Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 166 - 146: Muddy the Waters! Still Very Confident

Smashing his computer screen and roaring in fury did little to quell Hu Zhicong’s anger. If anything, it only made him want to break more things.

He was starting to see Second-Life Star as a real opponent.

That’s right. He hadn’t taken Chen Jincheng seriously at first. After all, his company, CYH, was already a Three-star Guild. On Tiao Yin, Three-star Guilds were the strongest there were at the moment. He had even secured capital investment and was on track to become the first 4-star Guild.

Meanwhile, his opponent’s Second-Life Star was just an ordinary guild.

Even if Chen Jincheng was a top-tier influencer, dealing with him shouldn’t have been difficult.

Who would have thought that his shot would not only miss the target but also backfire and blow up in his own face?

The key issue was that once the recording came out, everyone knew he had tried to pressure Wang Qiqi into sleeping with him. When she refused, he slandered her.

And what was this about slandering his character? What did they mean, "ugly and short"?

How was he ugly?

Which of the female streamers he’d "played with" hadn’t praised him for being a handsome boss?

But now, everyone knew him as "ugly and short." To think that so many people in that video were mocking him... it was simply unforgivable.

"Boss, we need to be more careful on the phone from now on," his assistant said with a sigh. "The situation has completely reversed. Slandering Wang Qiqi any further is useless. We need to find a way to strike back."

Hu Zhicong understood, of course. He immediately said, "Then we have no choice but to go head-to-head with them and show them the power of CYH. What about that Little Maru our talent department just signed? Didn’t they say her singing technique is excellent, her voice is lovely, and she’s guaranteed to be a hit?"

"We’ll promote her heavily and have her compete directly with Wang Qiqi. This will divert public attention. We’ll give her all of our Three-star Guild’s best traffic resources and exposure, then pump money into DOU+ ads. Getting her over a million likes won’t be a problem. Then we can give them a good, hard slap in the face."

The assistant frowned. "Boss, there’s one problem. Many of the videos Chen Jincheng makes for those girls get over a million likes, some even several million. A million likes might be a stretch for us."

Hu Zhicong sneered. "I know about those videos. They’re basically all just suggestive content. But this is about song covers. It’s a competition of voice and singing skill. The audience is completely different. If they try to use those suggestive tactics for cover songs, it’ll just look tacky and out of place. People will criticize them for it."

"Besides, suggestive content is all about looks and figure. And even when it comes to looks and figure, Little Maru is no worse than Wang Qiqi. Plus, her voice is the sweet type, won’t that be even more popular? Most importantly, how many of the current influencers doing song covers ever get over a million likes?"

"Even when actual celebrities release songs—someone on Xue Qian’s level—how many of their music videos break a million likes? You can’t possibly think that Wang Qiqi is better than all of them, can you?"

"That’s true," the assistant immediately nodded.

There are countless influencers on Tiao Yin, with a huge variety of types. They’re all categorized into different tracks, and each track has a different level of popularity.

In the song cover track, even a top-tier artist like Gao Yanyan, who made a huge comeback with her covers, rarely gets a million likes on a video.

Most importantly, Little Maru’s singing skills are no worse than Wang Qiqi’s. Her voice is the sweet type, which is one of the most popular, and her figure and looks are on par with Wang Qiqi’s as well.

Under these circumstances, by spending resources and running DOU+ promotions to get her a million likes, there should be no way they could lose.

Hu Zhicong then said, "Record a video for me. I need to muddy the waters a bit first."

"Yes, Boss!" The assistant nodded, immediately taking out his phone and starting to record.

Hu Zhicong began speaking to the camera: "Hello everyone, I’m the boss of CYH. Yes, I’m the one Chen Jincheng falsely accused of trying to force himself on Wang Qiqi. That’s right, the recording is a fake. It’s all just slander on his part, and I’ve already had my lawyers prepare a cease and desist letter."

"Besides, let’s be honest. As the boss of a Three-star Guild, if I wanted to pull something like that, women would be lining up at my door. Why would I get hung up on some Wang Qiqi? She doesn’t even have much potential. The truth is, Chen Jincheng is the one who slept with her and orchestrated this whole thing to generate hype for her."

"But it’s useless for a woman with no real talent, even if she manages to sleep her way into Chen Jincheng’s bed. The reason I rejected Wang Qiqi back then wasn’t just because I looked down on her abilities, but because another girl, Little Maru, was far more talented."

"Our newly signed artist, Little Maru, will be releasing her first cover video today. Then everyone will see what real talent looks like. Besides, this is just about singing. You should let your skills do the talking, not sleeping your way into the boss’s bed."

After he finished recording, the assistant gave Hu Zhicong a thumbs-up.

This move turned the tables again. It was an excellent rebuttal to the recording and would also attract a huge wave of attention for Little Maru.

In any case, they would just deny the recording’s authenticity to their dying breath.

True or false, netizens wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

In the end, what mattered was skill.

Promoting Little Maru and making Wang Qiqi pale in comparison would be the best proof.

When that happened, the recording would be seen as fake even if it was real.

Even if Wang Qiqi didn’t get signed by sleeping with Chen Jincheng, it would become the "truth" that she had. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Sometimes, the internet was a place where you couldn’t explain yourself or plead your own case.

「Jingyuan Building.」

Chen Jincheng had spent half the day with Wang Qiqi in the women’s clothing section, buying her an outfit for her video shoot.

Inside a store specializing in professional uniforms, Chen Jincheng and Wang Qiqi sat waiting on a sofa, their gazes fixed on the fitting rooms.