Chapter 62: Guo Xiaosi and Han Er Take Them as Models

Although Cao Sheng suspected his price was too low, he did not let greed take hold and demand a higher sum on the spot.

He had indeed seen the sincerity of Xinchang Publishing House.

Regardless of whether his price was too low, by common sense, if he asked for ten thousand, the other party should have negotiated, not agreed immediately without a word.

He felt this was the sincerity of Xinchang Publishing House.

He thought: No wonder most Divine works of web novel gods in the original timeline were published by this house; the royalties were paid so promptly.

This reminded him of Qidian Chinese Network in the original timeline.

Qidian was the first website to launch the VIP subscription system.

But afterward, websites that challenged Qidian came wave after wave; many sites in the industry wanted to topple Qidian from its throne as hegemon and take its place.

Yet without exception, all ended in failure.

What was the reason?

Many people analyzed many reasons, but Cao Sheng always felt that paying royalties promptly and fairly was a very important reason.

Having written on Qidian for many years, he had never seen Qidian delay authors' royalties, nor had he ever heard of Qidian withholding anyone's royalties.

Not only did they not delay, but on every holiday, Qidian would even distribute royalties in advance.

He remembered once when Qidian miscalculated the royalties, overpaying by more than ten million to all authors; if it had been any other website, they would most likely have tried to recover that portion of the royalties.

But Qidian generously announced that the miscalculated royalties would be considered a holiday bonus for everyone and would not be recovered.

That sum was spread across the authors, so each person actually received very little.

But for Qidian, that was more than ten million.

In comparison, what about the other websites in the industry?

Some quietly altered the authors' royalty figures.

Some delayed royalties.

Some, just before monthly royalty payments, announced that certain books were suspected of plagiarism and deducted all royalties for that month.

Some even punished authors by forcing them to return the royalties they had received.

And so on, all sorts of outrageous maneuvers.

They treated authors like fish and meat on a chopping block, cutting them up however they pleased, caring not at all about their appearance.

With such wares, how could they win the hearts of the majority of authors?

How could they topple Qidian?

Cao Sheng said no more and promptly signed the agreement for I Wish to Become an Immortal 2 with Xinchang.

On the same day.

In Zigong, Sichuan, Guo Xiaosi, who had just entered high school, took advantage of the period right after school opened but before classes formally began to visit a Xinhua Bookstore.

Standing on tiptoe, he took a copy of Living with the Flight Attendant from the shelf, then happily went to the cashier to pay.

Having tried writing since elementary school, he had heard early this summer that a book titled Living with the Flight Attendant released this year was particularly popular.

He had wanted to buy it for a long time.

Last year, he had published a poem in a magazine—Loneliness.

He earned ten yuan in royalties, plus a complimentary copy of the magazine sent by the publishing house.

At that time, in his excitement, he wanted to earn more royalties.

Afterwards, he did indeed publish some articles from time to time.

He also participated in the National Middle School Student Composition Competition.

But in total, he had not earned much money.

Yet he very much wanted to earn big money.

So he began to pay attention to the hot works on the market; he wanted to learn and imitate.

Living with the Flight Attendant thus entered his field of vision; he wanted to study the book's successes carefully.

That afternoon, Guo Xiaosi, having bought the book, went to a park, sat in a pavilion, and flipped through it page by page, his face showing surprise for a long time.

This book made him feel the gap.

He had recently heard that Zhongyuan Yidianhui, who wrote this book, was only eighteen years old, just three years older than him.

But whether in writing style and wording, characterization, or plot arrangement... and so on, Living with the Flight Attendant left him utterly amazed.

This was not a level he could currently reach.

Amidst his surprise, he read even more attentively.

Cao Sheng always felt his writing was just average.

But what he compared himself against were never anything other than the peak-state gods of the original timeline, those gods renowned for excellent writing.

He felt his time in the industry was about the same as those gods, so if he were to compare, he should compare with them.

Compared with those gods, he naturally felt his writing was very average.

Nothing particularly outstanding.

But in reality?

Having been in the industry for over ten years, he had written more than ten million characters.

The writing he considered very average would, when brought to the year '98, make many people marvel.

Coincidentally.

Han Er, Guo Xiaosi's destined rival, who had also just entered high school, had recently been reading Living with the Flight Attendant as well.

He, who lived in Shanghai, had bought this book early this summer.

Just as Guo Xiaosi bought "Living with the Flight Attendant," Han Er had already extracted the outline of this book at home.

Yes, he had finished reading this book long ago.

Finishing it wasn't enough; he specifically extracted the outline of this book bit by bit.

This was his way of studying this book.

When flipping through page by page, one easily reads the later parts and forgets the earlier plot, easily letting a single leaf block the view of the forest.

Until he looked at the outline he had personally extracted, the structure of the entire story instantly became clear to him.

His eyes shone with light as he read.

He felt he had seen the essence of this book.

He also loved writing.

Like Guo Xiaosi, he had started publishing works in periodicals last year, such as "Life Mode" which he published in "Youth Literature" last year.

One year older than Guo Xiaosi, he was only two years younger than Cao Sheng.

He is 16 this year.

This summer vacation, when he learned from the radio and newspapers that a 18-year-old from the Central Plains named Zhongyuan Yidianhui had published "Living with the Flight Attendant" and was coming to Shanghai for a signing event, his attention was captured.

He felt he was about the same age as Zhongyuan Yidianhui, considered peers.

He was very confident in his writing ability.

He wanted to see on what basis Zhongyuan Yidianhui could be so much more successful than him.

With this thought in mind, he immediately bought "Living with the Flight Attendant."

The result?

Before finishing a single chapter, he lost his spirit.

Compared to Zhongyuan Yidianhui's writing style and plot, he felt his own writing and such were still immature; the gap was too huge.

But...

He quickly adjusted his mood and continued reading the subsequent plot.

After finishing the entire book, he felt lost for several days.

Partly because of the gap between himself and Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

And partly because Ran Jing died in the book.

Ran Jing's death shattered his heart, as if he had also lost a lover.

However, after his emotions recovered, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and began to extract the outline of this book.

Having grown up in a city like Shanghai, he had seen many famous people and wealthy people; deep in his heart, he longed for the day he too could achieve both fame and fortune.

Therefore, he paid close attention to the young celebrity Zhongyuan Yidianhui and the book "Living with the Flight Attendant."

Treating them as his role model and the goal to chase.

Cao Sheng, who had stirred the hearts of countless people, was completely unaware of the impact his two works had on others.

He returned to school.

The new semester had officially begun.

But only a few days after school started, counselor Lu Xiangwei came to the classroom to announce: the new freshmen were arriving this year, and as seniors, they were to help welcome the first-year students at the start of school and assist the department with reception work.

When Lu Xiangwei announced this on the stage.

At a seat near the window in the back row of the classroom, Cao Sheng's expression was complex.

Because in the original timeline, it was during this welcome event for new students that he met that Miss, the junior who confessed to him under the moonlight and started his first love.

She said she would never leave him, yet after graduation, she called him crying to say they were breaking up.