Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities

「Beijing International Airport.」

Hong Tao stepped off the plane. As Kuaishou’s head of external relations, he was under strict orders this time: make contact with Chen Jincheng, gauge his stance, and report back to President Chen.

Tiao Yin already knew that Kuaishou had developed a new algorithm and had recently been trying to gather information about it.

Similarly, Kuaishou was also working at full tilt to develop its own shopping cart feature. The plan was to complete the programming within six months, spend another two months on testing, and then launch it to compete with Tiao Yin’s version.

You could say that both sides had drawn their blades and were ready for a bayonet charge at any moment.

Therefore, if Kuaishou could poach Chen Jincheng by the time their shopping cart feature launched, the combination, along with their new algorithm, would deal Tiao Yin a devastating blow.

Once he reached the taxi stand, he got in a car and gave the driver the name of the hotel arranged by Rice Group.

The hotel was bound to be bustling today. After all, the Rice Group’s mobile game Carnival was being held in the hotel’s event hall, and the dinner party hosted by President Lei and Chen Jincheng was scheduled for that evening in the banquet hall.

Hong Tao soon arrived at the hotel and saw several streamers he recognized in the lobby. He knew from the evening news that President Lei and Chen Jincheng had specifically invited streamers from Black Cat TV, so they clearly had an objective in mind.

It looked like the online rumors might be true.

Black Cat TV was in trouble.

So, Chen Jincheng was after Black Cat TV’s streamers.

If an entire platform’s worth of streamers were to join Second-Life Star, the result would be terrifying. It would make Second-Life Star an MCN company of a scale never before seen in the influencer industry.

That alone would be enough to further upset the balance of power between Tiao Yin and Kuaishou.

For some reason, he felt the pressure of his mission intensify.

He took out his phone and dialed the number for Sister Hong of Second-Life Star.

No matter what, he had to meet with Chen Jincheng first.

「Inside the hotel.」

At that moment, Chen Jincheng was hosting Xue Qian.

Furthermore, Xue Qian had brought him some news. "Lao Cheng, you should still take Jiang Xiaobai and Little Maru next month. This award is a form of recognition for your music."

"I know," Chen Jincheng said with a nod.

The Grand Music Awards was an annual ceremony celebrating the Chinese-language music scene, and it was almost unheard of for an online influencer to be nominated.

But this year was different. The quality and sales of his songs, "Can’t Help Falling in Love" and "Little Dimples," were undeniable. If they didn’t give him an award, it would be a major blow to the authority of the Grand Music Awards. The ceremony would lose its credibility, and the awards themselves would become meaningless.

Although Chen Jincheng had never claimed to be part of the music industry, and despite the dissatisfaction of many within that circle, the committee had no choice but to give him the award.

Otherwise, they would end up like certain film and television awards that completely ignore the audience’s wishes—just a clique of insiders circling the wagons and amusing themselves, which is why no one pays attention to them anymore.

But that little circle just reveled in its own world. The award’s only real function was to let someone from their clique add "Winner of the So-and-So Award" to their biography. To the outside world, it was a total joke, but they were perfectly content.

The fact that the Grand Music Awards committee was now relaying a message through Xue Qian was clearly an intentional move to give him a heads-up.

Xue Qian then remarked with a sigh, "Lao Cheng, I honestly never would have guessed. Not long ago, we were just hanging out in Sanya, and now you’re making such massive plays."

"Let’s not get into all that. The most important thing is that we’re having fun," Chen Jincheng said with a wave of his hand. "Later, let’s go check out the Rice Phone Game Carnival. Just show your face for a bit. There will be a lot of reporters today, so a big star like you can really help drum up some buzz for the event."

"Of course, no problem," Xue Qian said with a smile. He had come all this way to join in on the excitement, after all. Whether as a favor to Chen Jincheng or out of respect for President Lei, he was planning on making an appearance at the event anyway.

Just then, Sister Hong walked in. "Boss," she reported, "that guy, Hong Tao, from Kuaishou is here. He’s in the lobby and wants to see you!"

Upon hearing this, Xue Qian immediately said, "Lao Cheng, you have business to deal with. I won’t disturb you."

Chen Jincheng quickly replied, "It’s fine, Old Xue. Actually, there’s something I need your help with. When I meet with Hong Tao, I need you to act casual and film a short video. Make sure to get both of us in the shot. The main goal is to let people see that I’m meeting with him."

His reason for doing this, of course, was to send a message to Tiao Yin.

After all, he was about to absorb more than 6,000 streamers from Black Cat TV. He would have to promote them, and that would require a massive amount of traffic.

If he wanted Tiao Yin to be more cooperative at a time like this, he first had to make them feel the pressure.

Meeting with Hong Tao from Kuaishou would achieve that purpose.

Besides, not all of the 6,000-plus streamers from Black Cat TV were a good fit for Tiao Yin. Some could be sent to Kuaishou, where he could establish a branch guild.

This was a common practice for many 5-star Guilds.

For example, in his previous life, the top-ranked Wuyou Media claimed to have signed over 100,000 creators. They couldn’t all be on Tiao Yin; instead, they were spread across platforms like Tiao Yin, Kuaishou, Weibo, Taobao Live, Penguin NOW, and others.

Now that Second-Life Star was about to absorb those 6,000 streamers from Black Cat TV, it would certainly have to do the same.

For now, the only platforms he could truly influence were Tiao Yin and Kuaishou, so focusing on just those two would be enough.

And his plans for Kuaishou would have to be set in motion through Hong Tao.

’Besides,’ he thought, ’if you, Kuaishou, want to poach my people, shouldn’t you show a little sincerity? Shouldn’t you be willing to give some traffic to the streamers who move over?’