novelraw Chapter 122 - 119: Things Have Gotten Interesting
Chapter 122 - 119: Things Have Gotten Interesting
Chen Jincheng had posted a teaser video for his live stream. With all the hype, many people were paying close attention to the matter.
The moment his stream went live, a flood of people poured in.
In just a short time, the viewer count had already surpassed 50,000—an increase far faster than usual.
This was exactly why online celebrities were so desperate to generate hype.
Hype brought attention, and attention brought viewers to a stream.
The real fear was trying to create hype and having no one pay attention. That would be truly embarrassing.
That’s why it was understandable that influencers would sometimes even resort to self-deprecation to stir up controversy. It was all driven by self-interest.
And among this rapidly growing audience, besides his own fans, were many of Li Yueling’s fans, as well as those who had been emotionally stirred up to support her.
As soon as these people entered, they started questioning him:
"Streaming to talk about a sweet song? Are you just here to ride the hype train?"
"Yeah, Moon Spirit is releasing a sweet song. What the hell kind of sweet song are you talking about?"
"This scumbag has no clout, so he’s here to leech off someone else’s."
"..."
Li Yueling, of course, was watching this unfold on a burner account in Chen Jincheng’s stream.
Although she knew Second-Life Star couldn’t do much more—at most, he’d just stream to complain a little—the matter still concerned her, so it was impossible for her not to pay attention.
Seeing so many people questioning and scorning Chen Jincheng right from the start, a smile spread across her face. This proved how successful her hype campaign had been.
’How can Chen Jincheng possibly continue streaming when he’s being questioned like this?’
She was somewhat looking forward to seeing him log off in disgrace.
But she had forgotten that this was Chen Jincheng’s stream. His hardcore fans—the ones who had followed him since his first "my ex-girlfriend left me for an old guy in a Mercedes, and I got pushed into a puddle" story—had developed a real attachment to him.
Did she think they were invisible?
Without Chen Jincheng having to say a word, they immediately launched a counterattack.
"Are Li Yueling’s fans for real? Wasn’t she the D-list celebrity with no clout who came here to leech off Cheng’s popularity?"
"Didn’t she get this wave of attention by reporting that girl from Second-Life Star? What damn popularity does she have on her own?"
"She’s a celebrity nobody would recognize on the street, and she’s talking about popularity? She’s just leeching attention and then playing the victim, like a thief crying ’thief’!"
"So Cheng isn’t allowed to talk about sweet songs now? Don’t forget he also wrote ’Trajectory’ and ’Girl’!"
"Forget ’Girl,’ the song ’Trajectory’ alone is better than any of Li Yueling’s songs. Of course, that doesn’t count the one her ex-boyfriend wrote for her!"
"Haha, she got famous off her ex-boyfriend’s song and now she’s too hypocritical to admit it."
When this dirt was dug up, Li Yueling completely lost her composure. Gritting her teeth, she immediately sent a comment: "That Li Cheng was never good enough for Li Yueling. Does he think a song he wrote while they were dating should tie her down for life?"
She had used her burner account to vent her fury directly.
’It’s true. Back then, I got famous because of that song. The company took notice and wanted to sign me, but I needed money for promotion. My ex-boyfriend couldn’t provide it and was no help to my career. We were destined to be on different levels, so what was the point of staying together?’
But she never expected to be vilified for so long just because of the breakup.
And now these people in Chen Jincheng’s stream were bringing it up again. ’What a bunch of jerks.’
She felt her comment was perfectly reasonable and that no one could refute it. But Chen Jincheng’s hardcore fans instantly buried her.
"What a line—’a song he wrote while they were dating should tie her down for life.’ Isn’t that just like what some ’princess’ said: ’He gave me a bride price, does he think that should tie me down for life?’ Haha!"
"Haha, but that ’princess’ still couldn’t pay back the bride price in the end. This Li Yueling, on the other hand, just went and registered her ex-boyfriend’s song in her own name."
"So shameless. If she’s got the guts, she should give up the song."
"How is this Li Yueling any different from those women who make a career out of marrying for money!"
"There’s a difference. Others scam people for bride prices, she just scams people for songs."
These words made Li Yueling, who had already lost her composure, completely snap. Furious, she grabbed a glass from the table and slammed it onto the floor. "Bastards! Damn it! Just as I thought, someone who gets popular using borderline tactics would have a bunch of classless fans."
Her sister, who was beside her, sighed. To be honest, she also knew her older sister hadn’t acted honorably in this matter. Even if she had registered the song after becoming famous, if she had just shared some of the profits with him, not rushed to break up right after hitting it big, and instead let things cool down over time, she wouldn’t have been vilified to this day.
「Tiao Yin.」
Han Shangyou, the president, was also watching Chen Jincheng’s stream.
For Tiao Yin, Chen Jincheng choosing to go head-to-head with Li Yueling right now was a good thing, because it could push the hype surrounding this incident even higher.
Moreover, seeing Chen Jincheng’s fans mention the songs "Trajectory" and "Girl," he felt his guess was probably correct.
So, he immediately instructed his assistant, "Have the operations department give Chen Jincheng’s stream an SS-Class traffic boost!"
"Understood, President Han!" The assistant nodded and immediately went to make the arrangements.
Under normal circumstances, stream promotion resources were only given up to S-Class for external guilds, which meant a push for over 1 million total views that could help a streamer retain over 10,000 concurrent viewers.
As for SS-Class and SSS-Class, those were rarely given out. Only influencers who were specifically scouted by the platform and targeted for promotion would receive them.
For example, the top streamers in each category, the platform’s biggest stars.
And now, President Han was actually ordering an SS-Class traffic boost for Chen Jincheng’s stream.
Chen Jincheng soon noticed that his viewer count was increasing very rapidly. After breaking 50,000, it was quickly heading toward 100,000.
Seeing this abnormal rate of increase, he could guess that Tiao Yin was boosting his traffic from behind the scenes. It was just as he had suspected: Tiao Yin had been boosting Li Yueling’s stream, and now it was his turn.
As for why, a moment’s thought made it clear.
’Promoting Li Yueling was to set a precedent for other celebrities. In that other world, that’s exactly what Tiao Yin did, and very successfully. After ’19, celebrities started streaming on Tiao Yin one after another, and by ’24, Tiao Yin had essentially become another home base for them.’
The reason they were boosting his stream now was simple: they wanted to drive the hype around the Li Yueling incident even higher.
Because conflict and tension have always been the best tools for generating hype.
That was exactly the relationship he and Li Yueling had now, and Tiao Yin was just pouring gasoline on the fire.
’However, Tiao Yin’s ultimate goal is still to make Li Yueling’s song, ’Must Love,’ a success. I just wonder if Tiao Yin’s jaws will drop when my ’Can’t Help Falling in Love’ comes out?’
Just as everyone was focused on this matter, 10 Carnivals suddenly scrolled across Chen Jincheng’s stream.
Seeing someone send such a huge gift, Chen Jincheng was about to give his thanks, but when he saw the name of the sender, he froze.
’What the fuck... If this is real, then things have gone completely off-script.’
’But that would make things interesting.’
Li Yueling and the people from Tiao Yin who were watching Chen Jincheng’s stream were also stunned.
This...