Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 473 Endorsement Advertisement Launched
Magic City.

In a corner of an internet cafe.

A man in his early twenties sat in front of the computer, biting his lip and staring at the QQ chat window on the screen.

He just successfully added Zhongyuan Yidianhui as a friend, and not only that, he also just sent Zhongyuan Yidianhui a private message.

The private message read: "Ah Hui, how many tens of thousands of words are you planning to write for 'The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts'?"

It's obvious that he's a fan of Zhongyuan Yidianhui's books.

But he knew that Zhongyuan Yidianhui was the number one author in the industry with countless fans. Today, Zhongyuan Yidianhui published his QQ number below the work's introduction, and he was sure that many fans would add him as a friend.

Therefore, he felt a little anxious and uncertain.

He both hoped that Zhongyuan Yidianhui would reply with a word or two, but also felt that Zhongyuan Yidianhui probably wouldn't have time to reply.

Suddenly, a beeping sound came from the headphones he was wearing.

A reply from "中原点灰" appeared in the QQ chat window.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui: "Around 200 million words!"

These days, being able to write a million-word online novel is already considered a long novel with a considerable number of words.

For most writers, writing 200 million words is a considerable challenge.

This is not only because most writers are relatively new to the industry and have not yet developed writing experience and stamina.

It's also because most writers nowadays write out of passion, and no matter how many words they write, they don't earn a penny in royalties. Therefore, it's difficult for them to persist in writing a book that reaches a million words.

Unfinished projects and abandoned projects are common phenomena.

Therefore, Zhongyuan Yidianhui said that the book would probably reach around 200 million words, and the man in front of the computer was very satisfied.

He quickly replied, "That's great! It would be even better if you could write 300 million words, Ah Hui. I really love your book. Can you write 300 million words?"

A moment later, Zhongyuan Yidianhui replied: "Thank you, I'll try to write a longer one!"

……

at the same time.

In a small bedroom of a family living deep in a hutong in Beijing.

A computer sits by the window.

A young man in his early twenties was also sitting in front of the computer.

He was also staring at the QQ chat box on his computer screen.

He had just successfully added Zhongyuan Yidianhui as a friend and sent him a private message.

"Boss Zhongyuan, tell me quietly, how many relationships have you had? Huang Qingya wouldn't happen to be your first love, would she?"

When he asked this question, reason told him that asking such a question as the first thing he asked after adding Zhongyuan Yidianhui as a friend would easily annoy the other party and could lead to him being blocked by Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

But his racing heartbeat made him feel excited.

I'm really curious to see if Zhongyuan Yidianhui will answer my question, and also, will Zhongyuan Yidianhui block me?

Suddenly, Zhongyuan Yidianhui replied: "Yes, she was my first love in this world."

"laugh……"

The man in front of the computer chuckled.

He muttered to himself, "Give me back my first love in this world? It's not like you had a boyfriend in another world..."

He muttered to himself as he typed on the keyboard, quickly sending another message to Cao Sheng.

"Really? So all those rumors about you were false? Boss! Can you tell me quietly again, are the rumors about you and Wang Zuxian true? Did you sleep with her?"

He waited quite a while before receiving Cao Sheng's reply.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui: "Brother! Why are your questions so tricky? Do you think it's a good idea to ask them like this?"

"hey-hey……"

The young man in front of the computer chuckled to himself, quite pleased.

Although Zhongyuan Yidianhui did not give him a direct answer, it was enough to make him happy.

……

Chengdu.

A hot girl was sitting in front of a computer in an internet cafe.

Excited, his fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed out a question and sent it to Cao Sheng via QQ private message.

She has just successfully added Cao Sheng as a friend.

The question she sent was: "Cao Sheng! Ah Hui, can I call you by your real name, Cao Sheng? Do you want a girlfriend in Chengdu? If you agree, I'll be your girlfriend in Chengdu, okay? Or should I send you my picture first? I'm pretty good-looking, really, I'm not kidding!"

She sent the private message and was initially quite excited to wait for it.

But as time passed and Cao Sheng didn't reply, her flushed face gradually returned to normal, and she wasn't so excited anymore.

She pouted and complained unhappily, "Ignoring me? Damn! This expert is so arrogant! Ignoring me is your loss."

She manipulated the mouse, trying to close the dialog box.

The mouse cursor had moved to the "x" in the dialog box, but the mouse hesitated, unable to make a decision.

Suddenly, Cao Sheng replied.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui: "Thank you for your misplaced affection."

A smiling emoji was added after those four words.

The hot girl in front of the computer immediately beamed with excitement, and put her hands back on the keyboard, typing away furiously to send Cao Sheng a private message.

……

Huizhou.

Cao Sheng remained seated in front of his computer, continuously accepting friend requests and replying to private messages from readers.

After today, he will most likely hand over this QQ account to Wang Jing for management.

Because he simply doesn't have that much time to reply to each and every one of his fans.

But tonight, he was in the mood to personally answer all the questions raised by his fans. It made him feel as if he had returned to his original timeline when he was 27 or 8 years old.

By then, he had already amassed a following of book fans.

Many of his fans like to send him private messages, while others like to tag him in fan groups and ask him all sorts of questions.

At that time, he had been away from the workplace and had been staying in his rented room writing for a year or two.

They don't have much of a social life on a regular basis.

The most common people he talks to are market vendors and convenience store owners. Since he doesn't have many people to talk to every day, he likes to chat with his fans when he's not writing.

So, back then, he would often chat with some book fans for a long time.

As they chatted, the book fans started asking him all sorts of questions.

Sometimes, we would even ask him which female teacher from Japanese adult films he liked.

Back then, he dared to answer any question.

Treat your book fans like friends.

Therefore, he was not surprised by any of the questions raised by his fans tonight, and he answered them all, as if he had returned to the days when he used to chat with his fans.

The fans who received his reply all smiled.

Many of them were excited.

I never imagined I'd be chatting with Zhongyuan Yidianhui on QQ.

Psychologically, I subconsciously felt a sense of closeness to Cao Sheng.

……

Same night.

Tencent placed QQ ads featuring Cao Sheng as the spokesperson on many popular websites.

For example, a prominent advertisement appeared at the top of the Qidian homepage.

In the advertisement image, Cao Sheng is sitting at a desk by the window of a villa. On the desk is a laptop computer with a QQ login screen, next to which is the advertising slogan: I'm waiting for you on QQ!

This advertisement appeared on the homepage of many novel websites.

For example: 榕树芐, 某空, 某剑, etc.

Besides novel websites, the advertisement also appeared on many video websites, game platforms, website navigation pages, and so on that night.

It's a very simple and unpretentious advertisement.

The picture shows Cao Sheng, a computer, and the advertising slogan "I'm waiting for you on QQ".

But it is very eye-catching.

It attracted the attention of countless netizens.

Someone recognized the person in the advertisement as Cao Sheng.

Some people noticed Cao Sheng's signature below the advertisement, which read "A touch of gray in the Central Plains".

Some people neither recognized Cao Sheng nor noticed his signature, but they found the advertising slogan interesting and immediately remembered the QQ app.

Of course, most Chinese netizens have heard of QQ.

But it was 2002, and QQ was not yet the dominant instant messaging software in China.

The most famous one right now is actually the US's ICQ.

Two years ago, QQ was called OICQ.

Therefore, although QQ is quite well-known in China, many netizens who have just learned to use the internet don't actually understand the relationship between QQ, ICQ, and OICQ.

Many people even assume that these three names refer to the same software.

This even led to quite a few laughable situations.

For example: Two classmates meet, and one of them says, "Do you have a QQ number? Yes? Great! What's your QQ number? Write it down for me!"

Then, another student wrote down their ICQ number for the other person.

The student who got the number smiled and entered it into their QQ account the next time they went online, wanting to add the old classmate as a friend, only to find that they couldn't find the old classmate's account no matter what they tried.

Such things have actually happened many times in this era.

QQ's previous name was just too similar to ICQ.

Today, Cao Sheng's advertisements for QQ have been placed on many popular websites and forums, linking QQ with Zhongyuan Yidianhui and deepening the impression on many netizens.

Of course, this also increased Cao Sheng's fame.

And it elevated Cao Sheng's image.

Many netizens were surprised to find that Cao Sheng, a novelist, could now endorse products and advertise like a celebrity when they saw this advertisement.

This?
Is Cao Sheng planning to move into the entertainment industry?
……

In the following days, this endorsement advertisement came into the view of more people.

This includes many businesses.

For example, Ali Company in Hangzhou.

Jack Ma heard his subordinates report that QQ had found Zhongyuan Yidianhui to be its spokesperson, and the effect seemed to be very good.

Upon hearing the news, Jack Ma instructed his subordinate to quickly find the advertisement online and show it to him.

Soon, Jack Ma saw Cao Sheng's QQ endorsement advertisements on several websites.

In front of the computer.

Jack Ma frowned as he looked at the QQ ad at the top of the Banyan Tree homepage. Looking at Cao Sheng's image in the ad, he unconsciously touched his chin, lost in thought.

Suddenly, he turned to his subordinate and asked, "Hey! By the way, did this 'Zhongyuan Yidianhui' contact us a while ago? They said they wanted to invest in our Ahri, right? Is that true?"

The subordinate nodded and laughed, "Yes! That's right, but none of us took it seriously. We didn't expect to hear the news so soon that he successfully acquired a stake in Tencent, and we were even more surprised that he advertised for Tencent's QQ. Now it seems that the conditions for his investment in Tencent probably included advertising for QQ!"

Jack Ma nodded slightly, his eyes darting around, seemingly lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)