After leaving Thrill Lodge, Meng Chang set his promotional target for this month on “The Successor.”

Actually, from the beginning, Meng Chang had been leaning toward The Successor, but in the spirit of being practical, he still needed to conduct a proper evaluation.

Now that the evaluation was complete and confirmed, this roller coaster project was indeed not very suitable for the Pei-style promotion method. Of course, there was no need to use it either. For a project that could become popular with just conventional promotion, there was no need to employ dragon-slaying techniques.

As far as Meng Chang knew, the filming work for “The Successor” was going smoothly, and they had already completed the first three episodes, with the rest still being filmed.

He already knew the specific plot details, after all, the original novel of “The Successor” was available on Terminal Chinese Network.

However, there were still significant differences between the expression forms of TV series and novels. Exactly how to promote it would require further planning after seeing the detailed situation of “The Successor” TV series.

Just as Meng Chang was about to take a car back, his phone rang.

It was Fan Xiaodong calling.

“Brother, you’re truly amazing!”

“Yesterday, when the announcement came out about Shenhua Real Estate and Sloth Apartments joining forces to create a rental platform, Zhujia Group’s stock price plummeted again that evening!”

“But I’m puzzled—did you actually know about this insider information or not?”

“Did you hear something in advance, or was it purely a prediction?”

Seeing this news, Fan Xiaodong was naturally ecstatic.

Because this meant that Zhujia Group’s stock price would continue to fall, and might drop even harder than last time within these few days!

This short-selling operation could be described as a massive profit.

The only thing that confused him was that when Meng Chang had originally told him to close the position later, he had said: “Based on my understanding of Mr. Pei, this matter won’t end so simply.”

In other words, it seemed that Meng Chang didn’t have the relevant information at that time.

This gave Fan Xiaodong a double confusion: Meng Chang appeared well-informed, but why did he seem unaware of such a big event in advance?

Yet if Meng Chang truly didn’t know, how did he predict that this would happen?

It felt like the money earned was permeated with strangeness from every angle.

Meng Chang smiled and explained: “I really didn’t hear any rumors in advance.”

“Don’t find it strange. This is Mr. Pei’s style of operation.”

“He places great importance on confidentiality in multi-industry coordination. Many plans are fully mapped out before others even realize it. Even within Tenda, department heads only know about matters related to their own departments and know very little about other departments.”

“Unless it’s a time when multiple departments need to work together.”

“Only Mr. Pei truly grasps all the details of every aspect of the Tenda Group.”

“Although I’m responsible for some work, I’m still far behind Mr. Pei in this regard, nowhere near his level.”

“But based on my understanding of Mr. Pei, he definitely would have a follow-up plan. When the cannons are set up, they won’t be fired just once.”

“I could guess that Mr. Pei would arrange a follow-up move, but I couldn’t guess exactly what kind of move it would be. Using Chi Xing Studio as a stepping stone, using games as a springboard to integrate the resources of Shenhua Real Estate and Sloth Apartments, and carrying out another large-scale expansion of Sloth Apartments’ business—this was indeed beyond my expectations.”

Fan Xiaodong: “Alright, I’m convinced.”

If Fan Xiaodong had been half-believing and half-doubting what Meng Chang said at the beginning, wondering if he had been deceived, now he completely believed him.

After all, the money earned was real and tangible, and money doesn’t lie.

Moreover, the combo attack against Zhujia Group was indeed too devastating. Anyone putting themselves in Zhujia Group’s position would feel a chill, sensing Mr. Pei’s deep malice.

Fan Xiaodong paused, then said: “In that case, I’ll find a suitable time to close the position, then find time to transfer the money to you. Still as agreed before, split fifty-fifty.”

Meng Chang hurriedly said: “No rush to transfer money to me!”

“I’m currently a person subject to enforcement, my accounts are all frozen, and I can only use minimal consumption. Even if you transfer it to me, I can’t use this money.”

“Keep it for me for now. Our money is kept together, so when we encounter such opportunities in the future, we can earn more.”

“It’s not appropriate for you alone to take all the risks.”

Meng Chang naturally hoped that this money could continue to make more money, and if it came into his own hands, it wouldn’t be able to grow.

Moreover, compared to before, Meng Chang’s desire to quickly repay the money and leave Tenda wasn’t as strong.

At Tenda, he had a place to eat, drink, and stay. Although he couldn’t indulge in high-end consumption and was restricted in travel and other aspects, at worst he could adopt a student’s mindset, treating it as a period of hardship and learning.

He could be learning here while Fan Xiaodong was making money over there. When he returned from his apprenticeship, perhaps the accumulated money would not only be enough to clear his debts but could also support him in making a comeback.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

After a moment of silence, Fan Xiaodong said: “Alright, let’s sign a simple agreement later.”

Even close brothers need clear accounts, let alone they were just good friends, not actual brothers.

Fan Xiaodong didn’t know how much this money would grow in the future. Meng Chang entrusting this money to him was a sign of trust. What if he couldn’t resist temptation?

So it was better to follow a businessman’s approach and sign an agreement for everything. This would make both of them feel secure and wouldn’t create any misunderstandings.

After all, they were friends who wanted to continue making money together and achieve mutual benefits in the future. There was no need to create a rift over such matters.

…

After returning to the Advertising and Marketing Department, Meng Chang sat at his workstation for a while, then prepared to find Mr. Pei.

It was said that the content of the first three episodes of “The Successor” was already out, but it was currently in a highly confidential state. So it was personally brought back by Huang Sibo, and Meng Chang was going to watch it together with Mr. Pei.

This show had a total of 12 episodes, each about 50 minutes long. In terms of volume, it was equivalent to about one season of certain American TV series.

But in China, this format for TV series was still relatively rare.

Because Chinese TV series often had shorter episodes but more of them. The advantage of this was that it was easier to make adjustments. The production and editing cycle for each episode could be shortened, and having more episodes with frequent updates could help maintain popularity.

Some web series even compressed each episode to about ten minutes, showing a trend of converging with animated series.

But Director Zhu Xiaocai believed that “The Successor” wasn’t suitable for this model, so he insisted on filming according to the current episode format.

These were all things Meng Chang had already researched beforehand.

When he arrived at the meeting room door, Meng Chang was startled.

Because Mr. Pei was already there.

Meng Chang quickly checked the time—there were still five minutes until the scheduled meeting time. Clearly, he wasn’t late. Mr. Pei had probably arrived early because he happened to be in the office, so he came over in advance.

The projection screen in the meeting room was already lowered. Huang Sibo and Cui Geng, the original author of “The Successor,” were present, along with several staff members from Fei Huang Studio.

As for Director Zhu Xiaocai, he was naturally still suffering, so he couldn’t come.

Mr. Pei was chatting casually with Huang Sibo, briefly asking about matters related to the filming of “The Successor.”

After all, the entire crew was far away in America, and there was basically no way to know the situation over there on a regular basis.

Meng Chang quietly found a seat and sat down.

At this moment, a figure appeared at the meeting room door and lightly knocked on the open door.

“Mr. Pei, I’ve had someone place the specific plan for the next phase of Sloth Apartments in your office.”

Liang Qingfan had clearly come to show Mr. Pei the plan, but seeing that Mr. Pei was busy, he intended to leave the plan and go first.

Upon seeing Liang Qingfan, Pei Qian’s face immediately fell.

Well, you have the nerve to come see me!

Look at the huge mess you’ve created with Chi Xing Studio and Shenhua Real Estate!

But on second thought, they were dealing with Zhujia Group after all, so it was fine.

Pei Qian looked at the time: “No problem, bring the plan over and let me take a look.”

There were still five minutes before the meeting, and five minutes was enough time.

Anyway, whether he looked at it or not wouldn’t make much difference…

Liang Qingfan immediately nodded and handed over the plan.

Pei Qian reached out to take it and casually flipped through it.

Alright, it was still generally in line with what he had previously instructed—expanding to other cities, especially big cities, with the only addition being collaboration with Chi Xing Studio’s “Real Service Department” and similar content.

For Zhujia Group, this might be a formidable threat.

But for Pei Qian, this was hardly anything noteworthy within the Tenda Group, probably not even ranking in the top ten of his biggest concerns.

The little trouble that Liang Qingfan had stirred up, after weighing the pros and cons, wasn’t even enough to warrant inclusion in the suffering travel plans.

So after flipping through it, he handed the plan back: “Fine, just do it like this, it’s not that important anyway.”

Liang Qingfan nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”

Although it took only three minutes to go through the entire plan from beginning to end, making one seriously doubt whether Mr. Pei had even read it carefully, if Mr. Pei said he had looked at it, then he definitely had.

Moreover, this plan was made according to Mr. Pei’s guiding principles in the first place.

So Liang Qingfan didn’t say anything, just nodded and left with the plan.

But Meng Chang, sitting on the side, couldn’t help but show a shocked expression.

Other things aside, with this incident being so significant, how could Mr. Pei still be so calm and composed?

He finished reviewing a plan in just three minutes—this kind of work efficiency was simply inhuman!

No wonder such a large enterprise as Tenda could be managed so orderly by Mr. Pei, even while strictly implementing the eight-hour workday system.

Meng Chang felt that he was still too inexperienced, getting so excited just because he knew some insider information and made a few hundred thousand by short-selling stocks with his good friend.

Meanwhile, the real mastermind, Mr. Pei, had merely spent three minutes looking at the plan and even said, “it’s not that important anyway.”

What is called perspective?

It had to be said that Mr. Pei’s success was certainly not accidental; it was evident even from small things like reviewing plans.

After sending away the bothersome Liang Qingfan, Pei Qian looked at Huang Sibo: “Shall we watch the show then?”

After closing the meeting room door and turning off the lights, the projection screen began playing the first three episodes of “The Successor.”