The sound of flowing water filled the bathroom. Steam filled the luxury bathroom as a blond man stretched out in the bathtub. A tv hanging at the tub’s end played a replay of a gaming livestream as the streamer raged over dying to a boss for the eightieth time in a row.
“Man, what the hell is going on these days?” Wu Linjie sat, scrolling his phone. “How is Chu Changfeng getting so many viewers from an unannounced livestream... What's his secret?”
He sighed. Setting his phone aside, a muffled clattering rang out as he put it on a towel on top of the ceramic tiling. He reached out further, his upper body dripping water, to grab a hot towel. Putting it against his forehead and eyes, he slid back down into the bathtub and submerged himself up to the neck.
“Wu Linjie... Wu Linjie, what can you do to make your career grow? Variety shows... need to do some more TV shows and movies... promotional shoots. Need to reply to that deodorant brand... Need to reach out to the luxury watch brand... need to say no to the gamer juice or whatever brand...”
His droning continued on as he recited his agenda and to-do list for the upcoming week. Only after running through everything in exhaustive detail did he sigh and fall silent.
“... And the water doesn’t feel hot anymore...”
---
Back in a certain someone's penthouse suite, several hours earlier, a person cracked open the fridge in the darkness after returning home from the cast reading. Dressed in only a bathrobe after taking a shower, he swept his hair back while perusing the fridge’s contents.
Humming a quiet, half-incoherent tune, Chu Changfeng pulled out some leftovers from the last meal he booked with his private chef. He strolled over to the kitchen before flicking on the stove, pulling out a pot, and pouring the leftovers into the pot to heat up.
The stove, itself, crackled to life. Its blue flame provided some warmth and the faintest amount of lighting to illuminate the frigid apartment. Chu Changfeng, walking around in slippers, wandered into the hallway. He came to a stop by a flowerpot, running his finger along its rim while admiring the painting he had hung on the wall. His hand wandered along the pot like a spider, passing over the dirt, scaling the stem of a flower, and plucking off a couple of its petals.
He let them fall to the dirt, and, once they stuck to the dirt like worms, he wandered back into the kitchen to rinse his hands. From a drawer, he plucked out a pair of chopsticks. After running one through the broth, he licked its end before putting it aside. “This won’t be ready for a while...”
Taking a step back, he turned and rested his elbows on his kitchen island. He flicked on one of the lights sitting in the middle of the island.
Click.
It swept away the oppressive darkness and brought a touch of warmth into his home.
“Phone... phone...” Chu Changfeng murmured to himself while patting his pockets. Swiveling his head a few times, he found it sitting beside the chopsticks.
A second after picking it up, he started a livestream with a few well-practiced clicks, titling it: [Secret Stream: Hello my beautifuls~ <3]
Once the broadcast began, he looked down, realizing his lack of attire before chuckling. “They’ll like it anyway, and they deserve a little reward.”
[Boyfriend Collector: Reward???]
[Anonymous 398: Omg, he’s in a bathrobe]
[Husband Haver: my nose is bleeding, too hot too hot, call the ambulance for me...]
Watching the chats begin to stream in, Chu Changfeng licked his lips with a wry smile. “I forgot I was wearing this when I went live, but it covers enough.”
[Do You Even Lift Bro?: MY GUY IS CUTTTT SHITTT LOOK AT THOSE ABS GODDAMN.]
[Chuchu My Changfeng: Why are you even live! Secret stream!! We’re living good! Omg omg omg gggg]
[Anonymous 223: Simp spotted.]
[Anonymous 23948: You mean number 1 simp spotted, she’s number one on donations this month bro.]
[Chuchu My Changfeng: Because he’s mine! I'm just a dedicated fan! Not a simp!]
“Haha, I appreciate the support, everyone,” Chu Changfeng propped his chin up with one hand, holding the phone and scrolling through chat with the other. “Make sure you have enough for yourselves though first. I’m just streaming today because I had a hard day at work. I’m warming up some food right now and thought it’d be nice to chat with my lovelies. So how are all you delightfully succulent people doing?”
[Anonymous 9853: New projcet=ct??]
[Changfeng’s My Wind: So excited he mistyped, but omg you are too hardworking. Hardest worker ever!]
[Muscle Supremacy: Don’t work too hard!]
[Black Hair Makes Me Spread My Legs: It’s okay to take a break! We all love you and will support you no matter what!]
“It’s a fun project, don’t worry,” Chu Changfeng’s eyes danced with amusement. “A... A very fun one.”
Suppressing his urge to smile too much, he gnawed on his bottom lip for a few seconds while reading the chat. After a few seconds, he licked his lips once more, breaking into a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry, I’d never burn out while I have you all. In fact, I wonder if you all are shooting stars, because you all have certainly fulfilled my wish so far.”
[Anonymous 23904: I think I just became bent.]
[Anonymous 58: Chu Changfeng out here making all of us gay, you’re not special.]
[Comb Mistress: Nosebleed alerrt... my heart’s racing...]
[Anonymous 5982: +1]
[Boyfriend Collecter: +1]
[Tissues Always Needed: +1]
---
Meanwhile, across the city, a man in dim darkness, hunched over a desk.
“I hate working so much, why can’t I be a rich nepo-baby who had a golden spoon in my mouth from birth. Once I’m famous, I’m disappearing—moving to the mountains or something and becoming a buddhist hermit. I’m going to spend all my time sitting in rivers, reading books, and rotting online,” Feng Wei grumbled to himself, sitting at a desk as the clock greeted him with the morning hours.
In a rare moment for the digital age, a paper schedule sat laid out across his desk where he sketched out the general flow of shooting. Piles of eraser shavings gathered at parts of the schedule, and a light blanket of shavings covered the one section of desk not covered by paper—having been swept there by Feng Wei hours over the last evening of work.
He leaned back in his chair after erasing his newest round of work. “That’ll take too long...”
Reaching over, he grabbed his phone and scrolled back through the list of stipulations Chu Changfeng had given when they had done the funding negotiations. “Most of these are so normal, but why does he have this mandatory one... it's just making this scheduling so asinine. Why are rich people so weird? ‘Keep Ruyun and Feiling separated in their shooting. And schedule me as much as possible with both of them’? Man, get a girlfriend, you’re popular enough, there’s no need to try and drum up dating rumors with two women at once.”
Feng Wei sat there, idle, staring off into the darkness of his office for a couple minutes. His gaze deepened as he brainstormed. “Is there any way to finish in time for the first round of scouting by the big name broadcast companies...”