"Quiet down, everyone. You're students, and it's class time now!"
Feeling the growing commotion below, Ms. Victoria, who was standing in front of the podium, slammed the table with a dark expression.
The effect was obvious; the eleventh-grade students were quite afraid of their eccentric homeroom teacher.
The classroom immediately quieted down…
However, as class time progressed, students, filled with curiosity about Mike, unconsciously began to whisper again.
Time passed, and it was soon noon.
On his way to the school cafeteria, Mike noticed that an unusually large number of students in the campus were expressing goodwill towards him today.
Previously, only girls would intentionally approach Mike on the way.
Today, even many boys would friendly nod and greet him when they encountered Mike.
It must be said that newspapers still hold a high degree of credibility in people's minds today.
Clearly, Mike became a "celebrity" at school so quickly precisely because he appeared on the colorful front page of today's newspaper.
"Mike, guess what I found this morning?" In the middle of the cafeteria, Georgie, who was about to eat lunch, saw Mike approaching with his food and could no longer suppress his strong desire to chat.
"What did you find? Is it about me being on the front page of the newspaper?" Mike asked with a smile.
"No, no, no…" Georgie, with a gossipy expression, whispered, "Do you know that many girls today put your big sticker in their lockers…"
Students usually keep some small secrets in private places like lockers.
For example, secretly pasting photos of their favorite boys or girls inside for easy viewing.
This is not uncommon for students in puberty.
"Really?" Mike knew some of the secrets in the lockers. He said indifferently, "As far as I know, there were girls who put my photos in their lockers last year. That's not news."
Seeing Mike's calm demeanor, Georgie had reason to believe he was showing off.
However, after seeing the two beautiful girls sitting next to him, Georgie was left with only envy.
To avoid a second blow, he wisely stopped the topic of girls and photos.
Time came to the afternoon, for outdoor physical education class.
George, standing by the training field, watched as Mike once again led his teammates to score with an unreasonable offensive route, and he no longer raised any questions.
In sports, the winner takes all.
Clearly, Mike had already proven himself with his strength.
"Wayne, what do you think about inviting Austin High as our opponent for the next game?" After a moment, George asked the assistant coach beside him.
Last year, Team Medford was eliminated in the first round of the state top ten, losing to Austin High.
George was clearly still unwilling to accept this result.
"Austin? That might not be good!" Assistant Coach Wayne thought for a moment and said, "The team is getting a lot of attention now. Maybe we can continue to find some weaker teams from the surrounding areas as opponents…"
Assistant Coach Wayne had also seen today's newspaper front page.
It was conceivable that if the team continued to achieve good results in upcoming games, Mike's fame would only grow.
Similarly, the team's popularity would also increase.
During this crucial period of expanding visibility, it was especially important for the team to consistently achieve more victories.
"No, with the team's current level, they deserve stronger opponents…" George looked at his old colleague beside him and said seriously, "I know what you're thinking. But sometimes, only choosing weaker teams to win is not a good thing."
Pecking at weaklings will only lower one's own standing.
And even if one wins by bullying the weak, there will be a sense of unworthiness.
Only by competing with equally matched and powerful opponents can one's own strength be highlighted.
George clearly also knew about the newspaper. In his opinion, it was good to consistently achieve more victories, but it was even more important to compete with strong opponents and hone the team members.
Moreover, he believed in his team members, thinking they might be able to win more.
Therefore, between an easy small win and a challenging winner-takes-all.
George chose the latter.
As an old colleague for many years, Assistant Coach Wayne quickly understood George's thoughts.
"Alright, you're the boss, I'll listen to you…" Looking at the young men sweating on the field, Assistant Coach Wayne unusually felt a surge of passion.
Time came to evening.
In the Cooper family's dining room, Missy, holding a newspaper with Mike's picture, buzzed incessantly around Mike, the person in question, like a happy little bee.
Although the little girl still didn't understand many things, she knew that anyone who could appear in the newspaper must be very impressive.
Therefore, Mike's appearance in the newspaper was definitely worth celebrating.
Just then, Mike's phone rang.
"Mike, you're going to be famous. Can you believe it, the repurchase rate of today's newspaper reached an astonishing nine percent or more, do you know what that means?" After the call connected, Jack's excited voice came through.
Due to the subscription model, the daily circulation of newspapers was basically fixed.
Only when a certain issue of the newspaper was extremely commemorative would people choose to repurchase and collect it.
And a nine percent repurchase rate indicated that for every ten people who subscribed to the newspaper, about one actively went to the newsstand and chose to repurchase this issue.
And today's newspaper sales just showed Mike's popularity.
"So, how much money is the newspaper going to give me this time?" Mike interrupted the enthusiastic Jack on the other end of the phone and asked the question he cared about.
It's not hard to imagine that most of the people who repurchased the newspaper today were likely women, attracted by Mike's handsome image in the newspaper.
Therefore, he didn't feel embarrassed to bring up the topic of sharing money again.
"This isn't about money, it's about influence, influence, do you understand?" The mention of money again made Jack on the other end of the phone a little exasperated.
As someone in the information industry, he was well aware of the immense invisible benefits that good visibility could bring.
And compared to the benefits of visibility, money was not an issue at all.
However, Mike didn't think so. Compared to vague visibility and vanity, he clearly felt that talking about money was more worthwhile.
"Alright, you win." Seeing that the other party was not on the same wavelength as him, Jack conceded.
Then, he explained, "The newspaper is still discussing the issue of giving you a share, and someone will likely contact you later to discuss it in detail. Also, the newspaper plans to cooperate with you on the distribution of your posters, I wonder if you're interested."
"Poster distribution? Tell me more." Mike became interested.
Compared to private workshops, the newspaper's distribution channels were clearly wider.
This approach of expanding business scale, even if the individual's share was a bit lower, was clearly more profitable.
It's about making a living, no shame in that.
"The newspaper knows we sold posters last year, so they're planning to get involved. The specific profit share might not be very good…"
Seemingly dissatisfied with the newspaper's forceful intervention, Jack paused for a moment, then whispered, "Your current popularity is very high, so I think you can ask for more when negotiating cooperation with the newspaper. Maybe a forty percent net profit would be very suitable…"
"I'm very interested in cooperating with the newspaper, but I don't think a forty percent profit is very realistic…" In business, though he knew the other party meant well, Mike was still soberly aware that given his situation, it was impossible to monopolize forty percent of the net profit.
"Alright, I'll convey your willingness to cooperate to the newspaper, and you can handle the specifics yourself. We'll see you on Saturday!" Clearly, Jack found it inconvenient to say too much over the phone.
"OK, see you Saturday." Mike also needed to carefully consider the newspaper's bottom line for profit.
After hanging up the phone, Mike noticed that everyone else in the dining room was looking at him; they had clearly heard about the cooperation.
"Mike, was that the call from the person this morning?" Connie asked with concern.
"Yes, he told me the newspaper wants to cooperate with me…" Mike had nothing to hide from Cooper, so he explained about the poster distribution cooperation.
"Is it about negotiating the cooperation share? Maybe I can help." After hearing the whole story, Paige said interestedly.
For a super child prodigy, she needed a bit of a challenge.
Of course, it might also be a simple desire to help Mike.
"I can also help you draft a business cooperation contract, provided I need to use your computer to first check the newspaper's operating situation." Sheldon, also a super child prodigy, also developed a strong interest in cooperating with the newspaper.
"It's settled then, I'll leave the contract matter to you two." Mike, happy to be idle, chose to delegate the task and remain in charge of the final review.
"Alright, we'll talk about Mike's matter later. Now it's time for our pre-dinner prayer." At the lavish dinner table, Mary smiled and reminded everyone to prepare for the meal.
One should know that after Mike's phone call just now, it was already well past dinner time.