Chapter 357: Huddling for Warmth

At dusk, the distant mountains lost their sharp daytime edges, their outlines growing soft and hazy. The ridgeline, tinged with a faint, purplish-gray, quietly blended with the warm orange glow of the sunset on the horizon.

Dressed in silk pajamas, Gu Heng came down the stairs holding several large, festive red envelopes. In the living room, Li Huifang and two other women—the last of the household staff to leave for the New Year holiday—were waiting for him, having already changed into their everyday clothes.

“Aunt Li, Aunt Zhao, Aunt Wang, Happy New Year.”

Gu Heng handed a large red envelope, each containing five thousand yuan, to each of the three women. “Just a small token of my appreciation. Hurry on home and be with your families.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gu!”

“Happy New Year, Mr. Gu!”

“May the new year bring you great fortune and success, Mr. Gu!”

Li Huifang and the other two women were all Beichun locals, which was why they were the last of the staff to leave Gu Heng’s mountaintop villa. He had let all the non-local staff go on holiday two days prior.

The red envelopes were all the same. The only difference was that the staff who left early would have to end their vacation earlier than Li Huifang’s group. Everyone received a seven-day holiday; if you left early, you had to come back early.

“I wish all of you and your families joy and happiness as well.”

Gu Heng replied with a smile.

After receiving their red envelopes, the three women exchanged a few more New Year’s pleasantries with Gu Heng, then hurriedly left the mountaintop villa. They were clearly eager to get home and reunite with their families.

And with that, he was left all alone in the enormous villa.

After seeing Li Huifang and the others off, Gu Heng turned and headed back up the stairs to the third-floor lounge.

The distant clouds were now stained orange-red and gold by the setting sun, layered like an overturned painter’s palette. As the sun slowly sank, the sky gradually deepened to a dark blue, leaving the mountains in the distance as nothing more than blurry silhouettes.

A song, a cigar, a glass of wine—loneliness spread in the silence.

Gu Heng picked up his tablet and casually opened a gaming livestream by Zhou Yanzu. He planned to follow his usual tradition: get drunk, and whenever that happened, go straight to the bedroom to sleep.

However, Gu Heng had been watching the gaming stream for less than twenty minutes when the TikTok Live system suddenly pushed a notification that [Xingchuan 001] had gone live.

Seeing the notification, Gu Heng froze for a moment.

‘What’s going on?’

‘They’re still streaming on New Year’s Eve?’

Muttering to himself, Gu Heng casually clicked into the [Xingchuan 001] livestream.

It was the same livestream background as always, and the same seven girls. Standing at the very front was none other than Lin Qingge, the main performer whom Xingchuan Entertainment was currently promoting heavily.

In celebration of New Year’s Eve, all seven girls were wearing festive dresses, and even their dance numbers had been switched to cheerful, holiday-exclusive songs like “Gong Xi Fa Cai” and “Good Luck Comes.”

While the stream played on his tablet, Gu Heng picked up his phone with his right hand and called Feng Ming, the general manager of Xingchuan Entertainment.

The call was answered in less than five seconds.

“Chairman Gu, Happy New Year!”

Even though Gu Heng had already received a New Year’s greeting message from Feng Ming the moment he woke up that morning, Feng Ming still offered his wishes again as soon as he answered the call.

“President Feng, Happy New Year to you too.”

Gu Heng replied warmly before changing the subject and getting straight to the point. “I just saw that [Xingchuan 001] went live. What’s the situation? Aren’t they taking a break for the holiday?”

“Chairman Gu, thanks to your help, TikTok has been consistently pushing traffic to [Xingchuan 001] ever since its debut. As a result, our viewership numbers have been excellent.”

“Per Chairman Chu and President Zhou’s instructions, they want us to strike while the iron is hot. With TikTok continuously promoting us, and with the natural surge in traffic during the holidays, they decided we should run a series of special Spring Festival-themed group broadcasts for the next eight days.”

Feng Ming answered all of Gu Heng’s questions truthfully.

“And the girls aren’t upset about not being able to go home for the New Year?”

“Oh, they definitely were…”

Feng Ming replied with a laugh. “But when they found out the company was increasing their gift revenue share from 50% to 80% for the holiday period—on top of a daily 800-yuan New Year overtime bonus for each of them—they weren’t upset anymore.”

“That’s good compensation.”

“The company is certainly showing its sincerity.”

Gu Heng nodded slightly, offering an objective assessment.

‘After all, the company holds their contracts. Even if the company didn’t increase their gift revenue share or give them the 800-yuan daily overtime bonus, Lin Qingge and the others would have been forced to work over the holiday anyway. They’d just have to endure it, with no room to protest.’

“The core of livestreaming is providing emotional value to the audience.”

Feng Ming added with a laugh, “If we don’t keep them happy and they just pout on camera, we might as well not stream at all.”

“Hmm…”

“Makes sense.”

Gu Heng agreed, then asked, “So, President Feng, are you at the studio right now, or at home celebrating?”

“I’m right here at the studio, Chairman Gu.”

Feng Ming’s reply was full of confidence, a clear sign that he was indeed on-site.

“Alright. When Lin Qingge takes a break later, have her find a moment to give me a call back.”

Gu Heng instructed Feng Ming.

“Of course.”