This producer has no bottom line.

When Ren Pingsheng pushed the door open, Deng Ye was typing on the keyboard in front of the screen.

"sit."

Ren Pingsheng sat down and glanced around.

On the wall hangs a strategic plan map of Sohu Video for the second half of 2009. When Gong Yu was there, this wall was empty. He didn't like to put plans on the wall, finding it too formalistic.

Deng Ye closed his notebook, took off his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

The woman, in her early forties, had short, neat hair and spoke at a pace much faster than Gong Yu.

"I've looked at the data for the second season of Tianlong Chapter, it's good."

The opening was exactly the same as Gong Yu's, but the tone was different.

Ren Pingsheng waited for her to continue.

"But there are a few things that need to be adjusted."

coming.

"First, starting today, all program plans from the innovation team will be sent to me for review. Budget approvals will be centrally managed, and expenditures exceeding 20,000 will require my signature."

Ren Pingsheng tapped his knee with his finger.

Gong Yu gave him the authority to sign off on amounts under 100,000, even though the total budget was only 100,000.

Now that the budget has been reduced to 50,000, it means we have to get approval from Deng Ye for every episode we film.

"Secondly," Deng Ye picked up his coffee and took a sip, "I've seen the cooperation agreement for the second season of Jianwang 3. When did you discuss this with Guo Weiwei?"

"July."

"It was not approved by the business unit."

"Mr. Gong knows."

"President Gong has already resigned," Deng Ye put down his coffee, looking at him. "Ren Pingsheng, to be frank, you are indeed capable. The data from the first and second seasons speaks for itself, and no one can deny it. But Sohu isn't your company alone; procedures are procedures."

Ren Pingsheng did not respond.

Deng Ye continued, "JX3 is a direct competitor of Tianlong, and Changyou is a subsidiary of the group. You're using Sohu's resources to promote Changyou's competitor. How am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?"

Ren Pingsheng was very familiar with this hat.

He had considered this point when he first spoke with Guo Weiwei on the phone, which is why he delayed contacting him until after the first season had finished airing.

When Gong Yu was around, they tacitly approved it because the data looked good and the money was substantial. But after Gong Yu left, the matter went from being "tacitly approved" to being used against them.

"Mr. Deng, the cooperation fee for JX3 plus the renewal fee for Changyou, the two together exceed 1.5 million. Sohu Video's revenue from all self-produced content this year is less than three times that amount."

Deng Ye's finger stopped on the side of the cup.

"I brought in this money. The contract states that the client is Souhu Video, not me personally. The money went into the company's account, and the content copyright is also in the company's hands."

"As for the issue of competitors," Ren Pingsheng paused for a moment, "Mr. Wang from Changyou has read the outline of the JX3 chapter. His original words were—the user profile of Tianlong and JX3 overlap by less than 30%, and they are not targeting the same group of people."

He made that up on the spot; Mr. Wang never said it, but the data is real.

Deng Ye remained silent for a few seconds.

She wasn't unaware of the costs; the Sohu Video line had been consistently losing money, with copyright purchases burning through cash and self-produced content being virtually nonexistent.

Ren Pingsheng's project team is currently the only team that can generate its own revenue.

But understanding is one thing, rules are another.

"Since the contract has already been signed, I won't pursue it further," Deng Ye's tone softened a bit, "but all future external collaborations must be approved by the business unit; that's the bottom line."

"Can."

"There's one more thing," Deng Ye said, taking a document from the drawer and pushing it to the center of the table.

Ren Pingsheng glanced down at it; it was an organizational restructuring plan.

"The group has decided to reorganize the content division of Sohu Video, merging the original entertainment division and innovation team under the content center."

Ren Pingsheng's fingers stopped.

merge.

He looked up at Deng Ye.

Who is in charge of the content center?

Deng Ye didn't answer directly, but he had already guessed the answer.

"Alex?"

"He's been with Sohu for four years, so he's qualified and has the right rank," Deng Ye said calmly. "And he's always had a good relationship with Changyou."

Ren Pingsheng leaned back in his chair.

Alex, the manager who rejected his proposal, the boss who threatened to ruin his career in the industry, the man who cowered for three months after being publicly humiliated in the MJ incident.

Now that Gong Yu is gone, Alex is about to turn things around.

The reason Deng Ye chose Alex is simple: Alex is the younger brother of the CEO of Sohu Video. Although the CEO position is vacant, this relationship still exists.

Deng Ye has just taken office and needs to stabilize the internal situation. Winning over Alex is the easiest way to do so.

Deng Ye was aware of what would happen after the innovation team was swallowed up, but she didn't care.

What she cares about is whether her position is secure, not whether a young person who has been a full-time intern for less than half a year can continue to make funny videos.

"After the merger, my direct supervisor will become Alex?"

"right."

Ren Pingsheng's lips twitched slightly, not in a smile, but in a very subtle way.

"Mr. Deng, when will the adjusted plan take effect?"

"The first of next month."

November 1st marks two weeks until the release of JX3, and just over a month until the second season finishes airing.

Deng Ye gave him a month-long grace period, which was considered a final act of courtesy.

"I see."

Ren Pingsheng stood up.

"There's another problem," Deng Ye called out to him, "The HR department says that none of the interns your project team recruited have signed formal contracts. This needs to be dealt with as soon as possible."

"it is good."

"Those who should be promoted should be promoted, and those who should be dismissed should be dismissed. Don't delay."

Ren Pingsheng opened the door. The corridor outside was empty, and the tiles on the floor reflected the white light of the fluorescent lights.

As he walked out, his mind was racing.

One month.

A month later, he would have to work under Alex. Given Alex's magnanimity, the first thing he would do was to break up the core members of the innovation team, the second thing was to include the achievements of the second season in his own performance report, and the third thing was to hold him back in the budget approval process, forcing him to leave on his own.

Ren Pingsheng had seen this kind of trick far too many times in his past life.

Back at his workstation, Luo Hongming was wearing headphones and editing a video, Liu Hao was adjusting colors next to him, and Song Ming was writing jokes on his desk. Sister Zhao wasn't there; she had gone to the administration office to take care of some business.

Xiao Lin leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Pingsheng, what did President Deng say?"

"Nothing much, just routine communication."

Xiaolin clearly didn't believe it, but she didn't ask any more questions.

Ren Pingsheng sat down, opened his phone, and sent a text message to Dapeng.

"Brother Peng, the time has been moved up."

Da Peng replied five minutes later.

"In advance to when?"

Ren Pingsheng typed a line, then deleted it, and retyped four characters before sending it.

"The sooner the better."

Then he opened his email and sent an email to Guo Weiwei.

"Mr. Guo, can we move the meeting time forward to this week?"

Guo Weiwei replied even faster than last time, in two minutes.

"Thursday afternoon, Jinshan Building, I'll be waiting for you."

Ren Pingsheng closed his email, his gaze falling on the electronic version of the contract that he hadn't yet closed. The words in Article 7, Paragraph 3 were glowing white on the screen.

The intellectual property rights of works created by employees using company resources during their employment belong to the company.

Ren Pingsheng knew from the first day he signed the contract that he couldn't take "Unexpectedly" with him.

But you can't take your IP with you, but you can take people, experience, and customer relationships with you.

Just change the name.

Wang Duoyu can die.

But the people who made these things are still alive, and the audience who watched them is still here.

What he wanted was never just an IP, but a pipeline for content production.

With the pipeline in place, what project can't be taken on?