January 21st, Monday.
“Achoo!”
Pei Qian sneezed shortly after getting out of bed.
“Who’s thinking about me behind my back now!”
After having a simple breakfast, Pei Qian arrived at his office as usual, preparing to busy himself with his emergency spending plan for this cycle.
He had to admit, the recent situation was truly discouraging!
All three works from the Inspiration Class had become hits, which was something Pei Qian had never anticipated.
Looking on the bright side, though, the situation with the Inspiration Class couldn’t get any worse. After all, “Eternal Cycle” had already lost its momentum, and sales had pretty much plateaued with subsequent sales stabilizing. “The Successor” had already seen its ratings and popularity reverse on the AiLiDao website, with no further room for growth.
The more troublesome project was “Proxy Academy.” With its “old sow-like” update pace, it would provide Fei Huang Studio with stable income for a long time to come.
But regardless, stable income meant controllable income, which could be resolved by brainstorming ways to spend money in a hurry, so it wasn’t too bad.
As for “Safe and Civilized Driving,” the situation was a bit worse than Pei Qian had anticipated—all those deterrents he had set up previously didn’t seem to have the desired effect.
But on the whole, it remained within acceptable limits.
The expected complaints were there, with many people online criticizing “Safe and Civilized Driving,” mainly focusing on its harsh collision penalty system, overly strict driver’s license tests and tutorials for beginners, somewhat monotonous core gameplay, and deliberate smearing of certain brands’ collision effects.
From the current situation, if judged by general gaming standards, “Safe and Civilized Driving” could be considered popular and successful. But by Tenda Games’ standards, it fell far short compared to previous Tenda games.
Particularly regarding the sales of the safe driving simulator, although there had been an uptick due to the game’s release, inventory was still piling up—which was good news.
Pei Qian planned to take this opportunity to naturally have Lü Mingliang rent more large warehouses across the country, all filled with various products from Outu Technology, with special emphasis on storing the safe driving simulators.
These were the hardest to sell, so they should be stocked the most!
This way, he could greatly alleviate the settlement pressure for this cycle.
Additionally, Pei Qian had already tasked Assistant Xin with preparing for the charity and zoo projects. The charity work required discussions with relevant departments and various schools, though this should proceed smoothly. The zoo required approval from relevant departments, designs from architects, and finding a qualified candidate for zoo director.
None of these could be rushed—having some progress within two weeks would be sufficient.
Of course, this zoo couldn’t be that grand initially. Pei Qian was thinking of just finding a piece of land near Thriller Hostel. Even with just a few animals, they could get the zoo up and running quickly, spending money in a hurry without affecting the settlement.
After surviving this settlement cycle, they could gradually expand it later, just like they did with Thriller Hostel.
As he was contemplating future plans, there was a knock at the office door.
Pei Qian looked up to see Huang Sibo.
Huang Sibo’s face was filled with excitement, as if the words “I have extremely good news” were written all over it.
Pei Qian’s heart sank immediately.
Oh no!
What good news could this be?
Huang Sibo, you just returned from the suffering trip—don’t push me!
But then Pei Qian reconsidered: Wait, haven’t the two projects that Fei Huang Studio was responsible for this cycle already been finalized? Both “The Successor” and “Proxy Academy” had signed exclusive broadcasting agreements with AiLiDao, so they couldn’t be sold to anyone else, right?
Pei Qian calmed himself a bit and asked, “What’s happening?”
Huang Sibo gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, his admiration evident: “Mr. Pei, the rights to ‘The Successor’ have been sold!”
Pei Qian was stunned.
Rights? Weren’t they already sold to AiLiDao?
How could they be sold a second time?
Huang Sibo continued, “The overseas rights to ‘The Successor’ were fiercely contested by several foreign streaming platforms and TV stations. In the end, we decided to sell the rights to the NLX platform because they will be responsible for translating ‘The Successor’ into 28 languages and broadcasting it to audiences in 190 countries and regions worldwide!”
“Moreover, the NLX platform, as the largest streaming platform abroad, has the most users and the most extensive influence.”
“Of course, their offer wasn’t the highest, but it wasn’t far off from the top bid.”
Pei Qian asked nervously, with a shocked expression: “How much?”
Huang Sibo replied: “80 million dollars!”
Pei Qian momentarily lost all expression.
Only bewilderment remained.
This was madness—the world had gone mad!
Although “The Successor” was filmed in the United States in collaboration with local film companies and money was spent on some grand scenes, the total investment amounted to just over 200 million yuan, equivalent to around 30 million dollars.
Unlike other series, the main actors in “The Successor” didn’t command high salaries. The protagonist, Phil, was played by a talented young foreign actor, while Lu Zhiyao and the others made friendly cameos, receiving only bit-part fees. Even accounting for friendship discounts and the premium for award-winning actors, it wasn’t much.
It couldn’t be compared to certain productions where the lead actors’ fees alone exceeded 100 million yuan.
The 30 million dollars had already been spent lavishly to ensure that the grand scenes in the series met first-class standards.
Pei Qian originally thought, that’s 200 million yuan! Without selling overseas rights and only selling domestic rights, how could they possibly recover the costs?
At best, they might break even?
But first, he hadn’t expected that with the revenue-sharing model based on ratings and views on the AiLiDao website, they would nearly recover costs in a short time, with subsequent revenue being pure profit. Second, he hadn’t expected that foreign companies would actually want to buy this thing!
And they doubled down massively!
Of course, considering the deep pockets of the NLX streaming platform, spending 80 million dollars on rights wasn’t surprising—they had purchased more expensive content before, spending up to 10 billion dollars annually on content rights.
But the key question was: why would they buy “The Successor”?
Pei Qian asked, very confused: “What do they think of ‘The Successor’?”
Huang Sibo exclaimed admiringly: “Exactly as you predicted, Mr. Pei!”
Pei Qian: “?”
I predicted nothing!
I never even imagined anyone would buy this junk!
Huang Sibo explained: “I remember before filming ‘The Successor,’ you briefly instructed us not to include too strong emotional tendencies, not to emphasize the satirical aspects too much, but rather to portray everything from a realistic, neutral perspective. You said that viewers have discerning eyes and would naturally understand.”
Pei Qian: “…”
He wanted to ask: Did I really say that?
But too much time had passed, and he couldn’t remember clearly anymore.
However, upon reflection, it did sound like something he would say.
The reason was simple: when “The Successor” first began filming, Pei Qian never thought it had a chance to make money overseas—it was filmed for domestic audiences.
The core of “The Successor” was anti-superhero. Pei Qian’s instruction to the crew not to emphasize the satirical aspects was meant to slightly weaken this core theme, reducing the possibility of it becoming popular domestically.
But unexpectedly, his words turned out to be prophetic!
Viewers truly had discerning eyes, and in this situation, they saw right through it, forcefully giving it near-perfect ratings.
But… what did this have to do with overseas rights?
Huang Sibo continued: “At first, I was wondering why, but after talking with these overseas platforms, I realized how brilliant your strategy was, Mr. Pei!”
“If we had deliberately emphasized the satirical elements, foreign audiences would certainly have rejected it, thinking we were criticizing them. But by presenting the entire story from a realistic, neutral perspective, foreign audiences actually resonated with it!”
“The content that domestic audiences saw as satirical, foreign audiences viewed as politically correct, which actually earned us points. Meanwhile, the content about conspiracy theories, media manipulation of public opinion, and authorities deceiving the public resonated widely with foreign audiences!”
“This series caught the attention of foreign audiences who were tired of superheroes, and they all thought it was an excellent drama reflecting social reality!”
“Of course, there were also many opposing voices abroad, but opposition also generates buzz! Combined with the connections from our American co-production partners, various streaming platforms and TV stations showed intense interest in ‘The Successor.'”
“That’s why we could sell it at such a high price!”
“Either way, your single guidance, Mr. Pei, has made ‘The Successor’ exceed its historical mission! A satirical series that could simultaneously conquer both domestic and foreign audiences—it’s simply incredible!”
Pei Qian was dumbfounded.
How the hell is this my responsibility?
I didn’t write the script, and I barely asked about it during filming, yet somehow its success is still tied to me?
Pei Qian found this simply unacceptable!
That’s 80 million dollars! Is this meant to kill me on the spot?
Wait, that’s not right—this money wouldn’t be credited until the next cycle at the earliest, so why am I panicking?
Realizing that this money would probably only arrive in the next cycle, Pei Qian calmed down, feeling that the situation wasn’t so dire after all.
“Alright, I understand. Is this all you came to tell me about?” Pei Qian asked.
Huang Sibo was taken aback: “Uh… yes.”
He was puzzled—did Mr. Pei think this matter wasn’t worth reporting?
It’s 80 million dollars! Am I not allowed to share good news?
Pei Qian nodded: “Fine. In the future, for matters like this, just send me a message. No need to make a special trip.”
Pei Qian was actually being considerate of Huang Sibo, as he was afraid he might lose control and immediately send Huang Sibo on another suffering trip.
Huang Sibo was stunned for a moment, then felt somewhat ashamed.
All of this was within Mr. Pei’s expectations—coming specially to report good news was indeed making a mountain out of a molehill!
He should learn from Mr. Pei’s strategic planning and unflappable demeanor!
It’s just 80 million dollars? Looking at Mr. Pei’s calm attitude, this was what all Tenda employees should aspire to!
Huang Sibo left while engaging in self-reflection.