"...so when you approach sentences like this, the key is to break them down into smaller parts first."
Lin Feng pointed at the screen.
"If you try to solve everything at once, you'll get overwhelmed. But if you tackle each piece individually, it becomes much more manageable."
He glanced at the time.
"Alright, let's stop there for today."
Tingting on the other end of the call nodded.
"Thank you, Teacher Lin!"
"Mm. Keep practicing what we covered. See you next time."
"Goodbye!"
The call ended.
Lin Feng leaned back in his chair.
He navigated to the Tianji Capital website.
He noticed that it looked quite nice.
He hadn't been to it ever since they started. Even the money - he had been having Yu Shen send it to him directly.
He took out his phone and looked at the credentials Yu Shen had sent him.
He logged in.
A prompt appeared asking him to change his password.
He did so.
Once he was in, he sent a message to Yu Shen.
[Don't send me the money anymore. I'll be withdrawing it myself like other customers.]
He looked at his balance.
The day's earnings had just come in.
[Balance: ¥32,967.00]
It seemed the day's earnings had been ¥211.
His own direct investments were ¥32,500, so the rest were the remaining half he left behind every day to reinvest.
Usually, he would take half of today's gains - that being ¥105 - but he had other plans in mind.
Since he always invested ¥7,500 every day, at least during the time the sponsorship deal with Su Yue was running, there was no need to keep these meager profits.
It was best to take them all and increase his system balance.
With that, he withdrew all the gained profits not from direct deposit.
[Personal account has been credited with ¥467.00 from Tianji LLC...]
[System account has been credited with ¥467.00]
Good.
Now with that out of the way...
He took out ¥10,000 like usual, sending it into his Tianji account.
He then contacted Yu Shen, and he did his thing.
¥5,000 would be transferred to Su Yue as part of their sponsorship deal, ¥2,500 of which would come from him.
That brought his money in Tianji to ¥40,000.
This was about the amount the two of them combined had started with.
While it was a little suspicious that he could bring in so much money, Lin Feng found it somewhat reasonable for someone like him who had multiple companies and even managed a semi-popular streamer.
Still, it would be too suspicious if he continued like this.
It would be best if he could tone it down a little after the seven-day sponsorship deal with Su Yue ended.
He packed his things and headed out.
…
Su Yue sat in the chair, catching her breath.
The stream had just ended.
Lin Feng turned the laptop toward her.
"Today's numbers."
She looked at the screen.
Total stream duration: 1 hour 10 minutes
Peak concurrent viewers: 2,360
Average viewers: 1,244
Total gifts received: ¥18,160
Chat messages: 10,642
Lin Feng observed the numbers.
Just as he'd thought. They were rising now.
He looked at her carefully.
He supposed it could also be attributed to her skills improving. Compared to before, her singing had gotten a bit better.
Su Yue began to fidget under his gaze.
She was already somewhat used to multiple people looking at her - both through the screen and when she was recognized at school.
But for some reason, every time he looked at her, it always felt like the first time and she could never get used to it.
"How is your financial situation?"
She blinked, surprised by the question.
"It's good."
She tilted her head.
"What brought that up?"
"Actually, after the end of our sponsorship, I was thinking you should take a short break from streaming."
He paused.
"Maybe a week or two."
"Is this because of the midterms?"
"Well, not really. Even if you took the break, you wouldn't be free. You'd still be doing something else."
"Something else?"
"Remember that training we talked about?"
She nodded.
"Well, it's more or less that."
She nodded slowly.
"I've already made so much money. And if I make a similar amount in the upcoming days..."
She considered it.
"I suppose I wouldn't die if I stopped streaming for a while."
"Good."
Lin Feng stretched.
"Well, time for me to leave."
He packed his things and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Goodnight."
The door clicked shut behind him.
…
Saturday, October 24th.
The studio was small but well-equipped.
Mengqi stood with her arms crossed.
"I did what you asked. What do you want here anyway?"
"Obviously, we're going to make songs."
"What?"
She frowned.
"Didn't I tell you I can't just compose on demand?"
"You won't be making them from scratch."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'll show you."
Lin Feng moved toward the recording booth.
He stepped inside, adjusted the headphones, and tapped the mic to test it.
Then he began singing.
Mengqi watched him through the glass, wondering what he was doing.
She listened.
What is this?
His pitch was all over the place. His breath control was nonexistent - he was gasping between phrases like he'd just run a marathon. The timing was off, rushing through some bars and dragging on others. There was no sense of dynamics whatsoever, just a flat, monotone delivery.
Technically speaking, it was a disaster.
But she paused.
Wait, this song...
Why did it sound so...
She listened much closer.
Her eyes widened.
He was trash at singing. Absolutely trash.
But the song itself wasn't bad at all.
The melody had a natural flow to it. The chord progression was surprisingly sophisticated - moving through unexpected transitions that somehow still felt inevitable. The structure was tight, with a hook that buried itself in your head.
How come she had never heard of this song?
Could it be...
When he stopped singing, she was already standing before him at the booth's entrance.
"Did you make this?"
"Well, somewhat."
"Is this what you meant by 'not from scratch'?"
He smiled.
"What do you think? Can you do it?"
She finally understood what he meant.
He wanted her to turn this into an actual song.
She held her chin, thinking.
While the singing was trash, the underlying composition wasn't bad. It followed a solid tonal structure with good melodic contour. The verses built naturally toward the chorus. If she could clean up the arrangement, fix the phrasing, and complete it into a genuine song...
It would definitely be a hit.
A smile spread across her face.
"Are you looking down on me?"
She cracked her knuckles.
"Just give me one hour."