Chapter 83: Yan Li Said Nothing, Only Quietly Counted His Money (Requesting First Chapter)

《Surpassing “The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” It Ignites Nanjing—Just Who Is This “Conquest”?》

《Premiere Ratings Near 10%, “Conquest” Dominates the Nanjing Region》

《A Brief Analysis of the Gap Between “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” and “Conquest” Based on Ratings, Reception, Performances, and Return on Investment》

《“The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” With a 30-Million Investment and Star-Studded Cast, Loses to the Obscure “Conquest”—Producer Zhang Jizhong Falls from Grace》

《……》

Bang!

Zhang Dahuzi slammed his mouse and turned to his assistant: “Which company produced this ‘Conquest’? Their tactics are disgraceful.”

They just lost a small battle in Nanjing, yet these little reports make it sound like “Conquest” is crushing “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” nationwide.

Despite its poor public reception, “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” still has solid ratings.

In multiple regions and cities—including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Chongqing—the drama ranked number one in ratings.

TV stations made a fortune on advertising; one Yunnan station spent 600,000 to 700,000 yuan to buy “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” but earned nearly 8 million yuan in ad revenue.

Thus, despite polarized public opinion, every TV station in the industry was scrambling to acquire it, and Zhang Dahuzi took pride in it.

Then this opportunistic drama showed up, seizing every chance to smear and mock it—how could he not be furious?

“Should we sue them?”

The assistant came up with an idea; Zhang Dahuzi glared at him like he was an idiot.

“How do you prove these reports were orchestrated by that production team?”

“More importantly, this guy is clearly trying to ride on our coattails. If you sue him, you’re just handing him a front-page headline. Hmph—he probably hopes I’ll sue him.”

Zhang Dahuzi was a genuine master of publicity; he knew all these tricks inside out.

In this situation, the best move is to ignore them—the more you react, the more they escalate, letting them gain the upper hand. Ignore them completely, and they’ll eventually quiet down.

But even so, this kind of thing is like a toad crawling onto your foot—it doesn’t hurt, but it’s deeply annoying.

Zhang Dahuzi glanced at the news on his screen, slammed his mouse again, cursed under his breath, then ordered his assistant.

“Find out who’s in charge of ‘Conquest.’ I’ll settle accounts with him one day.”

————

On the other side, Yan Li watched “Conquest”’s views and followers skyrocket, feeling both delighted and regretful.

He’s a seasoned veteran—he managed to hold back and not take the bait.

Otherwise, if he’d gotten into a fight with Zhang Dahuzi, “Conquest” would’ve hit the headlines, and satellite channels might’ve started calling for bids the next day.

Still, “Conquest”’s momentum is excellent.

It topped the charts in Nanjing; after its premiere in Xi’an, it held steady in the top three for days; in Tianjin, it began a second rerun with strong ratings.

According to news from the company, several local TV stations had already inquired.

One sub-channel of Beijing TV, which Yan Li had previously dealt with, contacted him directly.

After learning through his intelligence network, Yan Li found their willingness to buy was strong and their price expectations reasonable.

Additionally, two DVD video companies also wanted to secure the related rights to “Conquest.”

Yan Li originally planned to manage the DVD rights himself, since his monthly intelligence reports indicated “Conquest” would sell well in the DVD market.

But after gaining some understanding, he decisively abandoned the idea.

The DVD market and TV distribution are entirely different industries; to operate in it, you need your own distribution and promotional channels, and you must outmaneuver pirates.

Rather than expend that effort, Yan Li preferred to visit more TV stations.

So he decided to sell the rights outright—or sign a revenue-sharing contract, outsource the business, and collect royalties based on sales.

In March, Yan Li returned to Beijing from Xi’an and began negotiations with TV stations and partners.

After airing “Conquest,” Nanjing TV rebroadcast it in the same time slot—and ratings rose instead of falling, averaging over 15%.

As Nanjing TV’s acquisition director put it, the last time this happened was with “My Fair Princess.”

Suddenly, everyone in Nanjing seemed to know a ruthless man named Liu Huaqiang.

Sun Honglei, who was filming in Beijing, was stunned when local Nanjing reporters showed up at his set; only after learning the details did he understand.

“Conquest” had gone viral!

Was he famous too?!

Gao Qunshu understood this even more deeply than Sun Honglei; during early promotion, Yan Li had repeatedly asked him to cooperate, shaping him as a pioneer director of crime thrillers.

Later, when “Conquest” became popular in Tianjin, reporters started approaching him for interviews.

When Yan Li was provoking Zhang Dahuzi, TV stations even came to him, subtly pressuring him to criticize “The Legend of the Condor Heroes.”

But Gao wasn’t foolish—he gave interviews but never offended anyone.

His answer was always: I don’t know, I’m not familiar, I don’t pay attention—it’s probably just netizens or reporters expressing their own views, nothing to do with him.

With “Conquest”’s popularity, Sun Honglei, the absolute lead, and Gao Qunshu, the director, benefited the most.

Supporting actors Jiang Shan, Liu Weiwei, and Li Yixiang also gained varying degrees of benefits.

In contrast, Yan Li, with his minor role and unfamiliar face, left little impression on viewers.

Yan Li checked thoroughly—no media spontaneously mentioned him when discussing characters or actors; the few online discussions about “Conquest” focused almost entirely on Liu Huaqiang and the plot; when he went out in public, no one recognized him.

Of course, this might also be because “Conquest” hadn’t yet aired on satellite TV, so its influence remained limited to a few broadcast regions and hadn’t fully spread.

As a newcomer actor, Yan Li could only comfort himself this way—then wipe his tears and quietly count his money.

With “Conquest” burning hot in Nanjing, Tianjin, Xi’an, and other places, its price naturally could no longer be compared to its pre-broadcast value.

Ordinary municipal TV stations previously paid a few thousand yuan per episode; now, anything under 10,000 yuan was unacceptable.

In major cities like Nanjing and Xi’an, TV stations usually kept prices under 50,000 yuan per episode; before, except for the special case of Shenzhen, Nanjing and Xi’an paid 20,000 yuan per episode.

Now, prices were typically above 30,000 yuan per episode, often rising even higher.

Currently, the highest bid came from the Beijing TV sub-channel: 62,000 yuan per episode, making it “Conquest”’s first million-yuan contract.

Within less than a week of returning to Beijing, Yan Li had already secured contracts totaling over 2 million yuan.

The contracts signed before the Spring Festival totaled about 2.5 million yuan; adding the initial 500,000-yuan deposit paid to Gao Qunshu, Yan Li and Old Gao’s agreed 5-million-yuan contract was essentially finalized.

The rest of the profit? All Yan Li’s…

(End of Chapter)