Volume 1 Beginning of Summer Chapter 22 Bargaining
Jiang You raised his eyebrows and threw the empty smoothie cup into the trash can.
His cell phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Lao Cai.
Lao Cai: How was the talk? Isn't my niece pretty good?
Jiang You: She’s so good. I’m afraid I can’t keep up with her.
Lao Cai: What’s wrong?
Jiang You thought about it and typed: She is very motivated and has ideas about work. The gap between us will only get bigger in the future.
Lao Cai: I understand. She just graduated and doesn't know much. I'll treat you to a meal later.
Jiang You: Okay, let’s have a drink together.
Jiang You put down his phone.
There was still a little bit of smoothie that had almost melted into water in Tang Butian's cup, and she sipped it in small sips.
"Do you usually live in the school dormitory?" Jiang You asked.
Tang Butian shook her head and said, "I want to practice, so I rented a house next to the school."
"Studying, training, and special department matters, can you handle it?"
"Not bad," Tang Butian finished her smoothie. She raised her head and looked at Jiang You with her eyes full of autumn water and dust. "What are you going to do?"
"From what I've seen, it seems that Rouwan Wanzi will be staying in Tangjiang for a while. Her appearance fee for the comic convention is probably between 15,000 and 20,000 yuan. Do you think she would be happy with 10,000 yuan for taking promotional photos for my store? How about I write 8,000 yuan first?"
“So low?”
"It's not low. If I say it's too high, people might think I have bad intentions. Luckily, I posted a few days ago to prove my fan status," Jiang You took out his phone and opened Weibo. There was an email address for work contacts on Rouwan's homepage. He copied the email address and wrote the email while saying, "Look at those who have practiced ballet and folk dance since they were young. After more than ten years of training, how much money do they get when a team goes out to perform? The audience for home dance is not large. There have been many comic exhibitions in recent years, and these dancers can only make money."
“That’s not something a fan would say.”
"Although I'm not in the entertainment industry, I was one of her earliest fans," Jiang You sent an email. "I still remember the first video that Rouwanwanzi submitted. It seemed to be shot in her neighborhood. There were all kinds of aunties and grandfathers walking around behind her. That video is no longer available online. She wore a pink dress, furry cat ears and cat paws, and a mask. She looked very innocent and cute."
After sending the email, he reached out and picked up the empty cup next to Tang Butian and threw it into the trash can. "I felt like I was watching her grow up. She danced better and better, her costumes, makeup and lighting became more and more professional, and she had more and more fans. It was like we were together, accompanying each other through a period of time. That was the feeling."
"Were you having a bad time back then?" Tang Butian asked.
"It's OK, just tired."
"Why?"
"What?"
"I'm in a hurry to get a house."
"So that we can relax now. Wanna watch a movie? There's a movie theater next door at Kumi Plaza. I think a superhero movie is showing today."
"Did Meatball reply?"
"It would be timely to reply tomorrow, right? This matter cannot be rushed."
Tang Butian thought for a moment and said, "I'm going back now. You can go to the movies by yourself."
"Okay, there's a reply. I'll report to you on WeChat." Jiang You walked to the door and opened it.
Tang Butian walked to the door. She glanced at the pots of sunflowers on the flower stand beside the door without the branches removed and said, "I'm leaving. No need to see me off."
"Leader, take care."
Jiang You watched Tang Butian leave. After Tang Butian's figure completely disappeared outside the yard, he slowly walked to the edge of the pond, squatted down, and reached out to stir the water.
The water is very cold.
A team of ants crawled through the cracks in the pebbles.
When Jiang You woke up the next day, he found that he had received a reply to his email.
When I opened it, the letter contained a quotation and a QR code of a WeChat business card.
Jiang You clicked on the quotation and took a look at it, then he scanned the QR code and added Maomao, Rouwan's agent, on WeChat.
He passed the verification quickly.
He sat up slightly against the back of the bed.
Maomao: Hello, what kind of cooperation do you want?
Jiang You: Well, I hope to take some photos in my shop, highlight the characteristics of my shop and my yard, and then post the photos online, preferably with a few compliments. Or just do a dance in my yard. That's about it.
Maomao: Do you hope that Maru will be the spokesperson for your store?
Jiang You: I’m just a small shop…
Maomao: A small shop can be expanded and some topics can be created, which will have a better publicity effect.
Jiang You: Is it impossible to just take a group of photos or a dance video? My yard is pretty nice.
Maomao: If it's just photos and videos, it's purely to exploit Maru's popularity and bring you traffic. I read your Weibo and you're also a fan of Maru. You must hope she can go further, right?
Jiang You: Then we can only wait and see if there will be an opportunity in the future.
Maomao: Okay. Let’s work together again in the future.
Jiang You put down his phone, scratched his head, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "I'm being disliked."
After putting his glasses back on, he opened the email again and clicked on the quotation. "Two hundred thousand for three months of endorsement. This is a steal."
He stood up from the bed, stretched a few times, and walked out of the room.
I changed clothes, washed up, went downstairs, and as usual went to Xiaofangzhai to eat a bowl of noodles.
When paying, he asked Lao Yin: "Do you need the car this afternoon?"
"Why, you want to use it?"
"Well, I'm going to go to the flower and bird market."
Lao Yin took out the car keys and placed them on the counter. "It's parked in the back. Go and drive it yourself."
"Thank you."
Liumu Flower and Bird Market is at the southernmost end of Yushui District. Jiang You drove Lao Yin’s van into the parking lot next to the market.
After getting off the car, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up at the gate of Liumu Flower and Bird Market.
He found the meaty section and picked a stall at random.
"How do you sell it?"
"Three in front," the stall owner gestured, "four here, five here."
“It’s a bit expensive.”
"Is this still expensive? Then tell me the price."
"I want more."
"How much?"
"About thirty or forty of them. I want to make a succulent flower stand."
"What kind?"
Jiang You took out his cell phone, found a photo of the shelf, and showed it to the stall owner.
"For this kind of thing, you need to get a few big basins and arrange them into shapes to make it look good."
"2 yuan a piece. You can prepare it for me. I can also get the soil and pot from you."
The stall owner nodded. "Okay, wait a minute . I'll give you some more stone medium. Anything else?"
"Water lilies, but I don't know if they're easy to get. I have a small pond."
"Get some seeds. Put them in the pond today and they will sprout in a week."
"That's fine. Oh, and by the way, if you have pomegranate saplings in the market, buy five for me. I'll send them to the car later."
"I'll make a phone call."
More than an hour later, Jiang You had bought all the things he wanted, and the stall owner and he helped him load the things into the car.
After sitting in the driver's seat, he received a WeChat message from Maomao.
Maomao: Can I see some photos of your store?
Jiang You: Wait a minute, the yard has just been finished.
He sent five or six photos, then took out a box of mints and put two in his mouth.
Maomao: I have negotiated for you and Rouwan. Because of her schedule, she will be going to Cultural Street the day after tomorrow. Can I give you three hours, a dance video, and some behind-the-scenes footage?
Jiang You: What about the price?
Maomao: Because we have to include the fees of the makeup artist and the photographer, twenty thousand.
Jiang You: Give me a discount.
After five or six minutes, Maomao replied: Eighteen thousand, the lowest. The clothes will also be matched according to the style of your yard.
Jiang You: Okay. What time the day after tomorrow?
Maomao: 2pm-5pm.
Jiang You: Okay.
