NOVPUB
Chapter 365: 355
Zhou Tian soon arrived, and as the head of the household, Li Hongjun had to make an appearance for contract negotiations, so the couple got ready, dropped their two children off at the Chen Family’s place, and went to meet Joseph at the Guan Grand Hotel.
The Guan Grand Hotel was the most top-tier hotel in S City; well, by future standards, it would barely qualify as a budget hotel, but for S City, any prominent figures or international guests were generally arranged to stay there by the city government.
Upon reaching the hotel entrance, Li Hongjun and his wife were stopped by the staff. After all, entry into such a high-level hotel wasn’t something anyone could just waltz into.
After undergoing an inspection and presenting valid identification, they were finally allowed in.
Joseph warmly received them in the hotel’s second-floor café.
Li Hongjun didn’t immediately agree to sign the contract but first inquired about the size and operational scope of Joseph’s publishing house in Germany.
Joseph took no offense to Li Hongjun’s approach and seemed to regard him with even more esteem because of it.
Before long, they saw a young man carrying a document bag walking briskly towards their table.
Li Hongjun stood up calmly and greeted the newcomer, took the document bag, and after the young man nodded at the others, he left.
Li Hongjun opened the document bag, flipped through its contents, and Shen Yunfang, with an apologetic smile addressed to Joseph that seemed to say ’sorry for the interruption’, leaned in beside Li Hongjun to have a look after receiving a nod from Joseph.
Upon seeing the large characters at the top of the page, her eyes widened, but mindful of Joseph sitting opposite them, she suppressed her surprise and began to read alongside Li Hongjun.
There were barely two pages, and it didn’t take long for the couple to finish reading. Shen Yunfang leaned in and whispered, "When did you have someone look into this?" The headline at the top of the first page listed the very name of Joseph’s publishing house he had mentioned earlier.
"I had someone check them out as soon as we left the house this morning," Li Hongjun said as he tucked the papers back into the document bag with a nonchalant air. "Joseph is on the level, and so is his publishing house; you can start negotiating a price with him now." He couldn’t rest easy without ensuring a good deal for his wife as she went about her business.
Thus, Shen Yunfang’s negotiations with Joseph moved into the next phase.
As both parties were keen, the proceedings went very smoothly.
"Shen, I can invest ten thousand US dollars to purchase the rights to your album. What do you think?" Joseph asked with an open and honest expression.
That was already a very generous offer and he only decided to double his initial bid after seeing the man who had delivered the documents to Shen’s husband—he had recognized him as the Secretary to the Mayor of S City.
"Ten thousand US dollars?" Shen Yunfang was somewhat surprised, and quickly did the mental math; she recalled from a newspaper a couple of days ago that the exchange rate was just over 1.7, which meant the offer was over seventeen thousand RMB.
Mistaking her surprise for dissatisfaction with the price, Joseph explained that this was his limit. Being a businessman, profits were paramount, "Shen, you must understand, bringing such an album back, I have to recruit a professional team, devise new ideas, manage production, and then the advertising. So this is the highest price I can offer."
After hearing this, Shen Yunfang nodded, recognising the misunderstanding but seeing no need to clarify. She glanced at Li Hongjun, signaling for his input on the matter.
"Just make the decision yourself," Li Hongjun said, appearing indifferent, though inwardly he was feeling dejected.
How capable his wife was! Having a space where she could store things was shocking enough, but now she was able to sell a few casual brushstrokes for so much money. He did the calculations in his heart; it was equivalent to over twenty years of his salary. He felt speechless in the face of such accomplishments. However, Li Hongjun was never one to wallow in self-pity. To him, his wife’s competence was a spur for his own ambition. He felt more determined than ever to work hard and make a name for himself.
Well, as his wife would say, "to each his own specialty," since his wife can earn money, and is adept at it, he should work hard in his own field and definitely not fall too far behind her.
Shen Yunfang was unaware of Li Hongjun’s thoughts. If she knew, she wouldn’t help sneaking away to giggle. She resolved to bring him along for such events in the future, as a bit of stimulation was necessary for progress.
Seeing that Li Hongjun had no objections, she smiled and said to Joseph, "Yes, I understand, and I can accept that price." She had only painted ten copies, which equated to a thousand US dollars each. That price, even in the future, wasn’t cheap.
Now that the price was settled, Joseph took a document out of his briefcase and asked Shen Yunfang to take a look; if there were no issues, they could proceed to signing the contract.
Shen Yunfang was not surprised by Joseph’s efficiency. She guessed he had done this sort of thing often, which meant the documents were well-crafted and ready for immediate use.
Still, Shen Yunfang meticulously read it from beginning to end.
There were no major issues, but there was one point that sparked her attention: the contract specified that Shen Yunfang could not use this kind of album for any other commercial purposes in the future.
Shen Yunfang inquired what "this kind" referred to. If she painted other series of albums in the future, was she not allowed to sell them? If that was the case, then the price she was getting now wasn’t really high.
"No, no, no, Shen, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, if you have similar works in the future, our publishing house has the right of first refusal," Joseph quickly clarified.
Oh, so it meant that if he liked them, she had to sell to him, and only if he wasn’t interested could she sell to someone else.
"So, what if the price you offer is lower than someone else’s, I still could only sell to you?" Shen Yunfang questioned.
"Of course not. What I mean is that we have the right to match any offer at the same price point," he responded.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang nodded in satisfaction.
"About this set of The Thirty-Six Stratagems, I’ve only finished ten copies so far. If I complete the rest, will your publishing house pay for them?" Shen Yunfang thought that if it was viable, it wouldn’t hurt to make some quick cash first.
"Certainly, it would be best if you could complete the remaining parts," he agreed.
Afterward, the two haggled over the price for each copy, finally settling on two hundred and thirty US dollars per copy. Joseph also stipulated that the number of pages in any future albums could not be less than the existing ones and that if the quality of the albums deteriorated, he had the right to terminate the collaboration.
Shen Yunfang pondered for a moment and then agreed.
Once the contract negotiations were largely complete, Joseph immediately had someone revise the contract to include the new clauses they had agreed upon. After lunch, the revised contract was delivered again.
Both parties reviewed it carefully one more time, and after ensuring there were no mistakes, they signed their names on the contract.
When Joseph was preparing to make the payment, Shen Yunfang had a stroke of inspiration and made another request.
She wished that Joseph could remit the money to her from abroad. This was a non-issue for him, and he readily agreed.
Shen Yunfang was internally delighted; she had long coveted Remittance Coupons.
