Entertainment mogul: Starting his business with the internet

Chapter 240 The Dividend of the Times
In the quiet and orderly corridor in front of the VIP wards at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, there were very few people coming and going.

Liu Shishi wore a baseball cap with the brim pulled low, and a black mask completely covered her face, revealing only her bright eyes and delicate nose.

Wrapped in a large, warm down jacket and carrying a thermos, she went straight into Song Ci's VIP ward.

A nurse passing by in the corridor witnessed this scene, her face full of gossip. When she returned to the nurses' station, she excitedly told her colleague, "Hey, I just saw Song Ci's mysterious fiancée!"

"Xiao Fang, what does the richest man's fiancée look like?"

"It must be very beautiful. If it's ugly, it wouldn't be worthy of the magnificent beauty of Song Ci."

The other nurses were also very curious and gathered around, bombarding them with questions.

The nurse, referred to as Xiao Fang, shook her head with a hint of regret: "She was wearing a mask and was wrapped up tightly, so I couldn't see her face clearly."

"Then how did you know that the other person was Song Ci's fiancée?"

"Yes, why not relatives? Why not friends?"

Faced with her colleagues' questioning, Xiao Fang retorted defiantly, "Are you guys stupid? Song Ci is sick, his fiancée has to come over, right? Coming to the hospital at this hour means she's here to stay overnight. Who else could it be but his fiancée?"

"Okay, you have a point. It's a pity that the head nurse is in charge of that ward, otherwise I would have gone in and taken a look."

"Forget it, even if we saw it, we'd just have to keep it to ourselves. Everyone here is rich and powerful, and we all have to abide by hospital rules. We can't talk about patients' privacy."

While the nurses were chatting, Liu Shishi entered the ward. The room was warm and cozy, and she saw Song Ci standing by the window making a phone call.

Ms. Liu moved gently, not wanting to disturb her boyfriend, and first placed the thermos on the bedside table.

Then she took off her hat and mask, revealing her delicate and gentle face. She then took off her down jacket, revealing a pink sweater underneath, which outlined her shapely figure.

Hearing the noise behind him, Song Ci turned around and saw his girlfriend. He nodded and smiled at her, gesturing for her to sit down for a while, before continuing to make phone calls.

"Old Zhang, didn't we already reach an agreement with Blizzard on the distribution rights for World of Warcraft? Why is there a back-and-forth?"

Zhang Yong, who was far away in the United States, sighed: "Both Tencent and NetEase have interfered, especially NetEase, which has actually increased its commission to 55%, showing that it is determined to win the agency rights for World of Warcraft."

After thinking it over in her mind, Song Ci gritted her teeth and said, "Then let's also compromise and increase the revenue sharing ratio to 55%. I don't believe that Blizzard would give up Tengda and choose NetEase under the same conditions."

"President Song, The commission from Nine City's agency is only 20%, but now it has jumped to 55%. Even if our company can become the agent for this game, our profit margin will be much smaller."

Zhang Yong couldn't help but feel worried. He had personally participated in the negotiations and discovered that those Americans only cared about their own interests and had no integrity whatsoever. Both sides had already signed the initial letter of intent for cooperation, but as soon as they saw that another company was offering a higher price, they immediately turned their backs on them.

Moreover, NetEase seemed determined to win, rather than wasting time and effort on a game with very low profit margins.

Why not develop one or two more online games in South Korea? After all, South Korean online games are also a money-making machine, no worse than World of Warcraft, and they won't bully customers like Blizzard does.

Song Ci knew how much benefit World of Warcraft had brought to NetEase in its previous life, so naturally she didn't want to give it up.

"As long as there's something to make money, that's fine. World of Warcraft is a paid game with a large number of loyal users. Being able to operate and manage it on the TD platform can bring a lot of new users to our game platform."

As long as we can solidify TD Game Platform's position as the world's leading digital distribution platform and further widen the gap with other game platforms, we can make appropriate concessions on revenue sharing.

"That being said, I'm afraid NetEase will continue to make trouble."

Song Ci nodded, pondered for a moment, and said, "This is indeed a problem. Here's what we'll do, Lao Zhang, 65%. We'll offer a maximum of 65%. If NetEase offers a higher price than us, then we'll give up on this business. That would be a testament to Ding Sanshi's abilities."

"Okay, then we'll do as you say, Mr. Song. I'll go to Blizzard in a bit to have another round of talks, and hopefully we can secure the distribution rights smoothly. Chairman, please take care and get some rest."

"Don't worry, Lao Zhang, it's nothing serious. I'll be discharged the day after tomorrow. I'll be waiting for your good news!"

As soon as Song Ci ended the call, Liu Shishi quickly stepped forward and pulled him to the hospital bed: "Yiyi, you're not fully recovered yet, so rest more. Put your work aside for now and get back to it after you've recovered."

Hearing his girlfriend's soft, sweet voice, Song Ci hugged her tightly and gently kissed her smooth, white face: "Whatever you say, I'll rest now."

"Good boy!" After Song Ci sat down on the edge of the bed, Liu Shishi reached out and touched her boyfriend's head, smiling sweetly. "By the way, Mom made crucian carp soup for you. I'll pour it for you right away. Drink it while it's hot."

As she spoke, Miss Liu turned around and walked to the cabinet, unscrewed the lid of the thermos, and poured a cup of fragrant fish soup.

As wisps of steam rose, she first took a small sip, feeling the warmth on her tongue, and immediately frowned.

Carefully holding the cup of soup, she blew on the fish soup with her lips slightly parted to try to cool it down a bit, and slowly walked towards Song Ci: "It's a little hot! Drink slowly."

Song Ci smiled and nodded, took the cup, and savored his mother-in-law's thoughtful gift.

Miss Liu sat down next to Song Ci, leaning against her fiancé and resting her head gently on his shoulder.

"Yiyi, you have no idea how scared I was that day. Uncle said you'd had internal inflammation for several days, and if you had gotten treatment earlier, it wouldn't have gotten this serious."

Song Ci didn't know how to explain to Miss Liu that he had always been in good health and had hardly ever been sick since childhood.

He may have caught a chill on the snowy mountain in Switzerland. I thought he was in good health and could easily pull through, but who knew that this delay would lead to such a serious illness? It really is true that illness strikes like a landslide.

However, this incident also served as a reminder to him that health is the foundation of everything, and he should never take any health problems lightly in the future.

Song Ci drank the fish soup in one gulp, feeling the warmth in his stomach. He hugged his girlfriend again and whispered comforting words: "I was a little careless and made you worry. I won't do it again."

"Yes, you must take good care of your health."

"I'll learn from this experience and never do it again! I promise."

Liu Shishi snuggled closer to Song Ci and said, "There's something else. On my way here, Sister Jing contacted me and said she wanted to come see you tomorrow. I've already given her the ward number."

Song Ci remained noncommittal. Although he didn't want to cause a commotion, his subordinate was willing, so he couldn't say much, after all, Wang Jing was different from others. The room was softly lit, creating a warm and tranquil atmosphere. The two were affectionate for a while, and then Liu Shishi urged Song Ci to go to bed.

"I'm functioning normally now, Shishi, you don't need to stay with me in the ward. You can go home first and come back tomorrow morning."

Liu Shishi shook her head slightly, insisting, "You're still worrying about me. Just rest easy. I'm not going anywhere, I just want to stay with you. I'll look at the script later, and we'll get some rest early tonight."

"A script?" Song Ci became interested. "What script? Tell me about it."

As Liu Shishi pulled out the script she had put in the drawer during the day, she replied, "It's a modern urban drama called 'Du Lala's Promotion Diary,' produced by Donghai Cultural and Broadcasting Group. Director Zhou introduced it to me."

This drama tells the story of a young woman who works for a Fortune 500 company and works her way up through hard work and salary increases. The plot is very inspiring and interesting.

Song Ci vaguely remembered this drama; wasn't this Wang Luodan's breakthrough role in her previous life? Now the production team actually wanted to cast Miss Liu. On second thought, it's interesting that Shishi wouldn't film Tangren's dramas and wanted to take on roles elsewhere.

"Sounds alright, I might give it a try."

Liu Shishi turned to the page of the script she hadn't finished reading during the day, her face showing a bit of struggle: "Everyone says I look good in period costumes, but I don't know if I can handle this kind of urban white-collar role."

She knows her strengths. When she played school beauties before, it was a natural performance for her. With her pure and beautiful image, she could easily portray the characters well.

Her action scenes were outstanding because of her dance background; she had good body coordination and her movements looked graceful and fluid. But she really wasn't confident about playing a shrewd and capable white-collar woman who was navigating workplace politics.

This kind of purely dramatic role requires a high level of acting skill, which is precisely her weakness. Although she has been learning from acting teachers, she is not formally trained and still needs time to grow and hone her skills.

Song Ci had great confidence in Miss Liu and said earnestly, "What's so difficult about handling such a simple role? You interned at Tengda before, so you've experienced the workplace before."

"The company in the drama is a Fortune 500 company. How can it compare to the company environment when I interned? The competition there must be more intense and the interpersonal relationships more complicated. I'm afraid I won't be able to grasp the character's personality and psychology well."

Upon hearing this, Song Ci became furious: "Liu Shishi, you look down on Tengda now? Today I'm going to make a promise to you: within eight years, by 2017, Tengda Group will definitely be the youngest Fortune Global 500 company in the world."

During the day, he had nothing to do in the ward, so he read the newspaper. One report caught his attention.

Just two days ago, the government issued three 3G licenses to the three major mobile communication operators: China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. This signifies the arrival of a magnificent mobile internet era.

A number of internet companies, including Tenda Group, are about to usher in another golden period of rapid development.

With his prior groundwork, Tengda Group's existing technological strength and market layout, coupled with the upcoming era's dividends, he is fully confident in leading Tengda Group into the ranks of the world's top 500 companies.

Seeing that her boyfriend was a little unhappy, Liu Shishi realized she had misspoke and quickly added, "Honey, I didn't mean to look down on Tengda Group!"

I meant when I was interning, Tenda had only been established for a short time, so the environment and competitive pressure were definitely not as great as in large companies. I believe in your abilities; I'm looking forward to becoming the wife of a Fortune 500 company's boss.

Song Ci obviously wasn't really angry with Liu Shishi: "We should bravely try different roles. Even if this one is a flop, we can always go back to filming period dramas."

A few memorable roles can sustain a career for life. As for you, currently only Longkui has that potential; you still need to work harder.

"Doesn't Lin Shui from 'First Love' count?" Miss Liu puffed out her cheeks, looking unconvinced. In her heart, Lin Shui was her proudest role, the female lead in a movie that grossed over 100 million yuan, and her performance was quite remarkable.

Song Ci curled his lip, "From now on, the box office record for Chinese-language films will be broken every year, sometimes even two or three times a year. What's so special about a film with a mere 100 million yuan box office?"

"Movies are just that kind of thing. If you want to attract fans and increase popularity, you have to make more TV dramas. The national popularity brought by a hit TV drama is incomparable to that of a movie."

Listen to me, for the next few years, just focus on making TV dramas and don't try anything in movies. Establish your core audience first. We can talk about movies later when a suitable script comes along.

The Song Dynasty poetry reflects a mind as clear as a mirror. Today, the entertainment industry is in the early stages of transitioning to the era of internet traffic, which is also the last glory of traditional television stations and TV dramas.

The reason why several actresses born in 85 were able to remain popular for over a decade was because they all had blockbuster works in recent years, accumulating an incredible fan base.

After listening to her boyfriend's analysis, Liu Shishi thought it made a lot of sense and nodded: "Okay, then I'll give Director Zhou a reply tomorrow and go for the audition after the New Year."

When will filming for "Go Lala Go!" begin?

"I don't know, but it will probably be at least April. I need to report to the 'Founding of a Republic' film crew after the New Year."

When the topic of this tribute film came up, Song Ci said irritably, "Tell me about these things earlier in the future. When I spoke with Chairman Han, all the roles in the production team had already been arranged. I didn't even know what role they would assign you."

When he contacted Han Sanping for a role, it was a bit too late; all the roles for "The Founding of a Republic" had already been decided.

Although Han Sanping couldn't refuse because he owed him a favor, he only replied that he would definitely make proper arrangements and give Liu Shishi a suitable role, but the specific role had not yet been decided and would only be known after Liu joined the crew after the New Year.

Liu Shishi stuck out her tongue, realizing she had been slow in doing this, and said apologetically, "I know I was wrong."

Song Ci was reluctant to offer much criticism, only reminding him: "Once you're in the production team, listen to Chairman Han's arrangements and perform well. This film, a tribute to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, is highly valued by the authorities."

They'll definitely organize screenings for all government officials, university students, and primary and secondary school students. My parents will most likely see this movie, so you'd better do well in it.

Upon hearing this, Liu Shishi immediately became nervous: "Uncle and Auntie want to see this!"

Then, encouraged by Song Ci's gaze, she cheered herself up: "Song Yiyi, don't worry, just wait and see my outstanding performance in the movie."

Seeing his girlfriend regain her energy, Song Ci chuckled and said, "Poetry, come to bed."

Liu Shishi blushed instantly, her face full of shyness: "Yiyi, isn't this a bit inappropriate? This is a hospital after all, and it's not very convenient. The head nurse might make rounds at any time. I'll cooperate with you when you recover and go home, and I'll let you wear your favorite flowing fairy dress."

"No, Liu Daidai, what are you thinking in your little head! I want you to come to bed and lie down with me for a while to chat."

"Ah, then why are you being so ambiguous!" Liu Shishi was both embarrassed and annoyed, and punched Song Ci's shoulder with her small fist, her blush lingering for a long time.

(End of this chapter)