Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 397 Golden Lock Arrives at the Door
After hearing their self-introductions, Cao Sheng knew why the two men had come.

When Fang Changqing introduced himself, he mentioned the Beijing Pillow Book Publishing House. Cui Xinyu had mentioned this publishing house's name when reporting to Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng had no interest in cooperating with a publishing house whose name he had never heard of.

Since I've never heard of the name, it means that the publisher is not very strong and its distribution capabilities are probably not good. So even if the publisher is willing to give him a higher royalty share, it doesn't make much sense. Insufficient distribution capabilities mean that the number of books that can be sold is limited. Even if he is given a higher royalty share, how much money will he end up with?
If he were still an author receiving a fixed fee, he might consider collaborating with such a publishing house.

As long as the other party is willing to pay him more for his writing, that's fine.

But royalty sharing is not an option.

Of course, out of politeness, Cao Sheng still asked, "What did you two want to talk to me about?"

Fang Changqing smiled broadly, "Mr. Cao! We heard that you recently released a new book, and it has already been published in traditional Chinese characters. However, the simplified Chinese copyright should still be in your hands, right? So, we came all the way from Beijing to talk to you. We hope you can give our Bedside Books a chance. Is that alright? We are really sincere. Please name your terms!"

Ouyang Yiyi nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes! Mr. Cao, we can discuss any conditions. We have come with the utmost sincerity. Please give us a chance, okay?"

As she spoke, she clasped her hands together, making a gesture of supplication.

If Cao Sheng were a little more shy, he would probably have softened when he saw such a beautiful woman begging like this.

But Cao Sheng had seen too many beautiful women and had developed a certain immunity to them.

Ouyang Yiyi in front of me does look prettier than Fan Jinsuo at this stage.

This is largely due to the fact that Fan Jinshuo has only recently debuted and her looks, figure, and aura are still at their peak.

Even if she were more beautiful than Fan Jinshuo at her peak, Cao Sheng wouldn't sign his new book with them just because she was pretty.

This is the attitude of many middle-aged men towards beautiful women.

As a reborn individual, he possesses the mindset of a middle-aged man. Although he cannot resist beautiful women, he is no longer willing to easily sacrifice his own interests because of them.

"I see! You should talk to my assistant! I've entrusted this matter entirely to her."

Cao Sheng casually gave a perfunctory answer.

Send them to find Cui Xinyu.

In reality, the decision-making power was in his own hands.

Fang Changqing and Ouyang Yiyi hesitated for a moment. Ouyang Yiyi looked at Fang Changqing, who hesitated again, then forced a smile and nodded. "Sure! Actually, we contacted Miss Cui, but she said she's busy lately. What do you think? Could you give her a call and let her know? Also, we'd like to invite you to dinner. We hope you can do us the honor!"

Cao Sheng smiled and said, "Oh, I see. I'll talk to her and have her come and talk to you. Forget about dinner; I'm currently writing a new book and really don't have time."

……

After dismissing the two, Cao Sheng headed towards the classroom.

After entering the classroom and finding an empty seat in the back row, he thought for a moment that in order to prevent the two people from coming to find him again, he took out his phone and sent a message to Cui Xinyu, asking Cui Xinyu to meet with the two people to deal with them.

In a hotel room.

Fan Jinshuo frowned and paced back and forth in the room. She had knocked on Feng Xiaogang's door at noon, hoping to go downstairs for lunch with him, but no one answered no matter how she knocked.

When I called, Feng Xiaogang didn't answer.

She had just received a message from Feng Xiaogang that read: "Ms. Fan, I'm back in Beijing. Please don't call me anymore."

She was surprised. Feng Xiaogang had brought her to Huizhou, but now he had left without saying goodbye, leaving her here alone. What kind of behavior was this?

She couldn't help but call again, but Feng Xiaogang didn't answer several times. After a few times, she couldn't even get through to him anymore.

He had clearly blacklisted her number.

At this moment, she was in a bad mood and had many questions in her mind.

—Could it be that he has already obtained Cao Sheng's script?
—Or did something happen in the capital? Is that why he left in such a hurry?
—Would Cao Sheng have rejected him? No way! Cao Sheng promised him a script when we had dinner last night! Could Cao Sheng have gone back on his word after we got home? Surely not?

After pondering for a while, she walked to the window, looked at the scenery outside, and her expression gradually calmed down. As her eyes shifted slightly, she felt that she needed to make a decision.

—What should I do? Should I also leave Huizhou? Or should I stick to the original plan and go find Cao Sheng?

After thinking silently for a moment, she walked to the bedside, opened her suitcase, and began to select clothes from it.

……

Cao Sheng has only two classes this afternoon.

When I came out of the classroom after class, it was not yet 4 p.m. Although it gets dark early, there was no sign of darkness outside at all.

The sky was bright and a gentle breeze was blowing, making one feel that there was still plenty of time to enjoy oneself.

He carried his books and notes, and left the teaching building unhurriedly, heading towards the teachers' dormitory building.

The teachers' dormitory faces a slightly different direction from the students' dormitory.

The student dormitories of Huizhou Teachers College are almost all located on the north side of the campus, while the teachers' dormitories are located in the southwest of the campus.

So, as Cao Sheng walked toward the teachers' dormitory, he gradually separated from the other students. After turning off the main road into a side road, there were no other students around him.

As he walked, just as he was about to reach the teachers' dormitory building, he suddenly heard Fan Jinsuo's voice behind him.

"Brother Cao Sheng! Brother Cao Sheng!"

Upon hearing the sound, Cao Sheng stopped in surprise, turned around, and looked back.

In the gentle breeze, Fan Jinsuo, wearing blue jeans and a white woolen cardigan, was seen jogging towards them. As she ran, her beautiful hair flew in the wind, making her look like the heroine in an idol drama running towards her lover.

Cao Sheng recalled how she looked in that red dress last night.

My style of dress has changed so much today.

At first glance, she looks like a female college student.

"Brother Cao Sheng! I've finally waited for you! Do you remember me? I'm Xiao Fan!"

Fan Jinshuo ran up to Cao Sheng with rosy cheeks and big, watery eyes looking at him with delight.

Cao Sheng never expected that she would also come to his school.

For a moment, he couldn't understand why she was coming to see him when he and Feng Xiaogang had already fallen out. Could it be that she was here to apologize on Feng Xiaogang's behalf?
But is Feng Xiaogang the kind of person who wants to apologize but can't bring himself to do it?
Does he need her to apologize on his behalf?
Cao Sheng: "Did you need something from me?"

Fan Jinshuo raised her hand to smooth a strand of hair behind her ear, her face full of a sweet smile, and her voice gentle, "It's nothing! I just wanted to make friends with you! I wonder if I would be so honored?"

To make friends?

These four words reminded Cao Sheng of what Zhong Xintong had said in a message to him on his way to the airport after he suspected that he had been slept with by those two girls in Hong Kong. In the message, she said, "Let's be friends."

From then on, he found it difficult to look at those four words directly.

Therefore, when he heard Fan Jinshuo also say that she wanted to be friends with him, he found it hard not to doubt her way of making friends.

"Aren't we friends already?"

Cao Sheng countered with a question.

Fan Jinshuo chuckled, "Really? That's such an honor! Really!"

At this point, she glanced at the teachers' dormitory building not far away and asked curiously, "Oh, what brings you here? Do you live in that building over there? May I come in and sit for a while? Is that alright?"

Her eyes shone with expectation. Cao Sheng's words of refusal reached his lips, but he swallowed them back.

Because he imagined that she would become a sensation in the mainland entertainment industry and become one of the most popular actresses in the mainland.

Besides, she's so beautiful.

He wouldn't say he was a fan of hers, but he felt regret when she left the entertainment industry. He always felt that while there were many beautiful actresses in the mainland entertainment industry, very few could truly be called great beauties. Her forced retirement from the industry made the mainland entertainment scene lose a lot of its luster.

Today, she wanted to visit him at his place, which he felt would be a good memory to look back on in the future.

He then stepped aside and extended his hand in invitation, "Sure! Please!"

Fan Jinshuo was overjoyed; she had thought she would be rejected!
After all, there are many actresses like her, but there is only one writer and screenwriter like him in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Things are rare.

People are the same.

Especially last night, she had just witnessed firsthand how humble Feng Xiaogang was in front of Cao Sheng.

The two entered the building entrance one after the other and went upstairs to the door of Cao Sheng's rented dormitory.

Throughout the journey, she kept the atmosphere lively and kept finding topics to talk about with him.

"Brother Cao Sheng, why are you living here? With your income, you should be able to afford a house by now, right? You didn't buy a house on campus, did you?"

Cao Sheng: "Living at the school is convenient! The houses here are rented; these are the school teachers' dormitories and cannot be bought or sold casually."

Fan Jinshuo: "Oh, I see! So, did you buy a house in Huizhou?"

Cao Sheng: "Yes, I bought a few sets."

Fan Jinshuo turned around in surprise, "Huh? You bought several sets? Why did you buy so many? Is it for investment?"

Cao Sheng smiled and said, "I guess so! The main thing is that every house has its drawbacks. After living in one for a while, you just want to move to another one."

Fan Jinshuo was a little surprised, but more than that, he wanted to laugh. "You're really rich and powerful! You can just change houses whenever you want. By the way, I heard you bought three buildings in Pengcheng. Is that true?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

Fan Jinshuo then asked, "Is your girlfriend in your dorm right now? If I go over there now, she won't misunderstand us, will she?"

Cao Sheng chuckled, "No! She lives in her own home, not here with me."

Fan Jinshuo: "Oh? So she's from Huizhou?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement again.

Soon, the two arrived at the door of Cao Sheng's rented dormitory, and Cao Sheng took out his key to open the door.

Fan Jinshuo stood aside, curiously looking at the houses on both sides of the corridor.

With a soft click, the dormitory door opened, and Cao Sheng gestured for someone to come in.

Fan Jinshuo smiled and nodded, then went inside.

Cao Sheng then entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Hearing the door close, Fan Jinshuo wasn't afraid; his big eyes were already curiously looking around.

He kept making sounds of surprise.

"Oh! Your place is so simple!"

"Oh, is that the computer you usually use for writing articles? Is this the room where you write articles?"

Wow! So many tea canisters on that display shelf? You really enjoy drinking tea!

……

Cao Sheng smiled and responded casually.

Fan Jinshuo was like a curious child, always finding surprises in everything he looked at.

As she spoke, she walked over to Cao Sheng's desk by the wall, curiously examined the computer on the desk, and exclaimed, "Is this the computer that made you hundreds of millions? This computer must have been blessed by you in your past life! Haha."

Cao Sheng was amused by her.

While she was still looking around, Cao Sheng walked to the shelf, reached for a can of Mao Feng tea, and brewed two cups of tea.

"Miss Fan! Would you like a cup of tea?"

Cao Sheng handed her one of the cups of tea.

Fan Jinshuo quickly accepted the teacup with both hands. It was just an ordinary local Mao Feng tea, but she treated it like a treasure. She first brought the teacup to her nose, took a light sniff, and then exclaimed, "Wow! It smells so good! What kind of tea is this? It must be very expensive!"

Cao Sheng smiled to himself, thinking: It's very expensive tea. I do have a few cans here, but I didn't brew any for you.

"No! This is Huizhou Maofeng tea! Although it's the tip of the bud, it's still very cheap. You should try it."

"is it?"

Fan Jinshuo carefully blew on the tea, took a small sip, and then exclaimed in surprise, "So fragrant? Such fragrant tea can be cheap? You must be kidding me, right? I don't believe it at all. Hehe."

Cao Sheng chuckled softly.

His tea was indeed inexpensive, only 300 yuan per jin (500g), but its quality was top-notch among similar teas. Why? Simply because he had been drinking tea for over twenty years and knew a little about tea quality, so he knew how to choose the right kind.

But he didn't find such tea surprising.

He's more inclined to believe she's acting.

"If you like, I'll give you a can when you leave later."

Before Cao Sheng could finish speaking, Fan Jinshuo exclaimed in delight, "Really? Oh, I'm so embarrassed! How about I buy some from you? I'll pay for it!"

Cao Sheng shook his head, "I'm not selling tea. If you give me money, I won't give you the tea."

……

The fox will eventually show its tail.

People who come with a purpose will eventually reveal their intentions.

The same applies to Fan Jinshuo.

She sat with Cao Sheng for about half an hour, providing him with plenty of emotional support, before cautiously revealing her purpose.

"Brother Cao Sheng! What do you think of me? Am I pretty?"

As she spoke, she put down her teacup, stood up, and twirled around in front of Cao Sheng, showing off her good figure.

Cao Sheng nodded, "It's beautiful!"

Fan Jinshuo smiled, her face flushed, took two steps forward, put one hand on Cao Sheng's shoulder, and lightly sat on his lap. The hand on his shoulder then wrapped around his neck, and she asked softly with a red face, "Do you think I can play the female lead? Do you have any suitable roles for me in your recent scripts? Can... could you arrange one for me?"

(End of this chapter)