As the end of the workday approached, people were already distracted, scrolling on their phones and waiting to clock out. Suddenly, the juicy gossip they were consuming turned out to be about their own company.
The brains of Random Entertainment employees short-circuited for a moment.
The company's internal group chat erupted into chaos.
"Has anyone received news about a new artist joining?"
"@Talent Management Department, is this real or fake?"
"Don't tag me, I just found out from Weibo too."
"Wow! It's Chen Xi!"
"Should we contact some marketing accounts to generate some buzz?"
"Great, all three of our company's artists are women now. I love it!"
With no orders from above to work overtime, everyone except those with unfinished tasks clocked out.
But the buzz didn't die down. People were still discussing it when they came to work the next day.
The subject of all the talk, Hu Yixin, hadn't responded yet, and his studio was silent as the grave. But netizens noticed that all the variety shows he had appeared in started editing him out. This was basically confirmation from industry insiders that he had become a disgraced artist who could no longer work in China.
Online discussions all revolved around Hu Yixin, but only Random Entertainment employees remembered yesterday afternoon's sudden official announcement. When they came to work today, they were waiting for notice from higher-ups.
Random Entertainment was slightly different from other companies. It had its own internal software where all work was conducted, and even artists had their own accounts.
Apart from the film and variety show departments, most of the work revolved around the artists. So there was a section in the internal software dedicated to artists, which listed each artist's team members and their positions, as well as ongoing and upcoming projects.
This morning when they arrived at the company, sure enough, Chen Xi's name had been added to the artist section. However, the list of team members under her name was still empty, with no assignments yet.
During breakfast, everyone was quietly discussing:
"Are they going to hire new people again?"
"It's got nothing to do with us. Do you want to transfer to an artist's team?"
"I have a friend who wants to join our company."
"There's no recruitment information out yet. Let's wait and see."
Meanwhile, Jiang Juyou, who had just gotten off a plane, rubbed her temples and pushed through her fatigue as she rushed to the company. After handling Chen Xi's matter yesterday, she had been busy non-stop. After having dinner with her sister, she still had to go over Chen Xi's contract requirements with Cheng Yuan, and renegotiate the parts they couldn't accept. As a result, she only got about two hours of sleep.
Early in the morning, she had to rush back to Beijing for a meeting with the company to plan Chen Xi's future path.
From what she understood, the drama Chen Xi was currently filming was her last work with Guoyao Entertainment. Her endorsement contracts were also about to expire, so they needed to renew them or find new brand partnerships. After the New Year, there would be many public events, so they needed to contact event organizers in advance.
But the premise for all of this was to build a new team for Chen Xi.
In the back seat of the car, Jiang Juyou yawned while talking on the phone with company staff, "Let's arrange a personal assistant first. Guoyao might call back her current assistant, so we can't let her stay alone in the hotel."
"...Get everything else arranged within this week. I'm almost at the company. We'll discuss the details this afternoon."
Unlike usual, the sun was particularly active today. Just past 9 o'clock, it was already bright. Jiang Juyou leaned against the car window for a short nap, the warmth of the winter sun enveloping her, dispelling some of her fatigue.
"We're here!" the driver in front called out after parking the car.
Jiang Juyou, still groggy from sleep, struggled to get up. "Thank you, driver..."
The security guards at the company building were very observant. Seeing the car stop, they came over to check and, recognizing Jiang Juyou, immediately went to the trunk to help with the luggage.
Jiang Juyou, still bleary-eyed, yawned as she got out of the car, but the cold wind jolted her awake. She said to the security guard, "I'll take it, thank you."
After putting her luggage back in her office, Jiang Juyou went downstairs to buy a cup of coffee before returning upstairs to prepare for the meeting.
-
The entertainment industry is made up of many small circles. Usually, people only move within their own circles, completely unaware of what's happening with other celebrities. Only when big scandals break do these circles temporarily merge.
This month, apart from caring about their own idols, the Train Conductor Sisters' furthest venture was Hu Yixin's big scandal. Coincidentally, that incident involved Random Entertainment, giving them their first impression of Random Entertainment as a major company.
But even a big company couldn't stop them from complaining.
"Why didn't they promote the theme song after it was released? Why didn't they allow filming at the concert? It's so frustrating, I can't wrap my head around it. It's such a good promotional opportunity, why not use it?"
"Nothing is more explosive than opening ticket sales for eight concerts simultaneously. Which company would do that?"
"It doesn't feel real at all. The concert series just ended like that."
"The concert tour has caused the show's popularity to drop so much. It's so annoying!"
"They opened ticket sales for all eight shows at once, splitting the audience. As a result, I couldn't get tickets for any show. Weren't there supposed to be only 300 show fans nationwide? Who exactly was I competing with for tickets?"
"No activities for these two weeks? The popularity is going to drop."
"It's bad enough that they don't allow fan support before concerts, but why don't they allow private fan support either... I can't stand this stupid company anymore."
"Jiejiu (lit. Hangover Cure), if you keep going like this, it'll be hard for me not to curse."
Just after complaining all morning, Random Entertainment released an announcement on the Galaxy app in the afternoon.
"The merchandise shop is officially open for business!"
"To ensure the speed and quality of product delivery, all merchandise in the shop will be available in unlimited quantities for a limited time! New merchandise will be available on the 1st of each month at 12:00 PM, and orders will close at 12:00 AM on the 2nd."
"Fans can also participate in merchandise design. Come and submit your works now! Designs approved today can go online as soon as next Monday! [Click here to jump to submission page]"
This announcement caught the fans off guard. They stared at the Chinese text, lost in thought, only understanding the meaning after reading it several times.
"I get it, so we can't buy after that time, right?"
"...Does that mean there won't be resellers?"
"Congratulations to the Train Conductor Sisters on their new profession - merchandise flippers!"
"I didn't quite understand the part about fans participating in merchandise design. Can we DIY?"
"Sisters, I've figured it out. New items every first of the month, unlimited quantity but time-limited, can be purchased within 24 hours, and each month's new items are different. The fan participation in merchandise design is actually an opportunity for fan site admins to publish photo books. I just clicked in to check, you can upload your own photos and layout them into a photo book. If it passes the commercial review, it can be put on sale on the 1st. The company sets the price, and for every book sold, the designer gets 10%. So if the profit for one book is 100 yuan, you can earn 10 yuan for each book sold!"
"...Fan site admins don't even dare to take photos, where would they get photo books from?"
"There are photos of him going to and from work."
"Who wants photos of him going to work!!! We want concert photos!!!"
"Smart move by Random Entertainment, letting fan site admins legally profit. Now fan site admins from all over the Chinese entertainment industry will come here to make money."
"I saw some graphic designer friends submitting designs for hand banners."
"Hand banners are okay too? What about phone cases?"
"Everything is okay!!! Anything can be made into merchandise as long as it passes the review!"
Liu Yue followed the prompts on the page to jump to the app store and download the new software.
After downloading, she could log in directly with her Galaxy account. She clicked agree, and a prompt immediately appeared on the page: "Would you like to use [Today's Fortune | Lucky] to enter the platform?"
Liu Yue clicked confirm and successfully entered the software. It prompted her that she could download the desktop version for easier design and production.
The page had various templates that could be searched directly. Liu Yue searched for photo books, which came in many sizes. She chose one the size of a magazine, fixed at 129 pages.
"I wonder if it will pass the review..." Liu Yue frowned, feeling a bit hesitant.
Many fan site administrators in China might not have much experience, but those who frequently follow overseas tours have a lot of experience in avoiding staff to take direct shots at concerts. However, due to Random Entertainment's restrictions, she only posted photos of Ye Xing going to and from work on Weibo.
Random Entertainment doesn't allow fan site admins to post because of copyright and portrait rights, but now that the company is publishing them, it should be okay, right?
Thinking this, she tried to import the photoshoots she had prepared before.
Liu Yue had previously thought about secretly printing a batch when the show ended, then opening a group to sell them, so Random Entertainment wouldn't catch her. But now with official backing, there was nothing to fear.
It's just--
"Please, please let it be approved!" Liu Yue prayed with trembling hands after clicking upload.
The merchandise shop feature had always been there but remained unused, except for when organizing birthday fan meetings for other artists. But even then, the system and rules weren't like they are now.
Since it was the first day of launch, Jiang Juyou was also watching the screen, observing fans' reactions and reviewing the merchandise uploaded by fans along with Li Yao and others.
The announcement was very clear, but there was a hidden rule: only nineteen products would be listed each month, regardless of category or artist.
Li Yao and her team designed some themselves, leaving some spots for fans. If fans couldn't fill them all, they would select a few from their own candidate merchandise to fill in.
The group stayed in Jiang Juyou's office, swiping left and right on their phone screens, making the first round of selections based purely on personal preference.
Zhao Xu said while looking at her phone, "After this, the art team and review team will do the first screening. The art team will filter out the good merchandise, then the review team will check the content. They're the first screen, we're the second, and finally, it goes to you for the third screen." She looked at Jiang Juyou as she finished speaking.
What merchandise to list each month was entirely Jiang Juyou's decision.
Sitting at the computer desk, Jiang Juyou: "..."
She put on an exasperated expression, "You guys just love giving me work."
The others chimed in:
"Oh, come on, it's because we trust your taste!"
"Yeah! Everyone thinks the things you choose look good!"
"That's right, it's definitely not because we don't want to take the blame that we're pushing the work to you!"
Jiang Juyou fell silent again: "..."
Jiang Juyou thought: Since I'm getting blamed anyway, I might as well earn a bit more.
