Chapter 199

After finishing the commercial shoot, Xu Mingchuan personally came to the set to pick her up. Seeing that Xu Mingchuan was there, Li Yao made an excuse to leave first.

When Xu Mingchuan saw her, he was in a good mood. He chatted with her about the competition in "Against the Wind".

"Apart from your objection to the paid voting, many other participating artists have also expressed their discontent. Up until now, no agreement has been reached, so the fourth public performance has been dragged out like this," said Xu Mingchuan while driving. He told her what he knew.

"I also feel that paid voting is not good, but I think there is still room for discussion. The staff of the program team have provided various plans to each entertainment company, some of which I think are quite good," added Xu Mingchuan.

Plan 1 is to lower the price, but set a minimum purchase price of 10 votes.

Plan 2 is to cooperate with the sponsoring brands and bundle the votes with the products. Consumers get votes when they buy the products.

Plan 3 is still to lower the price, but reduce the profit sharing of various companies.

"The plan with the highest acceptance at the moment is Plan 2. Most selection shows in China and abroad also use this method. Many artists have also expressed their stance to the program team. If this is the case, at least fans will not suffer losses, while companies and the program team can also profit, achieving a triple win," said Xu Mingchuan.

The implication in Xu Mingchuan’s words was that he also inclined towards this plan.

Qin Wei frowned. She listened carefully to each plan he mentioned:

"Can there be no upper limit? Also, are the products purchased definitely something everyone needs?"

"For now, the agreed brands plan to launch snack gift boxes, with each box containing three votes. The more you buy, the more votes you get.

There will also be a direct channel to purchase votes at a relatively lowered price but limited quantity," explained Xu Mingchuan patiently to Qin Wei.

"Qin Wei, even the most popular variety show has a limited audience. Not to mention, not every fan is willing to pay money. This is the biggest compromise the program team can make," added Xu Mingchuan.

Qin Wei voiced her own thoughts:

"But I don't want to compromise either."

"If you care about them, they won't be grateful to you. They will only think you are ungrateful and have no emotional intelligence. Be it a few dollars, a few tens of dollars, a few hundreds of dollars, or even thousands of dollars, they are willing to pay. Even if you refuse, no one will understand you. Instead, you may even offend people."

"Don't say anything first. Calm down and think about it, then we can talk again," said Xu Mingchuan.

Although he said that, it was mainly because he was afraid he could not control his emotions and would start arguing with her first. He did not want that at all.

Xu Mingchuan took a deep breath and felt his emotions stabilize. Only then did he say to Qin Wei again:

"I'll treat you to dinner now. I booked a table at Toma Western Restaurant. Don't worry, our other colleagues from the company will be there too."

Xu Mingchuan changed the topic. "Do a live stream with the company account tonight. There is no specific task, just that your fans always want to see you. It doesn’t have to be too long, at most an hour, then you can go back and rest."

"As for coordinating with the program team of Against the Wind, don't worry about that. Just focus on what you should do, and leave the rest to me," said Xu Mingchuan.

...

The live stream notice was only released at 7 pm, but when she went live at the company at 8 pm, the number of viewers in the live stream room quickly broke 10,000.

"There are so few people..."

"Has Lu E's popularity cooled down?"

"It's because their company's account is too unpopular. And they sent out the notice late..."

Qin Wei also silently counted the number of viewers in the live stream room- an icy 20,000 at the moment.

There was still some time before the live stream started. She turned to Li Yao who had just rushed back and complained:

"How poor is our company? Don't we even buy fans?"

"I'll chip in to buy 5-dollar fans for the company."

Li Yao smiled awkwardly:

"Not even a bowl of snail noodles can be bought for 5 dollars..."

"Then 10 dollars," said Qin Wei.

As she spoke, she also took out her phone and opened Pinduoduo app. While muttering to herself, she said,

"I should buy some for myself too. I only have 5 million fans while Teacher Qiao already has 90 million... I wonder how many were bought by her..."

"Watch what you say please!"

"We all know you're comparing with the other company, but the difference in number of fans between her and you is too big!!! You guys are not even at the same level!"

"The main reason is that Lu E has never maintained her account at all other than clarifying rumors and posting ads. Her account is just left idle... Fans don't even know how to interact."

"What's with your reaction? Wei Wei has 50 million fans! She couldn't even count the later zeros... Jeez..."

"I checked. It's indeed true, haha! If it were other celebrities, I would suspect it's just an act. But for her, it still feels genuine..."

"Have you become blind and deaf now that you can't see or hear?"

The staff reminded her that it was time. Only then did Qin Wei put down her phone and greeted the camera lens:

"Hello everyone. I'm actress Qin Wei. Welcome to our company's live stream room. I'm doing a live stream today mainly to let everyone know that our company has an official account. I hope you can follow it."

President Xu stood opposite, staring at his phone. There were now 70,000 viewers in the live stream room, and the number was still rising. The number of followers on the company account was also increasing. It seemed that the prospects looked promising.

He gestured to Qin Wei, signaling her to thank everyone for their support and then give out benefits. As instructed by President Xu, his colleagues brought the prepared gifts over for her to randomly draw and give out to fans.

Qin Wei nodded obediently and asked the staff for a guitar.

She was not following the procedure?

The staff holding the gifts looked towards President Xu and Li Yao.

But the two were very calm about it. Although they also hoped she would follow the set process, where could she be controlled?

President Xu shook his head to signal the staff to stand by with the gifts and just let her freely express herself however she wanted.

"There are 70,000 viewers now. To thank everyone for making time to be here, I'll sing a song I just learned to show my appreciation," said Qin Wei.

Just as she was about to start singing, the live stream room erupted into chatter.

"I'm home alone now. Please don't sing rap..."

"It shouldn't go that direction judging from this prelude..."

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

As Qin Wei strummed the first few notes on the guitar...

"This opening...I'm getting ominous signs..."

"What is it?"

"Ever since you left me, my gentleness seemed lost too..."

"What song is this? Anyone got a link?"

"West Sea Love Song ...it's an old song..."

"WTF, this song is older than I am..."

"Do you still remember your promise to me that you wouldn't let me lose you..."

"...Yet you followed those migratory birds flying south, so very far away..."

"I'm kinda curious about what's in Lu E's playlists now...why does she listen to songs so different from people her age all day long..."

"Our love and fate can no longer continue..."

"...We can't go back to the past..."

"Nice song. Please don't sing anymore next time."

"Can you share your playlist? My grandpa said he wants it."

"You say she's trolling, but she sang it through seriously enough and not bad at all. And yet the basis of her song choices is really quite puzzling."

When she finished singing the song, the number of viewers in the livestream room jumped multiple times to 500,000.