Chapter 40

In the early morning office, Sun Lili closed the door and handed a cup of steaming jujube tea to Bai Yin: "Think about it again, the endorsement fee offered by Anxing Bao is really not low. New artists who have signed contracts with Xingxing Group have never received such resources before."

"I have consulted professionals." Bai Yin unpacked a pack of sleep pants and flipped the fabric over for Sun Lili to see: "Sanitary pads generally have a surface layer, absorbent layer and bottom layer. The absorbent layer is the most important part. Anxing Bao focuses on being thin and discreet, so the absorbent layer is made very thin and has poor absorbency. This kind of fabric...needs to be changed every one or two hours."

"Changing every one or two hours is quite normal, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's very normal if it's a sanitary pad, but this is a sleep pant meant to be worn overnight." Bai Yin said helplessly: "You can't expect girls to set alarms and get up to go to the bathroom every night."

"You have a point." Sun Lili picked up the sleep pant and looked at it carefully: "Their sanitary pads are made of this kind of fabric too, no problem selling quite well. But the sleep pant is a newly launched product with mediocre market feedback so far, so they want a celebrity endorsement."

"My personal experience was terrible, it leaked and stained the sheets." Bai Yin said lightly: "I can't endorse this sleep pant."

Sun Lili looked shocked: "Wow, Chen Huaixiao actually...actually washed the sheets stained by your period blood! Don't you have any servants at home?"

"Chen Huaixiao doesn't like having too many people at home, so there's only a male butler."

"What a dream husband."

"He would be more dreamy if he came home less often and didn't wake me up every time he came home late at night."

"I suspect you're showing off!"

......

Bai Yin rejected the endorsement from Anxing Bao.

The next afternoon, Anxing Bao's endorsement contract manager and Xingxing Media's senior executives called Bai Yin into the conference room to inquire about the situation in detail.

Bai Yin walked into the conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows. She saw that the room was filled with middle-aged men in suits.

For such feminine hygiene products, both companies didn't even have a woman in charge.

Seeing Bai Yin come in, Xingxing Media's endorsements manager Zhuo Mao stood up and introduced: "This is Anxing Bao's product manager, Mr. Liao, and this is our new artist, Bai Yin."

Before Bai Yin could politely greet them, the slightly stout middle-aged man, Mr. Liao, spoke first. His tone was quite impolite: "I heard you refused to endorse our Anxing Bao products?"

Bai Yin pondered for a moment before answering firmly: "Yes."

"What's the reason?"

"I tried it, it doesn't work well."

Hearing her blunt words, Liao let out a cold snort.

Manager Zhuo Mao immediately pulled Bai Yin aside and said softly: "What does it matter if it doesn't work well? You don't have to use it yourself anyway. Besides, Anxing Bao is a big brand, it has no safety issues. People will still buy it even if it doesn't work that well. If you feel uncomfortable using it, just don't buy it yourself in the future."

"But this will ruin my reputation."

"How can it ruin your reputation? If the product doesn't work well, it will ruin Anxing Bao's reputation, it has nothing to do with you. As long as there are no safety issues, you can rest assured to take the endorsement."

"I'm sorry, Manager Zhuo." Bai Yin still insisted: "I can't endorse this product."

At this time, Anxing Bao's Mr. Liao spoke slowly: "Forget it, your artist looks down on our products and doesn't want to take the endorsement, we certainly won't force it. But we have been communicating back and forth about the endorsement contract for almost two months. We should settle the manpower, resources and funds invested during this period, right?"

Manager Zhuo quickly said: "Mr. Liao, Bai Yin definitely does not look down on your products, I can assure you this. Xingxing Media's artists have a positive attitude towards endorsing any product."

"Then tell me," Mr. Liao looked at Bai Yin, "Why are you unwilling to endorse Anxing Bao?"

"Because the usage experience is not good," Bai Yin answered truthfully. "It can leak."

"Which brand of sanitary pads can you guarantee will never leak?" Mr. Liao was clearly unhappy. "Just change it when the time comes, isn't that normal?"

Bai Yin looked at Liao's arrogant expression and smiled coldly: "Mr. Liao, you haven't used sleep pants, have you?"

"I..." Liao's face flushed red and he shouted angrily: "How could I possibly use such a thing?!"

"So of course you don't know that women have different needs for nighttime feminine hygiene products compared to daytime. During the day, we need to work and live life, so we care about it being thin and comfortable. But at night...we just want a good night's sleep. "

She learned from Sun Lili that Anxing Bao's core design team was mostly male, so they often designed fancy but useless "black technologies", priced their products very high, but never considered women's intimate needs.

Although there were no safety issues, Bai Yin thought about the embarrassment she felt using sanitary pads as a child, and this was a hurdle she couldn't get over.

Liao was also arrogant by nature. Hearing Bai Yin's words, he stood up, pointed at her and thundered angrily: "You're just a no-name newcomer. We at Anxing Bao are willing to pay you such a price for the endorsement, yet you're making excuses! I'll tell you, that's not how you get around in this circle!"

"I'm not getting around the circle, I just do what I think is right."

"Fine, you're so high and mighty! Just you wait!"

Liao said and stormed off furiously!

Seeing this, Manager Zhuo was hopping mad: "I've never seen an artist who dares to piss off the client like this. You're trying to ruin Xingxing Media's reputation!"

"If I had accepted, it would have ruined Chen Huaixiao's reputation." Bai Yin's tone was calm: "No matter what, I won't endorse this kind of product."

Seeing that she even brought up Chairman Chen, Manager Zhuo realized how arrogant this woman was, as if Chen Huaixiao was someone she could casually call by his name!

"Fine, you're so high and mighty. Since you don't want the endorsement, don't take any endorsements from now on!"

"Even if I don't take any other endorsements, I still won't take ones like Anxing Bao's."

Bai Yin was also stubborn. After saying this, she left the conference room and headed straight for the elevator.

She was in a bad mood and walked briskly like a gust of wind.

Coincidentally, Chen Huaixiao was also waiting for the elevator, surrounded by people. After the elevator doors opened, Bai Yin didn't wait for him and walked in first with a frown.

The people around them changed their expressions in shock, looking at her and then at Chen Huaixiao's expressionless, icy face.

Bai Yin pressed the button for the floor she wanted to go to, glanced at Chen Huaixiao, and impatiently said, "Are you getting in or not? If not I'll close the door."

The people behind them were scared to death.

In the company, even the hottest artists were extremely respectful towards Chen Huaixiao and would never dare speak to him in this manner! They had heard that this newly signed artist named Bai Yin had a bad temper, but didn't expect her to be so arrogant and overbearing!

Would Chen Huaixiao tolerate this?

To their great surprise, Chen Huaixiao really could tolerate it.

His thin lips quirked up slightly and he walked into the elevator, standing behind Bai Yin.

The frightened group of people behind him were about to follow him in, and Chen Huaixiao said expressionlessly: "Take the next one."

They hurriedly walked out again to wait for the next elevator.

The elevator doors slowly closed, finally leaving just the two of them in the narrow space.

Chen Huaixiao's tall figure stood behind her like a mountain, oppressive. The smaller the space, the more overpowering his aura.

Bai Yin knew she had lost her temper just now and didn't give him face in front of so many people.

Thinking it over now, she did feel a little bad about it.

Last night, Chen Huaixiao had told her he was flying to Seoul today to negotiate a business deal and would be back in a month.

Seeing the black leather suitcase behind him, he was probably on his way to the airport.

She wanted to pull his sleeve, but reached out and hesitated for a few seconds before withdrawing her hand.

Forget it.

Let him go. She could sleep early with him away.

After more than ten seconds, the elevator doors opened. More employees in shirts and ties were standing outside. Seeing Chen Huaixiao, they politely greeted him and waited for him to exit.

Chen Huaixiao briskly brushed past Bai Yin and quickly slipped something hard into her hand before walking out of the lobby doors without looking back and getting into his car.

Because there were many people around, Bai Yin just gripped it tightly and kept walking until she reached the floor-to-ceiling windows before opening her palm.

Lying in her palm...was a date candy.

*

Soon, several gossip blogger Weibo accounts with red V verification started exposing the endorsement dispute between Bai Yin and Anxing Bao.

Originally, the contract hadn't been signed yet. They could've negotiated, or walked away if talks fell through, without needing to bring it to the fans and public.

But because Anxing Bao involved feminine hygiene products, it was highly prone to linking with trending gender topics online, generating huge traffic.

So unscrupulous marketing accounts caught wind of this and came to stir up trouble, writing articles that distorted the facts and mocked Bai Yin for being conservative and outdated for unwilling to endorse feminine hygiene products.

Fans and netizens also expressed incomprehension and dissatisfaction towards Bai Yin's decision -

"What era is this?"

"I don't get it...what's wrong with endorsing sanitary pads? Do you not use them or what? This is ridiculous."

"Still ashamed about this in modern times? Living in the Qing Dynasty or something."

"Female artists complain about endorsements being dominated by male artists. Now that you're offered one, you refuse. So lame."

"I heard she's from a small town. Didn't expect her to be so conservative."

"One day, sanitary pad ads will have to be endorsed by male artists at this rate."

"Bai Yin really set a bad precedent."

......

Some even photoshopped a mocking image of Bai Yin placed against a rural farm backdrop, edited together with a sanitary pad, with the words "Menstrual Shame" next to it.

This image was widely shared and mocked.

Sun Lili hastily called Bai Yin back to the company. She was more anxious about this issue than the previous public crises they'd faced.

"Getting caught up in gender topics is really tricky." As she prepared the text and images for crisis PR, she said, "We have to explain as soon as possible while it's still hot. The longer we drag it out, the harder it is to clarify."

Bai Yin seemed relatively calm. "Netizens are riled up right now. No matter how we explain, they won't believe it."

"We can't just do nothing, can we?"

"No rush." Bai Yin already had a strategy: "Let's not say anything for the time being."

Sun Lili thought for a moment. "No, we have to tell Chen Huaixiao about this. If we don't explain, we'll need large-scale post deletions. Only Chen Huaixiao can make that happen."

"I can't run to him every time something happens."

"Why not? Don't forget he's your husband."

Bai Yin shook her head.

He was away on a business trip in Seoul. She didn't want to disturb him.

"Wait a few more days. I want to hook a fish."

"Hook a fish?" Sun Lili looked at her puzzled. "What fish?"

The corners of her lips curled up coldly. "You'll see."

......

Sure enough, a few days later, Su Anning's studio posted an endorsement Weibo—

"Let's look forward to sister joining hands with AnXinBao sleep pants, to bring you an ultimate experience of light and seamless comfort. Click into the comments section to receive sister's exclusive benefits!"

The comments section was of course full of acclaim. In addition to placing orders to support sister, many compared Su Anning with Bai Yin.

"You can see the difference now right?"

"This is the difference in status. Those who previously praised Bai Yin to the skies, does your face hurt?"

"The two grew up in different environments since childhood. They received different education, obviously sister Su Anning is much higher class than Bai Yin."

"Already placed my order, supporting sister Su!" In the cafe, Sun Lili browsed her phone, and asked Bai Yin: "The fishing you mentioned, that was to bait her right?"

Bai Yin stirred her rich and aromatic Americano with a stainless steel teaspoon: "Mm-hmm."

"But how did you know Su Anning would take up Anxinbao's endorsement, with how arrogant she is, what if she refused your given up endorsement just to spite you?"

"Of course I had to rely on those unscrupulous marketing accounts to smear me."

Of course Su Anning wouldn't accept the endorsement Bai Yin gave up, but if this endorsement could earn her praise, and let her trample Bai Yin underneath her feet, she would certainly take it.

Watching Su Anning hop and skip about, even doing a straddle in the promotional video, Sun Lili sighed: "Well now you're smeared with rumors, yet she's earning endorsement fees hand over fist."

Bai Yin slanted a glare at Sun Lili: "You're good in every way, only one flaw, you're too impatient, this is a big taboo for becoming a top agent."

"President Chen isn't here, you've gotten yourself into such trouble, it may even become indelible black history, yet you're not worried at all?"

Bai Yin's mouth quirked into a smile as she drank a mouthful of fragrant hot coffee.

She was certainly not worried, someone who endured over a decade would not fret over a minute or half a minute.

On the very afternoon Bai Yin discovered the leak issue, she took the sleep pants to a testing institution for analysis of the composition. Although there were no safety issues, for an absorbent product like this, the fabric texture of this new product was clearly unsuitable.

Just to pursue a thin feel, yet overlooking its original absorbency function, this was undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse, a female user experience imagined by men.

If they tried it themselves, they would know how difficult it is to use.

Therefore no matter how many top executives she angered, Bai Yin must withdraw this endorsement.

A celebrity endorsement's basis is the fans' trust to begin with. If she casually endorsed a shoddy product just because it didn't have safety issues, such a matter of looking only to money over conscience, Bai Yin could not do it.

Her life's path was already rough, so every step must be taken steadily.

After a few days, Qiao Yanshi who loved browsing forums, sent Bai Yin a post—

"On the awkwardness of staining my boyfriend's bedsheets with my period, while his mom who came in to clean just happened to see it!"

Because the content of the post was truly too embarrassing, netizens directly yelled for the original poster to go live on another planet.

The post didn't contain any info about the sleep pants, but in the comments, the OP replied to other users—

"I used the Anxinbao sleep pants endorsed by Su Anning, I bought them based on trust, now I'm really pissed!"

Bai Yin knew the purpose behind Qiao Yanshi sending her this post.

After replying thanks to him, she forwarded the post to her agent Sun Lili: "It's time, stir it up."

Sun Lili didn't fail to live up to being the woman who would become a top agent. Using all the resources she could leverage through XingXing Media, she stirred up hype over this post.

Soon, this post with its overwhelming awkwardness was hyped into a hot search topic.

Many users of Anxinbao strongly resonated, and rushed to complain about how difficult it was to use.

Although the texture was thin, it didn't serve any sleep aid function at all.

With so many netizens complaining, the hashtag #AnxinbaoSideLeak# also climbed into hot search topics.

Netizens then gradually realized the matter with Bai Yin rejecting the Anxinbao endorsement—

"So could it be that's why Bai Yin didn't accept the Anxinbao endorsement?"

"Absolutely, I'm saying, it's 2022, who still feels awkward about this?"

"Did Su Anning actually use it or not, to willingly advertise such a trash product?"

"I feel like she was deliberately opposing Bai Yin."

Under the incitement of the marketing accounts in Sun Lili's hands, public opinion rapidly underwent a reversal. Amidst the collapse of Su Anning's reputation, Bai Yin seized this timing to post a Weibo—

"I'm willing to accept endorsements from other sanitary pad brands, but I must test them before signing a contract, and will only endorse after passing the trial."

Originally many big sanitary pad brands didn't plan to invite a newbie like Bai Yin to endorse, but due to this incident exploding into hot search several times, it instead made Bai Yin a hotly contested celebrity endorsement among many sanitary pad brands.

Bai Yin's endorsement fees rose sharply, even exceeding Anxinbao's previous offer.

In stark contrast, Su Anning's reputation plummeted, fans and netizens no longer trusted her.

The products she previously endorsed also suffered plunging sales volumes, dire to behold.

Originally Bai Yin's conflict with Anxinbao had nothing to do with Su Anning, it was her own impatience to ruthlessly step on Bai Yin.

Bai Yin casually dealt with her, while obtaining better endorsement collaborations for herself, hitting two birds with one stone.

...

In Seoul Airport, Chen Huaixiao expressionlessly finished reading his assistant's recount of the Anxinbao matter from beginning to end.

This woman's means...can be said to be extremely outstanding.

Having been in the industry for many years, he hadn't seen an artist capable of resolving a crisis so perfectly.

Shen Bin sent him a message: "Lord Xiao, regarding that primer post I made on the forums per your instructions, do you need it deleted to prevent future trouble?"

Chen Huaixiao: "No hidden danger with that post, leave it be."

Shen Bin: "Ok."

A few seconds later, Shen Bin sent a laughing emoji—

"Lord Xiao, the lady and you are truly a perfect match, I can't find any other woman more similar to you."

Chen Huaixiao's tranquil gaze fell upon the two characters for "perfect match".

Indeed, Elder Master Chen said long ago over these years, despite paying attention and selecting so many young ladies of prestigious families for him, in the end only this grassroots girl was most compatible with him.

Chen Huaixiao sent a message to Bai Yin: "I'm at the airport, will be back tonight."

Bai Yin: "Your humble concubine is overjoyed, humbly welcoming your eminent return. [Hug]"

Chen Huaixiao: "I want to hear the truth."

Bai Yin: "Oh, then don't come back."

Chen Huaixiao: "..."