“Song Jixing, can you come to the company tomorrow?” the agent on the other end of the phone asked.
“Aren’t I supposed to go to the drama set for an audition tomorrow?” Song Jixing asked.
Song Jixing was supposed to go to a new drama set tomorrow to audition for a supporting female role, although it wasn’t a big production, there were still some formalities to go through.
“The audition is nothing compared to the company’s business...” Xu Kai instinctively wanted to educate Song Jixing, to let her understand the importance and urgency of things.
“Cough cough!” Chen Rong gently coughed.
Xu Kai shuddered, and softened his tone, “...Uh, that audition is not urgent. I can arrange more suitable work for you, with better resources. But you have to come to the company first thing tomorrow, the boss wants to discuss some things with you.”
“Then I’ll come over early in the morning.” Song Jixing's ears were sharp, and she naturally heard the cough on the other end.
The agent had discovered she was trending online, of course they wanted to take advantage of this popularity, Song Jixing was very open-minded about these things. Popularity meant money to support her family, which was a good thing for her. She had run to set world records in the first place to realize this point.
“Where do you live? I'll send someone to pick you up tomorrow!” Xu Kai's attitude was extremely low.
“No need, I'll take the subway over myself.”
“Okay, then rest well today...”
“Okay, bye!”
Xu Kai hung up the phone, clasped his hands over his abdomen, and looked at the big boss in front of him.
Chen Rong: "Just bring her to my office tomorrow, you don't need to worry about anything else, don't disappoint me again."
Xu Kai nodded without daring to say much.
Among the agents in the company, he was insignificant. Otherwise he wouldn't be managing several artists alone.
Logically speaking, after an artist became popular, unless they had a particularly deep relationship with their agent, they would generally switch to a new agent to formulate a more suitable commercial development plan.
Now that Song Jixing was trending, the company was very likely to assign her a new agent, just as Song Jixing had been assigned to him originally.
Xu Kai thought to himself that he was probably going to be replaced, but the boss hadn't said anything about it after calling him over, and he couldn't figure it out.
Nevermind, no expectations means no disappointment.
After the call with the company, Song Jixing had another plan for her future career.
She had originally planned to retire after her contract expired, but now it was different.
Over the past few days she had collected a lot of spiritual energy. If she continued at this rate for another month, she could quickly break through to the third level of Qi Refining!
Although Song Jixing was still unclear what this spiritual energy was exactly, she could confirm that she could obtain it from ordinary people.
No matter how good an athlete was, their public visibility was limited. Being a celebrity was better.
Also, it would be unfair to those athletes who trained so hard if she competed.
Song Jixing hung up the phone and looked at Coach Hu walking towards her. She gently said, “I’m sorry, something came up suddenly that I need to deal with, so I can’t take group photos with everyone today.”
The students who were still lining up immediately sighed.
“Ah! I waited so long!”
Hu Mingliang raised his hand to try to stop Song Jixing. "Ms. Song..."
Song Jixing smiled politely, "Coach Hu! Thank you! But I'm going to start filming tomorrow, sorry, I still don't plan on becoming an athlete."
Hu Mingliang: ...
He hadn't even spoken yet! How did he get rejected so quickly!
-
Outside Lanying Building.
Song Jixing, carrying a simple canvas bag and dressed in casual clothes, sized up the towering building before her.
More than a hundred years ago when she first signed with the company, they had only rented three floors of office space here. In just a few short years, Lanying had bought the entire building to use as their headquarters.
For some of the company’s high-salary artists and actors that Song Jixing had heard about before, she had been envious, admiring, and respectful, but she had never made it her goal to work hard towards it. She didn’t plan on doing this for the rest of her life, let alone give up her studies.
Song Jixing thought it through very clearly. The company was huge with vast resources, they didn’t lack people striving upwards. When Song Jixing entered the industry, she had been a slacker for years, rarely even attending the company’s annual meetings. She probably still wasn’t used to that kind of extravagant social scene.
In her teens she could be a slacker, and the Song Jixing who transmigrated into this world could also be a slacker.
But after Senior Martial Brothers and Sisters arrived, she couldn’t slack off anymore.
"I'm at the entrance..." Song Jixing called her agent.
Not having been to the company for over a hundred years, Song Jixing didn't know which office her agent was in or which floor.
"Wait there, I'll come get you!" The call was quickly answered.
Xu Kai hurriedly ran down the elevator and puffed and panted to the front entrance. He saw Song Jixing dressed extremely simply and neatly.
She stood out even in a crowd without wearing designer brands! And that innate talent for running, she was simply blessed by heaven!
It really made people envious and regretful at the same time!
Song Jixing pretended not to see the emotions in her agent's eyes.
"Let me take you to meet President Chen! Flatter her later, President Chen is our company's number two..." Xu Kai chatted incessantly as he led Song Jixing onto the elevator.
In her years of working under the company’s name, Song Jixing had heard industry insiders mention this President Chen many times, saying she was a powerful woman with keen eyes who had made many artists popular, and had multiplied the company’s scale several times over in just a few years.
Song Jixing thought about it and figured the company must have been fooled by her looks when they scouted her originally.
Ordinary people with mortal eyes found it hard to discern the slacker hiding beneath the skin.
President Chen calling Song Jixing in was also very simple. She just wanted to discuss follow-up contracts and promotions with her.
While Song Jixing's popularity was still trending, they had to give her a boost. Chen Rong would profit if Song Jixing signed a contract and earned money, it was a win-win.
Considering Song Jixing's sparse schedule over the past few years was because of school, and now that she had graduated, her available filming schedule had opened up. Chen Rong wanted to discuss this with Song Jixing personally to understand her thoughts.
She didn’t have to do idol dramas. As long as Song Jixing cooperated, the company could arrange many roles for her, no need to go the young traffic star route.
Slap a genius athlete label on her, and the public acceptance would be even higher than some idol starlet.
Faced with Chen Rong's candor, Song Jixing was also very frank about her own ideas and requirements.
"President Chen, I have a few requests. They may sound a bit excessive, but please hear me out first. I can renew, but I hope future contracts will be on a yearly basis, renew year by year after completing each one. I can take a lower percentage in the split, even 30-70 is fine... I hope the base pay can be a little higher, that's regarding the contract terms."
"Secondly, about work, I request two days off per week, not limited to weekends. When filming, I can work overtime and save my time off. For special circumstances that require it, I would still need to take time off..."
-
[Regarding the female lead's request for two days off per week in this chapter, there has been a lot of controversy. Let me explain the reasons briefly:
1. Character settings. Although the female lead is short on money, it's not desperately so. Senior Sister will earn money later, and Senior Brother will too. Also, the female lead entered the entertainment industry just to earn some tuition originally, she didn't want to become a big star. Coming back from the cultivation world, her contract wasn't up yet. Due to the unknown future, the female lead doesn't want to be locked into the celebrity path. It's easy to quit a normal job, but to switch jobs in entertainment you have to pay exorbitant breach of contract fees. (Adding on, contracts with longer terms are mostly to protect workers, not capitalists. Companies have to compensate if they lay off early.)
2. Settings based on the real world. Works reflect the author's consciousness. In the real world there is no weekend, just working overtime everyday, and overtime may not even be paid. The author personally believes wanting to earn money and wanting two days off per week are not contradictory desires, so I designed two days off for the female lead, creating an idealized world within the story.
]
I feel that wanting weekends off is not laziness. If you think this point conflicts with your values, you may not want to read on, because there are really scenarios of rest and slacking off.
Before the female protagonist traveled back in time, she was a university student who attended classes diligently without skipping and worked on commercials during weekends and holidays. The storyline starts a few days after the female protagonist traveled back. She had just finished her thesis paper and was about to graduate. She had been to many drama sets and took on part-time jobs to earn money. Some people always criticized that the female protagonist was lazy but wanted money. I feel that she was not lazy - laziness is wishing for money to fall from the sky, not working for it.
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