Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 160 - 144: I Don’t Believe I Can’t Take Down Chen Jincheng
Chen Jincheng was a little baffled by what Sister Hong said. "What’s going on?"
’I haven’t offended anyone recently, have I?’
’Why would someone be trying to torpedo my career?’
Sister Hong explained, "It’s about Wang Qiqi. Someone suddenly posted a rumor online saying she signed with Second-Life Star because she slept with you to get the contract. The post claims she’s going to use this connection to climb the ladder."
"Huh?" Chen Jincheng was even more baffled. "Whoever started this rumor must have a grudge against Wang Qiqi, right? It looks like it’s aimed at me for sleeping with her, but in reality, the best way for me to prove my innocence would be to not promote her at all."
Sister Hong nodded. "That’s right. There’s also a smear video about her, saying that at another MCN, she tried to sleep with the boss to get a contract, was discovered by his wife, and ended up getting into a physical fight with her."
As she spoke, she handed her phone to Chen Jincheng.
The video indeed showed two women wrestling with each other. One of them was Jiang Qiqi.
Sister Hong frowned. "Boss, it looks like you’ve really been taken in by a scheming woman this time. You signed someone you shouldn’t have. This is what I meant about you being so unprincipled!"
"How am I being unprincipled now?" Chen Jincheng was speechless. However, his mind was clear. "It’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s fake online. You can’t just believe one side of the story. At the very least, we should give the girl a chance to explain herself. Call her in."
He’d seen plenty of situations like this in his past life. There were countless cases with sudden, unexpected reversals.
Take the case of a certain Huijun and several other female influencers who accused their boss of sexual harassment. Just when public opinion was on their side, the story was suddenly flipped on its head. It turned out she had just gotten famous, become greedy, and wanted to break her contract, so she slandered her boss.
Even after being ordered by the court to pay damages, she calmly filmed videos and live-streamed for cash grabs until her account was finally banned.
Therefore, he wasn’t going to be stupid enough to be convinced by a few sentences online and a clip of two people fighting.
Besides, the video of the two women fighting was clearly edited, with the beginning and end cut off.
Sister Hong nodded and left the office to find Wang Qiqi.
Meanwhile, Wang Qiqi had also seen the videos about her circulating online.
She never imagined that right after signing with Second-Life Star, just when it seemed she had a chance to become the new ’Miss Cheng’, a situation like this would suddenly blow up online.
She noticed the other employees at Second-Life Star were giving her strange, scrutinizing looks.
Just then, she saw Sister Hong approaching and hurriedly greeted her, "Sister Hong."
"The boss wants to see you. Come with me to his office," Sister Hong said simply before turning and walking back toward the office.
Seeing this, Wang Qiqi grew even more nervous.
She knew the boss must want to see her about the online rumors.
Chen Jincheng waited in his office for a short while before Sister Hong brought Wang Qiqi in. The young woman’s eyes were already a little red.
He immediately pulled up the young woman’s employee information:
Name: Wang Qi
Loyalty: 75
Status: This feeling of being falsely accused is awful. I feel so wronged I’m about to break down. The boss will never believe me!
After reading her status, Chen Jincheng understood. It seemed the young woman had indeed been wronged.
He asked her, "You’ve seen the things online?"
"Yes." Wang Qiqi nodded lightly.
Chen Jincheng continued, "Then tell me about it. I want to know what really happened."
Hearing this, Wang Qiqi said in a rush, "It was Company CYH. I did go there for an interview. Their boss, Hu Zhicong, is ugly and short, and he was being handsy with me. He was hinting that he could make me famous and stuff, but he’s so ugly and short, there’s no way I would be willing!"
Ximeng suddenly interjected, "So, if you meet a handsome one, you’ll throw yourself at him, is that it?"
"..." Wang Qiqi was at a loss for words.
Chen Jincheng shot his secretary a glare. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
However, when he heard the name Company CYH, he couldn’t help but sneer.
’So this world has that trash company too.’
In the other world, plenty of MCNs had imploded spectacularly, with their bosses even ending up in prison.
Company CYH was one of them.
The company had gotten onto Tiao Yin very early, catching the trend at just the right time. It seized the initial opportunity to grow, even securing capital investment. By 2018, it was already a 3-star Guild.
Unfortunately, a pig that flies in a whirlwind will also be dashed to the ground.
With capital investment, instead of focusing on developing content, Company CYH focused on exploiting its signed talent. For example, contract terms started at 10 or 15 years, and their share of the profits was outrageously low.
Any influencer who had been in the business for a while knew not to sign with Company CYH.
Everyone knew it was a trap.
So, the company specialized in trapping newcomers, especially those desperate to become influencers who would sign on the dotted line after a bit of sweet-talking.
After a while, when these people could no longer stand the exploitation and wanted to terminate their contracts, the real trap would be sprung.
It was just like that one celebrity in the entertainment industry, the one who, having been caught in the rain herself, still insisted on tearing up other people’s umbrellas. She started a company and made another star famous. After he earned the company 30 million, he couldn’t stand the exploitation anymore. But to leave, he was told he had to pay the company 40 million in damages.
In other words, not only did he work for them for free without earning a single cent, but he also had to pay the company 10 million out of his own pocket.
That was the real trap.
Company CYH played the exact same game. If an influencer wanted to break their contract, they’d have to pay 300,000 even if they hadn’t earned any money. If they’d earned 500,000, they’d have to pay 3 million or even 5 million.
Faced with this situation, you either had to grit your teeth, pay the damages, and leave, or you had to swallow your anger and continue to endure the exploitation for over a decade.
As for why Company CYH ultimately imploded and its boss ended up in prison, the biggest reason was that the country’s laws do not support such practices.
