The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

After Tencent Entertainment went public.

They actually launched their second season of trainee selection competition online.

First, fifty trainees were selected from across the internet.

They will then be gathered at a trainee camp in Shanghai for a year-long training and elimination competition.

During the process, people will continue to be eliminated.

The three who ultimately succeed will receive a 500 million yuan investment from Tencent Pictures to launch their careers.

In no time, it became famous.

However, in late December, when Tencent Video finally released the promotional video for the trainee competition, the entire internet was shocked.

Shen Wanning was the first to arrive.

The tag is "school beauty of the arts school".

Being a school beauty is nothing special; the key is that she is the universally recognized school beauty of an arts school in the entire capital.

The traditional Chinese dance was exceptionally well performed.

She came to Shanghai by high-speed rail with her friends.

Tencent Entertainment dispatched a Rolls-Royce Phantom to personally pick up the trainees and take them to the trainee camp.

The trainee camp of Tengying is practically a castle in Shanghai.

It covers an area of ​​seven acres, with the garden alone accounting for 6.5 acres.

The central swimming pool is unimaginably large.

Are they going to spend the next year here?

Shen Wanning is also quite numb.

The Magic City Castle has two floors and more than twenty rooms inside, with two trainees per room.

The second person to appear was Yang Xiaoxiao, who arrived in her Ferrari.

The girl in red is a typical rich second-generation.

The relaxed demeanor that comes with being a second-generation rich kid was also evident in her.

He was noticeably more relaxed than the others.

As for those who appeared later, only a few were highlighted.

One is a well-known third-tier actress who has played many outstanding supporting roles.

The fact that she was willing to lower herself to participate in the trainee competition undoubtedly means that she wanted to land a leading role at Tencent Film Studio.

Trainee competitions are definitely very brutal; in the early stages, trainees will perform various talents in different ways to form groups.

They will be eliminated again and again.

There will absolutely be no fraud or deception during this period.

Who gets eliminated and who stays is entirely decided by online voting from netizens.

As for the trainee mentors.

The cast includes Yang Mi, Bai Lu, Shen Teng, and a well-known veteran actress.

They are the ones who choose their own trainees.

They will compete in group battles.

The trainee competition airs one episode every Saturday, each episode lasting sixty minutes.

This marks Tencent Video's first true foray into producing its own variety show.

The main reason is that Chen Pingsheng feels that he has too many brands under his control.

These brands all need constant exposure.

Instead of spending money on advertising for others, he might as well create his own.

Anyway, these trainees are incredibly cheap.

Three thousand yuan a month is not a small amount for them.

The other three mentors are all from their own company; they were invited to support their own variety shows.

Not only is the price low, but the effect is also good.

At least there won't be any instances of people refusing to cooperate.

Variety shows are incredibly popular right now, like "I Am a Singer," "The Voice of China," and "Running Man."

Securing long-term sponsorship deals for these programs would cost at least two small goals.

It's still the scrolling type.

It would be so much better if he set one up himself; the first batch of long-term sponsors would all be from his own company.

Deer Antler Coffee, Bobo Milk Tea, Tenghui Department Store, Tengsheng Fresh Food, Tengsheng Fruit, as well as Fei Yangyang, Shuiyunjian, etc.

They all require sustained exposure.

This trainee competition was a variety show he tailored specifically for his own brand.

To ensure the success of this program, he even poached the chief editor of Hunan TV's top variety show.

And the directing team, training team, etc.

It was quite costly.

After the teaser trailer was released, the first wave of shock across the internet was that Tencent Pictures had money.

They actually managed to buy such a castle in Shanghai to host a trainee competition.

If you say it has no money, who would believe that?
Chen Pingsheng made a cryptic statement online, saying it wasn't expensive, only five or six hundred million.

However, he still looked at the list of trainees, and it really included all sorts of people.

The most interesting one was a factory girl.

She bluntly admitted that she came here because it included food and accommodation, and also offered 3,000 yuan a month.

That's quite interesting.

A girl like that will be the factory's most beautiful wherever she goes.

Teng Ying did indeed investigate her; she was a female factory worker born in 98.

The background should not be too clean.

She has no special talents; she's not a good singer, and her dancing is clumsy.

My family's financial situation is very ordinary; it was pure luck that I was able to come here.

The name is quite interesting: Phoenix.

Her parents hoped that she could fly out of their mountains like a phoenix.

I don't know if she will be able to stay in the end.

Other girls, besides being pretty, at least have some real skills, but she really doesn't.

They just don't know what's going on and keep looking around.

It's worth mentioning that Jiang Peiyao also went; she applied to go herself.

They said they wanted to see if they could stand out from the trainees based on their own abilities.

She's only 21 and has already played a few minor supporting roles.

Aside from being extremely good-looking, there's not much else about her that's memorable.

Zhao Liying spent five or six years playing minor roles before she finally got her start; she's barely there yet.

Now he's willing to set aside his powerful background and go back to being a trainee.

Even his wife, Michelle Song, supports it, so how could he possibly oppose it?

In addition to releasing its own promotional video, the program also gave a brief introduction to the trainees.

It's basically about defining the character's persona.

This allows them to quickly become memorable, and also makes it easy for the audience to remember them.

Shen Wanning is labeled as a girl with traditional Chinese style.

Yang Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, is an arrogant and domineering rich girl.

As for Phoenix, her label is probably the most unique: a female factory worker with a monthly salary of two thousand yuan.

She's basically just someone who comes here to freeload, doesn't understand anything, and does whatever she's told to do.

He clearly looks like someone who's easy to bully.

As for Jiang Peiyao, she has many labels, but none of them are well remembered.

With her background, participating in this trainee competition is a complete disaster.

The production team even spent an entire night discussing her, and ultimately labeled her as a rebellious girl with a sharp edge.

Her entire hair was dyed pink.

Her looks are stunning at first glance, incredibly alluring.

Which young man wouldn't be moved by that?

After all the trainees released their popularity voting channels online, the first to surge to first place was that third-tier female celebrity in the entertainment industry.

Surprisingly, the second-ranked woman was the rustic and unsophisticated factory worker, Fenghuang.

Secondly, there's Shen Wanning, the girl with a traditional Chinese style, and Yang Xiaoxiao, the second-generation cool girl.

Jiang Peiyao is in fifth place.

The reason for holding a popularity poll before the official start of the competition is...

This is also to make it easier for the directing team to select shots.

Those with low popularity will only get pitifully few shots.

Unless she can pull off a comeback.

And those popular contestants who get a lot of screen time will only get higher and higher, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

After listening to the editor-in-chief's complete plan for the program at the Shanghai headquarters, Chen Pingsheng quickly approved it.

For a TV show, the key to its success is viewership. With viewership, his brands can achieve maximum exposure.

This will boost the stock price and offline development.

According to the editor-in-chief, the first episode will showcase their lives in this magical castle in Shanghai.

And then the daily training, and finally the group debuts and officially performs their talents.

All the plot points will be packed into sixty minutes.

Each episode of the show is 60 minutes long, but the entire filming process takes at least a week.

The core of reality shows is authenticity, without too much scripting.

……

Shanghai, headquarters building.

With the trainee auditions concluded.

Fifty beautiful girls have officially gathered in Shanghai.

The first episode of the trainees' show is tentatively scheduled to air on January 20th.

There is still a full month to prepare.

And on the 25th.

Everyone was taken to the group headquarters in a Bosu V-Class vehicle, which cost over two million.

A formal meeting with the boss.

Of all these, Jiang Peiyao is the one I have the least expectations for.

She had dinner with her brother-in-law at that little house on the Bund just yesterday.

Xiao An'an was also with us; she came to Shanghai too.

Teng Ying's boldness impressed the trainees.

Jiang Peiyao got into the last black Brabus V-Class, which is the pinnacle of minivans.

The ride is very comfortable because trainees often have to travel around.

The headquarters in Shanghai ordered ten units, which are usually used by the group to pick up and drop off important clients.

Jiang Peiyao, Shen Wanning, and Yang Xiaoxiao got into the same car.

Unexpectedly, the last one to come up was Phoenix, and she was holding a large bag of spicy strips.

They ate with great relish.

"Do you want some?"

I don't want any of them.

Phoenix wasn't embarrassed at all.

Shen Wanning, who was always the center of attention wherever he went after leaving Bosu, felt considerable competitive pressure after arriving here.

There are so many outstanding people.

I heard that the fifty people were selected from tens of thousands of applicants.

Anyone who gets released alone will at least be a campus beauty.

And they also have special talents.

It's clear that school beauties are really worthless in the entertainment industry.

They're the kind of things you can find everywhere.

There are countless extras.

"Are you nervous about meeting the boss later?"

Phoenix asked them curiously.

Shen Wanning nodded. "A little. What about you?"

"I'm not nervous. I'll just stay last when we get there. He won't dock my pay."

What a realistic line!

Shen Wanning didn't know how to respond.

The car drove all the way from the State Guest House in the eastern suburbs to the headquarters building in Pudong New Area.

After Jiang Peiyao got out of the car, she saw a strange scene.

People were coming and going in front of the building, and there were even quite a few people gathered at the entrance.

They were clearly watching something exciting.

Jiang Peiyao went over to take a look and saw that Chen An'an was wrapped up like a big rice dumpling.

A large golden bowl was placed in front of him, and he was playing the erhu "Reflecting the Moon" with great enthusiasm.

The expression on his face was absolutely blissful.

What is she doing?

I can't understand it at all.

"An'an, why are you sitting here playing the erhu? Why don't you go inside?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Chen An'an removed her large sunglasses slightly.

"Aunt Pei Yao, didn't you see I'm showing off my talents here?"

"You came here to sell your talents?"

Jiang Peiyao really wanted to ask her, "Do you know where you are?"

"Peiyao, do you know her? What an adorable little girl, whose is she?"

Yang Xiaoxiao really liked Chen An'an, seeing a large gold bowl in front of her covered with red banknotes.

She didn't have much cash, but she still gave her a thousand.

Chen An'an happily thanked her older sister.

Since they're paying her, she has to perform even better.

No one likes me when I wear sunglasses.

Jiang Peiyao felt very embarrassed. By the time she was about to go to the top floor, Chen An'an felt that she had earned enough money for the day.

She put away the large gold bowl and followed along. Very few people in the building knew her, and she didn't come to Shanghai often.

Shen Wanning and Yang Xiaoxiao even asked her, "Little girl, what brings you here too?"

"I'm going to find my dad."

Chen An'an smiled, revealing two large tiger teeth, and the two looked at Jiang Peiyao with confusion.

Jiang Peiyao explained, "Her father is the big boss of Tengying Group."

"Huh?" Yang Xiaoxiao was completely dumbfounded by her unexpected move. "You're setting up a stall and performing for money under your dad's company?"

She herself is a second-generation rich kid, and she's considered rebellious, but she's never done anything like this before.

"This is nothing. My dad gave me all the allowance, so I have to find a way to earn money myself."

Shen Wanning and the others all thought they were here to meet the big boss, but that wasn't the case.

Chen Pingsheng had no intention of meeting these trainees; they were downstairs signing contracts with Tencent Entertainment for a live-streamed program recording.

And to make a clear and detailed plan for the training this year.

These specific tasks certainly don't require him to do them.

Only Jiang Peiyao could take the elevator to the 22nd floor; the other trainees went to the 19th floor.

The top floor wasn't as mysterious or luxurious as I had imagined.

Only the group's top decision-making level.

Chen Pingsheng's office is on the west side, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides.

The view is excellent; you can see most of the Huangpu River from here.

"Old Bean."

Chen An'an held a large gold bowl in her hand and carried her small erhu, which she had bought for 200,000 yuan, on her back.

"Chen An'an, you're amazing!"

What did I do wrong now?

"Your teacher called to praise you, saying you're smart. After you ran out of pocket money, you used a broken erhu to swindle half of the pocket money from your classmates."

Chen Pingsheng patted her on the shoulder. This brat dares to play the erhu under his company's roof.

They continued to do so even inside the school.

After making money, she even knew to bribe a bunch of kids to do this with her, making a big show of it.

The teacher got a headache after seeing this.

Chen An'an denied it, saying that she earned her living through her own abilities.

Earning your own money and spending it yourself, what's wrong with that?
Chen Pingsheng was too lazy to pay attention to her. The little brat only made a little money, and it wouldn't be of much use to her anyway.

Three melons and two dates.

"Dad, I want to buy a limited edition erhu. Will you come with me to buy it?"

"Go find your mom, she'll definitely buy it for you."

After patting the dust off her clothes, Chen Pingsheng tidied up her down jacket for her.

"If you're going to cause trouble, don't come to the company headquarters. If the employees here knew who you were, do you think they would have the nerve not to pay you?"

"Many interns don't even make 200,000 yuan a year, and you still take their money? You have no shame, and your parents can't bear the embarrassment."

Okay... Chen An'an scratched the back of his head, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed about earning this money.

Next time I go to someone else's place, I'll never come to my own company's place again.

(End of this chapter)