Chapter 103: The Jinkela Advertisement

Katie was a bit dazed.

Jinkela…

What on earth was that?

She had never heard of it.

In fact, she had never even heard of such a fertilizer plant existing in the United States.

Furthermore, although the person was speaking English, it was incredibly non-standard. It had a heavy Dongbei accent^[1], and some of the phrases were riddled with obvious grammatical errors, bearing a striking resemblance to the Chinglish spoken by Wu Zhuang from Universe Technology.

But…

Katie took another careful look at the number.

It was indeed an international call coming from the United States.

So?

“What was that? You’re in Huaxia?”

“Oh, my goodness! If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have come to America!”

“???”

When Katie mentioned she was in Huaxia, the voice on the other end suddenly erupted with a string of incomprehensible Huaxia speech before switching back to that “Dongbei-flavored” English.

“Sorry, Miss Katie…”

“???”

Katie was bewildered.

…

The Jinkela phone call had been bizarre from start to finish.

It ended as abruptly and strangely as it had begun.

However…

Katie didn’t take it to heart.

It was just a minor interlude.

After the interlude ended, Katie stepped into Universe Technology.

She had originally assumed that while Universe Technology might not be a massive corporation with its own dedicated building like Mumaen, it would at least have a decent facade.

However, once she actually walked inside, she found it somewhat hard to believe.

Though the building was relatively new, it was just an ordinary office block.

The interior decor was very plain. Aside from the essential furnishings, the space was mostly filled with various equipment and servers.

Following Manager Wu Zhuang out of the elevator, Katie felt an involuntary shiver and instinctively glanced around.

She suddenly realized a group of people were wearing eerie smiles, watching her as if she were prey…

Their stares made her skin crawl.

Soon.

She followed Wu Zhuang and knocked on the door to Zhang Yang’s office.

“Miss Katie, hello…”

“Mr. Zhang, you’re so young…”

“Haha, please, have a seat.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Like everyone else, even though Katie had come prepared, she was still shocked when she saw Zhang Yang’s face!

President Zhang was far too young, wasn’t he?

When Zhang Yang saw Katie, his gaze remained fixed on the translator standing behind her.

He was thinking that since he didn’t lack for anything else now, he was still missing a secretary who understood translation.

This secretary had to be someone he could trust and had to have a certain level of skill. Otherwise, what if he got cheated?

“Mr. Zhang… I’m very curious about you…” After sitting down, Katie didn’t take out the cooperation documents immediately. Instead, she stared at Zhang Yang for a long time.

“About what?”

“Mr. Zhang, I’ve looked into your background. To me, your experience reads like an unbelievable novel. Your beginning was truly legendary. Moreover, when I looked at your student days, I found that you had absolutely no contact with games. It’s incredible. To use a Huaxia idiom, it’s as if you appeared out of thin air. Do you have some kind of secret?” Katie blinked at Zhang Yang, her beautiful eyes full of curiosity.

“Miss Katie, actually, I’m a person from the future…” Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes and offered a smile.

“A person from the future, like in a sci-fi movie?” Katie blinked.

“Yes!” Zhang Yang remained smiling, looking quite serious.

“Did you come here in a time machine?”

“If I said I ate a few rotten bananas, got diarrhea, and passed out only to wake up here, would you believe me?” Zhang Yang continued to blink.

“Hahaha, Mr. Zhang Yang, you’re so humorous… Haha, coming here because of diarrhea, ha!” Katie couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh. She found Zhang Yang very funny, and it took her a long time to finally compose herself. “Alright, Mr. Zhang, I’m sure you know why I’m here. Our company, UC Games, places great importance on your games. We hope to import all of them. Regarding the price, we have two options: one is a buyout, and the other is a revenue-sharing model with our company. Mr. Zhang, which one will you choose?”

“Let me see both agreements.” Zhang Yang smiled along with her.

See?

Sometimes when you speak the truth seriously, people think you’re joking…

Though, that method of time travel really was quite hilarious, wasn’t it?

“Certainly! We’ve specifically drafted a Chinese version of the agreement…”

“Mm.” Zhang Yang nodded.

After Zhang Yang took the agreement and spent about twenty minutes reading it, he found himself momentarily unable to believe his eyes.

Why?

Whether it was the buyout or the revenue-sharing agreement, he discovered there were no traps intended to cheat him…

Logically, this being his first time collaborating with a major company like UC Games, the contract should have been riddled with pitfalls. Yet, after staring at the agreement for a long time, he felt it was a very generous offer.

Even where there were restrictive clauses, they were standard confidentiality terms and company protection clauses.

Any contract would have those.

“Mr. Zhang, is there a problem?” Seeing the expression on Zhang Yang’s face, Katie’s gaze turned peculiar.

“Is the content of the Chinese and English versions identical?” Zhang Yang asked instinctively.

“Exactly the same… Mr. Zhang, this agreement was personally decided upon by our boss, Mr. Rocky. We see immense potential in you. Even though this is our first collaboration, I hope both parties can approach this with the utmost sincerity. What do you think?” Katie looked at Zhang Yang with a serious expression.

In truth…

After Rocky saw Zhang Yang’s history, he knew Zhang Yang was a clever man.

In Rocky’s view, dealing with clever people with deceptive tactics would only backfire. It was better to cooperate with full sincerity.

“Mm.” Zhang Yang nodded. “However, I have one question…”

“What is it?”

“The romance version of ‘God of Conquest’ cannot simply be imported as-is. My personal suggestion is that we need to conduct market research in the West. Western and Eastern aesthetics might be different. This is a game that relies on visual appeal. Aesthetics, including various preference factors of Americans, are very important…”

“How do we do it?”

“It’s simple. We replicate our company’s previous model…”

“Oh?”

Just as Zhang Yang was preparing to have a proper discussion with Katie regarding the modifications for the imported version of God of Conquest…

His phone suddenly rang.

“President Zhang! Hello there…”

“Hello.”

“Haha, congratulations, President Zhang! Congratulations on your game going abroad…”

“Who is this?”

“I’m Zhang Genshui, the head of Jinkela’s Greater China region! Haha, we even share the same surname! President Zhang, I’m almost at your office. Can we talk about an advertising endorsement? Don’t worry, money is no object. Just name your price!”

“…”

When Zhang Yang took the call, his entire spirit jolted!

Jinkela!

Holy crap!

This thing existed in this world too?

………………………

Coal boss.

That was a term destined for the history books.

Rags to riches overnight, spending money like water, investing in movies, sleeping with starlets…

In his original world, between 2005 and 2015, their figures were active everywhere in the entertainment industry.

Real estate, luxury cars…

Legends of their exploits circulated everywhere.

Zhang Genshui was exactly that kind of man.

A few years ago, he had contracted a coal mountain and became a boss worth hundreds of millions overnight.

After earning more money than he could spend in several lifetimes and experiencing a brief period of extravagant squandering, he began to feel a bit lost about the future.

He didn’t know which way to go.

Sleep with starlets? Get into real estate?

As a middle-aged man in his forties, he wasn’t particularly interested in those things.

Later, after pondering for a long time, he considered that his ancestors had been tilling the soil for generations. He decided he might as well just start a fertilizer business!

Though he was barely literate, he had a profound respect for educated people.

He hired a group of PhDs graduated from agricultural universities to conduct various research projects. Eventually, they developed a fertilizer with decent results. By some strange stroke of inspiration, he named this fertilizer Jinkela.

Then…

Following some brainless advice from netizens, he impulsively threw money at a foreigner to take a photo for the brand’s image. At the same time, he registered a trademark in America, claiming it was a high-tech fertilizer produced in San Diego!

He was determined to create an internationally famous brand of fertilizer.

An international brand—even if the production site was in Huaxia, it still had to be an international brand, right?

And an international brand…

Naturally had to keep up with the times!

Initially, he spent money running fertilizer commercials on small-town television stations.

However, the results weren’t very noticeable. Later, he saw his son, a high school sophomore, playing Plants vs. Zombies. He heard his son say that Plants vs. Zombies was the only Huaxia game to be exported abroad and was the pride of the nation. His son also mentioned that the internet would be the mainstream for young people in the future…

Looking at his son’s non-stop chatter, the coal boss Zhang Genshui didn’t think there was anything wrong with his son playing games at all!

Instead, he slapped his forehead!

Another flash of inspiration struck!

What was wrong with playing games?

Nothing at all!

Look at this, playing games was a way to connect with the international community…

When he saw that Plants vs. Zombies had even integrated an advertisement as stiff as shampoo, his breathing grew heavy.

“Son, the peashooters need fertilizer, don’t they?”

“It’s perfectly logical! It’s way more logical than that damn shampoo ad, okay!”

“If shampoo can make peas grow leaves, then if I put my fertilizer in, wouldn’t this game be even more awesome?”

“…”

“…”

Subsequently, he had his advisor—a marketing graduate student from Zhejiang University—conduct a survey on the advertising effectiveness of Plants vs. Zombies!

When he learned that the sales of the shampoo from the product placement had skyrocketed, he couldn’t sit still for another second!

He slapped his forehead again!

Let’s do it…

Wasn’t his English-speaking secretary busy with advertising matters in America? He told her to contact UC first to see if they could get some ads into the American version.

Then, he personally rushed from Shanxi^[2] to Yanjing.

The advertisement!

He had to secure it!

……………………….

“President Zhang, a person has to keep up with the times. Don’t look at me and think I’m just some forty-year-old; I’m actually very progressive…”

“…”

“I really enjoy dealing with you young people. You always have so many ideas and dreams, and I like that very much…”

“…”

“President Zhang, just give me an account number and name your price. I know you’re a big deal, and I have no problem choosing you. Oh, right, I heard you just signed a cooperation agreement with UC. That’s perfect. Put some ads in the American version of Plants vs. Zombies too…”

“…”

“Is five million enough? If not, seven million… Huaxia and America can be calculated separately. How about an extra three million for America? Let’s make it an even ten million?”

“…”

Under the sunlight.

Seeing the pot-bellied Zhang Genshui sitting across from him, asking for an account number without a second thought, Zhang Yang’s eyes were filled with complex emotions.

He didn’t know whether to say Zhang Genshui had too much money or too much vision.

In reality…

There really were people who spent money like water.

Spending it in a way that made it impossible to refuse!

He took a deep breath.

“President Zhang, are you sure? That’s ten million in total…” Zhang Yang confirmed.

“What’s there to think about for that kind of money… It’s settled!” Zhang Genshui slammed the table. “When can my advertisement be finished?”

“Cough, cough… President Zhang, how about this? I heard the ads you ran in those small towns weren’t very effective, right?”

“That’s right!”

“Well, seeing how generous you are, I’ll design an advertisement for you for free. Just follow my design!”

“For free? President Zhang, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you! Haha, in the future, I’ll let my son stay by your side to learn a thing or two. Zhuzi, don’t hide! Come over and call him Uncle Zhang!”

“…”

Zhang Yang saw a slightly chubby high school youth standing next to Zhang Genshui.

The high school youth stepped forward somewhat shyly. “Uncle Zhang!”

After he spoke, his eyes betrayed a hint of nervousness, yet also seemed filled with excitement.

Zhang Yang was completely dazed.

This kid didn’t seem much younger than himself…

Had he just become someone’s uncle for no reason at all?

Two hours later.

“Hello, Xiaoli? When you come back, bring an American and an African with you…”

“Right, and find a Japanese person. No Japanese people available? Then just find someone to play the part…”

“Wait, no, don’t come over. Just film it over there. I need it by tomorrow. Yes, send the ads out to all the local TV stations…”

“…”

Zhang Genshui puffed on a cigar and shouted into his phone as he swaggered out of the gates of Universe Technology.

“Haha, President Zhang, no need to see me out! To be honest, I don’t really know how to smoke cigars. I just see rich people doing it, so I gave it a try. It’s not all that, though. Not nearly as kick as the leaf tobacco^[3] back home…”

“…”

Under Wu Zhuang’s gaze-which was a mix of envy, irritation, and excitement-Zhang Genshui waved goodbye to Zhang Yang, took his son, and climbed into a Rolls-Royce.

After they left, the scent of the cigar seemed to linger in the air around Wu Zhuang.

“President Zhang, is that what a nouveau riche looks like? Will I ever have a chance like that in my life?” he muttered to himself.

“Stop envying others and get back to work!”

“You got it! But before I start, I’m going to go buy a cigar to smoke. Damn!”

“…”

Zhang Yang shrugged at Wu Zhuang’s reaction.

Just as Zhang Yang turned around, he received a call from an unknown number.

Once he picked up, he was shocked.

The call was actually from President Ma of Shengteng Technology…

…

At noon the next day.

“Shocking!”

“Two foreigners actually got into a fight over a brand of fertilizer…”

“…”

On the internet, a news story suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the portals^[4] of every major social media platform…

(End of Chapter)