Chapter 82: 082

Chapter 82

At this moment, anyone who went online and opened their social media apps could see the trending topic #JiangJuyouFanSiteOpensWithBeijingHouseGift#.

The fan site's opening Weibo post was even more shocking than the data compiled by fans. In less than five minutes, it had garnered tens of thousands of likes, demonstrating both Jiang Juyou's incredible internet popularity and how astonishing the opening gift was.

The employees of Random Entertainment once again found their steps halted on their way out of the office by the shocking news online. The entire floor of the office building echoed with exclamations of "Holy shit!" followed by heads bowing down to frantically tap at their phones.

At this point, everyone only regretted not having enough alternate accounts to participate in the giveaway.

A house within Beijing's Sixth Ring Road - those with Beijing hukou (household registration) could claim it directly, while those without could opt for a cash equivalent. This wasn't some clickbait marketing ploy, but a real fan site offer.

If mishandled, this could potentially tarnish Jiang Juyou's reputation.

After seeing the link posted in the company's social group, the assistant quickly got up from her workstation and rushed to Jiang Juyou's office to inform her about the situation.

The door was knocked on urgently a few times, and a response came quickly from inside, "Come in."

Peng Jiayi entered, clutching her phone nervously, "Boss, have you seen the company's social group?"

Her "boss," who was currently holding up her phone, fell silent for a few seconds after hearing Peng Jiayi's words, a clear indication that she had already opened the link and seen it.

"Boss, what if it's some kind of business warfare? That's what everyone online is saying. Real-life business warfare can be nasty and underhanded. They're using your name, and it's even trending. What if they don't follow through later?" Peng Jiayi's thoughts were different from others; she felt this fan site seemed more like a prank.

Jiang Juyou, with a candy in her mouth and a hint of weariness, spoke slowly, "... It's fine, don't worry. You know, whoever messes with me, I'll destroy them."

Her attitude of having everything under control reassured Peng Jiayi, who then breathed a sigh of relief.

As she spoke, Jiang Juyou put down her phone and tossed a candy from the box to her assistant, "Isn't it almost time to clock out? Go pack up and get ready to leave. I'm not working overtime today."

Peng Jiayi caught the candy but still looked worried, "... Are you sure it's okay? Should we at least give the PR team a heads up, just in case something goes wrong and we need to respond quickly?"

"Alright, do as you say." Jiang Juyou crunched the candy in her mouth and picked up her phone, looking as if she was about to get back to work.

Seeing this, Peng Jiayi took the hint and said, "Then I'll go inform the PR team now."

Jiang Jiyou nodded in response, her eyes fixed on her phone, her brows still furrowed.

After Peng Jiayi left, closing the door behind her with a "bang," the office returned to silence.

It was only then that Jiang Juyou leaned back, holding the back of her neck, "... Ah, I'm so annoyed."

Her phone screen was still lit, showing her chat interface with Liu Yue.

"Jiang Juyou: You did this, didn't you?"

"Also Chasing Stars Today: Hehe!"

"Jiang Juyou: Are you crazy? Too much money burning a hole in your pocket?"

"Also Chasing Stars Today: Sending you up there to embarrass yourself, spending a bit of money is no big deal hahahahaha!"

Jiang Juyou had guessed it was Liu Yue as soon as she saw the fan site name. It was too obvious.

The fact that her WeChat name was "Juyou's Grocery Store" had been leaked when she first became famous. During that time, people often tried to add her, causing Jiang Juyou to clear her friend list once and close her Moments feed.

Logically, suspicion shouldn't have fallen on Liu Yue, but those few words at the beginning of the fan site name gave it away. Liu Yue probably didn't intend to hide it deliberately.

No matter how the last few words of Liu Yue's WeChat nickname changed, the first two words "Today" remained constant. Jiang Juyou could even tell what Liu Yue had been busy with recently based on her nickname.

Jiang Juyou, who had just changed her WeChat name today, held her forehead and sent a message: "I really don't understand the world of you rich people."

"Also Chasing Stars Today: Don't blame the rich, it's just me being crazy."

"Jiang Juyou: ... You're oddly kind-hearted."

There was no business warfare, it was purely a prank between friends.

Jiang Juyou could already imagine how frustrating it would be in the future when Liu Yue waved a camera in front of her, and she had to pretend not to know her.

"..."

She didn't have many friends to begin with, and now it turned out they were all mentally unstable.

-

This fan site announcement caused a stir on the internet for several days, bringing enormous exposure to both Random Entertainment and Jiang Juyou. It probably achieved more than a year's worth of carefully planned promotions.

This trending topic directly reached the grassroots market, making even those who didn't follow celebrities or pay much attention to the entertainment industry suddenly aware of Jiang Juyou and Random Entertainment.

This operation made many in the industry green with envy.

Yang RPing looked at the news push on his phone, utterly perplexed. He furrowed his brows, pointed at his phone, and asked the staff in the meeting room, "... Can't you come up with marketing like this? Don't you know how to find topics? You all claimed to have good internet sense when you joined, but none of you even check the trending topics. Is this what you call good internet sense?"

From its establishment until now, Random Entertainment basically had a hot topic being discussed by the public every few months. In this entertainment circle that chases after traffic and exposure, Random Entertainment was practically being spoon-fed attention.

First, it was those little cards, then the talent shows, and later they even set up overseas training. Everyone thought the fans might disappear during the few months of training, but the hot topics and content didn't stop, allowing Jiang Juyou to directly connect the heat with a debut competition.

We've seen celebrities trending daily, but never an entertainment company constantly on everyone's lips.

Apart from good marketing, Yang RPing couldn't think of any other reason.

In his view, Random Entertainment was indeed good at marketing. Otherwise, how could those little cards cause such a stir? They must have spent a lot of money behind the scenes to push it.

"Alright, let's not say anything else. Go and find out which company Random Entertainment is collaborating with for marketing and promotion," Yang RPing was convinced that Random Entertainment relied entirely on marketing.

After he finished speaking, he put on an impatient expression. The staff on both sides looked at each other's expressions and, seeing that everyone looked equally helpless, felt a bit better.

Just as they finished discussing how Random Entertainment relied entirely on marketing, it trended again.

#RandomEntertainment'sMagicalCards#

#MochiSSRCard#

Besides being famous for its trainees, Random Entertainment was most well-known for its little cards, which indirectly helped the trainees gain quite a few fans. Almost everyone who enjoyed collecting cards had at least one of Random Entertainment's magical little cards.

Today, it was trending because of these magical little cards.

Her mother, who was organizing the bookshelf nearby, rolled her eyes at her, "Always making such a fuss..."

Liu Yue jumped up from the sofa, grabbed her phone, and ran to her bedroom, "Mom! I'm heading out, won't be eating dinner! "

"What are you up to? Auntie Chen just bought groceries! Your dad will be back soon! Really— always rushing around like your pants are on fire!" Before Liu's Mother could finish speaking, Liu Yue had already gotten dressed and left.

Just as she entered the elevator, her fan group chat became active. Quite coincidentally, everyone was sharing the post about the SSR card draw.

Liu Yue sent a voice message, "I'm heading there now, hurry up you guys!"

The pop-up store had three sessions - morning, afternoon, and evening. The last afternoon session didn't require reservations, but of course, it would also be the most crowded. Even knowing this, Liu Yue still wanted to go.

After leaving the elevator, she sent another voice message to the group, "I'm so done, if I didn't have this card collecting hobby, I'd definitely be richer than I am now!"

There were many people like Liu Yue, all rushing to the store for the SSR card—

-

With the SSR card being drawn, the daily revenue of the pop-up store climbed to another level. The sales amount started rising sharply from that afternoon, and the next day's sales even exceeded the total of the previous two days.

Listening to this morning meeting report, Jiang Juyou once again sighed with relief that her sister didn't have a card collecting hobby.

"The appearance of the SSR card has greatly stimulated the sales of the pop-up store. There are still 104 SSR cards left, which will likely continue to contribute significantly to sales growth."

This SSR card was limited to five per person, meaning there were still four of Pei Luming's SSR cards left.

"However..." someone at the table raised an objection at this point.

She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Won't the increasing second-hand prices of limited items contradict our ideal of affordable fan merchandise?"

Everyone knew that Random Entertainment only produced limited items, whether it was merchandise or cards. Once they're gone, they're gone. The monthly new release merchandise store was the perfect embodiment of this: new items released at the beginning of each month, producing only as many as ordered, with any cancellations being offered to others.

With everyone betting on this and the tense atmosphere, sales were always good, even expanding the number of new items to eighty-nine, resulting in nearly ten million in monthly revenue.

This was how Random Entertainment had been sustaining itself lately.

But because of this, Random Entertainment had been criticized many times, with people accusing them of hyping up merchandise prices every now and then.

"..."

Everyone's gaze turned to Jiang Juyou, wanting to hear her response, as both the low-price products and the limited quantities were her ideas.

"How can two completely unrelated things contradict each other?" Jiang Juyou said, spreading her hands. "Our limited items are time-limited, not quantity-limited. As long as fans join during this time period and we happen to be selling, they can definitely buy at a low price. As for how much they sell it for later, or how much they buy another one for, that has nothing to do with us."

"The popularity of the second-hand market only shows that we're in our prime. If the trainees weren't famous, would these items still have a market?" Jiang Juyou crossed her arms and leaned back, explaining her contradictory decision to them. "This decision is meant to urge those who are still observing from the sidelines to quickly jump in. It's the same principle as limited edition items that everyone wants. If you're recently interested in an artist but still in the observation stage, and suddenly you find that they have merchandise on sale at a very affordable price, and even if you buy it and later don't want it, you can resell it, maybe even at a higher price, wouldn't you make the purchase?"

"Any rational person wouldn't miss this opportunity, and that's exactly the opportunity we're after. Once they buy, it means they have to start learning about our trainees, and as they learn more, they'll become fans."

As Jiang Juyou said this, it seemed like she was explaining a very simple principle, but the employees all wore expressions of awe and confusion. They hadn't even considered this reason.

The growth of Random Entertainment and the rapid increase in the trainees' popularity were inseparable from Jiang Juyou's contradictory planning. As long as Random Entertainment didn't engage in reselling, it wouldn't possibly collapse.

That's not entirely correct though - those who failed to debut successfully would face the risk of collapse.

-

After a 63-to-21 selection competition, the trainees' fan base had expanded to the level of minor celebrities. Over the next few months, the expansion of the fan circle gradually slowed down, but a debut competition pulled people back in. Not only that, but the circle even grew to several times its original size.

The most obvious manifestation was that the turnover of this pop-up store was several times that of the previous one. The sale of photo cards alone broke the hundred million mark. The fact that they could sell over a hundred million worth of 50-yuan photo cards was enough to imagine the scale of this phenomenon.

As agreed, after converting the sales into votes, the group with the most votes would get a pop-up store with their own exclusive theme.

Today was the last day of the pop-up store's operation, and the day after tomorrow would be the third public performance. Jiang Juyou had just returned from a business trip abroad, rushing to make this schedule.

As the plane was descending, Jiang Juyou stretched her slightly sore neck. Beside her, Jiang Tang was full of energy, not looking at all like someone who had been on vacation for half a month.

Jiang Juyou had gone to Korea to meet with musicians there, while Jiang Tang had just finished filming and given herself a half-month vacation, traveling abroad before ending up in Korea to return with Jiang Juyou.

"You're just a kid, where do all these sighs come from?" Jiang Tang had heard her sigh hundreds of times on this trip and couldn't bear it anymore. She took some candy from her pocket and offered it to Jiang Juyou, "Here, have some candy."

Jiang Juyou suppressed her physical discomfort and smiled at the candy her sister offered, "You're the only one in this world who still treats me like a child."

"That's not entirely true. Sometimes I feel like you're more of an older sister than I am."

"Are you sure it's just sometimes and not most of the time?"

"...Shut up."

At this moment, the plane landed, and the announcement came on. Seeing that it was stable, Jiang Tang unbuckled her seatbelt. "Are you still going to the company?"

"I'm going straight home. I'm too tired. I've been drinking with them every day for the past few days, and it's made me feel unwell." Jiang Juyou said, rubbing her temples.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Tang felt a pang of sympathy. Her big sister looked like a wounded beast at the moment. She pouted, holding back tears as she patted Jiang Juyou's head.

Jiang Juyou, with her eyes closed, said directly: "Don't let your imagination run wild. You're always arranging death and injury scenes for me in your head."

Jiang Tang: "..."

Stupid kid.

After getting off the plane, the two of them walked out together pulling their luggage. As soon as they exited, Jiang Juyou saw a few familiar faces - fans who often came to the airport to greet arrivals.

Among them was Liu Yue.

"..."

When the group of fans saw Jiang Juyou come out, they quickly approached, and also spotted Jiang Tang, all with looks of pleasant surprise on their faces.

This scene startled Jiang Tang as well, "Am I that famous now... Oh, they're actually your fans."

As she was speaking, Jiang Tang suddenly saw a familiar face. She recognized her as one of Jiang Juyou's roommates. She turned to Jiang Juyou and said, "Hey! Isn't that your-"

Before she could finish, her mouth was covered.

Jiang Juyou: Let me keep some face...