I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

"Gulp gulp...."

Zhou Juelun drank one cup after another, downing three-times the milk tea in one breath. He licked his lips contentedly, still looking like he wanted more.

Zhang Menglong had several black lines appear above his head. With such a drinking method, no wonder he had gotten so fat. The talented and good-looking Zhou from his school days had long since disappeared.

"Sorry, this milk tea is just too delicious," noticing Zhang Menglong's gaze, Zhou Juelun also seemed a bit embarrassed, "maybe I drank a little too much?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zhou Juelun also knew that this Da Hong Pao tea had a yearly yield of only one kilogram. Calculating at 10g per brew, the annual yield could only brew a hundred times.

One should know, the people eyeing this Da Hong Pao tea included not just entrepreneurs and tycoons but even some highly placed national figures. Even with Zhang Menglong's wealth, managing to get a few dozen grams a year was already quite impressive, right?

"Mr. Zhou, if you like it, don't worry about these details," Hong Yi said, "Mr. Zhang's ancestors had planted a few trees of even better quality in their private tea garden a long time ago, producing plenty each year, more than enough for personal consumption. If Mr. Zhang agrees, you can take some back with you when the time comes."

"Damn, really? How come I didn't know about this?" Zhang Menglong seized Hong Yi and asked.

"Mr. Zhang, you don't like tea, so you never asked me." Hong Yi looked innocent.

"True," Zhang Menglong said, "If we have something this good then we shouldn't waste it, from now on just use that Da Hong Pao to make my milk tea, three cups a day, hahaha!"

Watching Zhang Menglong's blissful appearance, Zhou Juelun suddenly felt a bit envious. Da Hong Pao milk tea, three cups a day, life in Heaven must be something like this, right?

"Hong Yi, prepare a few kilograms of tea leaves; let Juelun take them back when the time comes. Can't come all this way for nothing."

"Alright sir, you guys keep talking, I will go prepare."

"Go ahead." Zhang Menglong waved his hand.

"Zhou, let's talk business now," Zhang Menglong said, "This visit is about discussing the music rights, right?"

"Yes," Zhou Juelun nodded, "My contract with 'Hulu' Music is about to expire, and now both Tengxun and Wangyi are looking to buy the rights to my songs. I'm here to sign a contract with them."

"May I ask how much they have prepared?" Zhang Menglong asked.

"It's no secret," Zhou Juelun joked, "Tencent is ready to pay 570 million for the rights to all my songs for ten years."

"What about Wangyi?"

"The last price discussed was 480 million."

"Don't sell to them, sell to me!" Zhang Menglong said, "Whatever they offer, I'll double it!"

"Cough, cough, cough!" Zhou Juelun had just downed his fourth cup of milk tea when he was startled into coughing by Zhang Menglong's "double it."

For Zhang Menglong, five billion and ten billion were no different, merely numbers, but for Zhou Juelun and those two music companies, it was an astronomical figure.

One should know that these figures of 480 million and 570 million were set after negotiating and hashing out details over many meetings spanning half a year.

It wasn't that Zhou Juelun was driving a hard bargain, but because his songs genuinely had that commercial value!

Because initially, the rights to his songs belonged to his former management company, so now most of the song rights weren't solely up to him to decide. Actually, when he heard about his company asking for such a high price, he was quite shocked himself.

But Zhang Menglong just casually offered to double it—these rich folks really know how to splash the cash, huh?

"Mr. Zhang, it might not be that easy," Zhou Juelun said, "My company has already signed a tripartite cooperation agreement. Aside from Tengxun and Wangyi, we cannot give the rights to any other major company. If we breach the contract, I would need to pay one billion in compensation."

"No worries, put the one billion on my tab," Zhang Menglong said nonchalantly.

"Mr. Zhang, if it's an exclusive license, then it might be priced differently." Though Zhou Juelun found it hard to broach, he still had to mention it, as transferring his song rights had to go through his former company.

"Then let's double it up!" Zhang Menglong still had no expression on his face, "2 billion, I want ten years of online broadcasting rights!"

"Cough cough cough!" The bout of coughing had not subsided when the 2 billion hit, instantly making Zhou Juelun and his assistant's heads buzz.

"Mr. Zhang, pardon my frankness, but if you really want to spend 2 billion to buy the copyright, I'm afraid it will take a long time just to break even!"

"I never said I was counting on making money from this," Zhang Menglong spread his hands.

"What do you mean?" Zhou Juelun was now confused. Wasn't buying the rights to his songs meant to monopolize the market? And wasn't the ultimate goal of monopolizing the market to make money?

"Ding Sanshi and his son from Heaven Meddled with me, and I'm not happy, so I'm starting with Heaven Music, it's that simple," Zhang Menglong stated, "I want to buy the exclusive broadcasting rights to all songs from all artists, leaving them with no options."

Having heard this, Zhou Juelun's expression became somewhat stiff. To buy so many copyrights, that would cost a vast amount of money. And it all seemed to stem from some personal grudge, just to gain satisfaction, spending dozens of billions—was it worth it?

"Mr. Zhang, You've been wronged by Heaven, so your actions are understandable, but what about Tengxun? Have Ma Hua and his son wronged you too?"

"They haven't," Zhang Menglong replied, "They can only blame their bad luck. If they had taken down Heaven Music sooner, none of this would have happened, right?"

"When immortals fight, mortals suffer," Zhou Juelun couldn't help but sweat for Ma Hua.

If Zhang Menglong's plan went through, it wouldn't be just Heaven Music sinking; even Tengxun Music might go bankrupt, as cruel as the market is!

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But Ma Hua hadn't done anything, and by then, he might get so desperate that he'd kill Ding Sanshi.

As long as Zhang Menglong's music platform was completely free, the fans, unable to find the songs they wanted, would only have to switch to his platform, and as for the other small Internet celebrities and cover artists, they were just fooling around.

"Oh, right, add another half a billion for the cover rights; your songs are too powerful, even the covers have a market!"

"You're wiping them out completely," Zhou Juelun felt fortunate to have kept up with mainland affairs. If he hadn't known this man, today he might have been dealt with by Zhang Menglong, and perhaps at that time, both Tengxun Music and Heaven Music would have been doomed.

"If there's no problem, I'll make the payment now."

"Wait, just wait a moment..." It was Zhou Juelun's first time encountering such a business approach. What was happening? The agreement hadn't even been signed, and he was ready to pay?

"What's the matter? Any problems?"

"No... none..."

"That's good, finishing our milk tea is more urgent; we can sign the contract after we're done."

"Okay..."

"By the way, Director Zhou, there's another issue." Zhang Menglong suddenly remembered something.

"Please speak, Mr. Zhang."

"My future girlfriend is a big fan of yours, so I'd like to sign you. When there's nothing else to do, you could come perform for us, or scream a little at the karaoke, why don't you name your price?"

"I..." Zhou Juelun's face filled with bitterness. Wasn't this just like being a performing artist? He was, after all, a freelance musician and a chairman of several companies; he didn't need to sell his dignity for money...

"500 million a year!"

"Mr. Zhang, that isn't quite right, I perform but I don't sell myself."

"I see, then how much would it cost for you to hold a concert?"

Zhou Juelun: "I#¥#¥#%#%¥..."