Chapter 59: After Flipping the Table and Waiting No Longer, Raise the Stakes When It's Time!

The matter of the Cat Paw livestreaming deal had been settled.

Jin Li glanced down at her phone; seeing it was still early, she decided to stay at the company and discuss her upcoming schedule arrangements with Sister Fang.

She asked, "Sister Fang, now that the variety show recording is finished, do I have any other scheduled appearances?"

Sui Lingfang thought carefully for a moment. "I've selected several for you; they are all singing-type variety shows meant for you to showcase your stage presence."

For an ordinary artist, she would certainly have sent them to whatever engagement was available, but with Jin Li, everything prioritized her own wishes.

With Jin Li's current popularity, the fees for any engagement she accepted fell between the first and second tiers.

Even if she only took one engagement a week, it would be enough to max out the company's performance metrics.

After all, the company had not yet nurtured a top-tier star; even with Jin Li's high profit-sharing ratio, she remained a veritable money tree.

Income distribution in the entertainment industry strictly followed a pyramid pattern: the top layer earned the most, while those further down earned progressively less.

Jin Li lowered her head and thought for a while before finally resolving, "I don't want to participate in any variety shows recently."

She explained, "Just participating in 'PICK~Next Diva' made me feel quite exhausted. Recently, I want to rest a bit and allocate more time to studying. On another note, I want to nurture my health; once my body is in better condition, I'll take on more external engagements."

What Jin Li did not say was that, given her current workload of engagements, she felt it was already sufficient.

If possible, she hoped her workload would not increase, but upon second thought, she dared not mention it.

People really shouldn't get carried away.

Sui Lingfang hesitated only briefly before immediately agreeing. "Alright, no variety shows for now. Those shows inviting you to perform on stage lack the buzz of 'PICK~Next Diva,' and you won't lack exposure for the next half-month."

"Besides, you still have the Duomi and Cat Paw endorsements to fulfill, leaving little time to rehearse for stage performances; it's better not to go."

The fees for those variety shows were not low, but they could not outweigh the fact that Jin Li's body could not withstand them!

In fact, yesterday, watching her record the third episode only to have to request a break halfway through, Sui Lingfang's eyelid had been twitching nonstop.

She worried Jin Li might accidentally faint or suddenly cough up blood.

Variety shows ultimately required too long a recording time.

Amidst their conversation, a knock sounded at the office door; shortly after, the door opened, and Zou Da entered, leading He Yixuan.

Seeing Jin Li there, Zou Da looked slightly surprised and said amiably, "Jin Li has come to the company too? Has the program recording ended?"

Jin Li nodded. "Brother Da, it ended yesterday. I came to the company today to discuss the contract."

Zou Da replied, "The Cat Paw one, right? Yes, that endorsement needs to be finalized soon."

Jin Li glanced at He Yixuan and asked, "What about Yixuan? What has she been up to recently?"

He Yixuan froze.

She was somewhat surprised that Jin Li still remembered her and felt a touch of flattered honor.

Zou Da said, "I'm taking her to participate in a variety show involving various sports activities; it's one that the newly emerging second and third-tier young actresses are attending."

Jin Li looked at Zou Da, then at Sui Lingfang, whose face glowed with vitality, and suddenly understood.

So Sister Fang's romantic fortune was destined for Zou Da!

However, judging by Zou Da's facial features, he seemingly had not yet noticed Sister Fang's feelings.

Seeing that Zou Da had matters to discuss with Sister Fang, Jin Li found an excuse to leave, as she also wished to return to her apartment.

Not long after she departed, an urgent voice called out from behind: "Sister Jin Li!"

Jin Li paused in her steps and turned to look.

He Yixuan looked at her somewhat anxiously, her fingers slightly clutching her sleeve as she said, "Sister Jin Li, thank you from before."

Jin Li asked, puzzled, "What did I help you with?"

"It's... it's just thanking you for explaining to Sister Fang on my behalf. I didn't intentionally try to snatch your engagement; I was just asking. I didn't realize my positioning and yours were incompatible, I..."

It was He Yixuan's first time doing something like this; she was a bit panicked and spoke stutteringly.

Jin Li waited patiently until she finished speaking entirely, then said, "You don't need to thank me. Regarding requesting engagements, I don't think you did anything wrong."

"Both you and I are artists under the company; resource allocation is arranged by the company. For those engagements I won't attend, if they can be recommended to you, I am more than willing."

"You did not snatch an engagement from me; essentially, this is merely the redistribution and utilization of surplus resources."

She smiled and sincerely added, "Sister Fang is a very good person. Work hard under her guidance; she will not treat you unfairly."

He Yixuan nodded heavily, yet layers of shadow piled up within her heart.

Sister Fang was indeed a good person.

But sometimes, her arrangements were not what one desired.

Jin Li returned to her apartment.

After eating and resting for a while, she started her livestream as usual to listen to her teacher's lecture.

Netizens had studied alongside Jin Li for some time and finally figured out her daily routine.

—She essentially had no daily life; her routine consisted solely of studying. Studying was her daily leisure activity!

[She started a livestream in the morning and is starting another one at night; this level of diligence makes me wonder: am I following a celebrity or a study streamer?]

[You're only realizing this now? Pear Baby's main job is being a study streamer; being a celebrity is just her side hustle. *doge.jpg*]

[To be honest, listening to lectures and doing practice problems alongside Jin Li truly boosts efficiency. I'm unemployed at home preparing for the civil service exam; when she listens to a lecture, I follow along with a different one, and when she does practice problems, I tackle other sets. My efficiency is skyrocketing!]

The fans chatted among themselves while Jin Li continued her own tasks.

Within the same livestream room, everyone coexisted quite harmoniously.

The livestream room had a moderator.

Every time Jin Li's moderator patrolled her livestream room and saw the multitude of comments entirely related to exam questions, he couldn't help but click his tongue in silent amazement.

This was the most worry-free livestream room he had ever seen!

If the website didn't lack a "Good Environment" badge, he would have wanted to award one to her.

Jin Li listened to lectures for an hour and worked on practice problems for an hour; feeling it was about enough, she prepared to end the stream.

Just before going offline, she paused to drop a hint.

"Some good news might arrive in the next few days; you can look forward to it."

Leaving such a cliffhanger, she ended the livestream.

Netizens consequently flocked to the forums to post: [What exactly is the good news Jin Li mentioned?]

1L: [Blind guess: it's related to "PICK~Next Stop Diva." Isn't she serving as the psychological counselor? Perhaps she received some insider information that the production team plans to change the elimination rules?]

2L: [Is 1L really that naive? The rules have already been announced; how could Penguin possibly change them? Rather than hoping they change, better to pray that Kiwi Cool and their other talent shows step up their game, giving Penguin a sense of crisis.]

3L: [The good news Jin Li mentioned must concern herself. Stop guessing wildly; she'll likely announce some major move soon, like officially joining a new variety show or becoming a brand ambassador again.]

……

Netizens offered all sorts of theories.

A few guessed she might become the ambassador for Cat Paw, but later commenters dismissed this.

Cat Paw is a livestreaming platform.

Not only Cat Paw, but no other livestreaming site had ever employed a celebrity ambassador.

Every year, netizens launched ambassador selection polls, every year they picked a celebrity, and every year nothing came of it.

Moreover, hiring a traffic star as an ambassador costs a fortune; everyone felt Cat Paw wouldn't be that generous.

Truth and fallacy lie only a thought apart.

The fact that was about to be guessed correctly was instantly drowned in a sea of comments.

The next day.

Jin Li woke up early, went to the apartment's private gym, and ran a few laps as per her routine.

After breakfast, just as she was preparing to start her livestream, someone tagged her in the group chat.

Qinglian: [Last night I was so immersed in the elimination gossip about the variety show that I only learned this morning from my assistant that there was gossip about you yesterday. Did March Sky study together with you? @JinLi]

JinLi: [Yes. After the recording ended, I stayed another night at the Mazu Temple, and March Sky came over to hang out for the evening.

I took them to tour the night market, eating and drinking, and the next day Gu Cheng invited us to study, so they joined in as well.]

Qinglian: [With the drawing power of the March Sky boy band appearing in your livestream, shouldn't that have definitely triggered a trending search? Why didn't I see it on the hot list yesterday?]

Zhenzhu: [Good morning! I woke up and immediately came to eat melon! Today there's actually gossip about Carp; oh ho, how does it feel to be surrounded by four handsome men while studying? [Slippery face.jpg]]

JinLi: [It was quite nice; I felt the whole world had been beautified, even the air seemed fresher. Do you want to come try it too? [Dog head.jpg]]

Zhenzhu: [Covers mouth and snickers]

Mengmeng: [Yesterday Penguin announced the team elimination match, so the trending searches were dominated by that variety show. Since both Jin Li and March Sky are mentors on that show, they probably didn't want to overshadow Penguin's trending topics, so they removed the livestream-related searches.]

Tongtong: [I guess so too; just give Penguin a heads-up, and those trending searches are easy to remove without costing much.]

Mengmeng: [I have some good news to share with you all. Didn't I mention before that this company keeps sending me on random schedules, accepting anything indiscriminately, so I wanted to terminate my contract?

Once word got out that I wanted to leave, only one company contacted me, wanting me to transfer over.

That company's reputation and public image were just average, only slightly better than my current one, but they offered a very high profit-sharing ratio, only slightly lower than what Carp gets, so I hesitated.

But then Carp suddenly exploded in popularity; hey hey, the number of companies contacting me suddenly increased, and now I have choices again!]

Seeing this, Jin Li's expression shifted slightly, and she asked: [Was the first company to contact you called "Dynasty"?]

Mengmeng: [(⊙o⊙)… How did you know? I felt my contact with Dynasty was quite secretive.]

It really was Dynasty!

Jin Li recalled how, right after transmigrating, a certain book kept replaying in her mind.

In that novel, Mengmeng, whose real name is Xi Mengze, was the female protagonist, and another top-tier Best Actor was the male protagonist.

The two participated in a show together; though they initially felt mutual affection, a series of misunderstandings kept them apart until five years later when the misunderstandings were finally cleared, and lovers ultimately reunited.

And in that novel, she herself was merely a minor teammate of the female lead who died early -_-||

The novel's first chapter outlined the female lead's environment, background, and crisis; the second chapter had the female lead switching agencies to Dynasty.

She originally expected better treatment than her former employer, only to discover Dynasty was an even more black-hearted company, later exposed for various illicit industrial chains.

JinLi: [I heard my manager mention once that agencies are quite sensitive about stars switching companies.

I think Dynasty is a bad company; even its name is poorly chosen. The Great Qing Dynasty collapsed long ago; what "Dynasty" is this? They might as well become eunuchs.]

Mengmeng: [Then I won't go to that place. My Li Bao is right; this company is bad. [Snicker.jpg]]

NANA: [My Li Bao is right. [Snicker.jpg]]

Zhenzhu: [My Li Bao is right. [Snicker.jpg]]

The essence of humanity is indeed a repeater machine.

……

Ending the conversation, Jin Li pondered for a moment, then sent a message to her own manager.

Before she had even figured out how to handle this Dynasty matter, Sui Lingfang called her back with lightning speed.

"Is it true that Xi Mengze wants to switch agencies?"

Jin Li said with a straight face, "Truer than pure gold."

Sui Lingfang calculated for a moment and asked tentatively, "What do you think about Xi Mengze joining our company?"

Jin Li smiled, didn't answer directly, but said instead, "Sister Fang, if I didn't want her to come, I wouldn't have brought this up to you."

Sui Lingfang breathed a sigh of relief, once again feeling that Jin Li had grown up; how had she suddenly become so obedient and sensible?

Then again, even when her health was terrible in the past, she had never caused trouble or made demands.

Coming back to her senses, Sui Lingfang said, "Then I'll report to the company and see if we can secure Xi Mengze."

Jin Li countered, "Aren't you afraid I'm setting you up?"

Sui Lingfang laughed, "The company dared to sign you; what else should we be afraid of?"

Jin Li suddenly understood.

It seems it really is!

They even dared to accept her, a sickly weakling, so what else is there to fear?

Even if Xi Mengze truly had some problem, could it be as serious as her taking a three-year break the moment she joined a company?

After hanging up the phone, Jin Li suddenly had an inspiration and came up with an idea; she called Xi Mengze instead, asking her for some details regarding her contact with Wangchao.

Xi Mengze said with some confusion, "Carp, you seem to really hate this company?"

Jin Li replied, "Yes, I heard some unpleasant things here at my company, which apparently originated from Wangchao."

You just said Wangchao is willing to pay both your breach-of-contract penalty and compensation; the penalty in the contract you signed was thirty million, yet Wangchao is not only covering the penalty but also offering an additional twenty million as a signing bonus. Don't you find their profitability highly abnormal?

Xi Mengze paused, stunned: "I didn't pay attention to those details; isn't it normal for an entertainment company to earn one or two hundred million a year?"

Jin Li said, "It's quite normal for large companies, but for a small-to-medium enterprise like Wangchao, a profit of one or two hundred million is abnormal."

Moreover, their company only has two second-tier stars, who are marginal at best, with no other investments; the source of that fifty million in capital is highly suspicious.

Xi Mengze had not originally paid much attention.

Celebrities are truly not sensitive to monetary figures; after entering this industry, everything is measured in hundreds of thousands, millions, or tens of millions.

Hearing Jin Li put it this way, she too began to feel a chill of fear in retrospect.

"Luckily you exploded in popularity later, which boosted my own fanbase a bit; otherwise, I might have actually signed with Wangchao."

Jin Li's eyes curved slightly: "Hurry up and take on a few engagements; I'm still waiting for you to carry me to fame!"

After hanging up, Jin Li gathered some more information on Wangchao, but instead of starting a live stream, she dialed another number.

As it happened, it was quite a coincidence.

Her phone stored only contacts of industry insiders, with almost none from other channels; the only one with any real weight was the tax investigation call she had previously received from the Tax Bureau.

That staff member had suspected her of underreporting income.

She was at least a famous celebrity; even if she didn't need to pay additional taxes, how could she fail to meet the basic threshold for filing?

After Jin Li explained that she hadn't participated in many engagements, the Tax Bureau apparently conducted a private investigation, confirmed her story was true, and never contacted her again.

"Hello?"

Jin Li said, "Hello, this is Jin Li; you called me before regarding tax matters. Are you a staff member of the tax office? I wish to file a real-name report concerning tax irregularities at an entertainment company."

The staff member immediately perked up: "Go ahead and speak!"

On the internet.

After Penguin Platform announced the elimination rules for "PICK~Next Stop Diva," celebrities quietly began gossiping, while netizens following the show were forced into action.

Since last night, the battle to garner votes had officially begun.

Over the years, talent shows have employed every trick under the sun; to convert traffic into revenue, planners have devised countless methods.

From selling beverages to increase vote counts, to selling merchandise to boost voting attempts, to various live tour ticket sales...

There is nothing they cannot do if you can imagine it.

But after a ban was issued prohibiting food waste, the talent show market suddenly withered.

Shows then in production didn't even air their final episodes, hastily selecting winners before ending.

A year later, major companies remained unwilling to give up and launched talent shows again.

This time, however, they were very well-behaved.

They dared not touch forbidden areas, selling only contestant card merchandise, live tour tickets, and video platform membership cards.

They introduced Annual Meetings, SVIP, yearly VIP, and even ten-year SSSVIP memberships.

To support their favorite contestants' teams and prevent elimination, netizens also employed every trick in the book.

Among them, Gong Jiajia, the contestant Jin Li favored, had fans who set their sights on Jin Li.

[Vote for Gong Jiajia; she's a contestant whose strength Jin Li has already definitively endorsed!]

[Come pick Gong Jiajia; even Teacher Jin Li favors her!]

[Laughing myself rich; do you think Jin Li is easy to bully? All other contestants are campaigning properly, yet only Gong Jiajia's fans are dragging Jin Li into this.]

The March Sky boy band also called for Gong Jiajia to snatch the center position; why didn't you drag March Sky down with you? Are you bullying them for having no fans?

Indeed, no fans came to Jin Li's blog to defend her.

Her fan demographic had shifted from the young people of years past to working adults, who had no time to manipulate data for her.

But Jin Li had a massive base among the general public.

Before her own fans could do anything, netizens grew anxious on Jin Li's behalf, condemning Gong Jiajia's fans online for lacking sportsmanship.

Fans of other contestants also found these fans extremely objectionable; everyone was honestly promoting their idols, yet only you were dragging the mentor down; how can anyone compete like that?

Driven by various hidden forces, Gong Jiajia's popularity vote count suddenly dropped significantly.

After just one afternoon of campaigning, Gong Jiajia's fans admitted defeat first, deleting all previous promotional slogans that had leveraged Jin Li's name and replacing them with entirely new versions.

Jin Li, naturally, knew nothing about this.

She did not start a live stream in the morning, but she did in the afternoon.

Once the stream started, she watched videos and worked on practice problems as usual, completely ignoring the comments.

Even though netizens were discussing the incident in the comment section, Jin Li remained unmoved.

Even Jin Li's fans said: [Once Pear Baby starts streaming, she enters a mode where she recognizes no one; no one can disturb her studies.]

At dusk, Jin Li ended her live stream.

Gazing out the window at the golden sunset spilling across the earth, she suddenly let out a long, deep sigh.

Having studied all afternoon, even with [Half the Effort, Twice the Result] replenishing her energy, it was impossible not to feel tired.

She left her apartment, planning to go to a nearby supermarket to buy some ingredients and cook for herself.

This was also a way to relax.

Just as she relaxed, the product she endorsed—Duomi Cosmetics—ran into trouble.

"Are the figures out yet? How many pre-orders do we have?"

"They're out. The three million units just listed sold out completely within a week. The backend has received pre-orders totaling five million, but many customers don't check backend messages and haven't placed their pre-orders.

This segment of customers is quite large; I fear that once our stock goes live, they will rush to buy as well. Manager, what is our production line's capacity? Can we replenish a batch of goods as soon as possible?"

The reply came from the person in charge of online sales, who had been keeping a close eye on the online channel, wishing the company would restock immediately.

Upon hearing this, the person responsible for offline business immediately said, "Manager, you can't favor one over the other!

Online cosmetics are selling well, but our offline cosmetics are no less impressive. Customers coming to try our makeup have given many positive reviews to our 'Koi Lucky Makeup' we launched; every time they leave, they take away premium gift boxes.

Our stock is also sold out. We must guarantee offline supply volumes and maintain our offline customers!"

With these two pressing him for goods one after another, the Nancheng manager felt his head was about to explode.

"The production workshop is already running at full capacity; the daily output is just this much. You'll just have to wait, unless the company spends several million to open another production line."

The other two persons in charge looked at each other.

One of them said, "How about opening one more line? Jin Li's sales power can absolutely support it."

Another person said, "One line isn't enough; we should open at least two. If Jin Li can remain our spokesperson long-term, opening five lines would be fine!"

The manager, speechless, replied, "Why don't you just ask Jin Li to become a shareholder of the company? As for remaining our spokesperson forever, once she becomes a top-tier star, she might not even look at us."

After the meeting ended,

the manager pondered back and forth, then finally made a call to his superiors.

Expanding the production lines was imperative, but matters regarding Jin Li would definitely need further negotiation.

Given her insane sales power, how could filming just one commercial suffice? They needed to hurry up and film several more!

That very night, Duomi Cosmetics headquarters held an all-night meeting.

The next day, not long after Jin Li woke up, Sui Lingfang called her to the company.

The manager of the Duomi Cosmetics Nancheng branch personally visited Chenxi Entertainment to negotiate with Jin Li and her company, showing immense sincerity.

After listening to their requests, Jin Li asked, "So, you want to add obligation clauses to the contract, requesting that I film several more promotional commercials and attend the fan meet-and-greet events to be held later?"

The manager nodded heavily. "Yes! I know this is a bit presumptuous, but Duomi Cosmetics sincerely hopes to engage in deep cooperation with you."

Jin Li's agent was difficult to deal with, being far too shrewd; he could only pin his hopes on Jin Li herself, seeing if he could play the emotional card.

Receiving a glance from Sister Fang, Jin Li calmly stated, "I don't understand matters regarding added clauses; you can discuss anything with my agent. However, tell me when you are leaving, and I will give you a gift."

She paused, then smiled faintly. "It will be merchandise personally signed by your cutest idol, Ji Qinglian."

The manager froze; suddenly, a surge of hot blood rushed to his brain.

In that instant, he wanted to agree to the harsh conditions Sui Lingfang proposed, to shed blood and sweat for Jin Li, and to bang his head against a wall!

How could there be such a cute, sweet girl in this world? T^T

PS: Still asking for votes~

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(End of Chapter)