Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 312 Regret at Baojian Peak, Huang Qingya Invites Her Again

Some people are really "cheap" and love to provoke others.

For example, Hu Erhu is such a "scoundrel". He is from Taiwan, is 19 years old this year, and is currently in college. He would not normally visit mainland websites, but since he fell in love with the novels of Zhongyuan Yidianhui, he has become friends with two classmates who also like Zhongyuan Yidianhui's novels.

While chatting with these two friends about Zhongyuan Yidianhui's works, one of them mentioned that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's novels were not only published in traditional and simplified Chinese, but were also serialized on a mainland Chinese novel website, and were being serialized for free.

When this was mentioned, the classmate simply meant that if you don't have the money to buy Zhongyuan Yidianhui's novels and don't want to spend money renting books from a bookstore, you can go to that mainland novel website and read Zhongyuan Yidianhui's works for free.

But after Hu Erhu came to Rongshuxia and found Zhongyuan Yidianhui's work, he discovered a new way to play – teasing mainland book lovers in the book review section.

He noticed that whenever readers from Taiwan or Hong Kong mentioned in the book review section of Rongshu Xiao that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book had been released in Taiwan or Hong Kong, mainland book lovers would be very unhappy and dissatisfied.

He found it interesting to see these mainland book lovers expressing their dissatisfaction.

At first, he just saw others teasing mainland book lovers, but later he joined in the teasing.

So today, after finishing the third and fourth volumes of "The Legend of the Primordial Era," he was still not satisfied and suddenly wanted to go to Rongshuxia to tease the book lovers in mainland China.

He happened to be on vacation and had gone home recently, so he has a computer at home.

He quickly turned on his computer, logged into Rongshu.com, and found the book "The Legend of the Primordial Era".

This book began its free serialization on Rongshu.com more than half a month ago, due to strong requests from mainland readers.

The serialization speed is not fast, only one chapter is updated every day.

Currently, only chapter 18 has been serialized, which is about the length of one episode.

Hu Erhu arrived at the book review section and found the atmosphere quite peaceful. At a glance, all the posts were discussing the content of the book, and it seemed that the readers' attention was focused on the work itself.

Hu Erhu smiled and thought to himself: What's so interesting about you all being so peaceful? Let me add some spice to your lives!

He logged into his account and started posting.

A post was published very quickly.

The post titled: "So amazing! Episodes three and four are much better than the first two!"

The post reads: "I went to the bookstore today and bought the latest third and fourth volumes. I just finished reading them, and they truly deserve to be called a masterpiece by Zhongyuan Yidianhui. They were worth the money I spent on the books! My fellow readers in mainland China, you must be patient! Let me tell you, this book gets more and more exciting as you read on. You'll see when you get to the third and fourth volumes. Trust me! You definitely won't be disappointed!"

After posting the message, he sat in front of the computer, refreshing the post from time to time, waiting for someone to reply.

As it turns out, Cao Sheng's book review section has a large following.

Within moments, three comments appeared.

The first comment: "Really? Episodes 3 and 4 are already out? Wow!"

The second comment reads: "The online serialization speed is too slow! The published version has already reached the fourth volume, but only tens of thousands of words have been updated online? Ah Hui is so unprofessional!"

The third comment reads: "I can understand that the online serialization is slow because it's free! But the simplified Chinese version is always a month or two slower than the traditional Chinese version, which is outrageous! It makes me so angry!"

……

Hu Erhu burst out laughing as he watched on the computer.

I feel happy.

This is where he finds the fun in engaging mainland Chinese book lovers.

He kept refreshing the webpage, hoping for more comments to appear.

As he posted such a thread in the book review section of "The Legend of the Primordial Era", more than a dozen other posts appeared that evening, all claiming to have finished reading the third and fourth volumes and giving them positive reviews.

The constant appearance of these posts has indeed changed the atmosphere of the book review section.

There are significantly fewer posts discussing the characters and plot of the book.

There are more and more posts complaining about the slow serialization speed and the slow publication speed in simplified Chinese.

Many posts have also appeared calling for Cao Sheng to speed up his updates.

It was around 10 p.m. that night in Shanghai.

Bao Jianfeng, the current head of Qidian, sat in front of his laptop at his residence, looking at the book review section of "The Legend of the Primordial Era" on Rongshuxia with a complicated expression.

Under his management, Qidian's popularity has been rising, and the number of works on the site has been increasing. In recent months, thanks to his efforts, he has also acquired several struggling personal book sites.

The works from these online bookstores enriched Qidian's library.

It also attracted quite a few readers.

It can be said that the results are remarkable.

However, every time he comes to Rongshu Village to watch "The Legend of the Primordial Era" recently, he feels very uncomfortable.

Because he had previously borrowed 60 yuan from Cao Sheng to acquire those individual bookstores, Cao Sheng asked him: If I lend you this money, do I not have to publish my new book on Qidian?

At the time, he thought: Although Cao Sheng's works were of good quality, he had told Cao Sheng many times that although Cao Sheng did not refuse, he had not published the new book on Qidian. The key point was that Cao Sheng had said that if he published the new book on Qidian, he could not use the pen name "Zhongyuan Yidian Hui" and had to use a pseudonym.

How attractive can a new book published on Qidian using an alternate account be? If the quality of the new book isn't outstanding, its popularity might not even surpass that of the top-ranked works on Qidian's charts.

He felt that the reason why Cao Sheng's works became more and more popular was not only because of their quality, but more importantly because the pen name "Zhongyuan Yidianhui" had become a golden brand. As long as the quality of the new book was not too bad, the results would not be bad.

In comparison, it would be more cost-effective to use that 60 yuan to acquire several personal bookstores to enrich Qidian's book library.

Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, he agreed.

It feels really good to acquire someone else's website.

But ever since he read the beginning of "The Legend of the Primordial Era" in the banyan tree, and later, through a friend, he bought two traditional Chinese versions of "The Legend of the Primordial Era," he began to regret it after reading them.

He didn't expect that Cao Sheng's new book would create a completely new genre, and the appeal of this new genre seemed to far surpass that of his previous works on Xianxia and cultivation, and the infinite universe.

Because the characters, magical artifacts, and spells in Xianxia (fantasy martial arts) cultivation stories are almost all original, and the movie worlds, characters, and plots of the myriad heavens are also mostly original, the sense of immersion for readers is not particularly strong.

However, many of the characters, plots, magical artifacts, and spells in "The Legend of the Primordial Era" are from myths and legends, and many of them are things that Chinese people have seen in "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods".

It's worth noting that almost every Chinese person has watched the TV series "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" many times.

Therefore, the characters, magical artifacts, and spells that appear in "The Legend of the Primordial Era" have a strong sense of immersion.

Furthermore, the combination of these mythological figures, magical artifacts, and spells in the writing is surprisingly brilliant.

Was it worth it for Qidian to miss out on such a wonderful book because of a loan of 60 yuan?
This question has been lingering in his mind lately.

Sometimes, he felt it was worth it.

Because 60 yuan can buy several personal bookstores, and these personal bookstores have a lot of books in their collections. All those books combined are probably not as good as this book, "The Legend of the Primordial Era".
But most of the time, he felt like he was losing out.

I feel that although those personal bookstores have a large number of works, the quality is generally not high, and they are all already published works, which makes them less attractive to readers.

Cao Sheng's "The Legend of the Primordial Era" is a newly published book, and it is also a pioneering work that creates a completely new genre.

Whether it's creativity, writing style, plot, or anything else, it far surpasses the works on those few personal book websites. Every time he thinks about this, he can't help but think: if "The Legend of the Primordial Era" were published on Qidian, even if Cao Sheng published it under an alias, with the book's creativity and quality, it would only be a matter of time before it became a hit.

The number of readers on other websites who are drawn to this book will likely translate to a significant increase in readers for Qidian.

Thus, Qidian, which was just created this year, will probably catch up with the most popular platforms in the industry, Moukong and Rongshu, in terms of popularity in no time.

Every time he thought about this possibility, he felt an overwhelming sense of regret.

The benefits of this are clearly incomparable to acquiring a few personal bookstores.

Tonight, as he watched the lively scene in the book review section of "The Legend of the Primordial Era" in Rongshu Village, with so many fans protesting and urging for more updates, hoping that Cao Sheng could speed up the book's update speed, he felt even worse.

It's like missing out on a fortune.

As he looked at the screen, he couldn't help but take out his phone, find Cao Sheng's number, hesitate for a moment, and then dialed Cao Sheng's number.

However, after dialing twice, no one answered the phone.

This reminded him of Cao Sheng's typing habit—he would mute his phone when typing.

He smiled wryly.

I originally wanted to chat with Cao Sheng for a bit and make arrangements for his next book. I hoped that when Cao Sheng finished writing "The Legend of the Primordial Era" and started his new book, he could publish it on Qidian.

But Cao Sheng did not answer the phone.

I'll have to call again tomorrow to discuss it.

……

Huizhou.

Cao Sheng was indeed writing in his study.

The clattering sound of typing was particularly clear in the quiet study.

He recently replaced his keyboard again.

Since he got a computer, he has replaced it almost every year.

Actually, his keyboard didn't break at all after a year; it was probably better than most keyboards in internet cafes. But for a professional typist like him, a keyboard that had been used for a year wasn't as good anymore.

After a year of use, the keyboard was already somewhat worn, and some dust had gotten between the keys. In winter, the low temperature would make the keys even less responsive.

In addition, the keyboard technology and quality of this day are not as good as those of keyboards twenty years from now, so in order to have a better typing experience, he will change to a new keyboard every winter.

Often, a new keyboard can give him a better mood for typing for one or two months.

However, the new keyboard is a bit noisy when typing.

For the first few days, I wasn't used to it.

Now that I've gotten used to it, I actually find the clear typing sound quite nice, like accompaniment.

By the time he finished writing the second chapter for tonight, it was already 11:45 p.m.

He saved the chapter he had just finished writing and turned to look at the night outside the window.

The bright moonlight shines outside the window.

Since his rebirth, every time he sees such bright moonlight or a sky full of stars, he feels a sense of emotion.

Because before his rebirth, he had long since been unable to see such a night.

Back then, the night sky always seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog, obscuring the moonlight and starlight.

The night sky I saw as a child was completely different from the night sky of the same world.

Therefore, after his rebirth, he often looked up at the night sky, wanting to see more of the night view of this era, because he knew that every time he saw such a night view, it would be one less time, and the night view would become worse and worse in the future.

In fact, the nights of this era are far worse than the nights he saw when he was a child.

He turned off the computer, picked up his phone and teacup, got up, left the study, and went downstairs.

After washing up, I went to bed.

I habitually pick up my phone to check if I've received any calls or texts while I'm writing tonight.

He saw the missed call from Baojianfeng, as well as Huang Qingya's phone call and text message.

Huang Qingya said in the text message: "I just called you but you didn't answer, so I'll tell you in the text message first! I told my mom and the others that you plan to come over to pay your respects after the New Year, but they hope you can come to my house in the next couple of days. They just want to see you. Also, my mom said that we made a lot of sausages this year, and my older brother got some Jinhua ham and stinky mandarin fish from a friend. You can take some of these home and give them to your parents to try. Can you come over in the next couple of days?"

Homemade sausages?

Jinhua ham?

Stinky mandarin fish?
Cao Sheng almost laughed.

I feel like her mom is pretty nice; she wants to give him all these things even before she's met him.

A whole Jinhua ham is not cheap.

He thought about it and felt that it wouldn't be good to refuse her mother's warm invitation to visit, as it would leave a bad impression on her family.

It would also make her lose face at home.

Imagine this: A woman invites her boyfriend to her home, but he can't come. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?

"Okay! The day after tomorrow! I'll prepare tomorrow and go to your house the day after tomorrow."

This is his reply.

Just as I was about to check the other text messages, I suddenly received a reply from Huang Qingya.

"Have you finished writing your manuscript for tonight?"

She's still awake?

Cao Sheng was a little surprised.

It was already past 12 o'clock.

"Yeah, I just finished coding and got into bed. Why aren't you asleep yet?" Cao Sheng replied.

A moment later, Huang Qingya replied: "I just finished writing my manuscript not long ago, and I've been lying in bed for a while, but I can't fall asleep. I just happened to see your text message. Are you really coming to my house the day after tomorrow?"

Cao Sheng: "Yeah, if nothing unexpected happens, I'll definitely come the day after tomorrow. By the way, why can't you sleep? Are you having insomnia?"

Huang Qingya: "It's not exactly insomnia, maybe I haven't been lying in bed long enough! If I lie down a little longer, I should be able to fall asleep. Hey! You just said you'd prepare for tomorrow, what are you planning to prepare?"

Cao Sheng: "What do your parents like? Tell me, and I'll go out and look for some tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)