Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 88 - 86: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
Sister Feiye wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on the changes in Yinyin’s data on the advertising leaderboard; it had long since caught the attention of many others. After all, she only had one ad, yet the advertising fee kept climbing. It was clearly illogical.
The influencers who had been surpassed in the rankings were all calling Tiao Yin one after another to ask about the situation.
But they all undoubtedly received the same news: there was nothing wrong with Yinyin’s data.
Moreover, word got out that Second-Life Star’s advertising contracts were different from the standard ones, which shocked everyone.
What kind of contract could possibly earn 1.5 million from a single ad?
For them, this was absolutely staggering—something they wouldn’t even dare to imagine.
In contrast to the buzz online, the time came for Second-Life Star’s celebration banquet to wrap up. After all, many of the girls still had to livestream, and others needed to head to the bar for their shifts.
"Brother Cheng, we’ll head to Extreme Bar first and wait for you there."
In the restaurant lobby, Yijin made sure to call out to Chen Jincheng. The five of them had booked a private room at Extreme Bar early that morning, and they were just waiting to go find some girls to party with.
"Okay, I’ll be over a little later," Chen Jincheng nodded.
After getting his reply, Yijin and his friends walked smilingly toward a few of the girls from Second-Life Star—the very same five from their private room the day before. They were eager to go to the bar again today, and it was obviously for the girls.
The girls met them halfway. One of them smilingly linked her arm with Yijin’s and said in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Yijin, try not to get drunk so quickly tonight."
"Just you watch. Last night, I was just being careless," Yijin said, his confidence returning instantly.
"I’ll be watching." A smile played on the girl’s lips. ’Honestly, he’s the type who’s terrible but loves to play. He’s exactly the kind of customer I like best. For one, he’s easy to fool, and for another, he reserves a table, so the money is easy to make.’
The table reservation fee for other girls at the bar was 1,314, but since they were signed with Second-Life Star and had gained a lot of fans from their videos, their price was higher: 2,000.
’It’s not that I haven’t noticed he’s trying to get with me. I’ve also looked into his type—a ’clip’ blogger who runs a studio. The successful ones are actually a pretty good catch. In a few days, when Sister Hong arranges for our group to start livestreaming, he might even be able to help me.’
Chen Jincheng took in the scene. How could he not see what both sides were thinking?
’From the looks of it, though, Yijin and his friends are completely outmatched by these girls. Of course, if they manage to seize the opportunity and cash in on the first wave of clip monetization benefits after the ’little yellow cart’ goes live, then the girls will put on a master-class performance of acting like they’ve been completely won over.’
"Junior Sister, I’ll take you home," Chen Jincheng said to Lin Leqing, who was beside him.
’It wasn’t that he lacked social graces by not inviting her to the bar for a bit. He had no choice. Outside the restaurant, Jiang Xiaobai was pretending to fiddle with her hair, but her eyes were glued in his direction. Her intentions were self-evident.’
’He had promised her yesterday.’
"Okay, thank you, Senior Brother." Lin Leqing nodded obediently. ’In truth, she was a little disappointed that her Senior Brother had made plans to go to a bar with people and hadn’t even asked if she wanted to come.’
’However, she didn’t ask, lest her Senior Brother misunderstand and think she was the type who liked to party at bars.’
Chen Jincheng led Lin Leqing out of the restaurant and looked at Jiang Xiaobai, who was still putting on an act. He asked teasingly, "Can’t get a ride?"
"Yeah!" Jiang Xiaobai readily played along, nodding as she trotted to his side. "There are hardly any cars around here. I can’t get one."
"Come with us, then. I’ll take my junior sister home first." A half-smile played on Chen Jincheng’s lips; he was perfectly aware of the girl’s little scheme. He then led the two of them toward his BMW 5 Series.
Ah Pao was already waiting by the car. Seeing him approach, he immediately greeted him respectfully, "Boss."
"Let’s go." Chen Jincheng handed the keys to Ah Pao, then got into the back seat with the two girls, naturally positioning himself between them.
’He’d been recognized by a designated driver before, so he was being more careful about this sort of thing. If he ran into someone with ill intentions who decided to film or record him, it could lead to trouble. It was better to have Ah Pao, his head of security, drive. If any real trouble started, Ah Pao’s build made him the muscle, too.’
Ah Pao immediately got into the driver’s seat. ’He was more than willing to be called over to drive for the boss. It was a sign of his boss’s trust.’
’As the bar’s business got better and better, his own status as the head of security was also on the rise. When an opportunity to impress the boss came up, he naturally had to seize it.’
Soon, the car arrived at a hotel. After Lin Leqing got out, Chen Jincheng said with a smile, "Junior Sister, get some rest!"
Lin Leqing hummed in agreement and replied, "You get some rest too, Senior Brother!"
As the car started moving again, Jiang Xiaobai leaned against Chen Jincheng without any hesitation, deliberately getting close to his ear to whisper, "I’m not going to let you rest too early."
Chen Jincheng just smiled and let her lean against him.
They soon arrived at Extreme Bar. After getting out of the car, Chen Jincheng entered the bar’s backstage area through the staff entrance. Since Jiang Xiaobai’s one-hour DJ set hadn’t started yet, he took her to Yijin’s group’s private room to hang out for a while.
When the bar’s stage manager gave the notice, Jiang Xiaobai finally looked at him and said, "Wait an hour for me. Don’t call anyone else."
"Okay," Chen Jincheng nodded.
Only then did the girl head to the main floor, satisfied.
Before long, Chen Jincheng saw someone post a video of the wild scene in the bar’s group chat.
The appearance of the influencer DJ, Jiang Xiaobai, was causing a sensation among the patrons.
He also left the private room and watched for a moment from a side entrance. The atmosphere was indeed electric.
The girl was on stage, dancing and spinning tracks, while the floor below was packed with patrons, every one of them holding up a phone to film her.
This was precisely why so many bars wanted to hire influencers for live events, and why many high-end bars even wanted to develop their own influencer DJs or resident singers.
An hour passed quickly. After receiving a message from Jiang Xiaobai that she was finished, Chen Jincheng took her from the bar and had Ah Pao drive them to Xilin District, where she lived.
The moment they entered the elevator in her residential complex, the girl dropped all her inhibitions and softly wrapped herself around his arm.
...
In contrast to the fierce battle Chen Jincheng was just beginning, Yinyin’s video finally broke three million likes late that night, and the advertising revenue increased once more, reaching two million.
These numbers sent everyone into an uproar, especially the influencers who were following the advertising leaderboard.
They had never imagined that a single ad from an influencer could command such a massive fee.
How on earth did Second-Life Star manage it?
After finishing her stream, Yinyin saw the data for her ad video and was naturally thrilled. She immediately called her boss’s number to share the good news and, while she was at it, to thank him properly by buying him some Goji Gain Tea.
Unfortunately, she called three times in a row, but no one answered.
’The boss probably drank too much and fell asleep.’
Meanwhile, even late into the night, Sister Feiye and her team were still monitoring the advertising leaderboard. When she saw Yinyin’s video surpass three million likes and the ad fee increase once again, she lost any shred of wishful thinking.
The gap between that and her own 2.8 million in total revenue from seven ads was now only 800,000.
’At this rate, there’s no doubt their video will break five million likes. Perhaps by tomorrow morning, she’d wake up to see that Yinyin’s revenue from a single ad had surpassed the total from her own seven.’
’The blow was just too great.’
The members of her team could see how dejected she was, and someone quickly tried to console her. "Sister Feiye, we still have three more ads we can launch soon. We’ll push harder these next few days to lock down a few more deals, especially with those partners we passed on before. We can re-contact them. Even if she breaks five million likes and gets a three-million-dollar ad fee, her total revenue can’t possibly surpass yours."
"But don’t you find that ironic?" Sister Feiye sighed. To win, she had to rely on a whole slew of ads just to beat their one. Even if she kept the top spot, it was a total defeat.
’The key thing was, in order to win, she’d have to promote the problematic products she had already rejected. That would damage her own brand value and could blow up in her face at any moment.’
Her words left the team members momentarily at a loss for a reply.
Because it was, indeed, very ironic.
For instance, even though Sister Feiyan’s 2.8 million was still higher than Yinyin’s 2 million, many people were already mocking her, saying her top spot was undeserved. Some even brought up Second-Life Star’s other influencer, Jiang Xiaobai, and her pajama ad, directly calling Sister Feiye a joke.
Sister Feiye finally sighed again. "It seems becoming a top-tier influencer is out of my reach for now. Help me contact Second-Life Star. Ask them if they’re still signing talent!"
"???"
"???"
"???"
Hearing her words, the team members all froze in unison, stunned.
’What did she mean by that?’
