Chapter 728 - 365: Chen Jincheng’s Reputation Bizarrely Improved

Chapter 728: Chapter 365: Chen Jincheng’s Reputation Bizarrely Improved

The hotel was right in front of them, but his boss wanted to find a different one. He didn’t have to think hard to guess why. So, he didn’t ask any questions and just did as his boss instructed.

A moment later, Ah Pao drove the car into the parking lot of another hotel. Then, without Chen Jincheng having to say a word, he got out of the car with practiced discretion, checked into a room, and returned to the car. He handed the key card to Chen Jincheng, along with two face masks.

Chen Jincheng gave one of the masks to Li Lixing, and they got out of the car together and walked toward the hotel.

Honestly, with his fame growing, things like this were getting more and more inconvenient. So, he said to Li Lixing, "You’re still living at the school, right? It’s not very convenient for an online influencer to live in a dorm. You should find a nice apartment somewhere else, anywhere is fine. I’ll cover the expenses. After all, I’m a good boss who cares about his employees."

"Okay," Li Lixing replied. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand what he meant. ’The boss is pretty shameless,’ she thought. ’He’s clearly doing this for his own convenience, but he insists on framing it as *my* life as an influencer being inconvenient.’

After entering the hotel room, Li Lixing was a little nervous. Chen Jincheng was in no hurry. When faced with a brand-new car fresh off the assembly line, you had to tune it up properly and let the engine oil get everything well-lubricated.

So, he pulled her onto his lap, and his hands began to...

Li Lixing immediately felt her body react in a way she couldn’t control. She hurriedly asked, "Boss, people online are saying you’re going to film two videos for a Miss Cheng."

"We’ll film them tomorrow," Chen Jincheng murmured, his expression melting as his ’tuning’ technique grew more and more skillful.

It was Li Lixing’s first time experiencing this kind of ’tuning,’ and she instantly went limp in his arms, her pretty face blushing so red it looked like it could bleed.

And while Chen Jincheng was busy ’inspecting a new car fresh off the factory floor,’ the internet was being bombarded with news about Second-Life Star giving out cash bonuses at their banquet. Under the management of Yijin and various content-clipping accounts, several topics quickly started trending on Tiao Yin.

"Second-Life Star’s "Oh No, I’m Surrounded by Beauties!" Game Celebration Banquet: Chen Jincheng Throws Cash Around Like Crazy!"

"Chen Jincheng Lavishly Awards 1.5 Million Yuan Bonus to His Hanfu Designer!"

"The Perks of Being an Artist at Second-Life Star: Bonuses Start at 3 Million!"

"Shocking! Chen Jincheng Gives the "Innate Widow Sacred Body" a 10 Million Yuan Bonus!"

Clearly, Chen Jincheng giving out bonuses like this was incredibly impactful, especially in 2018. No one else was doing anything like it.

The 10 million yuan bonus, in particular, was unbelievably eye-catching.

Moreover, these trending topics were all part of a carefully orchestrated plan.

First, it was another wave of promotion for "Oh No, I’m Surrounded by Beauties!" With the DLC and bundles launching tomorrow, this would draw even more attention to the Second Life Star Film and Television Network.

Next was the lavish 1.5 million yuan bonus for the designer. This was meant to attract Hanfu designers. Everyone knew a war was coming in the Hanfu market, and even if other companies couldn’t compete with Second-Life Star, they would still want to jump in and get a piece of the pie.

That made talent crucial.

So, if you were a Hanfu designer and saw this news—that Second-Life Star offers profit sharing for Hanfu designs, on top of having a natural advantage in promoting and selling Hanfu—where would you choose to go?

The most capable designers would flock to Second-Life Star, confident that they, too, could earn such a massive bonus.

And this move did indeed cement Second-Life Star’s dominant position in the Hanfu industry, a position it would maintain for a long time to come.

After all, the Hanfu designs that Chen Jincheng "ported over" were the work of talented designers from another world.

As for the bonuses for Second-Life Star’s artists—starting at 3 million—and Xiaoju’s 10 million yuan bonus, those were naturally aimed at other Company MCNs and the influencer industry as a whole.

Second-Life Star was now the first 5-star Guild, which already made it a huge draw for many online influencers. Now, seeing these kinds of bonuses—and that Second-Life Star would actually give an artist a 10 million yuan bonus—didn’t that make the company even more attractive?

It was this very move that began to trouble many other Company MCNs. ’Isn’t this just malicious competition?’ they wondered.

When Yuan Peng of OST saw the news, he cursed out loud, "Holy shit! Chen Jincheng, do you play by any rules at all?"

He had also been preparing bonuses for his company’s artists for their recent sales promotions, but his were limited—more of a token gesture.

’What the hell is Chen Jincheng trying to pull?’

’If he gives out bonuses like that, and I go ahead with my original plan, once word gets out, who will ever want to join our company?’

’What’s that saying again? About jacking up the price of... you know. How is this any different from that?’

’The man is an absolute monster.’

Meanwhile, the three founding partners of Wuyou Media fell silent and started smoking as they read the news.

To be honest, being in the same city, they felt utterly exhausted. Sometimes, they felt like they were living in the shadow of Second-Life Star. This was especially true recently, as they’d had their own designs on Black Cat TV and had even been pooling their funds to make a move.

But just as they finished raising the money and were preparing to make their big play, they saw the news that Chen Jincheng had already signed all of Black Cat TV’s streamers in one fell swoop.

For some reason, no matter what they planned to do, Second-Life Star was always one step ahead. It was truly exhausting operating in the same city.

They had raised a huge amount of capital, wanting to grow bigger and stronger, but there was simply no room for them to maneuver.

Now, with their rival handing out ten-million-yuan bonuses, how many high-quality talents and established influencers in Coastal City would choose Wuyou Media over Second-Life Star based on reputation alone?

"We either dissolve the company or move to another city to grow," the largest shareholder finally said, making the decision.

「The night passed, and a new day arrived.」

The story of Second-Life Star throwing money around at its celebration banquet went even more viral on Tiao Yin.

But a related topic unexpectedly shot to the top of the Tiao Yin charts, surpassing even the hot topics Yijin had been promoting and taking everyone by surprise.

"The ’Jin’ in Chen Jincheng’s Name Is Worth More and More—Literally!"

This came from a video posted by a current events analyst. In the video, he said, "Everyone says Chen Jincheng is a scumbag, that he maintains ’unusual’ relationships with all those Miss Cheng girls, and that he even sleeps with his female employees to get them ahead. They say he has a character problem."

"But after seeing the news about Second-Life Star throwing money around yesterday, I think everyone has a new understanding of what a ’scumbag’ is. A scumbag is someone who will film videos to make you famous, who won’t make you live with him and do endless chores like sweeping floors and washing clothes and dishes, and who isn’t some sloppy, greasy guy who’s a mess just to look at."

"And most importantly, this ’scumbag’ gives you huge bonuses—a minimum of 3 million, and a maximum of 10 million. You know, you can only win 5 million from the lottery, and everyone knows what the odds of that are."

"So, *that’s* a scumbag. Now does everyone understand the true ’value’ of the internet’s number one scumbag?"

As soon as this video came out, it left countless people speechless, especially women. Unmarried women looked over at their boyfriends, who were either lounging with their legs crossed playing on their phones or completely absorbed in a game with headphones on, and sighed silently.

Married women looked at the unfinished housework in their hands, then at their greasy husbands collapsed on the couch doing nothing, expecting to be clothed and fed without lifting a finger. They felt even more emotional. ’How is Chen Jincheng a scumbag?’ they thought. ’He’s our ideal man, our god, okay?’

They could only sigh that they hadn’t met a "scumbag" like Chen Jincheng when they were younger. If they had, they would have been perfectly happy to dote on both him and his mistress. If the mistress got pregnant, they would have rushed over to take care of her during her postpartum confinement.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t even feel right about accepting that 10 million yuan.

And just like that, Chen Jincheng’s public reputation took a sudden, bizarre turn for the better.