This Girl Forced to Become an Entertainment Company Boss

Chapter 22

The company's various social media accounts were usually managed by the system. Each day, the content to be posted was edited by staff, uploaded to the internal software, reviewed by the system, and then scheduled for publication. However, Jiang Juyou occasionally logged in to check things, like today.

After tidying up her office, she returned to her residence and lay on the bed, mindlessly scrolling through her phone. Suddenly, she noticed a new pending item on the internal software. Seeing it was behind-the-scenes photos from tonight's performance, Jiang Juyou decided to post them quickly. However, upon logging in, she was greeted by hundreds of unread messages.

Annoyed by the red notification dots, Jiang Juyou clicked through them one by one.

"@Me"

"@TodayNight: [Letter] Site Opening Announcement [Letter], Spring Night wrote a letter to tonight's lucky person..."

"@ISaidIDontLikeCilantro: You guys in the Domestic Entertainment Industry move so fast, has it even been two hours since the performance ended? //@LuckyGoose: Site opening announcement..."

"@WalletTight: This is Ye Xing's fourth fan site, did you fan site admins accidentally go to the wrong place for your team building tonight? //@LuckyGoose: Site opening announcement..."

Jiang Juyou scrolled through and saw many fan site opening announcements. Some tagged the trainees' accounts, while others didn't. She noticed that the trainees who performed well in today's show had fan sites. Ye Xing had five, while Yao Shuo, Chi Qiao, and Pei Luming each had one.

The increase in reposts and comments was due to fans coming to boost the data.

Jiang Juyou, who had been lying down, suddenly sat up. "What does this mean?" Her eyes lit up. "It means I can start making money earlier!"

Jiang Juyou had planned to slowly accumulate fans, expecting that with future contributions from fan site admins and influential fans within the circle, the fan community would become more active, allowing her to make money later. According to her expectations, it would take at least four or five months to have fan sites or influential fans, but today's events had accelerated the timeline significantly.

"Hahahahahaha!" Jiang Juyou laughed like a goose on her bed.

Of course, making money this month might be difficult, but at least it was much earlier than expected.

With a smile on her face, Jiang Juyou scheduled the behind-the-scenes photos for posting. She then messaged the performance department, asking them to calculate the copyright fees for each song, so they could sell today's recorded stage performances when they had the money.

Just thinking about starting to make money soon made Jiang Juyou want to laugh.

-

Jiang Juyou, not yet deeply involved in the fan circle, didn't understand the speed of those fan site admins. She only saw the fan sites opening, but there were also fan clubs, promotional accounts, and data teams. Among them, Ye Xing's fan circle structure was established the fastest. By nightfall, he already had all the basic sites and even four dedicated fan photographers.

But the already asleep Jiang Juyou couldn't possibly know this.

Given today's strict monitoring, audience members at the venue hardly dared to take out their phones to film, let alone use cameras. So everyone could only describe the event verbally.

The Domestic Entertainment Industry forum was flooded with posts from those who attended the performance. They chatted for nearly a thousand comments, and those who came across the hot topic and wanted to join in couldn't understand what they were talking about, even after scrolling through the entire thread.

Soon after, they built another high-rise thread.

"Title: Galaxy/Sisters come quickly, fan site admins have released fancams!!!!"

"Yao Shuo's fan site admin released fancams!!"

"It's just the first stage and his solo stage."

"Head to BigEyedBoy, address below."

Comments:

"Wait, how did she film it? I tried to film Ye Xing with my phone and was asked to delete it by staff. Damn, they even checked the trash folder!"

"Only those who were there know the greatness of this fancam."

"Can someone edit an audio version? I want to listen."

"Is there anyone who can explain what this is about? Is it a new talent show?"

"This opening is really amazing, is it from the Domestic Entertainment Industry?"

"New green card?"

"I made an audio version, just DM me."

"Looking at this angle, she probably wasn't filming with her phone in the inner area."

"They say it was filmed with a phone at the entrance/exit of the stands."

"As expected, where there's a will, there's a way. Well done, I'll do the same next time."

"Is there a next time? When?"

"I asked the staff when we left in the afternoon, they said there will be monthly performances from now on, free of charge for now."

"Every time it's Yao Shuo's part, I ascend, especially that high note, it's so satisfying!"

"I was wondering why so many fan sites opened tonight, turns out half of the attendees were fan site admins."

"...I just sat there stupidly without filming anything."

"Huh, I was even asked to put my camera in a locker before entering."

While other fans were using official photos, Yao Shuo's fan site admin had already released fancams. Although there were only two, those who attended knew how difficult this feat was. The two videos were reposted hundreds of times, with many curious people from the forum joining in.

The next day happened to be Saturday, and employees had the day off. Only two people from the New Talent Department, which managed the trainees, were on duty. They had given the trainees a day off yesterday, and everyone had gone home to stay, so the staff didn't need to pick them up this morning.

When Gao Xiayu woke up, he saw the schedule posted by the staff sister in their group chat. There was no self-practice time this morning; instead, they were to watch yesterday's performance stages and critique other trainees' performances.

Originally, after a night's rest, everyone's mood had relaxed a bit, but seeing this, the high-pressure feeling immediately returned.

Gao Xiayu rubbed his heart, feeling that he would eventually be scared to death by this system.

"Xia Xia, come out for breakfast! Are you going by yourself later or should mom drive you? Can you be a little late? If so, mom can drive you," Gao's mother called out from the kitchen, carrying a bowl.

Gao Xiayu, who was changing clothes, shouted back, "No need, I can go by myself!"

"Alright, come out quickly for breakfast!"

"Coming—"

The atmosphere at the venue's back door was different today. Usually deserted, there were now seven or eight people standing there. They were spread out, wearing masks and hats, not talking much.

Gao Xiayu and the others met at the subway exit and walked over together. Chen Wu looked at the people by the distant back door and questioned, "Is our company starting to recruit female trainees?"

His comment made the others notice the people standing at the entrance.

The people with cameras at the entrance also spotted the approaching group and immediately raised their cameras towards them. The slower fan site admins only turned their heads when they heard the shutter sounds.

This sudden development startled the boys. Seeing their fright, the women closest to them quickly lowered their cameras. "Good morning, boys. We're fans who watched yesterday's performance, don't be scared!"

They were experienced, but these young boys weren't. Didn't they see how the shortest one had already squeezed behind his brothers?

Although they introduced themselves, Gao Xiayu and the others still felt awkward. It was their first time encountering such a situation, feeling both curious and embarrassed.

The fan site admins who were originally at the entrance gradually gathered around them. Ye Xing had the most people around him. Those girls, carrying bags and cameras, maintained a few meters' distance from Ye Xing, walking and stopping while constantly asking him questions.

"Ye Xing, did you have breakfast?"

"...Yes, my father made it," Ye Xing didn't dare make eye contact with them. He had barely spoken a few sentences, but the tips of his ears were already turning red.

The fan site admin closest to him asked, "Hahaha, so cute. Ye Xing, do you have a nickname?"

"Yes... my parents call me Xingxing (little star)."

"Can we call you Xingxing too?"

"Sure." Ye Xing was actually a bit reluctant. After all, he was already fourteen, and being called by a nickname was embarrassing. But he didn't want to refuse them.

People who performed well in yesterday's show were all surrounded by fans. Because the fan site admins were walking backwards, it was difficult for them to notice people in front. Chen Wu and Gao Xiayu were nearly bumped into.

As they approached the back door, someone from the security office finally noticed the situation. "Excuse me, please make way! Don't crowd around them, they still have training today!"

Dealing with these people had become second nature to them. Seeing that they weren't allowed to get closer, they immediately dispersed to find good positions and started frantically pressing their camera shutters at the people going inside.

After a while, the new department staff arriving for work also noticed the situation outside. Two of them first reported this to their superiors, then went to the practice room.

Upon entering, they found more than a dozen boys sitting on the floor chatting idly. The moment the door opened, the noisy chatter inside instantly ceased, and everyone looked towards the entrance.

"What's going on here, are you here to chat?" Most of the new department staff were girls, but they could be scary when angry.

She stood at the door with her arms crossed, "Didn't the schedule come out today?"

"It did..." All the trainees stood up, and no one dared to speak anymore.

"If it's out, what are you waiting for?" She paused after speaking, then pointed towards the outside, "We've reminded you before, right? We said that after your performance, you might gradually accumulate fans, and there might be fans coming to wait for you at the company entrance. Go over in your head again what you should and shouldn't say. Also, regarding gifts, whether it's a penny candy or clothes worth tens of thousands, you're not allowed to accept any. You're even less allowed to exchange contact information with fans. If we find out, you'll be terminated, no negotiation."

These rules were told to every trainee on their first day at the company. They were even required to deactivate or hide all their social media accounts. For things like QQ and WeChat, they were even asked to delete some unnecessary contacts, and all content in Moments and Qzone was to be deleted entirely.

"...Do you understand?"

"We understand!"

Before leaving, she dropped one last bombshell, "Two more trainees will join tomorrow, and class divisions will start next Friday. Each of you needs to prepare four stages." She counted on her fingers, "Singing, dancing, singing and dancing combined, and a display of other talents."

"Is that clear?"

The dozen or so trainees answered in unison: "Clear!"

With a "bang," the door was closed, and all the boys collectively let out a sigh of relief.

This was what life as a trainee was like. It felt like someone was constantly holding a rope tied to their heads, not daring to relax for a moment.

Hearing the staff sister say that they were about to have another class division test, the anxiety they had before their performance returned.

Meanwhile, Jiang Juyou, who had just woken up, sat on the edge of the bed and yawned, scratching her messy hair. After the performance ended, the burden she had been carrying suddenly lifted, and last night she had slept unusually well, not waking up once in the middle of the night.

As her emotions relaxed, Jiang Juyou fell back onto the bed and picked up her phone from the bedside to start scrolling.

"...Galaxy Cafe revenue two hundred and three yuan?" Jiang Juyou looked at the words on her phone and sat up again.

She scrolled through it, seeing that people had gone up to consume both before and after yesterday's performance. But because the drinks were priced low, they didn't make much money.

Lying back down, Jiang Juyou started to ponder the main issue. The first performance was over, and the trainees' training had entered a regular routine. So the next goal was to attract more people to watch the performances, which would help accumulate more fans.

So the most important thing was actually to break out of their circle.

The most popular phrase in fan circles was "fencing off and self-indulging." This worked for groups that already had their own fan circles; self-production and self-consumption were enough to expand their fan base. But for brand new rookies like them, forget about circles, they hadn't even connected the dots yet.

So they needed to find a way to get more people to pay attention to them and be willing to learn about them.

Jiang Juyou had been considering various marketing strategies for the second performance for two weeks. The strategy for the first performance was to have her sister call some fansite friends to watch. She had some confidence in Ye Xing's face; as long as one person got hooked, it would be successful because it would start to establish connections with the outside world.

Obviously, this strategy was successful, but she couldn't always have her sister call fansite friends. Those people surely had their own favorites, and if there was a schedule conflict, this side would definitely be the one abandoned. So she couldn't just rely on this one source; she needed to think of other methods.

As Jiang Juyou started scrolling through Douyin with an empty mind, she thought about things while swiping through the screen.

Since she started running this company, the content on her Douyin had changed from cats, dogs, and funny situational comedies to stages from the domestic and foreign entertainment industries. If it wasn't this red carpet being critiqued, it was that stage breaking out, or fans arguing with the studio, being reposted by marketing accounts for discussion.

She had just swiped past a marketing account's video when she came to another stage.

Jiang Juyou didn't rush to swipe past it, but paused for a moment. The video content was a random dance event organized by fans themselves. She watched the beautifully dressed girls dancing in front, shaking her head, "If only we had enough space, I'd want to recruit female trainees too."

As she said this, she swiped past the video, then came across a Vlog. Jiang Juyou, who hadn't seen a Vlog in a long time, paused again. But after just two seconds, she realized it was a girl planning to set up a stall to sell albums at a random dance event.

"Hey... how come others are so business-savvy? Wait!" Jiang Juyou exclaimed while swiping past, but suddenly an idea flashed in her mind.

"I'm a genius!" Jiang Juyou sent the idea to the staff below, then praised herself.

-

For Beijing's weather, which is either scorching hot or freezing cold, a day like today with a slight coolness was something not seen in a long time. Jiang Tang had prepared for her sandals to melt from the heat before getting off the plane, but when she stepped out, she was greeted by a cool breeze, which was a pleasant surprise.

"Sis-- over here!" Jiang Juyou waved to her sister coming out.

Jiang Tang, pulling her luggage, looked over with an exasperated expression, "This is the first time I've seen someone picking up at the airport entrance."

Jiang Juyou pointed at her younger sister, "She has people to photograph."

The one mentioned grinned and put her camera in her bag, "Oh, never mind that, let's go quickly. We haven't seen each other in so long, today's meal is on me!"

Jiang Tang's face showed a determined expression, "Just wait, I'll eat you out of house and home today!"

Previously, Jiang Liuxing had been studying in their hometown, and even when she came to Beijing, it was at the airport. Even though Jiang Juyou and Jiang Tang were both in Beijing, they rarely saw each other. So it had been half a year since the three sisters had gathered together.

Jiang Liuxing said she would treat today, and she really took her two sisters to a high-end restaurant.

Jiang Tang flipped through the menu, feeling dizzy, "Wait, are you this rich now? Even if you have money, you shouldn't spend it like this, right?"

Jiang Juyou, also looking at the menu beside her, started to feel dizzy too, "So much money, so much money."

Seeing her two sisters like this, Jiang Liuxing frowned in confusion, "Each dish is just two or three hundred. The way you two are acting, people might think I brought you to a restaurant with a minimum spend of a hundred thousand."

As she spoke, she waved to a waiter in the distance, and before her two sisters could react, she quickly ordered the meal.

The two sisters: "..."

What a spendthrift.

"What have you been busy with lately?" Jiang Tang ignored her other sister and looked directly at Jiang Juyou.

It was easy to guess what Jiang Liuxing was busy with every day, but there was no news about Jiang Juyou's side. They only knew she had joined an entertainment company, but hadn't heard anything about what happened afterward.

Jiang Juyou didn't know how to answer, so she said, "Whatever you're busy with, I'm busy with the same."

Hearing this, Jiang Tang paused, "I'm busy preparing for the art college entrance exam. Are you also preparing for that?"

"Huh?"

"Art college entrance exam?"

The two drinking tea looked up.

Jiang Tang leaned back and sighed first, "Our company wants to disband our group. They notified us of this last night... But it's not unexpected, right? Our company had said they were preparing an album before, but then it fell through. After that, there was no news for a long time. I started preparing for the art college entrance exam at that time."

"You've already entered this industry, why do you still need to take the art college entrance exam?" Jiang Liuxing didn't understand.

At the mention of this, Jiang Tang became irritated, "You have no idea how much those directors and producers care about your background. As soon as you interview, they first ask which school you graduated from. Schools like the Central Academy of Drama, Beijing Film Academy, and Shanghai Theatre Academy all have their own circles. If they see you're a junior from the same school, they might look after you a bit and give you a small role. If not, they won't even glance at you."

"Just take the exam, it's better than doing nothing," Jiang Liuxing said.

Jiang Juyou, however, thought of something else, "So what about your contract with your current company?"

"Once I've made up my mind, I can go to the company to settle accounts and terminate the contract... Our boss is actually kind-hearted, he's always had a fan mentality, so it feels like it's hard to make money. Indeed, to make money in this industry, you need to be a bit ruthless, be a capitalist," Jiang Tang said, then shook her head, "But being too ruthless isn't good either, I might end up being exploited too."

Jiang Juyou thought about the system's task, then looked at her sister, "...Why don't you come to our company?"

This time, it was their turn to tilt their heads and look at Jiang Juyou.

"Aren't you in HR?"

"What are you talking about, she's still an intern."

"I remember she was recruiting before."

"As an intern, they just move you wherever they're short-staffed."

Before Jiang Juyou could answer, the two of them started arguing.

"Well..."

Now it was Jiang Juyou's turn to have a headache. She didn't know how to explain to them how she had gone from being an intern to becoming the Executive Producer and Artistic Director in just two months.

When Jiang Juyou finished pondering and looked up again, she found the two of them staring at her.

Jiang Liuxing turned her head to share with her sister what she had seen earlier, "Yesterday when I went to see the performance, I felt that Second Sister had an incredibly strong presence, like someone with a high position and authority in the company."

Jiang Tang said again: "She's just an intern!"

"I'm the Executive Producer," Jiang Juyou suddenly interjected.

"..."

"Huh?"

"What did you say?"

Both sisters doubted their ears.

Jiang Juyou awkwardly fumbled through an explanation, finally saying again: "...So now I'm the Executive Producer and Artistic Director."

She waited for their reactions, but unexpectedly, Jiang Tang stood up from her seat, "A big shot! A big shot indeed! I knew it!"

Jiang Liuxing and Jiang Juyou watched her go crazy, "..."

Jiang Tang hugged her sister's head and gave her a kiss, "I'll sign, I'll sign!"

Now it was Jiang Juyou's turn to look uncomfortable. With a red lipstick mark on her forehead, she had a constipated expression, "Maybe I should reconsider."

Jiang Liuxing was still a bit dazed, "...So what I saw yesterday was because..."

She looked again at her sister, who had a red lipstick mark on her forehead and actually held a high position of authority in the company.

"..."

Hard to evaluate.

Jiang Juyou with the red lipstick mark on her forehead: ...