Chapter 117 - 107: I Hope My Fans and I Have an Equal Relationship
Chapter 117: Chapter 107: I Hope My Fans and I Have an Equal Relationship
Shu Yao decided against making a hasty appearance on the food forum.
Mrs. Bao had achieved legendary status with a single dish. With her current influence in the culinary world, showing up on the food forum would undoubtedly draw a huge crowd.
She didn’t want to be a spectacle.
Suddenly, she received a system message.
When she opened it, she saw it was a message from a staff member.
[KCourt001]: "Hello, Mrs. Bao. I’m a staff member with the Imperial Court Company. Do you have a moment?"
Shu Yao replied, "Hello. Go ahead."
[KCourt001] sent over an electronic contract. "The Imperial Court Company sincerely hopes to establish a long-term partnership with you. This is an agreement our company has drafted specifically for you. Please take a look."
’So, this staff member wanted to discuss signing a contract.’
Shu Yao briefly scanned the contract. While stating it would fully respect her personal wishes, the Imperial Court Company wanted to sign her for five years.
Signing this contract would also change the revenue share from tips, moving from a 50/50 split to a 70/30 split.
This was equivalent to a top-tier creator contract.
After signing it, Shu Yao wouldn’t be able to livestream or even post cooking videos on any other platform.
All in all, the contract was quite generous.
Still, just to be safe, Shu Yao asked her uncle to look it over and give his opinion.
After carefully reading the contract, Shu Chao Yu asked in alarm, "Is the Imperial Court Company going bankrupt!?"
"...What makes you say that?"
Shu Chao Yu had never seen the Imperial Court Company be so generous to any streamer.
Even Lin Zhenxiang, who had the Empress’s backing, probably didn’t have this kind of top-tier contract.
He could smell a sense of desperation in the contract KCourt001 had given Shu Yao—
The Imperial Court Company desperately wanted to keep Shu Yao on the Star Network Platform!
They were even willing to put the company’s own interests second.
This wasn’t at all like the Imperial Court Company’s usual way of doing things!
"Sign it!" Shu Chao Yu urged. "Sign it now, before they change their minds!"
Shu Yao hesitated for a moment, then decided to listen to her uncle for now. ’If any problems come up with this contract later,’ she thought, ’I’ll just sell him down the river!’
Shu Yao sent the signed electronic contract back to KCourt001.
[KCourt001]: "From now on, I’ll be your dedicated editor. My main responsibility is to help promote your videos and drive traffic. If you have any questions about that, feel free to ask me anytime."
’This editor is so polite,’ Shu Yao thought, ’almost a little subservient.’
Shu Yao didn’t have any other questions for the moment, so she asked about something that many food fans were currently concerned about:
"By the way, when will the livestreaming function be re-enabled?"
’The editor is an Imperial Court Company employee, so they should have some inside information.’
[KCourt001]: "In 48 hours."
The reply was without a moment’s hesitation.
After her conversation with the editor, Shu Yao noticed a new post on the food forum.
[Xiangxiang Loves Cooking]: "I saw how much everyone was asking for me, so I couldn’t resist breaking my promise to my agent to come out and say something myself.
First, thank you all for your concern! I’ve pretty much recovered and am just undergoing the last of my treatments. I’ll be discharged from the hospital in two days!
Second, I promise all of you that once I start streaming again, I’ll focus on my cooking and won’t let what happened before affect my performance.
And finally, let’s all count down to the relaunch of the livestreaming function together!"
Her post included a countdown timer set for around 47 hours and 30 minutes.
The appearance of this countdown timer all but confirmed the previous rumors—the day Lin Zhenxiang returned would be the day the livestreaming function was re-enabled!
"So the Star Network livestreaming ban was really because Xiangxiang got hurt?"
"So the platform was waiting for Xiangxiang to recover this whole time!"
"Xiangxiang returns, and livestreaming restarts! Our Xiangxiang really is the golden child of the Star Network Platform and the Imperial Court Company!"
"Can’t wait for Xiangxiang to show us some new dishes!"
...
Amid the flood of praise, dissenting voices suddenly appeared.
"It was just a scratch, and she stayed in the hospital for almost a week. Was that really necessary?!"
"That little cut was obviously treated on the spot. I have no idea what she’s trying to pull!"
"She was probably already healed by the time she even got to the hospital!"
"She was only in the hospital to hide from the controversy. She waited for the whole storm to blow over so she could stage a big comeback! What a manipulative schemer!"
In addition to some perceptive fans, a growing number of her peers—other streamers—also began speaking out in the thread:
"That self-important brat! Do you know how many streamers couldn’t work because of you?! Lin Zhenxiang, do you think every streamer is like you, born with a silver spoon and no worries about food or clothing!? Who’s going to cover our losses!?"
"Shutting down the livestreaming function for so long just to wait for her to come back! What the Imperial Court Company did was incredibly foolish!"