager Pei.”
Manager Pei6 turned his head. “Xiao Du7?”
Seeing that Xiao Du hadn’t pressed a floor button, he asked, “Are you going up too?”
Xiao Du nodded. “Yes, I have some business upstairs.”
Manager Pei said “Oh,” then suddenly asked again, “You’re the administrator for that new streamer, Zhenqiu, right?”
Xiao Du was startled, then said, “Yes, Manager Pei knows Qiuqiu?”
“Me?” Manager Pei smiled. Of course he didn’t know her. He only knew the person who recommended Lu Zhenqiu. Or rather, there was no one here who didn’t know that person. Manager Pei said, “You could say that.”
Hearing that he knew her, Xiao Du’s expression relaxed. She said, “Then could you please talk to the boss?”
Manager Pei asked, “Talk about what?”
Xiao Du quickly recounted what had just happened, telling him everything. She didn’t explicitly state the relationship between Zhou-ge and Lu Yan, only that Zhou-ge wanted to protect Lu Yan. After listening, Manager Pei laughed in anger. “This Old Zhou…”
He said, “I understand. You go downstairs first. I’ll handle this.”
Xiao Du was overcome with gratitude. “Okay, thank you, Manager Pei!”
Manager Pei straightened his suit and walked to the general manager’s office door. He knocked. A voice from inside called, “Come in.”
He walked in and saw the person in charge sitting in front of the computer with a dark face. Manager Pei asked, “What are you looking at?”
The person in charge sighed. “Come and see for yourself.”
Manager Pei walked over to his computer, lowered his head, and saw the comments. Not only was he not angry, but he even smiled and asked, “Did Old Zhou suggest what to do?”
“He did,” the person in charge said with some hesitation. “I was thinking of shutting down the new streamer’s room for two days first.”
“How about this,” Manager Pei said. “Why don’t we just terminate the contract with the new streamer?”
The person in charge looked at him. “Don’t say things out of anger. Closing it for two days and then reopening it won’t have much of an…”
“Won’t have much of an impact,” Manager Pei interrupted him, “is that right?”
The person in charge thought he was unhappy that his person was being treated this way, but with the matter having blown up so much, not punishing her was unjustifiable. Manager Pei turned his head. “I’m not speaking out of anger. I’m telling the truth. You should tell the new streamer to pack up and leave8.”
“You’re not angry?” the person in charge looked at Manager Pei.
Manager Pei smile. “What do I have to be angry about?”
He said, “Anyway, as soon as this new streamer leaves, we’ll all be packing up and leaving with her.”
The person in charge’s face darkened slightly. He looked at Manager Pei and frowned.
Manager Pei couldn’t help but say, “How can you be so dense! Still looking at me! Didn’t I hint at you when I handed her over to you that day? Did you think I was the one who recommended her?”
The person in charge was stunned. “If not you, then who?”
Manager Pei pressed a hand to his head and looked at the person in charge. “Sometimes I really wonder how you got this position.”
The person in charge was confused. “Can you be clearer?”
“Fine, I’ll be clearer,” Manager Pei said. “This person, she wasn’t brought into Sanshui by me. She was brought in by the Boss.”
The person in charge was dumbfounded. “The Boss? Why didn’t you tell me back then?”
Manager Pei rolled his eyes at him. “Who knew you were this dense!”
“And don’t tell Old Zhou about this. If it leaks, neither of us will be able to handle the consequences!”
The person in charge pressed on, “Then the IP…”
“Since the gifts weren’t from the new streamer, then who do you think they were from? And with the same IP address, too. So, you tell me, what is the relationship between this new streamer and the Boss?”
Did he even need to ask?
The person in charge finally understood completely. After all this fuss, they were messing with the Lady Boss9!
His expression changed drastically. He was about to pick up the landline to make a call when Manager Pei pressed down on the dial pad, saying, “Don’t involve the Boss in this. She won’t be happy. Investigate Old Zhou and Lu Yan first.”
“I know,” the person in charge said with a “like you needed to tell me” expression. Manager Pei shrugged and sat on the sofa, listening to the person in charge make the call.
Ever since talking with Zhou-ge, Lu Yan had been feeling refreshed and invigorated. Her stream room became lively, with many people comforting her, saying it was fine, that new streamer gifted herself, but they were spending real money. Their Xiao Lu’s popularity was booming! They even mocked Lu Zhenqiu’s ‘Boss’ for boasting, saying things like he’d give out 8,888 red envelopes for every loss. Creating a ‘boss’ persona for themselves, how shameless!
Lu Yan placated her fans: “Alright, alright, let’s not worry about other people. I’m not angry anymore, just a little wronged. We could have won yesterday.”
Gifts scrolled by one after another. Her fans’ hearts ached for her. They even went over to Lu Zhenqiu’s stream room to curse her out. The administrators banned a series of IDs in a row. Lu Zhenqiu’s fans rebutted, unwilling to show weakness: 【Our Qiuqiu did not gift herself!】
【If Qiuqiu had this much money, why didn’t she spend it on her old platform? Would she have even needed to come here?】
【Who knows? Maybe spending it on the old platform couldn’t satisfy her vanity.】
【You’re full of sh#t!】
The bullet comments were in a chaotic argument. Someone posted a link: 【Stop arguing. The officials have spoken. They’ve dealt with this matter. The rule-breaker will have her stream shut down for three days.】
Lu Zhenqiu’s stream room was filled with Lu Yan’s fans, all sneering and mocking.
【Hahahahaha, a three-day stream suspension, waiting, waiting!】
【Sitting and waiting for the stream to be shut off!】
【Didn’t you say you did nothing wrong? Then why the suspension?】
【”The rule-breaker” oh, and you still say it wasn’t the same person!】
Lu Yan also saw the link. She sneered. Just as she was about to speak to her fans, she saw a message displayed in her own stream room: 【Hello, your stream room is suspected of rule violations and has now been closed. Closure duration: 72 hours.】
The fans in both stream rooms exploded!
The author has something to say:
Thirty red envelopes, muah muah.
Lu Zhenqiu: When did I become the Lady Boss?
Jin Shuilan: Although I don’t know either, I think it’s pretty good.
Lu Zhenqiu: …
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