During this period, Gege (pseudonym) posted several videos commissioned by Cos on his social media account. In the video, the person who looked at her affectionately dressed up as Xia Yizhong, a character from her favorite game "Yi Nv" (a dating simulation game targeting female players - journalist's note). As a sideline accompanied by the rise of the second daughter game, Cos entrustment means that the client pays the trustee to play his favorite anime role and accompany him to spend a customized offline dating time. The reporter learned that in Beijing, an ordinary cosplayer entrusts a teacher with a daily appearance fee of over 1000 yuan. He is completely Xia Yizhou himself, with a very high degree of 'epithelial' (role-playing state). ”Gege recalled, 'The other party would prepare carefully in advance, understand my preferences, and even replaced the phone screensaver with my photo that day.' Cos entrusted Gege with the feeling of an ideal boyfriend by her side, fulfilling her imagination and emotional needs for intimate relationships. Although each commission only lasts for one day, it can alleviate her loneliness of working and living alone in Beijing. In recent years, with the changes in social structure, mindset, and technological development, new forms of companionship such as cosplay commissions, instant gratification, virtual lovers, electronic pets, electronic parents, and AI chat have gradually emerged, responding to the emotional needs and expectations of young people from online to offline. More and more young people are starting to pay for the expected "companionship", supporting an emerging market with a scale of over 50 billion yuan. Fancy companionship leveraged the billion dollar market. Tian Yuan still remembers that November 20, 2025 was her first attempt to ask for a quick return. At that time, my work was not going well and my mood was particularly low. I didn't want to pour these negative emotions onto my parents and friends, but at that time I really needed someone to accompany and talk to, so I posted online, hoping to spend money to hire a quick return teacher. The initial experience had a good effect, and then she started to renew her contract for free. The instant response teacher needs to reply to her messages 24/7, and also answer voice or video calls when she needs them. Tian Yuan recalled that once she contacted Shi Hui, who was driving, and deliberately pulled over to respond to her in a timely manner. Many times, what the other party responds to is not important, what is important is what they respond to. ”Tian Yuan has a high demand for instant messaging. "I don't have anyone to chat with, so I asked for 'instant messaging' just to get that kind of 'back and forth' interaction. This response made me feel at ease, and my emotions were caught." For 150 yuan per day, she was invited from November last year to January this year. During that time, Tian Yuan regarded returning to school in seconds as a way to express her emotions, like a virtual companion. With the company of the second returning teacher, the most difficult stage has passed, and she is gradually regaining a stable state. As a worker in a large factory, Qi Wang is deeply addicted to "electronic parents". Before going to bed every day, she would click on social media and browse a video account called "Sharing Daily Life with Daughter" - where a gentle daily life between a pair of parents and their daughter is recorded. Their videos always start with a loud shout of 'baby', and as soon as I hear these two words, my tears can't stop. ”Qi Wang's parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother. Later, her mother formed a new family, and she gradually felt that she had no home. In my memory, no one has ever called her 'baby' so affectionately. Qi Wang showed the reporter a video released by this account on January 30th, in which her "electronic parents" were carefully selecting New Year's goods for their daughter. Like other "electronic daughters," she left a comment below the comment section: "Thank you, Mom and Dad." "I really appreciate their companionship and support. I ordered some of the products they recommended and also plan to go to the supermarket to buy some New Year's goods for myself. This year is another Chinese New Year alone, and one should also celebrate it well." In recent years, the multidimensional business model of online and offline integration has formed, from Cos commission, instant return to school, to "electronic parents"... The forms and connotations of companionship have become increasingly diverse. 'No pressure' has made Wang Qi, who is studying in Anqing City, Anhui Province, more inclined towards virtual companionship. As a deep player in the daily game of Yi Nv, interacting with virtual characters in the game has given her great emotional value. As soon as I go online, they are always online, and my messages are always replied to in a timely manner. I don't have to worry about maintaining relationships. I also don't have to bear the pressure of eating together, going out to play together, and so on, "she said. In Wang Qi's opinion, compared to real-life relationships, virtual characters in games are controllable, and the development of relationships is controlled by oneself. These characters will always be loyal, love me forever, and never make me sad. I don't need to compromise with them, I will always be the protagonist of this relationship. This sense of control and security is difficult to provide in real relationships, "said Sun Jie, a professor at the National Institute of International Business and Economics. The companion economy has covered various life scenarios such as tourism, medical care, entertainment, fitness, shopping, and learning, forming a multidimensional business model that integrates online and offline. Online chat, virtual lovers, artificial intelligence psychological companionship, slow live streaming, etc., to meet the emotional communication needs of young people living alone and single people; Offline consultations, tours, photography, driving, fitness, etc. emphasize interactive experiences and personalized services. The White Paper on the Economy of Solitude released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that by 2024, the market size of companionship services in China will exceed 37.2 billion yuan. Guojin Securities once predicted that by 2025, China's accompanying economy market will reach a scale of 50 billion yuan. As a new consumption model, the companionship economy mainly fills emotional needs by providing companionship services, directly driving service consumption expenditures, while creating employment opportunities, promoting income growth, and thus having a significant driving effect on overall consumption. ”Sun Jie's analysis. The rise of the accompanying economy, from the supply side, is due to the advancement of production technology, the rapid development of the platform economy, and the popularization of gig employment models. The more crucial driving force comes from the demand side: the continuous changes in social structure, the increasing number of people living alone, and the emergence of diverse companionship scenes; At the same time, the new generation of consumers increasingly values inner feelings and emotional satisfaction, and their demand for emotional consumption has significantly increased. Zhu Keli, founding director of the National Research Institute of New Economy and director of the Bay Area Low altitude Economy Research Institute, pointed out in analyzing emotional consumption that with the continuous development of the economy and society, people are increasingly concerned about higher-level needs such as emotional belonging, respect, and self-worth realization, which reflects a high emphasis on the "subjectivity value of human beings". Emotional consumption is essentially a manifestation of the concept of "investing in people" - achieving greater individual satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment. The hidden concerns under the realization of warmth cannot be denied. Accompanying the economy brings service supply, consumer satisfaction, and employment opportunities, but at the same time, it also brings a series of risks and challenges. The problems of missing standards, inadequate regulation, chaotic market order, uneven service levels, privacy risks, wandering in gray areas, and excessive user addiction are gradually emerging with the expansion of the industry. Yi Nv gamer Guo Caiyun said that her only concern about virtual companionship is privacy leakage. Although I will not disclose overly private information to virtual companions, during the interaction process, it is inevitable that some personal life details will be involved, such as daily routines, favorite foods, majors studied, etc. If these information are leaked by the platform or used by criminals, it may bring me some trouble, such as receiving harassing information, encountering fraud, etc. "Last year, the group that repeatedly commissioned Cos also found that although this service is just emerging, many sharp problems have been exposed in the current market. Some trustees do not take orders out of love for their characters, but rather for the sake of making money and lacking understanding of the characters. In this situation, those single owners who seek emotional value are prone to friction with them. Due to the difficulty of single owners' rights protection, there may be instances of public hanging and online violence. Faced with this environment, many commissioned teachers who were originally committed to creating a beautiful dating experience have become more cautious and even begun to hesitate whether to continue taking orders. "Tuanzi said that what she can do now is to conduct as much background research as possible before choosing a trustee. Professor Guan Jian from the School of Sociology at Nankai University believes that all kinds of companionship have a sense of presence and temporality, gathering for various purposes and disbanding with the completion of transactions. The companionship economy can alleviate people's temporary anxiety, but it is difficult to bridge people's long-term loneliness. At the same time, most of the current accompanying economic practitioners lack professional standards and mainly rely on "guerrilla style" or "quick fix" services, with varying levels of service and mostly relying on word-of-mouth support. Specifically, many practitioners have not received systematic professional training, have insufficient understanding of the needs of service recipients, and lack professional qualities such as communication skills and emergency response capabilities, resulting in difficulty in ensuring service quality. Therefore, establishing unified professional standards, providing systematic and specialized training for practitioners, clarifying service processes and quality requirements are key measures to strengthen professional norms and improve the overall level of the industry. In addition, Zhu Keli emphasized the need to strengthen governance and supervision. Accelerate the establishment of clear market access standards for areas prone to gray areas, strictly review the qualifications of practitioners and the operating conditions of institutions, and resolutely prevent unqualified entities from entering the market. At the same time, strengthen the regulatory responsibilities of online platforms, clarify and urge them to effectively fulfill their regulatory obligations