Because of the impact of this incident, Lu Yanhe forgot to call Song Linxin. He was dazed for a while and then was awakened by Chen Siqi's call.
"Have you been out yet?"
"Not yet." Lu Yanhe said.
"Don't be late. Today we have an appointment with Yemai.com and Jiangyin Publishing House to sit down and discuss the matter of "Jump Up."" Chen Siqi said.
"Oh, yes, okay, I'll be right out."
Lu Yanhe hurriedly packed his schoolbag, put it on his back, and ran out.
The sun was shining directly on him, and he was also wondering when his skin color could become darker and reach Chen Lingling's standard.
The meeting place today was neither in the Yemai.com company building nor in the Jiangyin Publishing House building. Instead, we found a compromise in a cafe in the middle, booked a large table, and had a relatively independent area for discussion. We didn't even find a proper meeting room.
Chen Siqi said this deliberately, "On the one hand, remind them that we're all poor students. Don't treat us as serious business partners, or they'll have to haggle with us. That's the kind of experience we lack the most. The more we talk, the more ignorant we appear. It's better to be willful and just say we want both the fish and the bear's paw, and then ask them to accommodate us."
"On the other hand, this is the only place we can choose. It wouldn't be a good idea to have today's communication happen in any other company." What Chen Siqi didn't say was that what they wanted to discuss today was something that wouldn't allow either party to have a sense of ownership or a home-field advantage.
After listening to Chen Siqi's reasons, Lu Yanhe was a little confused. He hadn't expected Chen Siqi to have thought so much. He nodded and said, "You're very thoughtful."
Chen Siqi raised the corner of her mouth and said, "It's just so-so."
-
More than one person came from both sides. From Yemai.com, Liu Qiao came directly with Xin Zixing, while from Jiangyin Publishing House, Xu Xiaoyin invited Liu Cheng to come along.
Lu Yanhe and his team arrived fifteen minutes early, but both parties were forced to delay until the last minute of the agreed time.
“…”
This wasn't Xu Xiaoyin and Xin Zixing's usual style. It looked like the two people around them were planning on this. They were both trying to be the last to appear? To outdo the other?
This alone made Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi feel that this afternoon's negotiations might not go so smoothly.
As soon as the two sides met, they exchanged greetings with smiles on their faces.
As soon as she sat down, Chen Siqi spoke up, "Thank you all for supporting Lu Yanhe and me on this sudden idea. It allowed us to actually start working on a book this summer. We originally thought it was just an idea, something that would never come to fruition."
Lu Yanhe was already somewhat familiar with her. Seeing her artificial tone and exaggerated body language, Lu Yanhe couldn't help but ask her with his eyes, what kind of drama are you performing?
But Lu Yanhe's trust in Chen Siqi is that even if he doesn't understand what she is doing, he will definitely support her and not sabotage her.
Chen Siqi glanced gratefully at Liu Qiao and Xin Zixing from Yemai.com, then glanced equally gratefully at Liu Cheng and Xu Xiaoyin from Jiangyin Publishing House. She said, "I know it costs a lot of money to make a book, and we're not sure if it can actually make money. Actually, from the beginning, we just wanted to fulfill a dream we had in high school. So, Lu Yanhe and I discussed the production costs of this book and decided that we should cover them ourselves. We don't want to ask you to take on this risk. We're both recent high school graduates, and judging by the online buzz about our book, it seems like we've really taken advantage of it."
Lu Yanhe was even more shocked in his heart, but of course, he looked calm on the surface, as if he had already communicated this with Chen Siqi.
"Siqi, didn't we say before that our Yemai.com will be responsible for the production costs?" Xin Zixing immediately looked at Lu Yanhe.
Chen Siqi said in surprise, "But at that time, we had no plans to publish the book in physical form. Yemai.com has an exclusive nature and it also has a lot of traffic for you. Now that we are going to publish the book in physical form, are you still willing to take on the responsibility?"
Xin Zixiong was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that she was too anxious. After dealing with Chen Siqi several times before, she knew that she was a very smart and proactive person. How could she suddenly speak to you with such an innocent tone and eyes, deliberately trying to trick you?
She smiled slightly and said, "We will cover all the expenses. It's not that we don't want to, but I think since Jiangyin Publishing House wants to cooperate with you, they probably won't agree to just us paying for it, right?"
Xu Xiaoyin: "Of course, while physical publishing can't compare to your e-reading, with paper, printing, and shipping all being costs, we will directly advance the royalties to Siqi and Xiaolu. It's not easy for two young people to make a book, so of course we will support them."
"I wonder how much royalties you plan to advance?" Xin Zixing asked. "We were originally planning to provide 100,000 yuan for production costs. Since you're in the physical publishing business, you know best that for an e-book that doesn't need to be published as a physical book, this must be a very high production cost, right?"
Xu Xiaoyin nodded. "Indeed, but from what I understand about the lineup of authors Xiao Lu has invited, just putting their names together might not necessarily make people willing to pay a few dozen yuan for a book. But it should attract quite a few people to check out the free e-books on your Yemai website, right?"
"The economic returns from 10,000 people reading a free e-magazine and 10,000 people spending a few dozen dollars on a book are worlds apart." Xin Zixing opened her eyes wide and spread her hands. "Actually, making a financial return has never been our primary goal when producing a book like this. Lu Yanhe is a partner of our Yemai Network and will be producing the 'City Travelogue' documentary series with us. So, if he wants to realize this dream, we want to help him."
"Then we really think alike. Xiao Lu has helped our publishing house sell nearly 300,000 copies of 'Nineteen Years of Crime Records' and 'Star Orbit'. He also managed to sell the film and television rights to 'Nineteen Years of Crime Records'. He's such a book-loving kid, and he wants to be the editor-in-chief of a book. Of course, we hope to get the opportunity to publish the book in physical form." Xu Xiaoyin said unwillingly.
Seeing these two women continue to compete, Lu Yanhe was beginning to feel overwhelmed. Chen Siqi suddenly crossed her arms and sighed, "Okay, so the two sisters are so willing to cooperate with us just for Lu Yanhe. Were we so naive, thinking that we could produce a good book and assemble such a creative team, so you took the initiative to cooperate with us?"
Chen Siqi is pretending to be ignorant even though she knows the truth.
Nonsense, the primary reason why Yemai.com and Jiangyin Publishing House were willing to produce this book was of course because of Lu Yanhe.
But when she said this, it seemed that the cooperation intentions of both parties became utilitarian and not so pure.
"Siqi, you know, that's not what I meant." Xin Zixing was a little confused about what Chen Siqi's attitude was today.
Why does Chen Siqi seem a bit unreasonable today?
She is not usually like this.
Chen Siqi: "Then can we put aside Lu Yanhe's influence on this book for the moment and focus solely on the book's content? With the current lineup of writers this book has, as long as the final manuscripts are of decent quality, this book should be able to sell. It's just a matter of how much it sells, right?"
Lu Yanhe could tell that she was trying hard to lead the conversation.
Neither side commented.
Chen Siqi said, "Actually, the production budget for a book is really not that high. What Lu Yanhe and I least want to see is two partners who we think are very suitable arguing over who will contribute more and who will contribute less. We also don't want everyone to argue over some profit-making issues. After all, it's just a book. No matter how big the profit is, it's only so big. A hundred thousand yuan production budget is nothing to me, let alone Lu Yanhe. I wasn't kidding just now. If everyone is going to argue over these things again and again, I would rather neither of you contribute money and I will pay for it myself."
As soon as Chen Siqi finished speaking, there was silence at the table.
-
At noon, Chen Siqi booked a restaurant and invited everyone to have lunch together.
Chen Siqi was relatively more familiar with Xin Zixiong, so she took Xin Zixiong's car and went to the restaurant with her and Liu Qiao.
Lu Yanhe was with Xu Xiaoyin and the others.
After getting in the car, Chen Siqi suddenly fell silent and kept looking out the window, which was a complete contrast to how she was in the cafe just now.
Xin Zixing more or less realized why Chen Siqi behaved like that just now.
She turned her head to look at Chen Siqi with a smile on her lips, and then looked at Liu Qiao who was sitting behind her.
Liu Qiao was looking down at his phone.
She said, "Siqi, have you and Lu Yanhe ever considered being together?"
"Ah?" Chen Siqi suddenly came back to her senses and looked at Xin Zixing in astonishment.
"You're being so unreasonable today, are you doing it on purpose?" Xin Zixing said with a hint of sarcasm, "You don't want us to simmer down in the argument and turn the blame on Lu Yanhe, so when we're arguing, you're taking the initiative to become a target. Your words and actions are meant to remove Lu Yanhe from the center of the discussion."
Chen Siqi's face suddenly turned red, and she immediately turned her head to look out the window, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Xin Zixing: "You really are just a recent graduate. We're only clashing over a piece of cake. We've been trying to win over Lu Yanhe, so why would we target him?"
Chen Siqi still said: "I don't think so."
At this moment, Liu Qiao, who was sitting in the back, still looking at her phone, spoke up, "She's worried that you two might use your past friendship to compete for Lu Yanhe's support. She doesn't want Lu Yanhe to be emotionally kidnapped by you two. Okay, who's worried that you're using Lu Yanhe as a target?"
Chen Siqi felt as if a thorn had grown on the chair and pricked her butt, and she couldn't help but move.
"Huh? How can we have such a good relationship with Lu Yanhe that we can emotionally blackmail him?" Xin Zixing questioned Liu Qiao's statement with a helpless smile.
Chen Siqi thought silently, that’s because you don’t know how foolishly kind Lu Yanhe is.
Liu Qiao curled his lips and said, "Care leads to confusion."
Chen Siqi weakly denied: "I'm not, don't talk nonsense."
-
A similar conversation took place in another car.
"That little girl named Chen Siqi is Xiao Lu's classmate, right?" Liu Cheng asked.
Xu Xiaoyin drove and nodded, "Yes."
Liu Cheng smiled gently and said calmly, "Xiao Lu, you must cherish me."
Lu Yanhe immediately blushed.
"Huh? What?"
"Just keep pretending." Xu Xiaoyin continued to complain about Liu Cheng's words, and then said something similar to Liu Qiao.
Lu Yanhe was shocked to realize that Chen Siqi's different side just now had such a purpose?
He felt a little frustrated in the morning, feeling like he had no place to speak.
After finally being able to say a few words, trying to smooth things over for Chen Siqi, he would be quickly interrupted by Chen Siqi.
So this was Chen Siqi's purpose?
Lu Yanhe was speechless, in shock and astonishment, with an indescribable complex emotion surging in his heart.
Xu Xiaoyin said with a tone of nostalgia and envy, "Just think about it, working on a book together this summer after graduating from high school. This kind of romance is truly unrepeatable."
Liucheng also laughed.
"How about you travel back in time?"
"Forget it, Editor Liu. Look at Xiao Lu and Si Qi, and then look at me at eighteen... Never mind. You can't see it, so it's best not to. Now I'm a beautiful city girl. When I was eighteen and had just graduated, I was a country girl who thought I was facing the sea but was actually facing a sandstorm." Xu Xiaoyin said, "I don't want to travel back to that time."
Liu Cheng: "That's just what you think now. When you reach my age, you'll understand what it means to want to travel back to your youth. Xiao Lu probably doesn't understand that at all."
"Ah?" Lu Yanhe came back to his senses after losing himself in thought. He didn't hear their entire conversation.
"At your age now, you can't understand how we want to travel back to when we were 18." Xu Xiaoyin said happily.
Lu Yanhe opened his mouth and smiled absentmindedly.
Traveling through time...huh?
Lu Yanhe looked at the bright sunshine and the clear blue sky ahead, raised his lips, and said, "Yes, although my homeroom teacher always said when I was in school that we are always in the best age, but we don't know how to cherish it, I actually think the present is good, and I actually cherish it."
He knew that Liu Cheng and Xu Xiaoyin must have thought they understood what he meant, but he knew that only he knew what he was talking about.
-
Finally, regarding "Jump Up", the three parties reached the following preliminary intentions:
1. The content production funds for Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi's team will be provided by Yemai.com with 70,000 yuan, and Jiangyin Publishing House with 30,000 yuan. They are only responsible for the content of the manuscript. The layout design of the e-book will be provided by the designer provided by Yemai.com, and the layout design of the physical book will be provided by Jiangyin Publishing House.
2. "Jump Up" will start pre-sale of the physical book e-commerce at the same time as it is put on the shelves on Yemai.com. It will be officially released on e-commerce platforms and bookstores three days later. Free reading will be provided for the first three days after it is put on the shelves. After three days, it will be charged for reading. The price will be one-third of the price of the physical book. The profit sharing will be negotiated by Yemai.com with Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi.
3. The e-book listing page on Yemai.com provides a link to purchase physical books, and Jiangyin Publishing House also indicates in its promotional materials that e-reading is exclusively provided by Yemai.com.
…
The two partners did take care of the two young people, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi. In other words, they were willing to take care of them, not letting them suffer any losses, and giving them very good conditions.
During lunch, to Lu Yanhe's surprise, Chen Siqi gracefully raised her wine glass and offered a small cup of rice wine to several people. "I don't drink much, so I can only drink this little. I apologize to all the teachers for my rude behavior just now. Although I know I was helped by Lu Yanhe's help, I would never have been able to realize this dream without your help. I also want to express my gratitude to all the teachers."
The other people hurriedly brought their cups.
Only Liu Qiao, Liu Cheng and Lu Yanhe had rice wine in their cups.
Xu Xiaoyin and Xin Zixing didn't have any, they just drank juice because they had to drive.
At this moment, Chen Siqi finally returned to her usual graceful and elegant self.
She has a small personality and temper in front of Lu Yanhe, and does not care about her sharp thorns in front of Liu Wei'an, but outside, she has always been a girl who has received a good education since childhood.
Lu Yanhe felt that in this regard, he was not as aware as Chen Siqi who was always online.
It's really the difference between having someone teach you since childhood and having no one teach you.
Be alert, Lu Yanhe.
