Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 523 The Desolation of a Champion
The signing of the contract for "Crazy Stone" came later than Cao Sheng had anticipated.

The next day, Cao Sheng received news that Stephen Chow and his group had left Huizhou, but he did not hear about the script being signed.

"The script contract hasn't been finalized yet?"

On the phone, Cao Sheng asked Wang Jing.

Just now, Wang Jing called to report that Stephen Chow and his group had left Huizhou.

Wang Jing: "Well, not yet. Chen Zhengyu keeps trying to lower the price, wanting us to give him a 50% discount. I haven't agreed yet, but don't worry, they didn't say they wouldn't talk anymore. Before leaving, Chen Zhengyu specifically told me that we could continue to discuss the script over the phone. Stephen Chow was also very polite and didn't seem to want to end the negotiations."

Cao Sheng: "Okay, let's continue the discussion over the phone. Let me know when we've reached an agreement."

Wang Jing: "Okay, boss!"

……

After the call ended, Cao Sheng put down his phone and continued eating his lunch.

He secretly hoped to collaborate with Stephen Chow this time.

Because only after collaborating like this once will there be a second and a third time.

But he also didn't want to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of cooperation.

For a script like "Crazy Stone," the asking price isn't high.

If Stephen Chow cancels this collaboration because of the script fee issue, then all I can say is that it's a pity.

Fortunately, three days later, in the morning, when Wang Jing was having breakfast with him, she placed a stack of printed contracts in his hand and said with a smile, "Boss! I've done my job well. The script contract has been negotiated, and Xinghui Company has drafted the agreement. I've had it printed out. You just need to sign it later, and that'll be all."

Cao Sheng glanced at her, then at the agreement in his hand.

What price did you discuss?

Wang Jing smiled, "6% off! That's 180 million. At this price, your investment in this project is a bit higher than your bottom line, right? Hehe, how about it? Will you give me a bigger bonus this month?"

Cao Sheng smiled and nodded, "Very good! The bonus can be increased."

Wang Jing was very happy.

……

Zhang Shuang was very unhappy.

His new book on Qidian, "Immortal Aura", is still performing poorly in terms of various data, especially compared to "Cultivation Chat Group" by Zhongyuan Yidianhui, which is even more dismal.

"Cultivation Chat Group," which has already published more than 8 words, had long topped the Qidian New Book Chart. The day after it reached 5 words, the book library data was refreshed, and it suddenly dropped to the number one spot on the New Book Chart.

The displayed popularity score shows a precipitous lead over other works on the new book chart.

The novel "Cultivation Chat Group," with over 8 words, has now garnered over 124 million clicks, over 15 recommendation votes, and numerous collections...

Zhang Shuang couldn't see the specific number of people who had collected "Cultivation Chat Group," but the book's Hall of Fame showed that three days ago, "Cultivation Chat Group" had reached the milestone of 50,000 people having collected it.

In other words, the number of people who have collected this book may be more than 50,000 or more than 60,000.

And what about Zhang Shuang's own "Fairy Aura"?

The total number of clicks is still less than 5,000.

There were only a little over four hundred votes.

The number of collectors is only a little over 500.

With such dismal data, he became increasingly disheartened as he wrote. Fortunately, about a week ago, Qidian approved his second contract application.

Yes, he applied for the book contract himself through the author's backend system.

And they applied twice.

According to the rules published on the Qidian author backend, if an author has not received a contract offer when a book reaches 5 words, they can proactively apply for a contract.

He applied once when he reached 5 words, but was rejected.

According to Qidian's rules, when a work reaches 10 words, it can apply for a contract a second time.

He applied for a second time about a week ago.

Fortunately, Qidian finally approved his signing application and signed a contract with him, giving him a few days of high energy.

During those days, when he was writing, he would easily get distracted and drift into a state of reverie.

I dreamed that with the boost from Qidian's recommendation slot, my book would be seen by more readers, and all the data would explode, soaring to new heights. First, I achieved a total of 10 clicks, and then successively broke through 20, 30, 50, 100 million clicks... and so on.

Then it attracted media coverage from all over the country—Zhang Shuang, the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, entered the online literature circle and became an instant sensation...

When people are feeling down, they are easily drawn into this state as long as they can see even the slightest bit of hope.

Zhang Shuang is like that.

His meticulously prepared and highly satisfactory novel, "Immortal Aura," has been met with indifference since its publication on Qidian. Qidian has consistently refused to sign him, give him any recommendation slots, and the novel's clicks, recommendation votes, number of collections, and other data have not increased much.

Even the reviews in the book review section... are mostly advertisements.

Such a dismal outcome was something he had never anticipated before publishing the book.

The sense of disappointment was immense.

At this point, Qidian finally signed a contract with him. According to Qidian's rules, once a book is signed, as long as it is updated continuously, Qidian will start to arrange recommendation slots for it.

The work's exposure will increase significantly.

but……

The performance of the recommended placements over the past week has fallen far short of his expectations.

Over the course of a week, total clicks increased by less than 2000, and the number of people who added the item to their favorites increased by less than 200.
It can be said that the data increase is larger than before it was recommended.

But not by much.

The new week began, but he didn't receive any notification about a new recommendation slot from Qidian.com.

Did they go streaking?
He recently joined an author group and learned that after signing a contract, the website doesn't give him any recommendation slots, a situation that is referred to as "running naked" by everyone.

Zhang Shuang, who had never run naked in real life, experienced the feeling of running naked online first.

Now, his book has more than 13 words in total.

It has more than 5 more words than Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "Cultivation Chat Group", but its data is only a fraction of that of "Cultivation Chat Group".

Looking at the various data of his new book "Immortal Aura" and "Cultivation Chat Group" on the computer screen.

In front of the computer.

Zhang Shuang's expression was blank, and her face looked terrible.

He was still unconvinced.

I think the reason why the data of "Cultivation Chat Group" is so explosive, while the data of my new book "Immortal Aura" is so dismal, is not my fault. It is not that the quality of my work is inferior to that of "Zhongyuan Yidianhui", but that "Zhongyuan Yidianhui" is too famous.

Qidian gave "Cultivation Chat Group" such great recommendation slots!

Before my book reached 11 words, it hadn't received a single recommendation.

And what about "Cultivation Chat Group"?

It's only 8 words long now, but it first appeared in the Qidian announcement section and then got featured in the best-performing category on Qidian's urban fiction page.

In the new week, it unexpectedly appeared in the sixth featured cover section of the Qidian homepage.

Such treatment made him so envious that he wished he could eat every last speck of dust from the Central Plains.

How does this compare?
Looking across the entire Qidian platform, is there any other author who receives such treatment? But...

Although he was still resentful, reality was beyond his control.

Now, faced with the dismal numbers for "Immortal Aura," he has lost confidence in turning the tide. Reason tells him that continuing to write will only make him look more pathetic.

I can no longer work for Qidian for free.

He decided to end the book here.

I'm going to be a eunuch today!
"Eunuch...eunuch...damn it!"

He muttered it to himself twice, then couldn't help but swear. He felt that the various terms and names used by Qidian to refer to writers were very unfriendly.

If you don't get a featured spot for even a week after signing the contract, it's considered "going naked" (meaning you're essentially unsupported).

If a book doesn't perform well, its serialization is terminated; this is called "castration."

Even if a book performs well and is finally published, if the subscription numbers aren't impressive, it's considered a "flop."

Even if you persist in writing hundreds of thousands or even millions of words, if the ending of your work seems a little rushed, it will be called a "bad ending"...

Zhang Shuang... the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, humbled himself and came to Qidian to publish a book. Well! He only managed to get a contract after writing 11 words.

In just about a month, not only did he not earn a single penny, but he also spent a lot of money on internet fees, electricity fees, time, and energy, and was subsequently nicknamed "naked runner" and "eunuch".

This experience is absolutely terrible!
He felt incredibly frustrated.

But to save face, at the moment he decided to abandon the project, he quietly went to the book review section of "Cultivation Chat Group" and quietly deleted the most popular post in the review section.

This is a post he made previously.

In this post, he revealed his identity, saying that he was Zhang Shuang, the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, and that he wrote a book called "Immortal Aura" on Qidian. He confidently said that the quality of this book was above that of "Cultivation Chat Group". He also asked Zhongyuan Yidianhui to comment on his work in the post.

The results of it?
Zhongyuan Yidianhui seemed not to have seen his post at all.

His post clearly had a huge number of clicks and replies, and was incredibly popular, consistently ranking at the top of the book review section.

But the gray in the Central Plains seemed to go unnoticed.

Not only did they not respond, but they also didn't comment on his work, and they didn't even delete the post.

This post was allowed to remain at the very top of the book review section.

At first, when Zhang Shuang saw that Zhongyuan Yidianhui didn't respond, she first thought that the other party hadn't seen it, and then she thought that the other party had chickened out and didn't dare to respond.

Now?

As he deleted the post, he finally had a sudden realization: Zhongyuan Yidianhui had actually responded long ago; the fact that he hadn't responded at all was itself a response.

This post has been hanging high in the book review section of "Cultivation Chat Group" for so long, it's impossible that Zhongyuan Yidianhui didn't see it.

The Central Plains saw a speck of gray, but pretended not to see it. What does that mean?
"That beast is definitely waiting for me to come back and delete the post..."

Zhang Shuang gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath.

At this moment, he felt that the gray in the Central Plains was extremely hateful, insidious, and vicious.

They actually waited for Zhang Shuang to come back so they could delete the post themselves.

This is the greatest humiliation for him.

He really didn't want the Central Plains to be completely ashen.

However, reason told him that if he didn't delete the post, every day it remained in the book review section, more readers would become aware of his shame.

For the sake of his reputation, even though he was unwilling, he could only suppress his disgust and quietly delete the post.

Unfortunately, he could delete that post, but he couldn't delete his own work, "Immortal Aura," which he posted on Qidian.

He does want to delete it.

However, the option to delete the entire book cannot be found.

The only option is to delete chapters one by one.

However, after deleting only a few chapters, when trying to delete another chapter, a notification popped up in the author's backend: "Sorry! You have deleted too many chapters today, which is suspected of violating regulations. Your deletion privileges have been blocked. If you have any questions, please contact your editor. Thank you for your cooperation!"

Zhang Shuang was stunned.

Can you do this?

My own work, once published, can't be deleted?

He doesn't agree!
He logged onto QQ in a huff and contacted his editor, River Shrimp.

"Hello River Shrimp! I want to delete my entire work 'Immortal Aura', but I can't find the option to delete it all. I was deleting it chapter by chapter, but my deletion privileges were blocked. Could you help me delete it?"

A few minutes after the message was sent, River Shrimp replied: "Sorry! According to our site's rules, published works cannot be deleted in their entirety."

Zhang Shuang was taken aback.

Still carrying something like this?
He suppressed his anger and sent another message, "This is my book! I don't want to publish it on your website anymore. I want to delete it, is that not okay?"

A few minutes later, River Shrimp replied: "Sorry! This is the website's rule, and there's nothing I can do about it."

……

As it turns out, Zhang Shuang still didn't understand Qidian (the online learning platform) well enough.

With so many works abandoned on Qidian, don't other authors want to delete their failed works when they abandon their projects?

A failed work being displayed under one's pen name is a dark history for any author's account.

Who wouldn't want to delete it?
But who actually managed to delete it?
In the original timeline, it would be many years before Qidian allowed authors to choose to hide the works they wanted to hide.

It gives authors the option to hide their dark past.

As for now?

Zhang Shuang wants to delete the book "Fairy Aura"?
Have you asked those readers?

He argued with the river shrimp on QQ for a long time, but not only did he not get what he wanted, he also ended up feeling very angry.

Returning to the pages of "Immortal Aura," he refreshed the page and saw seven or eight new posts in the book review section.

Yujianxiahedi: "Zhang Shuang! What happened to the post you made in the 'Cultivation Chat Group'? Did you delete it? Or did Ah Hui delete it? Can you respond?"

South American Guy: "Zhang Shuang! Your post in Ah Hui's book review section is gone. Did you delete it?"

Time Flies By: "Wow, this lousy book hasn't even reached 5,000 clicks yet? No wonder it's the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition! With so few clicks, it still manages to write so many words, amazing!"

Dongyu Henwan: "Huh? This book seems to be missing quite a few chapters! Did the author delete them himself? So, that post in Ah Hui's book review section, you deleted it yourself too? You even know what ugliness is?"

I love Qiqi: "Zhang Shuang? Is she still happy now?"

Mingxin Sword Lord: "The champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, tsk tsk! Just because you won this championship, you think you're qualified to compete with Zhongyuan Yidianhui? Tsk tsk! You're really awesome!"

……

In front of the computer.

Zhang Shuang's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

He suddenly became seriously suspicious that Qidian (the website's online platform) was preventing him from deleting the book just so that these readers could have a good time in his book review section.

To make the reader happy, they completely disregard whether the reader can handle it or not!

(End of this chapter)