Just then, the door to the private room opened, and Lu Jinbo walked in with a heavily pregnant woman. Surprisingly beautiful; Lu Jinbo wasn't exaggerating. She really was quite pretty.
Shen Fang smiled and said, "Brother Lu, I didn't expect this. You weren't exaggerating. Your wife is quite beautiful."
Lu Jinbo said smugly, "Of course, how could my wife be anything less? Li Hui, this is my boss, President Shen, and next to him is his grandson, Shen Kun. This is Little Ma, the boss of Tencent. Next to him are the Four Heavenly Kings: Zeng Liqing, Jiang Zhidong, Xu Chenhua, and Chen Yidan. And who are these two next to him?"
Shen Fang smiled and said, "Liu Tianxian is my sister, and so is her mother, Liu Xiaoli."
Li Hui smiled: "I didn't expect Mr. Shen to be so young and handsome. Miss Liu and Ms. Liu are both very beautiful."
Shen Fang invited Li Hui and Liu Xiaoli to sit together.
Shen Fang looked at Lu Jinbo.
"Brother Lu, I thought you wouldn't be able to go out today. Brother Ma said your leg was going to break."
Lu Jinbo smugly said, "I was just kidding you guys. At home, if I say one thing, my wife wouldn't dare say another, right, wife?"
Lu Jinbo winked at Li Hui.
Li Hui smiled and said, "That's right, Lao Lu has a very high status in our family. I'm afraid of him."
Little Ma gave a thumbs up.
"Old Lu, you've finally stood up! That's impressive, you've really made us men proud."
Shen Fang expressed skepticism, believing that Lu Jinbo's words were largely exaggerated. Shen Fang had noticed very subtle changes in Lu Jinbo's micro-expressions when he was showing off. The way Lu Jinbo acted was very similar to how his father acted when he went out.
However, Li Hui's voice was full of energy when she spoke, so the truth was definitely not like that.
The people arrived, and the dishes were served quickly.
Shen Fang picked up a glass of wine.
"Come on, sister-in-law, let me toast you first. This is our first meeting."
Li Hui smiled as she picked up a glass of pomegranate juice.
"Thank you, Mr. Shen."
After Shen Fang finished his drink, Lu Jinbo, Xiao Ma Ge, and the others also had a drink with Liu Tianxian and Liu Xiaoli.
The group ate and chatted.
Lu Jinbo looked at Shen Fang.
"President Shen, the reporters are all here, and the invited authors are all here. Except for Youzha Qiutian, the author of Zhu Xian, Banana is still missing. The press conference is scheduled to start tomorrow morning. If Youzha Qiutian doesn't come, the impact will be greatly reduced."
Shen Fang decided to stop pretending: "Brother Lu, I wrote Zhu Xian."
Lu Jinbo was stunned when he heard this.
"Really? You're not kidding me, are you?"
Shen Fang... "Really, I am the author myself. Why would I lie to you? Didn't you notice that Zhu Xian stopped updating after I came here?"
Zeng Liqing became excited.
"You really wrote Jade Dynasty? Mr. Shen, you're a god! Let me touch it up close, sir."
Zeng Liqing touched Chen Fang.
Chen Fang felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Brother Zeng, you're disgusting."
Zeng Liqing looked at Shen Fang with admiration.
"President Shen, I'm a huge fan of Jade Dynasty. I read every single chapter you update on time. That's why you've stopped updating these past two days. Do you have any drafts saved up? Let me see them so I can know the details of what's to come."
Shen Fang smiled and said, "No, you should read it chapter by chapter. Good books take time to grow."
Lu Jinbo looked at Shen Fang in surprise.
"President Shen, did you really write this? Goodness, I was wondering why our editor was looking for you and you ignored her. Turns out you finally found the boss himself."
"I will be at the press conference on time the day after tomorrow, and I will also take this opportunity to acquire these authors."
Lu Jinbo nodded: "President Shen, as long as we can acquire this batch of high-quality authors, Feilong's future will be much smoother."
Shen Fang nodded.
"By the way, Brother Lu, why isn't Banana's author here? What happened? Is he dissatisfied with our platform? Or was he poached?"
Lu Jinbo took a sip of wine.
"Well, how should I put it? It's pretty bizarre. The main reason he didn't change jobs is that he won 5 million in the lottery and is now living it up. He even left a message saying he'll come back and continue writing after he finishes drawing the money."
Shen Kun's mouth dropped open upon hearing this.
"The author of 'The Son-in-Law' won 5 million yuan???"
Lu Jinbo nodded: "That's right. To be honest, Banana's books are well-written and he has a lot of fans. As long as he updates consistently, he might become a legend. His fans are incredibly loyal, just like you said, Mr. Shen. He could become a typical example of a popular IP like 'PanwoLe'. Who knew this would happen..."
Shen Fang was speechless... If Shen Fang remembered correctly, the author of the novel "The Son-in-Law" had won the lottery three times: twice 5 million and once 10 million. This book had been in development for almost 10 years and wasn't even finished yet. Damn it!!! Things had already gone wrong before it was even finished, so why could a banana win the lottery? Was it just innate good fortune?
Shen Fang drank a cup in frustration.
"Let's leave the banana thing alone. Anyway, it hasn't left our platform, and the copyright is still in our hands. We can only hope that he finishes the 5 million painting soon and comes back soon."
Jiang Zhidong said enviously, "This author is definitely a winner in life. This book has gained a huge number of fans, and he even won 5 million in the lottery. Just from writing this book, if it's adapted, he'll make a lot of money again. With this kind of luck, he's amazing..."
Lu Jinbo nodded.
"Who can argue with that?"
"Brother Lu, with Tencent backing us, Feilong's initial traffic will be much larger than others. Our strategy is to charge fees; we won't accept advertising for now. Paid chapters alone will be enough for us to make a profit."
Lu Jinbo took a bite of food.
"Mr. Shen, now an advertising slot costs at least 500,000 yuan. Giving up a year would be a huge loss."
Shen Fang smiled and said, "The reason why Feilong was able to stand up is firstly because of its exclusive content, and secondly because of its profit model. We have already made a lot of money. If we make readers brainwashed by ads again for some advertising fees, they will definitely curse us."
Little Ma has a new idea.
“Brother, the first 500,000 words are all free right now. We can do this: create something like a Tencent membership, or a Flying Dragon membership. If you become a member, you can skip the ads. If you don’t become a member, you’ll have to pay. It would be a waste not to make that money.”
Shen Fang exclaimed, "Wow, did Pony Ma (Ma Huateng) really unlock all his potential? Such a cunning scheme! Double-charging wasn't introduced until 2015, and now Pony Ma has already come up with it. Isn't he the king of 'harvesting韭菜' (a Chinese slang term for exploiting consumers)?"
Lu Jinbo looked intrigued; could it really be done like this?
"President Shen, what do you think? I think Brother Ma is right. The first 500,000 words were all funded by Feilong itself. It would be a shame not to make money from the advertising revenue."
Shen Fang sighed inwardly, "I'm sorry, fellow readers. It's not that I want to add advertisements for you, but my ability doesn't allow it. It would be against my conscience not to take this money for a side job."
"Alright then, since we're going to open up ad slots, let's bring in as many ads as we can, and eat our fill."
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