Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

It was late at night.

The guests of the romance cabin had all returned to their own rooms, turned off the lights, and gone to bed.

Meanwhile, the directing team had a small meeting backstage; the living room livestream had to continue, and in the middle of the night, a phone call got Xu Qingyan out of bed to help stream for two hours.

It counted as overtime, ten thousand yuan per hour.

At 1:30 AM, Xu Qingyan, having washed up and looking refreshed, went downstairs.

A bastard doesn't pass up free money. Working overtime was one thing, but extra pay was something else. The director still understood him; as long as the money was right, it was more effective than any personal favors.

In the women's group, only Shen Jinyue was willing to stream. She started at nine and streamed for an hour and a half. She went downstairs early, finished streaming, and went straight to her room to sleep.

Pei Muchan didn't stream; after all, the pay was too low, and she'd already given the show enough face.

Nian Shuyu kicked Song Enya out with a single vote, and the plastic sisters had a fake cry. Whether she was genuinely ill or just avoiding the limelight, she definitely wasn't participating in tonight's rotation.

With Song Enya gone and relying only on a few guys, there just weren't enough people for the streaming rotation.

You Zijun, the one to swap shifts with him, had babbled on for an hour and a half, eagerly rehashing the voting battle, completely unaware of the person standing behind him.

"I was also stunned at that moment. I didn't expect Song Enya's identity to be that of a gold digger. Honestly, if you ask me, Xu Qingyan's act was too obvious – you could tell immediately he's a gold digger."

"Thanks for the turkey-flavored rice crisps. You can't send paid gifts in the livestream, but you can exchange viewing time for free gifts, all without spending money."

"Buy? You can't buy them; you can only exchange them with online duration."

"However... if my dear viewers exchange some more free gifts, tomorrow I will reveal Xu Qingyan's identity as a gold digger right to his face!"

With a slap, a hand landed on You Zijun's shoulder, which immediately sank. A voice from behind him started to rise, ethereal as a serpent.

"Who's identity did you say you were going to reveal?"

At those words, You Zijun's face turned as white as a sheet, and in front of the live camera, he performed a rapid change of expression. The moment he turned his head, a smile appeared on his face in a second, and he called out to Brother Xu.

"Brother, why are you here? I was just talking about you. I must have been out of my mind to vote for you. Come on, sit down here, it's time, right?"

"I should be going up now; if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

Xu Qingyan didn't let him leave but pushed him back down, smiling on the surface but not in his heart.

"Don't be in a hurry, stay and stream with me for a while."

"No, Brother, I really have something urgent," You Zijun squirmed uneasily, sweating profusely, and thought to himself how the Lonely Star of Death had suddenly taken over the stream.

"No, you're not in a hurry." Xu Qingyan found a spot on the couch, sat down, and again pinned You Zijun in place. "I hear you're going to expose the true face of me?"

The living room studio wasn't very large; it contained two cameras, a big screen, and a couch. On the table lay some snack products from the sponsor and a few other snacks.

The air conditioning on the ground floor was on high, and Xu Qingyan, wearing a loose short-sleeved shirt, lounged on the couch. One hand was on You Zijun's shoulder, and with the other, he casually replied to Lin Wanzhou's message on his phone.

"It's absolutely a rumor," You Zijun said, too distressed to even look at the gloating bullet comments. He then turned to Brother Xu with a pitiful look, "Brother, you know me. I've always been a Brother Xu supporter."

"Alright, go and rest," Xu Qingyan glanced at him and released his shoulder, "Next time you speak ill of someone, remember to keep an eye open behind you."

You Zijun immediately got up and forced a smile.

"Brother Xu is just kidding; I'm heading upstairs now."

Once You Zijun left, the living room instantly became quiet. It was already late at night, and there weren't many staying up to watch the live stream, so the comments were also few and far between.

"This is Brother Xu's first time on a live rotation, huh, quite a novelty! Can you tell us if what's going on between you and Pei Muchan is real, or just for the show?"

"It's not for the show," Xu Qingyan put down his phone and got serious about engaging with the audience, "Pei Muchan and I just happen to have a mutual friend, 'first at the water-side has the first choice of the moon'."

"I can't take it! Brother Xu, tell us the truth, do you really have chemistry with Pei Muchan? Please be honest, my friend can't sleep!"

"I guess so, we've gotten along pretty well over the past few days," Xu Qingyan didn't mind being called 'Brother Xu, Dog.' With a daily salary of one hundred thousand, he wouldn't see any of this after the show anyway.

Among the sparse comments, there were also some from fans who liked him.

"Brother Xu, we all watched your rooftop live stream clip in our dorm. Can you teach us how to chase girls?"

Seeing this, Xu Qingyan paused for two seconds. This question, this tone... he couldn't quite distinguish if this was a hater or a true fan.

After thinking it over, he replied.

"I really don't know about that; I've had few friends since I was young. Um... I haven't had much contact with girls, but if I had to explain how to chase someone."

"I think it has to be sincerity,"

"Mutual sincerity is a killer move; when you really like someone, you can't hide your thoughts. But one-sided sincerity, forget it, that easily turns into being a lapdog."

"First, love yourself before you love someone else. Be sincere with yourself first, then with someone who's worth it."

Not many people tune into live streams late at night, and when Xu Qingyan wasn't messing around, he was strangely serious, and his responses were straightforward and unentertaining.

Gradually, those watching for fun became less active, leaving those who were truly there to chat. Eventually, the number of online viewers actually increased by quite a bit.

"Brother Xu, who's the guest on the flight? Do you know?"

"I don't know, the director hasn't said," Xu Qingyan replied, "Maybe we'll have the result tomorrow; I should also go and rest in another ten minutes."

At three in the morning, lights were on in the big backstage meeting room of the show, and smoke swirled through the air.

"Old Chen, you're still taking too big a risk doing this, you should've consulted with us first," a middle-aged man's voice came out, slightly hoarse with age.

"Aren't we consulting now?" the director Chen Fufeng, with cropped hair and dark skin, wearing a black coat, said to the dozen or so people in the meeting room.

"Consulting? You call this consulting?" Assistant director Gao Changlin sighed, "Old Chen, I admire how you run a show, but even if you have ideas, you shouldn't act first and report after, right?"

"You wouldn't have agreed if I told you, so it's better not to say," Chen Fufeng's brow furrowed into a 'Chuan' character as he held a cigarette between his fingers, took a deep drag, then coughed twice and said.

"You all should know how much pressure this show is under by now. We've just managed to fire the first shot; it's time to stoke the flames."

"You're aware how low the offer they've made is. With her status, she has no need to come on our show. This is an opportunity, what else is there to discuss?"

"A love reality show with two leading ladies, can any of you tell me what other program could create such a buzz? If it were you, who could say no?"

The middle-aged man who first spoke cleared his throat, then spoke again.

"But her conditions are way over the top. If we really agree, I'm afraid we won't be able to make a second season of the show."