22: Variety shows

Gao Xiaofan and Zhao Yuling went their separate ways after a meal, which Gao Xiaofan had paid for in advance.

Although Zhao Yuling said she would treat him, he had won five hundred thousand and didn't even know how to spend it yet; he would have felt a bit embarrassed if he had let her pay for this meal.

Dragging his exhausted body, Gao Xiaofan first went to the courier station to pick up a package that arrived yesterday. His new phone had arrived yesterday, but he had forgotten about it for a moment.

After returning home, he went to the bathroom to wash up again. He had only given himself a quick rinse at the property management dormitory earlier, and his body still smelled a bit of silt.

Lying on the bed, Gao Xiaofan let out a long, satisfied breath.

Between nearly a thousand casts and running at full speed after the Alligator Gar, his whole body was limp and weak. He wanted to go to a foot massage parlor for a good rubdown, but he was simply too lazy to move.

After lying down for a while, he took out his new phone, transferred the data from his old one, downloaded some common apps, and logged into his accounts one by one.

Once everything was done, Gao Xiaofan opened TikTok. Looking at the follower count in the backend, he suddenly bolted upright in bed.

His follower count had broken one million.

It was 720,000 yesterday, and now it had become 1.001 million.

He stared blankly in confusion. He remembered that he hadn't started a stream. After thinking for a bit, he clicked into his fan group to take a look.

Opening the fan groups, every group had a red dot for 99+ messages. He randomly picked one and clicked in.

Online ID: "Brother Fan's screen recording is finished! It's edited from three perspectives. Brothers, remember to give it a like."

First-Class Competitive Fishing Master Yu Weibao: "I've also made two."

Intentional Punch: "Give one to me too, let me gain some followers, hehehe."

Strong Hand Cracks Skull: "Does Brother Wo Zi know you guys are doing this? Careful he doesn't sue you for infringement."

Gao Xiaofan curiously clicked into their homepages to take a look. Holy crap.

Hu Bu Shi Lang already had 100,000 followers, and Yu Weibao had 70,000. He remembered they didn't have many followers before.

Scrolling down, he realized they were all screen recordings of his recent fishing streams. The latest works were from this morning's Alligator Gar stream.

"Brother Wo Zi: Ten casts to catch an Alligator Gar, or I'll wash my hair while doing a handstand on stream."

"Prophetic Brother Wo Zi: Don't set flags if you're not sure!"

"Brother Wo Zi night fishing again, hand-rolling oligie with an enchanted look?"

The number of likes was no less than 10,000 for each... Gao Xiaofan's mouth twitched... but it also answered his confusion. No wonder his followers were constantly increasing.

Fans were editing and posting screen recordings on the platform, which was why his influence was growing. Every video's comment section also @ed him, indicating Brother Wo Zi's official account.

Gao Xiaofan smiled. As two die-hard fans who had been with him until now, he naturally wouldn't mind this. Moreover, they had even @ed him; he just hadn't noticed the notifications because there were too many messages.

Looking at himself in the videos, Gao Xiaofan chuckled, feeling like he was really handsome.

In catching the Alligator Gar through Lure Fishing this time, the system hadn't actually provided much help, just the bait. This gave Gao Xiaofan confidence.

And this was exactly what an Angler needed. When others said the fish here were hard to catch, you had to confidently set up your tackle box. When others said there were no fish here, you had to confidently set up your fishing rod.

Gao Xiaofan hadn't noticed these changes, but they were fully revealed in the videos.

Gao Xiaofan's loud shout, his smile against the light, and his confident explanation during the interview all proved this.

He continued scrolling through the fan groups, reading their chat content.

Intentional Punch: "To be honest, that female Streamer today really surprised me."

The next message was a video shared by Intentional Punch.

"Behind every successful man is a woman. Revealing the woman behind Brother Wo Zi."

Gao Xiaofan clicked on it with a dark expression, only to find that it was edited and posted by Yu Weibao.

He didn't know where he got the video. From the camera angle, it seemed to have been filmed by a bystander.

And this video had over a hundred thousand likes.

In the shot, Zhao Yuling was in a white short skirt, holding a phone gimbal and constantly changing her position with Gao Xiaofan's movements—kneeling or standing, far or near. Her short skirt fluttered as a look of stubbornness appeared on her small face; her seriousness was admirable.

Seeing those bare legs kneeling on the gravel without hesitation, Gao Xiaofan felt a twinge of pain just watching. And this was all just to capture better shots and footage.

As the video progressed, Gao Xiaofan lunged forward, and Zhao Yuling also lunged forward without the slightest hesitation, as if they were in sync, maintaining a two-body-length gap to avoid affecting Gao Xiaofan's actions.

Then she followed Gao Xiaofan into the riverbed without hesitation. The splashing mud didn't affect her at all, and she still maintained that two-body-length distance.

Gao Xiaofan rubbed his chin. Zhao Yuling really had some skills.

He clicked on the comment section.

"I finally know why I'm not famous. It's because I'm missing a woman like this, hahaha."

"Did Brother Wo Zi hire an assistant? I think this one is excellent. Give her an extra chicken leg tonight."

"I strongly urge Brother Wo Zi to hire her for filming. Those shots are amazing, so immersive."

Gao Xiaofan began to think. The netizens' comments did sound like a good idea. He usually had almost no interaction during his streams; having an assistant would definitely be better. However, Zhao Yuling had mentioned during dinner that her job had become permanent, so she probably wouldn't come. Still, Gao Xiaofan decided to ask her.

He opened WeChat and went to the chat window.

"Little Yu, I'm looking for a photography assistant here. Are you interested?"

There was no reply from Zhao Yuling for a long time. After waiting for a while, Gao Xiaofan drifted off to sleep on his bed.

Since he had woken up early in the morning, he just treated it as a nap.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yuling, who had received the message, was lost in thought.

She wanted to go. Having never been exposed to fishing before, she found it surprisingly thrilling, which was a huge draw for her.

She entered the news industry hoping to see more of the world, but these days of interning had left her disappointed; the workplace politics really drained her energy.

She had come from a good family background since childhood, so her salary truly didn't matter to her. The reason she wanted to become a permanent employee was simply so she could go out and find her own material without having to deal with Mei Hong's attitude. Besides, what young person doesn't want to prove themselves?

She locked her phone, got out of bed, and hurried toward the TV Station.

The station had given her half a day off today, but after seeing Gao Xiaofan's message, she was no longer in the mood for it.

She had recently heard some rumors at the station about a Variety Show negotiating a collaboration. It mentioned internet celebrities and bloggers. As an intern, she hadn't been qualified to know more before, but now, she felt she could go to the station to investigate the situation.