After Qin Chuan finished speaking, it was obvious that Qi Chao's small eyes revealed a look of deep surprise and uncertainty.
"Director Li, who is this..."
Qi Chao instinctively asked.
Today, Qin Chuan was still wearing the same suit and leather shoes, his hair meticulously styled. Although young and with a somewhat immature face, the way he sat exuded a stable and calm aura that commanded attention.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce him. His name is Qin Chuan, a friend of mine!"
Li Ya introduced.
Qi Chao, without suspicion, sighed, "Director Li, your friend is quite something. With just a few words, he's hit the nail on the head of our newspaper's weakness!"
"How about this, since we're not outsiders, I'll give you a good price, eight hundred yuan a day, how about it?"
Just as Li Ya was about to respond, Qin Chuan spoke first, "That's still too expensive!"
"Editor-in-Chief Qi, let me name a price, five hundred yuan a day!"
"What?!"
"This is absolutely impossible!"
Qi Chao, who had been very calm, almost jumped out of the sofa upon hearing this. He looked at Qin Chuan with anger, his earlier gentleness gone, as if he had been provoked.
Li Ya also couldn't help but show a hint of worry, as she too felt Qin Chuan's price cut was too drastic, halving it in an instant!
However, Qin Chuan acted as if he hadn't seen it, continuing, "Five hundred yuan a day, that's a full seven thousand five hundred yuan for half a month. I believe this income is almost equivalent to the newspaper's income for two months or even more!"
"You're not losing anything. If Editor-in-Chief Qi can't make the decision, I can go to your superiors. I believe your leaders will have more foresight!"
With that, Qin Chuan stood up and said to Li Ya, "Let's go!"
Li Ya stood up with him. Although she didn't know why Qin Chuan was so resolute and didn't give Qi Chao any face, she absolutely trusted him unconditionally.
In the office, seeing Qin Chuan and Li Ya about to leave, Qi Chao couldn't help but become anxious and quickly called out, "Wait a moment!"
Qin Chuan, who had already reached the door, stopped. No one noticed the slight upward curve of his lips. When he turned around, his expression was once again impassive.
"Editor-in-Chief Qi, what is this..."
Qin Chuan pretended to be confused.
Qi Chao gritted his teeth and cursed Qin Chuan's ancestors in his mind, but still said, "You two wait here. I'll go and get instructions from my superior!"
With that, he left the office.
After Qi Chao left, Li Ya's beautiful eyes sparkled, and she looked at Qin Chuan with admiration once again.
"Qin Chuan, you're amazing. How are you so sure that Qi Chao will keep us... What if he didn't?"
"If he didn't keep us, we would have stayed!"
Qin Chuan said nonchalantly, "In business, the most important thing is thick skin! As long as you have thick skin, others can't do anything to you! Sister, you need to learn this. You'll need it countless times in the business world."
Li Ya nodded obediently. In this regard, she truly felt inferior.
Qi Chao returned quickly, appearing in less than ten minutes.
He stared deeply at Qin Chuan, who was lounging with his legs crossed on the sofa, and said helplessly, "Kid, you win!"
"The superiors have agreed to this price!"
After saying that, with a "snap," he placed a contract on the table. "Let's sign the contract!"
Qin Chuan smiled and stood up, taking out a cigarette and offering it to Qi Chao.
"Editor-in-Chief Qi, don't be so angry. This is a mutually beneficial matter. Why the long face!"
"We'll have to deal with each other in the future. If you take on more orders, you'll earn far more than this. This is beneficial to your performance!"
Qi Chao's expression changed from dark to cheerful. After a moment's hesitation, he took the cigarette Qin Chuan offered. "Will you be advertising again in the future?"
"That's a definite yes!"
Qin Chuan patted his chest and guaranteed, "As a partner, I won't mind giving Editor-in-Chief Qi a heads-up. I'm currently preparing a real estate project. Once the buildings are completed, there will definitely be more advertising, and on an even larger scale!"
"Oh, so you're a property developer, Mr. Qin? How ashamed I am! It was my oversight! I'm so sorry, so sorry!"
Upon hearing that Qin Chuan was a real estate developer, Qi Chao's attitude made a complete 180-degree turn, becoming extremely enthusiastic.
After all, who among property developers is poor? They are either rich or powerful. Only a fool wouldn't try to associate with such a person.
As the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Qi Chao was a seasoned veteran and naturally understood this better.
A few minutes later, Qin Chuan and Qi Chao were already addressing each other as brothers, their intimacy even astonishing Li Ya, who was sitting beside them.
"Brother Qin Chuan, how do you plan to do this advertisement?"
Finally, Qi Chao got to the main point.
"Should we write it for you, or will you do it yourselves?"
Qin Chuan gestured to Li Ya. Li Ya immediately took a blank piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Qi Chao. "Editor-in-Chief Qi, we've already come up with the advertising slogan. Just follow this format!"
Qi Chao took it and glanced at it. His eyes widened even more than eggs, and he stammered, "This... this... this is..."
"Brother Qi, I know what you want to ask. Let's not say anything else. Just print it tomorrow according to this format!"
Qin Chuan explained, then gestured for Li Ya to pay.
Li Ya took out a stack of cash from her bag and placed it on the table. "Here is four thousand yuan. We'll bring the remaining three thousand five hundred in one go in a few days when we change the content!"
Seeing the thick stack of banknotes on the table, Qi Chao finally believed that all of this was real. Even long after Qin Chuan and Li Ya had left, his mind was still somewhat in a daze.
He had lived for over forty years and was considered a veteran in this industry. He had seen countless advertising slogans, but this was the first time he had seen an advertisement on such a large blank sheet of paper with only a single short sentence.
There was only one line of blood-red text: Fifteen days left until opening!!!
These few words occupied an entire page. Such an act was truly beyond words.
While Qi Chao was lost in his daze, Qin Chuan and Li Ya, after leaving the newspaper, were already heading to the county television station.
The situation was similar to the newspaper office. After some haggling, they secured advertising slots on the local television station for four hundred yuan a day.
The advertisement was simple: a person holding a huge white paper with the words – Fifteen days left until opening!
The person's face was hidden, creating an atmosphere of mystery.
After completing this, Qin Chuan and Li Ya left the television station and drove to the flagship store.
In the shop, Qin Yang and Qin Gang were busy. First, they needed to lay all the electrical circuits, then clean the roof and walls, and also the ground, laying new tiles uniformly to facilitate Chen Jinyu's direct renovation later.
This was no small amount of work. Qin Chuan felt the need to hire a few more people to improve efficiency.
In addition, he needed to find some colored steel plates to cover the exterior, preferably covering it high enough so that people couldn't see what was being done inside!
Since they were going for mystery, they had to be thorough. Otherwise, if the mystery in the newspapers and on television was contradicted by the reality, the county was small, and people would find out, losing the mystique.
No sooner said than done, Qin Chuan immediately went to the labor market to find people. Shortly after, he returned with four experienced renovation masters. The group of people worked with great enthusiasm.