Chapter Sixty-Three: We Are Wealthy

Perhaps due to the urgency of time, the Human Resources Department hadn’t managed to uncover much information about Chen Qi. The text message sent by the other party contained only a few lines, and most of its content was information she already knew.

“Chen Qi graduated from Jingcheng University this July. A month ago, he joined Blueprint Advertising, a company unrelated to his field of study, then left after a week for unknown reasons; his whereabouts are also unknown.”

This information was hardly useful to her. But as her original intention in asking about Chen Qi was simply to understand him better so she could persuade the General Manager to agree with her idea, and now that she already had the General Manager’s assurance, the details became irrelevant.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Pushing open the door and entering the office, Zhao Qingqing greeted Chen Qi with an apologetic smile.

Chen Qi, already somewhat bored from waiting, responded with a polite smile but remained silent. He was waiting for her to speak.

He was also curious to know what price this Purchasing Manager, who had disappeared for nearly half an hour, would quote him.

Surely they wouldn’t be generous enough to offer thirty thousand immediately, would they?

“Mr. Chen, to be honest, I’m very optimistic about your series and quite interested in it.” Zhao Qingqing, evidently straightforward, didn’t bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point once she sat down.

“We’ve just conducted a serious discussion and are prepared to purchase your series for five hundred thousand. What do you think?”

“Five hundred thousand?” Chen Qi was startled, his eyes widening in disbelief. He nearly thought he’d misheard.

He wasn’t particularly concerned about the price of the series; whether he sold it for more or less didn’t matter, since his goal was to gain recognition.

But this price… wasn’t it a bit too outrageous?

He couldn’t help suspecting that YouYou Video had tried to cheat him earlier.

Five hundred thousand?

Fifty thousand per episode?

Compared to YouYou Video’s stingy offer, which had been raised from twenty thousand to twenty-three thousand, this was more than double the price.

He’d previously assumed he’d hit the market ceiling at thirty thousand, never expecting someone to offer fifty thousand so easily.

Where had the mistake occurred? Logically, two industry giants shouldn’t have such a huge discrepancy in their quotations.

Was it really that YouYou Video was trying to deceive him?

Chen Qi recalled the details of the previous negotiation and immediately dismissed the idea.

YouYou Video weren’t fools; if the series could actually fetch fifty thousand per episode, offering twenty-three thousand would be blatantly pushing him towards their competitor.

So… was it that Manager Zhao truly valued his series and offered him a price above market rate?

Considering this possibility, Chen Qi was left a little dumbfounded.

If that was the case, it was rather awkward.

His prior plans had all been disrupted!

He hadn’t expected to truly reach an agreement with these major platforms, but now Manager Zhao’s sincerity had caught him off guard. If he refused again, it would be difficult to justify.

And so, he fell into deep thought.

Opposite him, Zhao Qingqing, watching Chen Qi’s prolonged silence, felt her own heart tighten.

Her worst fear had come true: he wasn’t satisfied with the price?

Apparently, he hadn’t researched the market and wasn’t aware of the norms!

Zhao Qingqing grew somewhat troubled.

In order to leave a good impression, she hadn’t played any bargaining games, but had straightforwardly offered the highest price she could.

Others might not know, but she was well aware that this price was not low. If she didn’t have other motives, she wouldn’t have quoted such a figure.

Although the series was interesting, its duration was too short, and both director and actors were complete unknowns. The traffic it could bring was limited. Furthermore, they would need to invest in promotion and publicity; the actual profit would likely be minimal.

For this series alone, around twenty thousand would have been the ideal price.

What now? She couldn’t increase the price any further. Even a slight increase would be acceptable, but she couldn’t discern what Chen Qi was really thinking.

She cast a discreet glance at Chen Qi, but refrained from speaking further. She could only wait and see.

Of course, if Chen Qi demanded an absurd price, she would have to abandon her previous intentions. If he couldn’t grasp such a basic market reality, it would mean she had misjudged him; he wasn’t as valuable as she had imagined.

“Manager Zhao, may I ask you a question?” Chen Qi suddenly spoke.

Zhao Qingqing nodded slowly.

Looking at her, Chen Qi asked, “Why are you offering such a high price?”

“Ah?” Zhao Qingqing was clearly taken aback, staring at him in astonishment.

High price?

He knew this was a high price?

Was his surprise because he realized her offer was too generous?

Realizing this, her previously inexplicable frustration melted away, and a subtle smile appeared on her face.

He’s a clever man! His potential was even greater than she’d anticipated!

“You...” She found Chen Qi amusing, and for a moment didn’t know how to reply.

Others always complained about low prices, but from his tone, it seemed he found the price too high?

“You might not know, but I just came from YouYou Video. Their offer was twenty-three thousand,” Chen Qi explained with a smile.

“Oh...” Zhao Qingqing suddenly understood.

No wonder he’d been so surprised—the price gap was enormous!

Since everything was now on the table, she no longer felt the need to hide anything, and said directly, “Director Chen, to be honest, we’d like to discuss other collaborations with you.”

Perhaps to foster familiarity, she switched to a different form of address.

“Other collaborations?” Chen Qi was momentarily confused. “What do you mean?”

“Director Chen, do you have any other works? Even those in preparation count.”

Suddenly, Chen Qi understood a little and tentatively asked, “Do you mean you want to purchase my other works as well?”

“That’s roughly the idea,” Zhao Qingqing replied without denial. “Director Chen, the reason we’re willing to offer such a high price this time is partly to show our sincerity and partly because we want to establish a long-term cooperation with you.”

“If you have other works for sale in the future, please give us priority. As long as the works are good, price is not an issue.”

Hearing this, Chen Qi finally understood why they were willing to buy the series for half a million.

They simply wanted to leave him with a good impression.

At the same time, they were demonstrating their financial strength in this way.

We have money!

We have a lot of money!

Money is not in short supply; what we lack is quality content! As long as you produce good works, money will never be a problem!

With this realization, Chen Qi couldn’t help but smile.

Such a direct and straightforward approach... he liked it!

He preferred working with people who handled things cleanly.

“Manager Zhao, may I ask you another question?” he asked.

“Please.”

“Is this your idea or the idea of Simple Video?”

“It’s my idea, but also the company’s,” Zhao Qingqing replied skillfully, looking at Chen Qi. “Director Chen, I won’t hide it from you. Next month, I’ll be promoted to Content Director, and I urgently need to develop my own partners to help me secure this position.”

“Oh—” Chen Qi drew out the syllable, nodding in sudden understanding. “I see.”

He understood her implication. It was her proposal, but it had company approval.

“No problem!” Chen Qi smiled, reaching out his right hand. “Happy cooperation!”

Forget about small websites, forget about excitement—it no longer mattered!

Since the goal was to build recognition, partnering with a giant like this was naturally more suitable. Not to mention, their audience base was far beyond what any small website could offer.

“Happy cooperation!” Zhao Qingqing shook his hand, her smile radiant.

Afterwards, they drafted the contract for “Ten Thousand,” discussing some minor details.

While drafting, Chen Qi asked whether they would handle promotion and publicity. Zhao Qingqing answered affirmatively, much like what Hong Youcheng from YouYou Video had said: they bought the series to earn money and traffic, and failing to promote it would be a waste.

After signing the contract, a sudden idea flashed through Chen Qi’s mind.

Since Zhao Qingqing needed quality content to secure her position as Content Director, and he himself was lacking manpower and equipment, why not...

“Manager Zhao, can we collaborate in another way?” he asked.

“Another way?” Zhao Qingqing looked at him in confusion.

“I’ll provide the project plan, and your side provides the personnel, equipment, and technical support. We’ll jointly produce a program.”

“A program?” The word startled Zhao Qingqing. “You have a program plan?”

Chen Qi smiled, “Are you interested?”

“What kind of program is it?” Zhao Qingqing looked at him in amazement.

He really was a whirlwind!

She already thought it remarkable that he could come up with two outstanding advertising concepts in such a short time. Then she discovered he could write and direct scripts, and now he claimed to have a program proposal?

Although advertising concepts, scriptwriting, and program planning are all intellectual work, his ability was simply astounding!

How did his mind work? Where did all these wild and imaginative ideas come from?

“I can’t disclose the specifics right now. If you’re interested, I’ll provide a simple cooperation plan for you to review later,” Chen Qi replied cautiously, not revealing any details.

If he mentioned the program type and they copied it, what then? With their resources, they could easily produce it themselves.

It wasn’t that he was suspicious, but caution never hurt. Besides, another reason was that he honestly hadn’t decided which program to propose...

...

...

(After much consideration these past two days, I made a few minor adjustments to the outline, and accordingly revised the first two chapters. The main change was substituting Tomato Video with Simple Video, which doesn’t affect readability.)