Chapter 10

000 did not dare say a word.

The task had not been set by him—it had been set by the Main System, QAQ.

The marketing department head did not look much better. Their promotional video script had already been written, and the editing was halfway done when a rank-and-file soldier had suddenly dropped from the sky. He cautiously asked, "Young Master Shi has so much on his plate that he may not be able to handle it all, but please rest assured, we'll definitely put his name first in the finished video."

After watching their promotional materials, Shi Jihan's heart pounded. "No, don't put my name on it. Absolutely not."

It had been edited too well. Once it was released, would it not send his Malice Points, which had finally been about to return to zero, straight down to -1000?

They were only holding him back.

After thinking it over, he said, "How about this? I'll make another one myself."

000 cautiously poked its head out and showered him with praise. [Host, you're amazing! As expected of the all-powerful host I chose—even editing videos is within your abilities!]

Shi Jihan's expression eased, and he lifted his chin, thoroughly pleased. [I'm a college student, okay? Who hasn't made a video assignment for an ideological and political theory class?]

He picked up his laptop and got to work. One computer, one person, one night, one miracle. He wrote, directed, and edited the promotional video himself.

"Done!"

The promotional video was placed as a splash-screen ad, equally harassing every user who opened the app.

000, having watched the entire thing, shut its mouth. This promotional video... was this really right?

There were still ten days until the fashion show began, and they had entered the intensive promotional period.

After arriving at work on Monday, Shi Bochuan drove Shen Qinghuai to the company building on time, only to run into a shareholder head-on. The man was clearly furious, glaring and blowing his beard as he slammed on the horn and charged into the parking lot.

Shi Bochuan did not care.

Under the previous chairman's leadership, Shi Group's product positioning had already grown outdated, and its market had been steadily shrinking. This fashion show was not only a brand promotion for the early autumn collection, but also a strategic market expansion by the new faction led by Shi Bochuan. They had created a new fashion label targeting younger consumers, with Shen Qinghuai as its creative director. This show could be considered its first test run.

Where there was reform, there was resistance. The company's old guard had long found him deeply unpleasant.

After parking, the two ran into the secretary and the marketing department head in the executive offices on the top floor. Shi Bochuan casually asked, "For the night of the fashion show, have the

livestream

preparations been made? How's the pre-launch buzz?"

The secretary's expression was strange. "Everything is ready. The buzz... is very high."

Higher than ever before.

Besides the brand's existing audience, a massive number of young people who normally did not follow this scene had flooded in.

"It must be the promotional work my third brother did," Shi Bochuan began praising him without even asking. "I knew it. He must love working, and he loves shining in his position even more."

As he spoke, he took out his tablet and opened the promotional video on the official social media account.

He had been too busy lately. He had only watched the marketing department's finished video and had not yet seen Shi Jihan's.

Shen Qinghuai looked over as well.

The video began with a teenage skateboarder falling from the sky, attempting a stylish 720-degree aerial spin.

When he landed, his left foot stepped on his right foot. He dropped to his knees on the skateboard and rushed out of frame screaming, "Mom!"

The camera transitioned seamlessly. Shi Jihan slid into the shot while lying on the floor, a tablet in his hand scrolling the Shi Group logo. Lying on his side, he crooked a finger at the camera. "I was reborn. Reborn as the public-use

stand-in

at an elite academy. This time, I choose to wear Shi Corporation's new fashion show outfits. High-end design, top luxury brand—falling in love with me requires no inferiority complex."

Shi Bochuan, trying to process it: ?

What kind of filthy thing was this?

The camera switched again. A fisherman was slapped hard across the face by the spiraling tail of a giant fish he had reeled in.

"Ahhh~~" Shi Jihan covered his face and staggered down onto the floor. The transition flowed smoothly as he gazed at the camera from a forty-five-degree angle, tears in his eyes. "Family, I've been set up. I was originally the Third Young Master who controlled Shi Corporation, but now I've fallen to the streets and live a miserable life."

"What? You're asking how I'll rise again? On June 18, follow Shi Group's PALIMPSEST fashion show and watch Shi Bochuan and me stage a battle between two dragons for the throne."

Facing the camera, he clenched his fist passionately. "This time, I'll take back everything that belongs to me!"

The screen went dark, leaving only the flashing No. 2 FangZheng XiaoBiaoSong Simplified font displaying their slogan:

"June 18 Palimpsest Fashion Show: Your Gaze Guides the Moment of Trend."

The shareholder who had just parked and entered glanced over, saw the video on Shi Bochuan's tablet, and nearly lost his breath.

A disgrace to civilized society! A disgrace to civilized society!

Shen Qinghuai stared blankly. "This is... our promotional video?"

Shi Bochuan asked only one question. "...Who approved this?"

It was also the marketing department head's first time seeing it. He had laughed so hard his back teeth could have basked in the sun before realizing something was wrong. "Huh? Wasn't this your idea, Boss? Young Master Shi said he could just post it directly."

Shen Qinghuai's pupils trembled. He squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth. "So the viewers for this livestream..."

The secretary continued, "This promotional video made the short-video trending list. More than half of the netizens who reserved the livestream this time came because of it."

The couple moved in perfect sync, simultaneously pulling out their phones to search.

The real-time feed for the related topics was incredibly lively.

[Raise your hand if you came because of the promotional video!]

[Shi Corporation, you're so lucky. You actually managed to produce a promotional genius like this.]

[It's this little brother again, hahaha. I'll never forget how arrogantly he asked his eldest brother to reduce his plagiarism score.]

[College students really do have good brains. Shi Jihan, if you're not at this show, I'm not watching.]

[Help, I'm seriously dying of laughter. The moment I see little brother's face, I start laughing.]

[President Shi: Closing his eyes, he saw Shi Corporation's future.]

Someone directly posted a meme made from screenshots of the video.

Shi Jihan covered his face, looking as though tears might fall: Big Brother, I'll never dare again;

Shi Jihan lay down on his side and crooked a finger with a smile: Yeah right. Big Brother, you're obsessed with me too, aren't you?

The homepage refreshed at lightning speed, and the popularity was exploding.

It was even more popular than any fashion show Shi Corporation had planned before.

In short, their fashion show had successfully taken its first step and broken out of its circle.

In a way Shi Bochuan could never have imagined even in his dreams.

Chapter 10

The secretary watched the couple remain dazed, clearly still unable to recover from such a genius promotional video, and could not help worrying. "Boss, Team Leader Shen, are you... all right?" They had not been killed by their own little brother's absurdity, had they?

With great professionalism, she swallowed the latter half of that sentence.

Shi Bochuan regained a little clarity. "Ah... yes, I'm fine. I'm going to work."

He walked stiffly and ramrod straight toward the CEO's office.

Shen Qinghuai was still worried, wondering whether Shi Corporation would go bankrupt tomorrow because he stepped into the company with his left foot first.

His brother-in-law no longer targeted him all the time, but his brother-in-law's destructive power seemed to have become even stronger(?)

He was practically a high-speed spinning top octopus, smacking everyone equally across the face with a rapid-fire slap-slap-slap.

Shi Bochuan was even worse—like the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.

Just as he was thinking about it, a whirlwind swept past him, and Shen Qinghuai was slapped on the back with a loud smack.

Shi Jihan rushed in with a backpack on his shoulders, brimming with energy. "Morning, Brother Huai! Morning, Secretary! Morning, Director Li!"

"Good morning, Young Master Shi." The secretary greeted him with a smile. It was her first time seeing Shi Jihan alive and not dead in the morning, so she asked where he was hurrying off to.

Without looking back, Shi Jihan dashed into the office. "I'm going to see Yan Bo about the finished garments today!"

People never felt tired when they were doing bad things. Shi Jihan had gotten up early that morning, impatient to see the finished garments.

The secretary shook her head with a laugh, then turned to Shen Qinghuai, who had yet to recover from the shock. "Team Leader Shen, there's a regular shareholder meeting this morning. Remember to attend."

Shen Qinghuai slowly nodded, feeling that everything that had happened that morning was surreal.

Even more surreal was the shareholder meeting, where the secretary displayed the backend data from all their official social media accounts. The numbers kept climbing, rolling upward without pause.

The shareholders offered congratulations one after another.

"Oh, this is truly wonderful news. We've successfully opened up a new market!"

"Young Master Shi really took an unconventional approach. He must have put in serious effort studying market preferences."

"Young Master Shi is a genius!"

The old-guard shareholders' faces turned livid.

Improper and undignified! Their brand positioning was supposed to be high-end, grand, and sophisticated!

Shen Qinghuai and Shi Bochuan looked at each other from opposite ends of the enormous conference table.

Watching the reservation count for the livestream continue to rise, Shi Bochuan fell silent for a moment before saying, "My third brother... really does have a good brain."

Shen Qinghuai hesitated, then nodded in agreement.

It was as though they had opened the door to a new world. Life had suddenly gained endless possibilities.

Over here, Shi Jihan received a series of notification sounds for incoming rewards.

[Ding, Malice Points +7]

[Ding, Malice Points +3.56]

[Ding, the task "Sow discord between the company's two factions" has been completed. Malice Points +15]

[Ding, the task "Reverse-promote the fashion show and lower its class" has been completed. Malice Points +20]

This felt amazing!

Shi Jihan felt refreshed all over. Seeing Yan Bo turn his designs into actual patterns and finished pieces made him even happier. He flicked the springy lobster tail on the tuxedo, then tugged at the surface of the instant-noodle jumpsuit. Thoroughly satisfied, he recorded a video and sent it to Zhou Jingcheng.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: President Zhou, look at the outfit you designed. It's simply art! Look at this cut, these lines, this color scheme!]

Zhou Jingcheng had probably just arrived at work, and only replied after a while.

[Z: No, compared with Young Master Shi's design, mine is still somewhat conservative. The details deconstructed from your hamburger pajamas would be a loss to the design industry if they were not included in textbooks.]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: You're exaggerating. Shi Corporation's fashion show will shine because of your design!]

Secretary Sun happened to glance at his boss's chat screen as he passed by and sprayed out a mouthful of black coffee. "Pfft! Cough, cough, cough!"

Were they insane? Was this even Chinese?

He knew exactly what the two of them had designed. The models were from their own company, after all.