1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 560 The Kid Who Caused Trouble
What does one million mean these days?
Yes, in early 89, the Market News published an article titled "Housing Prices Soar, People Can't Afford to Buy; Control Is Imperative, and the State Is Drafting Regulations."

The newspaper was reporting on the chaotic and rapid rise in commodity housing prices.

According to recent statistics, the total amount of national savings deposits plus cash in private pockets is about 5500 billion yuan, roughly a quarter of the size of Evergrande.

However, for ordinary cadres, buying a house is likened to plucking a star from the night sky.

In early 1989, Shanghai's residential market sold more than 11000 homes, but less than one-tenth of them were actually sold. Buildings remained unsold, and hundreds of thousands of square meters of new residential buildings were empty.

The reason is that it is expensive.

How much does it cost per square meter?

2300 yuan!
Beijing recently launched 350 new homes in prime locations, totaling over 2 square meters. How much does each square meter cost?

It's not as exaggerated as in Shanghai.

However, the price also reached 1600 to 1900 yuan.

At this price, a two-bedroom apartment would cost at least 6 yuan.

Ultimately, only 250 of these properties were booked.

The newspaper calculated that a college student who lived frugally from the moment they started working could save about 50 yuan a month, which was the maximum a college student could save in those days.

According to this calculation, it will take this college student 100 years to buy a two-bedroom apartment!

Based on this version of income, a college student would have to live frugally for a hundred years to save 60,000 yuan, and it would take about 1,600 years to save a million yuan.

What does that mean?

They started saving money around the end of the Han Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, and it wasn't until after the liberation that they were able to accumulate enough.

Of course, this newspaper was published in early 89, and it had been updated several times since 87.

In this day and age, a college student might have to start saving from the Warring States period to accumulate a million.

So it's no wonder that Zheng Xiaolong felt terrified when he heard that number.

This boss spent such a huge sum just on advertising; it goes without saying how much he admires the TV series "Stories from the Editorial Department".

"Also, there's Sanjiu Weitai Pharmaceutical Factory. I don't know if you've heard of it."

The owner of Sanjiu Weitai is a prime example of the wave of people leaving their hometowns to start businesses in this era.

Later generations summarized that the wave of people going into business that began in the 80s can be roughly divided into three groups.

The first wave occurred in the late 70s and early 80s, when the emergence of free markets in rural areas led some "capable" farmers, including township cadres, to start businesses and enterprises.

At that time, there were also some people in the city who went into business. They were mainly people who had been excluded by the planned economy and had no way out. The government couldn't take care of them, state-owned enterprises couldn't let them in, and collective enterprises didn't want them either. Most of them were petty hooligans. Since they had no way out, they went into buying and selling and became self-employed individuals.

The second wave began in 86, when the government issued four regulations on the reform of the labor employment system in state-owned enterprises.

Basically, state-owned enterprises were required to "openly recruit from the public, conduct comprehensive assessments, and select the best candidates" when hiring workers, and were required to implement a labor contract system, abolishing the system of children taking over jobs.

In addition, the Southern Tour in 84 contributed to this wave of people going into business.

The main participants in this wave of people leaving government positions to start businesses were government officials and teachers. This collective resignation from public office formed the second wave of the "going into business" movement.

Take Wang Shi, for example. He was originally with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, but now he's selling corn. And then there's our Professor Liu, who was originally a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but now he couldn't resist the urge to start the New Technology Development Company of the Institute of Computing Technology, which later became Lenovo.

The owner of Sanjiu Weitai, whose name I won't mention, was also a member of this group during that period.

He was originally the director of a hospital. Seeing the tide of the times rolling in, he borrowed 500 million yuan and took 6 hospital employees, 8 hired workers, one of whom was his wife, and his own scientific research results to Shenzhen. There, on Bijia Mountain, which was overgrown with weeds, he built China's first automated production line for traditional Chinese medicine. He then developed his traditional Chinese medicine formula for treating stomach problems into a pure traditional Chinese medicine compound granule, which is the so-called "Sanjiu Weitai".

"The owner of 'Sanjiu Weitai' gave us a sponsorship of 50 yuan, just wanting us to insert a little bit of their medicine's advertisement into it, and also ask us to write a couple of lines of advertising copy."

Jiang Xian said, "Just these two companies alone have brought in 1.5 million. Xiao Long, you said we've already brought in so much in sponsorship fees. I know CCTV is very sincere in wanting to buy our broadcasting rights, but after I've told you all this, do you still think you've given enough?"

"."

Zheng Xiaolong is under increasing pressure.

It now seems that CCTV and Jiang Xian had absolutely no initiative in their negotiations regarding the TV series "Stories from the Editorial Department," and were always in a passive position.

"Teacher Jiang, what price do you think would be appropriate?"

Zheng Xiaolong looked troubled. "The price we offered was the result of a long period of persuasion from the station. We are not a wealthy unit. Take our TV Art Center for example, it is a unit with a partial government funding. The government allocates a year's worth of funds at once, but in reality, it's only enough to pay five months' salaries. How do we pay the employees' salaries for the remaining seven months? Where will the funding for filming TV dramas come from? How do we provide employee benefits? We have to figure all of that out ourselves."

To be honest, our Beijing Television is still in debt for several million yuan. We have to avoid our creditors every day. As soon as we hear that someone from another company is coming, we have to quickly tell our staff to turn off the lights and lock the doors, pretending that no one is working. It's so difficult to film a TV series.”

"Hey, hey, hey."

Jiang Xian was very clear-headed. "It's not like it was your Beijing TV that bought it. Why are you complaining to me about being poor? Go find your superior, CCTV."

"Yes."

Zheng Xiaolong looked dejected. "But you know, if even our unit under CCTV is this poor, how much money can CCTV possibly come up with? To be honest, if you add a little more to today's figure, maybe the higher-ups can grit their teeth and accept it. But if you really exceed our capacity, then despite the public's resentment, we can only stop broadcasting 'Stories from the Editorial Department' here."

"."

What Zheng Xiaolong said is true.

CCTV actually dares to "cast out" TV dramas, after all, they've done this kind of thing quite a few times.

The first TV series to be pulled from broadcast was "The Dirty Dozen," which premiered in 1980. This American-imported series aired every Saturday on CCTV's only channel. However, after only 16 episodes, CCTV announced that the broadcast had ended.

The "brutal" cancellation of the broadcast angered viewers at the time. Complaints and letters of opposition flooded CCTV, and a barrage of abusive phone calls never stopped. Despite such immense pressure, CCTV still cancelled the broadcast. No one ever gave a direct answer as to the specific reasons. The remaining 10 episodes were not broadcast until 1992, a delay of more than ten years.

Another example is the martial arts drama "The Wrath of the Sea" which aired on CCTV around 88. It was a Singaporean drama that was quite popular in mainland China at that time. It tells the story of how Kang Youwei fled to Southeast Asia after the failure of the "Hundred Days' Reform" at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and how the locals protected him from being hunted down by the Qing government's henchmen.

Overall, the plot is tense and thrilling, the content is intricate and touching, and it balances literary and action elements, making it a worthwhile drama to watch. The opening theme song, "The Wrath of the Sea," is also very catchy.

Unfortunately, it was taken off the air after less than 10 episodes and was never re-aired in later generations, becoming the first martial arts drama to be taken off the screens of mainland Chinese audiences.

Incidentally, the opening theme song "Raging Sea" and the ending theme song "No Fate, No Fortune" did not disappear. They were extremely popular at the time. The lyricist was Liang Liren, a famous television personality at the time, and the composer was Li Sisong, who was just beginning to show his talent. After becoming a music producer, he wrote "I Waited Until the Flowers Withered" for Jacky Cheung and later "Darkness Falls" for the relatively unknown singer Stefanie Sun, becoming the undisputed music godfather of Singapore.

Furthermore, the lead actor of this series, Ng Wai-yung, later went to Hong Kong to develop his career and became a successful businessman. He was very successful at TVB for a time. His roles as Hua Wuque in "The Legendary Twins" and Jiang Xiaoyu, played by Tony Leung, can be considered the most unforgettable classic martial arts characters of the 80s.

Because of his classic period drama appearances, he later starred in several influential TVB dramas, such as "The Swordsman" and "The Jade Fox".

Unfortunately, he later lacked common sense and went to ATV, a competitor of TVB, to promote his records, which directly led to him being blacklisted by TVB and eventually having his contract terminated.

Well, this former Singapore's top leading man had to resort to making Category III films due to the pressure of survival. However, he didn't have the same "lucky streak" as Wong Sir when it came to Category III films, and his life took a dramatic turn from there, which is quite lamentable.

Therefore, although Jiang Xian holds the initiative, he can't really ask for an exorbitant amount. In other words, he should just agree to a reasonable amount. After all, he has already earned quite a bit, and he can't afford to really break ties with CCTV, since there will be many more opportunities for cooperation between the two sides in the future.

"Here's what we'll do: go back and discuss it with your boss. Three million, is that alright?" Jiang Xian handed the proposal back to Zheng Xiaolong decisively.

The price of 3 million is 650,000 more than the 2.35 million that CCTV was willing to offer.

In total, the price for each of the remaining 14 episodes is over 210,000 yuan. Compared to negotiating with "Haima" episode by episode, this price will likely be much more favorable. However, compared to the price that CCTV is willing to offer, this price is about a quarter more expensive.

Jiang Xian believed that if he could leverage the commercial value of the TV series "Stories from the Editorial Department" to secure an additional quarter of the price, he would have already made a fortune and could stop now.

More?

If he keeps going any further, CCTV might really be emptied out. And CCTV isn't going to take this lying down. If things get out of hand with him and the higher-ups have to step in to mediate, guess who they'll side with?
So, that's enough. Know when to stop. You've made quite a bit of money.

After figuring all this out, Jiang Xian gave CCTV a quote of about 300 million yuan, which they could probably afford.

I believe CCTV can also see the commercial value of "Stories from the Editorial Department" now. Jiang Xian can earn one million from Polaris and five hundred thousand from Sanjiu Weitai. It will only be a matter of time before CCTV earns back the three million.

"Alright, I'll go back and discuss it with my boss, and I'll get back to you later." Zheng Xiaolong stood up and said goodbye to Jiang Xuan.

"it is good."

Jiang Xian stood up and saw Zheng Xiaolong out. "I haven't had much free time lately. I'll finish writing this novel in the next few days. When we have more time, we can sit down and talk in detail."

"Jiang Xian, it's time to pick up the child."

After seeing Zheng Xiaolong off, Zhu Lin hurriedly urged Jiang Xian to hurry up. Jiang Xian agreed and quickly left. He didn't let Xu Chenhui drive, but rode his bicycle there leisurely.

Jiang Niannian just started kindergarten. Jiang Xian and Zhu Lin, her parents, felt much more relaxed after she started kindergarten, but they also had a new worry in their hearts. They were always concerned about how their child was doing in kindergarten, whether she was crying, and whether she was being bullied.

After waiting for a while, the children came out led by their teachers. Jiang Xian looked around and saw tiny Jiang Niannian coming out with her teacher, her little face looking unhappy.

"Hey? You're Jiang Niannian's parent, right?" The teacher saw Jiang Xuan and stormed over to him.

"It's me, teacher. I'm Jiang Niannian's father."

"Hello, my surname is Yu, you can just call me Xiao Yu." The other person greeted him politely.

"Teacher, is it because Jiang Niannian didn't behave well in kindergarten?" Jiang Xuan asked tentatively.

"Yes."

Teacher Yu frowned. "Your son Jiang Niannian pushed another child down at kindergarten. I don't know how to talk to the other child's parents. Please wait here, and you can talk to them when the other child's parents come over."

"Oh, okay, okay."

Jiang Xian frowned and squatted down, staring at Jiang Niannian. "Jiang Niannian, why are you bullying her?"

"whispering sound."

Jiang Niannian pouted, "He's bad."

"Oh, is that so?"

Teacher Yu explained to Jiang Xuan that the little boy who was pushed down by Jiang Niannian was hogging the slide and wouldn't let Jiang Niannian and the other girls play on it. Many little girls cried because they couldn't play on the slide, so Jiang Niannian got angry and rushed over to push the little boy down as soon as he came down from the slide.

Well, after all, Jiang Niannian is well-nourished, and her physique is much "stronger" than other children of the same age. Most children are really no match for her.

"How is the other child doing?" Jiang Xian asked quickly.

"I have some scrapes on my nose and legs."

Teacher Yu said to Jiang Xian, "You said it's a minor injury, and it is indeed a minor injury, but we still have to give the other parents an explanation, right? We can't just let their child go home like this."

"Yes, this is our responsibility. We will talk to the other party's parents properly. We don't mind any compensation. Have the other party's parents arrived yet?"

"Yes, she's already in the office. I'll take you there."

"it is good."

Jiang Xuan took Jiang Niannian's hand and followed the teacher to the office.
(End of this chapter)