Sunlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains.
Chen Jincheng woke to the sight of Jiang Xiaobai's messy hair and her faint, satisfied smile.
'She's a handful, even a bit of a headache. This girl gets attached way too easily.'
He checked her employee attributes:
Name: Jiang Xiaobai
Loyalty: 100
Status: Addicted to the frenzy, hopelessly hooked and unable to break free. This girl is a lost cause.
"..." Chen Jincheng sighed.
'She gets attached so easily. I can't use her for the next livestream's romance script.'
'I'll have to use a different girl.'
Just then, he suddenly remembered something and quickly grabbed his phone. Holy shit, it was already past 10 AM. His screen was filled with missed calls from Sister Hong and urgent messages on WeChat.
He got up instinctively.
'Second Generation Star Media is officially moving in this morning, and I, the boss, am actually late.'
…
「A short while later.」
Chen Jincheng finished getting dressed and looked at Jiang Xiaobai. She had changed into a short slip dress, her face glowing. "We need to lay down three rules!" he said solemnly.
"What?" Jiang Xiaobai looked at him, confused.
Chen Jincheng reiterated, "First, you absolutely cannot fall for me. Second, I'm trying to build a business. You can't mess around; you're already going off the rails. Third, follow my instructions. I can guarantee that even if I make someone else a star, I won't forget about you!"
Hearing the first two points, Jiang Xiaobai's face fell. 'We were just so intimate,' she thought, 'and now this scumbag is saying all this.'
It was only when she heard the third point that she reluctantly accepted. "You said it! No matter who you make famous, you can't forget about me!"
"Got it. Let's get to the office!" Chen Jincheng sighed.
'Seriously, dealing with women is such a pain. I have no idea how I managed to stick with those failed relationships for so long in my past life.'
When he and Jiang Xiaobai arrived at the Second Generation Star Media Company, they could hear the lively chatter from inside.
Sister Hong, Lao Chen, the employees of Second Generation Star Media, and all the signed female artists were inside. Some were busy with tasks, while others were just chatting.
But everyone was holding a party popper. Firecrackers weren't allowed, so for the sake of ceremony, party poppers were often used as a substitute.
When he and Jiang Xiaobai walked in, all eyes turned to them, and everyone had a knowing look on their face.
"My dear boss, you've finally decided to show up." Sister Hong quickly stepped forward to greet him, partly to shift everyone's focus.
The boss was late for such an important event, and Jiang Xiaobai was late too. Crucially, they showed up together. Anyone could guess what had happened.
'She didn't want everyone to dwell on it.'
"What's the situation now?" Chen Jincheng asked awkwardly.
"We were waiting for you to set off the party poppers. The ceremony must go on!" As Sister Hong spoke, a nearby employee handed two party poppers to Chen Jincheng and Jiang Xiaobai.
"Let's get it started, then. When we're done, I'll take everyone out for a meal!" Chen Jincheng said, taking the party popper.
'He was mostly just hungry himself. He'd given his all for Jiang Xiaobai twice last night and once more this morning, all without eating. His stomach was staging a full-on rebellion.'
Sister Hong called out to the crowd, "Everyone, gather 'round! It's time to set off the party poppers."
At her words, everyone—from the employees Sister Hong had hired to the signed artists—gathered around Chen Jincheng. At his shout of "To a grand opening!" everyone twisted their poppers, showering the hall in a dense cloud of confetti.
After the simple ceremony, Second Star Company also officially moved in.
Almost at the same time, he received a notification in his mind from the Life Simulation Game:
[Congratulations! Your primary registered business, the Second Generation Star Media Company, has successfully been established. You have received the following rewards: 1. Internet Celebrity Debut Card. 2. Clothing Series Heat Card (3 Million Likes)!]
Chen Jincheng was taken aback by the sudden notification and quickly checked the game in his mind.
On the game map, the new business location was now illuminated. His game character could enter it to accept related quests.
Sure enough, two new special cards had appeared in his game character's inventory.
[Internet Celebrity Debut Card: Can be used on any internet celebrity who existed in the Host's previous life. When the Host films and uploads one of their videos from that past life, their first two videos will achieve the same level of popularity they originally had.]
Chen Jincheng's thoughts immediately turned to Chen Xiaoying, "Crying Bud."
'That girl said she'd go home and think it over, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet.'
[Clothing Series Heat Card (3 Million Likes): The Host may use this card on a selected target. Film a clothing series video for them that existed in your previous life and had over 3 million likes. The target's video will be optimized to perfectly inherit the popularity of 3 million likes!]
Chen Jincheng's eyes lit up when he saw the card's description.
'This thing is amazing.'
'There were so many clothing series in my past life that got over 3 million likes, especially those outfit-change videos. I can just pick one with over 3 million likes from my past life, copy it, and with this card, it's guaranteed to blow up and get that 3-million-like level of popularity.'
'This is absolutely insane.'
'Before, I reproduced the window-wiping series and the chest-shaking dance series, but only Yinyin blew up from them. Everyone else's results were underwhelming.'
'But with this card, I can pick a video from my past life that got 3 million likes, reproduce it, and no matter who I get to film it, they'll get that 3-million-like level of popularity.'
'It's basically the Midas touch.'
'Getting these two cards today is a fantastic surprise.'
Sister Hong clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright, I've booked a restaurant. Let's all go eat first. This afternoon, you can get familiar with the office, and then we'll assign new tasks."
Everyone agreed. After cleaning up the confetti in the hall, Sister Hong led the team to the restaurant she had booked.
The meal ended, and they returned to the Second Generation Star Media company. Sister Hong handed him a document about restructuring the work assignments for the signed artists.
After filming two video series, artists like Jiang Xiaobai, Yinyin, and Lin Qing had gained significant popularity. With their current fanbases, if their livestreams did well, they no longer needed to work at the bar and could focus their energy entirely on streaming.
However, that popularity needed to be maintained. Jiang Xiaobai, for instance, got famous because she was a DJ. To keep her buzz going, she couldn't give that up entirely. If a nightclub invited her to DJ an event, she could now command an appearance fee of 30,000 an hour.
Second Generation Star Media would take a 60% cut of this revenue, with the remaining 40% going to Jiang Xiaobai.
So, Jiang Xiaobai only needed to go to the bar to DJ for one hour a day to maintain her popularity.
As for Lin Qing and Yinyin, they only needed to perform during the warm-up sets at the bar. Likewise, if a nightclub invited them to dance, their fan followings could justify an appearance fee of 10,000 to 30,000 an hour.
As for the other girls, they were free to decide for themselves.
If they felt they were earning enough from streaming, they could quit their bar jobs. If not, they could come to Second Generation Star Media to stream during the day, film videos as required, and then go work their shifts at Extreme Bar at night.
After all, it was all about making money, so the choice was up to them.
Chen Jincheng had no objections, so he signed the document.
Sister Hong took back the document and added, "By the way, while you were late this morning, I was outside calling you and happened to run into the manager of Jinglan Women's Clothing from across the street. We struck up a conversation, and it turns out she's interested in hearing that proposal you mentioned. She invited us over to talk about it this afternoon!"
Chen Jincheng's eyes lit up hearing this.
'Talk about perfect timing!'
'I just got a Clothing Series Heat Card (3 Million Likes).'
'3 million likes... for this type of promotional series, that's a conservative estimate of over 50 million views.'
'Take Xiao Zhan, for example. In my past life, that super-popular male celebrity did an ad for Gucci. The video got 65.2 million views and 3.45 million likes, and his endorsement fee was 25 million.'
'So, using internet celebrities' lower costs to generate massive view counts was a mainstream advertising strategy for many companies back in my old world.'
'Besides, with view counts that high, even if the conversion rate for actual orders is extremely low, it's still worth it for building brand awareness on the cheap.'
'Now I just need to figure out how to make a nice profit off of Jinglan Women's Clothing.'
Sister Hong, however, seemed more worried. "Actually, I might have been a bit hasty," she added. "I didn't expect you to be so late, so I already agreed to meet them this afternoon. It doesn't leave you any time to prepare. I probably should have scheduled it for tomorrow."
"So, don't get your hopes up too high. After all, compared to hiring a major star for an ad, people don't have as much trust in internet celebrities."