novelraw Chapter 92
Chapter 92
Chapter 92
Wednesday night, South District, Tongyao Bar.
Tonight the pub had set its tables and chairs out early, and the traffic on the street outside was thickening—rush hour on the way.
Tong Yingying rested her chin in her hand, eyes half-lidded, watching Yan Huan dart back and forth in front of the bar. She rubbed her temples and asked,
"What are you up to now?"
Yan Huan, dressed in a bartender's vest, glanced over his shoulder and grinned.
"Sis Tong, Brother Li and I came up with a plan to save the place. Let's give it a shot."
"Let's hear it."
Yan Huan walked over, phone in hand, and showed her the screen.
"It's borrowed from other shops. The South District's packed with old-timers—messy, sure, but also full of hole-in-the-wall gems nobody else has.
"A joint on the other side of Longguo started cross-district delivery. They box up the food and courier it out."
Tong Yingying yawned, never once looking at the explanatory graphic. She just studied the side of Yan Huan's face—how focused he looked, how confidently he pitched the idea.
This kid...
Classes and student-council work all morning, gym and homework every night, and he's still buzzing like he's never heard of fatigue.
The field she's been "plowing" is worn out, yet the ox pulling it doesn't even pant.
Well, can't complain.
Energy's good.
Not a bad thing.
"So once Brother Li's people are in place, we'll test the waters tonight," Yan Huan finished. He turned to get the nominal boss's opinion—only to find Tong Yingying staring at him with those sleepy eyes.
"Sis Tong, were you listening at all?"
She looked away from his face, flicked her gaze across the papers on the table, and said,
"More or less. You want to sell party-drink packages online: a few cups, snacks, dice, and one pre-mixed cocktail delivered to the door.
"We don't pay rent, you've got direct liquor supply, and even after shipping we can undercut everyone on price."
Yan Huan gave her a thumbs-up.
"Sis Tong, you're brilliant—that's exactly it. I've got everything ready, and Brother Li's roped in his classmates."
"Less flattery." Tong Yingying yawned again. "Question is, how do people order? Channel? Marketing?"
Before Yan Huan could answer, Tian Li—busy rigging a ring light over the wide bar—called out cheerfully,
"Relax, we've got it covered. We'll start with a live stream tonight."
"Live stream?"
Tong Yingying glanced at the gear, then at Yan Huan, looking thoroughly unimpressed. She'd opened these bars as retirement outposts, not profit centers; she didn't need payback.
Still, whipping this kid through workouts every day was its own reward.
If he wanted to pour his heart into it, fine.
Let him.
"Knock yourselves out. Feels like a waste of time to me."
"Trust us, Sis Tong—we'll make money."
"Count me in," Tian Li chimed in from across the room.
Both "idea kings" flashed confident grins. Tong Yingying rolled her eyes.
She hadn't touched a drop tonight, so she couldn't match their fever pitch. She could only watch as they bustled around: prepping the stream, counting stock, coordinating people.
Soon dusk fell.
The clear sky bled neon; the sea breeze carried the clamor of voices.
South District woke up.
---
Jinghe District, Sakuramiya estate.
Sakuramiya Hitomi guided her brush across rice paper while speaking over her shoulder.
"The news is solid?"
Behind her, Nara lay on the bed scrolling her phone.
"Mm. Main house says your aunt's been elected the new director of your grandfather's company. All your older brothers have already paid their respects."
Hitomi dipped the brush in fresh ink and signed her name at the foot of the nearly finished letter, then pressed her seal beside it.
"Then I'll look after that useless little cousin of mine. Her birthday's coming up anyway.
"Once the ink dries, pack this letter and send it to Auntie."
She exhaled, set the brush down—then brightened as if struck by inspiration.
"Oh! If I throw her a party, I have the perfect excuse to invite the President and everyone over."
Nara, eyes still on her phone, deadpanned,
"Your face changed so fast I got whiplash, Young Lady."
Hitomi turned, brush in hand.
"Just like my birthday in January—everyone on a boat in the middle of the lake, fireworks overhead.
"Then, on the deck, they hand me gifts and sing happy birthday~"
Nara finally looked up from her screen at Hitomi, cheeks pink, already lost in the fantasy.
She delivered the coup de grâce:
"It's your cousin's birthday, not yours. They'll sing to her and give her the presents."
Hitomi's own birthday had been January 1st. Yan Huan had given her the very brush she now held; ever since, her handwritten letters had switched from fountain pen to ink.
"So what? I'll just swap whatever the President gives her for something else. She's a kid—easy to fool."
Nara pressed her lips together, feeling she was watching an evil adult trade a single coin for a hundred-yuan New-Year bill.
"...By the way, why are you staring at your phone while we talk? What are you doing?"
"Me?" Nara lay back, fingers flicking across the screen.
"I'm sending hearts to your President."
"Sending... hearts? What does that even mean?"
"Come look."
Puzzled, Hitomi set her brush aside and walked to the bed.
Nara sat up and tilted the screen toward her.
Inside a familiar-looking bar, a handsome boy was hard at work. Off-camera, a male voice explained their new same-city cross-district drink-delivery sets.
"The President?! You've been secretly filming him too?"
Nara's face darkened.
"It's a live stream! Look at the username!"
Hitomi's eyes went round. She snatched the phone and stared.
"Tongyao... the place where the President works part-time?"
"Mm-hmm. Business has been slow, so they're trying live-stream sales. I stumbled on it while scrolling short vids—must be the local algorithm."
Nara glanced back at the screen.
"He's actually pretty captivating. They didn't promote the stream or boost the account, but viewers jumped from a handful to several hundred."
Hitomi clutched the phone, gaze glued to the President as he moved around the frame.
Nara smiled and tapped the screen.
"Double-tap to send hearts. Give it a try, Young Lady."
"Eh?"
Hitomi tapped clumsily, cheeks flushed, and a shower of tiny hearts floated across the screen. She looked back at Nara, anxious.
"If I do this... will the President see it's from me? Will he call to thank me or something?"
Ugh, so unfair.
"You look kind of cute like this, Young Lady Sakuramiya.
If only you stayed this adorable all the time~"
After a second of silence, Nara shook her head and said,
"I can only see the total number of gifts climbing; I can't see who sent them."
At that, Sakuramiya Hitomi's face fell. She froze mid-motion and asked flatly,
"Then why bother with this pointless nonsense? Got nothing better to do?"
"..."
Could I have the cute Young Lady from a minute ago back, please?
Still watching Yan Huan on-screen, Hitomi tapped her chin.
"Come to think of it, the President started this stream to promote the bar where he works part-time, right? I can just place an order and support the business directly."
Before she could finish, Nara threw up a big X with both hands.
"No way! You're not allowed to drink. If the main family finds out we let you, we'll be punished—and my head will roll."
"...Fair point."
Hitomi stared at Yan Huan on the phone, the frustration of loving a flat, unreachable husbando written all over her face.
Down in the chat, viewers were firing off messages:
"Where is this bar? The décor looks nice."
"Do you deliver to the outer islands of Linmen?"
"Tell the cute guy to come chat~"
"The streamer ignores everyone—let's bail."
Since Tian Li, who was narrating, was also mixing drinks, no replies came no matter what anyone typed. He kept rattling off instructions on how to order and get delivery while shaking bottles.
Hitomi typed a message of her own:
"Please let the guy on camera take a break—stop making him work."
No response, of course.
Nara explained,
"He's not glued to the chat; if he's not watching he won't see it."
"Then what can we do?"
Arms folded, Hitomi looked thoroughly peeved—like she was ready to fight for Yan Huan's rights.
"That guy just stands behind the bar shaking a shaker and chatting. The President's the one running around! Totally unfair—he's using his seniority!"
"I'm buying this place! I'll make that guy scrub dishes and wait tables every single day!"
Nara covered her face and muttered,
"You're acting like a jealous little wife... though if you do buy it, the whole 'installing hidden cameras to spy on him' thing will probably come out too."
Seeing her Young Lady fuming wasn't helpful, so Nara suddenly remembered something.
"There is one way to get his attention."
"What?"
"Like this."
She opened the gift leaderboard and tapped a sports-car icon. After a facial-recognition recharge, a roaring Lamborghini animation flooded the stream.
"What's that?"
Hitomi didn't really get the platform. Nara yawned and explained,
"Gifts. Every gift has a special alert sound—the pricier the gift, the louder the alert, the more likely they are to notice. Look, I'm now the top gifter; my comments appear highlighted."
Hitomi blinked, uncomprehending, eyes glued to the screen.
Back at Tongyao Bar, Tian Li heard the dramatic alert and hurried over to the phone, excitement in his voice.
"Thank you 'My Young Lady Is Too Mean' for the luxury sports-car—much appreciated, boss!"
In the mansion, hearing Tian Li read out Nara's username, Hitomi froze, then rounded on her maid.
"What kind of name is that?! Am I really that awful?!"
"Ehehe~"
"Don't 'ehehe' me!"
Before Hitomi could explode, Nara quickly changed the subject.
"Look, because of your gift, we've got his attention. If you want something, ask now. If you just sit there, he'll go back to shaking bottles and the money's wasted."
The almost-yandere Hitomi snapped back to normal, eyes on Tian Li returning to the bar.
"Right! Send another one so I can tell him not to make the President work."
This time Nara turned dark.
"Use your own account! That's my salary you're burning! You're loaded—go make your own account!"
"Stingy."
Hitomi shot Nara a glare, then dashed to the table and grabbed her phone. She didn't have the short-video app, so she had to download it, register, and set everything up. Nothing could dampen her enthusiasm; she flopped beside Nara, phone raised.
"After I send a gift, can I make requests?"
"Nothing too outrageous should be fine."
"Then I'm going to their bar to install—"
Before she finished, Nara cut in, prophetic:
"No cameras."
"..."
Hitomi's excited expression froze. After a pause her eyes lit up again.
"Then I'll—"
"Visiting Yan Huan's apartment is also impossible."
"..."
Feeling the weight of Hitomi's resentful stare, Nara calmly raised a finger.
"But you can have your Yan Huan chat with you. Online, nobody knows you're some kind of monster, so you can say all the perverted things you'd never say in person."
"Are you mocking me?"
"Ehehe~"
Hitomi ignored the slippery maid; the app had finished downloading. She registered, tied it to her bank account, and swapped the default cartoon-cat avatar for... another cartoon cat. Username: "Love Cats."
All set—just waiting for the east wind!
She searched for "Tongyao," opened the live stream, and tapped the gift panel. Taking a deep breath, she hit the same sports-car gift and added a note:
"Let the guy in front take a break and come chat."
Send!!
Inside Tongyao Bar, Tian Li heard the new alert, glanced at the screen, and said in surprise,
"Wow, we've got more people than expected—faster than we thought. Yan Huan, come take a look!"
Their original plan had been to start slow, each doing their own thing, then have Yan Huan take over once the crowd grew, with Tian Li mixing and Guan Rong serving. But less than a minute in, a boss had already tipped to call Yan Huan over.
Tian Li stepped in front of the camera.
"Thanks to 'Love Cats' for the luxury sports-car—much appreciated, boss! Our staff member will be right with you. Anyone interested can check out our drink sets; we deliver across all Linmen districts, super convenient."
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow, told Guan Rong—still tuning her instrument—to cover as waitress for a moment, and walked toward the live-stream setup.
Back in Sakuramiya's bedroom, Nara whistled, smirking.
"See? Here comes Yan Huan~"
Hitomi's cheeks flushed. She clutched her phone, eyes fixed on the screen, flustered.
"D-Do I just type in the chat to talk? Or do I need to send another gift so my message gets highlighted?"
"..."
Nara sighed at her Young Lady's return to "cute mode," poking Hitomi's cheek with an index finger.
"Just type. I already told you—your rank in the gift leaderboard will make your messages pop."
"O-Oh... okay."
Hitomi glanced at the leaderboard and saw that Nara, having also sent a sports-car, was sitting firmly in first place.
"Why is the top spot still yours?"
"Huh?"
Sakuramiya Hitomi's cheeks puffed out—barely—then she tapped the screen again and sent another sports-car roaring across the feed.
"I'm the President's number-one fan, okay? Move over!"
"......"
Sure, sure, jealous of literally everyone, are we?
Nara clenched her fists; a vein throbbed at her temple.
"Up next, let me walk everyone through tonight's drink specials," Yan Huan said, leaning into the mic. "If you have questions or just want to chat, drop them in the live chat."
"Thanks for the gift, Boss 'Love Cats,'" he added, spotting the cat-head avatar that had just rocketed past. "Speaking of cats—I've got a friend who adores them too. They've got a whole pride of adorable kittens at home."
Back in the side room, Hitomi grabbed Nara by the collar and shook her, eyes sparkling.
"It has to be me he's talking about! Me, me, me!"
Nara let herself be rattled like a maraca. "Yeah, yeah, it's definitely you. You two are basically engaged, ready to raise a soccer team."
So dismissive!
Hitomi flopped onto the bed, phone clutched to her chest, bare feet kicking the air.
"What should I send the President next? I can ask him anything right now..."
Her thumbs danced over the screen.
What do you think of that cat-loving friend of yours?
Nara, chin in hand, glanced over. "Isn't that a dead giveaway? He'll know the gifts are from you."
"Oh—right."
Just as Hitomi hit delete, a deafening rocket-launch sound ripped through the stream.
"Whoosh—"
Her jaw dropped; in an instant she'd been bumped to second place.
On screen, Yan Huan glanced at the ticker and smiled.
"Big thanks to 'Leaf' for the rocket—much appreciated."
He was about to continue explaining the drink set when another crisp chime cut him off.
Ding!!
Another full-screen explosion—another gift from Leaf.
Yan Huan's eyelid twitched.
"Thank you, Boss Leaf, for—"
BOOM!!
A second barrage—this one from Love Cats—erupted before he could finish.
That single gulp Yan Huan took might as well have been the starting trumpet.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
One rhythmical wave, then another, gifts stacking like artillery shells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Two rival arsenals, different payloads, same explosive impact.
In cyberspace, a chibi Ye Shiyu stood expressionless atop rows of gleaming purple cannons. She flicked a hand toward the distant redoubt and gave the cold order:
"Wipe them out. Fire at will."
Across the battlefield, a chibi Hitomi straddled a crimson barrel, cheeks red.
"Blow that annoying brat to smithereens! Launch! Launch!"
At their commands, the entire warzone—well, the entire livestream—descended into smoke and fireworks.
Immortals clashed, yet mortals remained unharmed, happily munching melon seeds down below.
The chat flooded with "WTF" and "666."
Phones buzzed so loudly even patrons at the bar heard the commotion.
Tian Li sprinted over, eyes glued to the screen.
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!! What are these two gods doing?!"
Even Tong Yingying poked her head out from backstage, frowning.
"What's all that racket?"
Guan Rong poked her head out of the kitchen. "A-Li, Xiao Huan, what's going on?"
Tian Li swallowed hard, glanced at the equally bewildered Yan Huan, then turned back to Yingying.
"Boss Tong, this is insane! Two titans are dueling in the stream!
"The fight's so fierce the Dao itself might crack!"
(End of Chapter)