Monday morning, August 25th.
At 7 o'clock Song Yunshen got up on time, quickly washed up, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and prepared to go out to have breakfast with Xia Yunuo.
As it happened, Song Mingyuan also got up and came out of the master bedroom, changed into a sharp suit, and looked like he was also planning to go out.
Hearing the noise, Song Yunshen turned to look at Song Mingyuan, who was wearing a suit, with a surprised expression on his face. He couldn't help but ask, "Dad, what are you doing?"
"Going to the company, huh?" Song Mingyuan said calmly as he walked to his son's side. Then he asked, "Going to tutoring at school, right? Do you want me to give you a ride?"
Song Yunshen shook his head and instead asked, "I'm going to have breakfast at the breakfast shop at the entrance of the community. Do you want to come with me?"
Song Mingyuan thought for a moment, considering that Xia Kening wasn't coming today, so it wasn't a bad idea. He nodded and said, "Let's go then."
The two took the elevator downstairs together, and Song Yunshen couldn't help but ask, "Weren't you going to rest for a while longer? Why are you going to work today?"
"I stayed home all day yesterday and felt fine, but being idle all the time was a bit boring," Song Mingyuan said with a faint smile. "People really do need to find something to do, otherwise they easily become rusty, both physically and mentally."
After listening to his Song Yunshen immediately curled his lip.
For a normal, ordinary person, if they could get a few more days off, they would absolutely not go back to work early. Of course, if an ordinary person dared to take two months of vacation in a row, they could just quit their job.
On the other hand, if you could own company shares, working would be like working for yourself. No matter how much the company makes, you would get a share of the profits instead of just earning a fixed salary. In that case, I think everyone would love going to work.
Song Yunshen was too lazy to listen to his long-winded lectures, so he just mumbled some perfunctory replies, though he was in a fairly good mood.
After all, if his dad goes to work, he can feel more at ease and comfortable when Xia Yunuo and the others come to visit.
"Are you coming back for dinner?" Song Yunshen asked again. "If I am, I'll let Xia Jinshu know."
"No, thank you." Song Mingyuan immediately shook his head in refusal. "There's a dinner party at the company; you can eat by yourselves."
"Dad, you're really perceptive..." Upon hearing this, Song Yunshen nodded in satisfaction.
The two stepped out of the elevator and walked to the bike shed. Song Mingyuan watched him push out his electric scooter and asked, puzzled, "You ride an electric scooter to school now? What happened to your bicycle?"
"Don't ask so many questions." Song Yunshen patted the back seat and called to him, "Get in the car, we're going to the breakfast shop."
Song Mingyuan was speechless. He regretted coming with him. He was wearing a suit, and even when he straddled the electric scooter, he felt the pants were a bit tight.
But since he was already there, he had no choice but to plop down in the back seat, help his son to sit up, and slowly drive towards the breakfast shop. Originally, Song Mingyuan thought it was just a matter of having breakfast with his son, and then he could go to work.
As the electric scooter approached the breakfast shop, Song Mingyuan finally caught a glimpse of a somewhat familiar figure in the distance. When Song Yunshen stopped in front of the breakfast shop, Song Mingyuan looked at Xia Yunuo, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
What a terrible thing...
Why did I have such a brain fart and agree to have breakfast with him?
They're just asking for trouble.
That brat, he didn't even explain it to him properly, he thought he ate breakfast alone.
Song Mingyuan was speechless as he watched his son walk up to the girl and greet her with a grin.
Xia Yunuo was clearly very shy, keeping her head down and not saying a word until she followed Song Yunshen towards the breakfast shop, at which point she whispered to Song Mingyuan, "Uncle Song... good morning..."
"Good morning." Song Mingyuan nodded slightly, followed his son into the breakfast shop, ordered his food, and then found a table to sit down.
[I didn't expect Uncle Song to come. Should I start a conversation? It feels a bit impolite to stay silent.]
After sitting down, Xia Yunuo kept her head down, deep in thought.
Song Yunshen glanced at her, about to say something, when he saw two familiar figures walk into the breakfast shop.
"Hey, brother-in-law, you're here too?" As soon as Zhao Zeheng walked in, he saw Song Yunshen and his group's table, and immediately walked over with a smile, plopping down in an empty seat. Ruan Zheng followed behind, first ordering the food, and then sitting down with them.
Then Zhao Zeheng couldn't help but ask, "Brother-in-law, where are you going? Weren't you planning to rest for a while longer?"
"Going to work." Song Mingyuan remained nonchalant. "I can't stand sitting at home."
"That's good too." Zhao Zeheng nodded and started chatting with him, "How's your company's business lately? It seems to be doing quite well these past two years."
"It's alright." Song Mingyuan nodded and smiled. "The first few years were quite tough, but after we got the business going, we partnered with other family members to share channels, and we did make a lot of money."
The foreign trade company that Song Mingyuan and his cousin started initially only produced small items and tried to sell them in overseas markets.
After establishing channels in overseas markets, they began to try taking on overseas orders from other local companies.
Many of the Song family's relatives own factories in various industries, such as clothing, furniture, daily necessities, and all sorts of other things.
Since Song Mingyuan and his foreign trade company opened up several important overseas markets, many of their relatives' overseas orders have been placed with them.
In recent years, it has been thriving.
If his wife hadn't passed away a few years earlier, Song Mingyuan, as the second-in-command of the foreign trade company, would probably be even more successful and ambitious now.
The adults chatted happily at the dinner table, which made Xia Yunuo feel much more at ease, at least she didn't have to rack her brains to find topics to talk about. She couldn't quite understand what Uncle Song and her uncle were talking about, she could only vaguely understand the gist of it.
But when Song Mingyuan talked about orders worth millions or tens of millions as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, Xia Yunuo couldn't help but purse her lips, feeling an increasing sense of pressure in her heart, and her fingers holding the chopsticks clenched tightly involuntarily.
She didn't actually like hearing about Song Yunshen's family's financial situation.
Whenever this happens, she always feels that the distance between her and Song Yunshen suddenly widens, as if they are at the ends of the earth, and if she reaches out her hand, she can't touch anything at all.
Everything seemed surreal, like a dream. I felt light and airy, as if I might fall from mid-air at any moment and be smashed to pieces.
At first, Xia Yunuo only knew that Song Yunshen's family was well-off, but she didn't know it was this good.
When the disparity in their circumstances became too great, Xia Yunuo couldn't help but feel a Shenshen sense of inferiority. Even listening to Song Mingyuan and Zhao Zeheng's conversation felt particularly jarring.
"What about your short drama studio?" After finishing his own business, Song Mingyuan turned to Zhao Zeheng and asked.
"Great, great." Zhao Zeheng chuckled, his face beaming. "It's starting to get on track. The studio has hired about a dozen scriptwriters, and five or six of them are already producing a stable number of scripts."
"How are the returns?"
"The price of a notebook can fluctuate quite a bit, ranging from 20,000 to 200,000. However, some of our previous partners wrote some excellent notebooks and received high ratings," Zhao Zeheng said with a smile. "So, the notebooks we sell can generally fetch high prices, with a minimum of 50,000 and quite a few going for over 100,000."
"A writer's base salary is 4,000, and they get an additional 4,000 yuan bonus for each book they write. The cost is actually quite low." "Assuming a writer can produce one book a month, the cost is only 8,000, and we net 42,000."
"If a dozen or so people can consistently produce output, they could have a basic income of several hundred thousand yuan a month."
"This doesn't even include the revenue sharing we'll receive if a short drama becomes a hit."
"With good luck, it's not impossible for the studio to make a net profit of over a million a month."
Upon hearing this, Song Mingyuan slowly nodded. "That's indeed quite good. You must be a four-person partnership, right? You can easily make three or four hundred thousand a month from the profits."
"Hehe." Zhao Zeheng laughed smugly, but then shook his head modestly, "It's definitely not as good as yours, brother-in-law. Your foreign trade company's turnover is much more impressive than our little studio's."
"I have far more trouble than you guys." Song Mingyuan chuckled and shook his head.
Xia Yunuo was engrossed in eating her breakfast when she overheard Zhao Zeheng talking about short dramas, and she couldn't help but secretly prick up her ears.
She remembered that her mother had recently started working at a short drama studio, and her salary and bonuses were the same as Zhao Zeheng had mentioned. Could it be that she was working at Song Yunshen's uncle's studio?
"It can't be that much of a coincidence..." Xia Yunuo thought to herself.
Did Mom mention before that she found this job from somewhere?
Xia Yunuo frowned slightly, unable to recall. But after hearing Zhao Zeheng's words, she realized that short dramas could be so profitable.
A price of 50,000 yuan only yields a bonus of 4,000 yuan for the writer.
However, Xia Yunuo also knew that if those writers were to write scripts on their own, it was hard to say whether a script could sell for 50,000 yuan.
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and both parties were willing, so there's not much more to say.
"Actually, we're just making a quick buck. The short drama market changes too fast; it's hard to say what will happen in the future." After saying the happy news, Zhao Zeheng looked worried and said, "One of our partners wants to do production himself, and even wants to fund a photography team to shoot the short dramas himself."
"Won't this work?" Song Mingyuan asked. "Now that we're making money, we need to expand the scale."
"That's different." Zhao Zeheng shook his head. "Our current studio can only be considered a light-asset business. If we don't want to continue it one day, we can dissolve it on the spot."
"But if we were to actually produce or operate a film crew, we'd need to buy all sorts of equipment, right? The fixed costs alone would be a huge expense."
"If there are any changes in the market, it won't be something that can be stopped just like that."
Zhao Zeheng wasn't very optimistic about the short drama market. Initially, when short dramas were still paid, they were quite successful, but later, the trend of free streaming swept through, and he could only see a mess in the future.
Once users develop a habit of watching for free, short dramas will have to rely on advertisers to survive, essentially making advertisers pay for viewers to watch the dramas.
But ultimately, the cost still comes from the consumer. If viewers can't buy advertisers' products, who will be willing to pay for advertising? In the end, viewers still have to spend money to consume. The so-called free model is just going around in circles.
When the overall economy is on an upward trend, everything is fine. People have money in their pockets and are willing to spend, so the free model can thrive.
However, if the economy were to slump even slightly, and advertisers found that their advertising spending was not generating significant returns, the free model would only fall into a vicious cycle.
"At this rate, short dramas will soon become a red ocean market," Zhao Zeheng sighed, taking a sip of soy milk. "I have a feeling that this business won't last another year or two. Most people will lose money, so we should know when to quit while we're ahead."
"Are you that pessimistic?" Song Mingyuan asked, somewhat surprised.
"Brother-in-law, you know what's been going on these past two years," Zhao Zeheng said, pursing his lips. "If it weren't for your foreign trade company opening up channels in overseas markets, many of our relatives' companies would be experiencing declining performance, wouldn't they?"
"Hmm... that's true." When the conversation turned to his area of expertise, Song Mingyuan nodded in deep agreement.
Don't talk about declining performance. I have several relatives whose companies would probably have gone bankrupt and been liquidated long ago if it weren't for their foreign trade companies providing overseas channels.
We are now back on track thanks to the help of their company.
As Xia Yunuo listened to their conversation, her mood grew heavy as well.
Thinking about my mother's current job in short dramas, everything seems to be thriving, and her salary is much higher than before. But what if, as Zhao Zeheng said, the industry really runs into problems within a year or two? What will my mother do then?
Xia Yunuo couldn't help but sigh softly, feeling the burden on her shoulders grow even heavier. If only she could take the college entrance exam earlier, go to university sooner, and then graduate and start earning money sooner...
No... I can make money right now.
Sure enough, Song Yunshen couldn't buy too many clothes; he'd have to make do a little. He'd better save up more money.
If my mom is laid off due to industry turmoil in the future, at least she can contribute some money to help the family through the difficult times.
At this moment, Song Yunshen was eating breakfast while listening with great interest to his father and uncle talking about company matters.
After they had almost finished eating, he glanced at the time, got up to say goodbye, and left with Xia Yunuo, riding his electric scooter to school.
Watching his son leave the breakfast shop with the little girl, Song Mingyuan looked away, then couldn't help but smack his lips twice and asked Zhao Zeheng beside him, "This kid, is he going to be like this all summer?"
"Otherwise what?" Zhao Zeheng rolled his eyes when he heard the question. "It's not just this one; he often brings another girl to have breakfast."
"Oh, I know that, Xia Kening, you know." Song Mingyuan nodded.
"Your son is quite something." Xia Yunuo had already left, and Zhao Zeheng chuckled. "He gets along so well with those two sisters; he's probably going to have two women on either side of him."
Song Mingyuan coughed awkwardly, then suddenly realized something.
It seems Zhao Zeheng is unaware of Xia Jinshu's existence. Xia Jinshu appears to have a very close relationship with Song Yunshen's maternal grandparents, yet Zhao Zeheng, as her son, is completely oblivious.
Did they go visiting neighbors across the street when they came to their house for dinner before, without telling Zhao Zeheng?
I wonder what their expressions would be if they knew there was another one.
Song Mingyuan glanced at Zhao Zeheng and Ruan Zheng, his expression a little strange, but he didn't say anything. After finishing breakfast, he got up to say goodbye and drove to work.