Chapter 23: 023

Chapter 23

When they used to gather together, those two rarely talked about their own affairs to accommodate Jiang Juyou, who was far removed from their circle, because Jiang Juyou wouldn't understand. But now things were different - it seemed Jiang Juyou could speak even more knowledgeably than them.

"It depends on whether you want to become famous or if you truly enjoy acting. If you really like acting, you might want to temporarily give up commercial films and switch to art house films instead."

"Find roles that fit your image. Art house directors prefer actors who aren't too different from their characters, so you'd be better off gaining experience there first."

"Once you've built up some skills, you can return to commercial films starting with small roles."

"If you want to start earning money and increasing your commercial value, you'll need to put more effort into your appearance. But it's best not to get any fillers or surgery - just lose some more weight and take better care of your skin. You can start by taking on some minor roles, which will make it easier to promote yourself when the show airs."

After Jiang Juyou finished analyzing her sister's potential career path, she noticed the other two staring at her with slightly slack jaws and dazed expressions.

Jiang Tang put down her chopsticks, abandoning her meal, and exclaimed dramatically: "My goodness, what on earth have you been through these past two months?"

Jiang Liuxing also marveled, "To think that my second sister used to not even know who the top celebrities were... Work really does change a person beyond recognition. I guess I'd better apply for graduate school after all."

Jiang Juyou had just told them that she had joined a new company, where initially it was just her and the boss. The boss was a rich second-generation heir who later found it too troublesome and handed over management of the company to her.

This story would be far-fetched in any other industry, but in the entertainment world, anything was possible. So the other two believed it.

Jiang Juyou had gone from having no interest in the entertainment industry to becoming an executive producer, which must have taken considerable effort.

Hearing her sisters speak like this, Jiang Juyou was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. She wrapped her arms around the two of them in a friendly gesture, putting on the verge of tears, and wailed dramatically, "You have no idea what I've been through these past two months!"

She wanted to pour out her woes, but there were so many hardships she'd endured that she didn't know where to begin.

"Knock knock-" The waiter delivering food knocked on the door outside.

The three sisters who had been hugging immediately sat up straight, acting as if nothing had happened.

Indeed, there was a reason they could be sisters without fighting.

None of them were quite normal.

-

On a beautiful sunny morning, Jiang Tang had just finished negotiating her contract termination with the company and walked out feeling light and free.

However, those who managed to terminate their contracts peacefully like her were in the minority. Several others planned to sue the company, claiming it had failed to release albums as stipulated in their contracts, wasting their youth.

They had wanted Jiang Tang to join them, but she had already found her next opportunity, so naturally had no time to get involved.

To be honest, Jiang Tang felt that having food and accommodation provided in a place like Beijing, along with a monthly salary of over 4,000 yuan, was already quite good. She even thought the company was admirable for being honest and letting them go early. There were plenty of companies in the entertainment industry that would drain people dry.

But she wouldn't criticize her teammates either, because those were indeed losses they had suffered.

She returned to the dormitory to pack her things, planning to move out. Jiang Juyou couldn't provide accommodation right away, so she would have to stay with Jiang Liuxing for now.

Jiang Liuxing had a studio, and since school hadn't started yet, she was living there. Jiang Tang could squeeze in with her for the time being.

After exiting the elevator, Jiang Tang rummaged in her bag for her keys. When she opened the door and entered, she saw that the suitcases that should have been in the bedroom had been piled up in the living room. One snakeskin bag hadn't even been zipped up, with clothes spilling out onto the floor.

"..."

She took a moment to compose herself, saying nothing, and simply went over to put the clothes back in the bag.

All the bedroom doors were closed, so Jiang Tang didn't go in. She just sat on a suitcase, having called for a van to take all her things to Jiang Liuxing's place.

As she waited, she could hear laughter coming from the bedrooms.

"Sigh..." Jiang Tang let out a long breath, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Jiang Liuxing, who was tidying up the bedroom in her studio, looked around at her handiwork with satisfaction.

She had rented an empty villa, which offered better value for money than an office building or regular apartment. Plus, it was unfurnished, so she had invested in some basic painting and renovations herself, making it even cheaper.

The office spaces were on the first and second floors, while Jiang Liuxing lived in the basement. The basement wasn't very large, with about half of it taken up by the garage. The remaining two rooms were just right for her and her sister to have one each. Jiang Tang could come in directly through the garage, and there was even a car she could use if needed.

This room had been empty before, filled with Jiang Liuxing's deliveries. She had spent all of yesterday cleaning it out, and early this morning she'd gone to IKEA to buy things for her sister. She had only just finished now.

Because it was underground, the air didn't circulate well, so Jiang Liuxing had bought an air purifier. But that was one she'd bought before; the one she'd ordered this morning hadn't arrived yet, so she put her own in her sister's room for now.

Finally able to sit down and rest, Jiang Liuxing sent a message to the group chat: "I've finished tidying up. Sis, when will you get here?"

"Jiang Tang Will Definitely Be Famous Next Year: Just got in the car, probably about an hour and a half."

"Liuxing is the Purple Forbidden Star: OK, let me know when you're close."

At the same time, Jiang Juyou was in a conference room having a meeting with her employees.

The performance department had confirmed two shows, one at the end of October two months from now, and one in early November. They only needed to report progress on subsequent ones.

The main topic today was various marketing strategies for the next public performance. She had discussed it with the marketing department last week, and they were now implementing it.

"In terms of app marketing, our idea is to mainly promote collection and distribution of items. The domestic entertainment circle is dominated by actors, while the idol circle is more active with overseas groups, which has attracted a large number of fans domestically as well. So promoting this aspect would be more suitable."

"Combined with the ideas you proposed last week, we can organize an event. As for implementing album sales, we're pushing forward on that front and will report back to you when there are updates on the status."

Jiang Juyou nodded after listening, then turned to look at the new talent department, waiting for them to speak.

"...Regarding the trainees, we recorded videos last Friday and have divided them into classes based on the current situation of the trainees. Here's the list."

"Eight new trainees joined this week, bringing the total number of trainees to twenty..."

In the early stages, most of the trainees were from Beijing. Even after many others joined later, over half of the trainees were still from Beijing.

Jiang Juyou looked at the list, getting a general understanding of how the classes were divided. She touched her eyebrow, calculating the performance time if all these people went on stage, then frowned slightly after finishing her calculations.

"Tell the trainees that the number of group stages remains unchanged. Solo stages will be determined based on the preliminary check two weeks from now. There's a quota of seven people, meaning out of twenty trainees, only seven will be able to showcase solo stages. Tell them to practice hard. Anyone who ranks at the bottom three times in a row will have their contract terminated."

At the mention of contract termination, everyone in the room looked at her with furrowed brows.

Jiang Juyou always smiled at the employees, appearing to have a gentle personality. But when it came to the trainees, she was like a vicious wolf, extremely fierce.

Those seated at the scene were all worried for the trainees. It was really too harsh.

"Alright, that's all for today's meeting... Oh right, tell HR to headhunt an artist manager to join us." Jiang Juyou said as she prepared to stand up. The others all looked at her, momentarily frozen in place.

Previously, the company hadn't signed any artists, so there was no talent management department. Now, hearing the boss say this, it seemed the company was about to have its own artists soon.

The employees exchanged glances, slightly excited.

-

To understand the fate of ordinary people, just look at the commuters on the subway.

Every time Jiang Juyou rode the subway, she felt like a worker ant in an ant colony. She lived not to realize her own dreams, but to realize someone else's dreams. Going in and out of the subway early morning and late night, earning that meager salary just to survive.

Especially since this subway line was heading towards their school, Jiang Juyou's mood became even worse.

The three great tribulations of her life: returning to school, make-up classes, and going back to work.

After exiting the subway station, a blast of hot air hit her face. Jiang Juyou closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "...Why do we still have mandatory courses in senior year?"

She trudged towards the school with heavy steps, but after a few paces, she started running. "Ahhh! I'm going to be late!"

Jiang Juyou ran towards the teaching building with her backpack on, cursing as she ran, "Why doesn't this stupid school allow shared bikes on campus?!"

Until yesterday, she had been the capable executive producer at her company, but today she was reduced to a miserable senior returning to school, and even worse, the kind of weak college student who could barely run a few steps without feeling like she might die.

In this scorching heat, she was panting heavily when she suddenly stopped in front of an advertisement board, taking a couple of steps back.

"Galaxy Random Dance Event..." Jiang Juyou was surprised to see her company's advertisement at her school. She vaguely remembered hearing about it during a recent meeting - apparently, due to budget constraints, they could only do offline promotions.

Jiang Juyou wiped the sweat from her forehead, then realized, "Isn't that today?"

The second public performance was scheduled for this afternoon. Jiang Juyou had classes in the morning, so she'd have to rush back right after her class ended.

Thinking about this, Jiang Juyou was once again reminded of why she was at school, "Ahh! Now I'm really going to be late!"

In university classrooms, it's not uncommon for students to arrive just in time. As Jiang Juyou went upstairs, she saw a crowd of people waiting for the elevator. Afraid of being late, she had no choice but to dash to the stairs and climb up quickly.

Halfway up, she ran into a familiar face.

"Hey! Jiegeng!" Only her roommates called her by that nickname.

The one calling her was Jiang Juyou's bunk mate, Liu Yue. Like Jiang Juyou, she had a backpack on, but she was carrying her books in her arms.

Seeing Jiang Juyou dripping with sweat, Liu Yue held out her small fan to her, "Don't rush, it's okay if you're late. A lot of people took the day off and didn't come."

Hearing this, Jiang Juyou, still panting, asked, "...We can do that?"

"No, you'll lose participation points," Liu Yue said as they walked together, then added, "I'm not confident about the final exam later, so I can only rely on participation points to save me. That's why I didn't dare to skip."

After hearing this, Jiang Juyou's enthusiasm deflated, "Forget it, I'm not confident either."

The two of them slowly climbed up, and when they found the classroom, they discovered that the teacher hadn't arrived yet. Jiang Juyou let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."

The other two girls from their dorm had already arrived and saved them seats. They waved at Jiang Juyou, "Jiegeng! Over here!"

Before the two could even sit down, the other two suggested, "Let's get together later, it's been so long since we've seen each other."

"Sure!" Liu Yue agreed readily, but added, "I have something at 2 PM though, so I can only have lunch."

"Let's just eat at the school cafeteria, we both have things in the afternoon too... I want to eat spicy pot."

"I want to eat skewers from the third floor."

"It's so hot, who wants to eat skewers?!"

Jiang Juyou raised her hand and said, "I can't, sisters. I have to rush back to the company right after class."

"Didn't you take the day off?"

"...I did."

"Don't tell me your company only allowed you to take three hours off?"

"What a terrible company!"

After complaining, they said, "Alright, we'll meet up next time. Today it'll just be us three."

Returning to campus as a working professional isn't as simple as it seems. During class, Jiang Juyou had to keep lowering her head to reply to messages. Fortunately, even when the teacher noticed, they didn't say anything, allowing her to endure one class in the air-conditioned room.

After class, Jiang Juyou left immediately. The other three didn't even have a chance to say goodbye before she had disappeared.

"Do you know where Jiegeng works?"

"No idea, she's never mentioned it."

"Alright, I'll chat with her privately later. If her company isn't good, let's get her to come work with us. At least she could slack off a bit."

At this point, Liu Yue had packed up her bag and stood up. The other two shifted their attention to her, "Hey! What are you doing after lunch? Are you going back to work too?"

"I'm not working. The internship certificate was arranged by my family. There's a random dance event in the afternoon that I want to check out." Liu Yue held her bag protectively; it contained her camera, and she couldn't risk it getting bumped or knocked.

"Where?"

Their dorm consisted of three fangirls and one ordinary person surviving in the entertainment circle.

Jiang Juyou's older sister and younger sister were an artist and a fan site admin respectively. In their dorm, her bunkmate was a fan of international groups, while the other two followed domestic celebrities. Her previous life could be described as passing through the entire world of domestic entertainment.

Liu Yue was the one who followed international artists. During the summer break, she had been abroad attending concerts, visiting seven or eight countries. If it weren't for the start of the semester, she wouldn't have come back.

The other two followed domestic celebrities, but mainly through screens, rarely attending offline events.

"It's here..." Liu Yue took out her phone to show them the address.

The other two looked and laughed, "What a coincidence!"

The address showed the three characters for Galaxy, which was also where they were planning to go.

-

As the performance time approached, it wasn't just the trainees who were anxious and nervous, but also Jiang Juyou.

She hadn't slept well the night before, and today she had been rushing back and forth. Before the performance even started, she was already at her limit.

Feeling a bit hypoglycemic, Jiang Juyou was replenishing her sugar levels backstage at the venue. Several department heads were also sitting together, discussing the commotion in the building next door.

Li Yao handed her phone to Jiang Juyou, showing her, "I just took this next door. There are quite a lot of people."

"Of course, just look at how hard we worked on the promotions," Zhao Xu boasted a bit.

If you can't lead a team, you end up having to do everything yourself. After the company got on track, Jiang Juyou gradually delegated her tasks to others. For this second public performance marketing, she proposed a plan and left the implementation to her subordinates.

While the marketing department was brainstorming promotional strategies, the A&R department also provided significant help.

The layout of the Galaxy building was such that the first to third floors were connected, allowing people to see the activities on the first floor from above, but the fourth floor was enclosed like the fifth floor.

The first floor had been set up as a suitable venue for random dance events. The second floor was for selling domestic and international albums and merchandise. The third floor had been set up as a pop-up store.

This idea came from Zhao Xu. She had contacted the Beijing fan club of a top domestic celebrity to set up a photo spot for fans. It was filled with characters the male superstar had played, and to make it easier for fans to take photos, they even made 3D chibi versions of the characters. They even had staff members walking around the third floor in mascot costumes.

The fourth floor was another plan. The contact person was Yang Siyu, who reached out to some well-connected international fan site admins and organized an exhibition in their name on the fourth floor. She also contacted major domestic fan forums for promotion.

Basically, each floor had its own event, so it would be strange if they didn't attract a crowd.

When Jiang Juyou assigned this task, the three of them immediately understood her intention.

To be honest, there's only a limited number of fans online, with the only real divide being between domestic and international entertainment circles. Within these two circles, most people have more than one favorite, not to mention numerous casual interests.

Although the circles are different, fans share a common characteristic: they love to make friends. Just open the Weibo of any fan, and you'll find they have many mutually following fan circle friends.

This was their target.

Jiang Juyou had the same idea. One goal was to promote the Galaxy World app, and the other was to promote the trainees.

At this time, many employees in Galaxy mall were wearing uniforms, introducing the Weibo repost lottery for free purchases and the app download lottery for free purchases to surrounding fans, while also sneaking in promotions for the 5 PM performance next door.

The staff member explained, "...One more thing, after you leave the mall, if you walk left along the building, you'll see a concert venue. There's a free public performance you can watch there. The performance starts at 5 PM. If you're interested, you can take a look while the random dance event hasn't started yet."

This kind of viral promotion spread like a virus, generating much more exposure than simply doing giveaways on Weibo. Their Weibo friend circles were all real people after all.

Of course, all the free gift activities so far were just side events. The main goal was still the afternoon performance.

After watching the video, Jiang Juyou waved over to a staff member nearby. "For today's afternoon performance, you don't need to be as strict. As long as people aren't too blatantly holding up their phones to film, just let it go."

The plan was good, but whether things would go according to her wishes was another matter entirely.

For the first performance, she had felt no pressure - after all, it couldn't possibly be that bad. But this time was different. Any lack of progress would be seen as a step backwards.

Her current mood was no less anxious than the trainees waiting backstage before their first performance. She felt so nervous she could throw up at any moment.

The others sitting on the couch with her seemed much more relaxed. They were chatting and laughing, even trying to comfort Jiang Juyou.

At this moment, Jiang Juyou only wished she was just a regular employee. If only she was working for someone else, it wouldn't matter if things went well or poorly. She could just collect her monthly salary and be done with it.

"Hah..." She was getting more and more anxious the more she thought about it.

Over there, the random dance activity was scheduled to start at 3 PM. After lunchtime, more and more people began gathering at the venue.

Liu Yue and her two friends who had rushed over from school were also at the scene, though they were currently on the second floor.

"There are quite a lot of people."

"These random dance events always draw big crowds, especially on a Friday."

"But wouldn't there be even more people on Saturday or Sunday?"

"Of course, I wonder why they chose to do it on a Friday."

The two of them leaned against the railing, watching the big screen hanging in the distance that was playing music videos. Beside them, Liu Yue sat in a chair, taking out two talisman cards and starting to pray.

The other two were fans of actors and hadn't seen this kind of scene much before. Besides Liu Yue, there were some other fans at the venue. They were all like Liu Yue, holding the albums they had just bought with a somewhat superstitious air.

"Please, even if it's not my bias, at least don't let me draw the one from that company that can't sell albums," Liu Yue finished her prayer and reverently took out a plastic knife to cut open the album packaging.

The two leaning on the railing turned to watch her.

After flipping to the photocard, Liu Yue didn't rush to look at it. Instead, she placed it face down on the table and tapped it with the talisman card, continuing to mutter under her breath.

The two standing there commented loud enough for Liu Yue to hear: "Who says C-ent fans are crazy? Looks like everyone's just as bad."

"Lol, can you pray to the Virgin Mary and Guanyin Bodhisattva at the same time?"

"Is there any point in praying now? Tapping it won't change what the photocard looks like."

"It's probably just for peace of mind."

"Lower your voice, she might hear us."

Liu Yue opened her eyes. "...I already heard you."

The two burst out laughing and urged her on, "Hurry and open it!"

Taking a deep breath, Liu Yue flipped over the card. "...Ahhhhhhh fuck!"

Bad news: It wasn't her bias, but her rival group.

Good news: The rival group's card was very expensive.

The two chatty C-ent fans crowded around again, rubbing salt in Liu Yue's wound.

"Who's this?"

"He's pretty good looking."

"He looks so familiar, feel like I've seen him somewhere before."

"Judging by her expression, it's probably not her bias."

"Could it be from a rival group?"

"Oh I remember now, the table next door just bought one of these for 120 yuan."

Liu Yue closed her eyes: "..."

She quickly packed up her things, trying to change the subject from the photocard. "Let's go, I heard there's a pop-up store for a top C-ent star upstairs." She shouldered her bag, ready to leave.

The two behind her each chimed in:

"That's my rival group."

"That's my least favorite group."

Liu Yue: "..."

The two of them came up and put their arms around Liu Yue. "But we can go to the fifth floor. I heard it's really cheap up there. We'll come back down with you at 3 to watch the random dance, but remember you have to come with us to see the performance at 5!"

What else could Liu Yue say? They had already planned out her whole afternoon schedule. :)

Unlike those random events held in shopping malls, this place was a true haven for fan culture. There were no clueless passersby or disruptive children. Here, if you looked carefully, you could tell people's fan allegiances just from how they dressed. This feeling of being surrounded by like-minded people gave the fans who came to participate an extraordinary sense of satisfaction.

As it neared 3 PM, the first floor was already packed. Staff members were checking equipment, and a ring of people stood around the cordoned-off area. There were even people leaning over the railings to watch from the upper floors.

The big screen hanging between the second and third floors was still playing music videos. Everyone looked up watching, and when one song ended, a sudden countdown began: "3! 2! 1!"

The unexpected start elicited cheers. When the music began, people immediately rushed towards the center, with many joining in to sing along.

The atmosphere of youthful abandon was truly wonderful. After each song ended, the crowd would cheer and applaud.

Liu Yue's roommate standing next to her urged, "Why don't you go down there?"

Liu Yue: "...You're only just now realizing I have no coordination?"

"Then why did you come?" Her roommate's head tilted in confusion.

Liu Yue answered: "Just to soak in the atmosphere!" She turned to look at the person next to her, "Don't you think the atmosphere here is great? It makes me feel so much better."

The other person nodded, "That's true."

Even though the two C-ent fans hadn't heard most of these songs before, they still stayed to watch with Liu Yue for a long time. The screen would also show music videos, and the two of them were like curious children, asking the name of every good-looking person they saw.

When it came time for this year's hit song, whether on the ground floor or upper levels, everyone burst into a massive singalong. The atmosphere reached its peak.

The two who had originally just come to keep Liu Yue company also started swaying to the music, their playlists growing richer in the process.

Meanwhile, backstage at the venue, final rehearsals were underway. No one had organized it, but as soon as school let out, the trainees had rushed over and gathered in the practice room of their own accord. Gao Xiayu was calling out the beat, fine-tuning their dance moves.

The solo stage lineup for the second public performance wasn't much different from the first. The only change was that last time anyone who could participate did, while this time it was based on rankings. Only the trainees ranked 1st to 7th could perform their solo stages.

Gao Xiayu was 7th, with even Ye Xing ranked ahead of him.

"Ye Xing, your angle is wrong. Open your arms more." Gao Xiayu said coldly, looking at Ye Xing.

Ye Xing, who had been called out, nervously rubbed his fingertips, then adjusted his pose as instructed. He also said, "Sorry."

When they moved on to the next move, Ye Xing was called out again.

"Ye Xing, straighten your arms. If you can't straighten them it looks really bad on camera."

Ye Xing explained: "I did straighten them, it's because of the clothes." He was wearing a baggy long-sleeved shirt today, and the sleeves bunched up, making it hard to see his movements clearly.

After hearing the explanation, Gao Xiayu said nothing and continued calling out the beat. But Ye Xing was singled out yet again.

"Ye Xing, don't just fling your arms out when you swing them. You need to hit a pose at the end. Your muscle control is terrible."

"I'm sorry..."

There were so many trainees present, and aside from Chi Qiao and Gao Xiayu who had good muscle control, the others were all more or less the same. Even an idiot could tell Gao Xiayu was targeting Ye Xing.

But the others just glanced back at Ye Xing without saying anything.

This time the group performance was divided into several small teams. Their team had five people, with Gao Xiayu as the leader in charge of choreography and formations.

Apart from the two lines Ye Xing sang in the center, he spent the rest of the time in the corner.

Everyone could see what was going on, but they couldn't say it was wrong, because Ye Xing's skills really weren't up to par.

A week ago during the preliminary check, just like at the actual performance, they didn't give feedback right away. Instead, they had the trainees wait in another room while the producers and teachers stayed behind to discuss who would get to perform solos.

While waiting, the trainees speculated among themselves.

"If they're only letting seven people perform, does that mean there will only be seven debut spots?"

"It's very likely."

"I don't think I'll make it this time. I messed up one move earlier."

"Don't even mention it, I just cracked on a high note."

Ye Xing, whose performance wasn't particularly impressive, felt he had no hope this time. So he sat in the corner, quietly waiting for the staff to come and announce the results.

About twenty minutes later, a staff member came to announce the results, even posting the rankings from this evaluation.

But there was one that didn't match the previously announced results - it was Ye Xing's ranking.

"Sister, is this a mistake? Ye Xing was sixth, but here he's ranked eleventh," Chen Wu asked, pointing at the list. The other trainees also looked over.

The staff member shook her head, "No mistake, this was the decision after the teachers discussed." She then turned to Ye Xing, "Ye Xing, come with me for a moment, the producer wants to talk to you."

Ye Xing, whose name was called, felt as if he was being pointed at by multiple swords. Even taking a step forward was worrisome.

The others watched Ye Xing walk out, falling silent one by one. Chi Qiao, who usually got along well with Ye Xing, looked at the expressions of the others and felt his heart sink. He sensed that Ye Xing's days ahead wouldn't be easy.

This was Ye Xing's first time going upstairs. He followed behind the staff member, quietly inquiring, "...Sister, do you know why they called me?"

The person in front turned back, "I don't know." After saying this, she turned back and whispered to Ye Xing, "But Producer Jiang's expression didn't look good."

Hearing this, Ye Xing started crying internally.

Oh no, he was so scared. He had started trembling when a group of people met the producer, how was he going to handle it alone?

After going upstairs, the staff member in front knocked on the door, "Producer Jiang, Ye Xing is here."

"Let him in." A familiar voice came from inside, and Ye Xing's hair stood on end when he heard it.

After the door opened, there was no one at the desk. Ye Xing turned his head and saw Jiang Juyou sitting at the low tea table. She pointed with her chin to the side, "Sit."

"Hello, teacher!" Ye Xing bowed politely in greeting first.

Jiang Juyou nodded and said again, "Sit down."

It seemed all conversations started the same way. After Ye Xing sat down, Jiang Juyou across from him asked, "Do you know why I called you here?"

He hesitantly nodded, and Jiang Juyou across from him smiled, raising one eyebrow, "Then tell me."

"...Because my skills are too poor." Ye Xing was afraid of the head producer, so he didn't even dare to make eye contact with her.

Jiang Juyou, sitting there, crossed her legs and sighed slightly, "Actually, your skills aren't so poor as to rank at the bottom. Among so many trainees, you're about in the middle."

"The rankings have been announced, right?"

"Yes, they have."

Jiang Juyou folded her arms and leaned back on the sofa, "My idea was to go by the rankings, but the other department heads and teachers all strongly advocated for you to be included. They feel that appearance is also a kind of skill, which I can't deny. Even the entertainment industry operates on this principle - as long as you look good, you don't have to worry about not having work, let alone fans."

"The number of debut spots hasn't been decided yet. You're currently ranked eleventh. If I decide on a nine-member group, you could make it if you work hard. But what if I decide on a seven-member group? Or a five-member group?"

"Who's in the top five now?" Jiang Juyou thought for a moment and listed the names, "Yao Shuo, Pei Luming, Chi Qiao, Chen Wu, Wang Silu."

She asked, "Pretty boys always get criticized. Do you think, setting aside your looks, based on skill alone, you could push any of these five out?"

Ye Xing pressed his lips together without speaking. Jiang Juyou didn't push him, but continued, "Do you think your competition is just these five? There's also Gao Xiayu, who has the strongest ambition. He only ranked lower this time because his string broke. If he hadn't made that mistake, he'd be in the top three."

"Then there's Yang Yuzhen, who's younger than you. He learns extremely fast, comes from a background in children's theater, and like you, knew nothing when he first entered the company. He even has to take time out every week to rehearse plays. Even so, he ranked tenth this time, ahead of you."

"I didn't call you here just to tell you how many people are better than you, but to let you know that with so many better than you, the other teachers still insisted on choosing you against all odds."

Jiang Juyou's tone became serious at this point, her expression earnest and her speech slow, "I hope you can live up to the teachers' affirmation. I hope even more that when people mention you, it's not just the 'good-looking' label, because being good-looking isn't even that rare in the entertainment industry."

She paused, then continued, "...You all go back to the dorms by yourselves after classes, right? You're not in the same dorm as Gao Xiayu, nor in the same class. I guess you don't know, he hasn't really gone back to the dorm for a month. He washes up in the bathroom and sleeps in the vocal room, just covering himself with a jacket at night."

"I really don't want to compare you all, but reality is cruel. If you can't match up to him, you won't have a chance to debut."

Finally, Jiang Juyou said, "If you don't have talent, then you should work harder. If they practice for four extra hours, you should practice for eight."

Softening her voice, Jiang Juyou asked, "Do you understand?"

"I understand, thank you, teacher," Ye Xing nodded solemnly.

"Is Yao Shuo's fan site admin in our group? I'm really curious, what did they use to take photos? I barely dared to take out my camera today, those two staff members kept circling around me."

"It was taken with a phone."

"Oh my god, I knew it was you! Piggy!"

"So it was Piggy Baby. I know which phone it is now, I'm going to order one right away."

-

After work hours, the venue quieted down. When Jiang Juyou lay in bed, she could no longer hear that rumbling sound. But once it got quiet, she couldn't fall asleep, and it was easy to let her mind wander.

Today's performance didn't go as she had expected. The attendance wasn't ideal either, and there wasn't much money left. Jiang Juyou's anxiety peaked.

The real entertainment circle was those people on the hot search lists, those in popular TV dramas, and especially those on variety shows. The rest could at best be considered high-paid freelancers.

Since the end of June this year, she had been bravely venturing into the entertainment industry. After three months, she was still in the danger zone. Forget about entering the safe central area, she hadn't even made it into the circle yet.

None of the daily happenings in the entertainment world included them.

"The more I think about it, the more depressed I get... How on earth did those people become famous?" Jiang Juyou now reflected that she had really chosen the wrong track. If she had known, she would have chosen to be an actress.

Right now, she felt as stifled as if she had stuffed ten sweet potatoes in her mouth at once. Or was her policy really wrong? Should she have encouraged filming and used that for marketing?

Even if she wanted to be a ruthless capitalist, she needed people to exploit, right? Now there was no one, nothing could get started, everything was tied up.

The more Jiang Juyou thought about it, the more anxious she became. She angrily threw a series of punches on the bed, kicking her summer quilt onto the floor. After her outburst, she reached for her phone, planning to look at some cat and dog videos to calm her mood. As soon as she opened her phone, she saw all kinds of drama promotions and marketing.

"..."

Jiang Juyou gritted her teeth and said, "When I have money, I'm going to market until you all curse me for being a marketing expert!"

If only the company had money.

A pop-up notification appeared at the top of her phone screen. It was a message from Jiang Liuxing.

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: Who did your company outsource PR to?"

"Uh..." Jiang Juyou thought for a moment. They hadn't signed with anyone.

So far, there wasn't much that needed marketing, and even if there was, the marketing department handled it themselves. She hadn't seen them collaborate with any marketing accounts. If they had, today's event wouldn't have attracted so few people.

Jiang Juyou answered truthfully: "I don't think we've signed with anyone..."

The other side immediately replied: "Then why not sign with us? We can help promote your future performances."

With such good talent available right beside her, why didn't Jiang Juyou use it? Was it because she didn't want to?

"Juzu's Grocery Store: Our company doesn't have much money right now, we're constantly operating at a loss."

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: You're already losing money, what's a little more?"

"Juzu's Grocery Store: We really can't afford it... We only have enough left for employee salaries."

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: [Running away.jpg] Why aren't you running now? If you wait any longer, you won't even be able to pay salaries."

"Juzu's Grocery Store: ...Can't run."

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: ?"

"Juzu's Grocery Store: Anyway, I just can't run. But if you can change the payment schedule to once every six months, we could do it. We'll have money in our account in a few months."

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: Six months is too long, there's no guarantee. What if your company goes bankrupt later and we can't get our money?"

In Jiang Liuxing's view, even though her sister was the executive producer, she was still just an employee. She didn't understand why she was so emotionally invested. Now that the company was in financial trouble, she still wanted to stay there.

Could she be one of those legendary corporate slaves?

"Juzu's Grocery Store: Then how about settling accounts every three months?"

"Liuxing is Ziweixing: ...Alright, for your sake, we'll settle every three months. But if your company really can't hold on, you must tell me, okay? I need to get our money back!"

"Juzu's Grocery Store: Thanks, sis!"

Just as Jiang Juyou was about to send her the WeChat contact of the marketing department staff, she saw Jiang Liuxing send her a link.

"..."

She pasted the link into TikTok and immediately saw the video.

"Why didn't you Beijing people invite me to the event!!! Don't tell me all the Beijing fans gathered at Galaxy today--"

"First floor has a random dance event! Second floor is selling album cards, third floor is Baize Hui's pop-up event, fourth floor is top fan site admin Sister Li's exhibition. How could you not invite me to such an interesting event!"

Jiang Juyou hadn't gone there today and didn't know the specific situation. This was her first time seeing the full picture. There were many more people than in the video Li Yao had shown her. Looking from bottom to top, people were standing all along the railings.

The perspective of this video was truly stunning.

"Wow..."

Saying this, Jiang Juyou opened the comments section.

"It's okay, they didn't invite me either [smile]"

"Ahhh what is this! Why wasn't I invited?"

"I'm about to be drowned by Beijing people in the comments."

"Where is this? Where is this? Where is this? Please tell me, it's very important to me [smile]"

"The futuristic wasteland-style cafe that's been popular on Xiaohongshu these past few days is here, on the fifth floor. It's always fully booked [smile]"

"There's also a free concert to watch next door!!!"

"Hold on, have I been expelled from Beijing citizenship? How could you all play without me?"

"Ahhh I was at the scene!!! The atmosphere on the first floor was super good!!!! Everyone come play next time, the staff said it's once a month! Fixed schedule!"

"I've scrolled for half the day and no one has mentioned the address."

At this point, Jiang Juyou realized that this video had quite a lot of comments. She looked at the likes again and found it had already surpassed 200,000.

She felt like she could do this after all.

The saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket" was indeed correct. If one doesn't take off, at least there's another one.

Jiang Juyou felt she could barely control her smile now. What was this about a very popular cafe on Xiaohongshu? Just a moment ago she was complaining that no one cared, and now she discovered that the fire had already been lit, albeit small.

Remembering this, Jiang Juyou went to check the income situation of the cafe and found that there had indeed been steady revenue, and it was quite considerable.

Because the prices were low, most people ordered many different items. Plus, with many people coming to take photos, the overtime fees were also high. On a good day, the daily turnover could even reach 10,000 yuan.

"I really didn't expect this... We opened an entertainment company, but the most profitable thing is the cafe."

But at least there was income now, and Jiang Juyou was already very satisfied.

She returned to WeChat, informed the marketing department about the situation, and then sent over the WeChat ID of her sister's contact person.

"Shooting Star is Polaris: We'll help promote Galaxy for you these next few days. As for the trainees' performance, we can only gradually build momentum. They have too little exposure, and even if videos leak out, they only circulate among their fans. Moreover, this type of performance is very limited - only fans in Beijing can attend. Fans from other regions can't really connect with it, so you might need to adjust your strategy."

Jiang Liuxing immediately pointed out their current problems. They wanted to cultivate a fan base by showcasing trainees early, but the circle couldn't expand, and there were no famous seniors to lead them. They could only hype themselves up, and the issues they faced were numerous.

"Pomelo General Store: Thanks in advance!"

"Pomelo General Store: We'll adjust our strategy later."

-

"@Today's Horoscope|Lucky: 【Site Opening Announcement】"

"#YeXing# I checked today's horoscope before leaving home, and it said 'lucky,' so that must be why I happened to meet you."

"-Opening Gifts-"

"100 yuan x 301"

"1000 yuan x 31"

"Front row tickets to your bias's concert x 31"

"Offline or online fan signing event with your bias x 31"

"-Please share widely, we want more people to know Ye Xing-"

The images accompanying this Weibo post were mostly official photos, with only one taken by a fan site admin. It was placed in the most prominent position in the center, completely different from the green grass and blue sky in the other photos.

In the central photo, Ye Xing was gripping a standing microphone, eyes closed, immersed in the music. The overhead light shining down on him seemed to give him a halo, making it impossible to look away from his face.

Ye Xing's super topic only had a few dozen fans, and it might not see a new Weibo post for hours.

The appearance of this post directly stunned the fans who came to check in. At first, everyone was just happy that Ye Xing had a new fan site, but after reading the content, they couldn't stay calm.

"?"

"Did you accidentally add an extra 3, admin?"

"Even without the 3, it's still mind-blowing!!!!"

"That's a lot of money..."

"Is Ye Xing only attracting rich female fans?"

"Where did you steal this money from, can you take me with you?"

"When I open a fan site, I'll raffle: 100 yuan split among 1000 people."

After the comment section finished joking around, the reposts started to get lively. Fans from both domestic and international entertainment circles achieved great unity at this moment, all crowding over to witness this spectacle.

"Huh?"

"Yes, yes, yes, please everyone like Ye Xing more, I'm begging you, pick me for the raffle!"

"You guys in C-ent... [dumbfounded]"

"Who exactly am I struggling for?!!"

"Has the starting point for raffles become 100 now?"

"Coming to be a denominator."

"Who is this in C-ent? Someone who looks like this can't possibly be unknown, right?"

"Coming to broaden my horizons."

"I know it's impossible for me to win, but I still want to repost, just in case."

"I've been spammed by this Weibo, was about to curse, but then I saw the raffle contents. Sorry, I was too loud."

"Just based on this face, he could secure a top-tier celebrity spot."

"Fourteen years old!!!! My goodness!"

In just a short hour, this Weibo post had over six thousand reposts, and the rate of increase afterwards was even faster. With just a casual refresh, the number of reposts would increase by a thousand.

Before long, the Weibo homepage of internet users was filled with this post.

The fan site admin added more to the raffle in the comments.

"Thank you all for reposting, please pay more attention to our Ye Xing. He's fourteen this year, 175cm tall (and still growing...). He's a public trainee from Random Entertainment, has been training for three months, and will have a free performance in Beijing on the 31st of next month, Saturday. You can choose seats on the Galaxy World app! Sisters in Beijing can go watch, there will also be photo cards given at the performance. If anyone doesn't want Ye Xing's photo card, you can sell it to me! 200 yuan each! Repost this and another 1031 sisters will be chosen to each get a milk tea!"

"Thank you all! Next month's performance happens to be on Ye Xing's birthday. I'm also hiring 131 sisters in Beijing to do a birthday support with me. Nothing much, just shout 'Happy Birthday' with me after Ye Xing's performance ends. 500 yuan for one day! If there are sisters who are really willing to come, please bring your seat reservation screenshot to sign up with me. See you then!"

"I'm definitely earning that 700."

"5 PM on Saturday, October 31st, right? Seat selected, see you then!"

"Once again, I hate that I'm not in Beijing!"

"Beijing, huh? I'll take the high-speed rail over. I just love watching performances [like]"

"My goodness! Ye Xing's moms, don't love him too much!"

"Dizzy from all this money... really dizzy!"

"Even if I have to sit on a hard seat for ten hours, I'm going!!!!"

"As a college student, I'm all about being enthusiastic. Wait for me then!"

"Why can't there be one more rich person in this world - me?!"

"Wow, over 70,000 reposts... Random Entertainment, come and kowtow to Ye Xing's moms."

When Jiang Juyou woke up the next morning, she found her phone inundated with unread messages. Usually, she would wake up slowly, but today she was startled awake as soon as she got her phone.

Jiang Juyou quickly sat up, rubbing her eyes. Several department heads had sent her messages, the large group on the social app had already chatted thousands of times, and on WeChat, both her older and younger sisters had sent many messages. Jiang Juyou hadn't looked yet, but cold sweat had already broken out.

She hurriedly opened the link, praying while it was loading that it wasn't news about one of the trainees having a scandal.

But after thinking about it, she felt it wasn't right. How could her trainees have a scandal? They didn't even have a reputation to ruin.

When the loading finished, Jiang Juyou finally saw the content. She clicked once, and it jumped to the app interface, where the content was displayed in full.

"...210,000 reposts?" Jiang Juyou just roughly scanned the content, which seemed no different from previous fan site opening announcements, and the accompanying images were about the same. Why were there so many reposts?

She looked at the content carefully again, and when she understood, she drew in a sharp breath.

"..."

Indeed, there are so many rich people, why couldn't she be one of them?

Jiang Juyou strongly related to everything posted in the comments section. She liked each one, "Really dizzy from all this money... so much money."

After lamenting, she started to criticize herself, "Every time it goes viral, it's so inexplicable..."

After saying this, she suddenly sat up straight on the bed and actually kowtowed twice to her phone.

Yesterday she was still worrying about not having any marketing points, and now hadn't a marketing point just arrived?

Jiang Liuxing was even more on the ball. After getting to work today, she immediately had people make a video, planning to post it after lunch time.

Jiang Juyou picked up her phone again, held it to her chest, took a deep breath, and said, "Jiang Juyou, your days of hardship are about to end."

-

In the entertainment circle, major events emerge endlessly every day. As long as it provides entertainment for everyone, it's called a major event, let alone such a big commotion last night. How could the marketing accounts pretend they didn't see it?

After exploding on Weibo last night, it was moved to Douyin by marketing accounts today, causing another round of explosion.

But it has to be said, this raffle is really attractive, especially those two comments in the comment section about hiring people and buying photo cards, which attracted countless people to sincerely ask about the specific operation.

Usually, for concert seats, you can still slowly choose seats right before it starts, but today was different. The seats had already been fully booked.

Most people only learned about this company in Beijing because of that Weibo post, and it took them a while to realize that all the viral things recently were from the same company.

To catch up those who went to bed early last night, some marketing accounts took a different approach, setting the video content as a timeline, explaining it to everyone.

"The frosted heat-sensitive cards that went viral on Douyin last month were from this company. The futuristic decoration and low-priced drinks that went viral on Xiaohongshu at the beginning of the month were from this company. The offline event that all Beijing fan girls attended yesterday, which went viral, was also from this company. The fan site opening gifts that went viral on Weibo last night were still from this company!"

"The frosted heat-sensitive cards were given out at Ye Xing and other trainees' performance. The coffee shop is right above the building where all Beijing fan girls went to attend the event. The venue for the trainee performance is right next to the building with the coffee shop, less than 200 meters away!"

"This company really goes viral in completely unrelated ways!"

"There's one more thing you're missing - their company's app has been really popular lately. It's super convenient for generating cards, you can create item lists with just one click and trade right on the platform."

"Wow, I've seen all of those trending. Their company really has one hit after another, with no connection between them."

"Wait, the frosted heat-sensitive cards are from their company too?"

"What's even funnier is that after going viral so many times, people are only just realizing it today."

"I don't know whether to call their company lucky or unlucky at this point."

"Who would have thought? What normal company opens a coffee shop?"

"That coffee shop is genuinely popular though. So many people fly in specifically to take photos and check in there. The shop even had to start charging for overtime to prevent people from occupying seats too long, but those photo-takers still stay for entire afternoons."

"Ahhh! There are no seats left to choose from! I just lost 700 yuan!"

Random Entertainment, which was just a small-time player in the entertainment industry yesterday, suddenly became a hot commodity today. Every platform was posting about them, and marketing accounts were getting great engagement numbers just by posting data, so they kept posting more and more.

So much that Random Entertainment was pushed onto the trending topics list.

13. Random Entertainment trainee Ye Xing

19. Random Entertainment

Jiang Juyou was in a daze. It had gone viral too suddenly, too nonsensically, it made her want to cry!

Clicking into the trending topic, it was full of fans from various circles teasing, asking Random Entertainment to quickly "ship" Ye Xing and his fans. In the past, if Jiang Juyou saw comments like these, she would have rolled her eyes, but today - she actually did it.

"Thank you to the fans who spent money, you really shouldn't have!"

"Thanks to the netizens who clicked in! Much appreciated for adding fuel to the trending topic!"

"Really, thank you! Oh my, thank you so much!"

With Random Entertainment getting attention, the person at the center of it all, Ye Xing, was certainly not going to have small amounts of attention either. His super topic, which originally didn't even have 100 points, now had 3,000 followers when checked today.

Inside, it was unprecedentedly lively, full of people asking for recommendations. But where could they ask? Even the oldest fans were only two months old, and the fan club hadn't even managed to inquire much information from the company's training department. They could only silently repost the official Weibo posts from the company.

It wasn't just the company benefiting from this Ye Xing boom, but also the other public trainees.

All the trainees' updates were posted on one account, so if you wanted to see Ye Xing, you'd inevitably notice the other trainees. Pei Luming, who ranked second in looks, became the second person everyone paid attention to.

Large numbers of passersby flooded into this account. Weibo posts that used to only get a few hundred or thousand views skyrocketed overnight. The latest Weibo about Ye Xing was his first public practice stage, posted just last week, and this post had been reposted nearly a thousand times.

In the reposts and comments, people had already started labeling him.

"Visual main vocalist Ye Xing."

"Damn, I thought he was just a pretty face, didn't expect his skills to be so good!"

"His voice is amazing, such a bass!"

"Is there a performance stage? I want to see!"

"Destined to be a top star."

"Where love begins."

"He can even play the piano! It's a shame he didn't play during the performance!"

As that initial Weibo post went viral, Ye Xing's video was also reposted. In it, he sat quietly in the center of the practice room playing an electronic keyboard, singing as he played. This image attracted quite a few young girls.

Soon, which school Ye Xing attended, which grade and class he was in, were all dug up by people. Someone even found his grades from last semester.

"He's even a top student... How can he be so perfect?"

"If he were a bit taller, he'd be a hexagonal warrior."

"Our Ye Xing is still growing! He was 174cm last month, now he's 175cm!"

"His family background is also very good, both his parents are lawyers."

"No wonder, he has a kind of noble aura about him."

"Is this what a person carefully crafted by God looks like?"

Those moving even faster had already started reposting Ye Xing's work arrival photo from this morning.

In the photo, Ye Xing wore a white short-sleeved shirt and simple gray cotton sweatpants. Because of the hot weather, he had jogged all the way, and a few strands of hair on his forehead were damp. His cheeks were pink, and when captured by the camera, he looked at the lens in surprise. This startled look further touched the hearts of his motherly fans.

This sudden surge of attention was unexpected for the company. A staff member from the new talent group even went to the back door to count the number of fans waiting there - there were already more than twenty. She immediately went back to report this to the group leader. After Liu Jiajia found out, she immediately called a meeting. For safety considerations, she required staff to pick up and drop off trainees for work from now on.

And the protagonist at the center of this event, Ye Xing, was still in a daze about the current situation.

He only found out what was happening online when he received a call from a classmate after waking up this morning. He even missed his departure time because he was hiding in the bathroom looking at his phone, which made him late.

After entering the practice room, his brothers didn't let him off either and started teasing him.

"Ooooh - big star!"

"Bro, did you know you're famous?"

"If you're a good brother, can you treat me to McDonald's for lunch?"

"Brrrrrrrro -"

The practice room was full of howls and screams. When the neighboring room heard this commotion, they knew Ye Xing had arrived, and everyone rushed over to see.

Because of Ye Xing's situation, nobody was in the mood to practice this morning. After arriving, they were all scrolling on their phones and even took quite a few screenshots to show Ye Xing.

More than twenty young men gathered together, looking even more excited than Ye Xing himself. This noise quickly attracted the attention of the female staff member on duty in the neighboring office.

"Bang bang bang -"

The door was knocked hard a few times, and the noisy trainees inside finally stopped, turning one by one to look at the door.

"What's going on, did you all get a day off this morning?" That female staff member's expression was as cold as if she didn't know what had happened this morning. One of the bolder trainees raised his hand and said, "Sister, Ye Xing is trending."

"What does him trending have to do with you?" The staff member at the door continued, "Instead of cheering about this, why don't you think about what you're going to do when Director Jiang comes down later."

After saying this, she looked at the time, "Director Jiang will come down at 11:30, and at that time, you should be waiting in this classroom with your mutual evaluations. It's already 10:20 now, I wonder how you're going to watch a one-and-a-half-hour performance in time."

"Hurry up and watch, and keep it quiet, understand?"

The trainees replied in unison: "Understood -"

After closing the door, everyone looked at each other, then started whispering again, the murmuring sound irritating to hear.

Gao Xiayu frowned and said, "What's going on, didn't you hear when I said to keep it quiet?" After it got a bit quieter, he went to get the computer to play the video, but the talking started again. "If anyone keeps talking, they can leave. Don't waste my time!"

Only then did the practice room fall completely silent.

When the screen started showing yesterday's performance, everyone's attention was finally drawn back. They sat quietly on the floor, taking notes.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Jiang Juyou had finished washing up and was walking towards the office while on a call with her sisters. It was Saturday, so there was no one upstairs, and she didn't need to deliberately lower her voice. "...I was almost scared to death when I woke up this morning, I thought something terrible had happened."

Jiang Tang on the other end of the computer exclaimed, "This doesn't count as something big? If this happened to me, I'd laugh until I was oxygen-deprived."

"Oh come on, I obviously meant something bad, and what good thing could I think of? Our company hasn't done anything recently, so my first reaction was naturally that someone got into trouble." Jiang Juyou laughed after saying this, "After thinking that, I stunned myself. There I was worrying about a scandal, then suddenly remembered our company doesn't have any reputation to ruin."

Jiang Liuxing was busy editing videos on her end. This morning's surge in popularity owed no small part to her fanning the flames. The videos with the highest views were all from their studio.

Her responses were sporadic, "...How can you say there's no reputation to ruin? Big sis at least has a few fans, and those few fans' lives are still lives."

Jiang Tang: "..."

After entering the office, Jiang Juyou suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, sis, our company's agent is already in place, and she's even a big shot. The day before yesterday, she told me there were a few small roles you could audition for... Oh no! I forgot to pass along your WeChat contact!" Jiang Juyou was scrolling through WeChat as she spoke, intending to send a message to the agent, only to realize the agent had asked for the artist's contact information, which she had forgotten in her busy state.

Jiang Tang fell silent again: "..."

"Alright, alright, I'll send it to you. Go ahead and add her. That agent is really influential, big enough to bring artists directly onto projects," Jiang Juyou said as she sat down at her desk.

On the other end of the phone, the two heard something different. "She invested a billion?"

"Wow, she's really loaded!"

"No, no, it's that she had conditions. Our HR went to headhunt her. At the time, she seemed to be having issues with her previous company, so we seized the opportunity, but it cost us a pretty penny."

"Her condition was that she wanted to bring an artist with her."

Upon hearing this, the tone on the other end of the line immediately heightened.

"It's not some legal trouble celebrity, is it?"

"You better be careful. Don't sign just anyone. Compliant artists like your sister here are hard to come by."

Jiang Juyou opened her email and glanced at the artist's resume. "No, it's just that she hasn't been active for seven years, and her reputation wasn't great before. But I've looked into it, and the issues are completely trivial."

"For example?"

Jiang Juyou thought about the information she had found and listed: "Dating during her rise to fame at nineteen... wearing a bikini... smoking... skipping exams... retaking exams... hiring a ghostwriter for her thesis. Oh! The ghostwriting and smoking rumors were false, but netizens didn't believe it."

"The main issue is that she debuted as a child star and was known as a prodigy. She got into the Central Academy of Drama at sixteen, so the public had high expectations for her. But that was the social climate back then. After news broke about her dating, she became a target for criticism, and then she retreated from the public eye."

Listening on the phone, Jiang Liuxing frowned, "So what if she smokes? Are women not allowed to smoke? They're so controlling, those stupid netizens."

"Exactly, what else would you wear at the beach if not a bikini? Are they crazy?" Jiang Tang also sounded angry.

Jiang Juyou looked up and said, "So now our company has two artists, both female actresses. Sis, she's even the same age as you!"

"After all that talk, you still haven't mentioned her name," Jiang Tang reminded her.

"Her name is Zhai Ke'er."

"Holy crap, is it really Zhai Ke'er?" Jiang Tang's emotions became excited. "She was the top young actress of our generation! I loved the TV dramas she starred in when I was little. The three of us even watched them together!"

Jiang Liuxing reminded her, "Sis, can you think about our age difference for a second? When you were little, was I even old enough to remember anything?"

Jiang Tang: "..."

"Alright, let's wrap this up. I'm busy," Jiang Liuxing was occupied with photo editing and didn't have time for them. After saying goodbye, she hung up the phone.

Jiang Juyou also had work to do, so she said to her sister, "Okay, sis, make sure to contact the agent. If you have any problems, just give me a call."

"Okay, thanks!"

After hanging up, Jiang Juyou glanced at her computer screen again, which still displayed the news articles she had searched earlier.

She closed the page and checked the time, realizing it was almost 11:30. Remembering she needed to go downstairs, Jiang Juyou shut down her computer and grabbed her phone, ready to leave.

At that moment, the system suddenly spoke:

"Ding―"

"Task completed!"

"Ding―"

"Task completed!"