Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 388 Meng Ziyi's Grand Plan, Sale Price of Broadcasting Rights for "The Xuanwu Gate Incident"!

"Dudu, don't be so shy! Whew~"

Wearing a shower cap and submerged in a pile of bubbles, Meng Ziyi scooped up the fine bubbles from the bathtub with his hands and blew them toward Chen Duling.

As a southerner, Chen Duling probably rarely bathes with others, so she always keeps her hands in front of her body, and her ears, which are exposed outside the shower cap, are incredibly hot.

"Hey!"

With bubbles on her face, Chen Duling had to wipe them off with her hands.

It was this moment of weakness that allowed Meng Ziyi to seize the opportunity and quickly sneak over.

"Hahaha! Dudu, I caught you."

"Ziyi, let go..."

"Hmm, you're too thin. You need to gain some weight."

Meng reluctantly released Chen Duling, indicating that the experience was rather mediocre.

Hearing about gaining weight, Chen Duling pouted dejectedly: "I'm just not the type to gain weight. No matter how much I eat, I don't gain weight. The doctor said I don't absorb nutrients well."

"Huh? Isn't that like having a divine physique? I'm so envious."

"I envy you too."

"..."

The two looked at each other across the bathtub bubbles, but Meng Ziyi's bubbles were always higher, while Chen Duling's bubbles were not as big.

"Ah~~"

Two sighs rang out together: You envy me for not gaining weight, I envy you for gaining weight in the right places. Indeed, everyone's troubles are different.

While soaking in a hot bath, Chen Duling's thoughts began to wander, and she thought of Meng Ziyi's strange behavior at the dinner table earlier.

"Why did you drag me into this mess?"

"I had completely forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it!"

Meng Ziyi chuckled and leaned closer. Chen Duling instinctively put her hands in front of her to protect herself, but this time she was not attacked.

In the bathtub, Meng Ziyi moved with the ease of a mermaid. With a few rustling sounds, she was already beside Chen Duling and began to tell her "plan".

"Didn't Brother Xiu just say he was going to help me arrange a new variety show?"

"Hmm, what's wrong?" (A suppressed envious tone)
"He also said that I could be a producer for the show, even if it was just in name, I could still recommend guests to the show."

"……yes!"

Chen Duling pursed the corner of Meng Ziyi's lips and thought: I've heard Chen Xiu tell me all these things before, so don't help him show off anymore. I'm already envious, isn't that enough?
However, Meng Ziyi was unaware of her inner thoughts and was completely absorbed in her grand plan.

"Dudu, actually I already have guests I want to invite."

"Oh~~" (Inner monologue: Something's up...)
Chen Duling, recalling Meng Ziyi's reaction at the dinner table, keenly guessed that what was to come was the key point.

She moved closer to Meng Ziyi and asked in a curious yet expectant tone, "Who do you want to invite?"

"It's hot, Nazha, and you have to come too..."

"Is there a share for me too?" (How come I didn't know I slept with Chen Xiu?)
“Yeah! You’re my best friend. If I invite them both over, I’m worried they might team up. You’re so smart, come on the show and help me deal with them, then we can handle it.”

Meng Ziyi said smugly, completely unaware of the increasingly strange look in Chen Duling's eyes.

"Meaning of the word".

"Well, what happened?"

"Why are you targeting them? Isn't Dilraba from the same company as you? And Nezha doesn't seem to have any connection with you either?"

"Hey, well... I just suddenly thought of those two. Dilraba is the top female star in the company! I always think about taking her down, no, surpassing her."

Meng's attempt to cover up his true intentions was seen by Chen Duling as a tacit confirmation of his competitor.

She didn't delve into the reasons for the invitation, but instead asked, "Besides them, are there any other people you'd like to invite?"

"That's all for now. Everyone else in the company is doing well."

"Oh, I see." (Wow, Chen Xiu is so honest! What a surprise!)

"By the way, I can invite Zhou Ye. She's a nice person. When we were filming together, she would always chat with me."

Chen Duling nodded indifferently, thinking to herself: Zhou Ye is also a competitor in the same ecological niche who has ideas but hasn't succeeded yet.

Meng Ziyi didn't think too much about it. She just thought Zhou Yeren was a nice guy, since he had only known her for a few days but was already giving her sanitary napkins.

Girls generally take much longer to shower than boys, especially when there's something to talk about.

Meng Ziyi and Chen Duling stayed in the bathtub for more than half an hour, until their skin became a little wrinkled, before they stopped chatting and quickly rinsed off.

As the two changed into their bathrobes and stepped out of the bathroom, they heard Chocolate's cries through the crack in the study door, which was partially closed to let in light.

"I'll go ask Brother Xiu if he's done with his work. If he's free, let's play some cards together!"

"Three people playing cards?"

After the initial surprise, Chen Duling appeared hesitant and shy. As a fan of anime and manga, she has a strong imagination.

Meng Ziyi didn't think too much about it: "That's right! It's still early, and you can't sleep alone in the room. Let's play a few rounds first, and then you can go back to sleep."

"Oh that's fine."

Why do you seem a little disappointed?

"No, I'm just not very good at playing cards, but I can learn!"

Chen Duling's words had a double meaning, and Meng Ziyi didn't understand the problem. The two exchanged a glance, and the silly beauty sneaked to the study door, pressed herself against the crack, quietly pushed the door open, and then jumped inside.

"Brother Xiu! I'm done washing!"

"Yes, I could smell the fragrance when you were hiding by the door."

"Seriously? Your nose is even more amazing than chocolate?!"

"...Where's Dudu? Did she go back to her room to sleep?"

Having overheard the conversation in the study, Chen Duling deliberately pushed open the door to make a noise, then walked in gracefully.

What Chen Xiu saw was Chen Duling, dressed in a black silk nightgown, standing next to Meng Ziyi, who was wearing a moon-white nightgown. They complemented each other, each with their own unique charm.

"Now that you've finished showering, what are you doing here?"

Have you finished your work?

Meng Ziyi clenched her fists, looking ready to pounce; the skin on her exposed forearms was even whiter than her bathrobe.

Chen Xiu nodded and stood up, saying, "I just finished, and I'm going to take a shower too."

"You're quick, no need to rush to wash. Play a few rounds of Dou Dizhu with me and Dudu first, then go ahead."

"Three people playing cards?"

"Yeah! Why are you asking this question too? Dudu asked it just now too."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu turned and exchanged a glance with Chen Duling, both of them looking embarrassed.

"I'm just a little surprised that you'd want to play cards."

"Besides this, there are no other games that three people can play together."

"..."*2
Chen Xiu nodded and said, "You're right, let's go have some fun together."

Seeing Chen Xiu walk out from behind his desk, Meng Ziyi naturally went over and put his arm around his, whispering his thoughts on variety shows.

“Brother Xiu, I think the lifestyle social variety shows you just mentioned could incorporate a lot of game elements, like Running Man and Go Fighting.”

"You figured it out so quickly?"

"That's right! I even thought of a punishment!"

Why do you seem a little excited?

"No, no, I just want to be a good program producer so that people can call me Producer Meng from now on, hehehe..."

The two talked as they walked to the door, then called Chen Duling to come downstairs to the living room to play cards.

Although seeing the two of them being so affectionate made her feel a little jealous, Chen Duling knew that she hadn't been seated yet and had to take things one step at a time and make the first move.

……

After "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" passed the review, the sale of the first broadcast rights and the scheduling of its broadcast were incredibly smooth.

Having already suffered a loss with the "Tianxia Chang'an" project, iQiyi dared not have any rebellious thoughts this time. Seeing the fate of its competitors, Tencent also appeared extremely obedient.

The three parties finally agreed that "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" will be broadcast simultaneously on TV and online platforms in early September.

The first broadcast rights were acquired by CCTV, and the sale of the second broadcast rights was confirmed by Hunan TV and Tomato TV at the end of the preview event.

The sale price for the first and second broadcast rights was 1200 million per episode, for a total of 2.88 million.

Tencent and iQiyi jointly invested 2.4 million yuan in the online broadcasting rights, plus a 10% revenue share after deducting platform operating costs from the revenue from TV drama ad placements.

With the masterpiece "The Song of Qin King Breaking the Enemy's Formation" as a precedent, advertisers will definitely not hesitate to spend money on the two episodes of "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" which premiered for free, as long as the quality is guaranteed.

The revenue sharing arrangement offered by Kiwi and Tencent would ease their cash flow pressure, which Chen Xiu was even more pleased with.

Compared to "The Song of Qin King Breaking the Enemy's Formation," which features 70% war scenes, "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" only has Li Shimin's campaign against Liu Heita, which accounts for about 30% of the film.

So even if the actors' salaries increase to some extent in the sequel, since their initial salaries were not high, and the male lead Chen Xiu only saw a 60% increase, from 50 to 80 per episode, the increase for the others was quite limited.

The production cost of "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" was controlled at 900 million yuan per episode, with a total cost of 2.16 million yuan, which is cheaper than "The Qin King's Battle Song".

Given such costs, the production company has already made a huge profit from the two revenue streams mentioned above.

The price for the overseas broadcasting rights of "The Xuanwu Gate Incident" is still under negotiation...

Datang Pictures, in the conference room.

The representative of NHK television station, whose surname is Yamashita, is a middle-aged man.

At this moment, he was trying to persuade Wei Feng, who was representing Datang Pictures at the negotiations, in broken Chinese.

"Mr. Wei, the acquisition price of $10 per episode is already NHK's greatest sincerity. We hope that we can reach this cooperation, and we also hope to have more cooperation in the future."

“Mr. Yamashita, I also hope that you can seriously consider the price of $15 per episode. Compared to the production cost of a TV series, this is already a very reasonable price.”

Wei Feng raised the price by 50% with a single word.

The price he quoted was like an invisible hammer slamming down on the man's head, leaving him pale and filled with anxiety.

"This price is already beyond our budget..."

"Then I'll have to talk to representatives from other TV stations. Thank you for taking the time to come."

"Wait a minute, who are the representatives from other television stations?"

"I'm sorry, this is a trade secret."

After saying this, Wei Feng got up to leave, but Shan Xia tried his best to stop him, even bowing deeply...

(End of this chapter)