Chapter 88: Three Design Sketches

Zhu Weilian indeed couldn't hold back.

In the time that followed, he haggled with Cao Sheng, and finally agreed: Cao Sheng pledged to serialize at least eight million words for free, starting from the date the agreement was signed; as compensation, he would be granted 15% of the company's original shares, and in future financing and equity dilution rounds, Cao Sheng would have the right to invest further to maintain his share percentage.

They did not sign the agreement that evening, instead scheduling it for the next morning.

After dinner, Zhu Weilian and the others checked into the hotel.

Cao Sheng strolled along the Xinanjiang River back to his residence, since the old street was not far from his courtyard.

Back home, he brewed a cup of Mao Feng and went up to the second-floor study.

He turned on the computer, watched it boot up, smiled, and thought how comfortable this life was—out of nowhere, someone came to give him company shares.

He never intended to leave before Qidian was established.

It was an unexpected windfall.

What was there to leave for?

His memories from before his rebirth were clear: after Qidian launched its VIP subscription service in 2003, every other novel website would be crushed underfoot, barely clinging to life.

So even though he knew that in the coming years, more and more novel websites would spring up, he had no desire to switch platforms.

After all, going elsewhere meant free serialization—he wouldn't earn any royalties.

It was better to wait patiently for Qidian's founding, then move directly there after its VIP subscription service launched, avoiding all the hassle.

What if, in the coming years, his popularity was overshadowed by those other sites?

He still didn't care.

Because he believed that online popularity in the coming years was all fake.

What truly determined an author's strength and status in the industry was whether their work could be published in simplified and traditional print editions, and how high the royalty payments were.

His own works had already opened up the channels for simplified and traditional print publishing across the Taiwan Strait, and his royalty rates had risen—could any other author easily surpass him in royalties and sales?

Was it that easy?

Besides, the fact that his popularity was overtaken by other similar sites in the coming years was something that happened in the original timeline.

But in this timeline, Cao Sheng was about to become a shareholder; though his shares were only 15%, he already had a voice.

What's that saying again?

If you think your hometown is bad, why not go and improve it?

He had experienced multiple versions of Qidian's website.

He knew what those interface designs looked like.

He could offer suggestions, tweak the layout, change the functions.

It didn't need to be perfect—just not worse than the interfaces of other novel websites in the coming years.

With that, plus first-mover advantage, the pool of authors already accumulated, and his own works—could any other novel website easily overtake him?

He wanted to try.

If he could, through his own efforts, fundamentally alter the industry's status and development trajectory, he would feel immense satisfaction.

It would be proof of his personal value.

Moreover, if the company grew even better than in the original timeline, his shares would become more valuable.

It was a win-win!

The computer booted successfully, but Cao Sheng took out a notebook and a pencil, and bent over to sketch a simple homepage for a web novel site.

In the top-left corner was the website's name.

Below it were the genres: xuanhuan, qihuan, xianxia cultivation, historical, military, horror, poetry and short prose, and so on.

Below that were several rows of recommendation slots; beneath those were the update lists; on the far right of the page were several rankings.

From top to bottom: Flower Ranking, Click Ranking, Collection Ranking, New Book Ranking, New Book Submission.

He didn't include a monthly ticket ranking.

Because that was a ranking introduced after the VIP subscription service launched.

He didn't include a bestseller ranking either—because the current internet environment wasn't ready for subscription services; without subscriptions, what was the point of a bestseller list?

He didn't plan to launch subscription services yet.

First, the reader base was too small; second, the website's payment system was inconvenient—readers willing to subscribe would be discouraged by the clunky payment process.

So rather than start charging web novels now for a few meager coins, it was better to keep them free for a few more years and continue cultivating the web novel market.

As a web novel writer, Cao Sheng hoped this market would grow as quickly as possible.

After sketching the homepage, he drew simplified designs for the author backend and for each novel's individual page.

He had long been used to Qidian's interface and author backend, and found the current ones unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

He just wanted them to become the way he liked.

As he drew these sketches, a thought flashed through his mind: if the interface really became like this, perhaps in the coming years, all other novel websites would copy this design—and when Qidian was founded, it would almost certainly borrow from this layout.

The idea struck him as amusing.

He wanted to laugh.

……

The next morning.

Cao Sheng went to the hotel where Zhu Weilian and the others were staying, met them, signed the contract; only after signing did he pull out the three sketches he'd drawn the night before and handed them to Zhu Weilian.

"Director Zhu, take a look at these three diagrams—see if there's anything worth taking."

Zhu Weilian, Wang Jing, and Lao Zhang were all puzzled.

They didn't understand what Cao Sheng was up to.

Just became a shareholder, and now he's showing them diagrams?

Zhu Weilian took the three sketches; Wang Jing and Lao Zhang leaned in curiously to look.

The more he looked, the more surprised he became.

Soon, Wang Jing looked up and asked, "Cao Sheng, is this... is this the website's page design?"

Cao Sheng smiled and nodded.

Zhu Weilian and Old Zhang also looked up at Cao Sheng.

Zhu Weilian: "You want our website to become like this?"

Cao Sheng: "Yes! I don't understand doing business or running a website, but as an author and a reader, I feel that the current page of our website is not very convenient to use, whether for publishing works or finding books to read on the site. These three drawings depict my ideal version; you can refer to them."

Zhu Weilian nodded thoughtfully, then lowered his head to look at the design drawings in his hand.

As he looked, he noticed that when Cao Sheng designed the website's homepage, he had subdivided the work categories.

The division of these categories made him feel very uncomfortable in his heart.

Because among the categories Cao Sheng divided, there were Xuanhuan, Qihuan, Xianxia Cultivation, Military, History, Supernatural, as well as Poetry and Short Essays.

Whereas the main categories on his website currently—Poetry, Diaries, Prose, and so on—occupied only one position in the categories Cao Sheng divided, and that too was the very last position in the ranking.

Did he realize we have no choice but to transform?

This suspicion flashed through Zhu Weilian's mind; he looked up at Cao Sheng with a complex mood.

At this moment, he felt that his thoughts had been seen through by this young man, Cao Sheng, and suddenly felt that Cao Sheng seemed somewhat unfathomable.

It seemed as if two voices were speaking in his heart.

One voice said: Cao Sheng is just a novelist; what does he know about website design?

The other voice said: The webpages designed in these three drawings actually seem much better than our current pages; did this guy really study accounting? Did he also minor in web design?