Chapter 292 - 290: What’s with Them Being Kinda Shippable?

But Blair pulled out her phone and opened the official event page on Tiktok. "It’s real. It’s an official event."

Cecilia Sterling and Estelle both leaned in to carefully examine the event rules. The event was an official Tiktok Video promotion, and streamers were only eligible to participate if they were recommended by an agency.

In other words, independent streamers weren’t eligible.

This did, however, allow Cecilia Sterling to relax a little. At least the event was real, and the other party hadn’t lied to her.

"You don’t have to worry. This MCN is one of the biggest agencies out there. They’ve developed many influencers with follower counts in the tens of millions."

"And I really do need a more professional team. Streaming by myself these past few days has felt like I’m just fumbling my way through. The martial arts part is easy for me, but I completely underestimated what goes into streaming. There’s so much I don’t know."

Estelle already knew how much work it must be, and hearing Blair say this made her heart ache for her.

"You don’t have to push yourself so hard, streaming for eight hours a day. It’s not like a normal office job where you can sit down, or get up and walk around when you’re tired. You’re doing martial arts for eight hours straight! Even a camel would collapse from exhaustion!"

Cecilia Sterling added, "Estelle’s right. Don’t push yourself to the breaking point."

Blair smiled and nodded. "I know. I’ll make adjustments. We’ll see how the agency schedules things."

*

That evening, Walter Lane received a progress report from Eugene Jacobs.

The contract hadn’t been signed. Cecilia Sterling had jacked up the price on the spot and was demanding more money!

Walter Lane was furious and took all his anger out on Eugene Jacobs.

"Didn’t I tell you to move faster?" Walter Lane roared. "How did you give her an opening to negotiate?"

Eugene Jacobs was fuming inside as well, but he knew the Chairman would be angry.

If they had settled on ten thousand from the start, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

The problem was that the price went from seven thousand to ten thousand, which meant they could have saved three thousand!

"I’m sorry, Chairman. I failed to handle this properly."

Eugene Jacobs was smart. He didn’t try to defend himself or make excuses. Instead, he stood at attention, ready to take the verbal lashing and accept full responsibility.

Hearing this, Walter Lane took a deep breath. "Ten thousand, then. Fine, ten thousand it is. This time, you *must* get it done. In three—no, two days, I want to see a signed acquisition contract from Cecilia Sterling!"

"Yes, Chairman. Rest assured, there won’t be any mistakes this time."

"If you manage to let this slip through our fingers when it’s already a done deal, then I’ll have no reason to keep you around!"

Even over the phone, Eugene Jacobs felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. "I understand. You should get some rest, Chairman."

After hanging up the phone, Eugene Jacobs looked utterly dejected. He tilted his head back slightly, trying to calm his pounding heart.

"What’s wrong?"

Just then, a beautiful woman with a stunning figure, wearing a black silk nightgown, walked over to Eugene Jacobs’s side. She was carrying two glasses of red wine and asked with concern.

Eugene Jacobs took a glass, his hand gliding smoothly to her slender waist. "Just some trouble at work."

Hearing this, a smile touched the woman’s luscious, glistening lips. "Aren’t you always thriving at the company, highly valued by the Chairman? This is the first time I’ve seen you troubled by work."

"I’m not a god. I can’t be expected to handle everything perfectly."

The woman’s gaze hardened slightly. Her tone shifted as she asked in a low voice, "So, have you been thinking about my situation? When exactly are you going to arrange for me to study abroad?"

"I’m still contacting the schools. Don’t worry, since I promised you, I’ll absolutely keep my word. We’ve been together for so long. Besides this study abroad issue, which has been held up by a few uncertain factors, haven’t I delivered on everything else I promised you?"

"It’s been almost two years. Shouldn’t there be some progress by now?" the woman said, her voice tinged with displeasure.

"There is, there is. There will be news very soon, okay?" Eugene Jacobs coaxed patiently.

The woman nodded, then jerked her chin toward the bedroom, signaling for Eugene Jacobs to enter.

At this, a primal lust flashed in his eyes behind his glasses. He asked in a low voice, "Are you wearing anything underneath?"

The woman gave a light tug on her robe’s belt, and the silk garment slid slowly to the floor. When Eugene Jacobs saw what she was wearing underneath, his eyes instantly locked onto her.

The woman’s expression shifted in an instant, her face becoming utterly cold and aloof. She looked at the stunned Eugene Jacobs and commanded in a regal tone, "Kneel!"

All of Eugene Jacobs’s previous aura vanished in a flash. With a servile expression, he slowly knelt, adopting a posture of complete submission before the woman, like a ’dog’.

Then, inch by inch, he began to ’crawl’ toward the bedroom.

*

That day, No. 2 High School held its first school-wide unified exam of the new semester.

"Class President, you’ve already been guaranteed admission to college, you don’t even have to take the entrance exams. Why are you bothering with a unified exam!"

Before the bell rang, a classmate teased Renee Reid.

Another classmate chimed in, "She obviously wants to defend her title as number one in our year!"

Hearing the commotion, Renee Reid looked at the two classmates who were teasing her and nodded seriously. "You’re right. I am aiming for first place."

"You’re so competitive," her deskmate said, shaking their head in resignation. "You’ve already been admitted, and you’re still going all out!"

Renee Reid didn’t care what her classmates said. Wanting to be number one was nothing to be ashamed of. She was relying on her own abilities, so there was nothing to hide.

Just then, a classmate piped up, "Hey, Class President, you’ve got some serious competition this time!"

At this, everyone instantly started looking around.

"Who is it?"

The question had barely been asked when Ethan Sterling walked into the classroom, his backpack slung over his shoulder.

Someone immediately caught on and shouted, "Ethan Sterling! The test he took for his transfer was the same one we took for our third-year class placements, and his total score was four points higher than Renee Reid’s!"

Ethan Sterling, having no idea what was going on, blinked in confusion.

The fact that he was an academic prodigy was already common knowledge in the class.

A male classmate he was friendly with looked at him and asked, "Ethan, are you confident you can snag first in our year on this placement test?"

Hearing this, Ethan Sterling instinctively furrowed his brow with a puzzled expression. Everyone saw this and thought he was backing down, but then they heard him say nonchalantly, "But I’m always first in my year!"

That single sentence sent the whole class into an uproar.

Even Renee Reid laughed.

"Ethan, our Class President has always been number one in our year, too. Let’s see which of you two will claim the throne this time!"

Ethan Sterling turned to look at Renee Reid, who was also smiling. "Do your best," she said. "If you can break my winning streak, I’ll ask the teachers to let me skip all the unified exams from now on!"

Hearing this, Ethan Sterling smiled and gave a small nod. "Deal. To make sure you can relax and skip the rest of your exams, I’ll definitely give it my all."

’Ooooh, is this that mutual respect between academic prodigies? And why do I kinda ship this?’

But the very next second, Jameson Stone appeared at the door of Class One. He waved to Ethan Sterling, who was sitting by the window. "Ethan, come out for a second!"