Chapter 62: Guo Xiaosi and Han Er Take Him as a Role Model

Although Cao Sheng suspected in his heart that his price might have been too low, he was not greedy enough to demand more money on the spot.

He had truly seen the sincerity of Xinchang Publishing House.

Regardless of whether his price was too low, according to common sense, he had asked for ten thousand, and the other party should have countered, rather than agreeing just like that.

He felt that this was the sincerity of Xinchang Publishing House.

He thought to himself: No wonder most of the works by the great web novel masters of the original timeline were published by this house; they paid royalties so readily.

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

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

But after that, websites that challenged Qidian came one after another; many in the industry wanted to topple Qidian from its throne and take its place.

Yet without exception, they all ended in failure.

What was the reason?

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

He had written on Qidian for many years and had never seen Qidian delay an author's royalties, nor had he ever heard of Qidian withholding anyone's royalties.

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

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

But Qidian generously announced that the overpaid royalties would be treated as a holiday bonus for everyone and would not be recovered.

That money was spread out among a crowd of authors, and no one actually received much.

But to Qidian, that was over ten million.

By comparison, what about other websites in the industry?

Some quietly modified the royalty figures of their authors.

Some delayed royalty payments.

Some, right before the monthly payout, announced that certain books were suspected of plagiarism and deducted the entire month's royalties.

There were even those who penalized authors by making them return the royalties they had already received.

And so on, all sorts of shady operations.

They simply treated authors like fish on a chopping block, to be hacked however they pleased, without any regard for their own reputation.

With these kinds of goods, how could they possibly win the hearts of the majority of authors?

How could they possibly topple Qidian?

Cao Sheng said nothing more and readily signed the agreement for "I Want 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 fact that school had just started and classes hadn't officially begun to visit a Xinhua Bookstore.

Standing on tiptoe, he took a copy of "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" off the shelf and then happily went to the checkout counter to pay.

Having started trying to write since elementary school, he had long heard during the summer break that a book called "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" had become particularly popular this year.

He had wanted to buy it for a long time.

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

He earned 10 yuan in royalties, plus a sample copy the magazine sent him.

At the time, besides being excited, he wanted to earn more royalties.

Afterward, he did indeed publish some articles here and there.

He even participated in a national middle school student essay contest.

But, he hadn't earned much money in total.

Yet he really wanted to make big money.

Therefore, he began to pay attention to the big hits on the market; he wanted to learn, he wanted to imitate.

"Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" thus entered his field of vision; he wanted to study the success of this book carefully.

That afternoon, having bought the book, Guo Xiaosi 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 the author of this book, Zhongyuan Yidianhui, was only 18 years old, just 3 years older than him.

But "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant," whether in its prose, the portrayal of character personalities, or the arrangement of the plot... and so on, all left him astonished.

This was not a level he could reach at present.

Beyond the surprise, he read even more attentively.

Cao Sheng had always felt his own writing was just average.

But the ones he used for comparison were always the peak masters of the original timeline, those famous for their excellent prose.

He felt that since he entered the industry around the same time as those masters, he should compare himself to them.

And compared to those masters, he naturally felt his writing was very average.

Nothing stood out.

But in reality?

He had been in the industry for over a decade and had written over ten million words.

The writing he considered average, when brought to 1998, was already enough to make many people marvel.

Coincidentally.

Guo Xiaosi's fated rival, Han Er, who had also just been admitted to high school, had recently been reading "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" as well.

Living in Shanghai, he had bought the book early that summer.

Just as Guo Xiaosi was buying "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant," Han Er had already stripped the outline of the book at home.

Yes, he had already finished reading the book.

Not satisfied after finishing it, he specifically stripped the outline of the book bit by bit.

This was his way of studying this book.

When flipping through page by page, it was always easy to look at the back and forget the plot in the front, easily missing the forest for the trees.

Until he looked at the outline he had stripped by hand, and the structure of the entire story became clear at a glance.

His eyes lit up as he looked at it.

He felt he had seen the essence of this book.

He also liked to write.

Like Guo Xiaosi, he had also started publishing works in journals last year, such as "Career 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 was 16 this year.

This summer, when he learned from the radio and newspapers that an 18-year-old named Zhongyuan Yidianhui had published "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" and was coming to Shanghai to hold a book signing, his attention was captured.

He felt that he and Zhongyuan Yidianhui were about the same age, and could be considered peers.

He was very confident in his own writing ability.

He wanted to see how Zhongyuan Yidianhui could be so much more successful than him.

With this mindset, he bought "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant" at the first opportunity.

The result?

He lost heart before finishing a single chapter.

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

But...

He quickly adjusted his mood and continued to read the subsequent plot.

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

Partly because of the gap between himself and Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

And also because Ran Jing in the book had died.

Ran Jing's death broke his heart, as if his own lover had died.

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

Having grown up in a city like Shanghai, he had seen many famous and wealthy people, and he had long yearned to achieve both fame and fortune himself one day.

Therefore, he was very attentive to the young and successful Zhongyuan Yidianhui and the book "Days of Living with a Flight Attendant."

He treated them as his role models and targets to chase.

Cao Sheng, who had stirred the hearts of countless people, was completely unaware of the influence his two works had brought to others.

He had returned to school.

The new semester had officially begun.

But a few days after the start of school, the counselor Lu Xiangwei came to the classroom to announce: the new students for this year were about to enroll, and as seniors, they were to help welcome the freshmen and assist the department with some reception work.

When Lu Xiangwei was on the podium announcing this matter.

In the seat by the window in the back row of the classroom, Cao Sheng's expression was complex.

Because in the original timeline, it was during this welcoming of freshmen that he met that girl, 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 break up.