69novels Chapter 13: Whipping the Horse, Busy with Production, in Full Swing
Chapter 13: Whipping the Horse, Busy with Production, in Full Swing
congratulations!
Mu Jing deserves much credit for the website's remarkable achievements in less than a year.
Ling Yuan gave him an approving look and said, "You can pick some from those authors, or post a call for submissions, and find a few authors who are good at writing about the supernatural. Then, write my upcoming film, 'The Ghostly Records,' into a novel. Hmm, and there will be sequels too. I plan to make at least five films, one a year. Let's get the novels going first, and then when the movie is released and gains popularity, we can do some promotions."
The copyright naturally belongs to Xinghan Literature Network.
This is a commissioned work. There's a guaranteed minimum for the author, but the novel's quality also needs to be up to standard. Ling Yuan will personally oversee the process.
"Okay, Mr. Ling." Mu Jing blinked, thinking to himself that Mr. Ling had so many ideas and was truly an excellent man!
Ling Yuan: "Also keep an eye out for Qidian Chinese website, which is also adopting our VIP revenue sharing system. It will become a strong competitor for us."
Mu Jing quickly replied, "I've heard of that literary website too, and I went to check it out. It's definitely modeled after us. However, they currently only have a little over six hundred works, and their daily pageviews are only a few hundred thousand, far less than our two or three million."
Ling Yuan said, "They shouldn't be underestimated. Keep a close eye on them, and try to poach some of their potential authors if the opportunity arises."
"I will, President Ling." Mu Jing agreed readily, but he was really curious. He thought to himself, is such a small website, only about one-fifth the size of ours, really that much of a threat?
However, since President Ling has spoken, we must take it very seriously.
"Then if you have time, help me keep an eye out for apartments, around 100 square meters, or courtyard houses—look at a few good quality ones at reasonable prices. I won't let you run errands for nothing; I'll give you a big bonus at the end of the year!"
Ling Yuan has some money now, so of course he wants to hoard houses. Anyway, in the next few years, while house prices haven't risen yet, he'll hoard as much as he can whenever he has the money.
Mu Jing immediately took care of it.
This capable girl was incredibly fast; she found multiple properties in just two or three days, organized the information, printed it out, and placed it on Ling Yuan's desk.
There are two apartments, one over 120 square meters and the other over 150 square meters, both not far from the company, near Beijing Film Academy. The price is about 6000 yuan per square meter, with a total price of about 700,000 yuan for one and about 900,000 yuan for the other.
There are also three courtyard houses, two of which are in Shichahai and Qianhai, covering an area of about 400 to 500 square meters. They are both small courtyard houses with two courtyards, and are relatively old, but the location is good. They are within walking distance of Jingshan Park and the Forbidden City. The asking price is 1.8 million yuan for one and 2.1 million yuan for the other.
There's another property a bit further away, located in Houhai, near Songshu Street, closer to Prince Gong's Mansion. It has a large courtyard, three sections, covering an area of about 880 square meters, and is more secluded. The asking price is around 260 million yuan.
These three courtyard houses are quite old and have outdated facilities. If they are not renovated, the living experience will definitely not be as good as that of commercial housing.
But Ling Yuan didn't mind. He wouldn't want it if it were already renovated.
It will only be truly meaningful to design and arrange it yourself in the future.
"Isn't this just like picking up money?" In twenty or thirty years, the value will skyrocket.
Without saying a word, Ling Yuan immediately sent Mu Jing to negotiate the price, while he went over to sign the contract and pay.
When they went to complete the handover procedures, Ling Yuan and the landlord exchanged glances and silently cursed each other as idiots.
Landlord: "This dilapidated yard, bought for such a high price, what a fool!"
Ling Yuan: "Wow, that's a steal! Tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions, just handed over to me like that. Thank you so much, you silly boy!"
Ling Yuan couldn't help but smile. He was reminded of a joke from later generations.
In the 1980s and 90s, or at the beginning of this century, many people sold their old courtyard houses at "high prices," thinking that these dilapidated houses were worthless and that selling them for a few hundred thousand (two or three million) would be a great profit.
Then, he took the money and went to the United States to wash dishes.
After working hard for decades, saving every penny, he earned a little money and returned home in glory.
Returning to the old place, they were stunned to find their own courtyard house listed for tens or even hundreds of millions of yuan!
His life savings couldn't even buy back his ancestral home.
Yes, this is not a joke, it's reality.
……
These houses are naturally all registered under Ling Yuan's name.
However, they then rented it out at a high price to Xinghan Pictures, and after some simple renovations, it was used as free employee dormitories as a company benefit.
Girls like Mu Jing, Zhao Liying, and Tang Yan were assigned to single rooms, while the other boys were mostly assigned to double or four-person rooms with bunk beds.
Of course, men and women live separately in different houses.
Ling Yuan also chose a room for himself and stayed with Ning Hao.
Ning Hao now has some money, and Ling Yuan advised him to buy a house, but Ning Hao said he would wait until he wanted to get married before buying one.
"Marriage?" Ling Yuan smiled and joked, "That screenwriter you just hired, Xing Aina, is quite good-looking."
Ning Hao was startled, thinking to himself, "Could it be that President Ling has taken a liking to Aina?"
But then he immediately realized that President Ling was joking with him.
So he laughed awkwardly and said, "I did it a little out of personal favors to bring her in. But she really is talented and has a beautiful personality."
Ling Yuan: "I know, when did you two start dating?"
Ning Hao: "Is it that obvious?"
Ling Yuan: "What do you think?"
Ning Hao: "...We've known each other for quite a while now."
"Haha, remember to invite me to your wedding! I'll give you a big red envelope!"
"Thank you! I'm not sure either, this... we haven't even broken the ice yet!" Ning Hao said shyly.
"Haha, keep it up!" Ling Yuan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Among the other people you recruited, I think Rao Xiaozhi and Lu Yang are pretty good. Give them some pointers."
Rao Xiaozhi just graduated from the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama this year. He is also a new generation director with more than 3 billion yuan in box office revenue. His representative works include "The Long Way Home" and "The Nameless".
Lu Yang, who just enrolled in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy this year, joined Xinghan Pictures as a director's assistant (part-time intern). He later became a director with nearly 3 billion yuan in box office revenue, with representative works such as "A Writer's Odyssey" and "Brotherhood of Blades".
Of course, Ning Hao is even more impressive, with a cumulative box office of 10 billion yuan, and representative works such as "Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racer", "Crazy Alien" and "All or Nothing".
In addition, Lu Yang comes from a good family. Although he studied at the Beijing Film Academy, his father is a professor and director at the Central Academy of Drama.
Before applying for a job at Xinghan Film Industry, Lu Yang asked his father for his opinion. His father's evaluation of Ling Yuan was: "This boy has a bright future. Working with him will broaden your thinking."
……
With the acquisition of five houses, Ling Yuan suddenly felt that he had a safety net in his life. Even if Xinghan Pictures suffered huge losses and went bankrupt, with those houses, he could make a comeback or simply retire and live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Of course, this is far from enough. Once he earns more money and buys a few more houses, he will choose one to renovate and furnish.
Alternatively, they could simply buy a plot of land, build a skyscraper, and use it as the future headquarters of Xinghan Media Group.
Now, however, there is no time.
Filming for "The Haunted House" is in full swing.
Originally, Ling Yuan wanted to choose one of the newly purchased courtyard houses as a filming location, but after thinking about it, he decided against it, in case he had to live there in the future and would have psychological trauma.
Therefore, the filming location was chosen to be the Huairou Film and Television Base, which has complete facilities and is more convenient.
It must be said that Tang Yan, wearing a red bellyband, had dazzlingly white skin and an exceptionally alluring figure. However, Ling Yuan, having lived two lives, managed to maintain his composure.
Besides, this is a movie shoot, so we can't embarrass ourselves.