CHAPTER 113: CHAPTER 109: SOME PEOPLE ARE REALLY MEAN

"President Chu, here is the copyright contract for ’Candle in the Tomb’, and this is a business plan I had the company prepare. Please take a look."

After more than a month of busyness, the recording of songs for the album had finally come to an end. What was left was production and the recording of music videos (MVs).

As Xu Qingqiu had decided to produce an MV for each song before releasing the album, she had been tirelessly following the filming crew around as soon as the album recording wrapped up.

Chu Tian was adamant about not following them, and that finally gave him some time to himself.

He had been quite tired himself over the past month. Hou Yichuan had called him several times, but he never had time to visit. It was only after taking a day’s rest at home that he finally had the chance to come over.

Seeing her long-awaited boss finally arrive, Hou Yichuan was so excited she was teary-eyed.

She hadn’t even fully entered the room when she eagerly handed over the business plan, which she had nearly worn out from frequent review.

"Is this the acquisition plan you mentioned on the phone? How much will it cost?"

While walking to the office, Chu Tian flipped through the documents in his hand.

He had already known about the ’Candle in the Tomb’ contract beforehand and had even received his share of the royalty payments.

A total of 2.8 million, with Cloud Summit Culture taking half, amounting to 1.4 million for him before taxes.

Additionally, there were subscription fees and revenues from other channels, which would result in almost one million in hand after summing it all up.

The physical publication had just hit the market and was selling well, but it would take some time for the revenue to come in.

He glanced over it twice to make sure there were no issues, then casually placed it aside and began reading Hou Yichuan’s business plan.

In fact, it was more of an analysis proposal than a business plan.

It listed several novels, including plot summaries, selling points, directions for adaptation, and more.

Hou Yichuan had long since become intimately familiar with them, having gone over them countless times. She followed beside Chu Tian, explaining her insights in detail as they walked.

"We picked out about three hundred novels in total, found seventeen promising ones, and eventually narrowed it down to five."

"These are the ones our team, after analysis, feels have the most potential."

"For example, this one, ’Fierce Rain’, tells the story of a modern-day female student who travels back to the ancient martial world. The emotional entanglements and worldly conflicts are written brilliantly."

"Moreover, it’s a drama with a strong female lead. With the female market on the rise, a leading heroine is a great direction to take, and the plot is quite fresh. I think it has potential!"

"And there’s this one..."

Chu Tian occasionally nodded, his eyes never leaving the documents.

To him, all the books selected seemed promising. He wasn’t sure about their market value, but from his past life experience, they definitely had potential.

Moreover, the materials prepared by Hou Yichuan and her team were comprehensive, covering various genres like sci-fi, Powerful Martial Arts, Martial World, Divine Path, Republic of China, and others. They also incorporated various factors, such as bestselling books with a wide audience and less prominent yet promising novels, covering all aspects.

"Have you calculated how much money we’ll need in total?"

"About that, I consulted with President Xu from Cloud Summit Culture—the one we negotiated with last time. He gave a rough estimate: for a package deal, these five novels together would cost about six million."

As she mentioned this amount, Hou Yichuan closely watched Chu Tian’s expression, fearing he might disagree, and hastily added,

"This price is very reasonable. One of the novels is incredibly popular and might be this year’s top seller in its category. That one alone costs over two million."

"Fine, buy them."

Chu Tian didn’t hesitate. Although he wasn’t adept at handling extensive business work, he had a basic understanding of certain things.

For instance, not all IPs are moneymakers. The key with IPs is to cast a wide net to catch more fish.

As long as he wasn’t too unlucky, making money was basically not a problem, especially at this time.

Taking advantage of the novel adaptation craze before it truly kicked off, securing a batch of copyrights beforehand wouldn’t be an issue at all.

"Huh?"

"What’s with the ’huh’? I said it’s no problem. What, did President Hou expect me to reject it first so you could haggle?"

Seeing her surprised reaction, Chu Tian couldn’t help but make a little joke.

"Haha, no need for that. I’m just a bit surprised."

"What’s there to be surprised about? I’ve said it before: you’re the expert in this area. Feel free to bring up any ideas. I’m not a control freak."

"And as I mentioned before, you can make your own decisions. There’s no need to wait for me to return."

"Take this plan, for example,"

He tapped the business plan in his hand and said,

"This is a good approach. If there’s an issue, one look at this and I’ll know if it’s feasible. If I find something inappropriate, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, you can handle it. I won’t interfere too much."

Although he said he wouldn’t interfere much, the reality was that funding approvals would still require his sign-off, so his involvement was unavoidable.

But at least Chu Tian had made his stance clear, which, for Hou Yichuan, was more important than anything else.

No matter whether it was genuine or not, she was very moved after hearing those words. It might not be enough to make her kowtow in gratitude, but it gave her a deeply comforting feeling, as if someone truly understood her.

This made her feel truly comfortable. When one felt comfortable, they naturally worked with more motivation and dedication.

This was exactly the outcome Chu Tian desired.

In the following period, aside from occasional visits to the company, he mostly stayed in the studio, watching others work busily.

He occasionally helped out with some tasks too.

The main reason was Xu Qingqiu. For some inexplicable reason, despite being incredibly busy with her external commitments, she constantly sent him messages, effectively treating their chat like her personal social media feed, frequently sharing photos and videos.

"Chu Tian, look at this! This is today’s sunset, isn’t it beautiful? We’re filming by the sea today; the sunset over the ocean is so gorgeous!"

"Chu Tian, Chu Tian, how about this outfit? Looks good, doesn’t it? A friend I just made designed it, isn’t it pretty? I bought it. I’m going to include it in the MV!"

"Wow, this is the largest primeval forest in the country. Look at this waterfall, and the moss—it’s all natural. Isn’t it beautiful? We’re filming here today; it’s simply breathtaking!"

Chu Tian scrolled through the videos she had sent him over the past few days, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

Wasn’t she supposed to be out shooting MVs? Why was it that when he shot MVs back in the day, it was non-stop, grueling work, but with Xu Qingqiu, the whole vibe seemed different?

And where was she finding all this joy? Fine, be happy on your own, but why keep sending it all to me? Was she showing off?

What young person in their twenties spends all their time photographing flowers and landscapes? Isn’t that what the older generation, like aunts, usually does?