Chapter 5: Little Fish Tail Streamer

Yu Wei furrowed her brow, gently pushed Yu Hui aside, and sat up. She straightened her leg, but the vibration between her legs continued, scaring her into a jolt.

She flipped over and jumped out of bed, and there, next to Yu Hui in the centre of the bed, lay a phone!

Yu Wei trembled all over, hurried forward to pick it up, and flipped it over. The phone case was exactly the same as the one she had before she time-traveled. Whose phone could it be if not hers?

But how did it end up on the bed when it wasn’t there this morning?

Before she could think further, Yu Wei pressed the power button. The screen quickly lit up, showing the phone’s logo and the cute, hand-drawn bear wallpaper she had set before.

Swiping to unlock, the password was still the same, but the app icons inside had changed. To be precise, there were no apps left. The entire screen, aside from the old wallpaper, now only had one app out of more than 30 apps: ‘JiuMi Live’.

“What’s this?” Yu Wei muttered, confused.

She was nervous, but thinking that if she could time-travel, it wasn’t too surprising that her phone had come along.

She carefully examined the phone. Besides the system’s default features like the camera, video recording, and album, the only thing left was this live-streaming app she had used before time-traveling.

With that in mind, Yu Wei tapped on the ‘JiuMi Live’ icon.

The app’s contents were the same as they had been before she time-traveled: lots of flashy cover titles, and other modern features. Strangely enough, even though there was no internet here, the live-stream page still loaded.

Then she noticed something different under the ‘My’ section—an icon she hadn’t seen before caught her attention.

‘Redemption Mall?’

Yu Wei didn’t open this new feature right away but checked her followers instead.

What she saw shocked her. She used to have nearly five thousand followers, but after just half a day, there were only two thousand six hundred left!

Did they all know she had time-traveled and unfollowed her?

In just a few hours, she had lost so many fans, and she couldn’t understand why.

Feeling uneasy, Yu Wei clicked on her balance under the ‘My’ section. Even though she was in the 1980s, she still wanted to know if her balance remained. However…

It showed ‘0’.

Yu Wei: “?!”

So, where did her 90,000 yuan, which she hadn’t withdrawn yet, go? After six months of hard work, all that money had just vanished?

Even though she wouldn’t have much use for the money in this era, it still pained her heart to see it gone!

No matter how much Yu Wei clicked and scrolled, the big fat zero didn’t change, making her so frustrated she wanted to smash the phone!

With a sigh of disappointment, she backed out of the screen and clicked on the ‘Mall’ icon in frustration. It felt like stepping into an online shopping mall.

Prices and icons were all there, and when clicked, each item had a detailed description.

But this ‘shopping mall’ was peculiar. Aside from baking appliances like ovens and frying pans, the rest were ingredients for making desserts. There was nothing you couldn’t find.

She browsed the prices roughly, and they were about the same as modern prices—no more expensive. But what was this strange baking mall doing in a live-streaming app? After all, a live-streaming app’s purpose was to broadcast live. 

Were they expanding their business to become a shopping mall now?

Without dwelling on it, Yu Wei continued to fiddle with other icons. At the centre of the screen was a red ‘＋’ sign, the gateway to start live streaming. Just one click, and…

“It’s live already?” Yu Wei gasped, covering her mouth.

What was going on? She was in the 1980s—how could she start a live stream? Where was the data? Where was the signal?

Before she could think more, just one minute after opening the live stream, people started joining her room. Initially, it was +1, +1, and then +1-1, +2-1 as viewers came and left. But after only five minutes, the number of viewers had reached twenty-three.

In the sixth minute, a comment appeared on her stream from her loyal fan, ‘Fish Head’.

【Ah—! What am I seeing? The streamer Little Fish Tail, who disappeared for half a year, is finally back!】

Yu Wei: “?”

Wait a second, hadn’t she just crossed over half a day ago? How could it have been six months already?

【Huh? I thought I was seeing things just now, but it’s really Little Fish Tail back again?】

Yu Wei quietly stared at the two messages on the screen without saying anything. The camera was set to the rear, so the viewers couldn’t see her face.

After those two messages, Yu Wei received a ‘Little Rainbow’, a gift from Fish Head.

The Little Rainbow was a gift worth 20 yuan on the streaming platform ‘JiuMi Live’. After the platform’s 50-50 split, Yu Wei would receive 10 yuan.

In an instant, her balance, which had been ‘0’, became ‘10’.

But in a time like this, accepting gifts seemed like a waste. She couldn’t even spend it. Yu Wei remained silent, afraid to make a sound. As time ticked by, more and more people entered the live stream room. There were new viewers, but most were old ones.

When the number of viewers stabilised at seventy-one, a third message appeared.

【Oh my gosh, Little Fish Tail is back! What’s on the menu today? What delicious food are you making? I still didn’t figure out how to make the durian pancake from your last video six months ago, ugh…】

Once one message came, more followed, with viewers asking about her status. Each username was so familiar.

【Why isn’t the streamer talking?】

【Is it really Little Fish Tail, or has the account been hacked?】

【Wait, something’s off. The background behind the streamer doesn’t look like the villa.】

【Where are you, streamer? This place looks so creepy. Did you go into some remote mountain area?】

【What’s with this old house? Where’s the fancy Little Fish Tail we know?】

Yu Wei scanned through the messages, feeling a bit embarrassed. In truth, about half of her followers were fans because she lived in a villa.

Of course, another reason was that watching her cook was truly pleasing to the eye.

Still, Yu Wei didn’t speak. She just looked at the screen in silence, slightly adjusting the camera to show the small room. The dim light filtered in through the window, and the outside scenery was visible—just a couple of children walking by, with no one else around.

【Did the streamer go to the countryside?】

【The scenery outside is so eerie. Are there still places this old?】

【Yes, where did the streamer go?】

The comments kept growing, and more viewers joined. But because the streamer remained silent and the scene unchanged, people gradually began to leave.

With trembling hands, Yu Wei, in a moment of panic, was about to switch the camera when she suddenly heard rustling sounds from behind her.