As soon as Chen Jincheng arrived at the office, he ran into Sister Hong and listened to her report on the company’s situation. Afterward, he asked, "Sister Hong, are we almost done reviewing the recent ad proposals?"

"Yeah, pretty much. We’ve weeded out all the low-quality products," Sister Hong confirmed with a nod.

Chen Jincheng nodded. "Compile them this afternoon. Also, you should get Sister Feiye to come over too. We’ll have a huddle."

In the other world, the e-commerce shopping cart feature went live right after long-form videos were officially launched.

This marked a new era and a turning point for the Tiao Yin platform’s monetization strategy.

The 1.0 era of product seeding through ads had already stabilized, and the 2.0 era of selling products via short videos was on its way.

This era would also be a crazy time for PK streamers. It would be a time when they reached their peak, only to plummet to rock bottom following an official crackdown.

Therefore, he naturally had to prepare in advance for this era of short-video e-commerce.

In fact, after the advertisement for the Rice power strip, quite a few ad offers had come his way. However, the pay was too low, so he hadn’t accepted any of them. After all, the Rice ad had elevated his brand, and he didn’t want to tarnish that prestige for a mere hundred-thousand-yuan fee.

’I have to give people the impression that Chen Jincheng only plays in the big leagues.’

’However, girls like Yinyin and Jiang Xiaobai are different. As long as the product won’t cause a scandal, they can take ads for 100,000 yuan a pop. The girls need to make a living, after all.’

’Right now, I need to see if any of these advertisers are suitable for selling products through video. That way, the moment the short-video e-commerce feature goes live, I can strike decisively. I have to build our reputation first to ensure better growth later on.’

"Alright, I’ll notify Sister Feiye in a bit," Sister Hong agreed with a nod.

Thinking of his special Fitness Expert Card, Chen Jincheng asked, "Sister Hong, do you know if there’s a gym nearby?"

"A gym? There’s one right upstairs on the 11th floor." Sister Hong asked in surprise, "But Boss, what’s gotten into you? Why the sudden urge to work out?"

Chen Jincheng could only offer a casual excuse. "I suddenly felt the need to be more disciplined. The more discipline, the better you become."

"Boss, you really could use a little more discipline." Sister Hong, however, gave her boss a scrutinizing look. ’I have every reason to suspect he’s completely worn himself out and is now making a last-ditch effort to get back in shape.’

’Ximeng isn’t in today, and that girl just posted another one of those "pretty puppy" videos. It’s reasonable to assume the boss spent the night at her place.’

’I’m genuinely worried he’s going to collapse on top of some girl one of these days.’

Now that he knew there was a gym upstairs, Chen Jincheng left the Second-Life Star office.

Li Muchen watched him go, her eyes lingering on his retreating figure as a thoughtful look crossed her face.

Sister Hong saw the two of them and went straight to Lin Leqing. "Yueqing, you did great yesterday. The video’s metrics are excellent. The company landed you an ad deal. You’ll need to work it into your next video. The fee isn’t huge—only 100,000 yuan!"

"One hundred thousand? And that’s not a lot?" Lin Leqing was stunned.

To someone like Sister Hong, who was used to seeing the boss pull in ad fees of three or four million yuan, 100,000 really wasn’t much. But to Lin Leqing, 100,000 was an astronomical sum. ’I don’t even have 10,000 yuan in my bank account!’

Li Muchen couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy. ’I want to make a name for myself, too. It’s not just about getting famous and being seen—I want to make money, of course.’ She never imagined her cousin would shoot one video yesterday and land an ad deal today.

’To me, 100,000 is a lot of money, too.’

Chen Jincheng left the Second-Life Star office, went straight up to the 11th floor, and found the gym.

It wasn’t unusual for gyms to open inside office buildings these days. Some might call it a brain-dead move—’Who would go to a gym in there?’—but in reality, they got plenty of customers.

Office buildings are full of white-collar workers, especially women, who often need a place to work out during their lunch breaks or after they clock out.

This guaranteed the gym a stable client base. Moreover, it was an excellent way for employees to relieve work-related stress, improve their physical condition, and boost their immune systems.

This gym was called Kaiye Fitness. The moment he walked in, a young woman at the front desk greeted him. "Hello, sir... Ah! Are you... the Ancestral Master?"

"That’s me," Chen Jincheng said with a smile. ’I can’t believe the receptionist recognized me.’

"Would you like to sign up for a membership?" the young woman at the desk asked eagerly, her attitude completely positive.

’After all, a huge internet celebrity just walked in. He’s definitely not short on cash, so of course he’ll sign up.’

"Sure, I’ll get a membership. Sign me up for a full year," Chen Jincheng said with a smile, but he also added a disclaimer, "And I don’t need a personal trainer. I can handle my own workouts."

’I’ve been to gyms in my past life, so I know my way around the equipment. Of course, I wasn’t there to work out. I was there to pick up the girls from the gym and take them out to bars.’

"Okay." The young woman nodded, then immediately thanked him. "Thank you for signing up!"

The receptionist was very efficient. She completed his registration in no time, handed him the card, and then asked expectantly, "Um, could we get a photo together?"

"Of course," Chen Jincheng said with a smile, moving to stand beside her.

The woman excitedly took out her phone and snapped a picture. Afterward, she thanked him again. "Thank you! I love your and Jiang Xiaobai’s cover of ’Can’t Help Falling in Love.’"

"Thanks for your support," Chen Jincheng replied with a smile before heading into the main gym area.

’This is a good sign,’ he thought. ’Before, whenever girls recognized me in public, they’d stay far away, not wanting anything to do with a scumbag like me. Now, at least they’re willing to take a picture. It happened when I was buying cigarettes, and it’s happened again now.’

Kaiye Fitness was quite spacious, with a swimming pool, a weight training area, a cardio section, a yoga studio, and more, all spread across 3,000 square meters.

Chen Jincheng went straight to the weight training area, found an arm machine, adjusted the weight, and began his reps.

With each rep, his arms grew sore, similar to the burn from push-ups, but no Constitution Points were consumed. He kept going, deliberately making the exercise more intense this time, an overload workout. In less than 20 minutes, a game notification appeared:

Constitution Points: 493

’Looks like it’s related to the intensity of the workout. With a regular push-up-like exercise, it probably would have taken about half an hour.’

’By deliberately exercising more intensely, I used up one Constitution Point in just 20 minutes.’

That faint, warm sensation spread through him once again.

In this constitution-enhanced state, his recovery was noticeably faster, and Chen Jincheng was soon ready to continue his workout. But as he turned his head slightly, he froze.

’What in the world is she trying to do?’