Chapter 146 - 118: The Special Privileges of a Ten-Star Achievement
Chapter 146: Chapter 118: The Special Privileges of a Ten-Star Achievement
The stream was about to start, the countdown ticking away.
Seeing Shu Yao sipping tea as if nothing was wrong, Jiang Fei couldn’t help but ask:
"Sister Bao, aren’t you going to prepare for battle?"
Shu Yao said leisurely, "I’ll start a bit later. The dish I’m making today is actually quite efficient."
All the ingredients were already prepped.
It would only take about ten minutes to cook everything.
So, there was no need to jump into the fray so early.
Jiang Fei was anxious on her behalf, and on the fans’ behalf. "So many people are waiting for you!"
Shu Yao said, "My little uncle isn’t off work yet. There’s still plenty of time to cook after he gets back."
"Alright, then." Jiang Fei relented.
Ultimately, it was up to what Sister Bao wanted.
Besides, Sister Bao’s skills had never let him down.
It was fine for him to wait a little longer.
But two minutes later, he couldn’t take it anymore. The anticipation was making his mouth water!
So, he secretly sent a message to Shu Chao Yu, urging him to hurry home after work.
On the food forum, the post that Lin Zhenxiang had made earlier with the username "Xiangxiang Loves Cooking" was still up.
The countdown in the post showed that there were less than nine minutes left until the broadcast.
As all the numbers on the countdown hit zero, the Star Network’s live streaming feature went online right on time.
Many streamers started their broadcasts right on the dot. A huge crowd of fans flooded the streaming platform.
However, Mrs. Bao didn’t go live!
Hordes of fans frantically tagged Mrs. Bao’s little assistant, and some even went to Jiang Fei’s blog to ask why she hadn’t started her stream.
Ke Dancheng and Jiang Fei both looked at Shu Yao in unison.
’Even if we told the fans that Mrs. Bao is just leisurely sipping tea and watching her son play right now, probably no one would believe us.’
Jiang Fei couldn’t hold back. "Sister Bao, when are you going live? Let’s set a time. You know, do a countdown or something."
Shu Yao gave him a cool glance. "Do I need to resort to those kinds of gimmicks?"
’That’s true. His Sister Bao streams based on pure skill! She wouldn’t stoop to using such petty tricks!’
But Jiang Fei couldn’t wait any longer. "I’m going to go get Mr. Yu!"
’If Mr. Yu isn’t off work by the time I get to his office, I’ll drag him back here if I have to!’
Not long after Jiang Fei left, Shu Yao received a message from Shu Chao Yu.
He said he would be home in about fifteen minutes.
"Close the door. Time to cook."
Shu Yao had Ke Dancheng stay with her in the kitchen.
There were many things about streaming she didn’t understand, and she needed him by her side to guide her.
Mrs. Bao is live!
Ke Dancheng was the first to spread the word in the fan groups.
He had anticipated that Mrs. Bao would get a lot of traffic as soon as she went live. But what he hadn’t expected was that the moment the stream started, the screen was flooded with red!
A few familiar whales were spamming the screen with this kind of donation.
The maximum amount for a single donation was 1,000,000 Star Coins.
Shu Yao had previously dropped from a Six-star to a Four-star streamer, but in no time at all, with the support of these big-spending whales, her rank shot back up.
Ke Dancheng suddenly noticed something new.
"Yao... Sister Bao!" He almost used the wrong name but corrected himself just in time. "It looks like the streamer ranking system has changed a bit. The highest rank used to be Nine Stars, but now it’s Ten Stars!"
He figured the few Nine-Star streamers out there would probably try to push for Ten Stars now.
Ke Dancheng added, "And before, streamers would get one extra tasting slot for every rank they gained, with a maximum of 12 at Nine Stars. Now, a Ten-Star streamer gets 20 tasting slots all at once!"
That was quite a big incentive.
But for a major streamer with tens of millions of fans, 20 tasting slots was still a bit low.
Shu Yao said, "We can discuss this in private later. I’m starting to cook now."
Ke Dancheng nodded and stopped speaking casually. ’Loose lips sink ships.’ He was genuinely worried he might accidentally expose Shu Yao’s identity.
To avoid revealing her identity, Shu Yao was very cautious when streaming, not only keeping her face off-camera but also using a voice changer.
Not long after the stream started, a fan noticed a decoration on the side of the frame.
"Wait! Are my eyes deceiving me?! That model mecha holding the plate on the side, could it... could it be the newly released limited edition Kunlun?!"
"Probably a replica. I remember the latest limited edition Kunlun model had a different design."
"With Imperial Court Company’s attitude? You make a replica and see what happens. They’d sue you into bankruptcy!"
...
Ke Dancheng couldn’t help but ask, "Sister Bao, they’re arguing about the mecha model on screen. It’s not a replica, is it?"
He didn’t want Mrs. Bao to get tangled up in a legal dispute!
Shu Yao explained, "It’s authentic. My son won it in a raffle when he attended the launch event the other day."
’He actually won a second one, too.’
Of course, Shu Yao didn’t say that out loud.
Otherwise, it would be too obvious.
Still, this caused quite a stir among the fans, which showed just how much the citizens of the Federation adored the Kunlun War God.
Shu Yao got back on topic. "Alright, this time I’m really starting to cook. I saw a lot of fans saying that the price of whitebait isn’t very pretty, and they asked me to make some more affordable dishes. The two main ingredients I’ve chosen for today are not only cheap, you could even say I got them for free."
Many fans in the stream chat breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally, we can say goodbye to whitebait!"
"As soon as the streaming feature went live, almost every streamer was cooking whitebait. I was about to puke from watching it so much!"
"A few brick-and-mortar restaurants have already added Mrs. Bao’s whitebait to their menus. Just one small bowl of fish soup sells for over a thousand Star Coins! It’s absolutely shameless!"
The chatter was just chatter; it didn’t slow down the whales’ donations one bit.
And, judging by the trend, it seemed like there were more and more big spenders!
Every single donation was for the maximum amount of one million Star Coins!
Ke Dancheng thought it was a system error and immediately reported to Shu Yao, "Sister Bao, your stream chat is constantly flooded with red! A lot of people are donating over and over again. I don’t know what’s wrong!"
Shu Yao opened the bullet comments and noticed a clue in the usernames of the big spenders.
Yuan Family Army 1st Squad, Yuan Family Army 2nd Squad, Yuan Family Army 3rd Squad...
1st Squad Member ①, 1st Squad Member ②, 1st Squad Member ③...
2nd Squad...
3rd Squad...
...
The Yuan Family Army has been deployed!
And it wasn’t just one donation per member. Ever since they flooded into the stream, they had been donating non-stop!
It was like a competition to see who could donate more!
Shu Yao could tell these were all people from under the Yuan Family’s banner.
She said calmly, "It’s fine. They’re probably people my friend called over."
Ke Dancheng was stunned!
The huge crowd of fans in the stream chat was stunned!
On the entire Star Network streaming platform, which streamer had ever had something like this happen in their chat?!
Never, okay?!
Mrs. Bao was the first!
The key was her reaction—it was way too calm!
If this had happened to any other streamer, they would have lost their minds by now!
"Sigh..." Shu Yao let out a long sigh.
’What have I even done since the stream started?’
’It seems like I haven’t accomplished anything.’
She was about to restart her opening when she suddenly received a private message.
This private message seemed to have been sent using some special privilege, bypassing the backend and appearing directly in her stream.
A yellow, unopened envelope suddenly appeared on the screen, brazenly taking up space and covering part of the bullet comments. It was quite domineering and audacious.
All the fans in the stream could see the envelope.
However, they didn’t have permission to see its contents.
This was another first for Star Network streaming.
The chat room began to erupt again.
Shu Yao clicked on the envelope.
Only she could see the content of the private message.
"[KCourt Is A Bit Spicy]: ’Hello, Mrs. Bao. I’m a Spicy Girl customer service rep from the Imperial Court Company. As you are the first streamer on our platform to reach the Ten-Star achievement, and in the shortest time, the company’s upper management has decided to grant you a special benefit. You can make one realistic wish here, and we will be sure to grant it for you!’"
Shu Yao was startled.
’I’ve already reached the Ten-Star achievement so quickly?’
’It seems the Yuan Family Army deserves a lot of the credit for this.’
A Ten-Star streamer got 20 tasting slots. But for her fans, that was still far too few.
Thinking of this, Shu Yao quickly typed a wish into the dialogue box with [KCourt Is A Bit Spicy].
Seeing what she typed, Ke Dancheng took a long, sharp, excited breath, and then, trembling slightly, he revealed a little bit of what everyone was paying attention to in the fan group.
The private message was from the Imperial Court Company.
The Imperial Court Company had given Mrs. Bao a special benefit for achieving Ten Stars.
As soon as the news broke, not only fans, but even other streamers who caught wind of it, stopped their own broadcasts and rushed to Mrs. Bao’s stream to see what was happening.
"What do you guys think Mrs. Bao will ask the Imperial Court Company for?"
"To be on the trending list every day!"
"Wouldn’t shares in the Imperial Court Company be even better!"
"She’s already a Ten-Star streamer, what’s the point of worrying about a few shares!"
One streamer said, "The Imperial Court Company has a lot of events. Mrs. Bao could totally demand to attend every single one!"
"That’s a wish for a streamer like you! If my Sister Bao were the type to love being in the spotlight, would she still be streaming without showing her face?"
"My Sister Bao is awesome! I’m dying to know what she asked the Imperial Court Company for! Little assistant, help us out!"
Having been cued by the fans, Ke Dancheng delivered.
He asked cautiously, "Sister Bao... the fans want to know about the special benefit. Do you want to reveal anything?"
"I asked them for unlimited tasting slots."
As soon as she said this, the bullet comments in the stream went silent for a second.
Then the fans exploded!
"What did I just hear?"
"Am I hearing things?"
"AHHHHHHH! Unlimited tasting slots!!! That’s my ultimate dream!!!"
"The deal fell through." It was only natural to be rejected, so Shu Yao wasn’t surprised, just a little disappointed.
Although the fans in the chat were a bit disappointed, they were still very touched and happy to know Mrs. Bao had them in mind.
Shu Yao said, "Unlimited tasting slots are a bit unrealistic. If I had that special feature, all the fans would flock to me. After all, the Imperial Court Company has to consider the interests of its other streamers."
"Sister Bao! We love you! Even without unlimited tasting slots, we still love you! We’ll love you for life!"
"A fan of Sister Bao for life!"
"Sister Bao, you made me cry! You have to take responsibility! WAHHH! So touching, right?!"
"As a fellow streamer, I’m ashamed of my inferiority!"
In the stream chat, fans were a blubbering mess, and even many other streamers had become fans of Mrs. Bao.
Just then, Mrs. Bao’s voice—somewhat distorted by the voice changer but still retaining its warmth—rang out:
"Wait, it looks like there might be a turnaround!"