Chapter 226: The Butterfly That Stirs History

Li Xian was unfamiliar with Ma Weidu's situation, and he wasn't planning to deal with antiques, so he just smiled in response to Li Chengru's reminder.

However, he did pay attention to Li Chengru. He had collected several cabinets' worth of items from high school, but with limited knowledge, he didn't know their value.

While they were drinking, Li Xian shared a few items that left a deep impression on him from back then. But without pictures, their conversation was a bit disjointed.

However, the details Li Xian revealed made Li Chengru silently astonished.

"Little brother, you're quite the mystery. I thought you were just a sanitary napkin business guy, but now you seem more like a tomb raider? You have a lot of valuable things at home, and you don't even know their market value?"

Li Chengru's question caught Chen Dongsheng's curiosity as well.

Li Xian couldn't admit that he had found these items among dead bodies—it was too awkward.

He fabricated a story, "I don't really understand those things. I have a friend named Hu Ba Yi, who has an ancestral book called *Sixteen Characters of Yin-Yang and Feng Shui*. After returning from the battlefield at Laoshang, he brought some things and left them with me…"

Li Xian intended to brush off the topic, but it piqued their interest.

"Tell us more!"

Li Chengru licked his lips and urged him.

"Well, this story starts with Hu Ba Yi's grandfather, Hu Guohua…"

Li Xian smirked inwardly and began spinning his tale.

As the hot pot stew simmered down and the white paper figures and mouse friends were done, the strange and eerie stories made Chen Dongsheng and Li Chengru shiver with fear.

But after Li Xian's long tale, the two finally realized he hadn't revealed how he got those antiques.

Seeing that Li Xian was reluctant to discuss it, they moved on to talk about the auction house.

Since the first auction, Jiade's business had shown signs of improvement. As the first auction house in China, it had taken on many various auction and consignment projects.

When Li Chengru inquired about recent projects, Chen Dongsheng took a sip of his drink and said proudly, "Oh, there's quite a bit. Next month, I'm planning an autumn auction in Pushi. Besides the sanitary napkin agency rights for Xianzi this month, we also have two consignment auctions. Oh, by the way, there might be a big job at the end of the year. A few days ago, Tan Xisong from the CCTV advertising department called me, saying they were considering putting out ads for the prime time slots for a large-scale bidding event. They asked if we could handle it. This is a huge deal. Regardless of how much we earn, if we get this order, it will greatly enhance Jiade's influence."

Li Xian, who had been quietly eating, was taken aback.

"Bid King?!"

His exclamation startled Chen Dongsheng, "What bid king?"

Realizing he had spoken out of turn, Li Xian waved his hand, but he was still agitated inside.

In his memory, the bidding for CCTV's prime time ads had happened at the end of 1994. He clearly remembered that Qin Pool secured the bid king for over 30 million yuan that year, which marked the beginning of dominating the domestic liquor industry.

When he was developing Bangye liquor in the early '90s, he had fantasized about using his knowledge of the bid price to make a splash if things went well in 1993 or 1994. 

But now, he was the first to learn such important information in this setting and time!

In the early '90s, what business made the quickest money?

Maybe stock subscription vouchers, receiving Soviet legacies, and other ways to become rich overnight. But if you were talking about the fastest-growing and easiest to strengthen industry in practical terms, it was undoubtedly liquor!

Especially after the prime time bid king appeared on CCTV.

Not to mention the feud between Kongfu Family and Kongfu Banquet, Shandong Qin Pool, and later Wuliangye and Shede. These liquor brands went wild, winning bid kings for tens of millions or billions and quickly started their domination mode.

As Qin Pool's CEO said at the time, "Every day a Santana drives into CCTV Channel 1 and a Benz drives out."

The reason was partly due to the massive profits in the liquor industry that supported crazy advertising marketing. And on the other hand, it was also because CCTV, fully commercialized, had unparalleled divine ability!

In the liquor industry, being the bid king in those years almost became a norm.

It seemed the prime time bidding had arrived a year earlier for some unknown reason.

Li Xian didn't want to miss this opportunity—even if his current strength was still limited.

Considering the matter carefully, he tentatively asked Chen Dongsheng, "Brother Chen, has the start date for this bidding been announced?"

Chen Dongsheng, who had dealt with Tan Xisong before she entered the industry, wasn't hiding anything.

"Director Tan said that CCTV's ads are being adjusted now. The bidding for this year must start by the end of the year. So, Xianzi, are you interested?"

Li Xian nodded.

"Sanitary napkins?" Li Chengru's eyes widened.

"No," Li Xian chuckled, thinking about the idea of "Only You Winged Sanitary Napkins" competing for the bid, followed by the news broadcast, which made him laugh.

It didn't make sense,

Even if "Only You Winged Sanitary Napkins" could participate in the bidding, it would be a waste for a product aimed solely at women.

Thanks to the currently booming Ma family business, "Only You" didn't need to worry about major advertising for at least a year.

"Liquor." He answered.

"You're into liquor too?" Li Chengru was surprised, having always thought Li Xian was just into sanitary napkins. "What brand? Is it sold in Beijing?"

"Here." Li Xian pointed to the small black bottle on the table, which had been selling well recently. "Bangye Black and White."

Seeing the bottle on the table and then looking at this young man, who was still keeping a low profile but managed to repeatedly choke him, Li Chengru felt…

Annoyed!

...

In the following two days, Li Xian arranged for a choir to record *Invisible Wings* and also visited CCTV again.

Initially planning to use the change of *Rainbow* advertisement as a pretext to subtly inquire about the prime time bid king, he was surprised to learn that Tan Xisong personally met with him.

This currently well-organized woman from the CCTV advertising department expressed high praise for the sports marketing performance of "Only You Winged Sanitary Napkins." When Li Xian brought up the advertisement change again, Tan Xisong candidly mentioned that he should wait because CCTV would hold a special bidding event in November for the noon and evening prime time slots.

Chen Dongsheng had mentioned the CCTV bidding last night, and although Li Xian was 80% convinced, he still had doubts. Hearing this from Tan Xisong made it clear.

The bid king competition had arrived early!

While he puzzled over why history had deviated, Tan Xisong smiled at him, "Mr. Li, you should thank yourself. The success of your company's *Rainbow* in the morning slot has shown us the immense economic value of CCTV as a national publicity window. This is one of the main reasons why I decided to separate the currently chaotic, backdoor deals but with prices similar to other slots, and offer the prime time slots separately. So, I hope Mr. Li will participate in the November bidding for…"

Tan Xisong's words continued, but Li Xian was overwhelmed with a single thought.

He had become the butterfly that stirs history!