Chapter 296 - 239: Going with the Flow

Chapter 296: Chapter 239: Going with the Flow

"It’s just a little money, Chairman Chu. You don’t have to be so formal."

Gu Heng waved his hand dismissively and replied with a light chuckle.

"No, no."

"Business is business."

"If Chairman Gu hadn’t stepped in to help today, forget about breaking 100,000 concurrent viewers—we might not have even been able to save the stream at all."

At this point, Chu Zhengxiong proposed a compromise. "Chairman Gu, if you feel that me paying you directly is too distant and formal, how about this instead?"

"Our group debut stream today was a huge success. After it’s over, I’ll organize a celebration for everyone at one of your Zhen Cui Group restaurants. I’ll cover the entire bill for the evening. What do you think, Chairman Gu?"

Seeing Chu Zhengxiong’s firm attitude, Gu Heng smiled and nodded. "Since you insist, Chairman Chu, we’ll do it your way."

"Excellent!"

"Then it’s settled!"

Once the matter was settled, Chu Zhengxiong glanced at the flourishing live broadcast scene and suggested to Gu Heng, "Chairman Gu, there’s still some time before the debut stream ends, and it doesn’t look like they need us to hold down the fort here anymore. Why don’t we go up to my office for some tea?"

"Sounds good."

Gu Heng gave a slight nod and agreed with a smile.

Afterward, Chu Zhengxiong gave a few instructions to Zhou Gang, Feng Ming, and the others, then escorted Gu Heng from the broadcast area and went upstairs for tea.

...

「Yanjing.」

ByteDance Headquarters Building, Douyin Business Group Office Location.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

The slightly hurried knocking made Han Lixin, who was reviewing documents, look up.

"Come in!"

A sonorous voice called out, and the secretary outside immediately pushed the door open and entered.

"President Han!"

"Just ten minutes ago, Prince Heng made a public appearance!"

The secretary spoke quickly, her expression slightly feverish. "At the same time, he sent out 100 of the exclusive ’Descent of the King’ gifts we custom-made for him—all in one go."

Hearing this, Han Lixin’s slightly furrowed brow immediately relaxed.

"After more than two whole months, he’s finally made a move!"

Han Lixin seemed a bit emotional as he immediately asked, "Who did Prince Heng give his first exclusive gifts to?"

"The stream is named Xingchuan 001, under the newly registered MCN agency Xingchuan Entertainment. Today is their group debut stream. After Prince Heng entered, he gave all of his exclusive gifts to a female streamer named Qing Qing."

After giving Han Lixin the detailed report, the secretary added, "President Han, during the debut stream today, Qingcheng Entertainment from Hang City used quite a few dirty tricks to suppress this startup MCN, Xingchuan Entertainment."

"However, just a few minutes before Prince Heng dropped into the stream, Qingcheng Entertainment did a complete 180. Not only did they stop all their dirty tricks, but their official company account also led the charge, bringing all of Qingcheng Entertainment’s top influencers with over a million fans each into the Xingchuan 001 stream to spam gifts."

"Even now, Qingcheng Entertainment’s official account is still in that stream, sending a Carnival every two minutes on average. So, I suspect..."

She trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

"Are you implying that this Xingchuan 001 has a connection to Prince Heng?"

Han Lixin raised an eyebrow. "And that Qingcheng Entertainment’s sudden change of heart was because they were warned by Prince Heng?"

"It’s mainly that the timing of Qingcheng Entertainment’s flip-flop and Prince Heng’s sudden appearance in the Xingchuan 001 stream is too much of a coincidence. It’s hard not to read into it."

The secretary nodded and replied respectfully.

"Hmm..."

Han Lixin pondered for a moment before giving an order. "On my behalf, make a call to the boss of Qingcheng Entertainment in a personal capacity. Ask him for the details of what happened."

"Understood."

The secretary had been with Han Lixin since he was just a department director, so she naturally understood him very well.

Two months ago, she was the one who had flown to Zhonghai with Han Lixin and seen with her own eyes what Prince Heng, the man who had lavishly spent seventy million in a single night, looked like in person.

She could sense how highly Han Lixin regarded Gu Heng, which was why she had just "mentioned in passing" what had happened between Qingcheng Entertainment and Xingchuan Entertainment.

According to the original plan, after Prince Heng reappeared and used the custom-made exclusive gift for the first time on a TikTok stream, they were supposed to contact the business department in charge of TikTok’s short videos to drive some traffic to the event for promotional purposes.

Han Lixin had already submitted this plan to his superiors and received approval. In other words, the matter was set in stone, just waiting for Gu Heng to make a move.

If the incident between Qingcheng Entertainment and Xingchuan Entertainment hadn’t happened tonight, this matter would have likely been handled by the book, proceeding exactly according to the original plan.

But now, things had changed considerably.

If things were really as the two of them suspected, and Gu Heng had a complex web of ties to Xingchuan Entertainment, then the potential for maneuvering here was enormous.

Han Lixin could easily go with the flow and use this opportunity to boost the platform’s traffic to heavily promote the new girl group, Xingchuan 001, that Xingchuan Entertainment had just launched. By doing so, he could earn a huge favor from Gu Heng.

After all, TikTok currently had over 600 million daily active users.

Even a small push of traffic from the platform would be an unimaginable, life-changing fortune for any company or individual.