Chapter 59: I Wish to Become an Immortal 2, Episode 1

"Sister Wang, I apologize. I returned to my hometown for a few days and didn't go online, which is why I stopped updating for three days and didn't reply to your emails. I didn't mean to."

"I agree to the terms proposed by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House; we can sign the contract."

"Additionally: 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' has resumed updates."

"Finally, thank you for all the hard work you have put into the publication of this book of mine. Thank you! — Cao Sheng."

Cao Sheng replied to Wang Jing with this email, smiling.

He still found it a bit amusing; he hadn't expected that just three days without updates would make Wang Jing so nervous, thinking he was going to stop the serialization of "I Wish to Become an Immortal" on Banyan Tree.

This was treatment he had never enjoyed before.

Before his rebirth, when he was writing at Qidian, if he occasionally missed an update, the editor would never send a private message to ask for the reason.

Back then, let alone missing updates for three days, even if he had stopped for thirty years, the editor wouldn't have cared.

About half an hour later.

After refreshing his mailbox page, Cao Sheng saw Wang Jing's reply.

"So that's it! You scared me; I thought you were going to stop the serialization! I've sent you the contract for Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House. Please print it out, sign it, and mail it over as soon as possible! Once they receive the contract, they will quickly push forward the publication process. Wishing you another great success with the physical book this time! — Wang Jing."

She had sent the contract over.

She had also sent the mailing address.

Cao Sheng was very familiar with the signing process and went out that afternoon to get it taken care of.

The rest was just waiting.

Waiting for the book to be printed and pushed to the market.

Logically speaking, he only needed to focus on writing for the next period and didn't need to do anything else.

But...

He thought about the royalties from Xinchang Publishing House.

He felt it was time to talk to Xinchang Publishing House about increasing his royalties.

For a manuscript at 4,000 yuan per volume, he had already written eight volumes for Xinchang Publishing House, with 65,000 words per volume; eight volumes meant over 500,000 words.

With eight volumes published, he had yet to receive any notice from Xinchang Publishing House asking him to finish the story soon.

Presumably, this book was selling well over in Wanwan.

Otherwise, Xinchang wasn't running a charity; they would have certainly asked him to finish it as soon as possible according to the contract.

— Since you aren't notifying me to finish, then it's my turn to notify you to finish, unless... you pay more!

It just so happened that the contract from Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House could be used as a bargaining chip.

With these thoughts turning in his mind, after dinner, Cao Sheng opened his computer and sent an email to Xinchang.

The content was as follows:

"Hello:

The plot of the first part of 'I Wish to Become an Immortal' will be finished in the next volume. I have already started writing the second part. I wonder if your company is interested in continuing to publish the second part of this book? If you are interested, I will send you the manuscript for the first volume of the second part in a few days for your review. However, I hope to increase the royalties for the second part a bit. I wonder what kind of price your company could offer me? — Zhongyuan Yidianhui"

Actually, where was there any second part?

It was all the plot of the first part.

He had also nearly finished writing the so-called first volume of the second part.

He just wanted to find an excuse to raise his royalties.

The next morning.

Chang Qingshu, the acquisition editor responsible for contacting Cao Sheng, sent a reply.

"What? The plot of the first part ends in the next volume? I have been following your book, and the content of the eighth volume, which just hit the market, shows no signs of ending at all. The main plot is still at the Sword Imperial Sect, and the protagonist hasn't even officially stepped into the pugilistic world yet! It's ending already?

Why don't you reconsider carefully? The current sales of your book are excellent. I suggest you write it longer; there is really no need to end it now. — Chang Qingshu."

After reading this reply, Cao Sheng couldn't help but laugh.

He thought: Are you really stupid or just pretending to be? Do you really not understand what I mean?

After a slight pause, he replied: "Hello! Once this book finishes the ninth volume, it will be nearly 600,000 words. This length is already quite long. The content I originally planned for the first part is about this long. As you know, I am a novice and don't have the experience of writing very long works, so when I prepared this book, it was impossible to prepare for a very long length. I have already finished the content for the ninth volume, and the plot of the first part also concludes in this volume. I will not deliberately drag it out just to earn more royalties. I hope you can understand. — Zhongyuan Yidianhui"

More than an hour later.

Chang Qingshu replied: "You said the ninth volume is already finished? Can you send me the manuscript for this volume to take a look?

Also, you mentioned in your previous email that the first volume of the second part is already being written. I wonder if you could send the beginning of this volume as well, so our editorial team can review it?"

Cao Sheng naturally wouldn't refuse such a request.

He sent over the manuscript for the ninth volume, and for the manuscript of the tenth volume, he changed the title, added a synopsis, and sent that over as well.

The document originally labeled "Volume Ten" was changed by him to "'I Wish to Become an Immortal 2' Volume One."

The synopsis was still the same as the first part.

Not a single word was changed.

Nanjing.

Xinchang Publishing House's mainland office.

After receiving Cao Sheng's reply, Chang Qingshu spent an hour or so reading the manuscript for the ninth volume of "I Wish to Become an Immortal."

Then, with some curiosity, he clicked on the manuscript for the first volume of "I Wish to Become an Immortal 2."

After just a few minutes of reading, his expression changed; his eyes were full of surprise, his gaze went a bit blank, and he was filled with disbelief.

Was the opening plot of this manuscript incredible?

Not at all!

It was that the beginning of this manuscript and the ending of the ninth volume connected so smoothly and naturally, without any sense of dissonance; it could be called a seamless connection.

The end of the ninth volume was about the male and female protagonists dating and kissing in the small woods behind the Sword Imperial Sect; the beginning of "I Wish to Become an Immortal 2" Volume One was still them kissing in the small woods, and the thread of saliva between them hadn't even broken yet.

The timeline hadn't even shifted by three seconds.

Chang Qingshu was stunned for a while, then continued reading with complicated feelings.

By the time he finished the manuscript, he hadn't seen any disconnect between the plot of this volume and the plot of the ninth volume.

The style was the same, and the plot was a complete continuation of the ninth volume.

No matter how one looked at it, this should have been the plot for the tenth volume of "I Wish to Become an Immortal," but the beginning of the document containing this manuscript clearly read "'I Wish to Become an Immortal 2' Volume One."

Since he started in the industry, this was the first time he had encountered such a thing and such an author.

Never before had any author dared to play like this with their publishing house.

Aren't you afraid that we might get angry and end our cooperation with you directly?

He thought of the news that his colleagues at the headquarters had been sending over these past few months—the sales of "I Wish to Become an Immortal" were rising steadily, and by the third month of publication, the single-volume sales of this book had topped the entire publishing market in Wanwan.

He now suspected that Zhongyuan Yidianhui had already heard this news.

Otherwise, how would he dare to do this?

Using the manuscript of the tenth volume to pass off as the second part of "I Wish to Become an Immortal"?

Such a brazen move almost blinded him.

He naturally guessed Cao Sheng's goal as well.

At this moment, his feelings were quite complicated; he admired Cao Sheng's talent and also admired that Cao Sheng could come up with such a tactic, and the anger in his heart slowly faded.

But he didn't have the authority to raise Cao Sheng's royalties and could only silently write an email to the president to report this matter; he couldn't be sure what the president's reaction would be.

Would he agree?

Or would he flatly refuse?