Chapter 243: The First Endorsement

"Bingyuan Video contacted us; they have an in-house web drama and want to buy the rights to 'Record·Memory' to use in the show."

That day, Chen Ziyan suddenly called Lu Yanhe to talk about this matter.

'Record·Memory' had been bringing in a steady stream of income for Lu Yanhe—covers by others, dividends from music platforms, and various miscellaneous copyright royalties. Each payment wasn't much—sometimes ten or twenty thousand, sometimes just a few hundred or a thousand. Previously, the company's music management department had handled it all, and Chen Ziyan rarely mentioned it to Lu Yanhe. Her specifically bringing it up this time made him somewhat surprised.

"Is there something special about it?"

"They don't intend to buy your original recording; they are planning to find someone else to cover it," Chen Ziyan said.

Lu Yanhe: "That's fine, several people have already covered it."

Especially some livestreaming singer-bloggers; almost every one of them had sung 'Record·Memory' at least once.

Chen Ziyan said: "They are planning to get Chen Ziliang to sing it."

"Ah?" Lu Yanhe finally understood why Chen Ziyan had made such a big deal out of telling him.

In this industry, Lu Yanhe didn't have many enemies, but Chen Ziliang definitely counted as one.

From the first time they met, they had been at odds, and every subsequent conflict felt like their horoscopes were incompatible, as if they were destined to clash.

Chen Ziyan asked: "Are you willing?"

Lu Yanhe said: "Not willing."

Chen Ziyan nodded and said: "Then I'll reject it. However, there is one thing I must tell you: I heard that it was Chen Ziliang who recommended this song to the production crew, suggesting they use it as the OST."

"Ah?" This took Lu Yanhe by surprise, to the point of feeling it was unbelievable. "He recommended this song?"

Chen Ziyan: "Mm, didn't expect that, did you? I didn't either. It's baffling."

"What is he trying to do?"

"Perhaps he wants to extend an olive branch of friendship to you?"

"Don't gross me out, Ziyan-jie." Lu Yanhe didn't believe for a second that Chen Ziliang had such thoughts. "Who knows what he's thinking."

Chen Ziyan nodded. "Alright, then we'll just reject it directly."

"Mm, Ziyan-jie, is there anything else? If not, I'll be going now," Lu Yanhe said. "I'm going to look at some apartments with Li Zhibai and Yan Liang later."

"Where are you planning to rent?"

"Probably still in the university town area, let's see if there's anything suitable," Lu Yanhe said. "We're all taking classes there, so renting a place there is the most appropriate."

Chen Ziyan: "I never expected the three of you to be so close that you'd even want to live together."

"The place we lived before was arranged by the company. Although Zhou Ping'an hasn't been trying to kick me out like before, I still feel uncomfortable living there. It's better to find a place of our own so I don't have to wake up early and suddenly see Zhou Ping'an in the living room," Lu Yanhe complained.

"Fine," Chen Ziyan nodded. "However, if you want to rent a place in that area that can accommodate three people, you'll need at least three bedrooms and two living rooms. The rent probably won't be cheap; the cheaper ones will likely be thirteen or fourteen thousand a month."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe widened his eyes in shock and asked: "That expensive?"

"Mm, and that's considered cheap. If you want a place with a better orientation and more space, it'll probably start at twenty thousand."

Lu Yanhe was stunned and said: "Can we afford that?"

Chen Ziyan: "It'll be better if the three of you split it. However, looking at your current income, six or seven thousand a month for rent is really pushing it."

Chen Ziyan was, of course, exaggerating. Although Lu Yanhe's income wasn't exceptionally high, he was at least a rising star with some name recognition. With all the work he had now—the two episodes of 'City Travelogue' and the filming of 'Young Days'—he had earned some money.

She said this because she knew that given Lu Yanhe's personality and current income, he would definitely be reluctant to spend that much money.

Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and said: "Let's go take a look first. If it's too expensive, we'll just settle for something smaller."

Chen Ziyan: "Li Zhibai definitely won't be willing to live in a small place with you two."

Oh, right, there was also that pampered Young Master Li.

Lu Yanhe said: "Uh, so does that mean we're destined to spend that much money on rent?"

"Living in a better place is quite good. You'll be studying here for four years, so you'll have to live there for at least four years," Chen Ziyan said. "Don't be reluctant to spend this money. You're an artist; maintaining your state is the top priority. If you live poorly, your mood will be poor, understand?"

Lu Yanhe looked at Chen Ziyan helplessly and said: "Ziyan-jie, you went around in circles for so long just to tell me not to be reluctant to spend money."

Chen Ziyan: "Mm."

"Got it."

In many matters, Lu Yanhe discovered that Chen Ziyan often used her own methods to help him adjust his perspectives and avoid potential conflicts.

Chen Ziyan was warning him in advance that Li Zhibai's consumption habits were different from his, so they shouldn't end up having conflicts over money later.

Ever since he had compiled those golden ideas for variety shows, Lu Yanhe felt as if his Ren and Du meridians had been opened. Whenever he had a moment of leisure, he would start recalling other creative ideas he knew.

In the past, Lu Yanhe always thought that good things should be kept to himself until he had the ability to make the decisions to produce them. Now, he realized a new path: he couldn't produce them exactly as they were before, but he could combine them with current things.

For film and television, unless you are a genius director who can turn a cliché story into a work of art, nothing beats a good story. A good story has an extraordinary appeal to all creators.

For variety shows, one golden idea can last for four or five seasons, like the nationwide talent show 'Super Girl', or 'The Voice of China' which introduced 'blind auditions' after talent shows had been popular for many years, or 'I Am a Singer' which went against the grain when talent shows were a dime a dozen.

In short, it's about keenly capturing the public's psychology and, when such a product doesn't exist on the market, precisely designing a corresponding product to satisfy that psychological need, becoming an instant hit.

With the book 'Jump Up', Lu Yanhe had already fully enjoyed the benefits brought by his status.

It wasn't his artist status, nor his bit of fame and fans; who else would be willing to help you make a Mook in this era?

Lu Yanhe wanted to make 'Jump Up' because he wanted a long-term, stable topic with Chen Siqi. He wanted to film 'Young Days' well because he wanted a long-term, stable collaboration project with Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.

Lu Yanhe had only been in this world for a year, and he already had people he cherished.

He hoped he could ride the wind and continue Chen Ziyan's legend, and he also hoped to have the ability to help those around him and do the things he wanted to do.

Of course, of course, most importantly, he himself wanted to become stronger.

Three men looking for an apartment was relatively straightforward; they didn't have many requirements: first, a good location; second, a good environment; third, good security.

All three were artists. Not to mention Li Zhibai, the popular first-tier star, Lu Yanhe was also visibly on an upward trend. There would be no shortage of paparazzi in the future, so he would rather spend more money now to ensure privacy.

The agent took the three of them to see seven or eight apartments. After going around and comparing, they finally chose a high-end residential complex that was only about a twenty-minute walk from both Zhenhua and Jingyi—of course, the price made Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang's hearts ache.

Li Zhibai waved his hand and said: "Don't worry about the rent, I'll cover it."

"Don't do that. If you cover the rent, how can we shamelessly sponge off your meals in the future?" Lu Yanhe, despite the heartache, was very principled at this moment.

In the past, when they had no money, Li Zhibai was willing to let them take advantage, so they did.

Now that he and Yan Liang weren't without work or income, how could they shamelessly take advantage?

The closer the brothers, the less they could take advantage of this kind of thing.

Li Zhibai rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you're actually embarrassed. Stop putting on an act."

This was a duplex, with two floors and four bedrooms.

The house was excellent. The landlord's entire family had immigrated abroad, and the agent was managing it.

The rent was quoted at 25,000 a month. Li Zhibai directly said he would pay for a year upfront and insisted on cutting it to 23,000 a month.

It was still very expensive, but it would indeed be much more comfortable to live in.

Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang calculated how much they would have to pay each month and only felt that their road to making money in the future was long and arduous.

"I'll be honest with you, we're planning to live here for at least four years. These two are about to start school, and we like this location. As long as it's comfortable, renewing the lease is a sure thing. Instead of leaving it empty with a fake price, renting it to us means four years of rent is guaranteed, without all that hassle," Li Zhibai told the agent. "You'll also get a bigger commission."

The agent smiled obsequiously and said: "You're big stars, do you really care about two thousand a month? The landlord was very direct; they insisted on twenty-five thousand a month and wouldn't lower it. I really have no way."

"Do stars not care about two thousand a month? Whose money isn't earned through hard work?" Li Zhibai raised an eyebrow. "You go handle the landlord. If you can't, forget it, we'll find somewhere else."

The agent cursed a few times in his heart, but thinking that if he could pull off this big deal, his commission would be enough for a year-end bonus.

"How about this: if you rent it for four years at once, I'll try my best to handle the landlord."

"If I rent it for four years at once, I'm not willing to pay twenty-three thousand a month. If you're willing to do twenty thousand a month, I'll rent it for four years at once. If we can't agree, forget it." Li Zhibai had a cocky look, not even taking off his sunglasses. "Don't look like your heart is aching. I'm not unaware of the market rate here. If you don't rent it to us, when will you be able to rent out a property at this price? A duplex, over two hundred square meters—just tell me, how many months ago was the last time someone came to see this place?"

The agent: "..."

After much back and forth, it was finally rented for four years at a price of twenty-one thousand.

"Done." Li Zhibai finished with satisfaction and discussed with Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang when to move. "I'll have someone come over to clean tomorrow. How about we move the day after?"

"Sure," Lu Yanhe nodded.

Li Zhibai gave a thumbs up. "Done."

Twenty-one thousand in rent, over a million over four years.

When Li Zhibai finally signed the contract with the agent, Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang watched with their hearts in their throats.

So much money, and Li Zhibai didn't even think twice; he signed it just like that.

"Small change," Li Zhibai waved his hand. "This is nothing."

He was a rich second-generation kid, after all, with a family that ran a big company; he was well-traveled and experienced.

Lu Yanhe wondered, when would he be able to see a figure of over a million and be able to say "small change" so nonchalantly?

Yan Liang asked Lu Yanhe cautiously: "Do you have that much money on hand?"

Lu Yanhe shook his head: "No."

"Then what do we do? The contract requires us to pay 20% immediately."

"We have the wealthy Li here, what are you afraid of?" Lu Yanhe pointed at Li Zhibai and said: "We'll pay him rent later."

Li Zhibai made an OK gesture. "Fine."

During the last few days of the month, Lu Yanhe didn't busy himself with anything else. He worked with Jiang Yin Publishing and Ye Mai Network to finalize the promotion plan for 'Jump Up', moved, and then wrote the plan for the second phase of 'Young Days' filming with Li Zhenzhen.

Besides working on the plan with Lu Yanhe, Li Zhenzhen also had to oversee the editing of the first episode.

They planned to release the first episode before the second phase of filming to see everyone's reaction.

Lu Yanhe didn't know how Li Zhenzhen planned to edit it, but based on the content they had recorded, even if it were edited poorly, there would still be plenty of topics, and the heat wouldn't be low.

Lu Yanhe watched as Li Zhenzhen started losing hair, getting breakouts, and her complexion turning sallow. He didn't even need to ask to know how much pressure she was under recently.

Li Zhenzhen was a very visionary program director, an idealist. Lu Yanhe had truly believed in her before, thinking she could really film a different kind of show, but in actual filming, that expectation hadn't been realized. This also taught Lu Yanhe a profound lesson. He still liked Li Zhenzhen as a producer, but in terms of producing a show, her ability was indeed lacking.

On the last day of August, Lu Yanhe gathered with Li Pengfei, Linyu, Chen Qin, and Xu Zijun.

Linyu's competition had finally ended, and she had taken seventh place in the country, the only high school student in the top ten. She had registered as a high school student.

So, everyone gathering together also meant celebrating for Linyu.

Linyu was also very happy to have won the award. She said: "I've always loved learning languages, but I didn't want to just be a translator in the future, so I didn't choose the foreign language major. I could only teach myself."

"Your standards for yourself are too high." Li Pengfei clicked his tongue. "What kind of monsters are you all? It's the great summer vacation after the college entrance exam; some are doing competitions, some are making magazines. You're so diligent that I can't even sleep in peacefully."

"You're not working hard yourself, how dare you talk." Chen Qin glanced at Li Pengfei.

At Shisan High, besides Chen Siqi, Lu Yanhe was only really familiar and close with these few people.

It could be said that without these people, his senior year would have been absolutely half as bad.

"Old Lu, how's that 'Jump Up' you're doing? When will it be out?" Li Pengfei asked.

"It's been submitted for review," Lu Yanhe said. "If it's fast, it should be on the market by the end of September."

Li Pengfei clicked his tongue. "This book even has my contribution."

"Mm, your name is in the editor's assistant column," Lu Yanhe said. "Chen Siqi said she had to add it."

Li Pengfei's eyes widened. "What the hell, I'm an assistant?"

"Chen Siqi said so. You did a great job as her assistant, and she's very satisfied."

"Satisfied my foot!" Li Pengfei said. "I only agreed to help for your sake."

"Same thing. She and I are both editors-in-chief; you being her assistant is the same as being mine," Lu Yanhe said with a smile.

Li Pengfei spat, glaring at Lu Yanhe with resentment. "Be a human being."

Lu Yanhe was between laughter and tears.

"Yanhe, will you continue to do this book? I remember you wanted to make it a magazine at first, right?" Linyu suddenly asked.

"It depends on the performance of the first book. I personally want to continue. If possible, I hope to make it a regular publication like a magazine," Lu Yanhe said. "However, it's all unreliable to say now. If the first 'Jump Up' doesn't do well and the market response is poor, there's definitely no way to continue."

Linyu hesitated for a moment, then as if she had made up her mind, said: "If you're planning to continue, can you let me join? See what I can do. I don't need a salary; just treat it as an internship. I actually wanted to join you from the beginning, but I was preparing for the competition during the summer and didn't have time to help. Now that the competition is over, I've thought about it seriously, and I really want to take this opportunity to exercise myself."

Lu Yanhe looked at Linyu with some surprise.

Among the classmates around him, Linyu had a rare maturity and self-discipline.

To be honest, when he wanted to make 'Jump Up' before, he had thought about asking Linyu for help. But at that time, Linyu was preparing for the competition, so Lu Yanhe didn't bring it up, and he was embarrassed to ask. He didn't expect Linyu to have the same idea.

"If you're willing, of course you're welcome," Lu Yanhe said immediately. "Actually, so far, it's just Chen Siqi and me. Especially since I haven't helped much later on, Chen Siqi has been carrying it all alone. If you're willing to come and help, of course I'm very welcome. Let's see how the sales of the first book go. If it can really continue, we definitely need to establish a formal team; we can't just play around like this and rely entirely on ourselves."

Linyu smiled and nodded.

At this time, Xu Zijun spoke cautiously and asked: "Then can I participate too?"

Lu Yanhe didn't expect Xu Zijun to be interested as well.

"Are you all serious?"

"Serious," Xu Zijun said. "If you're willing."

"If they are willing to join, of course there's no problem. I couldn't ask for more." Chen Siqi was very happy to see this. "I'm really tired of managing so many things alone, and I'm always missing things. Most of the first book was our invited contributions. If we can really do the next one, we definitely need to establish a team."

Seeing Chen Siqi agree, Lu Yanhe breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, if we really want to establish a team to do this, we can't let everyone work for free like before, right?" Lu Yanhe said. "The two of us worked for free all summer, and we might not earn a penny."

"Not necessarily," Chen Siqi said immediately. "Ye Mai Network and Jiang Yin have both raised their estimates for this book, and the feedback from various channels is quite hot."

"Mm?" Lu Yanhe was very surprised. "Really?"

"Really. The 'City Travelogue' you recorded has brought a lot of attention to this book. The homepage of Ye Mai Network that plays 'City Travelogue' has a special link that can jump to the pre-order interface of this book," Chen Siqi said. "Moreover, Ye Mai Network has been promoting this book through various channels; they value this book very much."

Lu Yanhe said: "Relying on electronic sales probably won't help them earn much money, right?"

"They don't care about this bit of sales revenue; they want to do brand drainage," Chen Siqi said. "It is said that several brand businesses want to talk about cooperation with Ye Mai Network, but Ye Mai Network has refused them, refusing commercialization."

Lu Yanhe: "Ye Mai Network has always followed this style, saying it's not commercialized, but when it matures, it still will. I've seen several business cooperation advertisements on Ye Mai Network."

Chen Siqi said: "What's worse is that we all have to start school in September. By then, you'll be the only one in Yuming. There's a series of promotions after this book is listed that you need to cooperate with, and I don't know if your time will match up."

Lu Yanhe: "Try to match it."

Chen Siqi said: "When doing 'Jump Up', I actually had another idea."

"What idea?"

"When the time is ripe, I want to turn 'Jump Up' into a comprehensive content media," Chen Siqi said. "I also thought of it while doing 'Jump Up'. Of course, it's definitely not possible now. We have to do 'Jump Up' well first. I'm actually quite happy that your classmates want to join in. This way, I can have more of my own time to prepare in this direction."

"How do you want to do it?"

"Entertainment," Chen Siqi said. "Didn't I not want your name to appear on this book before? But now it's impossible for it not to appear. 'Jump Up' has already been clearly linked to you and the entertainment industry, especially the first issue. With articles written by so many artists like Jiang Yuqian, Song Linxin, Li Zhibai, Yan Liang... we can no longer simply define it as a literary magazine. So, I've thought about it and felt it's not worth avoiding this point. Since it's already related to entertainment, let's do entertainment content generously."

This was actually a long-term plan Lu Yanhe had in his heart for 'Jump Up'. Lu Yanhe didn't want to turn 'Jump Up' into an entertainment magazine, but wanted to use it as a foundation to expand his influence in the media field. For a magazine, the most valuable thing is actually the fixed readers it targets. Lu Yanhe didn't expect Chen Siqi to think of this point too.

Chen Siqi said: "I won't do the others first, I'll start with the low-cost ones. I'm preparing to establish a self-media account for 'Jump Up' and launch it when this book goes online."

"Then what are you going to do on this self-media account?"

"Do content, do content that is not suitable for publication in 'Jump Up' but is also watched by many people, such as artist interviews, film and television reviews, or even some life diaries or small articles written by ourselves," Chen Siqi said. "'Jump Up' book is going against the trend of the times, wanting to do a renaissance; 'Jump Up' self-media is following the trend of the times. The key is that this doesn't require us to invest any costs."

"Are you planning to do this self-media by yourself?"

"Who said that? Didn't you say you have several classmates who want to join us? I also asked your classmate Bai Yu, and she is also very willing to play together," Chen Siqi said. "Anyway, we are all students and have plenty of time. We go to universities all over the country, and we can also find many interested classmates in the university to join in."

Hearing Chen Siqi say this, Lu Yanhe knew she had made up her mind to do so.

"Fine, if you want to do it, then do it."

"Fine, since you support it, then I'll start doing it." After Chen Siqi finished speaking, she suddenly took out two documents from her bag and handed them to Lu Yanhe. "This is an agreement I drafted myself. 'Jump Up' self-media account belongs to you and me. Like 'Jump Up', if there is any income in the future, we will split it in half."

Lu Yanhe was stunned.

He didn't expect Chen Siqi's execution to be so strong, even drafting the agreement.

"I haven't done anything yet, are you sure you want to give me half of the income?" Lu Yanhe asked in surprise.

"Giving you half of the income is already me taking advantage," Chen Siqi said. "Without you, there would be no 'Jump Up', and even less likely to have this self-media."

Lu Yanhe scratched his head.

"Then do you need me to do anything?"

"You just help us handle big stars like Jiang Yuqian, so that every issue of 'Jump Up' has at least one such big star contributing. I'll handle the rest," Chen Siqi said with a determined look, her eyes full of firmness and confidence in the future.

The self-media account of 'Jump Up' editorial club was created by Chen Siqi just like that.

On several large websites and social platforms, Chen Siqi registered this account. Of course, after registration, nothing had been released yet, and content creation was zero.

Lu Yanhe was quite happy that Chen Siqi had such high enthusiasm to do this.

He was just a little uneasy about whether 'Jump Up' could be done continuously and for a long time, and he really didn't have much confidence.

On the contrary, Chen Ziyan, after learning about Chen Siqi's idea, her eyes flashed and said: "Yanhe, your little girlfriend is amazing."

Lu Yanhe had always known that Chen Siqi was amazing.

Hearing Chen Ziyan praise Chen Siqi like this, he was also inexplicably happy.

Then, it was at this time that August passed and September arrived.

Lu Yanhe welcomed the press conference for the first product he endorsed in his life.

At the press conference of the Xueyou APP, Li Luzhi recounted that his inspiration for developing this APP came from Lu Yanhe taking everyone to dictate words in the live broadcast room.

The press conference was broadcast live throughout.

Lu Yanhe also logged into the APP at the press conference and tried the connection function of this APP with several people.

Subsequently, Lu Yanhe delivered a speech at the press conference about why he chose to live broadcast to study in his senior year.

"I know my will is not that firm, and I can't do the 'hanging my head from the beam and stabbing my thigh with an awl' thing alone. So, choosing to live broadcast is not so much me live broadcasting to show everyone my study and problem solving, but rather inviting everyone to supervise me."

"The most important thing is that when I am studying, I know that many people are with me, accompanying me. This feeling can give me a kind of power of companionship. Whenever I feel tired and want to be lazy, I want to persist a little longer."

"Xueyou APP has a function I like very much. You can invite several friends to form a study group on this APP, set task goals together, and then everyone can see everyone's completion progress in real time," Lu Yanhe said. "This kind of encouragement from fellow travelers is very positive."

Lu Yanhe's speech was bought on a hot search by Li Luzhi's company.

With the halo of a top student with 657 points in the college entrance exam, this speech content received great attention.

Within an hour of the end of the press conference, the download volume of Xueyou APP exceeded 200,000 times, and the registered users exceeded 50,000.

"Thank you for your hard work." Li Luzhi sent Lu Yanhe downstairs and said: "After the product went online today, the data is very good. Your appeal among students is indeed extraordinary."

Lu Yanhe said: "Thank you, Uncle Li, for giving me the first endorsement in my life."

"Your agent is very responsible and values your endorsement very much. She confirmed our APP's business model and profit model with us repeatedly, confirming that it won't cheat you, before agreeing to sign," Li Luzhi patted Lu Yanhe on the shoulder. "That kid Li Pengfei is reckless and unreliable, but he respects you very much. You take him with you more for your uncle, let him walk the right path. This stinky kid, he refuses to go abroad, he can only go to Huajiangnan University. I don't know what kind of monsters are in that school."

Lu Yanhe suddenly didn't know what to say.

He could only say: "He is a good friend of mine, we will definitely help each other and support each other."

Li Luzhi nodded. "Are you starting school tomorrow?"

"Yes," Lu Yanhe nodded. "Report tomorrow."

Li Luzhi said: "Then you will be a college student starting tomorrow. Good luck. If you need my help with anything, just give me a call. You are Li Pengfei's friend, I will definitely help if I can."

"Thank you, Uncle." Lu Yanhe's gratitude to Li Luzhi was sincere.

He had always envied Li Pengfei for having a father like Li Luzhi.

He would always remember that during the winter vacation self-study, Li Luzhi brought lunch to invite them to eat.

He would also always remember the father-son relationship that Li Luzhi had for Li Pengfei, which seemed rough but was actually caring.

Lu Yanhe envied it. Because he would never feel it in this life. ===== CHAPTER 244 =====