Huayu: Tianxian Qianmeng

"Pretty fast."

Ling Yuan opened the email and quickly scanned the enthusiastic, American-style business-like phrases: "...Warmest congratulations...Impressive achievement...Strong interest in publishing your series of novels...Looking forward to mutual success...Hoping to arrange an MSN video conference for a 'face-to-face' discussion..."

I opened MSN and sure enough, there was a friend request. The username was a string of English names with the suffix "Randon Bookstore".

Ling Yuan's eyes lit up, and he naturally clicked "Accept".

A shiny new icon suddenly appeared in my friends list.

These days, MSN is still the mainstream instant messaging software, while Skype, which was only launched in August this year, has far fewer users than MSN.

As for QQ, its original name was OICQ. It was launched in February 1999. In addition to his main 6-digit account, Ling Yuan also had a 7-digit and an 8-digit secondary account.

Years later, when young elementary and middle school students look down on their parents, saying WeChat is for old people and QQ is for young people, they won't realize that those born in the 80s have long been tired of QQ. They usually stay invisible, but once they reveal their QQ level, it can terrify the younger generation!

However, at this time, QQ was mostly limited to the domestic market. For international communication, MSN and Skype were more popular.

In addition, QQ was originally modeled after the foreign "ICQ", which means "I SEEK YOU".

Ling Yuan moved the mouse and his fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed "date," which, don't get the wrong idea, means "arrange a meeting."

嗯，约了后天的上午10:00-11:00，而这个时间段，纽约那边应该是前一天晚上的22：00-23:00。

I thought they would refuse, since they're supposed to be resting after get off work that night. Who wouldn't be sleeping that late? Domestic foreign trade companies all have employees working overtime at night to match the working hours in the US.

Unexpectedly, the other party immediately accepted the date and sent a message on MSN expressing their anticipation for the video conference with Ling Yuan.

Ling Yuan: "..."

After this experience, he finally understood: from now on, he'd always schedule video conferences with foreigners during the daytime Beijing time, so why should he care? The foreigners wouldn't mind. Why humbly sacrifice his own work to accommodate them?

Ling Yuan is willing to work overtime late into the night, but not to accommodate the other party. Rather, he feels that his mind is clearer at night, and his writing flows more freely.

On the day of the video conference, Ling Yuan did not participate alone, but projected the video from his office and invited several employees with English majors from the company.

It's not about showing off, but rather about ensuring employees cooperate with the subsequent work. It's essential to involve them in advance and let them understand the progress.

During the meeting, Ling Yuan and the Random House team communicated effectively and quickly reached a cooperation agreement.

After these two interactions with foreigners, Ling Yuan felt that his English had become much more fluent. He also realized that many "rigid" grammar rules were completely unnecessary in daily communication, and instead, he learned to speak those "unstructured" sentences like foreigners.

Anyway, as long as everyone can understand, grammar can go to hell.

After the meeting, Ling Yuan held a short meeting with the employees, handing over the remaining work to them. He also appointed the girl who had made him coffee as the supervisor, giving her full authority over the matter.

The girl was tall and slender, with a neat high ponytail and fair skin. Her name was Mu Jing. She was a top student from Beijing Foreign Studies University and had just graduated this year. She naturally had professional skills and work abilities.

"Thank you, President Ling." Mu Jing had a sweet tongue and excellent social skills.

"Keep up the good work, I believe in you!" Ling Yuan encouraged.

Mu Jing smiled and nodded, then went to work. She naturally admired Ling Yuan greatly, thinking to herself that he was younger than her, and had built his fortune from scratch. He was still a sophomore in college, yet he was already a multi-millionaire. A true success story, so young and accomplished! Most importantly, he was handsome!

Thinking of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Ling Yuan suddenly remembered that Xiao Changchang had taken the college entrance examination this year and scored quite high. He wondered if she had received her admission notice yet.

He had inquired beforehand and found out that the first batch had already been sent out.

So I called Shu Chang, but no one answered; she was probably busy filming.

Because Shu Chang took on a new role last month in a drama called "The Court Painter Lang Shining," where she plays "You Min." The drama also stars Zuo Xiaoqing and Huang Yi. The director of this series is the same director who made "Wrong Carriage, Right Groom."

About half an hour later, Shu Chang called back. Sure enough, she had been busy filming.

"Brother, what do you want with me?"

Ling Yuan: "I just missed you!"

"Haha, men's words are lies! You're more like thinking about Sisi!"

Ling Yuan: "I wanted to ask you, have you received your admission letter from Beijing Film Academy yet?"

Shu Chang: "Received it, received it. I just got it the day before yesterday, it's still warm from the heat. I wanted to tell you, but I was too busy, sorry!"

"I'll treat you to dinner after you finish filming; it's such a big occasion, we should celebrate properly. By the way, how about we have a graduation banquet?"

Shu Chang: "...You know my family situation, how can I explain it? My uncle and his family didn't seem to mention it either."

"It's okay, Sisi and I will celebrate with you!"

"It's a deal!"

Ling Yuan: "I also want to share some good news with you..."

So, he announced his collaborations with Miramax Films and Random House.

"Wow, congratulations brother on breaking into the North American market! You really should treat us. I'll prepare a gift for you then!" Shu Chang was genuinely happy for Ling Yuan.

"Alright, I won't keep you from filming any longer. See you later."

Shu Chang said plaintively, "Why don't you come visit the set? It's in the Grand View Garden."

Ling Yuan: "Okay!"

Having promised Shu Chang, he naturally kept his word and arranged to visit the set of "The Court Painter Lang Shining" at the Grand View Garden in Beijing with Liu Yifei.

After it happened, it naturally caused a sensation.

Director Zhang Zien, producer Peng Yi, and the main cast all came over to greet him. After all, Ling Yuan is currently a very popular figure, having grossed over 4200 million yuan at the box office with a horror film, and it's said that he also sold the overseas rights to Miramax Films for a whopping $500 million.

After the cooperation agreement was reached, the news naturally spread like wildfire, and many news media reported on it immediately and followed up on it. This also revived the popularity of "Spirit: Shadow Chronicles".

As for the collaboration with Random House, it hasn't received much media coverage, and people in the entertainment industry haven't paid much attention to it either, giving it a rather low-key feel.

Zuo Xiaoqing and Huang Yi were also top-notch beauties at the time, but when they stood next to Liu Yifei, their brilliance was immediately overshadowed.

There's no way around it, Yifei will always be the center of attention wherever she goes.

She wasn't wearing much makeup, but strangely enough, it was as if the world had given her a special beauty filter.

When Ling Yuan and Liu Yifei came to visit the set, Shu Chang was naturally the happiest!

It's worth mentioning that Zuo Xiaoqing also graduated from Beijing Film Academy, class of '95, making her a senior! Being from the same school, their relationship naturally became closer, and they had a lot to talk about.