Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 374 How Favored Heaven Was to Cao Sheng

Hearing what Chang Qingshu said, Cao Sheng considered it for a moment and nodded, "Alright! Since President Lan is in a hurry to see it, I'll go to the dormitory and send him a copy of the manuscript. But you must make it clear to him that this manuscript cannot be used when it is published."

Evergreen nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Then Cao Sheng took him to his dormitory and used his computer to send the manuscript to Lan Tianhu.

Not long after, Cao Sheng went to class.

As Chang Qingshu walked towards the school gate, he dialed Lan Tianhu's number to report the matter.

Taiwan.

In the back seat of a car heading towards Xinchang's headquarters, Lan Tianhu, having just hung up the phone, smiled as he made his way to the company.

A dozen minutes later, he arrived at his office.

After listening to his secretary's work report, he quickly reviewed some important documents, then turned on his computer and found Cao Sheng's new book manuscript in his email.

He was already familiar with the title "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Yesterday afternoon, Chang Qingshu told him the name of Cao Sheng's new book over the phone.

But the book's synopsis still surprised him a bit.

Just like when Evergreen first read the book's synopsis, the information revealed in the synopsis also made him frown.

Martial arts stories set in modern society?

This subject matter is so obscure!
Is the main text really as good as Evergreen says?

He had some doubts.

With this suspicion in mind, he began to read the main text of the new book.

The appearance of the male protagonist Wang Chao and the beautiful Tang Zichen in the first chapter brought a smile to Lan Tianhu's face.

Yesterday, when Changqingshu was reading the first chapter, especially when Tang Zichen appeared, he felt that Cao Sheng's writing was a bit too cliché, no different from other authors' works, and he wasn't afraid of being criticized by readers.

However, when Lan Tianhu saw Tang Zichen appear, he felt that Cao Sheng still tried his best to cater to readers' tastes when writing. Readers like to see beautiful women, so he arranged for a beautiful woman to appear in the first chapter of his new book. By catering to readers' tastes in this way, he didn't have the airs of being the number one online novelist. Just for this reason, the sales of this new book should not be too bad.

When he read the second chapter and saw Tang Zichen begin to introduce Wang Chao to the origins, training methods, fighting techniques, footwork, and stances of Chinese martial arts, Lan Tianhu, despite having read countless novels, was still amazed by this brand-new cultivation system.

I couldn't help but wonder if true traditional martial arts were really like this.
Chapter Three, Chapter Four...

He read through the twenty-four chapters of the manuscript in the blink of an eye, without even noticing the passage of time.

After finishing the last chapter, looking at the blank page below the last paragraph, Lan Tianhu pursed his lips, still feeling a bit unsatisfied.

It was only then that he slowly came to his senses.

After a moment of stunned silence, he murmured to himself, "How much Heaven favors Cao Sheng..."

The reason he said that was naturally because he was also amazed by this book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

It seems like a very niche subject, yet so many original ideas have been written about it.

The martial arts genre, which had been written to death, was given a completely new cultivation system by Cao Sheng.

Moreover, he hadn't noticed it while reading the manuscript, but now that he had finished, he suddenly realized that the book's pacing was excellent.

At first glance, the plot after the main text begins is very smooth, with no intense verbal conflicts. The male protagonist, Wang Chao, is either practicing kung fu or on his way to practice kung fu. This kind of cultivation plot has long been tired of readers in martial arts novels.

However, because this book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," has a completely new training system, Wang Chao's training process is not only not boring, but it also keeps him glued to the screen, completely immersing him in the story.

The key is……

The seemingly slow-paced plot is actually a gradual build-up, much like the opening moves in Go. Each piece seems meaningless as it is placed, until at a certain moment, when a piece is placed, all the pieces that were placed before suddenly connect, achieving the effect of surrounding and killing a large number of the opponent's pieces.

In fact, this is the style of Shenji's works.

Shenji, a former professional chess player, brought his chess-playing habits to his writing. Each plot point in his writing is like a chess piece placed on the board. When these plot points are connected, they can create a thrilling and exciting story that will get readers' blood pumping.

Cao Sheng imitated the writing style of Shenji when he wrote his book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Therefore, the words "Blue Sky Protection" evoke the feeling of playing chess.

This 80,000-plus-word storyline is incredibly exciting.

With Cao Sheng's meticulous setup, the protagonist Wang Chao learns Tai Chi from Tang Zichen, especially one of its deadly moves. In Tang Zichen's first real combat opportunity (Tang Zichen arranges a black boxing match where Wang Chao signs a life-or-death contract), Wang Chao uses all the skills Tang Zichen taught him. At the moment the opportunity arises, he decisively unleashes that deadly move. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he sends his opponent flying with one blow, then quickly takes several steps, chasing after his opponent who is still in mid-air and hasn't landed yet, and delivers a powerful punch that breaks his opponent's lumbar spine.

The most exciting part of this plot is how Wang Chao developed his killing techniques, which are described in detail in the previous chapters. How to execute the moves and what kind of lethality they will have are all within the reader's expectations. When reading this part of the plot, as long as the reader puts themselves in Wang Chao's shoes, they will have a kind of illusion: I know this move.

That's why when Wang Chao uses such a deadly move to kill someone, it gives people a double sense of satisfaction.

Lan Tianhu is no longer young.

Logically speaking, he should have long passed the age of getting excited about reading novels.

But today, while reading about Wang Chao killing people in the book, he felt a long-lost sense of excitement, thrill, and exhilaration.

Therefore, when he finished reading the 24 chapters of the draft and gradually came to his senses, he said the sentence he just said.

He believed that a novel that would excite even an older man like himself would be loved by countless readers once it was published.

Although he still felt that the subject matter of the book was a bit too niche.

But by this time he was convinced that no matter how niche the subject matter was, this book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," would ignite the passion in every reader's heart.

It even boosted the entire genre, making it a popular topic.

He sat in his boss's chair, thought for a while, and then reached for his phone to dial the number of Evergreen, who was far away in mainland China.

"Boss Lan!"

As soon as Chang Qingshu's voice came through the phone, Lan Tianhu interrupted him, "A-Shu! Sign this new book! Don't hesitate! Don't delay! We absolutely cannot give other publishers a chance, you must sign this book as soon as possible! Do you understand what I mean?"

Evergreen: "..."

The boss's eager attitude reminded Evergreen of an old bachelor who had been starving for decades, who suddenly met a young widow on a blind date. No matter what the young widow asked for, the old bachelor readily agreed, without caring whether he could actually meet her requirements. He just agreed first and thought later.

Of course, he also knew that Xinchang was not an old bachelor.

Cao Sheng's works are not those of a young widow.

This analogy isn't quite appropriate either.

But Evergreen still sensed what the boss was thinking.

He paused for a few seconds before saying somewhat nervously, "President Lan, I also want to sign this book for the company as soon as possible, but... but... Cao Sheng said that this time the royalty split must be at least two percent, not even a little less. Can we agree to that?"

Cao Sheng's royalty sharing ratio is already the highest in the industry.

On this basis, adding two more percentage points would be unacceptable, let alone whether other authors could accept it; even Xin Chang might not be able to accept it. Sure enough, Lan Tianhu on the other end of the phone fell silent.

They did not immediately express their opinion.

After a long silence, Lan Tianhu finally let out a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice, "Agree to him! Satisfy him! It's just two points, right? He's worth the price! Even if we don't make a single penny from this work, or even lose money to help him publish it, the reputation we gain will be enough to make up for the financial loss. So, agree to him! Get the contract signed as soon as possible, okay?"

Chang Qingshu felt inspired by Lan Tianhu's boldness and magnanimity, and readily agreed, "OK! OK! Understood! Don't worry, Mr. Lan, I will definitely sign the book as soon as possible!"

……

The royalty split is two percentage points, which is 2%.

Although it may seem like a small amount, Cao Sheng's works have repeatedly broken sales records in the traditional Chinese market in the past two years. Therefore, even if his royalties are increased by 1%, the final actual figure is still quite considerable.

……

It’s noon this day.

In the canteen of Huizhou Teachers College.

While Cao Sheng was eating, Chang Qingshu came over again.

This time, Chang Qingshu didn't let Cui Xinyu lead the way.

He came to the cafeteria alone to find Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng sensed someone sitting down opposite him and subconsciously looked up. He saw Chang Qingshu smiling at him without saying a word.

Cao Sheng was a little surprised, and also wanted to laugh. "What? You want to try the food in our cafeteria again? Did you get addicted to it yesterday?"

Chang Qingshu smiled and said, "I haven't had lunch yet, so could I borrow your meal card for a moment? I'll go get some food."

Cao Sheng was naturally not stingy with such a small request and casually took out his meal card and handed it to him.

Chang Qingshu took the meal card, stood up and said, "Don't rush off! I'll come back later; I have something important to discuss with you."

Cao Sheng nodded.

A moment later, Chang Qingshu returned with a meal. When he handed the meal card back to Cao Sheng, he said, "Ah Hui! I have good news for you. President Lan agreed to your request and promised to give you an extra two percent of your royalties this time. So, can we sign the contract this afternoon?"

Cao Sheng was surprised.

I didn't expect Blue Sky Protection to agree to add two more locations so readily.

However, since Lan Tianhu had already agreed to this condition, he naturally didn't bother looking for other publishers to collaborate with on this new book.

"Okay! Sure! Could you please print out the contract this afternoon? We can sign it together when we go out for dinner tonight, is that alright?"

Evergreen readily agreed, "Sure! No problem!"

……

That evening, Cao Sheng hosted Chang Qingshu at a five-star hotel and signed a contract for his new book.

The next morning, Chang Qingshu boarded a plane with the contract and left Huizhou.

Cao Sheng's life returned to normal.

He spent two days revising the manuscript of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts". Late that night, he casually sent a copy of the first volume to Chang Qingshu.

The following morning, he boarded a plane and flew to Shenzhen, then transferred to Hong Kong.

He had recently promised Wang Zuxian that he would go to Hong Kong this month.

He also promised to go to Hong Kong this month and treat Mak Yau-fai to dinner.

It just so happens that he had been engrossed in writing for the past half month, and life had become a bit too monotonous, and he was feeling a bit down. So, taking advantage of the fact that he had finished the manuscript for the first volume of his new book and had already signed a contract with Xinchang, he wanted to relax, so he asked the school for a few days off and went to Hong Kong.

His assistant, Cui Xinyu, accompanied him on this trip to Hong Kong.

Accompanying them were two sports students, Sun Liang and Lei Zhen.

A few days ago, Lei Zhen also privately asked Cao Sheng if he could intern under him.

Cao Sheng agreed.

Therefore, Cao Sheng only allowed these two sports students to accompany him on this trip to Hong Kong.

Cao Sheng was not a celebrity after all, and when he set foot on Hong Kong soil, he did not attract much attention from the outside world, as he deliberately concealed his presence.

Therefore, he took a car directly to Wang Zuxian's residence.

They lived a shameless life.

Upon meeting, it was like dry wood meeting a raging fire.

Aren't you ashamed?

Afterwards, when Wang Zuxian was resting on Cao Sheng's chest, she whispered this question.

Cao Sheng frowned, reflected for a moment, and assumed she was referring to pushing her into the bedroom right after they met today. He smiled and apologized, "I am a little ashamed. I shouldn't have been so hasty. I should have sat down first, chatted with you, and asked about your recent situation. But I don't think it's entirely my responsibility. You should be the one who bears the main responsibility."

Wang Zuxian raised her head slightly, frowned at him, and asked with amusement, "What are you talking about? Why should I bear the main responsibility? You were the one who took the initiative."

Cao Sheng chuckled lightly, "What do you think? If you were less attractive, do you think I would react this way when I saw you today? Think about it carefully, isn't the main responsibility yours?"

Wang Zuxian chuckled to herself.

She reached out and tapped his forehead.

He scoffed, "You're just talking nonsense! No! That's not what I was asking."

Cao Sheng was surprised, "Then what did you ask just now?"

Wang Zuxian's expression became somewhat complicated. She looked at him with a hazy gaze and sighed softly, "What do you think? You were the one who said you'd have a child for me, and what happened? How long have we been together? Where is the child that you, the man who brings me a child, have delivered? I'm starting to suspect you took birth control pills beforehand!"

Cao Sheng asked in confusion, "Are there birth control pills that men can take in advance?"

Wang Zuxian: "Who knows? Maybe! Otherwise, how can I explain that we've been together for so long and I still haven't gotten pregnant?"

Cao Sheng frowned again.

He also found it a bit strange.

However, after thinking for a moment, he said, "Although we've spent quite a bit of time together, we haven't stayed together very often, right?"

Wang Zuxian sighed again, nodded slightly, leaned back against his chest, and whispered, "Maybe that's the reason! Can you stay here a little longer this time?"

(End of this chapter)