Some things had to be postponed. When Cheng Ran passed by some newsstands and stationery stores near the school, he saw a pirated copy of Three Kingdoms Kill. Cheng Ran thought that he should find some time to visit Cheng Qi's studio.
Currently, the price of the genuine hardcover edition of Three Kingdoms Killing is 35 yuan, and the paperback edition is 20 yuan, which is the current price of one copy. But the pirated copies on sale are only 10 yuan or 10 yuan.
These have a greater impact on the hardcover edition, while the paperback edition sells very well. This is consistent with previous expectations. The quality of pirated copies of 10 yuan or less is not good enough. Basically, the cards are just a piece of hard cardboard. The ones that cost more than 10 yuan can reach 80% of the quality of the genuine paper. The main reason for these differences is that the Red Star Printing Factory that Cheng Ran found is a state-owned large factory, and the production process is still very good. Generally, pirated printing factories involve costs, so naturally they cannot be very meticulous.
The paper may be similar, but the quality of printing and some details can be seen at a glance. Generally speaking, as long as you are not particularly short of money and still want to buy it for long-term holding and playing with friends, you are more inclined to spend a few more money to buy the genuine simplified version than the pirated version.
This is different from the situation of pirated books. A genuine book sells for 18 yuan, while a pirated book costs only a few cents and can be sold for 5 yuan. At worst, it can be sold for 1 or 2 yuan. There is a lot of profit space.
However, the production of Three Kingdoms Kill is troublesome and the cost is also high. In terms of convenience, it is indeed not as good as pirated books. Moreover, the genuine paperback edition only sells for 20 yuan, which leads to many people simply willing to pay a little more to buy the genuine version, which makes many pirates very depressed. If it were not for the fact that it is very popular now and sells well, many pirates would really be unwilling to start printing. They don't understand why the publisher doesn't raise the price a little so that they can make a profit by pirating. Anyway, this thing is actually easy to sell, and few people do not pursue maximum profit.
Cheng Ran himself regards popular communication as his first demand, and Shanhai’s production has already reached a certain scale, which is conducive to reducing costs.
The advantage now is that this market is emerging, and it brings never-before-experienced interactive gameplay. The market is growing, and piracy has damaged the interests of legitimate products, but Cheng Ran was prepared. He used the low profits of legitimate products to control the market to the point where any pirated products could not make a lot of money entirely from this, but it could increase the degree of dissemination to a certain extent. Although the profit of a single legitimate product is low, for those who were the first to try it, they have set up shops all over the country and spread out their business, so the profit is not low.
Cheng Ran wants to make this business bigger. He has not thought about doing everything in a grand manner. He just says that if he likes it, he will do it seriously. It doesn't matter how much profit he makes. If he really wants to make a lot of money, the board game industry is not actually very profitable.
Let's ignore Xie Feibai for now. I don't have time to deal with him now, and he is probably also living his new life. We can get together again when there is a chance.
What Cheng Ran thought about next was the rival of Fu Long and the matter of finding the underworld...
Cheng Ran seemed to have heard of the name Lei Wei, but there were many different opinions about what the future would be like, and it was impossible to be sure. In the future crackdown on gangs and evil, a group of such people were indeed eliminated, but some people also bleached their way ashore, or found a more powerful background behind them, and fit in with the gears of the top leaders...
This is a problem at the moment.
However, Fulong has participated in the competition and is facing a market worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This kind of trouble is bound to happen and must be dealt with.
Thinking about these things, Cheng Ran walked across the intersection of Wenmiao Street after getting off the bus, and followed the bustling crowd of students into No. 10 Middle School.
I wanted to experience my current life leisurely, but this is like a ship sailing on the sea, there will always be all kinds of waves hitting it.
Freedom comes at a price, and peace is only achieved when someone keeps the storms out. In fact, this world has always been turbulent.
Peace is just a wishful pursuit of people, just like when it is raining heavily outside, but an old monk is meditating facing the ancient well under the eaves, thinking that as long as the well is calm, the flood and beast outside do not exist.
There is an allusion to a drop of honey in the Buddhist scriptures. A traveler encountered a drunk elephant and fell into a well. He grabbed a small tree. There were poisonous snakes above and below, and two black and white rats gnawing at the roots of the tree. The leaves contained a drop of honey. The traveler forgot about life and death and bent down to lick it. This is more like a metaphor for the suffering that people will experience in their lives and the meaning of life.
For Cheng Ran, this world of No. 10 Middle School and his current life are the drop of honey he hopes to taste.
…
It was just dawn when Cheng Ran entered the classroom with the clear sound of footsteps in the corridor. There were not many people inside, but he saw Lao Jiang at a glance.
She supported her chin with her hand, her head tilted to one side, her hair hanging down, and there was a book on the table, but she didn't seem to be reading. From the way her eyes wandered, she seemed to be distracted.
Just this look, that half of the profile is enough to make people stop and stare.
"Very hardworking, you came quite early," Cheng Ran stopped in front of her and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Jiang Hongshao came back to her senses, looked up and saw him, a smile spread across her face in this early morning, "I'm thinking about you."
Cheng Ran was stunned.
This sudden attack from the sky in the early morning was completely unexpected.
However, seeing the sly smile in Jiang Hongshao's eyes, Cheng Ran frowned and said, "Are you kidding me again?"
Lao Jiang pursed his lips and said, "Hmm..." without admitting or denying.
However, this can still bring a completely different experience.
On this morning of the first day of school at No. 10 Middle School, which seemed to be the beginning of a new stage and the unknown, a girl said "I'm thinking of you" to you on the first day of school. Regardless of whether it was said casually or not, it still made your heart beat a beat.
"I suddenly thought of the significance of studying hard..." Cheng Ran said.
Jiang Hongshao smiled and said, "Yes, if you study hard, you can come to Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School, and we can make progress together."
Cheng Ran shook his head, "I hope I can have a secretary who can say this to me every day."
Jiang Hongshao: “…!”
"I'll pair you up in the future and train a platoon. You can choose one yourself."
There were not many people in the classroom at this time. When talking to Jiang Hongshao, some people still looked up at them. It was just that they were far away and their voices were not loud. It was unknown what they were talking about. But when the girl looked up and Cheng Ran said something to her, people still felt a little envious...
That's great.
Cheng Ran went to sit at his seat and turned to look at Jiang Hongshao.
Lao Jiang pointed to the side next to her, shrugged her shoulders, and made a gesture of "I am helpless too." This showed that even though Cheng Ran was in the same class as her, it was fate that made them sit at the same table.
Cheng Ran smiled. The morning air was filled with the scent of cement wall paint and wall plaster hidden in the deepest layer of memory. He didn't know how many people had come and left in this scene, and in the end, it only remained in his midnight dreams many years later.
Even if I have seen the ups and downs of life several times since then, the most unforgettable thing is that I was young and full of vigor and ambition, with endless thoughts. I rode a horse and wanted to see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day.
…
The interaction between Cheng Ran and Lao Jiang on the morning of the first day of school lasted only a few minutes, like a bubble that appeared quietly. No one knew about it except the first few people who arrived in the classroom.
After desk mates Zhang Ping and Hao Di arrived in the classroom, morning reading class also began. Zhang Ping was very generous and secretly chatted with Cheng Ran, introducing the situation of No. 10 Middle School to him, the transfer student, and told him which club had the most beautiful girls among the nearly 20 clubs, and the celebrities in the grade, such as the Three Musketeers and the Five Constant Virtues who dominated the competition, and who was the son of a cadre, the second generation of rich people, some were low-key, some were high-profile, and those who could not be messed with.
The most talked about thing is the beauties. In Zhang Ping's words, No. 10 Middle School is like a Pandora's box that keeps popping out beauties. Every time there is a cultural performance or sports event, there are always talented people. It's really like one wave after another.
There is also a saying that any girl with average or above average looks in No. 10 Middle School would be considered a school belle if she were in any other school.
Sun Hui, the current head teacher of Class 5, once famously said, "When I saw our girls at No. 10 Middle School... I felt that I was born at the wrong time."
Of course, no matter how many beauties there are, the status of a few girls who are iron-clad is unquestionable. Among them, Jiang Hongshao is the most famous and well-known. Zhang Ping said, "Last year when we were in the first grade of high school, the second grade had a fight for her. Did you know that? But those guys were in trouble. The two groups of people argued for a long time, but our brother Jiang didn't even look at her."
Cheng Ran had a wonderful expression, "Brother Jiang?"
"Oh, you don't know, many people call her 'Jiang Ge', which is a sign of both respect and fear..."
While Zhang Ping was still rustling, Cheng Ran suddenly felt creepy. A head popped out of the window next to him, and then Sun Hui laughed sinisterly, "Zhang Ping, Cheng Ran... Really, if you two don't want to study on your own, go to the stage and read the first passage!"
As the whole class roared with laughter, the only sound heard soon was that of Cheng Ran and Zhang Ping from Class 2-5 of Senior High School, who were reciting "The Petition to the Emperor" in unison on the stage.
"… I will die with my head cut off if I live, and I will be buried with grass if I die. I am so frightened that I am like a dog or a horse, and I respectfully submit this memorial to report this…"
Amid the laughter from the audience as his name became known to the whole class in a short time, Cheng Ran saw Jiang Hongshao looking at him with a hint of blame, but it was clear that she was trying not to laugh.
I'll update one chapter first, there's more.