The next day.
Today is Saturday, the weekly day of rest.
The training ground was deserted. All the freshmen, after finishing breakfast, quickly returned to their dorms, awaiting the most important segment of the week.
"They're here, they're here! The monitor is here!" shouted Li Shuishui, who was standing guard outside.
Inside the dorm, the members of Class Five sat upright, their eyes fixed on the dorm door, full of anticipation.
Li Dong walked in carrying a bucket of water. He glanced at the new students sitting on their small stools and said with a smile, "If you had this much enthusiasm for training every day, forget about only two hours of phone time on Saturdays. We could even discuss giving you an hour of phone time every day!
Alright, come and get your phones!"
As soon as the bucket was put down, everyone swarmed forward, grabbed their phones and chargers, and returned to their seats.
"Hey, darling, I didn't expect you to be waiting for my call already. Sob sob sob, I'm so touched!"
"Dad, winter is coming soon. Have the crops in our fields been harvested? We have over ten mu of land, why don't we find some help?"
"You damn son, are you still sleeping? Hurry up and log in and leave it on auto-pilot. If you haven't leveled your account to level 250 by the end of military training, I'll report you to the bureau for financial fraud!"
The dorm was soon filled with the sounds of phone calls and chats.
Gao Fei was no exception. He took his phone, connected it to the charger, and made his first call to his mother.
According to his mother's usual routine, she woke up at eight every morning, then went out to eat breakfast and buy groceries.
Now that she knew he had two hours of phone time on rest days, she would wake up early every Saturday to wait for his call.
The phone rang twice and was quickly answered!
"Xiao Fei!"
"Mom!"
Gao Fei held his phone and started chatting with his mother.
They talked about everything from the elders in the neighborhood to relatives who occasionally visited their village, and then about the family business. They chatted for about half an hour.
When the topic turned to business, his mother's tone changed noticeably.
After Gao Fei's persistent questioning, he learned that Yuan Fei Catering had encountered new developments in the past month.
Just as he had predicted before leaving, some franchisees, seeing his rising fame and the strong brand of Yuan Fei Catering, no longer purchased the secret recipe for the barbecue sauce separately.
Now, only about eight or nine businesses purchased it weekly, a decrease of two-thirds compared to the beginning of the franchising.
After understanding the situation, Gao Fei first comforted his mother and then said, "Mom, you've kept records of those merchants who stopped buying the secret recipe, right?"
"I've recorded them all. As you said, I've noted down anyone who hasn't come for two weeks in my little book!"
"Mom, give the book to Lawyer Zeng. He can handle the rest!"
"I'll send it to him as soon as I finish talking to you!"
After chatting with his mother for a while and hanging up, Gao Fei found Zeng Keming's number and dialed it directly.
After a ten-second wait, the call was answered.
"Junior!"
"Senior, you're not awake yet?"
"How could that be? I knew it was Saturday and have been waiting for your call!"
After some small talk, Zeng Keming got to the point and said, "Junior, what you predicted has happened. More than half of the merchants are no longer purchasing the barbecue sauce secret recipe!"
"Yeah, I just heard it from Mom! Senior, what do you think the subsequent impact will be?"
Gao Fei held his phone, waiting for Zeng Keming's answer.
"After this incident, there should be two outcomes.
The franchisees will likely unite and demand the secret recipe from Yuan Fei Catering.
If they don't get it, they should smear Yuan Fei Catering, go to the press, and use coercive clauses to spread public opinion. Finally, it will enter the litigation stage..."
In Fengyun City Law Firm, Zeng Keming, who was discussing the consequences, suddenly stopped.
He quickly flipped through the contracts and looked at the various clauses Gao Fei had proposed.
These clauses were precisely designed to prevent franchisees from falling out over the barbecue sauce secret recipe!
It turned out that his junior had foreseen this situation long ago.
"So, Junior, you were already taking precautions. I wondered why you drafted those clauses back then, but it was to deal with them like this!" Zeng Keming said with sincere admiration.
"All sorts of clauses are already in the contract. You should be able to find a way to deal with it, Senior, as you are more familiar with the contract terms than I am."
"Yes, now I'm just afraid they won't dare to flip the table. As long as they do, I can definitely help Junior win a wave of compensation!"
After discussing business matters for a while, they changed the subject.
"Oh, right, Junior. For the copyright revenue of 'Classmate' in October, after deducting all taxes, the net profit is thirteen million.
This includes revenue from film and television licensing, variety show licensing, and download and listening revenue from various music platforms.
The licensing revenue statement has been sent to your email. Please check it!"
"Only over ten million in revenue this month? That's a bit low!"
After mentioning the licensing revenue for the song "Classmate," Zeng Keming brought up another matter: Ku Ying Media wanted to continue their cooperation.
"Boss Wang Zhisheng came all the way to Fengyun City?"
"Yes, we just finished talking yesterday!"
"Boss Wang seems to be restless. Tell me, how much profit is he willing to give up?"
Zeng Keming continued on the phone, "Boss Wang's intention is to sign a new authorization contract with you, increasing the original 40% copyright revenue by another ten percentage points.
Additionally, if you authorize new songs to Ku Ying Media in the future, he will pre-order them from you for six million yuan. This does not count towards copyright revenue.
Junior, what do you think of the terms? Should we agree?"
Gao Fei did not immediately agree. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Besides Ku Ying Media, have any other companies contacted you?"
"After the studio released its statement, about twenty-eight companies contacted me.
After filtering them according to the conditions you set, I kept the contact information of ten companies."
"Tell me their offers!"
There was silence on the other end of the line. After more than ten seconds, Zeng Keming listed the offers from the ten companies one by one.
After a few minutes of description, five companies were willing to accept the original 60% authorization revenue that Gao Fei had set.
However, three of these companies were weaker than the other two in terms of both reputation and strength.
The other two, although willing to give up 60% of the authorization revenue, required Gao Fei to produce five new songs annually, which was their counter-offer.
Out of the ten companies, either their strength was insufficient, or there were various other conditions.
Gao Fei was not interested in any of the newly approached companies.
"Senior, let's put the matter of new songs on hold for now. After military training, I'll handle it myself.
Your priority now is to prevent those franchisees from turning hostile. If they dare, you must take them down immediately!"
"Okay, I'll keep a close eye on it for you!"
After hanging up the phone, Gao Fei rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair.
From his current perspective, cooperating with various media and entertainment companies was not as good as directly connecting with major music platforms through his studio, which would save the intermediary fees of media companies.
However, he was currently undergoing military training and his communication was strictly controlled, so the matter of new songs could only be put aside for the time being.
The business and new song matters were temporarily concluded.
Just as Gao Fei was about to play a small mobile game,
An unknown call suddenly came into his phone.