Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 854 Let's have some dessert to tide us over.

This year's annual meeting was unlike any other; it was Li Luo's busiest annual meeting yet.

Since his rebirth and subsequent creative work, a total of three and a half years have passed. This is Li Luo's fourth time attending the Wenyue Group Annual Meeting.

In his first year, he was a fledgling author.

By the second year, they had successfully signed a top-tier contract, followed by a platinum contract in the third year, and so on until now.

It's no exaggeration to say that he achieved legendary status at a young age.

However, Li Luo is well aware of the gifts she has received, so she never becomes arrogant because of them, but continues to manage her life diligently.

This trip was supposed to be a vacation, but actually I was mainly busy with work.

Even Ying Chanxi, who used to always accompany Lin Xiuhong and the others on trips, was unable to accompany the elders this time, and later became involved in Li Luo's online novel business.

On the other hand, Xu Youyu didn't have much to do except appear on stage at the official annual meeting on Saturday night when the list of top artists and the annual works were announced.

Especially before confirming the signing of the contract with the top artist, Xu Youyu had already signed an agreement with Chongran Culture.

Therefore, her "great artist" contract was actually signed by Reign Culture, the person in charge, on her behalf, with Wenyue Group.

After finalizing the contract details, Xu Youyu happily went on a trip with Yan Zhusheng and their elders.

Ying Chanxi stayed behind, and brought along an employee from the company's legal department, as well as lawyer Tian, ​​to accompany Li Luo in negotiating the details of the subsequent cooperation with Wenyue Group and Tencent Video.

Li Luo is no longer simply the author himself.

Having rekindled the culture, he now has the confidence and resources to negotiate with these large companies.

Wenyue Group, Mr. Hou, and Mr. Liao of Tencent Video had all naturally learned about Chongran Culture in private.

When it was discovered that Li Luo had also signed an entry contract with Douyin, and that Yuan Wanqing was even involved, the tricky part of the matter became clear.

When the platinum contract was signed, Qidian granted Li Luo a certain degree of freedom.

For example, the film "The Beginning" currently being filmed by Huayue Film & Television did not go through the channels of Wenyue Group at all.

However, for online novels like "The Great Qian Night Patrol Division" that have already been published on Qidian, Li Luo will hand over the operation agency rights to Wenyue Group.

However, he also reserved the right to veto any copyright to "The Great Qian Night Patrol Division" that he did not agree to.

However, unlike other top-tier authors who have achieved platinum status, if Li Luo can find a copyright holder willing to pay a higher price, Qidian cannot stop him from selling the copyright.

In short, it's to prevent Qidian from selling the copyright to Tencent.

After all, Tencent Video isn't the only company in the market that can handle copyright incubation.

Of course, as an important part of Tencent's IP strategy, Li Luo doesn't need to go against them if the price is right.

This clause is simply to protect one's own interests.

For Wenyue Group, none of this really matters, as long as they can rekindle the platinum contract with them.

However, this is a bit of a headache for Tencent Video.

"When I had lunch with the editor-in-chief yesterday, his meaning should have been quite clear, right?" After the annual meeting ended on Saturday night, Ying Chanxi looked at Li Luo, who had returned to his hotel room, and pulled him aside to discuss the things to pay attention to when meeting with President Liao and President Hou the next day.

"Hmm." Li Luo sat down in the office chair in front of his desk, pulled Ying Chanxi onto his lap, held her tightly in his arms, and gently inhaled the girl's faint fragrance. "Tencent Video is definitely determined to get 'The Great Qian Night Patrol Division'."

"If such a top-tier copyright is lost, not to mention anything else, that Mr. Liao might even get his backside moved?"

"It's not us who are in a hurry, it's them."

Ying Chanxi leaned against Li Luo and nodded gently: "But your platinum contract also has a clause stating that, under the same conditions, Tencent has priority in copyright matters."

“You said it yourself, it’s the same conditions.” Li Luo chuckled. “Didn’t our CEO Ying even specially invite Attorney Tian this time and arrange a meeting with people from iQiyi and Youku? He’s really well prepared.”

"Isn't that all for the sake of our company's development?" Ying Chanxi snorted. "Even when buying clothes, people know to compare prices. If we want Tencent Video to contribute more, we naturally need the efforts of the other two parties."

“Our requirements aren’t complicated,” Li Luo said with a smile. “There are only three requirements in total.”

"Yes, I know." Ying Chanxi counted on her fingers, "First, Reign Culture needs to get a certain share of the project investment, and then Huayue Film and Television will also have to share a portion of the profits."

"Secondly, the copyright sale needs to be bundled with the copyrights of 'I'm Really Not a Star' and 'Gu Dao Chang Qing' together."

"Thirdly, when adapting a film or television series, you need to be the head of the screenwriting team and also get Ruan Lin and Bai Lixuan into the production team."

The three requirements may not seem like many, but each one is pushing the boundaries.

However, for ordinary platinum authors, even if they have reached the top level in the online literature circle, compared with a behemoth like Tencent Video, they are still like ants trying to shake a tree, insignificant.

They have no right to set conditions at all.

Selling the copyright is already a sign of respect.

Isn't it good to get paid?

They even wanted to invest in a share of the project and gain partial control over it.

They even resort to bundling sales tactics.

If this were an ordinary platinum-level author, they probably wouldn't have the ability or the means to negotiate.

But Li Luo is different.

Although compared to these large companies, Reign Culture is still a small company.

However, because the platinum contract doesn't impose too many restrictions, he can negotiate with Tencent Video as well as several other video websites.

Even TikTok might be willing to wade into these muddy waters.

Moreover, everyone knows that even without online novels, Li Luo is an excellent songwriter.

She is the kind of person who has been able to bring Yuan Wanqing back to her current status by relying on one hit song after another.

Even if you block his path to online literature, once he latches onto Douyin (TikTok), he still has plenty of ways to find another way.

There are even communication channels that penguins can't control, which can escalate things.

Unable to silence them, President Hou and President Liao naturally agreed to sit down and have a proper talk.

Sunday arrived quickly.

After some negotiations, Li Luo and Ying Chanxi were fairly satisfied.

Tencent Video readily agreed to let Li Luo take the lead in the screenwriting team for the film and television adaptation.

On the one hand, film and television adaptations are inherently risky; it's not that if the original work is very successful, the adapted TV series will necessarily perform just as well.

Ultimately, it depends on the skill of the adaptation team. Of course, it would be even better if the original author was willing to do so.

However, as the saying goes, "every profession has its own secrets," and while most online novel authors are very good at creating online novels, they may not be very proficient in screenwriting.

There are very few authors in the industry who can truly juggle two roles.

However, Li Luo has a precedent with "A Little Reunion" and is currently filming a new drama called "The Beginning," so he obviously has considerable talent in this area.

That's why Tencent Video agreed so readily.

Free quality guarantee, who wouldn't want that?
As for getting people into the film crew, that's even simpler.

However, Tencent Video also made a request: the male and female leads are not negotiable, but the other male and female supporting roles can be arranged by Li Luo.

This was exactly what Li Luo had expected, so he readily agreed.

Regarding the bundled sales of copyrighted content, after some negotiations, Tencent Video made some concessions, but in return, it also made some demands.

For example, if "I'm Really Not a Star" is to be adapted into a film or television series, then Li Luo himself must write the script.

In particular, all existing works mentioned in the book must be deleted, leaving only Li Luo's original works.

For Li Luo, this was a bit troublesome, but not too difficult.

Entertainment novels are essentially formulaic and repetitive; if they were to be adapted into a TV series, the content would definitely have to be rewritten, otherwise they couldn't be filmed.

Therefore, this request is reasonable.

As for "Gu Dao Chang Qing", with its average subscription of over 20,000, it was a copyright that would have been snapped up by a lot of investors a few years ago.

Unfortunately, the copyright craze has passed its peak in recent years, and everyone has calmed down a bit, making it harder to sell.

In particular, "Gu Dao Chang Qing" is set in an urban environment and involves a lot of things, making it very troublesome to film.

Therefore, Tencent Video's attitude was somewhat ambiguous; they only said they could consider it, but did not make a decision on the spot.

In addition, Mr. Liao, the general manager of Tencent Video, also looked troubled by the requirement that Reign Culture should also occupy a certain proportion of investment.

This is clearly not something he can decide on his own.

It's not something that Tencent Video can decide on its own; there are many stakeholders involved, so it's impossible to agree to it outright.

So after the negotiations concluded on Sunday, the two sides reached a preliminary agreement.

We need to continue communicating and exchanging ideas until we reach an agreement or the negotiations break down.

The fact that they were able to reach this level of understanding on their first meeting was beyond Li Luo and the others' expectations, and it was a good start.

We'll have to work on it slowly from here on out.

However, this has little to do with Li Luo; the specific matters should be left to Ying Chanxi to handle.

After this period of professional training, Ying Chanxi has gradually grown and is able to stand on his own and help Li Luo with many things.

"Finally finished." Ying Chanxi followed Li Luo out of the hotel conference room. After parting ways with Attorney Tian and the company's legal department staff, she took Li Luo's arm and returned to the room.

"Why don't you go out with your parents tonight?" Li Luo said. "Relax a bit, you've worked hard these past few days."

"You know I've been working so hard, don't you even think of rewarding me?" Ying Chanxi glanced at him.

"Didn't I tell you to go out with my parents?"

"Is this considered a reward?" Ying Chanxi scoffed. "No, no."

"So what do you want?" Li Luo chuckled mischievously, picked up Ying Chanxi and carried her towards the bathroom, saying as they walked, "I know, so this is how you want to reward me."

"Ah!" The sudden weightlessness made Ying Chanxi scream in surprise, and she quickly hugged Li Luo tightly. "What are you doing?"

"Didn't I say I was going to treat you?"

"This, this..." Ying Chanxi watched helplessly as Li Luo carried her into the bathroom. Before she could even take off her clothes, Li Luo had already turned on the shower, completely soaking them. "Who said this was a reward..."

"Don't you want it?"

“Hmm…” Ying Chanxi remained silent, clearly having acquiesced to this method of reward.

……

More than half an hour later, Ying Chanxi, completely exhausted, lay in Li Luo's arms, leaning against his shoulder and whispering, "Aunt Lin and the others posted the dinner location in the group chat. Are you going too?"

"I won't go." Li Luo kissed Ying Chanxi's pink cheek, then continued, "You guys have fun. I need to invite Sister Shangyu to join us, and also have dinner with the editor-in-chief and chief editor."

"Is there something else you need to do?" Ying Chanxi asked, puzzled.

"Well, it's not about copyright." Li Luo chuckled. "The novel 'The Great Qian Night Patrol' has reached 100,000 subscriptions. Qidian has already prepared the promotional posters and needs to launch corresponding commemorative promotional activities. I have to cooperate."

"In addition, the beginning and outline of the new book have been sent to the editors-in-chief and others for review, and we need to have a good talk about it tonight."

"This is also a chance to plan the launch of the new book."

"Oh." Ying Chanxi nodded obediently after hearing this, and stayed quiet in Li Luo's arms for a while before saying, "It feels like everything was so rushed this time, we didn't get to have any fun together."

"Really? Weren't we having a lot of fun just now?" Li Luo teased with a mischievous smile.

Upon hearing this, Ying Chanxi's cheeks flushed slightly, and she muttered softly, "How can this be considered? Besides, this kind of thing... can be done at home too. I'm talking about traveling."

“We’ll only be busy for this short time.” Li Luo hugged Ying Chanxi and patted her shoulder. “I promise you, we’ll only be busy for the four years of university.”

"After graduation, let's do what we did during summer vacation: drive a campervan and the four of us go on a road trip across the country."

"what do you think?"

Upon hearing Li Luo's words, Ying Chanxi immediately envisioned the scene and couldn't help but feel a sense of longing and anticipation.

"That's what you said."

"Would I lie to you?" Li Luo chuckled. "I'll marry you then, and we'll go on our honeymoon in a campervan."

"Hmph~" Ying Chanxi wrinkled her nose as soon as she heard that Zhusheng and her senior were involved. "You're dreaming. You're dreaming."

"I can't die, I haven't had enough fun yet." After saying that, Li Luo rolled over and pinned Ying Chanxi down again.

"Um... I have to rush over for dinner..."

"Have some dessert to fill your stomach first, sweetie."

"Waaaaah...you're so mean..."

(End of this chapter)