Ch 19: The World’s Number One Resort

“The water is so clear! Haha, I caught three fish. We’re having grilled fish for breakfast!”

“Here’s another one. These fish don’t even bite!”

…

The next morning, with a gentle breeze blowing, Tang Huai woke up early. After a quick wash, he opened the wooden door of his treehouse. The golden morning sunlight streamed in, causing him to squint as he glanced toward Blue Sea Lake.

At that moment, Li Rui, Qian Dasong, and the others were already in the lake, wearing shorts and flip-flops, catching fish. The water was shallow, and they held long wooden sticks, unafraid of any danger.

“Manager Tang, do these fish have any special living conditions? I was thinking, opening a Blue Sea Fish farm in China might be a good idea,” Xiao Shengguo called out, arranging a fish basket nearby. He looked over at Tang Huai with interest. Xiao Shengguo, a veteran in the clothing business, was always on the lookout for new opportunities. After personally tasting the Blue Sea Fish, he thought a fish farm could be a profitable venture. In China, luxury goods were in high demand, and with such delicious fish, he was confident they could quickly capture the market. Xiao Shengguo had also noticed something peculiar: after eating the fish, he had slept soundly through the night, better than any sleep aid he’d ever tried.

“The fish are very particular about the water quality. Only Blue Sea Lake can sustain them,” Tang Huai explained as he climbed down from his treehouse. The unique environment of Blue Sea Lake was essential to the fish’s survival.

“Isn’t there some water activator or something we could use? Technology is advanced now; maybe we can make it work,” Qian Dasong asked, looking up after catching a fish. The idea of starting a Blue Sea Fish farm in China appealed to him, especially since he had eaten two fish the previous day and felt completely refreshed this morning. In his mind, these fish were worth every penny, and two hundred yuan for such an exotic fish seemed like a bargain.

“Water activator? With how pure Blue Sea Lake is, I doubt anything could replicate it,” Jiang Yaoyao chimed in as she adjusted her beauty filter on her livestream. She had been struggling with a pimple near her lips for the past few days and had relied on mid-level beauty filters. But after a night’s sleep, she was surprised to find the pimple gone, and she was back to being the beautiful streamer she prided herself on.

As Jiang Yaoyao spoke, she launched her livestream for the day. It was still early morning in China, so her viewer count was modest, around 3,000 people.

“Good morning, my dear viewers! We’re currently at Blue Sea Lake, and today we’re doing a fish BBQ…” Jiang Yaoyao greeted her audience as she panned the camera around to show the lake.

“Catching fish in the morning? Haha, that’s some real laid-back living.”

“Wow, the scenery is pretty nice. Even though Sora Island seems small and niche, it’s beautiful.”

“Did you change the filter? Everything looks so natural. Time for a donation!”

“Fengwei Shrimp just tipped ‘Lazy Fish Yaoyao’ 666 salted fish coins.”

“Uh, isn’t fish a bit too heavy for breakfast?”

…

Today, Jiang Yaoyao had toned down her beauty filters, and with the greenery and Blue Sea Lake as her backdrop, she appeared more fresh and natural than ever. After greeting her viewers, they casually started chatting in the comments. Since Jiang Yaoyao had cut off her livestream early the day before, her audience was eager to see more, curious about what Blue Sea Lake and the treehouses were really like.

“It’s not heavy at all! Blue Sea Fish is the best fish I’ve ever eaten, a hundred times better than ordinary fish!” Jiang Yaoyao passionately endorsed the fish after scrolling through the comments. However, her enthusiastic tone sounded too much like a commercial, and the viewers responded with a flurry of ‘666s,’ expressing their doubt.

Jiang Yaoyao felt like she was talking to a wall.

Tang Huai rolled up his pants and joined the others in the lake to catch fish. Not wanting to hold her phone, Jiang Yaoyao set up her camera stand on the trunk of the Angel Oak tree to continue her stream hands-free.

Thus, the scene of everyone catching fish, setting up the grill, and washing baskets was broadcast live in the “Lazy Fish Yaoyao” stream.

…

“This is the life.” During rush hour on the subway, Wu Liang, wearing earphones and scrolling through his phone, was a bit surprised when he stumbled upon the “Lazy Fish Yaoyao” stream.

Wu Liang, a planner for Tengfei Wedding Photography, had flexible work hours. In his free time, he enjoyed watching gaming streams and learning jungle tactics. As a regular on the Lazy Fish platform, a professional gaming streaming site, Wu Liang checked in daily to see what was new. Today, as usual, he was browsing for game tutorials when a “fishing show” unexpectedly appeared in the lineup.

Was Lazy Fish shifting its focus?

“This is the life” is a farming-themed reality show produced by Hushi TV. It features three regular hosts and several guest celebrities living in a rural setting, now airing its fifth episode and ranking in the top three shows of the season. Wu Liang had followed the show for a while, and the “fishing” format of the stream seemed strikingly similar to the show’s content.

The only difference was, while the TV show featured celebrities and editing, “Fishing Time” was live and starred regular people.

Wu Liang wasn’t usually into life-logging streams, but the combination of Blue Sea Lake, lush green trees, and warm sunlight made him feel unexpectedly relaxed.

Being in the wedding photography business, the sight of Blue Sea Lake gave him a surge of inspiration. If only Sora Island weren’t so far, it would be an ideal location for shooting wedding photos.

“Manager Tang, I’m eating three fish today, and nobody better stop me.” Tang Huai, who was cleaning and grilling the colorful fish, smiled as Qian Dasong, who was eagerly watching, couldn’t resist saying.

At first, Qian Dasong had acted like a big shot, but after catching fish, all his temper had melted away. After declaring his intentions, he impatiently tapped his lunchbox with his chopsticks.

“Pathetic.” Jiang Yaoyao gave him a side-eye. Yet, like Qian Dasong, she couldn’t wait to dig into the tender fish herself.

“Alright, everyone, group photo time!” The anticipation for the grilled fish was too much, so Li Rui stood up, adjusted his camera, and cheerfully suggested. As a tour guide, he was adept at taking group photos.

The others shrugged in agreement.

They struck what they thought were cool poses, and a lively group photo was captured, filled with the natural vibes of blue waters, grilled fish, and green oak trees.

“This is so cool,” Wu Liang muttered, eyes fixed on the livestream. How had he been watching a casual fish barbecue for thirty minutes without realizing it? And now, at the end of it all…

“Grumble…” Wu Liang rubbed his stomach, realizing he was hungry. All he could think about now was eating fish.

…

“Manager Wang, ‘Lazy Fish Yaoyao’s’ stream has just surpassed 100,000 viewers, currently ranking third on the platform during this time slot,” announced a junior programmer at the headquarters of Lazy Fish Tech in Beijing, peering at the data on his monitor.

“What was her starting viewership?” Five minutes later, a man in a blue shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, Zhao Qianfeng, approached.

Zhao Qianfeng, the marketing manager at Lazy Fish Tech, had been in his position for six years. Lazy Fish is a bullet-screen-style streaming platform primarily focused on gaming. Two years ago, it had been the leader in the live streaming market, boasting a plethora of star streamers.

However, in recent years, with the rise of platforms like Black Bear and Moyin, which featured live short videos, Lazy Fish had found itself in an awkward position. While it still had strong viewership for gaming, it seemed to lack appeal in other areas. Compared to Lazy Fish’s gaming content, young audiences now gravitated toward Black Bear’s soft-spoken singers and dancers.

In the past six months, Lazy Fish’s downloads and viewership had plummeted drastically. If they didn’t innovate soon, they were destined to fall to the ranks of second-tier streaming platforms. This was a reality that both the shareholders and leadership couldn’t ignore. Just last week, they held a three-hour all-hands meeting where they finally decided to transform Lazy Fish into a trendy streaming platform. The plan included promoting streams like “beautiful women singing live” and “unstoppable eating champions.”

Lazy Fish was treading cautiously. While they were reforming, they couldn’t make sweeping changes all at once. If their new approach failed, and game streamers were driven away, Lazy Fish would officially be relegated to a second-tier platform—a situation unbearable for a former industry leader.

They decided to subtly nurture a few non-gaming streams, like Jiang Yaoyao’s. Jiang Yaoyao was a mid-level streamer on Lazy Fish, pulling in about 30,000 to 40,000 RMB per month for the platform. Her popularity was consistent but never skyrocketed. If she had stuck with her jungle gameplay streams, she would never have landed a prime spot on the homepage. However, luck was on her side. When she transitioned from gaming to travel livestreaming, she perfectly aligned with Lazy Fish’s new direction.

Jiang Yaoyao was attractive, and her travel stream fit the new trend Lazy Fish wanted to promote. Zhao Qianfeng, Lazy Fish’s marketing manager, after reviewing her profile, decided to place her at the top of today’s recommendation list.

If Jiang Yaoyao’s success could serve as an example, it might inspire other streamers to diversify as well.

A homepage recommendation was a valuable slot. Given Jiang Yaoyao’s recent performance, Zhao Qianfeng thought reaching 100,000 viewers would already be a success. But to his surprise, within just an hour, her viewership had already reached 200,000. He even checked again—Lazy Fish’s top streamer that night had only 300,000 viewers.

“Her starting viewership was 3,000, and her highest in recent days was 72,000,” the junior programmer quickly reported after hearing Zhao Qianfeng’s question.

Compared to the top streamer, who started with over 30,000 viewers, Jiang Yaoyao’s numbers were skyrocketing like a rocket.

“Move her up two slots in the recommendation list,” Zhao Qianfeng instructed decisively after some thought. He knew Jiang Yaoyao was streaming an overseas travel show but hadn’t expected it to attract such high viewership.

Curious, Zhao Qianfeng opened his phone.

Blue seas, green trees, and a group of diverse tourists. Compared to the hot dance routines of other female streamers, Jiang Yaoyao’s content wasn’t particularly flashy. Aside from the scenic beauty, it was just regular people enjoying food and fun.

Zhao Qianfeng shook his head. He really didn’t understand the tastes of today’s viewers.

…

Half an hour later, Jiang Yaoyao, fully satisfied after eating, walked over to the Angel Oak Tree. Her phone was still live-streaming. In her excitement over the fish, she had almost forgotten to grab her phone.

As she picked up the phone and unlocked it, she was stunned by the string of donation notifications on the Lazy Fish interface.

“62,300 Lazy Fish coins? This is crazy…” Jiang Yaoyao was in disbelief. She checked again. Sure enough, it was over 60,000 Lazy Fish coins.

The conversion rate between Lazy Fish coins and RMB was 10:1. So in that short amount of time, she had earned over 6,000 RMB? Jiang Yaoyao couldn’t believe it. Earning 6,000 RMB in an hour was the kind of money only top-tier streamers made.

After snapping out of her daze, Jiang Yaoyao quickly checked the live viewer count: 268,016.

Two hundred and sixty-eight thousand… had she really gone viral?

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