Help! My Fanservice Partner is Looking at Me Differently Lately - Chapter 2

The name “Nurture House” was coined by the fans. It referred to the self-produced life-observation reality show, What Should We Do Today?, hosted by Starlight Entertainment. The program’s main draw was providing a close-up look at the daily lives of young idols, satisfying the fans’ desire for “cloud nurturing.”

There were nine live-streaming channels in the Nurture House. To expand the casual viewer base, the main room was free to watch. The remaining eight were paid channels, each offering a solo perspective of the eight residents. Once you moved in, your actions were entirely up to you. Even if you slept until noon, no one would say a word. However, if you wanted to grow your fan base, a bit of calculated design was necessary.

The easiest and most cost-effective method, yet the one most likely to yield results, was “selling fanservice.” Almost none of the residents were spared; the only difference was whether they sold it actively or passively. In an era where two handsome men making eye contact could be interpreted by fans in a thousand different ways, no man could remain innocent once they entered that house.

Rival companies that failed to replicate this model had once tried to start a trend labeling the “Nurture House” as the “Fanservice House.” However, since there was plenty of room for plausible deniability, the smear campaign never gained traction.

A week ago, Fang Jin, the popular partner of the Nurture House’s pillar, Xie Weishui, was invited to a brand event. Xie Weishui went to the supermarket to buy a mountain of supplies. Upon reaching the door, he intentionally claimed he was exhausted and was going to “snatch a laborer” from the junior trainees’ group.

Zhou Yang was that laborer. He worked hard without complaint and was very talkative. Throughout the process, he hovered only around Xie Weishui, acting as a devoted follower and appearing exceptionally enthusiastic. Soon, someone edited clips of their interactions.

His appearance injected new vitality into the Fang Jin and Xie Weishui pairing, which had already settled into an “old married couple” mode. It also boosted the online viewer numbers, which had been declining for days. Take right now, for instance. The number of online viewers in the main room had surpassed 100,000. For a weekday morning, these were brilliant statistics.

Chi Li watched the screen with cold eyes as Zhou Yang put on a fake, cautious, and flattering smile.

“Damn it, that scumbag is such a poser. Why didn’t he show us that fawning smile?” Gu Nan grumbled indignantly from the side. “He looks like a total idiot. What kind of viewer would like that?”

Chi Li glanced at him and reached out to turn on the scrolling comments.

“Junior! If you smile any wider, you are going to drool. Can you stay composed, please? Do not make your Senior blush.”

“I just love seeing Junior look so desperate for him.”

“Junior, you are really handsome when you are into men. Please keep it up.”

“Fang Jin’s sense of crisis has increased.”

“I support Junior taking the top spot!”

“What should I do? I like both of them. They both match Weishui so well!”

“Only two people.”

Gu Nan pulled a sour face and turned off the comments. “This generation of viewers has no taste.”

Chi Li did not speak. He switched from the main room to Zhou Yang’s personal live stream. There were 5,597 online viewers. A membership for a personal channel cost 50 yuan a month, and the three-minute trial period did not count toward the official viewer count. This meant that in the less than ten minutes since Zhou Yang appeared, he had already generated nearly 280,000 yuan in revenue. Half of that 280,000 would go directly into his own pocket.

“Watching him make money is honestly more painful than anything else,” Chi Li murmured under his breath.

Over the past two days, Zhou Yang had sent him plenty of messages. He either sent suggestive photos of his physique or claimed that in the future, people would have to wait in line to be with him, so Chi Li should take the chance now to avoid regret. Occasionally, he would play the emotional card, saying a relationship without physical intimacy was incomplete.

In short, he just wanted to be with Chi Li.

Chi Li had not expected that the small moments of beauty accumulated over the last three months would vanish completely in just three days. Zhou Yang’s existence was like a heavy slap to his face, a constant reminder that he was a fool who could not judge character. He was a fool, and Zhou Yang was a lowlife. He truly could not stand watching this person flourish right under his nose.

“We will be able to earn that too in the future,” Gu Nan patted Chi Li’s back, offering whispered comfort. “Later on, you will earn ten times or a hundred times what he does!”

“Hmph.”

Watching the numbers on Zhou Yang’s paid channel climb steadily, Chi Li reached his breaking point. He slammed the tablet face-down on the table and stood up abruptly.

“Is it not just selling fanservice? If he can sell it, so can I! I do not believe for a second I cannot outsell him!”

Gu Nan was startled. “What are you planning to do?”

Chi Li grabbed his phone and started looking for his manager’s chat window. “I am going into the Nurture House. I am going to find someone to sell fanservice with.”

“Do not be impulsive,” Gu Nan quickly grabbed his arm. “Impulse is the devil. Besides, who can you even pair with? You cannot possibly join that love triangle, right?”

“Of course not.”

Chi Li found the chat for Li Ming, the manager in charge of their batch of trainees. His fingers flew across the screen as he typed five words: “I want to sell fanservice,” then hit send.

“But other than those three, everyone else in the Nurture House has very low popularity. Plus, none of them are taller than you. Where is the chemistry going to come from?” Gu Nan was deeply worried.

“They do not need to be taller than me.”

Chi Li flipped the tablet back over. The three-minute trial had ended, and a large prompt to purchase a membership filled the screen. In the top right corner, the viewer count had stopped at 6,054.

“Are you going to take the lead just for revenge?” Gu Nan’s face was the picture of horror. He really could not imagine his fair and beautiful cousin acting as the dominant one in a pair.

“That is not it either.” Chi Li jumped to someone else’s paid channel, intending to continue watching for another three minutes. “But I think I can manage acting the part.”

The new channel he landed on was very quiet. The viewer count in the top right was a measly 954, not even reaching a thousand. The person on screen had moved away from the crowd celebrating Zhou Yang’s welcome party and was sitting alone on a sofa playing games.

“His partner was apparently the one pushed out by Zhou Yang,” Gu Nan said with a sigh. “Though their pairing was not very popular anyway.”

Even though the Nurture House leaned into fanservice, the audience was picky. You could not just throw any two guys together and expect people to be interested. Chi Li remained silent and switched to another person.

“This one has a persona that overlaps with Xie Weishui, but he is not as manipulative. Right now, he can only portray a friendship with Xie Weishui.”

He moved to the next one.

Gu Nan continued, “This one is a devoted follower of Xie Weishui. There are people who like them together, but very few. Most people are not into that dynamic; otherwise, Zhou Yang would not have had the chance to move up.”

Chi Li glanced at him and kept skipping. “You have researched all of them?”

“I know a little bit,” Gu Nan said. “And this is Fang Jin, Xie Weishui’s original partner. They use the trope where a cold person melts only for one specific person, though they will probably transition into a jealousy arc soon.”

As the most popular pair in the house currently, Fang Jin’s personal channel had over 30,000 viewers.

“He is indeed quite good,” Chi Li nodded slowly, acknowledging Fang Jin’s appearance.