Chapter 59: Don't Wait for Later to Flip the Table, Add More When You Should!

The matter of the Maozhao live stream has been settled.

Jin Li lowered her head to check her phone, and seeing that it was still early, she decided to stay at the company to discuss her upcoming schedule with Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie.

She asked, "Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie, the variety show recording is finished. Do I have any other work on my plate?"

Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang thought about it seriously: "I've picked out several for you; they are all singing-type variety shows that will let you showcase your stage presence."

If it were an ordinary artist, she would definitely have them take whatever work was available, but with Jin Li, everything is based on her own wishes.

Jin Li is currently very popular, so no matter what work she participates in, her fees are between the first and second-tier levels.

Even if she only takes one job a week, it is enough to max out the company's performance.

After all, the company hasn't produced a first-tier star yet, so even if Jin Li's commission split is high, she is still a cash cow.

Income distribution in the entertainment industry strictly follows a pyramid structure. The top tier gets the most, and the further down you go, the less money there is.

Jin Li lowered her head and thought for a while before making up her mind: "I don't want to participate in variety shows for the time being."

She explained, "Just participating in 'PICK~ Next Station Diva' has left me feeling quite tired. I want to rest for a while and allocate more time to my studies. On the other hand, I want to take care of my health; once I'm feeling better, I'll go out and take on more work."

What Jin Li didn't say was that, given her current workload, she felt it was already more than enough.

If possible, she hoped not to increase her workload, but after thinking about it, she didn't dare to bring it up.

People really shouldn't get ahead of themselves.

Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang hesitated for only a moment before immediately agreeing: "Fine, no variety shows for now. Those programs inviting you to perform on stage don't have the same heat as 'PICK~ Next Station Diva,' and you won't lack exposure for the next half month anyway.

Besides, you still have the endorsements for Duomi and Maozhao to handle, and you won't have much time to spare for stage rehearsals, so it's better not to go."

The fees for those variety shows aren't low, but they aren't worth it if Jin Li's body can't handle the strain!

In fact, yesterday, when she saw her recording the third episode and having to request a break halfway through, Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang's eyelids had been twitching non-stop.

She was worried that Jin Li might faint by accident, and also worried that she might suddenly cough up blood.

Variety shows, after all, require recording for too long.

During their conversation, the office door was knocked, and a moment later, it was pushed open as Zou Da led He He He Yixuan inside.

Seeing that Jin Li was also there, Zou Da was a bit surprised and said kindly, "Jin Li is at the company too? Has the show finished recording?"

Jin Li nodded: "Da-ge, it finished yesterday. I came to the company today to discuss the contract."

Zou Da: "The one for Maozhao, right? Yes, that endorsement needs to be finalized soon."

Jin Li looked at He He He Yixuan and asked: "What about He He Yixuan? What have you been up to lately?"

He He He Yixuan froze.

She was a bit surprised that Jin Li still remembered her and felt somewhat flattered.

Zou Da said: "I'm taking her to a variety show that requires participating in various sports; it's one that all the newly rising second and third-tier starlets are going on."

Jin Li looked at Zou Da, then at the radiant Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang, and understood.

So Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie's romantic luck was tied to Zou Da!

But looking at Zou Da's face, it seemed he hadn't noticed Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie's feelings yet.

Seeing that Zou Da had something to discuss with Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie, Jin Li found an excuse to leave, as she also wanted to return to her apartment.

Not long after she left, a hurried voice came from behind: "Jin Li-Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie!"

Jin Li paused her steps and turned to look.

He He He Yixuan looked at her with some trepidation, her fingers slightly clutching her sleeve as she said: "Jin Li-Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie, thank you for before."

Jin Li was puzzled: "What did I help you with?"

"I-it's just, thank you for explaining to Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie for me. I didn't intentionally try to steal your work; I was just asking. I didn't know my positioning didn't match yours, I..."

It was He He He Yixuan's first time doing something like this, so she was a bit flustered and spoke stutteringly.

Jin Li patiently waited for her to finish before saying: "You don't need to thank me. Regarding the matter of asking for work, I don't think you did anything wrong.

You and I are both artists of the company, and resource allocation is arranged by the company. If I can recommend the work I'm not taking to you, I'm very happy to do so.

You didn't steal work from me; in essence, this is just reallocating and utilizing surplus resources."

She smiled and said sincerely: "Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie is a very good person. Work hard under her, and she won't treat you unfairly."

He He He Yixuan nodded heavily, but deep down, layers of shadows were piling up.

Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Fang Jie was indeed a very good person.

But sometimes, her arrangements were not what she herself wanted.

Jin Li returned to her apartment.

After eating, she rested for a while, then opened her live stream as usual to listen to her teacher's lecture.

The netizens had been studying with Jin Li for a while now and had finally figured out her daily routine.

—She didn't have a daily routine at all; her daily routine was just studying, and studying was her daily relaxing entertainment!

【She streamed in the morning and is streaming again at night. This level of diligence makes me suspect whether I'm a fan of a celebrity or a study streamer.】

【You're only realizing this now? Li-bao's main job is a study streamer, and her side job is being a celebrity. Doge. jpg】

【To be honest, listening to lectures and doing practice problems with Jin Li is genuinely efficient. I'm idling at home preparing for the civil service exam; when she listens to lectures, I listen to other ones, and when she does practice problems, I do others too. My efficiency is skyrocketing!】

The fans chatted among themselves, and Jin Li did her own work.

In the same live stream, everyone got along very harmoniously.

The live stream had a moderator.

Every time Jin Li's moderator came to patrol her live stream and saw the massive pile of comments all related to study problems, they couldn't help but click their tongue in secret.

This live stream was the most worry-free one they had ever seen!

If the website had a "Good Environment" badge, they would have wanted to award one to her.

Jin Li listened to an hour of lectures and did an hour of practice problems, feeling it was about enough, and prepared to end the stream.

Before ending the stream, she thought for a moment and decided to leak a piece of news.

"There might be good news coming in the next few days; you can look forward to it."

Leaving this suspense, she ended the live stream.

Netizens then flocked to the forums to post: 【What exactly is the good news Jin Li mentioned?】

1L: 【Blind guess it's related to 'PICK~ Next Station Diva.' Isn't she the psychological counselor? Maybe she received some inside information that the show is changing the elimination rules?】

2L: 【Is 1L really that naive? The rules have already been announced; how could Tencent possibly change them? Instead of hoping they change, you'd be better off praying for the survival shows on iQIYI and Youku to step up their game so Tencent feels a sense of crisis.】

3L: 【The good news Jin Li mentioned must be related to herself. Stop guessing randomly; she's probably announcing some big move, like officially joining a new variety show or becoming a spokesperson for something again.】

Netizens had various opinions.

A few guessed it was about the Maozhao endorsement, but they were all refuted by later netizens.

Maozhao is a live streaming website.

Not just Maozhao, but other live streaming websites as well, had never had celebrity endorsements.

Netizens initiated spokesperson polls every year, selected celebrities every year, and every year there were no results.

Moreover, hiring a traffic celebrity as a spokesperson is expensive, and everyone felt Maozhao wouldn't be that generous.

The truth and fallacies are only a thought apart.

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

The next day.

Jin Li woke up early in the morning, went to the apartment's gym, and went for a run as per her habit.

After breakfast, just as she was about to start her live stream, she was suddenly tagged in the group chat.

Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Qinglian: 【Last night I was only immersed in the elimination gossip of the variety show. This morning, my assistant told me there was gossip about you yesterday, and that's when I found out that Sanyuetian studied with you? @Clad Jin Li】

Clad Jin Li: 【Yeah, after the show finished recording, I stayed at the Mazu Temple for another night, and Sanyuetian came over to hang out for the evening.

I took them to the night market to eat and drink, and the next day Gu Cheng invited me to study, so they followed along to study too.】

Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Qinglian: 【With the pulling power of the Sanyuetian boy band, appearing in your live stream, shouldn't that have hit the trending topics? Why didn't I see it on the trending list yesterday?】

Sister Sister Zhenzhu: 【Good morning! I woke up and ran over to eat some gossip! There's actually gossip about Li-yu today. Oh ho, how does it feel to be surrounded by four handsome men while studying? Funny. jpg】

Clad Jin Li: 【It felt pretty good, felt like the world was beautified, even the air became fresher. Do you want to come and try it too? Doge. jpg】

Sister Sister Zhenzhu: 【Covers mouth and giggles】

Sister Meng Meng: 【Yesterday Tencent released the team elimination match, and the trending topics were dominated by that variety show. Clad Jin Li and Sanyuetian are both mentors on that show, so maybe they didn't want to suppress the show's trending topics and had the live stream's trending topics removed.】

Tongtong: 【I guess that's it too. Just say a word to Tencent, those trending topics are easy to remove and don't cost much money.】

Sister Meng Meng: 【I have a piece of good news to share with you all. Didn't I say before that my company was always making me take on work and accepting jobs randomly, and I wanted to terminate my contract?

The news that I wanted to terminate my contract got out, and only one company contacted me, wanting me to transfer over.

That company's reputation and public opinion are quite average, just a little better than mine, but they offered a very high commission split, only a little lower than Li-yu's, so I hesitated.

As a result, Li-yu suddenly became a hit, and 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: 【Is the first company that contacted you called "Royal Dynasty"?】

Sister Meng Meng: 【(⊙o⊙)… How did you know? I felt like my contact with Royal Dynasty was quite secretive.】

It really was Royal Dynasty!

Jin Li thought back to when she had just transmigrated and was always recalling a book in her mind.

In that novel, Sister Meng Meng, also known as Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze, was the female lead, and another big-shot actor was the male lead.

The two participated in a show together and initially had feelings for each other, but after a series of misunderstandings, they didn't end up together until five years later when the misunderstandings were cleared up, and the lovers finally got married.

And in that novel, she was just a passerby teammate of the female lead who died early -_-||

The first chapter of the novel explained the environment and crisis the female lead was in, and the second chapter was about the female lead jumping ship to Royal Dynasty.

Originally, I thought I could get better treatment than at my previous agency, but I didn't expect Royal Dynasty to be an even more black-hearted company, and later, various black industrial chains were exposed.

Jin Li: 【I heard my manager mention it once; they are quite sensitive to news about stars jumping ship internally.】

I think this company Royal Dynasty is bad; it's poorly named from the start. The Qing Dynasty has been gone for who knows how long, yet they are still "Royal Dynasty". They should just change their profession and become eunuchs.】

Meng Meng: 【Then I won't go to this place. My Li-bao is right, this company is bad. *smirking. jpg*】

NANA: 【My Li-bao is right. *smirking. jpg*】

Sister Sister Zhenzhu: 【My Li-bao is right. *smirking. jpg*】

The essence of humanity is indeed being a repeater.

……

Ending the conversation, Jin Li thought for a moment and sent a message to her manager.

Before she had even figured out how to deal with this Royal Dynasty, Sui Lingfang called her in a flash.

"Is what you said true? Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze wants to jump ship?"

Jin Li said with a serious face: "It's truer than real gold."

Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang calculated and tentatively asked: "What do you think about Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze coming to our company?"

Jin Li smiled and didn't answer the question directly, instead saying: "Sister Fang, if I didn't want her to come over, I wouldn't have brought this up with you."

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

That wasn't right either; back when her health was poor, she had never been seen making a fuss or making demands.

Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang came back to her senses and said: "Then I'll report it to the company and see if we can win over Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze."

Jin Li asked back: "Aren't you afraid I'm setting you up?"

Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang laughed: "The company even dared to take you in, what else is there to be afraid of?"

Jin Li was suddenly enlightened.

It seemed, that was really the case!

If they even dared to accept a sickly person like her, what else was there to fear?

Even if Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze really had some issues, could they be as serious as her resting for three years the moment she joined the company?

Hanging up the phone, Jin Li suddenly had an inspiration and an idea, so she turned to call Sister Meng Ze and asked her for some details about her contact with Royal Dynasty.

Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze said with some confusion: "Li-yu, you seem to really hate this company?"

Jin Li said: "Yes, I heard some bad things at my company, and it seems they originated from Royal Dynasty.

You just said Royal Dynasty is willing to help you pay the breach of contract fee; the breach fee for the company you signed with is 30 million. Royal Dynasty is not only giving you the breach fee but is also willing to give you an additional 20 million as a signing bonus. Don't you think their profitability is very abnormal?"

Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze was stunned: "I didn't pay attention to these things. Isn't it normal for an entertainment company to earn 100 or 200 million a year?"

Jin Li: "It's quite normal for big companies, but for a small-to-medium company like Royal Dynasty, a profit of 100 or 200 million is not normal.

Moreover, their company only has two second-tier stars, and they are marginal second-tier at that, with no other investments. The source of their 50 million in funds is very suspicious."

Xi Xi Sister Meng Ze hadn't taken it to heart originally.

Stars are really not sensitive to money 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 started to feel lingering fear.

"It's a good thing you became a hit later, which also boosted my popularity a bit, otherwise I might have really signed with Royal Dynasty."

Jin Li's eyes curved slightly: "Hurry up and go run a few announcements; I'm still waiting for you to take me to new heights!"

After hanging up, Jin Li collected more information about Royal Dynasty. She didn't start a live stream but instead dialed another number.

It was a coincidence.

Her phone only stored numbers of people in the industry; she basically had no other channels. The only one with any weight was the tax investigation call she received from the Tax Bureau earlier.

That staff member thought she was concealing her income.

As a famous star, it was one thing not to need to pay back taxes, but how could she not even reach the basic threshold for paying taxes?

After Jin Li explained that she hadn't participated in many announcements, the Tax Bureau must have investigated privately, confirmed that what she said was true, and never looked for her again.

"Hello?"

Jin Li: "Hello, I am Jin Li. You called me before to ask about tax issues. Are you a staff member at the tax office? I want to report an entertainment company for tax problems under my real name."

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

……

On the internet.

After the Penguin platform announced the elimination rules for "PICK~ Next Station Diva," stars were quietly eating melons, while netizens who were following the show had no choice but to take action.

Since last night, the vote-pulling war had begun.

Over the years, talent shows have been done in all sorts of ways. To monetize traffic, planners have thought of countless methods.

From selling drinks to increase voting counts, to selling merchandise to increase voting frequency, and various live tour performances selling tickets...

There is nothing you can't think of that they can't do.

But with the issuance of a ban on food waste, the talent show market suddenly withered.

The program that was being held at the time didn't even air its final episode, and they hurriedly selected people and ended it.

A year later, major companies were still unwilling to give up and started doing talent shows again.

But this time they were very disciplined.

They didn't dare to touch forbidden areas and only sold contestant card merchandise, tour performances, and video membership cards.

Annual, SVIP, yearly VIP, and even ten-year SSSVIP memberships were all created.

In order to support the team their favorite contestant belonged to so they wouldn't be eliminated, netizens also pulled out all the stops.

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

【Let's pull votes for Gong Gong Gong Jiajia; she's a contestant whose strength has been confirmed by Jin Li!】

【Come and pick Gong Gong Gong Jiajia; Teacher Jin Li also favors her!】

【I'm laughing to death. Do you think Jin Li is easy to bully? All the other contestants are pulling votes in a disciplined way, but you, Gong Gong Gong Jiajia's fans, actually drag Jin Li into it.

The March Sky boy band also called for Gong Gong Gong Jiajia to grab the C-position; why don't you drag the March Sky boy band into the water too? Are you bullying them because they don't have fans?】

Jin Li's blog indeed had no fans coming to defend her.

Her fan base had already changed from the young people of that year to working adults who didn't have the time to help her with data.

But Jin Li's passerby base was huge.

Before the fans could do anything, netizens were already anxious for Jin Li, denouncing Gong Gong Gong Jiajia's fans on the internet for not playing by the rules.

Fans of other contestants also found these fans very unpleasant; everyone was honestly promoting their contestants, but you were dragging a mentor into it—how was this supposed to be a fair competition?

With the secret instigation of various parties, Gong Gong Gong Jiajia's popularity vote suddenly dropped significantly.

After just one afternoon, Gong Gong Gong Jiajia's fans were the first to admit defeat, deleting all previous promotional slogans that tried to latch onto Jin Li and replacing them with brand-new versions.

And Jin Li, naturally, knew nothing about this.

She didn't open a live stream in the morning, but she did in the afternoon.

After opening the live stream, she watched videos and did practice problems as usual, not looking at the comments at all.

Even though netizens were talking about this in the comment section, Jin Li remained unmoved.

Even Jin Li's fans said: 【Once Li-bao starts a live stream, she enters a mode where she doesn't recognize anyone; no one can disturb her studying.】

In the evening, Jin Li ended the live stream.

She looked at the golden sunset spilling over the earth outside the window and suddenly let out a long sigh of relief.

After studying for an afternoon, even with 【Twice the Result with Half the Effort】 to replenish her energy, it was impossible not to be tired.

She left the apartment, intending to go to a nearby supermarket to buy some vegetables and cook for herself.

This was also a way to relax.

While she was relaxing, the product she endorsed—Duomi Cosmetics—was facing a dilemma.

"Are the numbers out? How many pre-orders are there?"

"They're out. The 3 million products just put on the shelves were all cleared out within a week, and the backend received pre-order requests as high as 5 million. But many customers didn't check the backend messages and didn't pre-order.

This customer base is quite large; I'm afraid that once our stock goes online, they will come to buy it too. Manager, how is our production line capacity? Can we replenish a batch of goods as soon as possible?"

The person who replied was the person in charge of online sales, who had been keeping an eye on online sales and was eager for the company to restock as soon as possible.

The person in charge of offline business heard this and immediately said: "Manager, you can't favor one over the other!

Online cosmetics sell well, but our offline cosmetics are just as good. Customers who come to try the makeup have given many compliments to the 'Koi Good Luck Makeup' we launched, and every time they leave, they take away high-end gift boxes.

Our stock is also sold out; we must ensure offline shipment volume and maintain offline customers!"

With one after another urging him for goods, the manager in Nancheng felt his head was about to explode.

"The production workshop is already running at full capacity, and the daily output is just this much. You can only wait, unless you let the company spend a few million to open another production line."

The other two people in charge looked at each other.

One of them said: "How about opening another one? Jin Li's ability to drive sales can definitely support it."

The other person said: "How is one enough? We have to open two at least. If Jin Li can always be our spokesperson, opening five is fine!"

The manager said speechlessly: "Why don't you just let Jin Li become a shareholder of the company? Still wanting her to be the spokesperson—once she becomes a first-tier star, she might not even look at us."

After the meeting ended.

The manager thought about it and still Match Match Match Match Match Made a call to the leadership.

Increasing the production line was imperative, but Jin Li's side definitely needed more operation.

Just based on her crazy ability to drive sales, how could shooting just one advertisement be enough? Hurry up and shoot a few more!

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

The next day, not long after Jin Li woke up, she was called to the company by a phone call from Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang.

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

After hearing their request, Jin Li asked, "So, you want to add obligation clauses to the contract, wanting me to film a few more promotional advertisements and attend the fan meeting to be held later?"

The manager nodded heavily, "Yes! I know this is a bit presumptuous, but Duomi Cosmetics very much hopes to develop a deep collaboration with you."

Jin Li's manager was not easy to deal with and was far too shrewd, so he could only pin his hopes on Jin Li, seeing if he could play the emotional card.

Jin Li received the look Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang sent her way and said calmly, "I don't understand the matter of adding clauses; you can discuss any business with my manager. However, let me know when you leave, and I will give you a gift."

She paused, then smiled faintly: "It is an autographed piece of merchandise from your favorite idol, Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Ji Qinglian."

The manager was stunned, and suddenly a rush of blood surged to his head.

In this instant, he wanted to agree to the harsh conditions proposed by Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui Lingfang, to shed his blood and sacrifice everything for Jin Li, even if it meant crashing into a wall!

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

ps: Continuing to ask for votes~





(End of this chapter)