thedancenovel Chapter 332 - 205: How Could Such a Thing Happen
Chapter 332 - 205: How Could Such a Thing Happen
(Writer’s block, so this update is late!)
...
In stark contrast to the suddenly deserted Night Market Street, Radiant Square was incredibly lively. The specially designated vendor area was already filled with stalls, offering everything from snacks to accessories and more.
These stall owners had originally been drawn in by the promise of free rent and a 200-yuan daily subsidy for the upcoming week.
After all, it was free money.
If they could also sell a few things, they wouldn’t be at a loss.
And if, by some chance, Radiant Square really did have the massive foot traffic the staff claimed, they would strike it rich. From then on, they would set up their stalls here.
However, they had barely finished setting up their stalls when they noticed a large crowd already heading toward the square.
In fact, the crowd was huge—it seemed even larger than the one at Night Market Street.
Zhu River, a fishball vendor, felt the same way. He had only just opened for business and had already made 50 yuan. Business was definitely much faster here at this hour than it was at Night Market Street.
However, this wasn’t Night Market Street’s peak hour.
The crowds at Night Market Street were largest after 7 p.m.
’If the crowd at Radiant Square is still larger than Night Market Street’s after 7 p.m., then who would ever go back to vending at Night Market Street?’
But before it was even 7 p.m., Zhu River saw more and more people pouring into Radiant Square’s vendor area. Soon, the crowd was densely packed.
"There are so many people," a nearby vendor said in surprise.
"Yeah, it’s already surpassed Night Market Street," another vendor said with certainty.
Just then, Zhu River overheard snippets of conversation from the crowd:
"All the vendors are out, so where’s Zhu Ling?!"
"Yeah, isn’t Zhu Ling supposed to be setting up her stall here at Radiant Square?"
"I came all this way; I’d be happy just to catch a glimpse and record a video."
"..."
The comments caught Zhu River’s attention, and he immediately remembered the viral online video of the Street Vendor Girl.
That video was blowing up right now; he had already scrolled past it several times today.
Clearly, all these people had come for the Street Vendor Girl.
Just then, someone shouted, "Zhu Ling is over there! She’s setting up her stall!"
The shout drew the crowd’s attention, and everyone swarmed in that direction.
Zhu Ling was wearing a simple, light-blue dress. She had eaten dinner with her boss and the plaza staff, and by the time she returned, she saw that a huge crowd had already gathered.
As security guards escorted her into the vendor area, the surrounding people spotted her and immediately swarmed in her direction.
"It’s really her! It’s Zhu Ling!"
"You’re finally here to set up your stall?"
"Zhu Ling, I want to treat you to dinner!"
"..."
While shouting, everyone pulled out their phones and started recording Zhu Ling.
As the shouts and commotion grew, more and more people realized Zhu Ling had arrived and began closing in from all directions.
By the time she reached her designated spot, the area was completely mobbed. The crowd surrounded her several layers deep, every single person holding up a phone to film her. Not even A-list celebrities received this kind of attention.
At the stall, Zhu Ling saw her younger sister, Zhu Jingjing, already fiddling with the cart. Sister Hong was there with her.
Her boss had piqued her curiosity earlier in the day, so after dinner, she had come over to see what was happening and check on Zhu Ling’s situation.
"Sis," Zhu Jingjing greeted her older sister enthusiastically the moment she saw her.
With her sister’s popularity exploding, she naturally wasn’t going to miss any opportunity to ride her coattails.
"Sister Hong," Zhu Ling, on the other hand, greeted her with respect.
"Mm, don’t mind me. I just came to take a look," Sister Hong said, nodding with a smile.
"Okay." Zhu Ling began to inspect the cart. Once she confirmed everything was in order, she mounted her phone on the cart as usual and started her livestream.
Tonight, given her massive popularity, the moment she went live, her stream exploded. The number of viewers pouring in surpassed 10,000 in a short time, then 20,000, then 30,000...
The soaring viewer count made Zhu Ling tremble with excitement.
Even Zhu Jingjing, who was standing beside her hoping to ride her coattails, found her breathing quicken. She’d been with Second-Life Star for a long time, but her own streams only ever drew a few dozen viewers. Now, she was watching her sister’s viewer count climb by the tens of thousands.
Sister Hong was also monitoring the stream’s status and was utterly shocked by the viewer count.
’At this growth rate, the number of concurrent viewers might even break 100,000.’
’These numbers are terrifying.’
Of course, that was just the situation online.
Back at Radiant Square, Zhu Ling’s appearance threw the entire plaza into a frenzy. As news spread, the crowds that had come for her poured into the square, jamming it until it was completely impassable.
Eventually, Sister Hong was left dumbfounded, realizing she was trapped and had no way of getting out.
The area in front of Zhu Ling’s stall was a sea of people pressed shoulder to shoulder, without a single gap. The frenzied crowd filmed her relentlessly with their phones.
「Plaza Administration Center.」
From the best vantage point in their office, Lin Jian and Manager Zhang Tao watched the densely packed tide of people in the plaza, their bodies trembling.
Even a man as worldly and experienced as Lin Jian had never seen a plaza with such terrifying foot traffic.
The plan was absurdly successful.
"This is insane! Thankfully, we deployed enough security to maintain order." Zhang Tao’s face was flushed with excitement as he added his praise, "This plan is brilliant. Signing Zhu Ling for ten million was absolutely worth it! If we can keep this up for just a few days, Radiant Square will become a household name. We’ll be the number one plaza in Coastal City!"