Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities

After the three girls got the business cards, they immediately agreed to sign without Sister Hong needing to do much persuading.

It just went to show how strong an ordinary person’s dream of becoming an influencer was.

After setting up the location for the shoot, Lao Chen found Chen Jincheng explaining the filming details to Cai Xiaoyi. "Boss, the set is ready. We can start filming now."

"Mm." Chen Jincheng nodded, then asked Cai Xiaoyi, "Any problems? We’re shooting the nightclub scenes first today. Also, you’ll need to drink a little later, just enough to get tipsy."

"Okay!" Hearing she would get to drink, Cai Xiaoyi nodded eagerly. She was very excited about her first commercial in this country.

For the nightclub part of the commercial, there was one table with the girls and another with Chen Jincheng. To fill out his table, Chen Jincheng also called over Elephant, who had come to watch the fun, and a few other energetic young guys.

Lao Chen had already instructed Cai Xiaoyi’s group, "In a minute, you’re all supposed to be at a friend’s birthday party, so you need to act familiar with each other."

Cai Xiaoyi and the other girls all nodded to show they understood.

Lao Chen then went over to Chen Jincheng’s table. "Boss, you can just improvise. As for Elephant and the rest of you, just roll dice and play drinking games like you normally would at a bar."

"Don’t you worry, Lao Chen," Elephant said hurriedly.

Only then did Lao Chen raise his hand and signal the DJ booth. The DJ did his thing, and a thumping club track began to blast as multicolored neon lights bathed the room.

Lao Chen grabbed a microphone and reminded everyone, "Don’t just stand there! Get into it! Act like you’re really at a bar."

In an instant, under Lao Chen’s direction, the atmosphere in the whole bar came alive. Lao Chen started by taking a panoramic shot of the entire scene before focusing the camera on Chen Jincheng’s table.

Chen Jincheng naturally got Elephant and the others to start playing games, just like regular bar patrons.

Just as he finished a drink, he suddenly looked over at the next table, as if something there had caught his eye.

For him, this kind of performance was second nature. ’Or rather, a bar is my home turf.’

Lao Chen simultaneously panned the camera over to that spot, where a group of girls were chatting happily. The shot then zoomed in for a close-up on Cai Xiaoyi.

As the camera focused on her, Cai Xiaoyi tried to flash a brilliant smile, but Lao Chen shouted, "Cut!"

Obviously, the girl’s smile was a bit fake, and her movements were very unnatural.

It was her first time, after all.

Lao Chen immediately gave her direction. "Xiaoyi, make your smile more natural. And when you’re interacting with the others, your movements need to be smoother."

"Okay!" Cai Xiaoyi nodded.

A moment later, filming resumed, but they ran into problems again. It wasn’t just Cai Xiaoyi; the other girls were also first-timers with no experience.

Shooting a high-end commercial, after all, isn’t the same as just filming a short video.

After several more takes, Lao Chen was finally satisfied and approved the shot.

The next scene they filmed was of Chen Jincheng calling a waiter over to send a round of Soda to Cai Xiaoyi’s table. This one went smoothly.

Next up was the scene where Cai Xiaoyi had to get tipsy.

"Xiaoyi, remember, you just need to get a little tipsy," Chen Jincheng specifically reminded her.

Cai Xiaoyi nodded. ’I don’t just need to get tipsy, I need to get drunk. If I get drunk, then after the shoot is over, won’t Mr. Chen have to take me home?’

’Last time I got drunk, Mr. Chen was the one who took me home.’

’As long as Mr. Chen takes me home, then I can...’

A plan instantly hatched in the girl’s mind, and she couldn’t help but smile. She then picked up a bottle of Soda and started chugging it down.

’If I drink it fast, the kick will be stronger later.’

’Drinking like this, I’m sure to get drunk easily.’

But after one bottle of Soda, then two, then three, she started to get confused.

’Something’s wrong. I’ve had two bottles, so why don’t I feel very drunk?’

She drank another two bottles in a row. Her stomach was starting to feel bloated, but she still wasn’t the least bit drunk.

Dumbfounded, she picked up the bottle to check the alcohol content, and was instantly stunned.

’How can the alcohol content be this low?’

Cai Xiaoyi was speechless. ’How much of this do I have to drink to get drunk? My stomach can’t possibly hold that much, can it?’

She kept drinking until she was genuinely almost full, yet she still wasn’t drunk. A look of utter dejection crept over her face.

’This stuff won’t even get me drunk. My plan is a complete failure before it even started.’

Chen Jincheng noticed the girl’s condition. Her tolerance for alcohol seemed surprisingly high; even after drinking so much Soda, she still hadn’t gotten the least bit tipsy.

’It seems the batch Wang Yuan sent over is the one made specifically for bars.’

’Awkward!’

But this was also precisely why bars were willing to stock this particular Soda. Girls who could handle even a little alcohol could basically drink the bar version like a soft drink.

A table with a few girls could finish off a whole case in no time.

If the girls didn’t get drunk, the guys at the table would have no choice but to keep buying more drinks.

So, he had no choice but to have Ah Pao bring two large glasses of hard liquor for the girl to drink. Only then did she finally get tipsy enough for them to proceed with the rest of the shoot.

In her tipsy state, Cai Xiaoyi, the divorced woman from Malay, gave an even more perfect performance. The rest of the commercial was filmed in a single take for each scene.

The group finished filming the ad before dark. All that was left for tomorrow was the part where the male lead, captivated by the girl’s charming smile, tries to chat her up and gets ignored.

The only one who wasn’t happy was Cai Xiaoyi. ’My plan failed. How am I going to get another chance to drink with Mr. Chen?’

After the shoot wrapped up, Sister Hong notified the Second-Life Star employees that filming was over and that there would be a team-building dinner at a restaurant that evening.

Hearing this, Cai Xiaoyi’s eyes instantly lit up. She subconsciously asked Sister Hong, "Can we drink at the team-building dinner?"

Sister Hong looked at her with a beaming smile. "Xiaoyi, you haven’t had enough to drink yet?"

Of course, Cai Xiaoyi couldn’t very well admit that her plan to get drunk so Mr. Chen would have to take her home was back on.

However, when they got to the restaurant and sat down to eat, she sat right next to Chen Jincheng and immediately put her plan into action.

In any case, after eating a little bit of food, she started drinking. It wasn’t long before—just as everyone else was getting started—she swayed and fell right into Chen Jincheng’s arms.

Chen Jincheng was at a loss for words. ’Based on her performance at the bar, she’s not the type to pass out after so little to drink.’

His experience immediately told him she was faking it.

He even leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Don’t pretend to be drunk just yet. It’s still early, we’re not heading back so soon!"

"Mr. Chen, you’re terrible!" Cai Xiaoyi murmured resentfully, having been found out, but she continued to feign drunkenness anyway.

"I’ll take you home tonight, okay? Are you still going to pretend?" Chen Jincheng whispered again.

"Really?" Cai Xiaoyi sat up at once, her face alight with a happy surprise as she looked at him.

This time, however, Chen Jincheng didn’t answer, deciding to leave her hanging.

At the table, Sister Hong, Lao Chen, and the others had all seen the two whispering to each other just now. Although they didn’t know what they were talking about, it was clear something was up.

A moment ago, the girl had been acting drunk and leaning on him, and now she was sitting right up.

Just then, Sister Hong received a message. After reading it, she immediately reported to Chen Jincheng, "Boss, that Lin Hongxiao you told us to keep an eye on has taken the bait, just as you predicted. He posted a video to ride the hype train, and he’s still saying your liquor company’s investment is guaranteed to fail."

Hearing this, Chen Jincheng took out his phone and did a quick search, soon finding Lin Hongxiao’s video.

He then scrolled down to the comment section:

"Hahaha, Teacher Lin, Chen Jincheng must be fuming."

"Chen Jincheng posted that video just to prove Teacher Lin wrong, but it seems he doesn’t get that producing the stuff is useless. You have to be able to sell it."

"I bet Chen Jincheng’s distillery is churning out product right now. He’s going to be shocked when he finds out that nobody’s buying it except his own fans!"

"..."

It seemed Lin Hongxiao’s fans were very supportive of him. Little did they know, this was all part of Chen Jincheng’s design. He was using their "Teacher Lin" to generate even more hype and make the Soda brand go completely viral.

So, Chen Jincheng knew it was time for the next step.

’Time to thank him for all the free publicity he’s given Second-Life Star’s Soda,’ he thought. ’And also to remind him that it’s about time he quit the internet.’