The next morning, on his way to the shop, Su Yiran stopped by a digital store by the roadside and bought a phone stand and a microphone, all in preparation for his live streaming setup.

Around 2 p.m., when there were no customers in the shop and things were quiet, he began setting up for his livestream.

These days, getting into livestreaming was quite simple. You just needed to register on a platform, apply to become a streamer, and have a phone and maybe a microphone—some people didn’t even use a mic and just relied on their phone’s audio. That alone was enough to start.

Getting started was easy. But making it successful? That was the hard part.

Su Yiran didn’t pressure himself to become a hit overnight. He just wanted to go with the flow and see where it led.

He’d already submitted his ID and completed the verification process yesterday, applied to be a streamer, and when he logged into Apple Live today, he saw that his application had been approved. He now had his own livestream room, categorized under the Life section’s Food subcategory.

After thinking it over, he decided to start today’s stream with taro balls with grass jelly and lazy pudding. He renamed his stream:
[Super Delicious Taro Balls with Grass Jelly & Lazy Pudding — Our Yiting Desserts].

Yesterday, his senior had told him to notify her before starting the stream. So Su Yiran sent her a WeChat message, and she quickly replied:
“Go ahead, I’ll get you placed in the newcomer recommendation slot.”

Su Yiran thanked her. He felt that since she was helping him so much, he definitely needed to treat her to a nice meal sometime to thank her properly in person.

He finished setting up the backend for Apple Live, mounted the phone on the stand over the sink in the back kitchen, installed the microphone, adjusted the camera angle a bit, and started his livestream.

He began with the taro balls with grass jelly. Since it was a brand-new stream and the recommendation slot hadn’t kicked in yet, there was no one watching at first. So he quietly began prepping the ingredients.

He steamed sweet potatoes, purple yams, and pumpkin in a large pot. While they steamed, he prepped the other ingredients.

As he was getting things ready, a few viewers began to trickle into the stream. Some came and left immediately; others stayed silently to watch.

In the Life section of Apple Live, the most popular category was food. So even though Su Yiran was a newcomer and had just started, his dessert-themed stream gradually attracted more viewers—soon, over forty people were watching.

He laid out all the necessary ingredients for the dessert—sugar, tapioca starch, grass jelly powder, red beans, lotus seeds, lily bulbs—each in small dishes to make it easier to show the viewers during his explanation.

He glanced at the comments and saw only a few simple messages like “Here to learn” or “Looking forward to the result.”

Just as he was about to continue preparing ingredients, a very different comment suddenly popped up:

[Aaaaahhhh the handsome guy I follow is actually streaming!! Screaming over those beautiful hands, omg!!]

Su Yiran: “…???”

Cough cough, ignore it.

He pretended he didn’t see the strange comment and continued with what he was doing.

Then a system message popped up at the top of his phone:

[Congratulations! Your stream has been featured on Apple Live’s Life > Food > Newcomer Recommendations!]

Su Yiran knew that this was the spot his senior had arranged for him.

This newcomer slot was Apple Live’s way of giving promising new streamers a chance—it appeared in a small corner of the homepage, and operations staff would handpick newcomers they saw potential in.

By now, the sweet potatoes, purple yams, and pumpkin had finished steaming. Su Yiran peeled them, put them into separate bowls, and mashed them with a pestle.

The recommendation slot quickly showed its effect. Within minutes, his viewer count surged to three or four hundred, and the comment section grew livelier.

While cooking, he answered some questions from the chat and gave the new viewers a quick rundown of what he had done so far, explaining each step as he went along.

The comments were encouraging:

[The host explains everything in such detail—I think I got it now.]
[Got it +1]
[Such a patient host.]
[I love taro balls with grass jelly. Waiting obediently for the final product.]

Though one bizarre comment stood out awkwardly among them:

[Waaahhh his voice is so good, my ears are pregnant!]

Su Yiran: “……”

He quietly cleared his throat and continued to demonstrate the recipe properly.

After the mashed sweet potatoes, yams, and pumpkin were ready, he added sugar and tapioca starch to each and kneaded them into doughs. He kept kneading until they weren’t sticky, then rolled them into long strips and cut them into small chunks.

He explained to the viewers: “When you cut them into pieces, dust them with a bit of potato starch or cornstarch at the end to keep them from sticking together.”

Just like that, he continued to cook and explain, and without even realizing it, his viewer count had grown to over 3,000. About half an hour ago, there had been a sudden spike of nearly a thousand viewers. When he checked the comments, he realized that it was the same “Tongtong” from yesterday who had promoted him again on Weibo.

Su Yiran started boiling the taro balls. Once they were cooked, he rinsed them with cold water and set them aside. Then he began making the grass jelly paste, boiling it over low heat. Since it needed to be stirred constantly, he focused on that and didn’t check the comments for a while.

When he finally looked again, the entire tone of the comment section had changed…

[His voice is so Su (soft and charming), voice lovers are dying here.]
[His hands are so white.]
[Such a gentle voice, I’m melting. Anyone else?]
[Melting +1]
[Melting +2]
[Licking the screen because of his hands, sob sob sob.]
[Handsome streamer, can you show your face?]
[His fingers are so delicate.]

Amid the flood of chaotic comments, a few normal food-related ones struggled to survive.

Su Yiran: “……”

Pretending not to see anything strange, he just carried on teaching how to make desserts, all proper and professional.

The stream of taro balls with grass jelly took about 40 minutes. Then he showed how to make lazy pudding. All in all, the stream lasted over an hour. By the end, the viewer count had reached more than 8,000, and he had received lots of virtual gifts.

Overall, Su Yiran felt very happy about the experience. He had introduced desserts he loved to others, chatted with fellow dessert lovers, and even the people posting the weird comments were kind of cute.

He sent a WeChat message to his senior:
“Senior, I just ended the stream! It was really fun, thank you so much for your help~ 😄”

She quickly replied:
“You’ve always had potential! You would’ve gotten featured even without me 😄 Your data this time was amazing! I’ve never seen a newcomer in the Life section get numbers like this. You’re awesome!”

Su Yiran responded modestly, a little embarrassed, and they chatted about the possibility of signing a contract, agreeing to discuss details in person later.

That evening, back at home, Su Yiran told Gu Yuanting about the fun he had during the stream.

Seeing how Su Yiran’s eyes sparkled with excitement, Gu Yuanting couldn’t help but reach out and gently ruffle his hair, feeling his heart soften.

He couldn’t understand why the original version of himself had objected to Su Yiran doing livestreams.

At least he wouldn’t.

With absolute certainty, he said:
“As long as you love doing it, I’ll always support you.”