Extraordinary Genius

This afternoon, Feng Yu came to CCTV again. He was here so frequent until the guards knew him. As usual, Feng Yu gave the guards a packet of cigarettes and drove in. He does not need any permit to enter the premises.

“Is Chief Cheng in?” Feng Yu went to the advertising department. Last year, he was only a division chief.

A bespectacled young man stood up: “You are looking for Chief Cheng? Do you have an appointment?

Damn, this Cheng Baojun was now a big shot? Advance appointments must be made before I can meet him? But who was this person? How come I had not seen him in the past? Cheng Baojun’s rank should not be assigned to a secretary.

“Are you new here? Help me go in and tell him that Feng Yu is here.” Feng Yu sat down on one of the work stations like his own office.

The young man was surprised. Who was this person? The department was having a meeting today, and he was newly transferred over. So, he was made to look after the office.

“Chief Cheng is in a meeting now. The rest is not here. Do you want to come back tomorrow?”

Feng Yu looked at his watch. It was only 2 pm in the afternoon. There were still a few more hours before the end of the day. Does the meeting last so long?

“I will wait here for him. I think his meeting will end soon. Do you have anything to drink?”

“Yes. I will make tea for you.”

The young man saw Feng Yu’s attitude and thought that he was some leader’s son. He could not afford to offend these types of people. It was not easy for him to be transferred to this unit. He had to make sure that he would not be fired because of small matters.

When Cheng Baojun came back from the meeting, he saw Feng Yu sitting on the sofa in the office with his legs crossed. Feng Yu was slowly sipping on his tea and eating melon seeds.

Cheng Baojun was speechless. This was an office and how could anyone eat melon seeds here? He stared at the newcomer. Why didn’t you stop him?

The young man saw the look on his leader’s face and got nervous. He also did not expect Feng Yu to take out a packet of melon seeds from his pocket and start eating. Feng Yu even asked him if he wants some. From Feng Yu’s attitude, he did not dare to stop him.

“Chief Cheng, your meeting is too long.” Feng Yu looked at his watch. It was already 4 pm. He knew that the meeting must be filled with bullshit and every sentence must be started with “I think this…. I think that……” and a simple thing will turn into a profound discussion. Feng Yu was someone that prefers to keep everything short and straight to the point. He wants efficiency.

Cheng Baojun looked at Feng Yu speechless. Our department’s meeting was to talk about the problems they faced in their work. What has the length of our meeting got to do with you?

“Manager Feng, why are you here?”

“Oh, I heard that CCTV will be airing a few new programs and there are many new advertising slots.”

Cheng Baojun’s eyes widen: “Manager Feng, you want to buy advertisement slots?”

“Yes. Tell me about the advertisement slots you have now. If I am happy, I will buy multiple slots.” Feng Yu rolled his eyes. Was this something new? If I am not buying advertising slots, why am I here for? Chat with you?

“Manager Feng, come into my office. Xiao Wang, prepare the tea. Old Li, bring the price list for the available advertising slots over.”

Feng Yu took the melon seeds on the table in his hands and slowly make his way into Cheng Baojun’s office. The newcomer was shocked!

The seniors in the office told the young man that this was Tai Hua Trading’s, Manager Feng. He was CCTV biggest client for the past two years. He had never bargain over the advertising prices! The advertising fees at CCTV now took a reference to Manager Feng’s spending on advertisements. Manager Feng was also close to the Station’s top leaders. He was the sponsor for the New Year Eve’s Gala dinner.

Feng Yu entered Cheng Baojun’s office and noticed that Cheng Baojun was looking at his hand.

“Chief Cheng, you want some melon seeds?” Feng Yu offered the melon seeds in his hand to him.

Cheng Baojun’s face turned black: “No! This is an office!” I want you to keep those seeds. Who the hell wants your melon seeds?!

Feng Yu reluctantly keep the melon seeds into his pocket. Stopping in the midst of eating melon seeds was torture. It was hard to stop eating melon seeds once you started.

Old Li brought a list into the room for Cheng Baojun, and Cheng Baojun passed the list to Feng Yu after taking a look: “Manager Feng, these are all the available slots. See if you like any of the slots. Why not you buy out all these slots? There are only 8 slots.”

Feng Yu took a look. Because there was a change in the programs, the timings and length of some programs were changed. As such, there were available slots. The longest was 1 minute, and the shortest was 15 seconds. There were 2 slots in the early afternoon, 4 in the afternoon and 2 in the evenings.

The timing of these slots was not that bad. These could be used to promote the VCD and the Learning Machine. 4 advertisements a day will be sufficient for the viewers to remember his products.

“Since Chief Cheng had said it, then I shall give you face. I can buy out all these slots. Name me a price.” Feng Yu placed the list on the table and said.

Cheng Baojun’s face lit up: “You want all the slots? Let me see, what’s the total.”

He opened his drawer and took out a notebook and…… a calculator!

He punched the numbers on the calculator for some time and pushed the calculator to Feng Yu: “Manager Feng, this is the final figure. Since you are so forthright, I shall give you a 10% discount. The length of the contract will last until December 31st this year.”

Feng Yu took a glance at the calculator and made a mental calculation. He compared to the prices of the primetime slots. Damn, was this Cheng Baojun joking? These 8 slots were worth this price?

Feng Yu punched a few numbers on the calculator and pushed it back to Cheng Baojun: “I will take it if it is at this price. Chief Cheng, I may be rich, but I do not spend my money wastefully.”

Cheng Baojun smiled: “How can you say that? This price is too low. I can’t answer my higher-ups with this price.”

Feng Yu would never agree to the doubled price. The price he wanted was about what CCTV had in mind.

But Cheng Baojun still wanted to try and get more out of Feng Yu. He would get some credits if he were able to let Feng Yu spend more. The advertising department highest rank allowed was only a Deputy Chief. He wants the department to be upgraded and be promoted to Chief. He could also be promoted and do something that he was familiar with.

“What do you mean that you are unable to answer to your higher-ups? Is the price I offered not reasonable? I am paying the advertising fees. In CCTV, there are some that do not need to pay for advertising.”

“Since when did we let people advertise for free?” Cheng Baojun asked back. He was the one overlooking this department and does not want Feng Yu to make baseless claims.

“Didn’t Panasonic air their advertisements during last year’s ? Did they pay CCTV?”

“How can that be the same? That anime was given to us by Japan and had waived the copyright fees.” Cheng Baojun retorted.

“Then which is more expensive? Copyright fees or advertising fees?” Feng Yu snickered.

“Erm…… That is different. We are doing this to get quality programs from overseas. Their anime is better, and if we do not let them advertise, they will not sell us that anime. Furthermore, Japan had also promised us that they will give us the rights for more anime.”

“Does that mean that they will be able to air their advertisements every time? Can’t you tell whether you are making a gain or loss in this deal? If animations can get an advertising slot for free, then I will buy a few animations copyrights from the US and Europe. Does that mean CCTV will let me advertise for free?” Feng Yu asked.

“Ermm…… Manager Feng, I can’t make this decision. Let’s take about the advertising fees. Increase that rate by 20% and I will sell you all these slots.” Cheng Baojun dare not to make any decisions on the anime. These were decided by CCTV’s top leaders.

“10%. This will surely be higher than the original rates. Don’t think that I do not know the market rates.”

Cheng Baojun replied with an embarrassed look: “Deal. I will let my men draft the contract now.”