Chapter 3832: Chapter 3820: Yan Ci’s Strategic Counsel

"Kid, stop being so humble." Ma Guotao said with a smile:

"Everyone at the station knows about you now. You can even fix Chuangrong’s mess; ordinary people don’t have that kind of skill."

"We just got lucky."

"Alright, stop praising him. Let’s finalize the lineup first. We only have an eight-million budget, we’ve got to spend it sparingly."

"We really have to think this through. The money has to be spent where it counts." Chu Hao said.

"Give me the list tonight, the sooner the better, so I can start arranging schedules in advance."

"Okay."

For the rest of the meal, they chatted about some other things.

Lin Yi also got a better understanding of the relationships among the few of them.

Even though Ma Guotao and Chu Hao were both on Zhao Jing’s side, because they weren’t in the same department, they were often suppressed by Wang Minji. Now that they finally had a chance to make a comeback, they were over the moon.

Because of all this, the meal didn’t end until after two in the afternoon.

After he got back, Lin Yi took out his phone and started looking for material.

At this stage of the system tasks, he was just one civil dispute away from finishing.

Lin Yi spent the whole afternoon going through the tips in the backend.

Now that his follower count had gone up, a lot of people were sharing things that had happened to them.

If time and energy allowed, Lin Yi really wanted to help them all solve their problems.

But he didn’t have that kind of capacity, so he could only pick out the key issues to handle.

Lin Yi quietly scrolled through them. Although many of the tips were quite controversial, he always felt they were missing something.

Just before clocking out, Lin Yi found a suitable case.

A man was getting married and had borrowed more than twenty cars.

On the way to pick up the bride, some kids playing downstairs scratched all twenty-something cars and even wrote on them.

After the assessment at the 4S shop, the repair costs came to as much as 200,000, but the kids’ parents refused to pay. The matter kept getting dragged out and had never been resolved.

After reading the DM in the backend, Lin Yi felt this was very interview-worthy, so he showed it to Zhao Yuhuan.

"What do you think of this case?"

"These parents are infuriating." Zhao Yuhuan looked at the phone and said, "They’re clearly just playing deadbeat."

"This kind of video usually stirs up public anger. Once you put it out, you won’t have to worry about traffic."

"I think so too. Six kids did it, total compensation is 200,000, so it’s just over 30,000 per family. It’s not a small amount, but if they really want to raise it, it’s not impossible."

"Which is why they’re just being shameless and don’t want to pay."

"When are we going?"

"No rush. We slack off tomorrow, go the day after."

"Okay."

The two of them chatted for a bit, then got ready to get off work.

Just then, Lin Yi’s phone buzzed a few times.

It was Zhao Jing creating a group chat, pulling the four of them together, then sending over a list.

"This is the initial invite list. Contact them in order of the numbers, see who’s available, and call to start talks."

"OK!"

Everyone replied in turn, and Lin Yi also sent an OK gesture.

Lin Yi had originally planned to go home, but now that Zhao Jing had assigned a new task, he had to go do some real work.

Back in the car, Lin Yi dialed Yan Ci’s number.

"What are you doing? Any social events tonight?"

"Is Director Lin asking me out? Which hotel? I’ll go myself so I don’t trouble Director Lin." Yan Ci said with a smile in her voice.

"I am asking you out, but not to a hotel. You free tonight?"

"I’m free. I’m at the office. If it’s convenient, you can come find me. If not, I’ll come to you."

"Wait for me in your office."

"Alright."

Lin Yi drove to a nearby Sichuan restaurant and bought a few dishes. About an hour later, he arrived at Yan Ci’s company.

Yan Ci was as alluring as ever, a long dress paired with black heels, always looking like the quintessential city beauty.

"Thank you for treating me, Director Lin."

Yan Ci took the dishes from Lin Yi’s hands and opened them one by one, like a virtuous woman preparing lunch.

"You came to find me at this hour, you must need something, right?"

"Smart."

Yan Ci looked at Lin Yi with a smile. "Did they assign you a new mission and now you need my help?"

"You really live up to the title of President Yan, you can even guess that."

Lin Yi pushed his phone in front of Yan Ci.

"See if you can get in touch with any of these people."

Holding Lin Yi’s phone, Yan Ci glanced at it.

"These are all old-school singers. Ten-plus years ago, they were absolutely top-tier. Now, they’re a bit past their prime."

As she spoke, Yan Ci looked at Lin Yi.

"Why are you asking about these people?"

"Zhao Jing’s become a producer and is planning to do a music variety show."

"You’re a self-media host. This has nothing to do with you, right?" Yan Ci said:

"When it comes to variety shows, the hardest part is business negotiations. Zhao Jing dumping that on you is on her. Unless you’ve slept with her, you don’t need to help her this much."

"What’s going on in that head of yours?"

Lin Yi was a little amused and exasperated, then told Yan Ci what had happened.

"Back when I was at the TV station, Wang Minji was just an assistant director. He didn’t even dare raise his voice around me. I didn’t expect him to become an independent producer now." Yan Ci said:

"But Xu Qingqing really does count as one of the current top stars. With only eight million in your budget, it’s going to be tough, unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless Director Lin personally steps in."

"Aren’t I already stepping in?"

"Not as who you are right now, but as Director Lin." Yan Ci said:

"With your real status and position, all it takes is one word from you and those popular little fresh meats and so-called top-tier starlets will be scrambling to line up for you."

"That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it." Lin Yi said:

"If I use my identity to solve every problem, there’s no fun in it."

"I get what you mean, but with only eight million, it really is a bit tricky." Yan Ci said:

"Still, I do have a solution you can consider."

Lin Yi looked at Yan Ci. "Go on."

"I actually agree with what you just said. With these former top stars, you can at least guarantee the show won’t flop. The problem is, if you want to surpass Wang Minji, this little bit of money is nowhere near enough. Of course, word-of-mouth buildup takes time, but that’s also a gamble—if there’s no standout content, nothing’s going to ’ferment’."

Yan Ci spoke as she thought:

"You guys can try focusing on selling big dreams—use big promises to attract advertisers for naming rights. As long as the naming fee hits a certain level, you’ll have leverage to negotiate with the station for more funding. That way, you’ll actually have the qualifications to arm-wrestle with Wang Minji."

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