Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities

Lei Xiaojun already had over 20 million followers, so any video he posted was bound to attract significant attention. But considering who he was, a video about a major event would create an instant uproar.

Especially since for the past week, the entire internet had been fixated on the news of his 3 billion financing deal for a 20% stake in Second-Life Star.

The video showed him shaking hands with Chen Jincheng, and with a title like "Partners from now on," it almost instantly blew up Tiao Yin.

Moreover, with all the online hype, Rice Group naturally wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. They used it to their advantage, feeding the story to the media. In an instant, headlines like "Chen Jincheng and President Lei Finalize 3 Billion Financing Project at Rice Group" were everywhere.

And just like that, the story became about Rice Group.

After all, the deal was signed at Rice Group’s headquarters, right?

So, Rice Group was determined to get its share of this wave of popularity.

But this completely blew up the internet. The hype skyrocketed, and the story instantly shot to the top of the trending lists. Everyone who saw it was utterly shocked, especially the ones who had previously refused to believe the online rumors were true.

The most embarrassed, of course, were the investment bloggers who had posted videos on the subject.

Take Da Lan Yi, for example. He had already written his resignation letter. For the past week, he had been riding the coattails of the Chen Jincheng incident, gaining a ton of traffic and a decent number of new followers.

He thought he could make a living doing this, so he didn’t want to be a wage slave any longer.

He was on his way to the manager’s office, resignation letter in hand, when he suddenly heard a coworker exclaim, "Something huge just broke online! Quick, check Boss Lei’s Tiao Yin! He finalized the financing with Chen Jincheng! The rumors were true all along!"

Her words instantly sent the surrounding office into an uproar.

"I saw Boss Lei’s Tiao Yin post too. It’s really unbelievable."

"I can’t believe Boss Lei would actually spend 3 billion for a 20% stake in Second-Life Star."

"What kind of Magic Power did Chen Jincheng use to get Boss Lei to agree to this?"

"Those investment bloggers are going to look like complete fools this time!"

All at once, many people in the office looked over in Da Lan Yi’s direction.

Da Lan Yi was completely stunned. He awkwardly scurried to the bathroom, ducked into a stall to hide, and immediately pulled out his phone. Sure enough, there was Boss Lei’s video.

’He actually agreed?’

’Does that boss have a screw loose?’

Da Lan Yi simply couldn’t wrap his head around it. He hurriedly deleted all the videos he’d made about Chen Jincheng over the past week. But even so, he could see his follower count plummeting and mocking private messages flooding in.

"I thought you actually knew what you were talking about. Turns out you’re just another Lin Hongxiao."

"None of you investment bloggers have any real substance, do you?"

"..."

Da Lan Yi was devastated. His path to becoming an influencer was cut short. It seemed he wasn’t cut out for this line of work after all.

He glanced at the resignation letter in his hand, hastily tore it to shreds, and flushed it down the toilet. ’Thank god I didn’t quit,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known how to pay next month’s rent.’

It wasn’t just Da Lan Yi who was having a meltdown; this time, most of the investment bloggers were, too. It was a total wipeout.

None of them could understand how something so utterly impossible had actually happened.

How could a 20% stake in an MCN company that was only a 3-star Guild be worth 3 billion?

’Did Boss Lei mistake 3 billion for 300 million?’

In reality, it wasn’t just these so-called investment bloggers who were in disbelief. Many bosses of major corporations couldn’t believe the news either.

An MCN, a company that develops internet celebrities, isn’t even on par with a traditional talent agency. It was hard to imagine how such a company could possibly have a valuation of 15 billion.

But they all knew Boss Lei was no fool. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to build such a massive enterprise. Therefore, there had to be some inside information they weren’t privy to.

And regardless of what that information was, Chen Jincheng was clearly the key.

However, Chen Jincheng wasn’t in their industry, so there was no need for them to dig any deeper.

But for Tiao Yin and Kuaishou, it was a different story.

Chen Jincheng’s Second-Life Star was, after all, in their industry.

「Tiao Yin.」

When Boss Lei’s video was published, Han Shangyou was in the middle of an emergency meeting.

Lately, Kuaishou’s attempts to poach their talent had become increasingly blatant and undisguised. More importantly, they had finally figured out why Kuaishou was suddenly making a move against Tiao Yin.

Han Shangyou said with a frown, "So, you’re saying that after they acquired AcFun, they integrated their resources and developed a new algorithm? Is that why they’re starting to go head-to-head with us?"

A department head nodded. "That’s right. And this algorithm is indeed very powerful. While it hasn’t affected Tiao Yin’s daily active users yet, we’ve received word that Kuaishou’s daily active users are on the rise, and their downloads and new registrations have seen a marked increase recently."

"Of all the times for this to happen!" Han Shangyou was clearly in a foul mood upon hearing this news. After all, Tiao Yin had just launched its shopping cart feature. The data from video-based sales had shown significant improvement recently, and they had thought they could deal a crushing blow to Kuaishou.

But now, an unexpected variable had been thrown into the mix.

Just then, his assistant rushed in. "President Han, big news! The story about President Lei investing 3 billion for a 20% stake in Second-Life Star... it’s true."

The words hung in the air, silencing the conference room for a moment before an uproar of shock erupted.

Han Shangyou asked instinctively, "Where did you hear that?"

The assistant answered immediately, "President Lei posted a video on his Tiao Yin account. Plus, someone has already gotten confirmation directly from Rice Group."

"Is President Lei insane?" Han Shangyou completely lost his composure and shot to his feet.

Something like this felt like a dream.

But he quickly realized something: with President Lei’s investment, it seemed Second-Life Star could no longer be viewed as just a simple MCN company.