Ran Hui was overjoyed to see Jiang Xiaoli at her home. "Oh my, Xiaoli, if you hadn't come over these past few days, I was just about to call you!"
Tan Xuanyi wrinkled his nose. "You two are getting along, but you're not getting along with me anymore?"
Ran Hui gave him a disdainful look. "Go wash the vegetables! I want to chat with Xiao Li."
"Me, washing vegetables?" Tan Xuanyi pointed to his nose.
Ran Hui frowned. "I've served you my whole life. Is it too much to ask you to wash some vegetables? If you don't wash them, I'll take Xiao Li out to eat!"
Tan Xuanyi was at a loss. "Alright, you two keep chatting, I'll go wash the vegetables."
Jiang Xiaoli covered her mouth and chuckled, "Professor Ran, you and Professor Tan have such a good relationship!"
Ran Hui laughed and said, "This old man is only good to me because he has a good temper, otherwise I would have left him a long time ago!"
She turned around and picked up a thick notebook from the coffee table. "Xiao Li, about that novel we talked about last time, I tried to adapt it into a screenplay, but I'm a little unsure about it."
Jiang Xiaoli took the notebook and started reading. She opened her mouth wide in surprise, "Professor Ran, you revised all of this over the past few days? That's quite a lot!"
Ran Hui nodded. "You should read the content first. This is my first time working on a film or television adaptation. I really don't know if you young people like this kind of thing."
As she watched, she said, "The audience for TV dramas is very broad. It can't just be young people watching TV, right?"
“Yes!” Ran Hui said with a smile, “That’s what I was thinking, but I just wasn’t sure. It felt the same as when I first published my first book.”
Jiang Xiaoli didn't respond to her; she was completely captivated by Ran Hui's story.
The story tells the tale of three generations of the Fang family, and every character in the story is so vivid and lifelike that she couldn't help but become immersed in it.
She didn't realize it until Ran Hui called her after cooking.
Tan Xuanyi handed her a bowl of rice. "I've already washed the vegetables. Are you just pretending to be engrossed so you won't help out?"
Ran Hui tapped him with her chopsticks. "What? You're not happy that Xiao Li was captivated by my story?"
Tan Xuanyi rubbed the back of his hand, touched his food, and stopped making a sound.
Jiang Xiaoli smiled and said, "Professor Ran, your story is the most touching one I've read among all the scripts recently. I really like it."
Ran Hui asked in surprise, "Really? Xiao Li, you have to tell me the truth."
She nodded firmly. "I guarantee that every word I said is true, Professor Ran. Would you be willing to sell this script to me?"
Ran Hui hesitated for a moment and asked, "Xiao Li, this is the first script I've adapted, and I don't want it to be changed arbitrarily. I wonder if you can agree to that?"
Jiang Xiaoli thought for a moment, "I understand your concerns. How about this? It's perfectly normal for changes to happen during the filming of a TV series. You can sell me this script, and you can work as the screenwriter on set when filming starts. Even if there are situations where changes are unavoidable, you can discuss them with the director. Does that sound good?"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Ran Hui exclaimed happily, "That's great!"
Tan Xuanyi finally couldn't help but interject, "Little girl, you decided to buy this old woman's script so easily?"
Jiang Xiaoli smiled and nodded, "Yes, I have confidence in Professor Ran's story!"
Ran Hui's story is very similar to a novel she read in her previous life called "The Children of the Qiao Family." Both tell the story of several children in a family. However, the background of Ran Hui's script is earlier, telling the story from the 1960s to the 1980s. Some of the Fang family's children went to the countryside as educated youth, some went to work in factories, and some got married and became wives and mothers. The story is delicate, touching, and very captivating.
Tan Xuanyi coughed lightly, "So how much did you pay Professor Ran for his script?"
Ran Hui immediately glared at him, "You old geezer, what are you doing here?"
Jiang Xiaoli quickly stopped her, "Paying for things is a matter of course, and asking the price is perfectly normal. Professor Ran's script is of very high quality, and according to our company's evaluation standards, it can be worth 200,000 yuan."
The two elderly people were simultaneously shocked. "How much?!"
Jiang Xiaoli smiled and said, "200,000."
Ran Hui quickly waved her hand, "Xiao Li, just pay the normal price. 200,000 is too much! My novel has only sold a little over 400 copies in total. How can it be worth that much money!"
Tan Xuanyi glared at her and said unhappily, "So what if you have money? We're not that rich yet!"
Jiang Xiaoli was embarrassed. "You two are really overthinking things. If you don't believe me, I can have the general manager of 'Jiang's Entertainment' come over and explain to you, or would you two like to come to the company with me this afternoon?"
Hearing her say that, Tan Xuanyi's doubts subsided somewhat, but he still asked again, "Professor Ran's script can really sell for so much money? Her novel was self-published, and she lost several thousand yuan!"
Ran Hui didn't care about her husband's teasing. "Yes, Xiao Li, we can't believe this price."
Jiang Xiaoli patiently explained, "I really didn't quote a price randomly. The scripts our company accepts are graded, and the price per episode varies depending on the grade. Professor Ran's script can be rated at least A, which is 2,000 yuan per episode. I looked at Professor Ran's outline, and the entire script is expected to have 100 episodes, so that's 200,000 yuan, isn't it?"
The two understood, and Ran Hui took the initiative to say, "Then I'll simplify the plot a bit; 100 episodes is indeed a bit long."
She laughed and said, "As long as the series is exciting enough, people will still buy into even the longest stories. You two may not watch many Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas, but they often have long series with hundreds of episodes."
Tan Xuanyi smacked his lips. "Oh, so the screenwriter of this TV series must have made a fortune?"
Jiang Xiaoli explained, "A drama that long usually has an entire writing team."
The two elders learned a lot during the lunch break, and when Jiang Xiaoli went to the company in the afternoon, she wore Ran Hui.
Qiao Ru and the company's screenwriting team were pleasantly surprised when they saw Ran Hui's "The Fang Family" and nodded repeatedly.
Jiang Xiaoli linked arms with Ran Hui and said, "Professor Ran, these are all professionals. Now you can rest assured, right?"
Seeing how close they were, Qiao Ru said tactfully, "President Jiang, we've studied Professor Ran's script. Since it's not the complete version yet, we can only give it an A grade. It might be upgraded to an S grade once the story is complete."
Ran Hui was overjoyed to see her work recognized. "Xiao Li, I'm so happy!"
Jiang Xiaoli said with a smile, "Your script is so good, I can't bear to let you go. How about you sign an acquisition contract with me? We'll prepay you 50% of the price for an A-grade script, and once you've perfected the script, we'll make up the difference based on the final rating. Is that okay?"
Ran Hui nodded, "Okay! I agree!"
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