Striving for the Upper Hand

Anna proposed joining the business, Sai Weiruila didn't immediately refuse. She was considering whether allowing Anna to bring her own capital would bring any benefits. The answer was, of course, that it would.

First of all, the Akiner Family has noble blood and heritage. Regardless of whether the Earl Akiner was really exiled to the Federal, or whether he fell into the sea and disappeared for various reasons, or was simply murdered and then his identity was taken by the murderer.

In short, everyone in the Federal now believes that the Akiner Family is one of the few noble families with a traceable history.

People ridicule the backwardness and ignorance of feudal society, yet they yearn to become nobles. This is not contradictory. Anna joining this project will further enhance the brand's image; she'll be a true "noble lady"! Secondly, the Star Dream Butterfly Conglomerate's influence in the East is formidable. In terms of business promotion, even if Patu doesn't go to great lengths to promote the brand his daughter is associated with, like Wo Delike, he can still save a lot of energy and time by riding on their coattails.

Finally, Anna is currently the Student Union President of the Saint and Harmony Society Alliance Colleges, and she is also a beautiful girl. She herself is actually very much the "heroine" in Lin Qi and Sai Weiruila's plan, a living Princess.

Her image is so rich that she doesn't even need to spend a lot of effort building a persona from scratch. Just by standing there, people can associate her with a life of luxury and prestige.

Sai Weiruila scrutinized Anna. Although she disliked the girl, Anna had been born into an unusual family and, through subtle influence, had developed an almost instinctive way of thinking.

Personal emotions, likes and dislikes, do not interfere with her judgment on official matters. She is now only considering the advantages and benefits that Anna will bring after joining them, rather than whether she likes her or not.

After a dozen seconds, Sai Weiruila nodded, "Okay..."

A partnership, a business deal, can be settled in just a few words. That's why people are desperate to get into this place—the opportunities are endless! Lin Qi and Anna each invested 200,000 for a 15% stake, with the remainder made up by Sai Weiruila.

But there will definitely be more than just these three shareholders. If a girl of Sai Weiruila's status were to start a company, her parents would certainly be involved as shareholders.

For example, if she spends one million to buy five percent of the shares, everything except the cost of the shares is considered capital increase. This would not only rapidly increase the value of Sai Weiruila's company, but also allow her parents to report less tax at the end of the year.

There will be quite a few people like this, and with subsequent dilution, it would be great if Lin Qi could have around 10% in the end, and that's only if he can continue to increase his holdings.

The three young people were full of energy, perhaps having found a better direction. Sai Weiruila no longer found Anna's face so repulsive, and they even raised a glass to it.

Then they began to discuss what to do next.

Anna proposed a very constructive idea. "Maybe we can publish the novel as a series to generate a sustained buzz, and then start preparing for it together with casting and filming. By the time of next Spring Trend Conference, the film should be finished, and we can also launch our products at the spring show."

It was a great idea. Lin Qi also glanced at Anna a couple more times, somewhat surprised, as did Sai Weiruila.

This is the peak season for serialized literature. Due to the current economic downturn, many families have reduced various expenses, including reading costs.

With a large number of publications going unsold, the period from last year to the first half of this year was probably the most difficult time for authors. Apart from those who still had some savings, writers who didn't usually have any savings started queuing up to receive relief food.

It was under these circumstances that the serialization began.

The emergence of serialization is a helpless compromise of culture bowing to commercialization. In fact, there have been serialized stories in the Federal in recent years, but those stories are not very good and have few readers.

The truly capable people are all publishing. Only those writers who can't get invitations from Publishing House and have no standing in the publishing market will consider publishing short columns or novellas in newspapers and magazines.

Until recently, in order to make a living, some well-known writers have begun to try to combine their noble art with commerce, living off the basic salary from newspapers Magazine Publisher while enjoying the benefits of advertising.

Publishing House have a well-established method for accurately identifying the most popular parts of their publications, much like how Television Station check viewership ratings. Contributors to these parts will receive a larger share of the advertising revenue.

Some writers quickly established themselves in Serialized Literature in just a few issues. In fact, they even invented a term for it: "Serialized Literature" or "Publication Literature," to distinguish it from "traditional literature."

People can read a lot of stories without spending too much money, and newspaper and magazine sales are up, but this has also brought some minor problems.

For example, the educational level of readers of Serialized Literature has declined significantly, which has led to some plots that writers see as meeting their needs being heavily criticized.

The ensuing reduction in advertising revenue forced them to change their strategies. As a result, those in the traditional literary world who didn't have to worry about making a living were now loudly condemning the writers who joined Serialized Literature, calling them traitors to literature.

However, it is undeniable that Serialized Literature has become a trend, with a wider audience and lower reading requirements.

As long as the story meets people's need for spiritual nourishment, it's easy to create one hit story after another.

If their novels can be serialized and adapted into screenplays and filmed simultaneously, it will inevitably attract public attention.

Seeing that both of them seemed to agree with her idea, Anna glanced discreetly at Sai Weiruila and continued, "I have another suggestion: I'll play the lead role in this movie..."

This proposal left Sai Weiruila speechless for a moment. Her first words weren't about how much she wanted or whether she could act, but rather her disapproval of her new idea.

"Patu will not allow you to do that!"

If Anna were the kind of next generation who had already been abandoned and would only be able to receive dividends without any decision-making power, living a life of idleness and waiting to die, let alone act in movies, no one would criticize her even if she changed grooms every night; they would only tell her to take care of her health.

But she wasn't that kind of person. She held a certain position in the Akiner family, and Patu would never allow her to appear in public in such a vulgar way as acting in movies.

Celebrities may indeed be glamorous and influential, but from the perspective of wealthy and powerful families, they are not only nothing special, but they can't even be considered "clean".

Faced with Sai Weiruila's confident assessment, Anna simply smiled and looked at Lin Qi, "As long as Lin Qi can play the male lead, I'll convince my father..."

The sudden silence was broken when Patu returned. He looked at his somewhat smug daughter, Sai Weiruila was frowning as if deep in thought, and Lin Qi was standing to the side with a playful expression, with a strange curiosity.

He didn't immediately ask what had happened between them. It wasn't until after the event, as he was leaving in his car, that he asked, "It seems like you had the upper hand this time?"

He was aware of the "struggle" between Anna and Sai Weiruila, and he wasn't too bothered by people comparing his daughter to others.

Having several children, he could only choose one true successor. How to select and cultivate a suitable successor has always been a major problem for him.

If Anna can gain the upper hand in her competition with Sai Weiruila, it will be a step forward for her and increase her chances of becoming the true heir.

Previously, Sai Weiruila usually had the upper hand, and Wo Delike's irrational support directly affected the outcome, but this time, something different seems to have happened.

Anna raised her chin smugly as she looked out the window at the groups of homeless people sitting in the corners of the sidewalk, their clothes disheveled, and at the pairs of eyes filled with envy and jealousy. Then she turned to look at Patu.

"I've found Sai Weiruila's weakness..." Anna smiled reservedly, but a hint of pride was hidden in her reserve. She turned her gaze away from her father, Patu, and back to the car window.

A beautiful girl was faintly reflected in the transparent car window. Her fair neck was particularly striking, as elegant and noble as White Swan resting peacefully in a lake.

In the car not far behind, there was another father and daughter.

"You don't seem to be in a good mood, darling. Did someone upset you?" Wo Delike asked, looking at his daughter with a furrowed brow, also a little curious.

In fact, at his level, no one could "provoke" him anymore, and naturally, no one could provoke his daughter either.

Those who know them won't do that, and those who don't know them can't do it. This statement was actually just to break the somewhat somber atmosphere.

After a while, Sai Weiruila said softly, "If... I mean if, if I were to act in a movie, would you agree?"

"Of course!" Wo Delike answered quickly, as if he hadn't even considered it. "Why not, my dear? It's your right. Do you need me to acquire a Production Company for you?"

"That way you'll have a lot of fun. Remember what I said? Happiness is the most important thing!"

He wouldn't be so happy if he knew why Sai Weiruila wanted to play a role in the movie.