บท 71: Sales Figures

New Century Entertainment, in the conference room.

At the moment it was nearing dusk.

Cao Dequan was still working with shareholders and various department executives to iron out future plans. But truthfully, they were all waiting to find out the sales figures for the album.

At this time, a staff member from the statistics department rushed into the conference room.

Seeing this, Cao Dequan rose up immediately and asked: "How is it, what are the sales numbers? Are the records already sold out?"

The staff member's face become extremely ugly, and he hurriedly opened the sales report in his hand. He stuttered: "Report... Reporting Chairman, so far, Miss Wang Jingwen's record sales are.... "

Speaking, the employees voice faded out.

Cao Feifei thought that this was because the sales of the record were too good, so the statistician was so excited that he couldn't speak, so she took the report from his hands and flicked her eyes over it, but at a glimpse, the colour disappeared from her face....

"The total sales is…two…two thousand?!" Cao Feifei's weak mosquito's voice read out the total sales volume on the statistical report, but this figure had far preceded her imagination, she could not believe it!

"What!?"

Cao Feifei's voice was small, but her words were clearly heard by Cao Dequan.

Just like Cao Feifei, Cao Dequan obviously couldn't accept this sales, his legs gave away as he collapsed back into his chair. His expression was sluggish, he gripped his fists in panic so much that his nails dug into his palm, but he felt no pain from it, as if he soul had escaped his body, unable to accept this cruel fate!

The original beautiful atmosphere was instantly covered with a depressing and suffocating pressure!

They had invested nearly 100 million yuan and produced 3 million records. But on the first day of sales, they only sold 2,000 records. This was absolutely dreadful.

This project was initiated by Cao Dequan and this would leave a stain on his reputation, people would talk behind his back and start rumours, but he was the chairman after all, so even if the shareholders had complaints, as long as they were reimbursed for their investments, they wouldn't stir to much trouble. They didn't care for the process, as long as they got their money.

Gao Xiaosong was responsible for the music production of the album, he was a recognized of music producer. Therefore, no one doubted his level of production, even if they did, it would be no help as they had spent millions to buy him over. Firing him would just be pointless, he would be snatched up instantly by competitors.

As a result, all their eyes full of resentment naturally shifted towards Wang Jingwen's body, pushing all the responsibilities down upon her head.

It took so much money to bring her to the company and this was all she could show for it.

The company gave her the most professional music production team, and invited the a famous director to create a top grade music video for her. And not only did she not make money for the company, she instead made them lose millions of yuan. Deducting the advertising endorsement fees and the money earned from all her commercial performances before it still wouldn't be enough to make up for their losses!

One hundred million, even if they sold her it wouldn't be enough!

On the other hand, Wang Jingwen, seeing the situation she was in, took the sunglasses off her face and was down trodden.

In fact, she had a hunch that the sales of this album wouldn't be as satisfactory as she wanted, but she never thought that it would be this bad!

She only sold 2,000 copies after a whole day. These kinds of numbers were what you would expect from a third-rate singer. For Wang Jingwen, this was simply a violation of her self-esteem, an insult to her singing level.

"Dammit! I thought we found gold mine, but it was just a pile of pebbles!"

"Now I truly understand the meaning of the words "The bigger the expectation, the greater the disappointment"! Well I admit I did expect too much!"

"We could have earned more chugging this to some third-rate singer...."

Millions of thoughts flitted through the head of the shareholders. Although there were no names mentioned, it was obvious that these words were all aimed at Wang Jingwen, blaming her as the chief culprit in this fiasco!

In face of the shareholders words, Wang Jingwen's face was already blushing. Even the thick foundation could not conceal her inner embarrassment. The attitude of the past was gone. At this moment, she was like a deflated balloon.

These people didn't care how talented or famous you were, they only cared about whether or not you could bring them benefits. If you couldn't, then in their eyes, you would not be different to a fart.

This was the entertainment circle.....

Disaster truly did come in threes...

At this time, several staff members rushed into the conference room in a panic, one of them panting as he reported:

"Chairman, many of the stores are asking for refunds, and some of the major shopping malls have already taken the album off their shelves and directly sent it back to the warehouse. The current returns have reached more than one million!"

After listening to this, Cao Dequan heart began to palpitate, his face became pale. He hurriedly took out a pill and stuffed it into his mouth. Only then was he finally relieved.

Just as he recovered, once again another staff member ran in and reported: "Reporting to chairman, there are several advertising companies asking us to restore Miss Wang Jingwen's image in the public's mind as soon as possible, otherwise they will cancel their contract with us and ask us to compensate them back for their losses!"

Cao Dequan, who had just recovered felt his breath quicken again. His face was alternating between white and blue and his body was shaking with violent trepidation. He looked like he would die on the spot.

He rushed and poured a bunch of heart pills into his hand by accident, his hand was shaking violently. After a while, he managed to feed himself another pill, after that his breathing became a little smoother, but it was obvious to see that there was a risk that if he was stimulated again, he may not survive.

Seeing that her father could no longer bear any more stimulation, Cao Feifei suddenly looked cold and pointed at the door. She rushed to the staff members who had just entered in nagger: "Do you not have eyes? Can't you see the situation? Do you wanna be fired, get the hell out of my sight! You will see how I will deal with you afterwards!"

They all flinched in fright and took steps backwards, they dared not to stay for any longer. In an instant, they disappeared without a trace.

Cao Feifei with glazed over face full of iciness, spoke up: "This is only the first day, what are you worried about? This isn't that big of a deal. Let's just increase the propaganda, I don't believe that with the popularity Wang Jingwen has, the number of sales won't increase!"

"Increased publicity?" A shareholder laughed and said: "General Manager Cao means to continue to invest in Wang Jingwen? Are you mistaken? Could it be that you think our previous promotion was not enough? If we threw our money into a river, at least we could still hear a sound! By pilling up more and more money on top of this sinking ship, what could we even get in return?"

"What about this? Isn't there concert planned for Wang Jingwen? We can raise the fare to help recoup our loses. Many people are still willing to wait in line to watch Wang Jingwen's live performance. But if we increase the propaganda we can attract more fans, which means more money. If you're afraid of spending money, you can never earn big. I will look for an investor, you won't need to spend a single penny in the propaganda." Cao Feifei said in a firm tone.

She had proposed to poach Wang Jingwen, so now that Wang Jingwen failed, she as the general manager naturally lost face, so this case, it was her job to find ways to minimise the losses.

"You will look for an investor?" After listening to this, the eyes of shareholders had suddenly opened up. As long as they didn't have to spend their own money, they didn't mind helping Wang Jingwen engage in propaganda. As Cao Feifei said, if Wang Jingwen had her concert, and if it was done well, it may reduce the losses.

It was just that the current entertainment market was very sluggish, so it wouldn't be an easy task to find an investor.

"Cao Feifei, you can't just spout words okay? We don't recommend holding a concert, but if you can find someone to invest, we will support you with both hands. This all depends on General Manager Cao." A shareholder questioned her words.

"Hey, isn't it just looking for someone to invest? Jinsheng Group should be enough, right?" Cao Feifei said confidently.

The shareholders looked at each other and the result was that no one spoke again, no one dared to continue to question Cao Feifei again.

All the people in the room were businessmen. They naturally understood the strength of Jinsheng Group. Of course, they also knew the relationship between Cao Feifei and Jinsheng Group.

As the future daughter-in-law to the Jinsheng Group, as long as Cao Feifei said a word, Jinsheng Group certainly wouldn't be stingy. It wouldn't be problem to gather some money.

In fact, the main reason why the Cao family was able to successfully assume control of the company so easily had a lot to do with their great relationship with Jinsheng Group. The shareholders didn't oppose Cao's leadership out of fear of Jinsheng and also out of hope to use New Century as a way to bond with the Ling's who owned Jinsheng.

Imagine if Cao Feifei were to marry the grandson of Jinsheng Group's Chairman in the future, it would basically lead to a merger between the two companies. With the backing of Jinsheng, New Century Entertainment would surely flourish, and shareholders would naturally earn millions from their stake in the business.

"Nothing else to say?" Cao Feifei taunted the shareholders, then went over to Cao Dequan, carefully lifted him up and walked straight outside.

When passing beside Wang Jingwen's, Cao Feifei's foot paused, staring at Wang Jingwen she said in a warning tone: "If you fail the company again in the future, don't bother begging cause we will throw you out. Go back and prepare for the concert, if there are any mistakes during the concert. Your head will be at stake!"

Wang Jingwen nodded helplessly, she felt absolutely wronged in her heart.

A little seed of regret was growing inside her heart. At least when she was at HuaXiang, she never received such a great pressure.

Here, she felt as if she was being crushed by a mountain.