Chapter 643: Why Not Write While Typing

The next afternoon, the Wenxue Group's midyear Writer Salon officially opened in the conference hall on the third floor of the hotel.

Li Luo's seat was arranged in the front row, first position; because they knew of Xu Youyu's close relationship with him, Xu Youyu also benefited and sat beside him.

Besides them, those seated in the front row were almost all long-established Platinum authors or peak-tier Gods currently at the height of their fame.

A single glance revealed that everyone in the front row likely had assets exceeding ten million, all household names in the Online Novel circle.

"Little noob is already trembling in fear," Xu Youyu whispered secretly into Li Luo's ear, "Only thanks to Big Chongran protecting me~"

Li Luo rolled his eyes at her: "I don't see you trembling anywhere."

"It's only because I'm sitting next to you that I got a front-row seat," Xu Youyu grinned. "People who don't know me think I'm super powerful, but I'm not even a God."

"No problem, you'll be one soon," Li Luo said, then asked, "What's your current average subscription count?"

"Already over nineteen thousand~" Xu Youyu replied cheerfully, winking at him. "Once my editor arranges another recommendation next month, I should hit twenty thousand."

"Then it's definitely settled," Li Luo reached out and gently squeezed her small hand. "By year-end, you'll have to be called 'Early Sleep God.'"

"Don't you dare mention that—it's disgusting," Xu Youyu said with a disgusted expression, waving her hands frantically.

Li Luo chuckled and added teasingly, "Then simplify it—call you 'Sleep God'?"

"You get lost!"

The two bantered playfully in their seats until 1:30 p. m., when Nan Feng, the chief editor in charge of hosting the Salon, stepped onto the stage.

Compared to the year-end Writer Conference, the midyear Writer Salon was far less formal, with looser procedures, no public livestreaming, and essentially remained a closed-circle social gathering.

Many Online Novel authors disliked public exposure, so the Salon's atmosphere suited them perfectly.

After stepping on stage, Chief Editor Nan Feng casually introduced this year's Salon schedule, then joked lightly with several familiar Platinum authors in the audience.

Then came the main topic: an introduction to several upcoming writing contests for the second half of the year.

For example, in the light novel category, they planned to launch a contest called "One Emperor, Four Kings"—seemingly very otaku, perfectly fitting the light novel aesthetic.

Additionally, niche genres like sci-fi, fantasy, wuxia, and military also had corresponding writing contests launched.

Among them was one Li Luo was very familiar with—the third Realism-themed Writing Contest.

Back then, "Little Joy" had won first place in the first Realism-themed contest; now, looking back, it had already reached its third edition.

For currently popular Gods and Platinum authors, this kind of contest topic often felt bland and unappealing.

The light novel "One Emperor, Four Kings" contest, for instance, was an internal event launched by Qidian's light novel division, primarily designed to reward new authors.

But contests like the Realism-themed Writing Contest, which had ties to government agencies or major corporations, attracted more interest from top-tier authors.

Because it meant a greater chance of selling adaptation rights.

But for Li Luo right now, this held little significance.

"Little Joy" had officially premiered and achieved explosive success, thoroughly proving Chongran's copyright value.

So Li Luo had already passed the stage of needing to seek buyers himself; instead, people were lining up, begging to buy the rights to his other books.

Capital's pursuit of profit while minimizing risk often led to this outcome.

Thus, a certain Platinum author had privately warned Li Luo to sell his first TV adaptation right immediately, not to care too much about price—that's what he meant.

The Wenxue Group held the Salon not merely to let authors socialize; behind it lay deliberate copyright considerations.

Authors invited to attend were generally those who had already established their names on the platform and were qualified to engage in copyright adaptation opportunities.

Knowing the upcoming contest themes in advance, discussing them privately with editors, and understanding the intentions of the official bodies or major backers behind the contests was a significant advantage.

"What are your thoughts on this year's Realism-themed Writing Contest, Chongran?" After half an hour of opening remarks, during the break, Chief Editor Nan Feng came down from the stage and smiled as he asked Li Luo.

To be honest, Li Luo did currently have a novel that still met the requirements of this contest theme.

But because it had already been pre-allocated by his father-in-law, Li Luo naturally couldn't mention it to anyone else.

So he shook his head lightly and smiled: "Chief Editor, I'm currently serializing two novels, and 'Night Watch of Great Qian' updates ten thousand characters daily—if I add another, I'm afraid I'll drop dead."

"Haha, I'm just bringing it up," Nan Feng laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. "Given how wildly your 'Little Joy' has been received, it's clear you have great talent in this area. When you have time later, you might as well try writing more short stories."

In response to Chief Editor Nan Feng's praise, Li Luo offered a few polite acknowledgments but didn't elaborate further.

Selling copyright—if you can sell it yourself, who'd want to split revenue with the platform?

He already had access to Ying Zhicheng's channel; for short stories like "Little Joy," which barely generated subscription income, there was absolutely no need to post them on Qidian.

Selling directly to his father-in-law meant all copyright fees went straight to him—wasn't that better?

After all, Ying Zhicheng used Huayue Film and Television's funds to buy his novel rights.

Thinking of this, Li Luo couldn't help smiling—wasn't Ying Zhicheng essentially using company money for personal gain?

But even just "Little Joy" had already made Huayue Film and Television filthy rich; buying another novel right from him would face zero resistance from the board.

The price would likely rise significantly.

Especially after "Little Joy"'s huge success, Ying Zhicheng would firmly secure his current position, and his influence on the board would greatly increase.

If the next drama also went smoothly, Li Luo felt he could spend the rest of his life doing nothing and still never run out of money.

After all, he already had substantial funds in the stock market; thinking of the massive price surges those stocks would experience over the next decade, Li Luo couldn't help clicking his tongue in admiration.

"Chongran, I've got something good for you."

As the Writer Salon neared evening and the conference hall had begun free mingling, Editor Qianzhou suddenly walked up to Li Luo and Xu Youyu with a mysterious air, hugging a bag containing something hidden.

"Are you smuggling?" Li Luo said, amused by his demeanor. "What's in there?"

"Hehe, I snagged this from operations," Qianzhou unzipped his backpack, pulled out a book, and shoved it into Li Luo's arms. "Here you go."

"What's this…" Li Luo looked down curiously and saw three large characters on the cover—"Little Joy."

"Huh?" Xu Youyu leaned over to look, then exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this your physical book? I thought it hadn't been released yet?"

"It hasn't been released yet," Qianzhou grinned. "The official release date is July 15, but operations got a few copies ahead from the publisher."

"One copy is stored in the company headquarters' collection exhibition room."

"The others are for the company president and executives to collect."

"I snagged one for you—try it out early."

"Why is there only the first volume?" Li Luo noticed the characters "Volume One" beside "Little Joys" and asked in confusion.

"We haven't picked them all up yet." Qianzhou reached into his backpack again and pulled out the remaining two books. "Here, the middle and lower volumes."

The original "Little Joys" Li Luo had written was completely different from the original novel of the same title in his previous life, because he had never read the original—he wrote entirely based on the TV drama's content.

In the end, he wrote over eight hundred thousand characters, divided into three volumes for physical publication, which worked out perfectly.

"Oh, by the way," Qianzhou added after handing Li Luo the physical copy of "Little Joys," "the operations team wants to launch a pre-sale campaign for the physical book during the peak popularity of 'Little Joys.'"

"On top of that, they also want to organize an offline signing event centered around you."

"When they gave me the physical books just now, they asked me to check your opinion."

"When is the signing event?" Li Luo asked.

"Tentatively set for early August," Qianzhou said. "Coincides exactly with the finale of the 'Little Joys' TV drama."

Li Luo thought for a moment—early August didn't seem to have any other commitments—so he nodded in agreement: "I'm fine with it. Let them arrange it, just send me the plan in advance."

"OK." After receiving Li Luo's confirmation, Qianzhou nodded contentedly. "I'll go let them know. Bye."

After watching Qianzhou leave, Li Luo flipped through the physical copy of "Little Joys" in his hands.

Xu Youyu also picked up a copy, weighed it in her hand, then opened it to look: "The quality seems pretty good. Once it's published, I'll buy a full set to collect."

"I can give you one in advance," Li Luo said upon hearing Xu Youyu's words, suddenly struck by an idea. He smiled, opened the cover of one physical book, picked up the pen beside him, and signed his pen name and real name on the blank page inside.

【Chongran/Li Luo】

Watching Li Luo finish signing and hand the book to her, Xu Youyu happily took it, then returned the one she'd been holding, looking at Li Luo with eager anticipation.

But Li Luo merely coughed awkwardly, showing no intention to give her the remaining two: "There's Chanxi and Zhusheng too—one book each."

Xu Youyu: "...?"

Looking down at the "Middle Volume" in her hand, Xu Youyu stared blankly: "You're really comfortable with this? Splitting a full set into three pieces for us—you're the one who came up with this? Why not just split yourself into three too?"

"Cough, cough..." Li Luo felt a chill run down his spine at those words. "Don't say things like that—it's creepy."

"You know it's creepy, huh?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him, but clutched the "Middle Volume" of "Little Joys" tightly to her chest, with no intention of returning it.

After the dinner salon banquet, Li Luo and Xu Youyu had eaten their fill and had no intention of lingering in the venue.

Xu Youyu put down her chopsticks, glanced around, then quietly extended her leg and tapped Li Luo's calf. She raised her phone, pointing at the time displayed.

6:30 p. m.

It was still early.

But when Li Luo looked at Xu Youyu and met her unusually sultry gaze, saw her wink at him with unmistakable flirtation, he instantly understood her meaning.

Li Luo immediately put down his chopsticks and apologized to the editor Hongdou beside him: "I still have to write tonight—I'm heading back to bed early. You all keep eating."

Hongdou knew well the writing schedules of these people—none of them moved until after midnight, let alone Li Luo, who was serializing two novels at once, with tens of thousands of words due daily.

So Hongdou nodded warmly: "Go ahead, don't mind us."

Li Luo stood up, and together with Xu Youyu, bid farewell to the others at the table. They hurried out the restaurant door, hands clasped, their pace quickening until they nearly ran.

It looked like they were eloping.

Both wore bright, eager smiles. Once they stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the eighth floor, they exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

"You're even more eager than I am, Youyu?"

"Nonsense," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, stubbornly retorting. "Didn't you just drag my hand forward, running so fast?"

"You weren't slow either," Li Luo pointed at the elevator buttons. "I hadn't even pressed it—you already reached for it."

They teased each other until the elevator reached the eighth floor. Hand in hand, they hurried to the room door, swiped their key card, and pushed the door open.

Bang—the sound of the door closing.

Then another bang—the sound of someone being pressed against the door.

Moments later, muffled voices began inside, inaudible in the hallway.

"This isn't very good—the bed's for sleeping tonight."

"Then what do you want to do, Youyu?"

"Hmm... how about writing while... hmm~ I haven't even finished speaking! Ah..."

(End of Chapter)