The gala event officially begins.
The host is quite a famous figure in Shanghai and also a friend of Xue Ziqian, Zhu Zhen.
After a few minutes of opening remarks, first inviting official personnel from Douyin, Douyu, Weibo, and other platforms to speak on stage to emphasize that this internet celebrity festival is officially certified, a few main sponsors were introduced in grand fashion, and finally, the event started amidst the cheers of the audience.
Feeling the enthusiasm behind him, Principal Wang couldn’t help but exclaim, "Last year’s Panda Gala, I planned to invite a batch of celebrities, but the company’s shareholders disagreed, saying it was too expensive."
This is the advantage of independent shareholding. For example, Gu Bai’s Black Swan Capital, where Gu Bai’s word is law, what he says goes.
Including Xingnai Media, although it is a joint venture among three people, Gu Bai decides the major directions of the company. Li Zhun and Zhao Weiwei have gradually tasted the sweet results, so there’s even less likelihood of any objections.
"Have your internal shareholders settled it, how much equity can you come up with?"
Principal Wang nodded first, then shook his head.
"30% definitely can’t come up, but along with my shares, relative control is not a problem, management rights should be able to be regained." The rıghtful source is 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Regaining management rights is only the first step."
"Do you have a plan?"
Gu Bai nodded slightly, "In the live-streaming industry, if you don’t rely on a big ship, you can’t succeed."
"Let’s watch the performance first, we can talk about these things later."
Seeing that Gu Bai only spoke half a sentence, although Principal Wang was a bit anxious, he didn’t express too much. After all, Gu Bai is still an outsider now, and there’s no need to explain too much to him.
On the stage, the first performer was Zhang Jie.
It’s not that Zhang Jie’s status isn’t worthy of closing the show, but the director specially arranged for him to be the first to appear for the gala’s atmosphere. Although he had some opinions, Zhang Jie didn’t dare to say anything, performing enthusiastically on the stage.
The audience below cheered as the first performance was Zhang Jie.
Although some people were not his fans, being able to see a top-tier celebrity perform live for a ticket priced at 100 yuan greatly enhanced the experience.
"Is this internet celebrity festival played at such a scale? They invited Zhang Jie?"
Someone in the audience asked.
"Didn’t you see the promotional poster?"
"No, I saw online that there was a ticket rush for an internet celebrity festival, only 100 yuan, I happened to grab one, so I came today."
After hearing that, the person who explained earlier became envious, "100 yuan original price ticket? I spent 800 yuan on a ticket from a scalper; if the poster hadn’t said that Deng Qi would be here, I wouldn’t have bothered."
"Is Deng Qi here too?"
"Besides Deng Qi, there’s also Xue Ziqian, Mao Buyi, Li Ronghao, and Zhang Liangying. I saw on the poster that, apart from the internet celebrities, this festival invited about 20 celebrities."
The young man who bought the original price ticket suddenly felt that 100 yuan was incredibly worthwhile.
The next program was a hot dance by several internet celebrities from Xingnai Media. Originally, Peng Shiba was supposed to join in, but after Gu Bai found out, he directly vetoed it. Such a bold dance, letting Gu Bai’s woman perform it was nothing but a joke?
In the end, under Gu Bai’s influence, Peng Shiba, a small internet celebrity with only hundreds of thousands of followers, was arranged to perform a duet with Deng Qi.
Gu Bai and others sat in the VIP viewing area, laughing and commenting on the gala. After their performances finished, both internet celebrities and celebrities rushed over to greet them before heading back to the backstage.
This made the audience in the front rows very curious about their identities, but seeing the burly bodyguards, some people’s thoughts of trying to get closer to learn more were dispelled.
After some time, Yan Xiaobo walked up to Gu Bai.
"President Gu, the show director says it’s your turn to perform."
Gu Bai nodded and said to Principal Wang and a group of invited second-generation rich, "I’ll head to the backstage first, please have Li Zhun entertain you all."
Li Zhun laughed and urged, "Don’t worry, I’ll handle things here, you can focus on your performance."
As they teased, Gu Bai also smiled helplessly and followed Yan Xiaobo to the backstage.
Ten minutes later, Zhu Zhen got the temporary cue sheet, looking very surprised, but still memorized the host script, then went on stage.
"I wonder if you, the audience, are satisfied with this gala event?"
The audience cooperated by shouting that they were satisfied.
Seeing the audience’s response, Zhu Zhen also smiled and said, "Then the next person to come out will definitely be someone you all will like. This person is the national champion of Future Son! Mao Buyi!
And I’ll tell you quietly, there’s someone you wouldn’t guess."
After saying this, Zhu Zhen left the stage, and on both sides of the elevating platforms, a new figure appeared on one side.
One dressed in a white performance outfit.
One dressed in a pure black suit.
It was Mao Buyi and Gu Bai.
The program director had asked Gu Bai if he wanted to change into a performance outfit, but Gu Bai directly refused; he just wanted to guest on stage, and enjoy singing in front of more than ten thousand people, not actually perform.
The director had no choice because Gu Bai was the biggest here; as long as he was happy, anything could be accepted.
Should have had a brilliant life,
How could it be that after more than twenty years,
I’m still floating and sinking in the sea of people."
Mao Buyi started singing, and as the melody of this song played, the entire venue with over ten thousand people suddenly quieted down.
The melody of this song was already good, and combined with the popularity of Future Son, few young people hadn’t heard this song, even Gu Bai had listened to it for four years.
In Gu Bai’s previous life, his heart was as high as the sky, yet his destiny was fragile as paper.
Though it was only four years in the World, it indeed felt like the experience of falling from paradise to mortal dust, and at that time, Gu Bai truly felt the meaning of the lyrics: "How could it be that after more than twenty years, I’m still floating and sinking in the sea of people."
However, fortunately, fate favored him.
Granted him a new life, and gave him a cheat.
There’s a saying that people don’t need to ponder too deeply about life, enjoy happiness whenever possible!
Now, Gu Bai, things others could hardly have were at his fingertips, all the mediocrity and unwillingness of his past life were finally gone!
"A person as lost as me,
A person like me looking,
A person as mediocre and insignificant as me,
How many have you seen?"
The originally melancholic and profound song was sung from Gu Bai’s mouth with a confident and uplifting feel, yet no one found it strange; as if the man before them was born to be so flamboyant.
"Who is this person? A newcomer from which company?"
"You don’t know him? He’s indeed a newcomer to the entertainment industry, but he’s a new big shot!"
"Just search for National Heartthrob on Weibo, and you’ll understand."
The audience below buzzed with discussions. Some who didn’t know Gu Bai asked questions, and those who did started explaining.
Suddenly, a girl in her twenties, not far from the stage, stood up and shouted to Gu Bai, "Heartthrob, I want to have your babies!"
As soon as she said this, quite a few others followed suit.
Suddenly, phrases like "Heartthrob, love me!" and "Husband, choose me!" echoed through the venue.
However, these girls were clearly still shy, and after saying their piece, they hid in the crowd, even the cameras couldn’t catch them.
Gu Bai heard the voices from the audience and burst out laughing.
His first performance.
Utterly went off the rails.