Pretty Wife Insists I Live Off Her - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Your Friend is Just… Something Else!

Yue Lei made it sound like a big deal on the outside, but she had no intention of making live streaming a long-term career. The minimum contract with Qingyin Live was three months. So, according to her plan, as long as she could get Lin Zhixi and the others back from Mount Jiuhu today, she would just stream casually for the rest of the time.

After returning to the villa, she just glanced at the car keys Aunt Wang had left out, decided which one she would use to pick up her wife next time, and then went back to her bedroom. The few cans of ice-cold craft beer in her hand and the physical book she had “borrowed” from Mo Yingxue’s bookshelf were all the props she needed for today’s stream.

After sending the account passwords to Lin Zhixi and her friends in their group chat, Yue Lei looked at the time, propped up her phone, and adjusted the angle to get the lighting right. She moved the plush rug in front of the bay window, sat lazily on it with a pillow in her arms, and started the stream. Since there were only a few shills in the live stream, she didn’t say anything. Yue Lei didn’t want to show her whole face, so she turned the camera horizontally, aiming it at the area from her lips to her collarbone. She pretended to read a book while leisurely taking small sips.

In another city, Lin Zhixi and her friends had retreated from Mount Jiuhu three hours ago. To better support Yue Lei’s stream, they had pooled their money to rent a gaming hotel with a top-notch internet connection. Everyone was either at their computers, on their phones, or on their tablets.

Suddenly, a girl with curly hair exclaimed excitedly, “Boss! She’s live! The Boss Yue I follow is live! What should we do? Just go in and send gifts without saying anything?”

At that moment, Lin Zhixi was lying on the bed with her head resting next to her chosen “sister,” From Die. Their faces were flushed, and the atmosphere was warm. Hearing the question, she looked up and thought for a moment. Lin Zhixi had played the role of a shill for Yue Lei before, so she was already familiar with it. “Everyone, go into the live stream first and chat with her in the comments. When the time feels right, we’ll start sending gifts.”

After saying that, she nudged From Die, who was lying next to her, with her shoulder. She looked at From Die’s tablet screen and whispered, “Xiao Die, our accounts have the most currency. Later, you pretend to request a song and send two sports cars. Then I’ll disagree and insist on a different song, and I’ll send her a yacht. We’ll go back and forth like that. Can you do that?”

“Yes, yes. What song do you want to listen to?” It was From Die’s first time doing something so out of character. Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked very excited. Lin Zhixi took in her adorable expression. After a moment of being dazed, she touched her nose and said, “You can listen to whatever you want. We’ll just improvise!”

Yue Lei was only pretending to read, but after just a few pages, she was hooked. The content was completely different from what she had guessed from the title. She raised her eyebrows with interest and flipped back to the title page to read the summary. She didn’t say a word after starting the stream, keeping everyone in suspense for a full five or six minutes.

Suddenly, she looked up, and comments began to float across the screen.

“Streamer, good afternoon. Is this your first time streaming? I see you haven’t set up your profile yet. It’s completely blank. So mysterious!”

“Streamer, what book are you reading? Stop reading and look at us!”

“Streamer, are you streaming on Jinjiang Literature City? You’re so close to the camera, I can’t see your face or anything below your neck.”

Thinking of Lin Zhixi and the others racking their brains for topics, Yue Lei couldn’t help but want to laugh out loud. She pretended to have just noticed and slowly moved her face closer to the phone camera.

The live stream image instantly changed from Yue Lei’s deep collarbones to a giant, curious eye. Each of her long eyelashes was clearly defined, and the lines in her pupil were perfectly visible.

Yue Lei stared at the camera for a moment before moving back, revealing her entire face. She gave a lazy smile and mumbled with a hint of confusion, “Why did I start streaming early? I wasn’t ready to stream yet…”

Yue Lei’s eyes scanned the items in front of her. She gave a bright smile to the camera. “Let’s stream me reading, then. Have any of you ladies watched Animal Farm? When I got this book, I thought it would be a cute and healing story about anthropomorphic animals like Charlotte’s Web, but I didn’t expect it to have so many metaphors. It really gave me goosebumps.”

Combined with the half-can of sour ale she was slowly drinking on the side, it created a tipsy, “I’m not drunk, I’m just me” vibe.

In the gaming hotel, everyone fell silent for three seconds. Then some of them covered their faces, some held their heads, and some had their hands on the keyboard, unable to figure out what to type. As insiders, they didn’t believe that Yue Lei was unaware that she was live. But that feeling of “fake-it-till-you-make-it” voyeurism and amazement lingered in their minds, causing ripples.

Xiao Tang, who was sitting in front of the computer, couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh my God! Sister Xi, your friend is just something else!”

Xiao Jing continued her sentence: “Yeah! She’s such a good actress and so good at creating a buzz! If I had stumbled upon this live stream by accident, I would probably be so curious that I’d send her gifts!”

“Yes, yes. And she’s so good at showing herself off. Her face is so pretty, but she’s hiding it from us. It made me feel like a guilty voyeur. My heart almost jumped out of my chest when she got closer to the camera!”

Seeing everyone chatting so excitedly, Lin Zhixi cleared her throat. “She’s a pro at this. She’s so cunning. Don’t just chat. Have you guys read that book? If not, hurry up and look it up!”

She had a love-hate relationship with Yue Lei’s antics. They had been elementary school classmates and became friends because they lived close to each other and played together all the time. After all these years of watching Yue Lei act like a know-it-all, she was now immune to it. As long as she wasn’t the target of her schemes, it was fine.

Yue Lei’s actions not only attracted their attention, but when everyone came to their senses, there were already random people in the comments chatting with her.

Z: “That book is very thought-provoking. It uses animals to symbolize humans. It’s always a fresh read.”

From Die clicked on Z’s profile and was puzzled. “This looks like a new account. Will they send Boss Yue gifts?”

Lin Zhixi made a final decision. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll start by praising her and sending gifts. Those with money can donate money, and those without can just show up and support.”

She immediately began to type furiously.

Passerby Sugar Mommy: “I haven’t read this book. It’s so hard for people in modern times to sit still. It’s been a long time since I read a book. When I saw the title, I guessed the same thing as the streamer, haha.”

Passerby Sugar Mommy: “Let’s toast to our shared understanding! The streamer is so good-looking. Why don’t you go the ‘good looks’ route? Why do you have to rely on your talent?!”

Passerby Sugar Mommy: “Cheers x666”

Passerby Sugar Mommy: “Festival Celebration x1”

With just a few taps, she had spent 16,660 live stream currency. She nodded with satisfaction. With her taking the lead, everyone else started going wild, finding excuses to send gifts. As From Die typed a request for the streamer to stand up and dance for them using three sports cars, and then sent a popularity chest, the number of viewers in the live stream had risen to over 1,000, surpassing all other first-time streamers.

As the atmosphere heated up, Mo Yingxue, who had been secretly watching the live stream, couldn’t resist and topped up her account.

Z: “Don’t just thank the little angels, little cuties, and little sugar mommies. Call me ‘Wifey.’ (Super Chat)”

Z: “All the Lights of Ten Thousand Homes x1”

This was the most expensive gift on the platform, valued at 10,000 yuan. The Super Chat in front was also a paid feature. It would remain at the top, stinging everyone’s eyes.

Lin Zhixi’s group fell silent. After a while, she grabbed her hair and said, “Whose account is Z? Why are they sending an ‘I love you’ gift? What are we going to do if she gets off stream and asks us to account for it…?”

“Xi, that looks like a random person,” From Die said to her with a complicated expression, stating the obvious. “Boss Yue’s personal charm attracted an ‘I love you’ gift…”

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