"Five hundred thousand for one advertisement..." She repeated the number in her mind, suddenly feeling a bitter taste in her mouth.
Last week, she had just accepted a promotion for a micro-business facial mask.
Her team had negotiated for three rounds just to get it up to one hundred and twenty thousand, and Wang Congcong had even joked that "accepting this kind of brand lowers your status."
To be honest, her current public quote for advertising endorsements was only two hundred thousand each.
Because of Wang Congcong, she had only filmed one drama, and in that show, she was only the third female lead.
Her salary was only a few hundred thousand.
She didn't expect that Bai Xiaoxiao, an Internet Celebrity, could command an advertising fee as high as five hundred thousand per video.
Peng Shiqi felt just as envious as Chen Yating.
"From one hundred and twenty thousand to a million followers overnight?" Ever since she heard those figures, her heart had been twisted with envy.
You should know, she had started filming videos on TikTok since she was sixteen.
She was nearly eighteen before she signed with Wuyou Company.
Back then, to jump from a few hundred thousand followers to a million, she had pulled so many all-nighters.
She had to film so many videos in different styles to slowly build up her following.
Yet the Bai Xiaoxiao in front of her had actually achieved it with just a single street interview?
This kind of "luck" made her, someone who had struggled in the Internet Celebrity circle for years, unable to help but feel a sense of envy.
Ever since the conversation between Bai Xiaoxiao and Jiang Cheng started, Peng Shiqi had been quietly glancing at Bai Xiaoxiao.
The other girl's face still bore the rawness and nervousness of someone who had just suddenly become famous.
Both were artists under Xingchen Media; Qiao Yinyin was already a top-tier star, and now another Bai Xiaoxiao had emerged.
This company's star-making ability is too terrifying... Peng Shiqi pursed her lips and picked up her water glass to hide the complex emotions in her eyes.
She felt somewhat lucky to have joined such a powerful company, yet also slightly bitter because Bai Xiaoxiao was about to overtake her overnight.
Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "That's right. Game streaming no longer holds any advantage for you at this stage."
Wang Congcong was right; with Bai Xiaoxiao's current popularity, there was no longer a need to use game streaming to filter out part of her audience.
After all, game streaming was still a niche field.
Most of those it attracted were shut-ins who liked watching games.
Xiong Mao Live's user capacity was still a far cry from TikTok's.
Even if she were to stream, it would later be changed to TikTok live-streaming for sales.
The path of game Streamers relying on tips was already on the decline.
Even if one stayed up late and ruined their health grinding games, they might not earn as much in a month as Bai Xiaoxiao could in a single TikTok live stream.
As the others chatted, Peng Shiqi suddenly found an opening to join the conversation, pretending she had only just guessed that Jiang Cheng was her boss.
She abruptly turned toward Jiang Cheng. Her gaze shifted back and forth between Bai Xiaoxiao and Jiang Cheng, and she suddenly gasped, "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be—"
Wang Congcong laughed and interrupted, "You're only realizing it now? He's the real boss of Xingchen Media!"
Wang Congcong teased, "Your company's Internet Celebrity doesn't even recognize her own benefactor?"
Peng Shiqi's face instantly turned bright red.
Her voice even changed pitch. "I... I really didn't know... Director Xie only said the boss was very young..."
After saying that, she stood up nervously and gave Jiang Cheng a ninety-degree bow. "Hello, President Jiang!"
"What are you doing? Sit down. You're making me look unfriendly. Our company is a normal company; we don't do these empty formalities."
Hearing this, Wang Congcong winked at Peng Shiqi. "Did you hear that? Your boss said their company is a 'normal company.' Based on what I know about him, he treats all his employees as 'colleagues.'"
When Wang Congcong said the word "colleagues," he emphasized it heavily.
This reminded Peng Shiqi of what she had said to Jiang Cheng earlier—"strictly speaking, we're colleagues"—and her face turned even redder.
"No, it's not like that, Principal Wang. I just... it was just so sudden, I'm a bit nervous..."
Before she could finish, Li Man, who was Peng Shiqi's best friend, immediately stepped in to smooth things over.
Mimicking Peng Shiqi's actions, she bowed to Wang Congcong and said, "Boss, then our company should be a proper company too, right?"
Li Man's action made several people burst out laughing.
It was unclear whether it was subconscious or because he was happy.
He actually grabbed Li Man, pulled her down to sit, and even put his arm around her shoulder.
"You've been with the company for a while now, and you're still asking me that?"
Although Li Man didn't resist being held by Wang Congcong, her eyes subconsciously flickered toward Chen Yating.
She replied with a bit of awkwardness, "You're right."
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit strange, Bai Xiaoxiao chose to be sensible.
She stood up and pulled Peng Shiqi down to sit.
"Shiqi-jie, you're too cute. Actually, our Brother is a really great person."
Jiang Cheng leaned back on the sofa. "Don't be so nervous. Look at those from Xiong Mao; you're making the boss of Xingchen look so unapproachable. Look at the employees of Renren Company; they aren't this afraid of their boss."
After Jiang Cheng said this, although Chen Yating didn't show it on her face.
The hand she was holding the glass with couldn't help but tighten its grip.
Wang Congcong immediately feigned dissatisfaction. "Hey, so I've become the bad example?"
In these few teasing words, the embarrassment from before unconsciously turned into a sense of closeness toward the new boss.
It turned out that the legendary mysterious boss wasn't actually that scary; he was even a bit like a senior in university who would joke around with his juniors.
Of course, everyone was relaxed except for Chen Yating.
Although she was still smiling, she was actually fuming inside.