Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 143: Keep Your Heart True, "Honghuang Story"

After signing the contract, it was almost time for dinner.

Shang Zhengming and others warmly invited Cao Sheng to dinner. When Cao Sheng left the hotel, it was already dark outside and the streets were brightly lit.

The streets of Huizhou at night are more beautiful than during the day.

The city illuminated by lights has a bit of ancient charm.

Cao Sheng, who intended to drink less tonight, walked leisurely along Binjiang Road as if he was taking a stroll. He really wanted to take a walk.

Just strolled back to my residence.

I went upstairs to turn on the air conditioner in the study, took my clothes, went downstairs to take a shower, make tea, and then returned to the study on the second floor with the teacup.

The study has become cooler.

But he found that he still couldn't type tonight. Although he deliberately drank fewer glasses tonight, his brain still felt a little tipsy and he was not in a very good condition.

This state is suitable for writing something with a smooth plot, such as some daily life.

But it is not suitable for writing fast-paced works like "God's Tomb".

So, after turning on the computer, he logged into his email, prepared to deal with the emails tonight, and then polish and revise the manuscript he had recently written.

As he expected, there were several new emails in the mailbox.

One of the letters was from Lin Baohui.

The content is as follows: "You guessed that the sales volume this month is 10,000 copies, right? As long as the actual sales volume is between 8,000 and 12,000 copies, your guess will be correct, so what? Is this floating range okay? Do you want to guess what the reward I have prepared for you is?

By the way, congratulations! Your new book Under the Banyan Tree has already topped the new book list after only two chapters were published. Amazing!

Alas! I still can’t adapt to life in mainland China. I miss the desserts and danzai noodles from my hometown, and I also miss my friends from my hometown. However, I know I have to work hard to adapt to life here because I may have to live here for the next few years.

Fortunately, you can chat with me through email. It would be great if our office was in Huizhou. Unfortunately, I have no right to decide on such matters. Otherwise, I could visit you often. By the way, you are going to have summer vacation, right? Do you want to come to Shanghai to see me? If you come, I will give you the reward in person. Otherwise, why don’t you come to see me? I will treat you to a big meal.

——Lin Baohui

After reading this email, Cao Sheng smiled and could somewhat understand her current mentality.

He had experienced the feeling of suddenly coming to live in a strange city before.

He also worked in unfamiliar cities.

The feeling of being a stranger in a foreign land is a little better during the day, but especially late at night, I always can't help but look towards the direction of my hometown.

I will miss everything about my hometown.

The place you once wanted to escape from will become a place you particularly want to return to.

No matter how beautiful the foreign city is, it cannot keep his heart; no matter how many delicious foods there are in the foreign city, they are not the flavors his stomach likes most; no matter how clear the water in the foreign city is, he still misses the river water with the smell of mud in his hometown.

Thinking about going to Beijing to buy a house this summer, he thought that maybe he could stop in the Magic City for a while on his way back to visit Lin Baohui.

"Okay! I'll come to see you when the holidays come. I hope your reward won't disappoint me."

……

The second email was from Modu Literature and Art, which wanted to sign the simplified Chinese publishing rights for his new book "God's Tomb".

Cao Sheng glanced at the email and replied briefly: "Thank you for the commission! Unfortunately, the simplified Chinese copyright of this book has been signed to Changjiang Literature and Art. I look forward to our next cooperation. - Zhongyuan Yidianhui"

The third email was from Huacheng Publishing House.

He also wanted to sign his new book, Tomb of the Gods. Cao Sheng copied the reply he had just given to Modu Literature and Art and sent it to Huacheng Publishing House.

In addition to these two publishing houses, two other mainland publishing houses also sent emails to him, wanting to discuss the simplified Chinese version of "Shenmu".

Cao Sheng also sent a copy of the reply he had just copied to these two publishing houses.

The last email was sent by my desk mate in my senior year of high school.

"Cao Sheng! It's nice to see you.

I haven't seen you for a long time and I miss you so much. I saw your news in the newspaper. You are amazing! I only knew that you were good at Chinese before, but you were too biased in other subjects. When the college entrance examination results came out, I felt sorry for you. I didn't expect that after you entered college, you simply took a different approach and stopped competing with others in study. You actually started to compete in writing novels and achieved such a dazzling result. Congratulations! I told my roommates that I used to be your deskmate, but they didn't believe it!

By the way, do you still remember Ge Jingying from our class?
I don't know how she got my contact information recently, and asked me if I could contact you. She said she wanted to invite you to the class reunion this summer. By the way, she told me that Fang Zhui and Qian Zhenyu will be attending. Do you want to come? Why don't you come! It just so happens that I also want to get together with you."

classmate reunion?

Qian Zhenyu?
After many years, when Cao Sheng saw the name "Qian Zhenyu" again, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a ripple appeared in his heart.

"There were so many girls in our class before, who was your favorite?"

He remembered that not long after he was reborn, he and Tan Lei were on the train to Huizhou together, and Tan Lei asked him this question.

He didn't answer at that time, but just asked Tan Lei to guess.

But what flashed through his mind at that time was Qian Zhenyu's face.

Qian Zhenyu is the only girl among all the girls he has met since childhood that he really wants to pursue but dares not.

She was also the first girl who made him feel inferior.

Since then, he has never seen a girl who made his heart beat so fast again.

She is very pretty.

But she was not just beautiful. Her cool temperament, excellent academic performance, and clothes and shoes that always seemed spotless made him dare only watch her from afar and not approach her.

He had seen her sweet smile.

It was a spring afternoon when he and she passed each other under the tree-lined path of the school.

That day, he saw her smile with narrowed eyes for the first time. Her cold temperament was gone, and her smile turned out to be very sweet.

It was that smile that had been engraved in his heart, and he could not forget it even after more than 20 years.

In fact, there were dozens of girls in their class back then, and many of them were pretty.

Many of them are both good in character and academic performance.

But in his eyes, Qian Zhenyu is incomparable to any other girl.

Other girls probably feel the same way.

He had noticed a phenomenon many times: every time Qian Zhenyu passed by, the girls who were originally chatting and laughing would fall silent with different expressions.

Not only girls, but boys as well.

Wherever Qian Zhenyu passed by, the place would become quiet, and then both boys and girls would silently watch Qian Zhenyu pass by.

That is why, in his impression, Qian Zhenyu seemed to have no friends.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think: The reason why Qian Zhenyu was admitted to Fudan University might have something to do with the fact that she had no friends to bother her.

Are you going to meet her?
He kind of wanted to go.

But suddenly I thought of Huang Qingya.

At first he thought that he and Huang Qingya were just a one-night stand.

I didn’t expect that there would be a second time, and a third time…

She came to his place more and more often, and became more and more like his serious girlfriend, and he gradually got used to her presence.

He discovered that his moral bottom line seemed to be higher than he had previously thought.

He just thought about the idea of ​​playing two women at the same time and frowned, feeling a little contemptuous of himself.

Cherish the people in front of you.

The thought flashed through his mind.

While he and Huang Qingya were still together, he didn't want anyone else to interfere.

Can't mess up your life.

Thinking of this, he replied to his high school deskmate: "No, I have to go on a business trip this holiday, I'm afraid I can't spare the time. When I come back, we can get together alone. I will contact you in advance then."

……

The next morning.

Magic City.

Yuan Xin, a literary person from Shanghai, excitedly dragged her suitcase and took a taxi to the train station early in the morning, preparing to take a train to Huizhou to meet Cao Sheng to discuss the simplified Chinese version of "Shenmu".

But when I was about to get on the bus, I suddenly received a call from the company.

"Yuan Xin! You haven't left yet, right? If you haven't left yet, come back to work! You don't have to go to Huizhou."

Yuan Xin was stunned and couldn't help asking, "Why? I'm going to board the train in a little while, so why don't I have to go to Huizhou?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a sigh. "Alas! Zhongyuan Yidianhui has already emailed us back. He said in the email that "God's Tomb" has been signed to Changjiang Literature and Art, so come back to work!"

Yuan Xin: “???”

……

The same morning.

Huacheng Publishing House.

Lao Qin from the editorial department came to the office of General Manager Xu Zhiwen again.

As soon as he entered the room, Lao Qin said with a depressed look on his face: "Lao Xu! We are still too late. Zhongyuan Yidianhui responded to us last night. His new book has been signed to Changjiang Literature and Art again!"

Xu Zhiwen looked up in surprise. "So fast? Didn't you say that this new book was recently published in Baodao? Changjiang Literature and Art signed it right away? Did he submit his manuscript to Changjiang Literature and Art when he submitted it to Baodao?"

Old Qin sat down opposite Xu Zhiwen.

He curled his lips and said, "I called my acquaintances at Changjiang Literature and Art and they told me that Zhongyuan Yidianhui didn't submit his manuscript to them. It was Yan Qiansan! Old Yan acted too quickly. As soon as he got the news, he asked Vice President Shang Zhengming to personally lead a team to Huizhou to meet with Zhongyuan Yidianhui. The contract he offered was better than the previous book. Tell me, who can resist such sincerity?"

Xu Zhiwen was surprised.

Frowning and pondering for a moment, Xu Zhiwen sighed, "Old Yan was quick and ruthless this time! He didn't leave us any chance at all. We deserved to lose."

Lao Qin also sighed, "It's not unfair!"

……

The same morning.

Cao Sheng sat in the classroom, the sound of the teacher's lecture going in one ear and out the other. He lowered his head and wrote four words on the draft book in front of him - "Honghuang Romance".

This is the title of his new book that he has just decided on.

He couldn’t write Shen Ji’s “The Buddha is the Tao” and couldn’t copy it.

So the title of the book was imitated from The Investiture of the Gods and named The Great Flood Romance. Since it is a romance, it can be freely expressed.

Lest he be accused of blasphemy.

(End of this chapter)