Lin Feng listened to the voice on the other end, nodding along.
"Yes."
A pause.
"Yes, I understand."
Another pause.
"Thank you."
He lowered the phone and ended the call.
Su Yue was still clicking the refresh button, her brow furrowed as the page loaded again and again with the same result.
"It really is gone." She looked up at Lin Feng, worry creeping into her voice. "Do you think they took our money?"
Mengqi sighed. "Who would dare steal so brazenly?" She crossed her arms, her expression thoughtful. "It seems they're trying to appeal to us."
"What?" Su Yue blinked. "Appeal to us by stealing our money? That's new."
"It's not stolen." Mengqi glanced at Lin Feng. "Was that StarWave?"
Lin Feng nodded. "Yes. How did you know?"
Mengqi shrugged. "Well, we just had a huge stream that broke their site, even if only for a few minutes. There's no way they wouldn't want to keep us."
"I applied to register an MCN account for our agency a while back, but it was rejected. They cited 'unfulfilled conditions.' Seeing as they stripped the metrics from her account..." She gestured at the laptop. "I'm assuming they finally agreed to register us."
She paused.
"It seems it wasn't that we hadn't fulfilled the conditions. We simply lacked a hundred thousand viewers."
Lin Feng just smiled.
Well, it was understandable. It seemed StarWave had been afraid they might move to another platform, so they quickly approved their account. They had even apologized for the earlier rejection.
This should make things easier now. With an MCN account, they should be able to negotiate a better revenue split.
Which meant more money for him.
Speaking of...
Lin Feng took the laptop back and logged into the newly activated MCN account. He navigated through the interface, clicking through a few settings.
With this, Su Yue's statistics should return.
He couldn't believe this was even a feature. Could these agencies really hide statistics from their talents? That didn't seem like a good idea.
As for the money...
He couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment.
If they had followed their initial deal, he would have received over a hundred thousand yuan right off the bat. His system balance would have exploded. He would have been a legit tycoon.
But now, since he wasn't her manager anymore - well, not in the traditional sense anyway - he couldn't just take the money.
With their new terms, twenty percent would be taken by the business, not him personally. That portion would cover operational costs and would also be subject to taxes. As for his own share, he would have to pay himself a salary following his business contract. He could also receive dividends.
Well, he would think about it later.
He turned to Su Yue.
"It seems you won't be receiving your money today."
Su Yue's eyes widened. "What? Did they really steal it?"
Lin Feng smiled. "No. In fact, they're going to give you even more money."
He looked over at Mengqi.
"Are you free tomorrow?"
Mengqi raised an eyebrow. "Were you invited for a meeting?"
He nodded.
She shrugged, a hint of a smirk tugging at her lips. "Well, as the Head of Talent Management, I can't let them cheap out on us. I'll go with you."
…
Lin Feng talked with Su Yue and Mengqi for a while longer before finally heading back to campus.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived at the gates, he realized he had a problem.
Curfew.
He had completely forgotten about it. With everything going on - the music release, the stream, the chaos - it had slipped his mind entirely.
He stood outside the locked gates, staring at them for a long moment.
He was about to return to his office when he remembered something.
Twenty minutes later, Lin Feng stood in front of a familiar door. Su Yue's previous studio apartment. She had returned the access card to him after moving out.
He pulled out his wallet and flipped through it.
There.
The card was still tucked inside. Luckily, he had been carrying it with him.
He pressed it against the reader. The lock clicked open.
Lin Feng stepped inside and looked around.
The place was spotless. Every surface had been wiped down, the floors were clean, and everything was neatly arranged. It seemed she had taken the time to clean up before leaving.
He smiled.
How nice of her.
He decided to take a shower first to relax before going to sleep. It had been a long day.
…
Tuesday, November 10th.
The private meeting room was quiet, save for the faint hum of the air conditioning.
On one side of the polished table sat two men from StarWave.
The first was a large man - broad-shouldered with a presence that filled the room. Beside him sat another representative, slimmer, with a tablet in front of him displaying various charts and figures.
On the opposite side sat Lin Feng and Mengqi.
The large man smiled, sliding a document across the table.
"We've discussed this internally, and we'd like to offer you a seventy-thirty split. Seventy percent to your talent, thirty to the platform."
He leaned back, confidence radiating from his posture.
"I'll be honest with you - this is not something we offer outright. Normally, new MCNs start at sixty-forty, sometimes even fifty-fifty if they don't meet certain conditions. We're making an exception here because we see potential in Moon Fairy."
The slimmer representative nodded along. "This is a very generous offer. We believe it reflects our sincerity in building a long-term partnership."
Lin Feng glanced at Mengqi.
Mengqi didn't even look at the document.
"Eighty-twenty."
The smile on the large man's face faltered. "Excuse me?"
"Eighty percent to us. Twenty to you." Mengqi's tone was flat, matter-of-fact. "That's our offer."
The two StarWave representatives exchanged glances.
"Miss Shen," the slimmer one began, "I think you may be underestimating how favorable our initial offer already is. Seventy-thirty is practically unheard of for…"
"For what?" Mengqi cut him off. "For a streamer whose debut crashed your entire site?"
She tilted her head.
"This was her first stream after her debut. One stream. And your platform couldn't handle it." She paused, letting that sink in. "Her music video has received over ten million views in less than twenty-four hours. Do you understand what that means?"
The large man opened his mouth to respond, but Mengqi continued.
"Your site crashed from the initial traffic alone. And that was just the beginning." She leaned forward slightly. "What happens when she releases her next video? Or the one after that? Will your servers be able to handle it?"