Just a couple of days later, Su Yiran officially signed a contract with Apple Live.

The signing happened over the weekend. Since Gu Yuanting didn’t have to work that day, he accompanied Su Yiran to the store.

For some reason, Su Yiran felt that something was off about his senior’s expression during the contract signing.

After they finished at the shop, she simply said she had something to do, didn’t exchange a single extra word, and left with the contract in hand, walking away so quickly it was as if she couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Su Yiran thought it over and figured maybe he was just overthinking things. She probably really was just in a hurry. That wasn’t unusual.

He didn’t dwell on it and instead focused on preparing for his first livestream after officially signing the contract.

The day before, right after signing, the store had gotten very busy thanks to the weekend foot traffic in the shopping district. They stayed open until after 10 p.m., so he hadn’t gone live that evening.

To support and promote new talent, Apple Live would give all newly signed streamers a major recommendation slot within their category for their first stream. This push would last two hours. For Su Yiran, who was in the Lifestyle > Food section, his livestream would be featured on a rotating banner at the bottom of the Food subcategory page—visible on both the website and app.

In recent years, livestreaming traffic had exploded, and with the rise of 5G mobile internet, fewer and fewer people used the web version of streaming platforms. App-based traffic had become the core driver of the entire industry.

The mini push Su Yiran received during his trial stream was limited to the web version only.

So this first post-contract livestream was extremely important. After this opportunity, future recommendations would be based entirely on performance data. Some small-time streamers might never see another promotion and would have to grow their follower base organically, one stream at a time.

Whether this first livestream could attract a steady audience depended entirely on the streamer’s skill and charisma.

Su Yiran took this stream very seriously. He had been brainstorming which desserts to feature, how to interact with viewers, and what style he should use.

Once he had a rough plan, he logged into the Weibo account for his shop, “Yiting Desserts.”

He had created the account before opening the shop. It wasn’t verified, and he had only ever posted once—a photo grid to announce the store opening. After that, he had never updated it.

In the store itself, they mainly promoted the official WeChat account to customers, so the Weibo had been neglected. At present, it only had about forty followers—mostly friends and some bots.

He checked his only post and, to his surprise, saw that it had received over a dozen new comments. When he opened the comments section, he found that the top one read:

[Sweet Tooth Tongtong]: Is Yiting Desserts run by the same handsome guy I’ve been following recently? Is it? Is it??? nervous finger-biting.jpg

The other new comments were all along the lines of “Came here from Tongtong,” “I think so too,” and “Nervous with you.”

Tongtong?

Su Yiran remembered that name—this was the same viewer who had discovered him through his short videos and had promoted him twice already.

Curious, he clicked into her Weibo profile and found that she was a verified mini-influencer with over 50,000 followers. Her bio described her as a dessert enthusiast, hand and voice fetishist. Her top pinned tweet had tens of thousands of likes and reposts:

[Hands.] — followed by a nine-photo grid.

At first glance, Su Yiran didn’t recognize the images. But when he clicked the post open, he realized that all the photos were screenshots from his videos and previous livestream.

The top comments read:

[Whose celestial-level hands are these? OMG I’m losing it!]
[Can I lick the screen? Phantom limb fully activated. Thank you.]
[Tongtong only posted one word and a period. She’s clearly gone feral.]
[Where did she find this treasure?! Please share!]
[You can tell how insane she is just from that period lol.]

Su Yiran: “…”

His feelings were… complicated.

He quietly exited her profile, as if escaping from a battlefield of thirst.

Back on his own Weibo, he thought for a moment and decided to post a reply tagging Tongtong to thank her for the attention and promotion, saying he would continue to do his best.

Then he made a second post about his first official livestream, attaching six pictures of the desserts he would be featuring that night. He also linked his Weibo account to his Apple Live profile so that viewers could easily find his social media from the livestream room.

After wrapping all that up, he closed Weibo and turned to prepare for the stream.

That evening, the dessert shop closed early. Since Ting-ge had to work overtime at his company, he wouldn’t be dropping by after work like usual, leaving Su Yiran alone in the shop.

At exactly 7 p.m., he went live.

–

Tongtong was an ordinary corporate drone. Beneath her mundane and busy offline life, she had niche interests and a fandom-addled heart.

She was deep into the CV (voice actor) scene, had a serious voice and hand fetish, and loved sweets. A few years ago, she created a side account on Weibo dedicated to her hobbies, where she could truly let loose and be herself.

To her surprise, that side account gradually grew to over 50,000 followers, attracting many like-minded fans who now waited eagerly for her daily “offerings.”

Thanks to this account, she not only got to indulge her passions but also occasionally landed ad sponsorships, earning her a nice side income. Compared to most corporate workers, she lived quite comfortably.

That night, after work, she came home, kicked off her shoes, threw down her bag, and flopped onto the sofa like a corpse, staring blankly at the ceiling—utterly drained of life.

After lying there for a while, she slowly picked up her phone and began her usual scroll through Weibo.

As soon as she logged in, her notifications exploded with comments, DMs, and mentions. She was used to this, but it still gave her a little thrill of happiness and validation every time.

Then, one notification stood out.

It was a mention—from none other than the “Yiting Desserts” account she had followed a few days ago, the one she suspected belonged to the beautiful-voiced, beautiful-handed streamer she had recently fallen for.

She had left a comment asking if it was him but never got a reply. She had given up hope. But now—he had tagged her:

[@Sweet Tooth Tongtong, thank you for the support and promotion! 🩷🐰 I’ll keep working hard!]

“…” Tongtong clutched her chest, feeling like she had just been shot through the heart.

What kind of angelic sweetheart is this? Beautiful hands, beautiful voice, and now a beautiful soul too?! What’s with the pink bunny emoji?! Why is it so cute?! I’M IN LOVE!!!

A dozen fan-girl screams exploded in her mind. Suddenly energized, she sat upright on the sofa and saw that “Yiting Desserts” had posted about his first official stream tonight.

She immediately launched the Apple Live app.

She was going to blow up the comments! Spam hearts! Send gifts!

Tongtong had been around the CV and livestream scenes for years. She had promoted many new streamers out of love or impulse, but she was just a 50k-follower micro-influencer. Her promotional power was limited compared to the mega-influencers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers.

She never expected anything in return. She simply did it for love.

But this was the first time anyone had seriously thanked her for it.

She had always thought she didn’t care about being acknowledged—but now that she was, she realized how deeply moved she was.

Tongtong opened Apple Live, quickly navigated to the Lifestyle category. Having been in the platform’s ecosystem for years, and with two friends who were streamers themselves, she knew that for a new streamer’s debut, their stream would be featured at the bottom of the relevant subcategory in the rotating banner.

She was about to tap into the Lifestyle > Food section when something on the homepage caught her eye.

One of the top carousel banners—the most prominent spot on the entire Lifestyle page—was now featuring:

[Super Delicious Mango Coconut Layer Cake, Strawberry Milk Jelly, Red Bean Sago, and Fluffy Shaved Ice — from my Yiting Desserts!]

What?! Tongtong was stunned.

She had heard from her streamer friends that this top-tier recommendation slot was the absolute best in the category, determined by the livestream’s real-time viewer count. Apple Live had a strict no-bots policy; everything was based on actual performance.

Her sweet-voiced streamer was still a newcomer—how on earth had he made it to this spot?! Was the algorithm glitching?

Holding her breath, she tapped into the stream.

Live viewers: 1 million+.
Comments were flying past like a blizzard.

!!!!!!!!!!

Mom. My beloved streamer… might be blowing up.

–

Gu Yuanting finished his business meeting around 8:30 p.m.

He remembered that Su Yiran was doing his first official stream that evening, so he decided to check it out on his computer.

Along the way, he poured himself a glass of whiskey to unwind.

Like with cigarettes, he didn’t enjoy fancy cigars that didn’t pass through the lungs—he preferred ordinary cigarettes that let the smoke soak deep into his chest.

Likewise, he didn’t chase rare, expensive liquors. He just wanted the burn of strong spirits sliding down his throat.

He took a sip from his flute glass.

Back at his desk, he opened the browser, navigated to Apple Live, and immediately saw Su Yiran’s stream on the front page of the Lifestyle section.

Gu Yuanting raised an eyebrow. He was vaguely familiar with how livestream recommendation algorithms worked. Clearly, Su Yiran’s stream was going really well—the numbers must be excellent. He must be thrilled.

Just picturing Su Yiran’s happy face—smiling with his eyes curved into crescents, dimples showing on his right cheek—made Gu Yuanting’s heart melt.

He wanted to go home right now and see him.

He clicked into the stream, but the overwhelming popularity caused a brief lag on his computer.

Once things stabilized and the stream loaded, the first thing Gu Yuanting saw wasn’t Su Yiran—it was a wall of scrolling comments:

[AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!]
[His voice is too gentle, too sexy—he’s killing me!]
[I can’t take it anymore. I’m utterly wrecked.]
[Those hands! Recognized from across the internet! If this guy isn’t handsome, I’ll eat my mouse live on stream!]
[I’m gonna dieeeeee]
[I’ve found true love 😭😭😭]
[Licking the screen for those divine hands!!! I’m yours, oppa!!!]
[I’m in love QAQ]
[No one fight me for my husband! I want to rip off that sweater! I know he’s got a collarbone under there!]
[I can see it now—licking my hubby’s collarbone nonstop 😭😭😭]

“…”

Gu Yuanting: “…”

CRACK.

With a sharp snap, his knuckles had clenched so hard that he accidentally shattered the champagne glass in his hand.

Whiskey spilled over his fingers. The broken glass clinked to the floor, and a few shards sliced his skin.

Blood beaded instantly, mixing with the stinging alcohol.

But Gu Yuanting didn’t even flinch. His gaze never wavered from the screen. His expression remained cold and unreadable.

He slowly raised his injured hand…

…and licked the blood from his fingertips.

The taste didn’t disgust or scare him—
It thrilled him.