Chapter 377 - 373: Opportunity

Zhou Lu felt resigned as she was pulled along, but she couldn't bring herself to refuse Li Weiya's enthusiastic invitation. In the end, she reluctantly went along to her apartment.

"Weiya, where's your son?"

"Final exams are coming up, so he's been back at school the last couple of days."

Zhou Lu nodded. She knew a fair bit about Wang Ming. He had started as one of the artists working with Jiang Xia on *Cat and Mouse* and was exceptionally talented. Now he was the storyboard director for the project, which showed how much Jiang Xia valued him. 'It won't be long before he's a titan in the animation industry,' she thought.

The thought that someone so brilliant had only just started college made Zhou Lu feel a bit inadequate. 'He's far more accomplished than I was at his age.'

After changing into the slippers Li Weiya had prepared, Zhou Lu walked inside. She looked around the two-bedroom apartment, nodding in approval.

"This is a nice place. It's pretty spacious."

"Ah, it's just enough to get by," Li Weiya said. "Property prices in the Imperial Capital have shot up this year. Ah Xia says this trend will likely continue for another decade. In the future, the average price might be seventy or eighty thousand per square meter. In prime locations with good layouts, it could even be over a hundred thousand."

Li Weiya smiled. "I'm actually planning to buy a place here in the Imperial Capital. I don't go back to Wanzhou that often anyway. Later on, if I ever need the money, I can sell it, not only getting my investment back but also making a nice profit."

"Tsk, tsk. Spoken like a true Vice President of Qitian Group," Zhou Lu teased. "Just casually buying a place that's twenty thousand per square meter. That's a serious flex."

To put things in perspective, the average price in Yu Du was only four or five thousand at the time—a five-fold difference. And even then, the people of the Mountain City were still complaining that prices were too high.

"I definitely can't pay for it all upfront, but I can manage it if I bite the bullet and take out a loan." Li Weiya gave a faint smile. She was on an annual salary now. Counting all the various bonuses, her yearly income was in the millions, so buying a house was more than doable.

"Sigh. I guess I'll just keep renting for now," Zhou Lu said with a wry smile.

Her previous job at Yu Du TV Station had only paid a standard salary. While she'd saved up a decent amount over the years, her current job wasn't set in stone yet. Besides, a few hundred thousand in savings was a drop in the bucket compared to property prices in the Imperial Capital.

And she couldn't possibly pour her entire life's savings into a house.

"Just keep working hard. The salaries Ah Xia pays are fantastic. You're the COO of D Station. If you put in two or three years of hard work, you'll have a place in the Imperial Capital, won't you?"

Li Weiya smiled, put on an apron, and took some beef out of the fridge before heading into the kitchen. With nothing else to do, Zhou Lu followed her in to help.

A while later, dinner was ready: steak, a vegetable salad, and pasta. They each had half a glass of red wine, making for a simple, home-cooked Western meal.

"Weiya, do you have any thoughts on the development plan for D Station?" Zhou Lu asked, cutting a piece of steak and lifting it to her mouth. She chewed it slowly.

Li Weiya thought for a moment. "The core is still content and the ecosystem," she said. "Those two are the foundation for D Station's growth. As for the commercialization you're thinking of, that can only be built on top of D Station's massive user base."

Zhou Lu nodded, fully agreeing with that assessment.

"Ah Xia mentioned to me before that in addition to managing animation rights, D Station's future plans include expanding into games, live streaming, short videos, variety shows, original documentaries, dramas, and anime merchandise," Li Weiya said. "However, we're currently limited by the low penetration of mobile devices, so many of these plans can't be implemented just yet. But you can choose from among them what's best to pursue right now."

Zhou Lu thought about it for a long time, and a plan began to take shape in her mind. 'Every single area Weiya mentioned could be its own department,' she realized. 'If we could accomplish all that, D Station would be more than ten times its current size.'

"President Jiang is incredible," she marveled. "His vision extends more than ten years into the future."

"Ah Xia really is brilliant. His instincts are incredibly sharp. No matter how the times change, he always seems to be able to make his moves in advance and prepare for what's coming."

Li Weiya suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. Lu, there's something I have to remind you about."

"Hm?"

"You know that Apple Inc. is about to release a new product, right?"

Zhou Lu nodded lightly. "It's a phone, isn't it? I think I saw something about it in the news recently."

"Ah Xia says this phone will usher in the global smartphone era and trigger a revolution in the industry. Our country is the biggest market in the world. If D Station could secure the broadcasting rights for the launch event…"

She didn't have to finish. Zhou Lu's eyes were already shining.

As an industry insider, she knew exactly how important timeliness was. If D Station could live-stream Apple's entire smartphone launch, the entire nation's attention would be focused on them that day. It would be a massive traffic bonanza!

Better yet, if they could leverage that to build a partnership with Apple and become an official channel for ordering the phones in-country, the deal would be a gold mine.

"When's the Apple event?" she asked.

"Uh… I haven't really been paying attention. I think it's sometime this month?"

Li Weiya pursed her lips with a helpless smile. Her work was focused on animation, so she'd only remembered because she'd heard Jiang Xia mention it so often.

"Weiya, let me borrow your computer."

Zhou Lu put down her knife and fork, immediately opening the laptop to look up everything about Apple Inc.'s upcoming launch. She found that the event was scheduled for June 18th, Imperial Capital time.

Today was June 3rd. That left half a month. Factoring in the time it would take to get a visa, there wasn't much time to spare. The schedule would be tight, but if everything went smoothly, she could just make it.

"Weiya, I need to make a trip to America," Zhou Lu said suddenly.

Li Weiya froze. She had only mentioned it offhandedly, but Zhou Lu was actually serious?

"You're serious?"

Zhou Lu nodded. "You said it yourself. If this upcoming smartphone is going to revolutionize the entire industry, then it'll be worth it as long as we can successfully negotiate a deal."

After a pause, she continued, "I trust President Jiang's judgment."

This was the perfect opportunity to make good on the do-or-die pledge she'd recently made to Jiang Xia and deliver an outstanding result.

"If Ah Xia finds out about this, he'll be singing your praises," Li Weiya said with a laugh.

At the end of the day, it was about execution and decisiveness. As the COO of Dili Dili, she had to seize every opportunity.

"Alright. You go ahead and prepare for the trip. If you need any help from me, just ask. Don't worry about things here at the company."

"Thank you," Zhou Lu said sincerely.

"I'll be waiting for your good news."

Li Weiya chuckled.

...