Volume Two: Shadows of the Past, Chapter Seventy-Two: A Limited-Time Like-Collecting Song Giveaway Event?

"Splitting half might be too much, wouldn't it? How about giving them an extra third instead!" Lin Xi suggested to Chen Jing.

Giving away one-third of their own profits would already double the revenue per ticket for the theaters. Lin Xi felt that was more than enough.

However, Chen Jing said decisively, "No! As long as we can negotiate it, giving half to the cinemas is not too much at all. Besides, it's only for those few days during the May Day holiday, so we won't lose anything. But as long as we can increase our screen allocations and give more people the chance to watch our movie, we will have a shot at becoming a massive hit."

Lin Xi understood the crucial point Chen Jing was making, so she said no more.

In the afternoon, Chen Jing returned to his apartment early from the company. Feeling that yesterday's live stream had a great impact, he decided to go live again tonight.

The broadcast started promptly at six o'clock, just as he had announced to his fans on Weibo.

The moment Chen Jing turned on the live stream, the chat room was instantly packed, and a flurry of bullet comments flew across the screen.

"Checking in!"

"I heard Boss Jing sang a new song on the stream yesterday, but unfortunately missed it, so I've come specially to pay my respects today."

"Brother Jing, a day apart feels like three autumns, I love you..."

Looking at the screen full of comments, Chen Jing smiled and greeted them, "Hi, everyone!"

"Hello, Boss Jing!"

"Hello, Brother!"

"Boss Jing, turn on the tipping function! We want to gift you."

"Yeah, yeah... Not being able to send gifts to Boss Jing makes it feel a bit lacking..."

Chen Jing shook his head at the comments asking to send gifts and said with a smile, "There's no need to send gifts. You guys don't need to tip during any of my live streams from now on. If you really like me, just show more support for my works, especially my newly filmed movie, *SPL: Sha Po Lang*. I hope everyone will go and show your support when it hits theaters on May Day. The movie is definitely worth watching, and I thank you all in advance."

"Alright, since we can't send gifts, brothers, let's help Boss Jing promote the movie instead!"

"OK, I'm definitely bringing my girlfriend to watch it on that day and contributing two tickets for Boss Jing."

"Bro, I understand supporting Boss Jing, but why do you need to buy two tickets when you're going with your left and right hands?"

"..."

Seeing these hilarious comments, Chen Jing couldn't help bursting into laughter.

Indeed, the people writing bullet comments were masters, with wondrous and unfathomable trains of thought that you could never predict.

"Alright, let's get down to business! Today, before I sing another song for you all, I want to share something interesting."

At this point, Chen Jing paused for a moment before continuing, "Ha! Actually, I want to run an interesting activity with you all."

"Mmm~ Didn't I say that for the next few days, I'll still be singing two new songs every day? Well, any of my fan friends who like these songs, regardless of who you are, can take the title of the song you like, combine it with the promotional slogan of my movie *SPL: Sha Po Lang*, and post them together on Weibo to gather likes. Of course, I certainly won't have you promote for me for free. Since it's an event, there have to be rewards."

Chen Jing smiled as he voiced his sudden inspiration, "When my movie hits theaters, I will select the fan from each song whose Weibo post received the highest number of likes, and I will gift that song to them."

"You heard that right, I'm giving away entire songs to you, including the copyright and everything. As long as your reposted Weibo gets the most likes, the copyright to that song will be yours! Of course, each fan can only win one of my songs. No matter how many of your Weibo posts end up with the highest likes among everyone, you can only choose one of the songs in the end. The remaining songs will still be awarded to the fans with the highest likes from other posts."

As soon as Chen Jing finished speaking, the live stream room fell quiet for a moment as they digested the meaning of his words. Once they figured it out, the chat room instantly boiled over.

"Holy shit, did I hear that right? Boss Jing is saying he's going to give us songs?"

"I won't say anything else, but nobody better fight me for that song 'Paper Short, Affection Long' from yesterday!"

"In your dreams! Do you really think you can grab it? That song is mine!"

"This is major news! I bet if Boss Jing actually does this, it's definitely going to trend on Weibo."

"Can someone give a quick rundown? Do you guys know how much one of Boss Jing's recent songs is worth?"

"Hmm~ The recent songs by Brother Jing that have clear price tags are a few he gave to his own company, priced at 100,000 each. But those are just the songs he gave to the company; usually, his music is priceless and hard to get. So many people want to buy them and can't. Just by the way, I work at the same company as Brother Jing, oh."

"Understood, 100,000 yuan, right? Now I'm going to contact all my second uncles, third uncles, fourth maternal uncles, fifth maternal aunts, sixth paternal aunts, seventh maternal grandmothers, eighth granduncles, ninth grandpas... and get them all to like my Weibo post."

"Fierce! 100,000 for a single song. I remember Boss Jing said he's going to sing ten new songs for us, that's 1 million in total! Giving away 1 million just like that, what a boss!"

"Say no more. I can see 100k waving at me..."

Seeing the viewers in the chat room go wild, Chen Jing nodded in great satisfaction; this was the exact effect he wanted.

Today, after Lin Xi told him about the theater screen allocation situation, he was truly provoked. He didn't want his movie to "lose before the battle even starts," so to ensure better screening conditions for *SPL: Sha Po Lang*, Chen Jing had no choice but to resort to some special tactics.

Chen Jing knew the quality of the movie *SPL: Sha Po Lang* that he had made, so he had no worries about its word-of-mouth reputation after release. Now, all he had to do was solve the biggest issues: movie promotion and screen allocation. Once these two problems were solved, he believed his movie *SPL: Sha Po Lang* would become the biggest dark horse among the films released during this May Day golden week. Chen Jing firmly believed in this.

"The two songs I sang yesterday count too. Anyway, starting from today until the day my movie premieres—hmm, let's set the cutoff at exactly 6 PM on the first night of *SPL: Sha Po Lang*'s release. Coincidentally, I'll be doing a live stream then, and I'll announce the list of fans who won my songs right there." Chen Jing directly finalized the general rules.

Thinking for a moment and feeling that his explanation wasn't detailed enough, Chen Jing added, "How about this? I'll organize the detailed rules of this event tomorrow and post them on my Weibo. You can check them out carefully then."

"Alright, enough talk, let's start today's performance." Chen Jing picked up his guitar and said with a smile, "Mmm~ Today we won't sing love songs; let's do an inspiring one instead. So allow me to bring you an inspirational song—*Defiance*."

With that, Chen Jing swept his guitar strings, and the lyrics poured out:

"When I am different from the world,
Then let me be different.
Perseverance to me is meeting rigidity with strength
..."

Inside an office at Jingyu Live Streaming Co., Ltd., Wang Lu sat in his office chair, staring intently at the computer screen. The screen displayed none other than Chen Jing's live stream.

Wang Lu took a moment to check the popularity rankings on Jingyu Live Streaming, and without a doubt, Chen Jing's channel was ranked first once again.

Seeing this, Wang Lu fell into deep contemplation.

When Wang Lu saw Chen Jing announce that he would interact with viewers and hold a song-giveaway event, his eyes suddenly lit up. He couldn't help standing up from his chair, pacing back and forth in front of his desk, and weighing the feasibility of his idea.

"Next, I'll bring you an inspirational song, *Defiance*..."

"My final defiance,
Clench my fists and never let go.
Is the next stop paradise?
Even with disappointment, I must not despair
..."

At this moment, Chen Jing's singing drifted from the computer. As Wang Lu listened, his gaze gradually grew resolute...

In another live stream room on the Jingyu Live Streaming platform, Xiaoxuan, the current top-tier popular girl of Jingyu Live Streaming, had started her broadcast at 5 PM as usual. Not long after the stream began, her channel's popularity surged to the number one spot in the room rankings.

As soon as Xiaoxuan finished singing a song, a fan immediately sent her a "Rocket."

"Thank you to big boss 'I am a tycoon' for sending a rocket! Thank you, big boss, you're mighty!" Xiaoxuan was cute and sweet-looking, expressing her gratitude in a dainty voice that made her smile all the more captivating.

After thanking the top donor, Xiaoxuan was about to say something to liven up the atmosphere when an inadvertent glance at the rankings showed her that her stream's popularity was no longer ranked first, leaving her momentarily stunned.

While she was wondering who on Jingyu Live Streaming could possibly have higher popularity than her, she noticed viewers in her own chat room sending bullet comments like: "Everyone go look! Something big is happening in Chen Jing's live stream!" A jolt went through her heart.

Chen Jing! Chen Jing was streaming again?!

Xiaoxuan naturally knew who the viewers meant by Chen Jing. Yesterday, Xiaoxuan had learned about Chen Jing streaming on Jingyu, and his broadcast time happened to overlap with hers, stealing a lot of her popularity and knocking her off the top spot of the streaming popularity chart.

Although Xiaoxuan was anxious about it, she was still quite wary of Chen Jing's status as a celebrity, so she hadn't made any public fuss.

After all, celebrities and internet influencers are different. Even though, in Xiaoxuan's view, Chen Jing was only a first-tier singer, his traffic was still something an internet celebrity like her couldn't compare to. In fact, everyone knew that influencers were just unranked stars anyway. Didn't the few influencers who made it big eventually strive to become proper celebrities?

Therefore, to figure out why Chen Jing had suddenly started streaming on Jingyu, Xiaoxuan immediately contacted Jingyu Live Streaming's management staff after ending her stream that night to inquire about Chen Jing's broadcast.

When she learned from them that Chen Jing was merely doing it on a whim to promote his movie and hadn't signed a long-term streaming contract with Jingyu, Xiaoxuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Since he was streaming on a whim, Chen Jing surely wouldn't keep it up long-term. That way, she didn't have to worry about Chen Jing stealing her number-one spot on Jingyu Live Streaming, and she wouldn't need to pay him any more mind.

However, what Xiaoxuan hadn't expected was that Chen Jing was streaming again today. This made her feel rather uncomfortable.

Looking at her chat room flooded with bullet comments urging, "Go quickly to Chen Jing's stream to hear a heavenly voice!", Xiaoxuan couldn't help frowning slightly. But before she could react, her own fans couldn't stand it anymore and lashed out in the chat:

"What kind of garbage is this? If you want to watch, go ahead, stop spamming these idiot comments in our chat room, who does Chen Jing think he is?"

"Exactly, if you're not going to watch, get lost..."

Although her fans were speaking up for her, looking at her plummeting viewership, Xiaoxuan felt a bit disheartened.

Yet, upon second thought, an idea suddenly struck her. She put on a feigned look of surprise for the viewers in her live stream and said, "Ah? Is the musical talent Chen Jing streaming again? Shall we go do a room raid on his stream? I happened to be broadcasting yesterday when he went live too, and I had no idea. I have to go check it out today, he's my idol after all! Let's go, let's go. Let's check out his stream."

With that, Xiaoxuan directly clicked onto Jingyu Live Streaming and entered Chen Jing's channel. To her surprise, the moment she stepped in, she saw an excessively handsome young hunk playing and singing with a guitar in his arms.

"Don't be nervous, those who love me,
My stubbornness is kind.
The dirtier my hands, the more my eyes shine
..."

Looking at Chen Jing's sunny and handsome face, and listening to his "sexy" voice, Xiaoxuan was instantly dazed.

As expected, being a first-tier singer wasn't just for show. This looks, this physique, this voice—even she couldn't help becoming a fan!

Xiaoxuan couldn't help swallowing hard...

After finishing the song *Defiance*, Chen Jing picked up the cup of water beside him and took a sip, intending to let the fans digest the emotion brought by his singing. Suddenly, he saw the chat scrolling with comments:

"Xiaoxuan's army has come to raid the room!"

"Room raid, room raid! Come welcome our Sister Xiaoxuan."

"Xiaoxuan is mighty..."

Chen Jing was taken aback and blurted out, "Xiaoxuan? Who is Xiaoxuan?"

Then the chat answered his question.

"Oh ho, the number one sister of Jingyu Live Streaming has actually arrived too. Not bad, not bad."

"Ah ha, her status as the top sister might not be secure anymore; she's going to be unseated by Boss Jing. Right now, Boss Jing has the highest popularity in the stream."

"She won't be unseated. Xiaoxuan is still the top in popularity among female streamers, so she's definitely still the streaming sister, while Boss Jing is, of course, the streaming brother."

"That's true."

"Ha, Boss Jing actually doesn't know who Xiaoxuan is."

"It's normal for Boss Jing not to know Xiaoxuan, after all, he's not from the streaming circle."

"Exactly, exactly. My idol is a celebrity, not a streamer. He wouldn't know some gaudy, cheap-looking woman like Xiaoxuan." Without guessing, this was definitely posted by a female fan.

Watching the comments and reviews from the viewers, Chen Jing understood instantly.

It seemed a popular streamer from the Jingyu Live Streaming platform had come to raid his room. Hmm~ And she was a girl, too. Should he interact with her as well?