112: A broken marriage

Everyone dispersed. Yu Heng looked at the few people remaining and said, "I need to head back to my place."

"I'm going back to the Villa too," Bai Xinran added. She paused, "I have to stream this afternoon."

Qin Lu held Qin Ya's hand and nodded. "Then I'll take Qin Ya home first. I'll drop her off for her stream in the afternoon."

Shen Yueling stood beside Ning Yutong and glanced at Bai Xinran. Would the two of them do *it* this afternoon?

She actually kind of wanted to see... "I'm heading back to the dorm too," Shen Yueling said, suppressing her strange curiosity.

"Then I'll go back to the dorm with Yue Ling!" Ning Yutong immediately linked arms with Shen Yueling. "Bye everyone!"

Bai Xinran followed Yu Heng back. On the way, Yu Heng told her, "I've had someone refine that design sketch, and I've already found someone to do the modeling." (PS: Image in paragraph comments ->)

"Really?" Xinran was pleasantly surprised. "Thank you!"

"When you stream tonight," Yu Heng looked at her and said, "stream the same way you did last night."

"Mm," Xinran pursed her lips. "Then I'll go back and charge it."

"We have a basketball game tomorrow. Do you want to come watch?" Yu Heng asked.

"Sure!" Xinran replied immediately. "Is it at the Basketball Gym?"

"Yes, it starts at 3 PM. You can start your stream a bit later tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll let them know during my stream today."

—

After ordering takeout at home for lunch and having a quick bite with Bai Xinran, Yu Heng headed out again.

Since Zhou Mengqi and Wang Luyu had already signed their contracts, he needed to find a place for them to stream.

Streaming in a dorm was too restrictive; not only could silence not be guaranteed, but it would also affect others and easily lead to conflicts.

It was a bit too big of a step to rent a venue and renovate it right now, so he could start by renting an apartment for them off-campus.

He did the math; renting studio apartments would be cost-effective if there were only one or two Streamers.

But as the number of Streamers grew, it wouldn't be as economical.

It would be better to rent them a Villa too. A Villa with four bedrooms would average out to less than a thousand yuan per person. He could even convert the study into a streaming room to accommodate one more person.

As for equipment, second-hand would suffice. The reason he gave Bai Xinran a high-end computer was mainly because she came with her own skin.

A finished skin worth over ten thousand yuan wasn't just about its intrinsic value; it also included the cost of time.

The one being made for Qin Ya still wasn't finished.

But these other people didn't have that kind of value yet. He even planned to have them stream as real people on TikTok first. The Virtual Streamer Club was just a brand; he never said they would only do virtual streaming. It was reasonable for them to practice streaming as real people while they didn't have skins.

As for when they would get skins, that would depend on the productivity of these college students.

—

Yu Heng pushed open the door to the Property Management Center. Brother Wang was looking down, playing on his phone.

Hearing the door, Brother Wang looked up. Seeing it was Yu Heng, a smile touched his face. "Little Yu, what's up?"

Yu Heng walked over and asked with a smile, "Brother Wang, I wanted to ask if there are any vacant Villas left in our complex."

Brother Wang raised an eyebrow. "You want to move? Isn't the one you're in now pretty good?"

"It's not for me," Yu Heng said. "I want to rent another one."

"Rent another one?" Brother Wang leaned back. "You're just a student. Why do you need two Villas?"

"I've started a small studio with some classmates," Yu Heng explained. "We do video streaming. The dorms aren't convenient, so we thought about renting a place out here."

Brother Wang gave an "oh" and then asked, "What kind of streaming do you do? It's not that messy stuff, is it?"

"Just singing and playing games," Yu Heng said vaguely. "Proper streaming. You know TikTok, right?"

Brother Wang glanced at him. Since Yu Heng moved in, they bumped into each other occasionally in the complex, and Yu Heng always offered him a cigarette.

Besides, the young man looked sharp and didn't seem like the shady type.

But renting a Villa for streaming... Brother Wang wondered to himself, it wouldn't disturb the neighbors, would it?

Well, that wasn't for him to worry about.

As long as it wasn't illegal, it was none of his business. If it were illegal, it would be even less of his business.

"There are a few vacant Villas right now." Brother Wang flipped through another notebook. "The sizes are about the same as yours, and the interior decor is decent."

Yu Heng did the math in his head.

The one he was living in now had a monthly rent of 3,800 yuan. A one-month deposit plus three months' rent upfront came to 15,200 yuan. Another one would likely cost the same.

It wasn't much. Bai Xinran had already earned back most of the 500,000 yuan he had spent.

"Brother Wang, could you help me contact the landlords then?" Yu Heng said.

Brother Wang smiled and said, "I'll ask for you. But I have to warn you, don't make too much noise with your streaming. Last year, there was a tenant who threw parties every night at midnight and got several complaints from the neighbors."

"Don't worry, Brother Wang, it's just normal work," Yu Heng said. "We'll be done by 10 PM at the latest."

Brother Wang nodded. "Alright, I'll let you know when I hear something. You can probably view the houses tomorrow."

—

When the phone rang, Qin Lu was in the kitchen washing apples.

She wiped her hands and took her phone out of her pocket.

She stared at the screen for a moment before pressing the button.

"Hello." She tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear and turned the faucet back on.

"When do you plan to handle the paperwork?" Lin Liyan's voice came through the receiver.

No greeting, no lead-in. Qin Lu's movements faltered.

"What's the rush?" Her voice was devoid of emotion. "Can't wait?"

"It's not a matter of whether I'm in a rush or not," Lin Liyan paused. "Things have come to this; what's the point of dragging it out?"

"Lin Liyan," she called his name. "You have no feelings for me anymore, and I don't care about that. But haven't you thought about your daughter?"

Silence on the other end.

"Daughter?" Lin Liyan's voice sounded like a sneer, or perhaps self-mockery. "My daughter doesn't even have my surname. Why would I think about a daughter?"

"What did you say?" she asked, frowning.

"I said," Lin Liyan paused, "Qin Ya's surname is Qin, not Lin. From the time she was born until now, the number of times she's visited my parents' house can be counted on one hand. When she was little, if my parents wanted to hold her, they had to walk on eggshells. And now you're telling me to think about my daughter? Qin Lu, don't make me laugh."

Qin Lu opened her mouth, wanting to say that he was the one who agreed to let the child take her surname.

She wanted to say it was because his parents preferred boys over girls, and once they knew it was a girl, they never showed much affection.

How could he turn around and blame her now?

But she said nothing.

What was the use of saying all that?

Anything said now was just a waste of breath.

"So you just want to get divorced as soon as possible so you can be with that woman legitimately, right?" Qin Lu heard her own voice trembling. "Well, let me tell you, Lin Liyan, I won't do it."

After saying this, she herself was stunned for a moment.

This wasn't her usual style.

She wouldn't normally say such spiteful things; it was too childish.

Actually, she had wanted to call him shameless for cheating with a girl so much younger than him, but then she thought of herself and Yu Heng, and the words stayed unsaid.

A soft chuckle came from the other end, as if he had long expected her to say that.

"Qin Lu, is this fun?" Lin Liyan's voice sounded weary. "Is there any point in dragging this out?"

"Because I want to," Qin Lu said, and then she hung up.