Chapter 255 Holiday
The National Day holiday is just around the corner.
During the seven-day holiday, many students made plans to go out and have fun, or go on a trip.
Lu Yanhe didn't have that time; he was scheduled to start recording "The Days of Youth" on October 3rd.
This is also the last recording. After this recording, "The Days of Youth" will be finished.
Before that, Lu Yanhe still needed to discuss the aftermath of "Jump Up" with Yemai.com and Jiangyin Publishing House.
Chen Siqi returned on the evening of September 30th.
Lu Yanhe went to the airport to pick her up.
Because he was afraid of being photographed, Lu Yanhe didn't even get out of the car and waited for her in the airport parking lot.
He borrowed the car from Chen Ziyan again, since he couldn't drive, so he also borrowed a driver from Chen Ziyan.
Their first reaction was that it had gone black.
Lu Yanhe has turned dark.
Chen Siqi has also become tanned.
However, Lu Yanhe is more black.
Chen Siqi laughed and asked, "Why are you so tanned? Didn't you wear sunscreen during military training?"
"No." Lu Yanhe shook his head. "I have a role in a movie later, and I need to play a bodyguard. That's the kind of look I need, so I didn't wipe it off."
“He looks more heroic when he’s tanned,” Chen Siqi said earnestly, scrutinizing Lu Yanhe’s face.
Lu Yanhe nodded, "I think so too, he's even more handsome than before."
“You weren’t this narcissistic before,” Chen Siqi immediately retorted.
Lu Yanhe smiled and touched his nose.
Chen Siqi: "Stop touching your nose all the time, it looks really silly."
Lu Yanhe put his hand down and asked, "How are things going at Jiangguang University?"
Chen Siqi: "It's fine. As long as I stay away from Liu Wei'an, I'll be fine."
Lu Yanhe asked, "Do they know you're back?"
“I know,” Chen Siqi said. “Both of them strongly objected to my decision not to go home, but I was adamant. Their objections were ineffective, so I stayed in a hotel.”
"You're not going to live there anymore?" Lu Yanhe asked in surprise.
“Since I’ve decided to be independent, why force myself?” Chen Siqi said. “My book ‘Jump Up’ earned me hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is more than enough to support myself for several years. They can no longer threaten me by controlling my financial lifeline.”
Seeing Chen Siqi's radiant expression, Lu Yanhe smiled as well.
Chen Siqi's aversion to Liu Wei'an had been brewing for a long time, and this was the first time Lu Yanhe had ever seen Chen Siqi mention her in such a carefree tone.
"Jump Up" gave Chen Siqi a sense of confidence.
Lu Yanhe was very pleased that "Jump Up" could give Chen Siqi such confidence.
Chen Siqi said, "After the success of the first issue, it became much easier for us to solicit articles than before. In the past few days, I have sent invitations to several writers, and they have all responded to us enthusiastically and are willing to contribute articles to us."
Lu Yanhe was also very happy to hear Chen Siqi say that.
Chen Siqi: "I'd still like to invite one or two public figures to write articles about our theme for each issue. What do you think?"
“Sure, but I don’t know many artists, so the number of people I can invite later is limited,” Lu Yanhe said. “Later on, I might have to go through the same thing as you, just inviting people to see who’s willing.”
Chen Siqi nodded and said, "Yes, our self-media is also preparing to launch an interview column to interview well-known people from all walks of life, among whom celebrities in the entertainment industry are a very important part. I will also use this method to extend invitations to them."
Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised, "Is the 'Jump Up' media account planning to do an interview column?"
“Yes.” Chen Siqi nodded. “This is also a very important channel to expand the influence of ‘Jump Up’. If we only rely on each issue of the book to accumulate readers, it will be difficult for the book to be seen by market groups outside our target audience. The audience of Jiangyin Publishing House and Yemai.com’s publicity campaign has already covered most of them in the first campaign, but there are still many potential readers who may not know about the book, or even if they have heard of it, they may not have read it. By interviewing celebrities in various fields, we can also let their followers know about ‘Jump Up’ through their fame and influence.”
Chen Siqi's approach is certainly correct. However, conducting an interview is not a simple matter.
Lu Yanhe asked, "So, who are you planning to invite to be in charge of the interview?"
“I originally wanted to take charge of it ourselves, but we don’t have any experience, so I plan to invite well-known journalists to guide us in this segment first,” Chen Siqi said. “They will guide us through two or three episodes before we start doing it on our own.”
Lu Yanhe was initially a little worried that Chen Siqi might be overestimating her abilities—an interview isn't just about asking a few questions—but seeing Chen Siqi's determined expression, he put his worries aside.
Lu Yanhe knew Chen Siqi, Lin Yu, and Xu Zijun. They were all hardworking and quick learners. Lu Yanhe had full confidence in them; he believed that if they wanted to do something well, they would definitely succeed.
Such trust is certainly somewhat idealistic, but idealism is not a problem.
Lu Yanhe wanted to write the book "Jump Up" for two reasons: first, he liked it, and second, because of Chen Siqi.
He just needed to support Chen Siqi's ideas.
Chen Siqi has always been someone who will work hard to do whatever ideas she has.
She has already proven this point, and there is no doubt about it.
-
October 1st, National Day.
When Li Zhibai got out of bed at ten o'clock in the morning as usual, he yawned and slipped on his slippers as he walked out of the room. He saw Yan Liang sitting in front of the TV, looking at the screen and writing something seriously.
"What are you doing?" Li Zhi asked.
Yan Liang said, "We watched movies, took notes, and the school assigned homework, requiring us to submit a movie review every week and to find a movie to analyze and study the performances in it."
“Uh…” Li Zhibai opened his mouth, “Okay, it seems I’ve done assignments like this before.”
“You copied it from the internet,” Yan Liang said immediately. “I remember, I watched you copy it.”
Li Zhibai: "..."
He immediately turned around and looked around, asking, "Where's Lao Lu?"
“He went out early this morning,” Yan Liang said. “Chen Siqi is back from Jiangguang.”
"Ha, what a shameless bastard, he ran off as soon as his girlfriend came back." Li Zhibai sneered. "So he definitely won't be coming home for lunch either?"
“Yes, I’m going out for lunch too,” Yan Liang said.
"Huh? Where are you going to eat?" Li Zhibai asked immediately. "Are you just leaving me all alone?"
Yan Liang said, "My classmates and I have made plans to have lunch together. Do you want to come with me? They'll definitely welcome you if you do."
Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai immediately showed a look of resistance on his face, "Then forget it, there are so many people, I'll eat by myself."
Yan Liang nodded and continued watching the movie, occasionally taking notes.
Li Zhibai brushed his teeth, washed his face, looked at his messy hair in the mirror, thought for a moment, ran his hands through it a couple of times, straightened it a little, and then walked out of the bathroom satisfied.
I think I'll go home today.
With that thought in mind, he grabbed his car keys and went out first.
"I'm going home," Li Zhibai said to Yan Liang.
"Are you coming back tonight?" Yan Liang asked.
"We'll see how it goes, we'll talk about it later." Li Zhibai waved his hand and left.
He drove away, but unfortunately, the road was completely jammed.
I drove for half a day and didn't even get a kilometer out.
During the holiday, all the students from the neighborhood came out, and there were so many people.
The traffic jam was making Li Zhibai very angry. Just as he was getting annoyed, he suddenly saw a somewhat familiar figure walking across the zebra crossing ahead.
Li Zhibai's eyes widened immediately.
Officer Qiu Ling?!
They have rarely seen Officer Qiuling since they moved.
We used to bump into each other occasionally, or meet up for barbecue or spicy hot pot near the neighborhood, but that's hard to do now.
How did she end up here?
Li Zhibai's gaze followed Qiu Ling, and then he saw Qiu Ling walk up to a tall and thin boy.
The boy looked like a freshman, with a youthful and tanned face, probably from military training.
When the boy saw Qiu Ling, he gave her a shy smile.
Even though Qiu Ling only reached his chin, she acted like an older sister and even patted his shoulder.
That's quite an affectionate gesture!
Li Zhibai was immediately displeased.
"Beep beep—" The car behind honked its horn.
Li Zhibai came to his senses and realized that he could walk forward.
He drove on impatiently until he could no longer see Qiu Ling and the boy.
-
Ten minutes later, Li Zhibai ran back here wearing sunglasses.
He parked the car in front and ran back.
He didn't know why, but what he just saw was like a hook, making him think about coming back to see it. So, he came back.
However, Qiu Ling and the boy were no longer there.
Li Zhibai looked around and searched for a while, but couldn't find it, and couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.
Then he was recognized. There were students all around him. Once he was recognized, others gathered around, asking for autographs and photos. The crowd grew larger and larger, almost causing a traffic jam.
Seeing that the crowd was growing larger and larger, Li Zhibai knew he couldn't let things continue like this. He could only forcefully say "sorry" while pushing through the crowd and trying to find a way to leave.
Amidst the chaos, Qiu Ling suddenly appeared.
She suddenly appeared from the crowd in front of her and their eyes met.
A look of surprise appeared in Li Zhibai's eyes.
Unfortunately, his sunglasses hid his surprise.
Qiu Ling adopted a bodyguard-like assertiveness, saying, "Excuse me, please make way. Li Zhibai has other work to do later, please make way!"
She completely disguised herself as Li Zhibai's bodyguard and led him away from the crowded street corner to a restaurant.
Li Zhibai lowered his head and followed Qiu Ling inside.
Qiu Ling spoke with the waiter for a few moments, and the waiter immediately nodded and arranged a private room for them.
Qiu Ling let Li Zhibai go in first.
"And you?"
“I have someone sitting outside. I’ll call him in,” Qiu Ling said.
Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai immediately pictured the shy-smiling boy in his mind.
"It's not your boyfriend, is it?" Li Zhi asked.
Qiu Ling: "What nonsense are you talking about? One of the children I sponsored got into university this year, so I came to see him."
"Oh." Li Zhibai's tone instantly became a little lighter. "I see."
Qiu Ling gave him a strange look. "What's with that reaction?"
Li Zhibai chuckled, shook his head, and said, "There's no reaction. Go call him. I'll go in and wait for you guys."
After Li Zhibai finished speaking, a smirk appeared on his lips, and he went into the private room first.
Qiu Ling found it utterly unbelievable.
But Li Zhibai has always been a bit strange, and Qiu Ling has gotten used to it.
After a while, Qiu Ling brought the boy in.
"Liu Ao," Qiu Ling introduced to Li Zhibai.
Li Zhibai looked at the boy named Liu Ao, nodded, smiled, and extended his hand, "I am Li Zhibai."
For some reason, Liu Ao was a little nervous. He quickly wiped his hands on his body before reaching out to shake hands with Li Zhibai.
"Hello, my name is Liu Ao."
Qiu Ling: "Sit down. What a coincidence that we met. Let's have lunch together."
Li Zhibai immediately smiled and nodded, "Okay, order whatever you like, it's on me."
"You dare to pay the bill and see what happens." Qiu Ling immediately glared at Li Zhibai. "I'm here to treat Liu Ao to dinner today. You're just here to freeload. Watch your position today and don't try to pay the bill."
Li Zhibai clicked his tongue and said, "Fine, then I'll still take advantage of Liu Ao."
Liu Ao shook his head awkwardly.
-
In another private room of the restaurant, Lu Yanhe, Chen Siqi, Xu Xiaoyin and Xin Zixing were sitting at a table.
The dishes were served on the table, and the group was eating and chatting.
"The physical book is indeed selling very well, and we expect to sell 30,000 copies this month," Xu Xiaoyin said. "Jiang Yuqian's article has spread widely online, which has helped promote the book a lot. Now many channels are asking us when the next issue will be released."
Lu Yanhe remained silent, leaving the entire situation to Chen Siqi.
“We plan to launch it on the 15th of each month,” Chen Siqi said. “So, the expected release date for the second phase is November 15th.”
"Hmm? Then the time is a bit tight," Xu Xiaoyin said immediately.
"Well, because we are producing the second and third issues at the same time, we have received many requests for articles, so the submission process will be faster than for the first issue," Chen Siqi said. "According to our estimates, we should be able to publish them on time."
Xu Xiaoyin nodded and said, "The first issue of 'Jump Out' got an ISBN. Starting from the second issue, we will get a journal number for this series. It will actually be a magazine. Otherwise, it would be too troublesome to apply for an ISBN for each issue."
“I’ll have to leave the publishing to you,” Chen Siqi said. “I had a serious discussion with Yan He about how to proceed with ‘Jump Out’. First of all, our cooperation model and revenue sharing model can remain the same as before, but we hope to increase the production budget for each issue to 200,000 yuan.”
"Two hundred thousand yuan?" Xin Zixing also showed surprise. Before she came, she had thought that Lu Yanhe and his team would want to increase the production budget, but she did not expect them to double it all at once.
"This includes the salaries of our editorial team. When we produced the first issue, almost all of the 100,000 yuan budget was spent on manuscript fees and design fees," Chen Siqi said. "Our goal in the future is to make 'Jump Up' a high-quality magazine and a themed book. To do that, we must invite the top writers and publish the highest-quality manuscripts. This also means that we must pay the highest standard of manuscript fees. Only in this way will others be willing to provide us with long-term manuscripts and will they be willing to give us their best manuscripts."
“Two hundred thousand yuan per phase, that’s two million four hundred thousand yuan a year,” Xin Zixing said. “Based on the sales of the first phase, the production cost isn’t high. But how will we cover this production cost? Xiaoyin, what’s Jiangyin’s attitude?”
Xu Xiaoyin said, "How about we each contribute half?"
When the first issue was published, Jiangyin Publishing House was not actually responsible for the majority of the production costs; the majority of the costs were provided by Yemai.com.
However, the publication of the first physical book made Jiangyin Publishing House a fortune—far exceeding their expectations. In their minds, a physical book that was the first to launch free electronic reading would at most sell 30,000 to 50,000 copies thanks to the fan effect. Who would have thought that it would now be aiming for 100,000 copies? Although they did not know whether the book would have a long tail effect or whether it could continue to sell well, the sales so far had already brought the publisher considerable profits, not to mention the publicity and promotion it brought to Liujia Town and Mingyin.
Xin Zixing was surprised by Jiangyin Publishing House's attitude. She did not expect that the usually stingy publishing house would suddenly agree to take responsibility for half of it.
However, Xin Zixing quickly realized that this only meant that the benefits the book brought to the publisher far exceeded the production cost.
In fact, as partners, they had no reason to object.
The production of this book was essentially outsourced to Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi's team. They didn't have to worry about anything and just waited for the finished product to be released. In fact, the two companies were just distributors, one responsible for online channels and the other for offline channels. They could make a profit without any risk, so why wouldn't they be willing?
Lu Yanhe originally thought that Xin Zixing and Xu Xiaoyin would haggle over the price, but to his surprise, the group settled the matter in just a few words.
Just as Chen Siqi said, they would definitely agree.
Is a production cost of 200,000 yuan per issue high for a magazine?
In the golden age of print media, it was certainly not high, but in this era, it is very high.
In particular, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi refused to publish any advertisements in the book, thus turning down a significant portion of the revenue.
-
Lu Yanhe came out to use the restroom and ran into Li Zhibai, who was also coming out to use the restroom.
"Oh my god." The two of them almost bumped into each other as they went in and out, and then recognized each other at the same time.
Two people who have to wear masks even when going to the toilet look rather odd.
What are you doing here?
What are you doing here?
The two spoke in unison.
Lu Yanhe explained, "I had lunch here with some other people."
“Me too,” Li Zhibai said, “as well as Qiu Ling and one of the students she sponsors.”
Lu Yanhe responded with an "Oh," and said, "That's quite a coincidence."
"Do you want to go say hello to Qiu Ling?" Li Zhi asked. "It's rare to see her these days. She just asked about you."
“Okay.” Lu Yanhe nodded. “Then wait for me.”
After Lu Yanhe finished using the restroom, he went to Li Zhibai's place.
Qiu Ling was completely dumbfounded.
Li Zhibai just went to the restroom, so why did he suddenly bring back Lu Yanhe?
Does he have a magic door that allows him to go anywhere he wants?
Lu Yanhe offered a brief explanation.
"What a coincidence," Qiu Ling said. "Have you finished discussing your business?"
Lu Yanhe nodded, "That's about it."
“But his girlfriend is still over there,” Li Zhibai quickly added.
"Girlfriend?!" Qiu Ling's eyes widened immediately, looking at Lu Yanhe with surprise. "You have a girlfriend?"
Lu Yanhe smiled shyly and said, "I guess so."
Qiu Ling: "If you've paid, you've paid; if you haven't paid, you haven't paid. How can you say it counts? Don't try to play games with me. I hate it when guys string girls along."
Li Zhibai explained to Lu Yanhe, "Their situation is a bit complicated. It's not just a matter of hanging on; it's more like who's hanging on whom."
Qiu Ling's eyes widened as she stared at Lu Yanhe in disbelief.
"You're not being strung along by him, are you? Lu Yanhe, don't be a simp or a backup option."
Lu Yanhe was both amused and exasperated, wanting to explain but not knowing where to begin.
Li Zhibai waved his hand and said, "What you're saying is getting more and more absurd. That's not how it is."
Qiu Ling: "If it weren't for the fact that you still have your work partners there, I would like to go and see what kind of girl she is right now."
"Oh, a high school classmate." Li Zhibai said, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Liu Ao, "Remember to keep it a secret."
Liu Ao nodded.
Qiu Ling: "Don't worry, I watched Xiao Ao grow up, he keeps his mouth shut."
Liu Ao lowered his head and smiled sheepishly.
Seeing Qiu Ling's unconditional trust in Liu Ao, Li Zhibai was immediately displeased.
Even though... he rationally knew that this displeasure was completely unfounded, since they had known each other for much longer.
Lu Yanhe said, "Then I'll go back over there first, Sister Qiuling."
"Okay, go ahead." Qiu Ling nodded with a smile.
After Lu Yanhe left, Qiu Ling said, "It's amazing to have watched Lu Yanhe get to where he is today. He's only a freshman and he's already an editor-in-chief. Moreover, he's doing a great job. I bought a copy and have read half of it. You can tell that it's a book that was made with great care."
Li Zhibai: "Did you read the article I wrote?"
Qiu Ling nodded and said, "I read it. I didn't expect you to be so talented, able to write such a story."
“Of course,” Li Zhibai said. “I grew up listening to a lot of stories, so making up a story is a piece of cake for me.”
Li Zhibai looked smug, even a little cocky.
Qiu Ling suddenly sighed, "Li Zhibai."
"What?" Li Zhibai stared at her.
"If you could mature a little more sometime, you might be more popular with girls," Qiu Ling said with a smile. "Right now, quite a few girls are probably only attracted to your looks, but after spending some time with you, they'll realize that you're actually still a primary school student, right?"
"What?!" Li Zhibai felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
-
"Why did it take you so long to go to the restroom?" Chen Siqi whispered in Lu Yanhe's ear.
Lu Yanhe explained, "I just ran into Li Zhibai. He was having dinner with Officer Qiu next door."
Chen Siqi looked at Lu Yanhe in surprise and asked, "Is it really such a coincidence?"
"Um."
The follow-up production of "Jump Up" has been finalized. Xin Zixing said, "I finally got a holiday, so I'm leaving now. I have an appointment with someone this afternoon."
"I'm leaving too," Xu Xiaoyin said. "Bye-bye."
"Goodbye." Lu Yanhe saw them off.
Xu Xiaoyin said, "Don't bother seeing us off. It wouldn't be good if someone recognized us. See you next time."
"Um."
After seeing them off, Lu Yanhe sat down again.
Chen Siqi asked, "Are you busy this afternoon?"
"No." Lu Yanhe shook his head. "I'm going to record 'The Days of Youth' for the last time the day after tomorrow. I'm free today and tomorrow."
Chen Siqi said, "Then come with me to see a movie. There's a movie I want to see during the National Day holiday."
What movie?
“The Honest Man,” Chen Siqi said. “I plan to write a film review of this movie on the media account of Jump Up.”
Lu Yanhe nodded and said okay.
He took out his phone, searched for the movie, and looked at nearby cinemas.
"The next match is in half an hour, about a ten-minute walk away," Lu Yanhe said.
"Okay, let's go then," Chen Siqi said.
Lu Yanhe put his mask and hat back on and put his sunglasses in his pocket.
Walking with Chen Siqi in public, Lu Yanhe was indeed a little nervous, because he was worried about being photographed again and trending on social media.
If Lu Yanhe kept their relationship secret before because Chen Siqi was unwilling to define it, now Lu Yanhe himself is unwilling to go public.
He doesn't know what he will encounter in the future. He hasn't even uncovered his own secrets yet, and he doesn't want to drag Chen Siqi into it at this time.
(End of this chapter)
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