Chapter 13: 13

Chapter 13: The Moment of Jealousy

Shine Livestreams Company held an emergency meeting with all their key personnel throughout the night. The matter of discussion: Dealing with Lemon Kitchen’s rapidly growing channel. 

“The planning and finance department have prepared reports of Lemon Kitchen’s impact on our stats. I believe the numbers will be quite a shock to you. As the CEO of this company, I will not stand by and watch our company descend into irrelevancy — and today, it seems that Shine Livestreams has finally found a rope to grasp onto. Let’s take this opportunity to sign an endorsement deal with Lemon Kitchen as soon as we can.”

The shiny-headed CEO surveyed the room with twinkling eyes. As a businessman, he understood how much Lemon Kitchen was worth, and it was a force to be reckoned with. He believed that, in a short time, Lemon Kitchen was going to become the celebrity with the craziest following in existence. 

“Lemon Kitchen’s an enigma. We’ve only got a basic contract signed with him, so he’s kept all his private information from us — we don’t even know his real name. But we are, without a doubt, standing on a pavilion closest to the moon — our position’s never been better.

“As far as I know, other influential streaming companies and entertainment platforms already have their eyes on our Lemon Kitchen. We have to immediately — as in, right now — get in contact with him. And we’ll do everything in our power to strike a deal with him.

“I want to make it clear that the first one to be recommended, the one to dominate our home page, the first to appear on account feeds — all of them — I want all of them to be Lemon Kitchen. And I want Shine Livestreams’ official Interstellar account to publicise Lemon Kitchen’s Hot Pot Livestream, scheduled the day after tomorrow at 9 a.m. All of our company’s publicity platforms should be spreading the news, too!”

The meeting room flew into a frenzy as the man’s last words rang in the air.

Lemon Kitchen had only started streaming a week ago. Even the hottest streamers on their platform were never given such treatment. Wouldn’t this raise controversy among their older streamers?

“CEO Wang, the discord between our company and the O.G. streamers increase daily. Many of them have even implied that they intend on moving to other platforms.  If a stunt this huge fails, everything will be a mess! If Lemon Kitchen can’t bear the weight of all this attention, he’ll be the straw that’ll break our camel’s back.” A senior staff member pushed up his spectacles.

“That’s right, sir. That Hua Lu Hua streamer especially. I heard he’s been getting in touch with other companies behind our backs. He always complains about how he’s unhappy with our policies and keeps insinuating that he wants to be the star of another site. The only reason he’s still with us this year is because of that expensive contract he signed with us! Besides, Lu Xinghua’s always been defying our policies, taking over the No. 1 Recommended spot all the time. Now that he’s been upstaged, he won’t be happy. Next year, he might not even want to renew our contract.”

“Forget next year, as long as we promote Lemon Kitchen heavily, Lu Xinghua will send his fans out to ruin us. We know how arrogant that guy is — he’ll set his fans loose on anything that pisses him off!” 

Wang Zhi assured, “I have my own judgments as the CEO. It goes without saying that I only called for this emergency meeting because I believe Lemon Kitchen is worth the risk. You’ve seen how we’ve had customers calling in left and right because of him, haven’t you? They’re all famous companies and huge investors that came flying to us with their huge, shiny wings! And they’re all after Lemon Kitchen… They want to reach out to him, strike deals with him!

“From what I understand, these people are from Nutrient Dose companies, medical trade groups, and fashion spokespeople — the sort of people we could only dream to meet are now reaching out to us! Look at what’s viral right now! None of them show signs of fading anytime soon. Netizens are registering for Shine accounts so that they can use the virtual tasting feature. We’re the number one trending app today!

“Think about it. Was this something we could even dare to dream of back then?!”

The light in his eyes shone as he looked at his employees one by one. He slammed his hand on the table.

“Lu Xinghua did not bring any outstanding revenue to our company this year. On top of that, he’s been speaking with other platforms privately. He isn’t taking his streaming responsibilities as seriously as before, and he’s mangling the resources of our other streamers. His heart’s no longer in the game. If we invest any more money in him next year, we’re making a big mistake.

“I believe everyone present here’s got sharp heads. Our company’s in danger, so we need to cut an arm off to survive. I won’t lie, so I’ll let you in on a secret — it’s been said that the government has been keeping an eye on him, and since they haven’t intervened with any of Lemon Kitchen’s activities, that means what he’s doing is completely harmless. I don’t think I need to spell the rest of it out to you.”

Wang Zhi’s words were like cardiac stimulants shot into the hearts of the attendees. Their worries were subdued. At the end of the day, what scared them the most from taking the risk was how novel Lemon Kitchen’s streams were. Those vegetables and meat were all artifacts from ancient Earth. They might’ve loved the smell of the food, they were even more afraid of being questioned by the higher-ups. They couldn’t afford to bite off more than they could chew.

“Sir, is that true?” Someone asked nervously.

“Of course,” Wang Zhi nodded. “This guy’s making huge waves, of course he’d attract their attention early on. If they’re letting him be, that naturally means that they want to continue observing him. Having all these extinct food appear so suddenly on a livestream is something that would’ve long attracted their attention. The only reason why they haven’t made a sound is because they’re keeping things on the down-low. They don’t want him to disappear, and they want to keep track of him quietly.” 

…….

A moment of silence passed. The first person raised his hand.

“I agree with signing a contract with Lemon Kitchen.”

The rest chorused,

“I second that!”

“Me, too!”

……

“Alright! Secretary, please get the legal department to write up a new contract as soon as possible, and let’s give Lemon Kitchen the best treatment we’ve got. We’re taking him with us in one shot! Start the Lemon Kitchen promotion work!”

“Yes, sir!”

*

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When Lu Xinghua heard the news, his jaw clenched so hard, he thought his teeth were going to crack. He opened the Shine app. The pop-up ads were no longer about him. Instead, they said: 

[26 February, 9AM. See you at Lemon Kitchen’s hot pot livestream. Be there, or be square!] 

As he dismissed the ads, the first channel recommended on his homepage was no longer his. Lemon Kitchen squashed out all his ads some ten minutes ago! It seemed as if his entire phone screen had been dominated by Lemon Kitchen.

That contractless brat. How dare he! 

“Fuck!!!”

He could barely suppress his anger watching everything on Shine — everything that was once his — get snatched away from him just like that. He checked the time, there were only ten more minutes before today’s livestream started. He stood up, determined to call Wang Zhi, Shine’s CEO.

“Mister Hua?” The duo in charge of lighting and makeup jumped. “Your makeup isn’t done yet, and you haven’t changed into your outfit either, where are you… Hang on, we’re running out of time!”

Lu Xinghua ignored them, slamming the door shut. The staff looked at each other, their movements frozen mid-air.

“What’s wrong with Mister Hua? He ate some laxatives or something?” The regular makeup assistant grumbled. Lu Xinghua was an ass to serve. He was stuck up, pompous, and short-tempered. The backstage crew often snarked about him behind his back.

“What other reason could there be? Lemon Kitchen just said he’s doing a hot pot stream today. The company had an emergency meeting yesterday. Check out the app’s Number One recommended channel. Don’t you see what’s going on?” The lighting guy carefully adjusted his equipment.

“The company’s switching sides?” The assistant sounded thrilled. “Does that mean I might get to work with Lemon Kitchen someday?! I love his videos! I can’t wait for his hot pot livestream! Besides, I think Lemon Kitchen might be really hot. Oh, to do his makeup for him…”

“Hey, keep your voice down. If Hua hears you fangirling over Lemon Kitchen, you’re screwed!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s whisper, then… But when on earth is he coming back? It takes forever to get his makeup done. He’s so picky. If we only have a few minutes to do his face, we won’t finish in time…”

“Can’t blame us, though. He’s the one who left out of nowhere. Man, he’s really the company’s pearl. Besides, the company spent a lot on hiring us, so he won’t fire us that easily — perks of being the most skilled workers in the company, hehe.”

“Yeah! If he hadn’t snatched us over to his side, I’d die before voluntarily working under him…”

Ten minutes passed by quickly as the two complained, but Lu Xinghua was nowhere to be found.

The makeup assistant was getting anxious. Hua Lu Hua’s stream had already started, and his fans, who had been waiting for a while now, were starting to ask questions about why their streamer hadn’t arrived yet.

“Keep the lighting dark and the music muted for now. I’ll text Hua…” The lighting guy pulled out his tablet.

“Okay… What do I press…?” The makeup artist flailed around, tapping on random buttons until the screen darkened and the trumpet icon dimmed. She tested it, no sound or image came up. “I’ve switched them off. Is he picking up his phone?”

“No, he’s not. Hell, he even declined my call…” The lighting guy furrowed his eyebrows, clearly worried. They were supposed to advertise a perfume today, and Hua earned a lot of advertising fees from the deal. Every minute was worth a hundred thousand Stars, a mishap like this was bad. “I’ll look for him.”

“Sure, but hurry up. I’ll explain the situation to the fans and the sponsor.” The makeup assistant’s hands flew across the keyboard, asking the viewers to wait a moment. Very quickly, the sponsor watching the channel messaged them, too, asking what was going on. All she could do was reassure him, minimising the uneasiness as much as she could.

Now that she thought about it, wasn’t Hua just overreacting? Even if Lemon Kitchen was growing rapidly, he was a cooking streamer. Of course he was going to attract attention since he was the only cooking streamer out there. Hua was a live marketing streamer, which was a completely different category from Lemon Kitchen. What was the point of holding a grudge against that?

She drew in a deep breath. Lu Xinghua was a snob, but everything always worked in his favour and nobody could stop him when he got arrogant. If things kept going on like this…

 

The author has something to say:

Kitty: Why didn’t Ning Ning and I get any screen time (sad face)

Author: …… (runs away with a pot over her head)

Lin Ning hugged the cat, asking gently: Xizai, which hot pot do you want? How about the super sour and spicy hot pot?

Kitty: (tail stiffens) Meow…

(It actually wanted the clear soup hot pot (suitable for all ages).)

This cat actually has a sweet tooth…

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