I am a Big Player
Chapter 112 - 111. Please Call Me Red Scarf (Fifth Update)_1

Chapter 112: 111. Please Call Me Red Scarf (Fifth Update)_1

Some people might think Ren He loves money too much for his way of doing things, but if Ren He knew what they were thinking, he would seriously tell them, "Yes, you’re right, I fucking love money, so please smash me with it."

In Ren He’s set of principles, anyone who has a problem with money is sick, of course, there must be a proper way to acquire it.

For endorsement contracts like TK’s, Ren He earned them entirely through his own skills. He wouldn’t say no to something that’s free! Want to shoot a video? No problem!

However, Ren He had his own conditions, "Here’s the thing, Mr. An, let me first state my conditions, and then we can continue discussing the price for the collaboration. Firstly, due to personal reasons, I can’t show my face in the video. I’m not asking you to cut my face out in post-production, but rather that I at least need to cover it with something. However, I can let you use my unique nickname for promotion in the future."

At the moment, the biggest concern Ren He had about playing extreme sports was Ren and Mrs. Ren. To be honest, Ren, Mrs. Ren, and Yang En had pretty much the same idea: they didn’t need him to achieve much, hence the free-range parenting method. Even if his grades were terrible, the two of them didn’t really care that much.

In his previous life, Ren He’s monthly allowance for college was only 600 RMB, but by the time he graduated, his family had prepared a full set for him, including a wedding house and car. And after his college graduation, they completely relaxed their financial control over him. Ren He could only say that they truly had his best interest at heart.

If Ren and Mrs. Ren knew he was now risking his life every day, they would probably go insane...

An Si thought about it and hesitantly asked, "I’m still a bit confused about what you mean by covering your face..."

"Wait a moment, and drop the formalities, let’s keep it relaxed," Ren He said and went back to his room to look for something he could use to demonstrate. After searching for a while, he only found a Red Scarf from his primary school days... considering he was a Young Pioneer then... Ren He admired the fact that all Chinese youths had been Young Pioneers—it would be the coolest youth organization if it were international!

He folded the Red Scarf into a triangle, covered his face with it showing only his eyes, and pointed at his own face to An Si, "Like this."

An Si had a moment of realization, "This could work. In fact, it adds a sense of mystery which might make people more interested in you. Is that what you were thinking?"

Ren He’s face darkened momentarily, "No."

This was purely to prevent Ren and Mrs. Ren from freaking out, but he thought about what An Si said, and it seemed accurate. It was like taking Yang Xi to a soccer match incognito; the sense of mystery could indeed help grow his fame.

Because people are always more curious about the unknown.

"Alright then," Ren He removed the Red Scarf and said, "As long as you don’t mind, that’s fine. So let’s talk about money."

An Si’s eyes lit up; this was much simpler than he had anticipated. He had even thought about what to do if the other party suspected he was a scammer.

This was indeed the case. In his previous life, Ren He had experienced such a situation, where the payment service’s Christmas event offered a big prize to the Nth customer, and the customer thought it was a scam and decisively rejected the call...

But for people like Ren He, it didn’t matter if you were scamming; there was no way he’d give you money...

And once An Si mentioned TK and the video, Ren He essentially understood what was happening. After all, he was someone who had experienced the information explosion of the previous life; he was fairly confident in distinguishing whether someone was a scammer or not.

An Si explained, "This is our plan: we offer you 1.2 million US Dollars per year as an endorsement fee. Of course, you can’t endorse any other sports brand. Moreover, if you attend any related sports events in the future, you must ride in a TK car and wear the apparel specifically made for you by TK. If there are additional extreme challenges, for each successful attempt, TK will provide an additional 300,000 US Dollars in sponsorship, all belonging personally to you. And the following year, we’ll pay the endorsement fee of 1.5 million US Dollars, and so on."

Ren He did some quick calculations, and it looked like TK’s offer was actually very fair!

Compared to his past life, take the swimming darling Sun Yang for example. Although his total endorsement value reached $20 million US Dollar, many people don’t know that the $20 million US Dollar had to be split between sponsors such as Häagen-Dazs, Coca-Cola, Yili Milk, BJ Modern, 361, Pacific Insurance, and others.

It wasn’t just one company that gave him $20 million US Dollar.

The gap between $1.2 million and $20 million is huge, but Ren He could still take on other endorsements.

And what about Sun Yang? He is the pride of the nation, the "Guardian Wing" of the e-sports world who brought glory to the country; at the time, his influence in China was at the very top. Ren He, on the other hand, is just starting out, a web celebrity who became popular because of a video. In the words of those within the circle, he’s "without a foundation -- he could fall out of favor at any moment".

In the exchange rate of 2005, the $1.2 million US Dollar was equivalent to 9.6 million RMB, which was even higher than the rights for Kunlun’s film and television adaptations!

Of course, Ren He’s capabilities extend beyond that, which was also a concern for him. After thinking it over, Ren He said, "Actually, cycling might not be my best sport. Could the contract be structured such that, when it comes to cycling-related activities, I’ll cooperate with TK, but still be free to take on other endorsements when it comes to other sports?"

An Si was taken aback. It’s well-known that an athlete’s energy is limited; every one of them is tirelessly striving at the limits of one particular sport. Different sports require different training systems, so it had never crossed his mind that Ren He might excel at anything else.

In fact, his assumption was not unreasonable at all, as evidenced by the almost godlike figure in basketball, Michael Jordan, who, after abruptly retiring, was persuaded to play baseball, only to achieve less than stellar results.

The idea of a top athlete being all-rounder is simply not feasible.

In An Si’s view, Ren He’s mastery over cycling was comparable to that of a formal professional athlete, something that could only be achieved through extensive training and innate talent. How could he have had the time to dabble in other sports?

But what he didn’t know was that it was actually Ren He’s first time performing a high-speed bicycle drift...

And what Ren He is truly best at isn’t cycling at all -- it’s free climbing buildings...

An Si tentatively asked, "I wonder what other sports you excel at?"

"Well... let’s not talk about that for now. I just wanted to know if we could sign the contract like that," Ren He decided it was better not to mention it. Claiming climbing buildings as his forte could land him in trouble with the police during a sponsorship event. He would wait until he began to seriously engage in free climbing before mentioning it.

"It’s possible, but I have a better suggestion," An Si thought for a moment before speaking, "For every new sport where you achieve results comparable to your cycling, TK will pay you an additional annual endorsement fee of $1.2 million US Dollar, and the same applies to any extra rewards."

Really? That doesn’t sound too good! Ren He’s eyes lit up. In the future, he planned to indulge not just in free climbing but also various extreme sports challenges. Indeed, getting sponsored by a big spender like TK, a company that isn’t short on cash, felt great. But he feared taking on too many challenges might cause them to regret their offer!

The act of sponsorship by companies is actually a means to boost their own influence, just like the brand Li Ning, which during the torch relay in 2008, instantly became the domestic brand whose sales surpassed Adidas and ranked only second to Nike.

TK’s eagerness in seeking out Ren He was also driven by the desire for a beneficial effect. If, when his contract was nearing its end, Ren He got injured and was no longer able to participate in sports, TK would definitely not renew the contract with him.

So, was Ren He worth that price and could his influence reach such heights? Ren He himself didn’t know.

If it were just a matter of cycling, of course not. But what if he became the first person in the world of extreme sports to excel in eight different disciplines?

There might be people proficient in many things, but someone who excels at everything to the highest degree? Sorry, that only happens in movies.