Chapter 247

She saw Natsume Chikage at a glance, her eyes lit up, but then a strange feeling arose in her heart.

Why is this boy here again?

No... something feels wrong.

She subconsciously adjusted her appearance in the bright glass door and then walked quickly toward Natsume Chikage.

"Natsume-kun, good morning."

"Editor Yu Tian, good morning."

Yu Tian Caihua covered her mouth, showing a surprised expression: "Eh? You actually remember my name?"

"It's written on your name tag."

"... Ahem, ahem." Yu Tian Caihua cleared her throat, hiding a momentary embarrassment, and asked instead, "By the way, are you here to revise your manuscript?"

"No, Editor Gao Qiaochun asked me to come over to sign a contract."

"Ah?!"

Yu Tian Caihua was truly stunned.

In the editorial department, the probability of a high school student author successfully signing a contract is minimal.

Even if Gao Qiaochun's judgment were poor, there is still the editorial department's collective cross-review session every Sunday to check, so it shouldn't be easy for a high school student to sign a contract.

But now Natsume-kun says he's going to sign a contract...

Doesn't that mean the quality of his manuscript is quite good?

Otherwise, how could it pass on the first try?

It's over...

It seems I missed a good manuscript, and even more, I missed Natsume-kun himself...

Yu Tian Caihua clicked her tongue secretly, regretting not being more determined to let Gao Qiaochun leave; if she had, Natsume-kun and this manuscript might have been hers.

However, on second thought, it didn't seem like a big problem.

How excellent could a high school student's work be, even if it passed?

You have to know that a book hitting the shelves is just the first step in a new author's long career.

After hitting the shelves, books have to compete fiercely in sales with other works from the same period.

Only those with good sales can get a chance for a reprint.

Conversely, if sales are dismal during the new book launch, subsequent reprint numbers will be drastically reduced, or even stopped entirely—which is equivalent to "peaking at launch and crashing on the spot."

Such "crashed" new books naturally don't make much money, with royalty income at most being 100,000 or 200,000 yen, perhaps not even as much as a regular office worker's monthly salary.

You have to know that every mystery novel requires the author to invest a lot of time in conception, polishing, refining, and adjusting the plot to finally complete a "qualified" work.

After that, it has to go through multiple plot revisions and content corrections by the editorial department, being revised several times before finally hitting the shelves.

This process taking a year or two is common practice.

Yu Tian Caihua wasn't joking.

Published mystery novels, compared to many light novels or mainstream literary works, have a higher creative threshold and are more mentally taxing.

Because these works extremely test the author's logical architecture ability; once there is a flaw in logic, the foundation of the whole book collapses.

And even if the logic is sound, if the plot is cliché and boring, it still won't pass.

Even if it luckily passes and hits the shelves, if the story itself isn't attractive enough, it still won't make money, wasting months or years of effort in vain.

The mystery novel field is just that cruel.

Therefore, among all novel types, its difficulty is recognized as being among the best!

However, conversely—once your novel achieves logical rigor, a novel plot, rich emotions, and a well-paced rhythm...

Hey, then you've made a fortune!

Write one, and you're financially free!

Without a doubt!

Because in Japan, the reader base for mystery novels is extremely large.

From the number of authors submitting manuscripts to the publishing house lobby every day, one can see how many people pour their hearts into this theme.

Therefore, Natsume Chikage being able to break out of this cruel track at the age of a high school student and successfully sign a contract shows that his talent is indeed ridiculously high!

And a boy with such talent, such outstanding looks, and such a young age, once professionally guided and packaged, even if his novel is just average, can attract a large group of female fans in the mystery novel world based on his own comprehensive advantages!

In this circle, the spending power and enthusiasm of female fans are extremely astonishing.

Once they "fan" an author, their support is crazy.

Especially for an author like Natsume Chikage, whose looks are unbelievably high, perhaps just a simple promotion would allow him to "debut" directly.

Even if his book hasn't hit the shelves, a large group of female fans might be willing to pre-order it.

This situation is not without precedent in the industry.

Yu Tian Caihua remembers that not long ago, at the largest literary publishing house in Japan—Xinji Society, there was a female junior high school student author named Xuecun Lingyin.

She submitted a literary novel, the content itself was very excellent, and coupled with her outstanding appearance, the number of reader fans during the pre-order stage was astonishing.

This also directly helped her win the Literary Newcomer Award last year.

Of course, that girl herself came from the literary family "Xuecun Family," with deep roots, so she naturally cannot be compared to Natsume Chikage's "halfway monk" situation.

But this just proves that the reader fan base does have requirements for the author's own looks and image.

Japanese readers already have a certain yearning and filter for the profession of "writer," and authors with high looks naturally have more attention and room for development than other authors from the same period.

Thinking of all the above, Yu Tian Caihua felt she had no reason not to fight for Natsume Chikage with all her might!

She coughed lightly and said:

"Natsume-kun, since you are here to sign a contract, there are too many eyes here, let me take you to the conference room first."

Natsume Chikage didn't think much and nodded:

"Okay, sorry to trouble you."

After entering a quiet conference room, Yu Tian Caihua urged:

"Natsume-kun, wait here for a moment, I'll go notify the editor in charge."

"Hmm, thank you."

Natsume Chikage thanked her politely.

As soon as Yu Tian Caihua left the conference room, she immediately ran to find the leader of her first editorial group and quickly reported Natsume Chikage's situation.

They are the first editorial group, while Gao Qiaochun belongs to the second editorial group.

Fierce competition already exists between different editorial groups, and fighting for potential authors is a common occurrence within the company.

Therefore, Yu Tian Caihua felt no guilt about this at all!

As for being called "despicable"?

She didn't care at all!

Society is like this.

Things you don't actively fight for will naturally be snatched by others.

When you are hesitant, others have already made a fortune.

If you don't earn it, others naturally will!

The leader of the first editorial group—Huang Mu Jie, after hearing Yu Tian Caihua's report, immediately went to the door of the conference room to take a look himself.

When he saw Natsume Chikage's astonishing looks and the high school uniform representing youth, his eyes lit up instantly.

He knew this well: a boy with such age, talent, and appearance conditions only needs a little guidance and packaging to directly "create a god" and build a superstar in the mystery novel world!

At that time, their first group alone, relying on Natsume Chikage's novels, author photos, posters, and other peripheral products, would be enough to make those fanatical female fans buy crazily, definitely making a big profit!

Huang Mu Jie and Yu Tian Caihua exchanged a look, and the two nodded tacitly.

Huang Mu Jie didn't hesitate, immediately took a standard contract, and pushed the door directly into the conference room.

Yu Tian Caihua stayed at the door tacitly, paying attention to the movement outside.

Huang Mu Jie put on a professional, friendly smile and reached out to Natsume Chikage:

"Teacher Natsume, hello! I am the editor who will handle your signing procedures—Huang Mu Jie."

"Hello, Editor Huang Mu."

Natsume Chikage shook hands with him, but his expression was a bit subtle.

He remembered that his editor in charge should be Gao Qiaochun, so why would it be this "Editor Huang Mu"?

"Editor Huang Mu, I would like to ask, where is my editor in charge, Mr. Gao Qiaochun?"

Huang Mu Jie's smile remained unchanged, and he answered calmly:

"Editor Gao Qiaochun still has some urgent matters to handle and won't be here so quickly. I see you are still wearing a school uniform; you should still be in high school, right?"