"Mr. Chen, this is Wei Weiwei from the Coastal City Publicity Association. I realize it was quite forward of me to track down your number, and I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion."

Chen Jincheng was surprised to hear the voice on the other end of the line.

He had been planning to secure a membership with the city to add a layer of protection for himself. He even hoped to gain Coastal City’s support and replicate the Three Sheep model once the era of Tiao Yin livestream e-commerce arrived.

While it was a win-win situation, he first needed to get noticed. Otherwise, even if he became a top-tier Tiao Yin influencer and reached out proactively, they wouldn’t necessarily give him the time of day.

But making contact required an opening.

The Little Sweet Heat Card, for instance, was one such opening. However, there was no guarantee that Coastal City would take it seriously enough.

After all, it was 2018. The age of Tiao Yin e-commerce hadn’t yet arrived, and cities were still focused on traditional "shelf-based" platforms.

Now that someone from the Coastal City Publicity Association had come to him, it was another opportunity. It could ensure that after he used the Little Sweet Heat Card, Coastal City would notice his contribution.

After all, if the promotion was effective, the Coastal City Publicity Association would certainly know it was his doing. If they collaborated a few more times and had a good working relationship, then when the era of Tiao Yin livestream e-commerce truly began, the cultural department would surely recommend him.

When the person they recommended achieved success, they would get credit for it too.

"Miss Wei, there’s no need for that. I assume you’re calling from the cultural department about something specific?" Chen Jincheng asked into the phone, a smile spreading across his face.

Wei Weiwei quickly explained, "Mr. Chen, here’s the situation. Our department is trying to promote Coastal City’s tourism projects through Tiao Yin. We’ve filmed a few promotional videos of scenic areas, but the results haven’t been great. So, we were hoping you could help us film a promotional video."

"After all, you’re huge in Coastal City. I was just watching your stream, and your concurrent viewership broke 200,000."

She felt a little nervous after she finished speaking.

She knew, after all, that he was a major influencer, and her request was quite forward.

The most critical part was that while the department heads had mentioned this in a meeting, they hadn’t offered any support. In other words, they didn’t really care about it and were just taking a ’let’s just give it a shot’ approach.

So, if he refused, she really had no way to persuade him.

"That’s a small thing. Miss Wei, you can come find me at Second-Life Star." Chen Jincheng agreed immediately upon hearing her request.

He knew very well that in his previous world, Tiao Yin had become the best platform for promoting local culture. Cultural departments of all sizes had set up accounts, each using their own unique methods to attract attention and promote local tourism.

Some heads of cultural departments even got personally involved, with some showcasing their horse-riding skills, others cosplaying, and some even cross-dressing...

The successful cultural bureaus gained over five million followers through their promotions. Of course, the less successful ones might be completely ignored.

And getting influencers to help with promotion was an excellent strategy—an extremely effective one, in fact.

It was just that at this point in 2018, it seemed most local cultural bureaus hadn’t turned their attention to Tiao Yin yet. Of course, it was possible some had started, but they just hadn’t seen any results or attracted national attention.

In any case, making contact with the Coastal City Publicity Association was an excellent opportunity.

Besides, he had already been thinking about how to use the Little Sweet Heat Card.

The Little Sweet Heat Card required not only a suitable target, but also filming the exact same video as in his previous life.

First off, the dialogue had to be identical.

To be on the safe side, he also needed to find a public square and film it as a street-style interview, just like in the other world.

That meant he needed an account to interview Zhu Ling.

Using the Second-Life Star account would make it too obvious that he was just promoting himself.

’So, since this Heat Card will boost Coastal City’s GDP, I might as well give the Coastal City cultural department a boost in popularity too. I’ll have the Coastal City Publicity Association’s account conduct the street interview.’

’When the time comes, the cultural department will definitely be watching this closely. The resulting GDP growth will be credited to their interview video.’

’When they take credit, they’ll have to mention my name, Chen Jincheng, right?’

’It was another win-win.’

"Mr. Chen, really?" Wei Weiwei’s excited voice came through the phone.

"Yes, really," Chen Jincheng confirmed.

「Coastal City.」

At the cultural center, Wei Weiwei hung up the phone, pumped her fist, and let out a triumphant shout.

Success.

’Now that I’ve gotten him on board, we’re sure to have a breakthrough this time.’

She immediately grabbed her bag, rushed out the door, and said to a director, "Director Wu, I’ve thought of a great way to promote the Tiao Yin account! I need to leave work early!"

Director Wu looked at her and sighed. "Weiwei, that was just something the higher-ups mentioned in passing. If it doesn’t work out, there’s no need to take it so seriously."

"Director Wu, this time it’s definitely going to work," Wei Weiwei said, her face full of confidence, before rushing out the door.

Seeing this, Director Wu just shook his head.

’Although it would be a huge boon for her if she succeeded,’ he thought, ’things like online promotion clearly aren’t something people like us can wrap our heads around.’

The others in the office saw this exchange and shook their heads one by one.

"Wei Weiwei is going crazy trying to score points."

"Yeah, it’s obviously a lost cause. I heard she even contacted some influencer, trying to get their help with promotion."

"She’s still young. What does she know besides being overly ambitious? Other cultural departments have hired celebrities for promotions before, and even that didn’t work well."