Chapter 2: Black Leather and Pan'er

For publication fees, Li Chen boldly demanded one million, after tax!

The editor on the other side was stunned and said it was impossible.

In 2002, the publication fee for a novel by a newcomer like him was only tens of thousands to a hundred thousand.

However, Li Chen's next sentence made the other party hesitate again.

One million for two novels combined.

so young was also nearing its end.

The click-through rate remained high.

The other side replied that they needed to consider it, but Li Chen was not in a hurry.

He was aware of the current click-through rates of these two novels and their future market potential.

One million was definitely not a loss for the other party.

This book hadn't become a huge hit yet, but it was already showing signs of becoming popular.

The next day, the other party called again.

As expected, they agreed.

But they wanted to add authorization for audiobooks, as well as adaptation rights for comics and films.

After some back and forth, both sides made a concession.

Except for the novel's film adaptation and production rights, all other rights, such as audiobook and comic adaptation rights, were sold to the other party in a lump sum.

Both parties could be considered to have gained something.

On the third business day after signing the contract, Li Chen's bank card, which previously had a balance of a few hundred yuan, now had a '1000' added in front of it.

Li Chen was in a great mood and decided to take Li Chen's mother on a spontaneous trip during the summer vacation.

A tour of Hong Kong and Macau.

Li Chen's mother simply didn't believe that her son had earned money by tapping away on the computer every day.

It wasn't until her son took out fifty thousand yuan and placed it in front of her, and then showed her the electronic contract, that she finally believed him completely.

Seeing Li Chen's mother's excited expression, Li Chen felt a mix of emotions.

“Mom, you've worked hard all these years.”

Li Chen's mother was also a little moved, but said carelessly, “What's so hard about it? Once you go to college, I'll take early retirement and go to Hainan to be with your dad.”

“Hmm, that's what I was thinking too.”

Both mother and son had Hong Kong and Macau travel permits. They had discussed the Hong Kong and Macau trip during the Spring Festival, so they had applied for the permits early.

In February, he had also participated in the preliminary and several rounds of re-examinations for the Beijing Film Academy Director Department, and his results were quite good.

Now it was all up to the college entrance examination results.

The mother and son first went to Hainan to visit relatives, then took a ferry to Guangzhou, and by the time they arrived in Hong Kong, it was already June 25th.

His college entrance examination score was 558, which was about what he had estimated.

To get into the Beijing Film Academy Director Department, the cultural course score had to reach at least seventy percent of the first-tier university admission line.

His score was more than sufficient, and he was likely to be the highest-scoring among the dozen or so admitted students.

Now he was just waiting for the admission letter.

The mother and son wandered around Hong Kong for two days, then went to Macau.

The two of them walked around the Grand Lisboa for a bit, but felt uncomfortable everywhere.

This feeling only disappeared after they left the casino.

Everywhere they went, people were talking about the World Cup.

June 30th was the World Cup final, Brazil against Germany.

Without needing to think, Li Chen remembered it clearly.

The alien scored twice, and the Samba Legion was about to be crowned five-star champions, after which they would fall into a slump.

But what did that have to do with him?

When the World Cup first opened, Li Chen had wanted to buy football lottery tickets.

Although he couldn't remember the exact wins and losses, he clearly remembered the plot of the national football team losing all their group stage matches and scoring no goals.

He excitedly ran to the football lottery shop, only to find that although football lottery was introduced in 2002,

The gameplay didn't include competitive football betting or single-match score betting.

It was a false alarm; even with an opportunity, he couldn't make a fortune.

Passersby on the side were all discussing.

“Boss, do you want to place a bet? Ronaldo's goal is very stable, lah.”

Li Chen reached out and pushed aside the tout in front of him: “No, thank you.”

The tout heard Li Chen's mainland accent.

He persisted, “Boss, you've come to Macau, how can you return empty-handed, lah? If you don't take a gamble, you'll definitely regret it when you go back to the mainland, lah.”

Li Chen stopped, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the tout: “What did you say?”

Seeing that the young man was interested, the tout quickly said, “Boss, this is Macau. If you come to Macau and don't gamble, isn't it like coming for nothing?”

This guy was right! Although it wasn't possible in the mainland, didn't Macau have competitive betting?

Li Chen hastily asked, “Besides goals, can I bet on single-match scores?”

“Of course you can, lah.”

Li Chen said no more, and without bothering with the tout, he and Li Chen's mother returned to the hotel.

The next day, the Macau lottery teller stared dumbfounded at Li Chen's retreating figure.

He sighed in his heart, “Mainland boss: rich and willful!”

“900,000 on Ronaldo scoring twice, Macau odds 18.8.”

By the time he returned home to Beijing, it was already mid-July.

The number in Li Chen's bank card had changed from seven digits to eight digits.

The tax he paid truly pained him; it was even higher than the copyright fees for his two novels!

Besides the change in his balance, he also received his admission letter to the Beijing Film Academy Director Department as he wished.

Time flew by, and soon it was the day of enrollment.

Handsome men and beautiful women were everywhere at the Beijing Film Academy, a feast for the eyes.

However, he figured most of them were from the Acting Department, while he was in the Director Department.

The Director Department wasn't entirely made up of Chinese people; among the fourteen students, including him, only seven were Chinese.

The others were foreigners, whose appearances could only be described as talented.

After completing the enrollment procedures, his advisor also encouraged him.

He said that his cultural course score was the highest in the department and urged him to work hard.

He also jokingly remarked that his good looks had raised the average level of the Director Department.

Heh! Li Chen was speechless!

He arrived at the dormitory.

Unexpectedly, the other three had already arrived.

Well, two were from Island Nation, and one was from Sri Lanka.

The three spoke broken Chinese, and they got to know each other.

Walking on campus, Li Chen didn't see many familiar faces.

However, most of the girls were quite attractive; after all, those who were not good-looking wouldn't dare apply to the Film Academy.

Just as he was speaking, someone walked towards him.

Li Chen wanted to laugh as soon as he saw this person. The person was also carrying luggage, looking like a migrant worker.

The young man in front of him was smiling at him, but he didn't know him, so he thought his face was dirty.

He unconsciously wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and also smiled, saying, “Classmate, why are you laughing?”

Li Chen restrained his smile and said, “Nothing, your appearance just now reminded me of a movie.”

When the person heard this, he became interested and self-deprecatingly said, “Really? I wanted to study acting, but my appearance held me back, so I was assigned to the dubbing class.”

“Let's get acquainted, dubbing class, Huang Bo!”

“Director Department, Li Chen!”

Huang Bo was very happy to meet Li Chen, and they exchanged contact information and QQ numbers.

Li Chen had indeed thought of the classic character 'Black Leather' when he saw Huang Bo.

Perhaps they could collaborate in the future, on “Crazy Stone”!

Outside the school gate, three people got out of a Mercedes commercial vehicle.

Two women and one man. The temperament of the two women was impeccable.

One was youthfully invincible, wearing a baseball cap, so he couldn't clearly see what she looked like.

The other, though somewhat older, clearly had an artistic background based on her temperament and figure.

As for the man, he was a bit hard to describe; he should have been forty or fifty years old.

However, being able to drive a Mercedes meant he was at least a rich man.

In a fleeting glance, the girl looked up.

Li Chen was stunned; he finally knew who the baseball cap belonged to: Zhao Pan'er.