1980 My Entertainment Era

Chapter 106 Book signing and sale!

Lao Pai Luo's family is well off, middle class.

The family has two cars and lives in an upper-middle-class community on the outskirts of the city. The house is a single-family house with a garage and a basement on the second floor, a small garden in front of the door, and a larger backyard.

His family is relatively simple, with three people and a son who is one year older than Xia Tian.

"Beep~" After entering the yard, Old Palo honked the horn twice, then opened the garage door on his own.

In the summer, I was looking at his house, a wooden structure with a white main color and a red roof. The garden was well maintained - the old Pailou was very dexterous and had great hands-on skills.

There were two car horns and someone came out of the house.

A middle-aged woman with chestnut hair, slightly plump and of medium height, looks a few years older than Xia Ma, but of course that's not necessarily true, after all, white people mature early and look old.

There was also a white teenager about sixteen or seventeen years old, who was half a head shorter than Xia Tian.

"Oh, my God! You must be Summer! Welcome, welcome! I'm Susie, Alex's wife!" Susie was very enthusiastic and hugged Summer gently.

Then he took Xia Tian's hand and introduced her son, who was a little unprepared: "This is our son Alessandro. We are looking forward to having you as our guest!"

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Xia Tian shook hands with the little Palo enthusiastically.

Before coming here, Xia Tian had asked about the family members of Old Palo, so it was not surprising...

By this time, Old Pyro had parked the car, closed the garage door, and shouted, "Hey, hurry up and ask Xia Tian to come in. Are we going to have dinner outside the door?!"

"Oh~ Sorry dear, I'm so excited! Please come in~" Susie pulled Xia Tian into the house.

Then little Pai Luo pulled his father and said, "Dad, are you sure he is one year younger than me?"

"Of course!"

"But he looked at..."

"He looks a few years older than you, right? Haha, people are always different! Didn't I tell you that Xia Tian is a very magical person? You can get to know him well during this time..."

After entering the house, Xia Tian took out the prepared gift from his backpack - he would be visiting for several days, so he couldn't come empty-handed.

A small root sculpture of a shepherd boy playing the flute for old Palo, a colorful silk scarf for Susie, and a Luban lock for young Palo.
The dinner was very sumptuous, although it was American style, but it was enough for summer.

Apparently old Palo had given instructions, so dinner was prepared for five people, with three servings per person in the summer.

There is no custom of not talking while eating or sleeping here. The four of them ate while talking and laughing while watching TV.

Xia Tian chatted and laughed, very elegantly and calmly, and put three portions of food into his stomach, even faster than little Palo who ate one portion.

The little Palo people were already numb.

It was indeed as his father said, this boy, who was actually one year younger than him but looked several years older than him, was very special.

During this meal, he felt that the other party was very knowledgeable and humorous.

It was obviously his first time in the United States and he had just got off the plane, but he talked about the United States so eloquently that I actually enjoyed listening to him.

He can even chat a little about the news and talk shows on TV and make everyone laugh.

I have met several Chinese people before. They were all very reserved. They always felt like they were guests in someone's living room, or like they were walking in a dangerous neighborhood, always worried about being attacked.

But this summer is different, he feels more comfortable than I do!

And...this horrible appetite! How on earth did he do it?
Little Pablo couldn't figure out the situation of this guest for a while, but he was not at all opposed to making friends with him.

It must be fun to be friends with such a person.

……

After dinner, Xia Tian and Old Palo started chatting with a cup of hot tea. After returning from China, Old Palo fell in love with green tea and gave up English black tea. He bought tea in Chinatown in New York.

He was even showing off: "Xia Tian, ​​is my tea leaf okay?!"

Xia Tian nodded: A bit stronger than Gao Sui~
This must be because he was cheated by a foreigner who was taken advantage of by the boss in Chinatown.

Xia Tian's main purpose of coming this time was to receive the award and discuss some publishing matters, so the two naturally talked about novels.

When it comes to novels, Old School Rocco gets excited. It's so exciting!

"Xia Tian, ​​do you know how great the Marvel Prize is? It's the Nobel Prize in the field of fantasy novels!" He danced with joy.

Xia Tian laughed: "Oh, Old Palo, I thought you were not a joker, but now it seems I was wrong~"

"Oh, okay, he's a little worse than Nobel...but in the field of fantasy novels, there's no one more authoritative and solemn than him!"

Old Pailuo seemed to be very interested in "The Corpse Transmigration of the Immortal" written by Xia Tian and kept asking about the details of the creation.

After all, what is explained about Xia Tian in the novel is very vague, and there is a sense of mystery that seems to be true but is not - it's a mysterious style!

And those weird methods of practice and performances are even more secretive... Many of the words were even first coined by Xia Tian, ​​and for this reason they have to be explained in the text subtly.

There is only that indescribable weird feeling and the vague fear... It is hard to extricate yourself. The more you look, the more curious you become, and the more curious you become, the more afraid you become, as if you are approaching danger.

Now that the author is right in front of him, Old Pai Luo, as the first reader, naturally has to ask some questions!

Especially the most important question, Old Pai Luo moved closer and asked in a low voice: "...Is there really such a thing as ascension? Xia Tian, ​​tell me, do you know how to become an immortal? Teach me!"

"Hahaha!" Xia Tian laughed. "Old Palo, it's been more than a decade since American astronauts landed on the moon. Why are you still asking this question? Ascension? Where are we going? After all, the moon doesn't look very suitable for survival. Could it be Mars?"

"Well!" Old Pyro sat up straight, "I lost my mind."

"But speaking of which, your novel has caused quite a stir, and many people in the small occult community are paying attention to it."

He stood up and went to the desk to take out a lot of letters. "Here, these are letters from readers... I told you on the phone, I opened and read a few of them. In addition to normal readers, there are also many occult enthusiasts, all of them talking nonsense..."

Xia Tian took the letter and looked at it casually.

While watching, I thought that I was able to win this surprise prize probably because I took advantage of the times.

A few years earlier, no matter what award it was, it would not have been given to a Chinese person, especially a Chinese.

That is to say, the two sides have established diplomatic relations and are still in the honeymoon period.

Moreover, the status of Chinese Americans began to gradually improve—although only a little.

For example, the famous martial arts star Bruce Lee, who starred in "Fist of Fury" in 71, "Way of the Dragon" in 72, and "Enter the Dragon" in 73... Unfortunately, he died so suddenly.

Why did Mr. Bruce Lee become so highly regarded later on?

It was because he rose as a Chinese that he opened the ceiling for the rise of Chinese people and made ordinary foreigners start to take Chinese people seriously.

Later, Big Nose Dragon dominated Hollywood, all thanks to the legacy of Mr. Bruce Lee.

Of course, improving the international status of Chinese people cannot rely on just one or two people. Hong Kong films were really strong at that time.

Status is something you have to fight for yourself.

……

The next day, Xia and Old Pello went to meet two booksellers.

The first one's attitude was like giving alms, Xia Tian and Lao Palo looked at each other - Lao Palo shrugged, Xia Tian finished the coffee in one gulp, and the two got up and left.

The second bookseller was much more professional. He did not mix in personal emotions, but instead fought for his interests based on reason.

Not only "Corpse Transmigration", but also the currently serialized "Bloodborne", and even Xia Tian's subsequent works - it is obvious that they are optimistic about Xia Tian, ​​the newcomer in the literary world.

As a young Chinese man, Xia Tian naturally suffered some losses in this regard. But he was able to use the surprise award as a banner, and the final harvest was not bad.

When Bloodborne was serialized, his royalties had risen to $0.5 per word.

There is also a signing fee of $30000 for this contract, and there will be a 7.5% sales share in the future.

After talking with the bookseller, Xia Tian talked with Lao Pai Luo again.

Favors are favors, and interests are interests.

In a capitalist society, you can't ignore the laws governing the operation of capital, right?

Besides, even in our place, relying solely on personal connections is not a good idea.

Xia Tian saw this very clearly and discussed making Lao Pai Luo his "agent" so that he could share the profits. This was what Xia Tian had thought of from the beginning.

Personal friendship + common interests will make the relationship stronger.

Otherwise, no matter how good the relationship is, it won’t last long.

At first, Old Palo did not agree. After all, he did all this purely out of personal emotion and to help his friend.

But Xia Tian talked about his plans: "I will write more and publish more in the future! I will trouble you again then! According to the rules here, it is best for us to become partners..."

In the end, Old Palo was convinced because he knew that Xia Tian was right and this was the most common pattern in the United States.

Since we have agreed with the bookseller on the publishing revenue share, other cooperation and publicity can be put on the table.

Book signings and sales will begin soon in the summer - although it is a niche market, the bookseller has still prepared a thousand copies of "The Corpse Reincarnation Immortal" and seems to be quite optimistic about its success.

You know what, there are a lot of people coming!
Xia Tian signed six or seven hundred books in one morning. It was the first time I realized that signing was a strenuous job.

I kind of regretted giving his English name a shorter one - the English name he temporarily chose was Charlotte, which had a lot of letters.

If I had known earlier, I would have called him Abin! The workload is halved!
And the book lovers were also very surprised - the author is so young? So handsome? !
Looking at this weird and inexplicable writing style, we thought it was a middle-aged, sinister, evasive, somewhat neurotic, skinny bald man!

Xia Tian: What is the meaning of contrast cuteness? Look at how sunny and bright my smile is!

Just as Lao Pai Luo had inferred before, the book is very niche, but it has strong stickiness and has attracted many book lovers who are interested in exotic culture and writing style.

Many of them were mystical scholars. When signing, they would chat for a few words about cultivation, ascension, resurrection, alchemy, the path of the fire sword...

There was no Internet back then, so the information we could collect was limited, not to mention the field of occultism.

So Xia Tian, ​​this author who can talk about everything, has fooled his readers!
Several foreign book lovers who bought book autographs were chatting privately and they all suspected that Xia Tian was an "Eastern Wizard"!
There was also someone who wanted to become his disciple, but without saying anything, he just kept shaking his head three times, which scared Xia Tian - are you casting a spell on me? !
Some people even sneaked up to Xia Tian and said, "May the Heavenly Master of Xuanhuang be blessed~"

Xia Tian: No, I’m just joking about a joke that no one else understands, don’t take it seriously!

This is the spell written in the book...

(End of this chapter)