Chun Dengluan’s lavish gift-giving immediately drew a crowd of spectators, sending Jiang Ye’s stream room straight onto the recommendation page.
New viewers began pouring in.
[Heard that the number three on the Leaderboard is here to watch the stream??]
[Wow, now I really want to see what kind of stream the third highest Level Board player is interested in!]
Seeing these comments, Jiang Ye secretly opened the Leaderboard out of view of the audience, and found that Chun Dengluan really was ranked third on the Level Board. Currently Level 9, just like the player in second place—it was probably a slight difference in their Experience Bar.
She hadn’t paid attention before, but now she noticed that even I'm Super Fierce was ranked eighth on the Level Board.
They were leveling up pretty fast.
Jiang Ye marveled at this, but didn't have the slightest sense of self-awareness as the one holding first place on the Level Board.
Thanks to Chun Dengluan’s generous gift of a thousand gold coins, Jiang Ye was happy and polite as she addressed them: “What can I do for you, boss?”
Chun Dengluan asked a question that many in the chat had been wondering about: [What’s the streamer doing now?]
“I’m getting ready to make some lunch.”
Chun Dengluan: [What are you making?]
“Haven’t decided yet. Garlic oysters, crab roe noodles, and steamed sea urchin—maybe just those three dishes.”
Chun Dengluan: [Where did you get those ingredients?]
Jiang Ye realized this one was obviously a cleverer type than I'm Super Fierce—take this crucial question, which Wo Chao Xiong had never even asked her before.
“Some are from NPCs, some I picked up from vendors selling things in the village,” Jiang Ye calmly lied, quietly throwing a bit of advertising for A-Xing’s stall.
I Have a Lot of Hair: [Right, right! I actually bought a tuna from a villager here before!]
Jiang Ye caught the comment and thought: Oh, here comes another big spender.
“What would the boss like to eat today? I’ll make it for you.” Jiang Ye beamed at the camera.
To the players watching, it was just a stick figure flashing gleaming white teeth, the smile so bright it made people uneasy.
[I’m starting to worry if the streamer’s food is even edible.]
[Please, please, do you have to stream with this avatar? If I keep watching tonight, I’ll have nightmares.]
[Hehe, hehehe! Been single so long even a stick figure is starting to look handsome!]
Chun Dengluan was easygoing: [Anything’s fine. If I could get crab roe noodles that’d be best.]
I'm Super Fierce, not to be outdone: [I! Want! Fish!]
I'm Super Fierce: [Streamer, make me some fish!]
To assert their own status, I'm Super Fierce crushed Jiang Ye with 99 grenades.
Today’s Gift Leaderboard had I'm Super Fierce back on top.
Chun Dengluan was right underneath.
[Whoa, big spenders!]
[What’s going on here?]
[Is this a fight?]
I Have a Lot of Hair: [So what, whoever spends the most gets to order food?]
Of course, this wasn’t Jiang Ye’s intention—she just wanted to make the bosses feel appreciated. After all, even in a stream room, star coin spenders ought to feel the joy that comes with spending their star coins.
No, here in this star system, you could no longer call them “RMB players”—to be accurate, it was “star coin warriors.”
Jiang Ye had no intention of fleecing the players, but if a big spender showed up at her door, wouldn’t it be a waste not to earn a little extra?
Jiang Ye smiled slightly at the camera: “One ultimate torpedo is all it takes for a chance to spin the Recipe Wheel.”
Jiang Ye opened the stream shop interface and used the system to DIY a little wheel, decorated with the names of a few dishes.
They were: crab roe noodles, steamed sea urchin, garlic oysters, tuna fried rice.
Four dishes, eight slots.
I Have a Lot of Hair was tempted, but still rational: [What does that mean? What happens if I land on something?]
“The food you win will be delivered straight to your backpack once it’s done,” Jiang Ye replied with a smile.
I Have a Lot of Hair was still weighing the cost versus return.
He wasn’t clear about the prices of the other seafood, but that tuna had cost him 9,980 from someone else. Now, for only 1000, he had a chance to win it—wasn’t that a massive bargain?
“There are only ten spins available today,” Jiang Ye added.
Once he understood, and after hearing this, I Have a Lot of Hair immediately slammed down an ultimate torpedo and claimed a chance at the wheel.
As the wheel spun, he chanted silently: Tuna, tuna.
As if hearing his prayer, when the wheel was about to stop the pointer lazily drifted toward the tuna slot.
Just as I Have a Lot of Hair was about to shriek with joy, the pointer slid left and landed on garlic oysters instead.
“Congratulations!” Jiang Ye immediately set to work, taking out oysters and starting the prep.
The chat congratulated him.
I Have a Lot of Hair grouched: [Who wants to eat this! I wanted tuna fried rice!]
He had no sooner spoken than Chun Dengluan spun the wheel.
With a ding, the pointer landed smack in the tuna fried rice section.
“Hang on, Chun Dengluan, I’ll make these oysters first.”
Chun Dengluan: [No rush.]
Chun Dengluan: [I don’t especially want to eat it anyway.]
[No hair, bro, come look, someone’s out to provoke you live on stream.]
[No hair, can you really stand this?]
I Have a Lot of Hair: [Shut up!!]
I Have a Lot of Hair: [And! My ID is I Have a Lot of Hair! Not No Hair!!]
After battling chat, I Have a Lot of Hair angrily dropped another ultimate torpedo and spun the wheel again.
This time, once more he just missed the tuna fried rice, and landed on steamed sea urchin.
[Bro, your luck’s just not it...]
[Give up, I think the other dishes look tasty too.]
There was nothing I Have a Lot of Hair hated more than being goaded, and in his entire life, he’d never missed out on anything he truly wanted.
Just a measly tuna fried rice!
He refused to believe he couldn’t get it today!
His luck couldn’t possibly be this bad!
Consumed by a gambler’s mindset, I Have a Lot of Hair hurled five ultimate torpedoes in a row, vaulting himself to the top spot in Jiang Ye’s stream room.
Spun five more times, and each time, the pointer skated right past the tuna fried rice.
Even Jiang Ye felt sorry watching this unfold.
She swore to the heavens she’d set no specialized odds—this was all just the will of the system.
“How about you stop spinning, and I just make you some fried rice?” Jiang Ye offered kindly, with a grandmotherly air.
I Have a Lot of Hair: [I don’t need your pity!!!]
He threw in three more ultimate torpedoes for three more spins, but still didn’t land on his longed-for tuna belly.
He was about to lose it.
That feeling of striking out over and over, staring helplessly as the pointer edged away from his most coveted dish, was torment for Li Fan’s soul.
He was in misery, despair, and unwillingness.
Li Fan’s eyes were red, staring at the screen, grinding his teeth to write in chat.
I Have a Lot of Hair: [Again.]
I Have a Lot of Hair: [I’ve got money, I can keep spinning.]
[Come on, man, stop!]
[You’re out of control!!!]
Jiang Ye didn’t want to push this guy too far all at once.
You shear the sheep, not skin it.
She’d already fleeced this particular big spender enough for today, more than enough for her to quietly spin the wheel herself a couple of times. If she kept squeezing him, she’d worry karma would come back around and the system would mess with her when it was her turn.
“No more,” Jiang Ye refused seriously.
I Have a Lot of Hair, unwilling to concede, threw a few more ultimate torpedoes at Jiang Ye.
I Have a Lot of Hair: [Isn’t it just money you want? I’m giving you money, so let me spin already.]
Watching him go wild in the chat, Jiang Ye ignored him, focusing on her ingredients.
The garlic oysters were done, and the steamed sea urchin was in the pot. All that was left was the crab roe noodles.
The crab was freshly steamed, and picking out the roe was just a matter of selecting the desired part—the game would automatically generate the rest.
Jiang Ye set the plump crab roe in a small dish, boiled noodles, and mixed up a sauce.
As I Have a Lot of Hair continued to hammer gifts without letup, Jiang Ye, twirling noodles in the boiling pot with long chopsticks, gently reminded him: “Boss who keeps dropping torpedoes, the streamer can only spin the wheel once a day. No matter how many torpedoes you give now, there’s nothing more I can do.”
“Torpedoes already sent are non-refundable, so do think carefully before you send them.”
Upon hearing that, Li Fan was even more upset.
I Have a Lot of Hair: [What, you think you can tell me how to spend my money?]
Jiang Ye didn’t reply.
If her good intentions were going to be spat on, she might as well just take the money without guilt.
“The most important thing is to be happy,” Jiang Ye said as she lifted the perfectly cooked noodles from the pot, placing them into a bowl and shocking them in cool water, “So long as you’re happy, boss.”
Seeing the streamer so calm, Li Fan felt all sorts of complicated feelings.
He needed to vent his pent-up frustration somewhere.
So he drawled in the chat: [Hey streamer, you’re faking your look and your voice, right? I’ve spent all this money—take off your disguise and let bro have a look, fair enough, right?]
Some in the chat took issue, but others started agreeing.
[Yeah, streamer, after all those gifts, shouldn’t you give them something in return?]
“Did I ask them to send gifts?” Jiang Ye replied coldly, though she thought, this guy really will never change.
It was one thing to tease the white catgirl in the queue, but now he couldn’t even leave a stick figure alone?
[Just show us, it’s not like you’ll lose anything.]
[Does the streamer have to be so uptight? It’s not like you’re some great beauty, maybe not even a real girl, what’s there to hide?]
Seeing the chat get twisted around, Li Fan was quite pleased: [I’m not asking you to strip, what are you getting so shy for?]
I Have a Lot of Hair: [Maybe you’re actually ugly as hell. If you stripped, I might not even wanna look.]
Men’s crude talk popped up all over the chat.
Jiang Ye’s hands never paused, placing noodles in a bowl, gold and firm, curled up in a white jade bowl. She poured in the sauce, mixed well, and topped it with a heap of fresh orange crab roe and silken white crab meat.
The crab roe noodles were done.
Li Fan stared hungrily at the screen, drooling.
Suddenly, he felt that maybe tuna fried rice wasn’t so important after all.
He started typing, wanting to say he’d settle for whatever the streamer chose—he wasn’t picky.
Just as he was about to hit send, Li Fan realized he couldn’t do anything.
With a sudden pop, the stream screen went black, leaving only a bold red warning.
[System: Dear player, due to inappropriate comments and being reported, the system has muted you and suspended all streaming-related privileges, issuing a yellow card warning. Please reflect in the little black room—see you in seven days.]
He stood dumbfounded on the novice village road for ages before cursing loudly, “Shit, who reported me?”