In the month since I started watching girl group live streams, I had spent over a million on gifts for my favorite streamer.
But after being away on a business trip for just one week—without sending her a single gift—she and the other members started mocking me behind my back.
“He’s probably just some bored, lonely, middle-aged nouveau riche old man. Don’t be fooled by how much he spends—it’s probably all his retirement savings.”
“This kind of middle-aged guy might even be older than my dad. If I ever saw him in real life, I’d spit in his face! What kind of trashy person would dare to like me? Maybe all that money is his pension. I couldn’t care less about it.”
She claimed she didn’t care about my money, but the moment I stopped sending gifts altogether, she flew into a rage.
“I told you so! He’s just a poor schmuck pretending to be rich. How ridiculous.”
“Thinking about how I used to defend this guy makes me sick. This greasy, middle-aged man who can’t get what he wants should just disappear!”
So, I turned around and spent millions more—securing her a spot on the show.
She ended up kneeling before me, crying and begging for another chance.
I gave her a faint smile and asked quietly, “Now tell me—do I look like a lonely old man trying to act rich?”
——
A week after that business trip, I returned home, relaxing in the bathtub while opening my usual live-streaming platform.
When I entered the stream, Alicia Watts was holding a microphone, eagerly asking for votes.
“Are there any brothers or sisters in the live room who like Alicia? I still need five thousand more votes to pass this microphone challenge. Can anyone help?”
In the live-stream world, five thousand votes equal a five-hundred-dollars gift.
I opened the gift list and casually sent ten Lion gifts—each worth three thousand dollars.
“Thank you, Brother Steve Glover, for the Lion rain!”
“Brother Steve hasn’t been here for days. I thought he’d gone to see someone else.”
As the ten Lion effects exploded across the screen, the comment section went wild.
“Brother is finally here! These past few days without him, our Alicia was beaten pretty badly, but thankfully he’s back.”
“The real big spender is still our brother for A Lifetime of Peace”
“Brother is so cool—he’s got style!”
The sound of digital fireworks filled the stream. Alicia finally sat down on the front sofa, relieved that she didn’t have to stand and beg for votes anymore.
This was a trending live-stream format: several people dance together to attract viewers, then move into a one-on-one showdown. The person with the most gifts gets to sit and rest, while the one with the fewest must keep holding the microphone to solicit votes. Fail to meet the quota and you’re eliminated.
My media company had launched group live-streaming services three months ago.
Lately, I’d been watching these streams on our platform in my spare time.
After watching for a while, I checked the time—it was nearly time to get out of the bath. I tapped the screen lightly.
“Let’s go. We have to get up early tomorrow.”
I had just returned from a business trip today and tomorrow I needed to inspect the company’s live-streaming division. If it weren’t such an important part of our recent operations, I wouldn’t normally handle it in person—but I wanted to see things for myself.
Just as I exited the live stream, a private message from Alicia popped up.
[Brother, why did you leave so soon? I thought you wouldn’t come to see Alicia anymore since you’ve been gone for a few days]
[I’ve learned a few new dances while you were away. Add me on messanger and I’ll send them to you.]
As always, I didn’t reply. I simply logged out of the platform.
The next day at the company, while passing the dance practice room, I overheard a familiar name.
“This guy called ‘A Lifetime of Peace’ has spent over a million on me and yet he still hasn’t added me on messanger. When I send him private messages, he rarely replies. What does he even want?”
