Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 785 Treating Xixi like livestock

On Tuesday, after finishing her morning run, Ying Chanxi immediately went to Times Square and signed a lease agreement with the building manager, securing a 300-square-meter office space on the tenth floor.

Including the fifty square meters on Zhao Rongjun's side, the total area is three hundred and fifty square meters.

Considering that Zhao Rongjun and his colleagues still needed to work during this period, Ying Chanxi decided to carry out the renovation in two phases.

First, decorate the simplest office area, and then arrange the design and decoration of special-purpose spaces such as the live broadcast room.

Considering that Reign Culture currently has relatively few employees to recruit for each department, Ying Chanxi has temporarily abandoned the plan to renovate an office for each department.

After all, the current workload of departments like the legal department and the finance department is not very large, so there is no need to hire a lot of people to create redundancy.

Two to three people per department is more than enough.

In addition, there are the Ministry of Commerce, the Department of Brokers, and the administrative departments.

The number of people needed is not large. For example, in the agent department, Ying Chanxi originally did not plan to recruit anyone, since Xiao Wen is already enough for now.

The company currently has only three artists. One of them is Yan Zhusheng, who doesn't usually have much work and is mainly focused on Douyin (TikTok) related business recently.

There's also Ruan Lin and an artist who recently signed a contract and is responsible for playing the male lead in "The Beginning." Both of them are currently managed by Xiao Wen.

The former also has to go to school during the week, and aside from the Douyin-related business, Xiaowen will only be needed to manage things after the filming of "The Beginning" officially starts.

So right now, the person Xiaowen really needs to manage is that male celebrity who has already flown over from Jingzhao City.

However, after discussing with Li Luo yesterday and confirming that they would sign an MCN agency contract with Xu Yinghuan and Zhao Rongjun, Ying Chanxi realized that having Xiao Wen alone was probably not enough.

Especially after Li Luo casually mentioned that his two roommates seemed to be tinkering with making videos recently, Ying Chanxi's thoughts started to flow.

It is clearly not enough for a cultural and entertainment company to rely on just a few artists.

It's not that a few artists can't support the operation of an entire company, but rather that for Li Luo right now, if the cost of a company is less than the revenue it brings, why not just set up a personal studio?

After all, according to Ying Chanxi's plan, the company's subsequent departments would have a total of a dozen or twenty people. Even if each person's salary was kept between three and eight thousand, it would still be a considerable sum over a year.

Including office rent, daily business expenses, and various reimbursements and taxes, the annual cost is three to four million.

In other words, after deducting Li Luo's personal income from writing online novels and songs, it remains to be seen whether Reign Culture can generate at least five million yuan in revenue within a year to achieve basic financial balance and maintain a certain level of profitability.

Otherwise, this company would be somewhat redundant.

Fortunately, the situation is not too bad so far.

The eight million yuan Douyin contract with Ruan Lin alone is enough to cover the company's operating costs for the entire following year.

If "The Beginning" performs well, Ruan Lin and the male artist Bai Lixuan will both have high advertising value in the future.

However, thinking about this, another thing troubled Ying Chanxi.

Ruan Lin is doing alright, since she's still a freshman in college. After filming "The Beginning," she can just go back to her studies.

If a film or television series based on "The Great Qian Night Patrol" is produced and a good role can be arranged for me, taking a few months' break in between is fine.

But Bai Lixuan had already graduated from university and had come to Yuhang City.

The team for "The Beginning" is now complete, and work will officially begin in December.

But once filming is finished, if there are no new dramas to film, Bai Lixuan will basically have nothing to do before "The Beginning" is released.

Noon.

Ying Chanxi, Li Luo, and Xu Youyu had lunch together at the school cafeteria, and the issue came up at the table.

Upon hearing this, Li Luo immediately burst into laughter.

"You can contact Director Wang about this later," Li Luo said with a smile. "Didn't he set up his own director's studio? After 'The Beginning' is finished filming, he'll probably take on some other scripts."

"Bai Lixuan was originally someone he selected from Jingzhao City, so we were familiar with each other. After filming 'The Beginning', it was easy to use him."

"If they want to get him into Director Wang's film crew later, wouldn't that be a piece of cake?"

“There are also small circles among the directors. Even if Director Wang’s drama is not suitable for Bai Lixuan, he can naturally recommend it to other directors.”

"Once the vacuum period before the release of 'The Beginning' is over, after the release of 'The Beginning', it won't be Bai Lixuan looking for film crews anymore; people will be begging him to act in films."

As Li Luo spoke, he picked up some food and ate, casually recounting these words.

After hearing this, Ying Chanxi suddenly understood.

When she was thinking about this matter in the morning, she was so focused on how to plan internally that she forgot about the network of contacts outside the company.

"It's all Dad's fault for being so useless." Ying Chanxi poked at the rice and muttered softly, "I actually thought about Huayue Film and Television, but it seems that Dad has been relying entirely on your scripts for the past two years, and there haven't been any other new TV series to start filming."

Li Luo: "...Don't say that in front of Uncle Ying."

"I'm not that stupid," Ying Chanxi pouted. "I just think their company is so useless now. If it weren't for your high-quality script, wouldn't they be starving?"

Hearing Ying Chanxi say this, Li Luo stroked his chin and began to ponder.

To be honest, without Li Luo in his past life, Huayue Film and Television's situation probably wouldn't have been much better.

After all, in Li Luo's memory, his parents didn't talk to him about this kind of thing much during his school years, but after he graduated from university, they would occasionally mention Ying Zhicheng's recent situation at the dinner table.

Anyway, it doesn't look very good.

It's nothing compared to a few years ago.

Therefore, Li Luo guessed that if he hadn't taken action in this life, Ying Zhicheng would probably have followed the same path as in his previous life, being removed from his position as general manager because of the poor performance of the TV series.

Considering what Ying Zhicheng had mentioned to him before, about the current conflict of interest between the major and second-largest shareholders on the board of directors, Li Luo had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on.

The poor performance of the TV series, coupled with the lackluster comeback of Yuan Wanqing, was enough to make Ying Zhicheng bear the responsibility. Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing are clearly aware of this now; otherwise, if some ordinary blond-haired hoodlum had actually kidnapped their two beloved daughters, Ying Zhicheng would have already taken swift and decisive action.

“I signed the office building contract today, and I’m going to start renovating it soon. Then there’s the recruitment, and I also need to keep up with Douyin. Filming for ‘The Beginning’ will start next month…” Ying Chanxi said, then suddenly slumped onto the dining table and sighed, “Running a company is really tiring.”

"Really?" Li Luo laughed, unable to resist teasing Ying Chanxi. "I feel pretty relaxed."

Upon hearing this, Ying Chanxi glared at him.

Xu Youyu, who was standing next to her, laughed and said, "You have the nerve to say that? Xixi has to go to class every day. She must be so busy."

"Let's hire a few people in the next few days," Li Luo said. "As the CEO of a company, you can't always do everything yourself; you have to learn to delegate tasks to your employees."

"I understand," Ying Chanxi nodded and said. "I plan to hire two administrative and support staff and one accountant to help me with the renovation. Then I'll hire an assistant for Xiaowen and have them both handle the follow-up for Douyin and 'The Beginning'."

"Okay, as long as you have your own plans." Li Luo nodded, then looked at Xu Youyu, "Shall we go check on the cats later?"

"Sure, do you guys have classes this afternoon?" Xu Youyu asked. "What did Xixi say?"

"I'm not going." Ying Chanxi shook her head. "I have to take care of the renovation this afternoon and meet with the people who are going to apply for the job. You two can go. Take some pictures of Ju Bao for me."

"OK." Xu Youyu gestured to indicate that there was no problem.

After finishing his meal, Ying Chanxi hurriedly left to continue his busy work.

Li Luo accompanied Xu Youyu towards Qingxi Dormitory. They soon arrived at the neighboring dormitory building, asked the dormitory manager for the key, and opened the door to the small storage room in the underground garage.

“They’ve grown so much again.” Li Luo peeked through the cage door and saw the four little ones playing inside. She couldn’t help but laugh. “I remember when I came to see them before, they were only the size of my palm. Now they look much bigger than my hand.”

"Kittens grow fast, don't they?" Xu Youyu looked through the cage, her expression softening instantly. She teased Ah Li, who was leaning against the door, with her finger. "Did you miss me?"

"Meow~"

The kitten's meow is high-pitched and delicate, and its babyish voice is very cute.

Of the four kittens, Ali was the most lively, climbing around in the cage.

Seeing this, Li Luo immediately laughed and teased, "You should learn from your cat. Look at it, it's so active. Why don't you exercise more?"

"If you can't speak properly, then shut up." Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him, but still insisted on saying something, "Like owner, like pet. Once it moves to the villa with me, it will be just as lazy as me."

"Let's wait and see," Li Luo said with a smile, and continued to observe the other kittens.

His personal little black cat, Baige, usually occupies the most comfortable spot in the middle of the cage. Occasionally, it gets up to stretch, takes a stroll, and then returns to that spot.

The silver-white marshmallow is relatively more active, but not as lively as Ali. It doesn't run around everywhere; it just circles around the little black cat.

Then, as she was spinning around, she suddenly fell onto the little black cat and snuggled up to him to sleep.

Sometimes when Ah Li gets tired from walking around, they all squeeze into the middle, the three kittens curled up together, which looks very heartwarming.

As for Ju Bao... it basically just lay in the corner sleeping the whole time. Li Luo took several photos, but it never opened its eyes.

"Why does Orange Baby love to sleep so much?" Li Luo asked in confusion. "I feel like it's your true love."

"Don't talk nonsense, okay?" Xu Youyu chuckled. "Xixi is always busy outside, it's normal for her to sleep more when she's tired."

"I always feel like there's something hidden in your words."

"No way."

As they chatted, the two opened the cage, took the kittens out, and let them roam around within the warehouse area.

After being released, Orange Baby finally became more energetic and kept following the little black cat around.

"Why does it seem like Ju Bao really likes giving things away for free?" Xu Youyu squatted down beside her and observed. "Tang Tang seems to be the same way."

"Your Ahri has disappeared." Li Luo watched as Ahri ran wildly around the warehouse, circled around for a while, and then came back to this side, only to bump into the little black cat and run away again.

"How about we charge all of Ali's exercise to me from now on?" Xu Youyu couldn't help but sigh, "Consider it interest payment to you."

"You're dreaming," Li Luo chuckled coldly. "You'd better just come jogging with me this morning."

Xu Youyu, unable to negotiate a lower price, snorted and kicked Li Luo.

The two chatted while petting the cats, and Xu Youyu casually mentioned the kittens: "They will finish their third vaccination next week, and then get a rabies vaccination, and then we can take them home."

"What specific date are we moving to the villa? I'll let the person in charge here know and have them come pick up the cat."

"By then they will be about three months old, and we still need to do a good job of socializing them, otherwise they won't be affectionate when they grow up."

“No rush,” Li Luo said, stroking Bai Ge’s black head. “My birthday is the 21st, right? Let’s move on that day, and then invite my aunt and uncle over for dinner to celebrate. As for the cat, we can pick it up in a couple of days.”

"Hmm... it's fine to pick them up a couple of days later, but shouldn't we reconsider the moving date?" Xu Youyu asked, raising an eyebrow. "How about we move on the 20th?"

"Huh? Why?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"We've finally waited for your birthday, and all you're thinking of is treating everyone to a meal and that's it?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him. "That's so boring."

"So what are your thoughts?" Li Luo asked curiously, then couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "You didn't create some new version of Monopoly, did you?"

Are you underestimating my creativity and imagination?

"That's the new version of Ludo?"

"Get lost." Xu Youyu glared at him irritably, then added, "Anyway, we're moving on the 20th, having dinner tonight, and celebrating your birthday the next day."

Since Xu Youyu had already said so, Li Luo didn't object anymore and nodded in agreement: "Then let's arrange it like this. I'll tell Butler Liu and ask him to contact a moving company in advance."

"Then it's settled." Xu Youyu said with a smile, looking quite expectant, as if she had some kind of surprise in mind.

(End of this chapter)