From Sneers to Cheers: Anthea’s Ascent (Anthea )

"Ha! My fabulous Anthea, come on in! Let's have ourselves a real knees-up tonight! Nanson’s face was as red as a boiled lobster, his eyes bloodshot.

Staggering around, he seemed to be walking on clouds.

Anthea steadied him with a hand, "Uncle Nanson, are you alright?"

Nanson waved her off, "Fine! Just fine!"

Amidst his laughter, Nanson suddenly broke into tears.

"Uncle Nanson?" Anthea was startled.

Aside from that time at Elaine's, she had never seen him cry. This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Covering his face, Nanson crouched in a corner, sobbing uncontrollably, "Ann! I... I've been dumped..."

Anthea stared at Nanson in surprise.

She had always assumed Nanson to be a lifelong bachelor, yet here he was with a girlfriend.

Overcoming her astonishment, Anthea quickly crouched to comfort him. Although Nanson was drunk, his thoughts were fairly coherent. It didn't take long for Anthea to piece together what had happened.

"Uncle Nanson, every cloud has a silver lining. This could be a good thing for you."

"Good thing?" Nanson belched, "I've just been dumped, and you're calling it a good thing! Are you really my favorite girl?"

Nanson was on the verge of tears again.

Anthea sat down beside him on the floor, "Look, from what you've told me, it's clear Ileana wasn't in love with you. She was in love with your money and your house. Now that she knows you've got neither, her true purpose has shown. Better to find out now than after getting hitched. You'll find someone way better."

Nanson hiccupped, looking up at Anthea as if comforted by her words, "Do you think I can do better than Ileana?"

Anthea nodded slightly, "Absolutely! You will!"

She continued, "Getting upset over her like that isn't worth it! You have to bounce back. Imagine, when you hit the jackpot someday, let her have regrets! Then, we'll make it rain so hard, she'll wish she never left!"

Nanson chuckled foolishly, "Yeah, yeah! Make it rain on her!"

As they conversed, Nanson's sorrow seemed to fade, his emotions steadied, and he ultimately succumbed to slumber right there on the floor.

Anthea shook her head in disbelief and dragged Nanson to bed.

Thankfully, she was strong enough to move Nanson.

Worried Nanson might wake up and do something rash, Anthea decided not to help out at the diner and instead set up her laptop in the living room to livestream a game of chess.

"Good evening, streamer lady!"

"Good evening!"

"Congrats, streamer! Your video made the top three on the YouTube homepage yesterday!"

"Right! I saw that too!"

Several users had already started to gift Anthea.

Anthea realized that her followers had skyrocketed to over fifty thousand, with the live audience peaking at over ten thousand.

Just last night, she barely had ten thousand followers.

YouTube sure seemed to work wonders.

"Any chance you'll show your face on camera?" someone asked.

Anthea responded indifferently, "Beat me at chess, and I'll show my face right away."

That was when a challenge popped up on her screen. ‘Mr. A has issued a challenge.’

Who was Mr. A? Anthea was about to decline when the chat exploded.

"OMG! It's Mr. A! Please accept, Anthea!"

"Holy cow! Did Mr. A see your YouTube video too?"

"You're on fire!"

"No, you're already a star!"

"How good is this Mr. A?" Anthea asked.

"Mr. A is a major online celebrity with over sixty million followers! He used to be a professional chess master!"

"I can't believe you don't know Mr. A."

"That good, huh?" Anthea raised an eyebrow and accepted the challenge.

Watching Anthea accept without hesitation, the chat went wild with gifts, particularly from ThorHammerStriker. She teased, "ThorHammerStriker, does your family a millionaire?"

"I come from a family of a billionaire!" was the reply.

"Wow, a tycoon!"

"Look, here is a tycoon!"

Then, the live voice chat connected.

On the screen, Mr. A was a man in his thirties, with delicate features that sent the chat into a frenzy!