Because this was a celebrity's first-ever sales livestream, and it had topped the trending charts with just a teaser announcement, the streaming platform dispatched a vice president overnight to persuade Ni Bingyan to sign on for a celebrity livestream channel.
They had it all figured out.
If she became the first trailblazer, other celebrities would see the benefits and would surely be eager to sign. When that happened, the platform's traffic would skyrocket from all the stars joining.
These days, all the major websites were setting up their own streaming platforms. Although theirs was the most established streaming site, its traffic was still steadily shrinking.
The platform's offer was very generous, but Ni Bingyan still refused without a moment's hesitation.
It was a brilliant move for the streaming platform, but for her, it was pointless.
If she were already an accomplished star who could maintain her legendary status without constantly filming, then streaming for fun once in a while as a fan bonus would be fine. But she was still far from that!
If she were past her prime, unable to land any roles, and had no future in the industry, she could turn to streaming to rake in cash and live comfortably. But she was still on an upward trajectory!
Seeing her decisive refusal, the vice president knew it was a lost cause and didn't press the issue. He simply smiled, took out his phone, and suggested they add each other as contacts to cooperate in the future if an opportunity arose.
Ni Bingyan wasn't clueless about social graces, so she readily accepted the friend request. She then explained that she was in a critical growth phase of her career and wanted to focus on her primary profession, so she had no plans to start streaming. She added that she felt bad for making him come all this way for nothing.
After seeing off the people from the streaming company, Wutong County and several neighboring counties sent representatives to present her with commemorative banners. The entire film crew ran over to watch, which made her blush beet-red with embarrassment.
In the end, though, she found a bag and carefully folded the banners before putting them away.
'You don't do good deeds for the sake of getting thanked, but who can really turn down a little recognition?'
After handling the follow-up matters from the sales stream, Ni Bingyan returned to the set the next day and resumed filming as usual.
Since she had only been gone for a day, the original filming schedule didn't require any major adjustments.
The production schedule was packed. Seeing that, outside of filming, she just holed up in her lounge memorizing vocabulary and working out—no different than before—no one pestered her with questions. Life was busy, yet orderly.
While her life had returned to normal, the seismic shift she had triggered in the industry was just getting started!
It was as if the streaming platforms had suddenly seen the light; they all began seeking opportunities to collaborate with celebrities.
At first, they just tentatively invited stars to host a stream or two—no sales involved. They would just chat with fans, talk about their work, and share bits of their daily lives. The fan response was explosive; they were desperate for their favorite idols to stream every single day!
Once everyone was accustomed to celebrities going live, product placement could begin.
Once the audience was receptive to the product placement, the platforms could try having celebrities appear on influencers' livestreams to help with sales. And finally, the celebrities could start selling products on their own.
After all, not every celebrity could land an endorsement deal, and not every celebrity was above caring about money.
In the past, it was simply that no one wanted to break the unwritten industry rules. They were afraid of offending the entire circle and ruining their own careers. No one dared to be the first to "stoop" to that level. But now, by following in Ni Bingyan's footsteps, the risk of disaster was much, much lower.
Poverty alleviation workers across the country also seemed to have a collective epiphany overnight. They started contacting famous people who hailed from their hometowns, inviting them to promote local specialty products.
County mayors were no longer shy about livestreaming to sell goods. On the contrary, they went straight to the platforms to apply for "County Mayor Livestreams," confidently acting as spokespeople for their hometowns.
And what do you know, netizens totally ate it up! They couldn't believe they hadn't discovered so many trustworthy, official livestream channels sooner.
While the outside world was undergoing massive changes, Ni Bingyan also ushered in the greatest Gao Guang moment of her life!
She refused all interviews, saying only that this achievement was due to a collective effort, that she was just a small cog in the machine who played an insignificant part. She insisted she wasn't worthy of taking up public resources and urged them to report on more important matters.
For instance, Director Luo, the poverty alleviation official from Wutong County. He was a man in his thirties who, since starting his work, had aged prematurely into looking like a little old man. She said people like him were the ones who should be role models for the younger generation.
When the reporters tried to pester her with more questions, Ni Bingyan just said, "I have nothing more to say. Please don't interfere with my work," and disappeared in a flash.
'I've never dealt with official state media of this caliber before. The more I say, the more I risk messing up. It's better to say nothing at all.'
Seeing her firm stance, the reporter didn't insist. He went straight back and wrote an article titled, *She Said, "I Just Did a Small, Insignificant Thing."* That evening, it was posted all over the internet.
The comment section was a flood of "This brought tears to my eyes" and "This is what the youth of China should be like!"…
Reading the comments made Ni Bingyan's skin crawl, and she felt like she was on pins and needles.
'This praise is just too over the top!'
'If her name wasn't on it, she would have suspected they were writing about someone else!'
'She was just being more farsighted. There were selfish reasons for what she did; it wasn't a completely selfless act.'
'Oh, whatever. I'll just pretend I didn't see any of it.'
'If I go find that reporter to clarify and ask them not to hype me up so much, I guarantee they'll just write a follow-up piece. I can even imagine the headline for them—*She Said, "Please Don't Make Me Sound So Good."*'
'I can just imagine the comments section, too. Probably something like, "I'm tearing up. I can't believe she's so amazing and yet so humble."'
She paid no mind to the online chatter. Her official work social media account was managed by her team anyway, and she wasn't a fan of surfing the web. She didn't care whether people were praising her or criticizing her.
However, she couldn't ignore calls from her family, especially from her father and all of her senior brothers.
Almost everyone has a group chat on their phone named something like "Our Loving Family." She had one, too, but her family members had all tacitly agreed to forgo the group chat and were calling her one by one instead!
And they all asked pretty much the same questions!
Ni Bingyan knew they were just proud by association and wanted a chance to speak with her individually, so she patiently chatted with each one in a soft, gentle voice.
After they finished talking, they would hang up, satisfied, and immediately start posting photos of delicious food in the group chat, promising to make it all for her when she came home on break.
As for the olive branch from the tractor factory, although she had no plans to endorse tractors, she still refused tactfully. "I don't have any plans to endorse tractors for the time being, but if I ever do, your company will be my first choice."
'After all, under the circumstances, they were the only ones bold enough to even ask.'
'She always appreciated a boss with that kind of vision.'
Eventually, everyone—people she knew and people she didn't—started trying to contact her. It became so annoying that she just turned off her phone, pretended the signal was bad in the mountains, and buried her head in her work on set.
'It's not like I'm trying to be an influencer. How long can you stay famous based on a fleeting moment of buzz?'
'My primary profession is acting. The most important thing for me to do is create better work so that more people can come to know and appreciate me through my roles. That's the proper path.'
It was rare to find an actress so clear-headed, and Director Deng truly cherished her for it. He often gave her pointers on various techniques during filming.
'It has to be said, even on the same mountain, the view from halfway up is completely different from the view at the summit.'
After being a supporting actress for so long, this was her first time as a female lead, and she had so much to learn.
'It's so rare to work with a good director, and I was lucky enough to land the lead role. I have to seize this opportunity to create a signature work. Yesterday, I heard Producer Zhao mention that they're even thinking of submitting it for awards, so I can't afford to slack off now!'
'There's barely enough time to work hard as it is. How could I have the energy to waste on such superficial matters?'
'If I wasn't so clear-headed, if I let all this buzz go to my head and started frantically accepting interviews and endorsements, being ostentatiously high-profile, the same people praising me now would probably turn on me in an instant.'
'My work would suffer, the buzz would die down, and I'd end up with absolutely nothing.'
'In her past life, she had struggled in the entertainment industry for over a decade and had seen countless cautionary tales. All she had to do was recall their miserable fates, and no matter how worked up she got, she could cool down in an instant.'