Chapter 26 2/2

“Sheng Quan and Ming Qi on a Grand Shopping Spree, Suspected Good News on the Horizon”—The content mentioned Ming Qi’s contract expiring soon and the likelihood of her switching to Starlight Entertainment.

“Sheng Quan on the Move, Luxurious Car Draws Attention”—The accompanying picture showed Sheng Quan sipping soy milk in the car while a passerby looked surprised and took a photo.

She still suspected that the passerby was probably a disguised paparazzo.

In any case, the media outlets that had never managed to interview Sheng Quan were now quite pleased.

It would have been even better if there weren’t a tall, imposing figure at least 190 cm tall standing in front of her.

Assistant Dong tried to position himself in front of Sheng Quan, but because neither his height nor his physique stood out, the media friends naturally treated him as if he didn’t exist.

Sheng Quan patted the conscientious driver, who had dutifully shielded him behind her. Understanding her gesture, he stepped aside, revealing the boss, who had been carefully concealed.

At Starlight Entertainment, Gu Zhao sat behind his desk, watching Sheng Quan on the screen, responding with a smile to the question, “Is a billion votes too extravagant?”

“If it were an ordinary program, I certainly wouldn’t invest this much, but since all this money will be used for charitable purposes, I don’t see any problem.”

“Yes, I really like Jin Jiu. Initially, I accidentally heard his previous songs, and the more I learned about him, the more I liked him. Of course, I definitely want him to join the Starlight Entertainment family. I’m going to talk to him about it later.”

“I also want to thank ‘The Voice Is All You Need.’ I’m actually a very frugal person, hahaha, I’m not kidding. I’m quite stingy. I only add one egg when I eat Jianbing Guozi.”

“I’m also experiencing this kind of platform where every penny donated can help out-of-school children for the first time. It allows me to confidently show my support for my favorite singer because, you know, every bit of your support translates into help for others. It makes me feel great.”

“The production team changing the time for me? Hahaha, do you believe that I had no idea? I really didn’t get any advance notice; I found out by checking the hot searches. I just said that, and on that day, I decided to come no matter how late it was. Yes, partly because of Jin Jiu and partly because this program has a charitable nature, successfully blending entertainment with charity. It’s really impressive.

It seems that the public generally thinks that things in the entertainment industry are quite chaotic, but I actually think that good work, a good artist, and a good program can bring positive energy to people. I hope in the future there will be more programs like ‘The Voice Is All You Need,’ positive, entertaining, and contributing to society.”

After asking a bunch of questions, another journalist asked:

“After all, a billion is not a small amount. Do you think you will regret the decision you made tonight?”

Sheng Quan smiled at the camera without hesitation and said, “No.”

“My favorite line from ‘Life’s Road’ by Qin Heng is this: ‘You can be a happy good person, because doing good things can make people feel happy.’ This line has a great impact on me.”

“I can tell you with certainty that donating this billion makes me happy.”

Gu Zhao watched as the camera cut to the reporter, a rare sense of relief evident in his demeanor.

This billion is enough to make those who underestimated Starlight Entertainment’s conscience reconsider.

Suddenly, they would realize that they really wanted to be friends with Starlight Entertainment, and they were willing to collaborate. As for the fact that the head of such a large company was only 23 years old, after Sheng Quan donated a billion, they wouldn’t even care if she were thirteen or three years old—they would still enthusiastically call her Director Sheng.

For example, Wansheng Gu Zhao could be certain that within three days, both Chen Xuan and He Qizhi would appear in Starlight Entertainment’s office, recalling the good times with a friendly attitude.

No, judging by their personalities, it was more likely that they would first call him to establish a rapport, saying something like, “How have you been lately?” or “Do you want to grab a drink?”

In fact, their choice this time wasn’t wrong. The gamble of forty million, if won, could have saved Wansheng from its downward trajectory.

They just didn’t expect Sheng Quan to have a billion.

As Gu Zhao was thinking about this, his phone rang.

Glancing at it, he answered, and Chen Xuan’s voice came through on the other end:

“Gu Zhao, it’s me. How have you been lately? Want to go out for a drink together?”

Gu Zhao looked at his watch.

“Not bad. Director Sheng treats me well. Sure, let’s have a drink. I also wanted to talk to you about terminating the contract with Huaqing.”

Chen Xuan’s face instantly turned green. “Huaqing is something Wansheng has worked hard to launch. She’s one of the Four Little Flowers. You know how important she is to Wansheng. I can’t just hand her over to your Starlight.”

Gu Zhao raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. Despite his appearance suggesting a long conversation ahead, he said, “So, we can’t discuss it? Goodbye.”

“Hold on!” Even though they hadn’t met in person, judging from this tone alone, Chen Xuan could imagine the cold, icy, dead face of Gu Zhao. Just thinking about it made him ache all over, but considering the current situation of the company, he could only endure the pain and change his statement, “If Starlight wants it, we can discuss it. But the conditions…”

Ten minutes later,

Gu Zhao opened a drawer and tossed a stack of documents into the trash can.

Secretary Zhang entered with some documents, and seeing the discarded papers, she looked at him in surprise.

“Mr. Gu, don’t you need these anymore?”

Just last night, Gu Zhao had them working overtime to prepare those documents.

“Throw it away.”

Gu Zhao took the documents handed to him in a very good mood.

“For a long time to come, Starlight Entertainment won’t encounter malicious competition.”

Not only that, they would also experience a surge in attention.

This massive donation would instantly capture the attention of the entire internet. It wouldn’t be the small-scale buzz of the past, with the highest trend being the third or fourth on the hot search list.

Doing charity work on an entertainment program with such significant results, the social impact alone was considerable. For such positive events in the entertainment industry, the media always spared no effort in extensive reporting.

Gu Zhao was more than just in a good mood; he felt downright elated.

He thoroughly felt the difference compared to his time at Wansheng.

At Wansheng, he was handling two difficult bosses, and the exhaustion from work didn’t even compare to the speechlessness he faced with the two former employers.

At Starlight, all he needed to do was work diligently. Sheng Quan not only gave him ample trust but also propelled the entire company forward by a large margin.

The more Gu Zhao thought about it, the better his mood became. He decided on the spot to work overtime until 10 p.m. tonight to properly celebrate.

Gu Zhao’s premature celebration was justified.

This billion indeed directly ignited everyone’s enthusiasm.

Media outlets rushed to report, interviewing the program team if they couldn’t get Sheng Quan, interviewing the audience in the spectator seats, and even interviewing the head of the national charity organization.

As the chief director had predicted, this act of “legitimate entertainment, combining entertainment with charity,” received recognition from authoritative media.

Especially for Sheng Quan’s statements such as “a good program can bring positive energy to fans” and “feel free to express your love for your favorite contestants while helping others,” they received high praise from authoritative media.

“Positive Star-Chasing,” “Watch Good Programs, Sing Good Songs, Be a Good Person,” “You Can Be a Happy Good Person.”

Authority was authority, after all. When media outlets that usually didn’t praise the entertainment industry spoke up, those entertainment media outlets that had been observing from the sidelines quickly took a stance, enthusiastically joining in the praise.

In the age of entertainment, not everyone pays attention to entertainment.

But a personal donation of one billion drew the attention of eighty percent of the people who saw the headlines.

After reading, they would start a chain search.

Who is Sheng Quan? Oh, she’s a young billionaire. She owns Huaxing Tower too. Let’s follow her.

Who is Jin Jiu? He sings so well! Was he so pitiful before? Even in such a pitiful state, he managed to retrain his voice. How inspiring! Let’s follow him.

Which company is Starlight Entertainment? Oh, it’s Sheng Quan’s company. Let’s see who the signed artists are.

What is “Life’s Road”? Who is Qin Heng? Sheng Quan is the investor in this “Life’s Road,” and she invested to ensure the quality without ruining the original work. Who is the handsome guy at the pancake stall? Yan Hui looks so handsome! Wow, Lin Aike is so pretty too. Let’s check out some clips. The styling and acting seem good. This is probably a good drama; let’s remember it and try watching it when it airs.

A chain reaction occurred, and everything related to Sheng Quan appeared before the public’s eyes, known, noticed, and acknowledged.

Even those who usually weren’t interested in gossip would allocate some attention after seeing the “donation of one billion.”

Sheng Quan, the person who signed an artist and established a company after buying a Jianbing Guozi, the person who invested to maintain the quality of an adapted drama, the person who casually donated $1 billion in a charity program

How could you not pay attention to her?

Even the most prominent Strawberry Channel had to admit that Sheng Quan spent the billion wisely.

The most important and indispensable attention in the entertainment industry, which was usually in abundance, was almost overflowing in front of her.

This billion brought her…

widespread attention.