Whether Jiang Tingyuan was moved by his earnest words last night was still unknown.
Ye Zhou only knew that early next morning, when he was half asleep, he felt someone standing in front of him.
Thinking it was just a hallucination from not sleeping well, Ye Zhou rubbed his eyes. But the person did not disappear. Instead, he got even closer.
And the more Ye Zhou looked at the figure, the more similar he looked to Boss Jiang last night.
As the two shadows gradually overlapped, Ye Zhou was instantly wide awake. He enthusiastically said, “Yuan-ge, good morning!”
Jiang Tingyuan first glanced at the alarm clock by Ye Zhou’s bed, then looked back at him, reminding him in a cool tone: “It’s 7:30.”
Ye Zhou was stunned, not understanding Jiang Tingyuan’s meaning.
Could it be that even as a little lover now he had to get up early for work?
Jiang Tingyuan stared at him for a while. Seeing that he was still confused, Jiang Tingyuan couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the copyright auction, but now you don’t want to go anymore?”
If he remembered correctly, Ye Zhou should have been quite looking forward to this auction. How come now he looked like he had completely forgotten about it?
Recalling Ye Zhou’s words last night, Jiang Tingyuan lowered his head, and a trace of interest flashed through his eyes.
When Jiang Tingyuan mentioned it, Ye Zhou slapped his forehead.
Too much happened yesterday that he had actually forgotten such an important plot point.
The auction Jiang Tingyuan mentioned was jointly organized by the Chinese Writers Association, the largest domestic novel websites, and film and television companies. It was held annually and saw large-scale copyright transactions every year.
The auction price for the copyright of each work at the auction varied. Some sold for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, while others had lower prices of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands.
The number of high-value copyright works traded on auction day accounted for nearly two-thirds of all annual high-value copyright transactions.
So, no matter if it was the author, websites, film and television companies, or publishing houses, everyone attached great importance to the annual auction.
As the original body was a director, he was naturally also very interested in this auction. After discussing it at length with Jiang Tingyuan, he finally got him to agree to take time off and accompany him there.
But in the novel, the original owner still angered the boss in the end and did not get to go to the auction at all.
Instead, the protagonist made a big splash at the auction, buying up many copyrights and laying the groundwork for his future entertainment career.
Recalling these plots, Ye Zhou was no longer sleepy. “Let’s go, Yuan-ge, wait for me!”
Ye Zhou quickly grabbed a white T-shirt and jeans from the closet and jogged to the bathroom to freshen up.
Rushing against time, they still managed not to be late.
The auction was held at the Commercial Building. When they arrived, many reporters and a small number of fans had gathered outside.
There were security guards interspersed among them to maintain order. Although there were many people, it was not chaotic.
Ye Zhou followed Jiang Tingyuan into the venue. Perhaps because they had arrived a bit late, the auditorium was already almost full when they entered.
Thanks to the halo of the big boss, their seats were in the middle of the third row, neither too close to the speakers to hurt their ears nor too far to see clearly.
Shortly after taking their seats, the lights in the venue suddenly dimmed, leaving only the spotlight on the front stage, signaling the start of today’s auction.
Ye Zhou was looking forward to the auction because in his world, buying and selling copyrights always involved negotiations under the condition of both parties having limited access to information, making it difficult to understand the full picture of the deal.
Only the works of a small number of industry leaders would get the treatment of public bidding like this.
As per convention, after a few opening remarks from the organizers, the auction officially kicked off.
The auctioneer in charge was a man about thirty years old. He was slender and ordinary-looking but introduced auction items clearly and concisely, yet sharply, easily garnering goodwill.
The first item was the latest work of a popular female author whose writings had sold very well in recent years and who had a fixed fanbase. Her online serializations always drew huge attention.
The movie based on her novel, which was released last year, was a huge success because it stayed true to the original story, had exceptional performances, and had excellent box office and reviews.
As a result, there were great expectations for her new book this time. The bidding was very intense, starting from an initial 5 million yuan bid price to 26 million yuan, and still rising.
Ye Zhou couldn’t help but be amazed, silently sighing at how extravagantly rich they were. His entire budget for making a movie previously didn’t even reach 10 million yuan, yet now just the adaptation rights sold for more than 20 million.
Watching the changes in his expression, Jiang Tingyuan was somewhat amused. He leaned in slightly and asked in Ye Zhou’s ear, “Do you want to bid?”
Ye Zhou was stunned, suddenly realizing that he was no longer the poor little director from before. He now had a financial backer too!
Damn, was this what it felt like to be taken care of by a big boss?! It’s so awesome!
Just imagining the big boss spending a fortune for him, Ye Zhou almost fainted from happiness.
But Ye Zhou didn’t let it get to his head either. While competitive bidding on this work was fierce, it was still a romantic urban genre not suitable for Ye Zhou’s strengths and styles.
Seeing Jiang Tingyuan about to raise his paddle, Ye Zhou quickly stopped his hand and shook his head like a rattle drum: “Don’t, Yuan-ge, I don’t really like this kind of genre, let’s see some others.”
Jiang Tingyuan shifted his gaze from the stage to Ye Zhou’s hand pressing down on his arm. His expression was somewhat strange, but Ye Zhou, immersed in excitement, did not notice anything off.
In the end, that book sold for 29 million yuan.
After that, several other novels and scripts were auctioned off at varying prices, some high some low, but there were no longer any that reached a price as high as the first item.
Perhaps because Ye Zhou had not prepared adequately beforehand and was unfamiliar with many of the works, he still had not come across anything that really caught his eye up to this point. Rather, he felt dizzy from information overload and somewhat sleepy.
“I’m going to the washroom.” Ye Zhou turned to tell Jiang Tingyuan beside him.
Just as he was about to enter the washroom, a figure suddenly rushed towards him. If not for Ye Zhou reacting quickly to dodge, he would have been knocked over.
By dodging, there was nothing to stop the other person who looked set to fall to the ground. Ye Zhou quickly reached out to grab him, barely helping the other steady himself.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” After stabilizing himself, the man immediately apologized to Ye Zhou.
But the apology was only half-spoken when the man looked up and saw Ye Zhou, his expression instantly changed and his words stalled.
“What are you doing here?”
Ye Zhou was puzzled by his question. The young man in front of him was probably in his early twenties. His features were very sharp and aggressive, with a deeply sculpted face, fierce brows, and undisguised unruliness in his brows and eyes.
The young man frowned at him with a gaze as if looking at something filthy.
“Who are you?” Ye Zhou frowned back.
Hearing Ye Zhou ask this, the young man did not reply. He just scoffed disdainfully and left quickly without sparing Ye Zhou another glance.
Looking at the back of the retreating figure, Ye Zhou felt completely confused. He felt the other party’s actions were bizarre and unwarranted.
Oh well, never mind him first. Since there was no impression of him from the original’s memories, he probably wasn’t a major character in the book. If he was, there would likely be another encounter.
With this thought, Ye Zhou headed to the sink to splash some water on his face.
But just as things seemed to settle, another incident cropped up. He had just bent down when ambiguous moans and gentle panting sounded from the adjoining men’s washroom, only a door separating them.
The sounds were far too ambiguous given the location. It wasn’t difficult to guess what the people inside were up to.
As if wanting to prove Ye Zhou’s speculation, the suppressed moans grew louder, accompanied by the soft thuds of buttons rhythmically hitting the door.
Ye Zhou: ……
Emmm, it’s getting quite intense!
He turned the tap to maximum flow, trying to drown out the awkward sounds from next door with the water. The cold water hitting his face instantly dissipated what little remnants of drowsiness he still felt.
After washing his face and taking two paper towels to wipe his hands, Ye Zhou headed back towards the conference hall. But he had barely turned around when he heard rustling sounds behind him, followed by two men emerging one after the other from the washroom.
The man in front was about 1.8 meters tall, handsome yet with a frosty demeanor. The young man behind him was shorter by half a head, with refined features and some lingering flush on his face.
This was unimportant. What was crucial was that Ye Zhou recognized both men.
Damn it! Weren’t these two exactly the protagonist gong Jiang Yu and protagonist shou Cheng Ran?!
Ye Zhou had imagined thousands of ways he might encounter the protagonist couple but never expected it to happen under such circumstances and in such a unique fashion.
Who could have thought his first meeting with the two leads would be walking in on them battling intensely in the washroom!
Ye Zhou felt he needed to calm down. He forced himself to leave the washroom as quickly as possible, afraid he might accidentally reveal himself to the two.
When he returned to the venue, he couldn’t stop hiccupping from the immense shock.
Seeing Ye Zhou’s pale complexion, Jiang Tingyuan frowned slightly. “What’s wrong with you?”
Ye Zhou quickly tried to summarize and tell the big boss what he saw in the washroom: “I just bumped into…*hic*…him in the washroom…”
Jiang Tingyuan: ……
Ye Zhou struggled to regulate his breathing to stop his hiccups but to no avail. Left with no choice, he decided to just push through.
“I just *hic* bumped into your brother in the washroom…*hic*!”
Jiang Tingyuan thought for a while before asking, “Which one?”
Ye Zhou: ……
Oh right, he forgot. Jiang’s family situation was rather complicated. Boss Jiang’s father had been quite the playboy in his youth and had at least four illegitimate children outside. The protagonist gong Jiang Yu was just one of them.
Perhaps noticing his current difficulty in speaking, Jiang Tingyuan tried guessing, “Jiang Yu?”
Ye Zhou immediately nodded vigorously. “*hic*…Yes, him.”
Jiang Tingyuan’s hand suddenly shot toward Ye Zhou’s eyes.
Ye Zhou was so shocked he almost leapt up. He smacked Jiang Tingyuan’s hand away quickly.
A crisp ‘smack!’ sounded.
Ye Zhou watched as the originally fair and white back of Jiang Tingyuan’s hand slowly turned red.
The shape, coincidentally, was that of a finger imprint.
Ye Zhou: ……
Jiang Tingyuan: ……
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