Chapter 375 - 373: Getting a Brand Deal

A noise woke Cecilia Sterling up early that morning.

Blair was packing, and her grip slipped, sending things scattering across the floor.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

Cecilia Sterling poked her head out from her bed to see Blair shouldering a backpack stuffed with all sorts of livestreaming equipment. She immediately glanced at the time.

7:50 AM!

"Girl, you don’t have to go that hard, do you? Don’t you usually start streaming in the afternoon?"

Blair explained as she tidied her things, "Shane Webb said today’s stream is at a wetland park near the West Sixth Ring Road. He found a bamboo forest for me, saying it’s a perfect fit for my content."

Cecilia Sterling nodded in understanding.

’Having a professional team really makes a difference. They’re even this meticulous about choosing a streaming location. Still, this is a good thing. It shows the team is taking their work seriously.’

"Do you need me to go with you?"

Cecilia Sterling couldn’t get back to sleep anyway, and she had already climbed down from the top bunk as she spoke.

"No need. I won’t be able to pay attention to you while I’m streaming, and there are several people on the team. You don’t have to come. If you miss me, just pop into the stream for a bit."

Cecilia Sterling laughed. "I was just kidding. Saul Thorne actually has a rare day off today. I’m going on a date."

"You’ve been in a dry spell for ages. Here’s to a successful reunion! I’m off!"

With that, Blair hoisted her bags, big and small, and headed out the door.

Cecilia Sterling glanced back at Estelle’s bed and sighed silently. Despite all the commotion, the girl hadn’t stirred in the slightest. She was sound asleep!

’Her ability to sleep through anything is truly enviable!’

After leaving the school, Blair got straight into a rideshare heading to that day’s filming location.

During the ride, the driver kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror. Finally, he couldn’t hold back anymore. "Miss, you’re Blair, right?"

Blair was replying to messages in her work group chat and looked up with a start. "Huh?"

"It is you, right?"

"Yes!" Blair snapped back to reality and nodded. "That’s me!"

The driver grinned. "Wow, this is my first time driving a celebrity! Can I get a picture with you later?"

"Sir, I’m not a celebrity."

"How are you not? I saw that news story about you several times. You’re way more impressive than those other stars!"

Just then, Blair’s phone rang again. It was another unknown number.

Ever since the incident blew up, her phone had been ringing with hundreds of calls from unknown numbers every day. At first, not knowing what was going on, she answered a few. She quickly discovered they were all from media outlets wanting to interview her, so she stopped picking up after that.

’I don’t have time to deal with interviews and all that. I need to make money!’

After a nearly forty-minute drive, the car slowly came to a stop. The driver happily took a photo with Blair. "Can I post this on my social media?"

Blair nodded, a bit awkwardly. "You can."

"Alright then. I was going to give you the ride for free, but since it’s through the app..."

"I know. Thank you for the ride, sir. Goodbye."

Normally, Blair wouldn’t have bothered with strangers like this, nor would she have been so patient. But things were different now. During their meeting the other day, Shane Webb had specifically emphasized the self-discipline required of a public figure.

In today’s online world, a person could be made in a second, and a person could be ruined in a second.

’A career can be destroyed in minutes, so you have to be extremely careful about your words and actions. Once you’re famous, everything you do gets magnified infinitely by the internet.’

So, Blair was now trying to adapt to this new identity, making an effort to adjust her old personality and habits.

It wasn’t that hard for her to accept, though. When she saw her backend revenue, she felt like she could take on the world!

Following her GPS, she quickly found the bamboo forest in the wetland park. It was early April, so the bamboo wasn’t yet a vibrant, lush green. Only a hint of verdure was emerging from the pale yellow leaves, but the effect on camera was surprisingly good.

’It reminded me of the movie *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*!’

The team had already arrived earlier and had almost finished with the preparations. When Blair got there, she found Shane Webb yelling at someone.

"Are you a moron? Didn’t you check the equipment before you left? I told you to bring six light reflectors, big things like these, and you managed to forget five of them? Is that a mistake a human being even makes?"

"I’m sorry, Finn. They wouldn’t fit in this bag, so I folded the rest and put them in another one. But I was in such a rush this morning that I left that bag at home!"

"Why didn’t you just leave yourself at home then?"

The one being yelled at was the streaming assistant, who was responsible for preparing props, gathering materials, and helping with viewer interaction. Her team only had one such assistant, who had to juggle multiple roles.

The assistant kept her head down, not daring to say much. It was, after all, a very elementary mistake. Besides, they all knew Shane Webb’s temper and were mentally prepared for a scolding.

"Blair’s here!"

Just then, someone finally noticed Blair had arrived.

Shane Webb looked over at the sound of her name. The moment he saw Blair, the anger on his face vanished completely, replaced by a smile as he walked over to greet her. "Blair, you’re here!"

Blair frowned at him. "What’s with all the yelling so early in the morning?"

Shane Webb shot an exasperated look at the young assistant and sighed. "I confirmed with him yesterday that we needed six light reflectors for today’s stream. And this kid? He left five of them at home. Tell me I don’t have a right to be angry."

He didn’t forget to hurry the assistant along. "Quick, call a courier to get them delivered, or go back and get them yourself! What are you still standing there for?"

"Oh, I’ll go right now."

Seeing this, Blair stepped in. "Forget it. I never use beauty filters on my stream anyway. Natural is good. I’ve never even used light reflectors or anything like that before."

"Blair, the reflectors aren’t for beauty filters," Shane Webb explained with a helpless smile. "They’re for adjusting the light in your stream. Before, you were streaming on the school’s athletic field where there was nothing blocking the light, so of course it was bright enough."

"It’s different today. We’re surrounded by a bamboo forest. Without reflectors, the lighting in your stream will be too dark, and it’ll strain the viewers’ eyes after a while. We can’t do without them!"

Blair blinked. ’So I was the amateur here.’

"He screwed up at his own job, so he has to be the one to fix it. You don’t need to feel sorry for him," Shane Webb said as he pulled Blair aside, toward a parked car.

Shane opened the car door, pulled out an outfit, and handed it to her. "Here, get in the car and change into this. We’ll be streaming in this outfit today."

Blair took it and saw it was an outfit from a well-known domestic sportswear brand.

Seeing her daze, Shane Webb quickly explained, "It’s a sponsorship. The brand offered this price..."

As he spoke, Shane held up an open hand, waggling his five fingers in front of Blair.

"Five... five hundred?" Blair stammered, slightly stunned. Then it hit her. ’Five million?’

Shane Webb raised an eyebrow smugly. "For one day. After taxes!"

"That much?"

Blair was floored. Five million for a single day’s sponsorship?

Shane Webb scoffed. "It’s not that much at all. Nowadays, an ad spot for a top influencer costs hundreds of thousands for anything over sixty seconds, and you’ll be wearing this for the whole day. Besides, your stream’s peak traffic is number one online right now. Five million a day is me giving them a friendly discount!"