Traffic Star Development Program

Chapter 62 Lingering Fear

Article 17 of the Contract.

Zeng Hao raised his eyes slightly, his tone flat, "The basic penalty for breach of contract, plus the loss of resources that weren't delivered—once you do the math, they won't have much money left after paying the penalty. Are you really sure?"

She quickly went through it in her mind, her expression remaining unchanged.

"understood."

After saying that, he stood up, picked up the price list on the table, folded it casually, and stuffed it into his bag.

"I'll handle this myself."

She walked towards the door, took two steps, and didn't turn back.

"Which variety show slot did you reserve for me in your plans for next year?"

"It's not decided yet." Zeng Hao leaned back in his chair. "Leaving it empty is more valuable than filling it up randomly."

She didn't ask any more questions, pushed open the door and went out.

In the corridor, high heels clicked a few times, then stopped around the corner.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a bright white shadow on the corner of the planning document on the table.

Zeng Hao casually put the form into the drawer, just as his phone vibrated.

It was Peng Bing calling, saying he had something important to report.

……

When Peng Bing pushed the door open, he had a cigarette between his fingers, but he hadn't lit it.

He paused at the doorway, tucked the cigarette behind his ear, and gestured with his chin towards the room.

"Want to smoke?"

"No smoking, sit down."

Peng Bing pulled up a chair and sat down, taking the cigarette off his ear and placing it on the edge of the table.

"Dingsheng contacted me this morning, going through an intermediary, saying they wanted to talk about the post-production of 'Diamond Lover'."

Zeng Hao didn't even lift his eyelids: "You want to take the footage with you?"

"Hmm." Peng Bing nodded. "Officially, they say it's post-production of the collaboration, but what they really want is to take the finished film and cut a separate version. The price they're asking is two and a half times the budget. In addition, they want me to have independent credit in my next film."

If they can't poach talent, they'll try poaching directors and grabbing footage.

This is the second wave.

The tactics have changed, but the goal remains the same.

Zeng Hao pulled a contract from a folder next to him and gently pushed it in front of him.

"Take a look."

Peng Bing picked it up and flipped through it without saying a word, until he reached the last page and paused in the signature section.

"Co-producer?"

"Your name will be credited in the end credits of 'Diamond Lover'," Zeng Hao said casually. "For all future projects by Sunshine Entertainment, as long as you meet the director's standards, the terms will be the same."

Peng Bing put down the contract, picked up the cigarette on the edge of the table, and twirled it between his fingers twice.

"They can't give you the right to independent authorship."

"Of course, they definitely can't give it to me," Zeng Hao admitted directly.

Peng Bing tucked the cigarette back behind his ear, reached for a pen from Xu Wen, flipped to the last page of the contract, quickly signed his name, tossed the pen aside, and stood up.

"Then I'll reply to that for you."

He walked to the door, then took a step back.

"By the way, when the middleman contacted me, he casually asked, 'The behind-the-scenes footage of Diamond Lover has been released, when exactly will the full episode be released?'"

Zeng Hao put down the script in his hand and looked up: "What did you reply?"

"I said I didn't know," Peng Bing said, a little puzzled. "Why are they asking that?"

"It's nothing," Zeng Hao waved his hand. "Go ahead."

Peng Bing went out, and the door closed gently behind him.

Zeng Hao casually wrote a few words on the blank page of the script for "Three Lives Three Worlds".

The other party wasn't asking about the materials or Peng Bing's schedule; they were asking about the release date.

Dingsheng Media was involved in the release window of "Diamond Lover".

First, poach Dilraba Dilmurat; that's the first move.

Digging up more material about Peng Bingdai was the second tactic.

Both of these waves were just tests.

What they really want to do is much bigger than that.

As long as you get the accurate launch date, you can catch up with competitors at the same time and directly crush their first broadcast data.

This tactic isn't new, but the fact that they chose to act at this time suggests that the other party has already recognized the scale of "Diamond Lover".

Just then, Xu Wen pushed the door open and came in, carrying two glasses of water, with an expression that said, "I'm very serious, I'm here to work."

One cup was placed in front of Zeng Hao, and another was placed where Peng Bing had just been sitting.

He looked down at the empty chair and paused for a moment.

"Director Peng is gone?"

"I'm leaving," Zeng Hao said calmly. "The contract has been signed; I'm a co-producer."

Xu Wen brought back the glass of water that no one had drunk from, took a sip himself, and looked shocked.

"He's here to discuss becoming a co-producer?"

"Dingsheng contacted him, wanting him to run away with the materials," Zeng Hao explained simply. "They tried both sides, but it didn't work today."

Xu Wen's mind raced for a moment, and his face immediately revealed a fierce, eager look.

"Should I go to Dingsheng's place?"

"No need," Zeng Hao interrupted him. "Let them take their time to figure out why it didn't work out. I'll have my own way of dealing with it later."

Xu Wen swallowed back the words he was about to say and opened his notebook.

"The second step for 'Diamond Lover' is its online promotion. Currently, three variety shows are inquiring about it—"

"Suppress it for now," Zeng Hao interrupted. "We'll make a move two weeks before it goes live."

...

The next day.

Zeng Hao watched the behind-the-scenes footage of "Diamond Lover" several times over.

Comments section, number of reposts, topic page.

The data rose almost twice as fast as he had anticipated.

The phrase "Diamond Lover behind-the-scenes footage" was pushed to nineteenth place on the entertainment chart by passersby and is still climbing.

No hashtags, no celebrity tags, no paid traffic.

Back in 2016, Weibo wasn't as picky as GG had been.

The efficiency of disseminating authentic content was more than three times that of later methods.

He remembers it clearly, but remembering it clearly and watching the numbers jump up with his own eyes are two completely different things.

Zeng Hao put his phone in his pocket and stood up.

Xu Wen was already waiting in the office, with two cups of soy milk on the table.

The cup was clearly meant for him, but Xu Wen, that woman, took a sip herself first.

Seeing Zeng Hao come in, she quickly pushed the cup toward him.

"iQiyi sent a message last night."

Zeng Hao saw right through it: "Asking about the release date?"

"How did you know?" Xu Wen was taken aback.

"explain."

Xu Wen took out his phone and read aloud: "President Zeng, the platform needs to reserve space for the release of 'Diamond Lover' in advance. Please let me know the approximate time window. Thank you."

After reading it aloud, he looked up and said, "His tone was quite polite."

"Reply to him." Zeng Hao spoke calmly, "We will inform you two weeks in advance about the reservation of resource slots, and arrangements will be made accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation."

Xu Wen wrote it down, somewhat incredulous: "That's it?"

"That's it."

"If they ask again—"

"If you ask again, we'll do the same thing." Zeng Hao's tone was flat. "We were notified two weeks in advance, it's written in the contract. It's not that we're not cooperating, we're just following the rules."

Xu Wen sent out the reply, put down his phone, and picked up his cup of soy milk.

"Both iQiyi and Dingsheng are asking the same question, one through official channels and the other through a middleman."

"Um."

"So, besides you, who else knows our launch date?"

"Sister Liu knows roughly the quarterly figures," Zeng Hao said. "Peng Bing doesn't know, the post-production team only knows the deadline for film delivery, and Xu Xu only knows the distribution window; nobody knows the exact date."

Xu Wen took a while to process what he had just realized, and then felt a little scared.

"So even if they ask everyone, they still can't piece together an accurate time?"