Chapter 61: The Sincerity of Xinchang Publishing House

The next morning.

Cao Sheng received a reply email from Evergreen Tree.

"A Little Gray in the Central Plains, your submission has been received. However, your expected royalty far exceeds the scope I can decide upon. I have reported your opinion to the president; please wait patiently.

Personally, I do not think the president can agree to the price you proposed. Raising it from 4,000 RMB to 10,000 RMB is too large an increase; our house has never had such a precedent. I hope you can be mentally prepared. — Evergreen Tree"

After reading this email, Cao Sheng was not very surprised, nor did he feel any anger.

Ten thousand yuan per episode was never his psychological bottom line.

Ask for the sky, settle for the ground!

Since Evergreen Tree asked him to state an expected royalty, he naturally had to state a high figure, leaving room for the other party to negotiate.

He couldn't possibly reveal his bottom card right from the start.

And his psychological bottom line was 8,000 yuan per episode.

If it really didn't work out, 7,000 or even 6,000 would also be acceptable.

His bottom line in this regard was relatively flexible; anyway, it was better than the original 4,000 yuan per episode.

But...

Taiwan, Xinchang Headquarters.

After President Lan Tianhu finished reading Evergreen Tree's email and learned of Cao Sheng's expected royalty, he frowned slightly, yet showed no signs of anger.

Frowning and thinking for a moment, he picked up the phone on the desk and dialed the number of the Nanjing office.

A moment later, the call connected.

Evergreen Tree's voice came through the phone: "President? Do you have any instructions?"

Lan Tianhu smiled and spoke in a gentle tone, "I just read your email. A Little Gray in the Central Plains expects a royalty of 10,000 RMB, correct?"

Evergreen Tree: "Yes, President! His appetite is too big. I have already replied to him, telling him our house has no such precedent. I have prepared him mentally; I estimate that giving him 7,000 or 8,000 yuan per episode at most will be enough. I..."

Lan Tianhu interrupted him, "No! Do not haggle with him; agree to his request! If he wants 10,000, we will give him 10,000."

Evergreen Tree: "Ah? President, I am confident that 7,000 or 8,000 at most will be enough to get him to agree..."

Lan Tianhu interrupted him again, "No! Do not haggle."

Evergreen Tree: "..."

Lan Tianhu paused for a moment and continued, "I believe what you said; 7,000 or 8,000 should indeed be enough to get him to agree, 5,000 or 6,000 is even possible. But, Ah Shu! He is worth this price. At least his current book, 'I Wish to Become an Immortal,' is worth this price. You know, this book has allowed us to win the monthly sales championship for several consecutive months. The value of this monthly championship title alone is worth us paying him a higher royalty. Moreover, I believe we need to show him our sincerity now. Only in this way is there a greater possibility that his next work will still choose us. Do you want to see his next work signed away by our rivals?"

Evergreen Tree: "..."

After a moment of silence, Evergreen Tree sighed lightly and spoke with emotion, "You are right, President. I only considered the immediate situation; you have long-term foresight! So I will tell him... that we agree to his expected royalty?"

Lan Tianhu: "Mm, tell him this good news as soon as possible! We need to let him feel that cooperating with us is very pleasant."

Evergreen Tree: "Yes! I understand. I will write an email to inform him immediately."

Lan Tianhu hesitated slightly and added, "However, to prevent him from using such an outrageous method to demand a royalty increase after some time, hmm... have him sign a supplementary agreement! Require him to write at least another one million words next, and during the period of writing these one million words, he cannot demand a royalty increase."

Evergreen Tree: "Yes! I understand. I will have him sign this supplementary agreement as soon as possible."

When Lan Tianhu mentioned signing this supplementary agreement just now, he thought: According to his statement, the first nine episodes belong to the first part. This part already has about 600,000 words. If another 1,000,000 words are agreed upon, the full text will have 1,600,000 words. Such a length should be enough to conclude. As a new author, he probably cannot write a longer length.

What he did not know was that before Cao Sheng's rebirth, the works he wrote that performed slightly better all had word counts of two or three million words, and the one that performed best exceeded five million.

The call ended.

The office here in Nanjing.

Evergreen Tree sat stunned for quite a while before coming to his senses.

He did not expect the president to be so generous this time. A Little Gray in the Central Plains made such an outrageous request, yet the president did not lower the price at all; it simply did not fit the identity of a businessman.

But the reasons the president just gave did indeed convince him.

A Little Gray in the Central Plains, who could write 'I Wish to Become an Immortal,' a work that topped sales across the entire publishing market in Taiwan, indeed had value for showing goodwill and wooing.

After all, a sales champion is priceless. The publishing house where the sales champion resides will inevitably gain great fame, thereby attracting more established writers to sign with their publishing house. This benefit cannot be brought by ordinary works.

Noon.

Cao Sheng stewed an old hen for himself.

The weather in September was too hot; he did not want to cook in the kitchen for a long time, yet he wanted to eat something delicious and nutritious.

Stewed old hen soup became a good choice.

Go to the vegetable market to buy a slaughtered old hen, wash it clean upon returning, no need to chop it into pieces, put it directly into a large clay pot, add clear water, old ginger, and salt, and stew for two or three hours and it's OK.

The stewed old hen soup, whether eaten with plain white rice or used to make chicken noodle soup, tastes wonderful.

You can also add some small green vegetables or mushrooms to the chicken soup; thus, both meat and vegetables are present, ensuring balanced nutrition.

Furthermore, stewing chicken soup once, he alone can eat it for at least two days.

During these two days, he does not need to busy himself in the kitchen for long periods.

This was a life experience he developed from laziness during his long period of living alone before his rebirth.

At noon this day, he ate plain white rice with the old hen soup.

There were mushrooms in the chicken soup.

While stewing the chicken soup, he conveniently cooked some rice in the rice cooker; neither required him to watch over them in the kitchen. During this time, he just sat in the living room drinking tea and reading books.

When the time came, he could start the meal.

It's just...

Maybe the chicken soup was too fragrant; while he was eating rice with the chicken soup in the dining room, he heard the little girl from the next house crying and shouting to eat old hen soup.

The woman next door coaxed her for a long time but could not coax her to stop; finally, that woman seemed to compromise. Cao Sheng vaguely heard the woman say she would take the little girl out to eat old hen soup, and he also heard the sound of the next-door courtyard gate opening and closing.

Hearing these sounds, he could not help but smile all over his face.

After lunch, he went to the second-floor study, turned on the computer, and logged into his email.

He saw the message sent by Chang Qingshu.

"Dear Zhongyuan Yidianhui, Your period royalty fee has been approved by our president. The president hopes you can see our sincerity in cooperating with you.

Such a large increase in royalties is extremely rare.

But our publishing house is willing to give you such treatment because we hope to make you feel that the cooperation is pleasant.

We can sign the specific agreement at any time; however, this time we hope to stipulate that your 'I Wish to Become an Immortal 2' must be written to at least one million words, and before reaching one million words, you cannot request another royalty increase again. If you have no other objections, please print two copies of the contract, sign them, and mail them over.

If you have any other objections, please inform us in time.

Finally, we wish your whole family happiness and an endless flow of inspiration.

—Chang Qingshu"

Below this email, an electronic contract had also been sent, waiting for Cao Sheng to download, print, and sign.

Did they really agree?

They agreed to ten thousand yuan per episode without a single word of negotiation? No haggling at all?

Cao Sheng was very surprised.

He remembered that in the original timeline, top-tier gods like Xihongshi could get prices of over ten thousand per episode when published in Taiwan, but that was in the early 2000s.

And now it is 1998.

Is Xinchang Publishing House really this generous?

Should I have asked for less than ten thousand yuan per episode?