After the video went viral, Lin Bei’s life underwent three major changes. First, her follower count surpassed 5,000. Second, more than a dozen people started sending her direct messages every day asking about renting a place. Third—and most importantly—someone reached out to her for an advertising deal.

That morning, Lin Bei was in the kitchen making breakfast when her phone vibrated. She opened it and saw a direct message: “Hello, Lin Bei. I’m from the business department of XX brand. We’d like to collaborate with you on promoting our enzyme jelly. Your account style aligns perfectly with our product positioning. Would it be convenient to add me on WeChat for further details?”

Lin Bei stared at the screen for three seconds, then let out a shriek.

Su Chen rushed out of his room, still holding a razor, half of his face covered in foam.

“What’s wrong? Did you spill something again?”

“No! Someone’s offering me an ad!”

Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief and put down the razor. “What kind of ad?”

“Enzyme jelly! You know, the kind that’s supposed to help you lose weight!”

Su Chen frowned. “Are you sure you want to take on this kind of ad?”

“Why not? They’re paying me!”

“How much?”

Lin Bei glanced at the direct message; the sender hadn’t mentioned a price. She replied, “How much?” and got an instant response: “Five hundred per video. You shoot the video, and we’ll provide the product.”

Five hundred yuan.

Lin Bei’s eyes lit up. Five hundred yuan—that was enough to buy her fifty cups of bubble tea!

“Su Chen! Five hundred yuan!”

Su Chen walked over, took a look at the chat history, and wore a complicated expression.

“Lin Bei, do you even know what enzyme jelly is?”

“It’s… for losing weight, right?”

“Enzyme jelly doesn’t have any weight-loss effect. It’s essentially a laxative. Eating it will make you diarrhea, causing a temporary drop in weight—but it’s bad for your health.”

Lin Bei was taken aback. “How do you know that?”

“I took a nutrition science elective in college.”

“How many electives did you actually take?”

“As long as it’s enough,” Su Chen said, grabbing her phone. “We shouldn’t take this ad.”

“Why not? It’s five hundred yuan!”

“Because your followers follow you because they trust you. If you accept an ad that promotes false claims, they’ll think you’re lying. You might make five hundred yuan, but you’ll lose thousands of followers. Is it worth it?”

Lin Bei fell silent.

She knew Su Chen was right. But five hundred yuan was really tempting.

“Then I won’t take it,” she said, putting her phone away. “You’re right—I shouldn’t ruin my reputation just for a few hundred bucks.”

Su Chen looked at her and gave a slight smile. “This time you’re actually listening.”

“I’ve always been obedient, okay?”

“You washed your socks with my facial cleanser yesterday.”

“That was an accident! How did you even know???”

“The scent of the cleanser changed. It used to smell like tea tree oil, but now it smells like tea tree oil mixed with foot odor.”

Lin Bei opened her mouth, then decided not to argue.

She lowered her gaze to the direct message, ready to reply, “I won’t take it,” when suddenly another message popped up.

“Hello, Lin Bei. I’m from the business department of XX home goods brand. We’d like to collaborate with you on a cleaning product. One video costs fifteen hundred. Would you be interested?”

Cleaning products.

Lin Bei held up her phone toward Su Chen. “What about this one?”

Su Chen glanced at the brand name and thought for a moment. “This brand is pretty good—their products have a solid reputation. You could ask them for some product information and try it out first to see if it works.”

“You agree?”

“This is a legitimate brand, and it fits well with your theme of budget-friendly cleaning. Sure, go ahead.”

Lin Bei was so excited she almost jumped for joy. Fifteen hundred—three times the amount of the last deal!

She added the other party on WeChat, chatted for ten minutes, and finalized the details: a one-minute video showcasing the product’s cleaning power, priced at fifteen hundred, with the product provided free of charge.

After hanging up, she sat on the sofa, completely elated.

“Su Chen, I’m going to make some money!”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Fifteen hundred! Fifteen hundred for one video!”

“Mm-hmm.”

“If I shoot ten videos, that’s fifteen thousand! A hundred videos, that’s one hundred and fifty thousand!”

Su Chen looked at her. “First finish the first one before you start thinking about the rest.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I do. But I don’t trust your luck.” Su Chen paused. “Every time you think you’re about to strike it rich, something unexpected happens.”

Lin Bei wanted to argue, but realized she couldn’t.

“This time it won’t happen,” she vowed. “This time I’ll follow the process exactly and nothing unexpected will occur.”

As it turned out, Su Chen’s jinx was indeed spot-on.

On the day of filming, everything went smoothly. Just as she was about to wrap up after shooting the final clip, her phone rang.

End of Chapter 19: I Got My First Ad!