Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 70 - 68: Filming an Outlet Reveals a Problem
After Cen Ning finished toasting Yijin and his four companions, she sat down next to Chen Jincheng again. In a sweet, delicate voice, she said, "Boss, thank you. I’d like to toast you as well."
Chen Jincheng smiled and deliberately teased her, "Cenchun, I brought a few of my guys here specifically to build some hype for you. Between them, they have over a hundred clip accounts. And you’re just thanking me with a single cup?"
"Then how do you want me to thank you, Boss?" Cen Ning asked, her voice trailing off as she spoke.
’Don’t tell me the boss is about to pull the casting couch on me?’
’A part of her was resistant to the idea, but her boss was just so handsome. As someone with a thing for pretty faces, she was a total sucker for his looks.’
’What should I do?’
But Chen Jincheng just smiled and said, "If you want to thank me, it has to be with a cross-armed toast."
"A cross-armed toast!" When Cen Ning heard it was just a cross-armed toast, she froze for a second before it registered.
’But when it came to a cross-armed toast, who was she to be scared?’
She immediately poured two glasses of wine and handed one to Chen Jincheng.
The cross-armed toast was a common, flirtatious game in bars where a man and woman would link arms and drink intimately.
Cen Ning was poised and natural about the game. After passing the glass to Chen Jincheng, she linked her arm with his and they drank.
The moment Yijin and the others saw this, they didn’t hesitate for a second, immediately pulling out their phones and started filming the pair.
Seeing this, Cen Ning realized what was happening. ’The boss didn’t really want to do a cross-armed toast with me; he was deliberately creating a scene for me to film?’
With this realization, she looked at her boss again and found his handsome face even more captivating.
Yijin and the others filmed the cross-armed toast, the smiles on their faces growing wider.
’None of the videos they shot earlier tonight were as good as this one.’
Yijin immediately took out his phone and started editing, quickly cutting together the footage of Cenchun sitting next to Brother Cheng and doing the cross-armed toast with him. He then uploaded it directly to their three "Coastal City’s Most Devoted" accounts.
Title: A Night of Third-Wheeling with ’Coastal City’s Most Devoted’.
After posting on the three accounts, he set up a remote-control script and began publishing the video on a dozen or so other clip accounts with slightly lower metrics.
’He had to do a good job with the task Brother Cheng gave him—building hype for this girl.’
By the time he finished posting to the dozen or so accounts, he saw that the three "Coastal City’s Most Devoted" accounts were already getting comments, most of them sarcastic:
"Holy shit, you’re really sticking with those two words ’Most Devoted,’ huh?"
"Nice, you live up to the name. Devoted to two different girls in one night!"
"Is this girl a newcomer from Second-Life Star?"
"Cheng, you’re devoted to every girl you meet! By the way, who is she?"
"..."
Still, it was clear the numbers were climbing nicely.
’As expected, videos of Brother Cheng getting close with a girl were the secret to getting traffic.’
Chen Jincheng knew what Yijin and his friends were doing with their phones and didn’t interrupt. He waited until they were finished before having a few of the girls start performing their talents in turn.
It was mostly dancing, and then he had the girls liven up the atmosphere by playing games together.
After a round of games like finger-grabbing, paper-biting, and staring contests, Yijin and the others were having so much fun they forgot about everything else.
As time went on, Cen Ning drank a fair amount. Perhaps emboldened by the alcohol, she grew much bolder, going from just sitting next to Chen Jincheng to half-leaning against his chest.
’From this angle, her boss’s jawline was sharp and distinct, the lines hard and smooth.’
She found herself getting a little captivated and couldn’t stop her pale, "sinful" hand from reaching out. But before her hand could touch her boss’s face, she was startled by Yijin shouting from the side, "Holy shit! Holy shit! Brother Cheng, your power outlet video hit 850,000 likes!"
He had just subconsciously checked the video after posting it and was genuinely shocked by the current like count.
This drew the attention of everyone else, especially the girls. They had all gotten the message from Sister Hong in the group chat and had followed the trend to film their own videos.
Cen Ning was also surprised. The music had already started in the bar’s main hall, so she had hidden in the restroom and randomly filmed a piece of toilet paper.
Thinking about how she had said to a piece of toilet paper, ’Believe it or not, I can get a million likes by just filming some toilet paper,’ she felt a bit like a lunatic.
But hearing Yijin’s exclamation, she also subconsciously opened her boss’s video. When she saw the dazzling, shocking number—850,000 likes—she was truly stunned.
’It really works like that?’
Opening the comments section, she discovered that many people found it just as unbelievable as she did.
"Seeing the likes on this video made my head buzz."
"I’ve been making Tiao Yin videos for two years, and my total likes are less than what this guy got for filming a power outlet. My will to live is officially broken."
"Why does someone else get so many likes and comments for filming a power outlet while I get jack squat? It’s so unfair."
"Tiao Yin is so weird. The videos that go viral are always so strange."
"At first: It’s weird that this video has over 700k likes. Then I see the account is Chen Jincheng: He posted a power outlet, and now it feels even fucking weirder."
"..."
...
"Just let me rest for half an hour," Lin Hao said hastily.
"Oh!" Luo Yi said, deliberately acting cute as she traced a finger on his chest. "Boss, you just signed me and you already lured me to a hotel. You said you’d make me famous. You can’t go back on your word."
"Don’t worry, I’ll make you an internet celebrity," Lin Hao said confidently. ’If I can’t make her famous myself, I’ll just buy a couple of marketing plans from Lao Cheng. That’ll definitely work.’
As he spoke, he picked up his phone and transferred 52,000 yuan directly to her.
Luo Yi gasped when she received the transfer notification. "Fifty-two thousand! Boss, I’m in love with you!"
Lin Hao smiled. He was never stingy with the girls he slept with.
Then, he also took out his phone to check the diving-and-costume-change videos his company had shot that day.
He looked through them one by one. Overall, the numbers were good, much better than what his company usually produced.
The key thing was that Qianqian was a pleasant surprise. Her video already had 600,000 likes. Her "Big Pendulum" had gone viral.
Later, he would throw some money into DOU+ promotion. That should get it to two million likes, at the very least.
’Lao Cheng’s marketing plans were amazing; they really could produce viral hits.’
Next, his curiosity got the better of him and he checked the videos filmed by Er Shi Xingchen Company. After all, they had been filming on the same yacht, so it was natural to be curious.
He first opened Yinyin’s Touyin Number, and then he froze.
Her latest video wasn’t the one filmed on the yacht today. In fact, her yacht video’s likes weren’t that high, only at 350,000.
But the next video had a high like count. It was footage of her running out of an elevator toward a car. The swaying of her "Big Pendulum" was in no way inferior to Qianqian’s during her dive. As expected of one of Tiao Yin’s three famous "Big Pendulums."
But when he saw the likes, he was stunned. "700,000, even higher than Qianqian’s. On what grounds?"
’One is running through a parking garage fully clothed, the other is running on a yacht in a bikini. They’re both "Big Pendulums," but no matter how you look at it, Qianqian’s should be more alluring, right?’
Fine, he couldn’t figure that one out. He watched another video that was even more bizarre:
"Believe it or not, I can get a million likes just by randomly filming my boss!"
"Yeah, right," Lin Hao laughed out loud. But when he saw the video had 370,000 likes, his smile instantly froze.
Moreover, he noticed a trending topic at the bottom of the video: #RandomlyFilm.
’There must be some viral marketing plan behind this, and this girl just jumped on the bandwagon.’
He immediately clicked on the trending topic and saw that the video with the most likes was filmed by Lao Cheng. Crucially, it already had 850,000 likes.
’Lao Cheng just got back from his trip out to sea and he’s already silently launched another marketing plan?’
He clicked on the video to watch:
"You guys believe me? I can get over a million likes just by randomly filming a power outlet."
"I’m fucked. This is some real ghost-seeing shit," Lin Hao cursed, completely losing his composure as he watched the video.
’Is this a fucking joke?’
’Qianqian stripped down to a sexy bikini, and fine, maybe she couldn’t compete with Yinyin, who’s also one of the "three great Big Pendulums." But now she can’t even fucking compete with a power outlet?’
’Who was he supposed to complain to about this?’
"Chen Jincheng is amazing, getting so many likes for filming a power outlet," Luo Yi, who was beside him, said with a face full of surprise.
"Lao Cheng has completely figured out Tiao Yin," Lin Hao couldn’t help but sigh. He opened the comments and saw that most people were just as amazed and incredulous as he was, which made him feel a little better.
’He wasn’t the only one taking a hit; many others were in the same boat.’
He couldn’t resist leaving a comment:
"This must be Chen Jincheng’s zodiac sign: the Power Outlet!"
After posting the comment, he felt a pang of envy. ’How did Lao Cheng’s brain even come up with a plan like this?’
As he thought this, he grabbed his phone and walked over to the power outlet in the hotel room, intending to imitate the video. But as he pointed his phone at the outlet to film, his expression changed drastically. "What the actual fuck? A five-star hotel has one of these things installed too?"
He quickly turned off the lights, and a small red dot appeared on his phone’s screen.
