Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 406 Shocking Attack
"President Cao's new book has been posted."

Old Zhang smiled and turned to answer a question from his colleague at the next table.

"What? Mr. Cao's new book? It's been published? It's on our website?"

The colleague at the next table was surprised and didn't understand what Lao Zhang meant at first, but he quickly realized it.

Old Zhang nodded.

Another colleague nearby exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Didn't they say that President Cao didn't renew his contract with our website? How come his new book is being sent here?"

My colleague at the next table said, "You're not very well-informed! I heard that although President Cao didn't renew his contract with us, the free portion of his new book will still be published on our website."

"This? Free part? Is there a paid part? Paid online? From whom? From the readers? Or from the website?"

……

While his colleagues were discussing the matter, Lao Zhang, who was in charge of warehousing the new books, had already begun to read the first two chapters of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

At this moment, all he wanted to know was what kind of story this book was about? What exactly is Chinese martial arts?
……

About the same time.

Shanghai, the headquarters of Qidian.

Zheng Biao arrived at the company as usual. He first made himself a cup of instant coffee to perk himself up.

He is the editor at Qidian responsible for reviewing entries into the database.

He brought the freshly brewed coffee to his workstation, pressed the power button on his computer, and while the computer was booting up, he took two tissues and wiped down the desk and chair.

After sitting down, his gaze habitually fell on a small photo frame on the table.

The photo in the frame is of his daughter. The girl in the photo is about three or four years old, with short hair that reaches her ears and is tied in a high ponytail.

Every time he sees that towering braid, he remembers the teasing from his neighbors and relatives—"Oh my! Yaya, your braid is going to pierce the sky!"

So every time he sees his daughter's pigtails in a photo, he can't help but smile.

Looking at the photo, his daughter's features were so similar to his, and he really wanted to take leave to go home and see her.

What is happiness?
Before his daughter was born, he had seen various definitions of happiness in many literary and artistic works. Some people said that happiness is when a cat has fish to eat and Ultraman has monsters to fight; some people said that happiness is when parents are healthy, a wife is virtuous, and children are filial; and some people said that happiness is being with the woman you love.

It wasn't until his daughter was born that he truly felt the taste of happiness every time he saw her little face, arms, and legs.

The birth of his daughter finally brought him satisfaction, a feeling that had always been unfulfilled.

It was from that time that he realized that everyone may have a different definition of happiness.

Some people need this to feel happy.

Some people need that to feel happy.

And I... only felt happy after having my daughter.

These thoughts flashed through his mind. He took a sip of coffee, put down the cup, and logged into the Qidian administrator backend.

Let's begin today's work: reviewing the new books waiting to be added to the database.

This one is pretty good, the writing is decent, I'll pass.

The writing style is a bit poor, but there are no taboo plots, so it should pass the database review.

The writing style is a bit obscure, and the plot is a bit far-fetched, but it still passed the database entry review.

……

The standards for warehouse entry review have always been the lowest in the industry.

As long as you don't write anything that's prohibited by the website, you can pass the database entry review.

Therefore, his job was easy.

In a short time, he had reviewed more than forty new books.

Then he saw "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts". When he first saw the title, his eyes did not change. He clicked on the text and was about to skim through it when he was suddenly startled and looked back at the title and the pen name.

—The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts.

—A speck of gray in the Central Plains.

Isn't this Mr. Cao's new book?
Cao's new book has been released just like that? He's really publishing a new book on Qidian? This time he's finally not fooling us?

Zheng Biao was both surprised and delighted.

While manipulating the mouse to approve the book's entry into the database, he shouted, "Great news! Great news! Huge news! President Cao's new book has really been published on Qidian! It really has!!"

His voice echoed throughout the entire office area.

The editors who were wiping tables, dragging chairs, making coffee, brewing tea, or working all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at us. For a moment, the once noisy office area became completely silent.

Everyone has a different expression.

Some were surprised, some were bewildered, and some were delighted.

There are so many different things.

Soon, the office area, which seemed to have been suddenly silenced, suddenly had its sound switch turned on again, and all sorts of sounds came out.

There were sounds of chairs being dragged; sounds of people running quickly; and laughter.

More often than not, there was a cacophony of questions.

"Old Zheng! Really?"

"Old Zheng! You're not kidding us, are you?"

"Really? Mr. Cao's new book has really been released?"

"Holy crap! I've finally waited for this day!"

……

As Lao Zheng answered everyone's questions with a broad smile, he thought to himself: "Yes! This day has finally come. Now I truly believe that Zhongyuan Yidianhui is a major shareholder of Qidian. It never seemed like it before! What kind of major shareholder keeps publishing works on other websites? Isn't that aiding the enemy?"

To the editors at Qidian.com, Cao Sheng's new book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," is like a legendary ghost—everyone has heard of it many times, but has never actually seen it.

Everyone had already heard that this book had been published in traditional Chinese characters in Taiwan.

I've also heard that this book has sold very well and received great reviews; some readers have even praised it highly online.

But these editors had never read the book, and didn't even know what it was about.
Today, upon learning that Cao Sheng had finally published the book on Qidian, everyone excitedly discussed it, and many couldn't help but search for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" online, eagerly reading the two chapters already published on Qidian.

Book title, synopsis, Chapter 1, Chapter 2...

Many editors, when reading the first chapter with a professional eye, felt it was alright but not amazing. The male protagonist is just a high school student with average grades and above-average looks. In the first chapter, the male protagonist encounters a beautiful woman named Tang Zichen practicing Tai Chi in the park. This kind of plot, where the protagonist encounters a beautiful woman right from the start, has been overused by other authors and is a bit cliché.

If this kind of plot were written by another author, it would be alright.

But considering that this plot was written by Zhongyuan Yidianhui, most of the editors felt somewhat disappointed. Some even suspected that Zhongyuan Yidianhui had finally run out of ideas and only thought of publishing a new book on Qidian after running out of ideas. What did he take Qidian for? Was he here to retire? Of course, although they were a little disappointed, they were still interested in reading the second chapter because although the first chapter did not amaze them, it was still okay, with no major flaws, and could be considered a "good read".

But the second chapter quickly surprised them all.

Tang Zichen's definition of "Chinese martial arts," as well as its training methods, fighting techniques, footwork, stances, and other theories, gave the editors a fresh perspective.

They never expected that the martial arts genre, which had been written to death, could be so innovative in this book.

The two chapters, totaling about six thousand words, were quickly read by everyone.

After watching it, everyone had something to say, something they just had to get off their chests.

So they began to discuss Cao Sheng's new book in small groups.

Editor A: "Have you finished reading the first two chapters of 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts'? What are your thoughts?"

Editor B: "Yeah, I just finished reading it. You finished reading it too?"

Editor A: "Yeah, I just finished watching it too."

Editor B: "So how do you feel?"

Editor A smiled wryly, “I admire him! I’m jealous! I admire President Cao’s talent, and I’m also jealous of his talent. Although I’ve only read two chapters, I have a feeling that this will be another classic. Do you believe me?”

Editor B: "Yes, that's right! President Cao's talent is truly enviable. He has already written so many highly creative works, but I didn't expect that his new book would be so original. Has he created a completely new cultivation system?"

Editor A: "Yes, it's brand new! But I don't think he made it up himself. It's more like he revealed the true nature of traditional kung fu. I now doubt whether he is a successor of ancient martial arts. Otherwise, how could he come up with the idea that traditional kung fu is divided into training methods and fighting methods out of thin air?"

……

Editor C: "Old Wang! What do you think of President Cao's new book?"

Old Wang: "Great!"

Editor C: "Tch! Don't I know it's great? Be specific! If you were to rate this book, what score would you give it?"

Old Wang: "Hmm, if 10 is the highest score, I'd give these two chapters a 9.8!"

Editor C: "Oh? So where do you think we should deduct 0.2 points?"

Old Wang chuckled, "You've stumped me. What work is perfect? ​​If I had to say where I should lose a point, well... it would be the writing style!"

Editor C was a little surprised, "Huh? You think President Cao's writing is bad?"

Old Wang shook his head and waved his hand, "No, no! I'm not saying his writing is bad. In fact, I've always thought his writing is quite strong. Although his writing isn't fancy, whether it's describing the environment, characters, characters' psychology, or action scenes, his words can accurately or very well describe them in a very concise way. I think his writing has surpassed more than 90% of authors."

Editor C was puzzled, "Then why are you deducting points from his writing style?"

Old Wang chuckled lightly, "Why can't I deduct points? Do you think his writing is already the best in the industry? That it's perfect and without any flaws? As long as there are shortcomings, I think it's okay to deduct a few points, just 0.2. Do you still think I'm deducting too much?"

……

No one at Qidian doubted Cao Sheng's writing skills or his overall control over a story.

They all believed that as long as Cao Sheng could come up with a good idea, he could write a very successful book.

This is Cao Sheng proving his strength with one work after another after his rebirth.

Just like when Jin Yong wrote works such as "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", and "The Deer and the Cauldron", no one doubted his writing ability anymore. Everyone believed that as long as he could come up with a good idea, he would definitely be able to write a wonderful work.

For writers at this level, there's only one possibility for running out of ideas: they can't come up with any good stories.

If they can come up with a good story, they are fully capable of writing it down, and writing it very well.

Similarly, Cao Sheng has proven his storytelling ability time and time again.

Therefore, people no longer doubt his writing ability, but only whether he can come up with other interesting stories.

If your mind is blank and you can't generate good inspiration, then no matter how good your writing skills are, you won't be able to write a good story.

……

Mingfei is the manager of an internet cafe in Beijing.

He is also a bookworm who enjoys reading online novels.

Every morning, his work is relatively quiet because the overnight customers have already logged off and left, and new customers generally don't come to the internet cafe so early in the morning.

So, having just gotten up, after seeing off the guests who had stayed up all night, he sat behind the cashier, eating his freshly made instant noodles while logging onto Qidian (a Chinese online literature platform) and searching for books to read on various charts.

As a network administrator, he has a lot of time to read books online.

Therefore, he has basically read all the works on the various lists of several popular novel websites.

Sure enough, early this morning, after scanning several lists on the Qidian homepage, he didn't see a single book he hadn't read.

He opened a few of his favorite books, read the latest chapters, and finished the instant noodles in front of him.

only……

No customers are coming to the store yet.

With nothing to do, he aimlessly scanned the Qidian homepage, dragging the mouse up and down the screen. Just as he was about to switch to another website to find books, he suddenly noticed a new announcement in the announcement section at the top of the Qidian homepage.

Moreover, one of the book titles in this new announcement is "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts"?
He looked closely and was immediately startled.

The announcement was titled: "Zhongyuan Yidianhui's brand new masterpiece, 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts,' is coming soon!"

He looked astonished.

He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "What's going on? Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book has been published on Qidian? No way? Is Qidian going to do something crazy? Is Qidian suddenly shaking?"

Did it actually start shaking?

Driven by a desire to verify, he clicked on the announcement.

The joy in the announcement was palpable.

"Breaking news! Zhongyuan Yidianhui, the pioneer of online novels, has launched his brand new work, 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts,' on Qidian.com today! Congratulations to Zhongyuan Yidianhui on writing another new chapter, and we wish 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts' a huge success! What are you waiting for? This is Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book! Why don't you go and read it first?"

Below this announcement, a web link was thoughtfully included.

Mingfei, filled with surprise, clicked the link with his mouse.

Web page jump.

When he actually saw Zhongyuan Yidianhui's new book "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" on the newly popped-up page, he was so surprised that it took him a long time to come to his senses.

He couldn't understand how Qidian had managed to dig up a bit of ash from the banyan tree in the Central Plains.

How can this be?

Didn't they say that Midland Realty has shares in Banyan Tree?

Did Qidian poach their shareholders?
If you guys are so good at poaching, why don't you just poach the website owner?

(End of this chapter)