Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 534 Launch Night

The saying goes, "Practice makes perfect."

Cao Sheng led Fan Jinsuo to the study on the third floor. As soon as he closed the study door, Fan Jinsuo wrapped his arms around Cao Sheng's neck, stood on tiptoe, and offered him a kiss.

Cao Sheng did not resist. He had this idea in mind when he decided to take her to the third floor. He was a little surprised that Fan Jinshuo was so proactive.

Are you sure you want to be polite?
There are flowers that can be folded straight and must be folded, don't wait until there are no flowers to break the branches.

As the thought flashed through his mind, he hugged Fan Jinsuo tightly.

He wasn't gentle at all; from the very first time, he wasn't gentle with her, which left her with considerable psychological trauma.

I'm terrified of the pain.

But when she came to Huizhou to find him for the second time, she was surprised to find that it was actually quite nice not to be gentle.

And look, she even dared to flirt with Cao Sheng today.

Pieces of clothing were scattered on the ground.

For some reason, Fan Jinshuo thought of the essay "The Stormy Petrel" that he had studied in his student days.

"On the vast sea, the wind whips up dark clouds, and between the clouds and the sea, the petrel, like a black lightning bolt, soars proudly..."

One moment its wings brushed against the waves, the next it shot like an arrow straight towards the dark clouds, crying out. And in the bird's brave cry, the dark clouds heard joy…

When Fan Jinshuo thought of this prose poem, he suddenly felt that he was quite cultured.

The storm has passed.

Cao Sheng and Fan Jinshuo were covered in sweat as if they had been caught in the rain.

The two sat embracing in front of the computer chairs, resting for a moment. Cao Sheng then said, "I've been very busy lately. You can wash up and leave now. Come over when you have time after I'm done with this."

During his period of clarity, his rationality returned.

Work remained his top priority.

Fan Jinshuo felt a little uncomfortable.

But she didn't dare to show Cao Sheng a bad attitude. Not only did she not dare to show a bad attitude, she also tried to show a gentle smile and whispered in his ear, "Okay! But you have to promise me that from now on, work is work, and you can't delay your lunch time like you did today. You have to take care of your health, or it will break my heart."

Cao Sheng didn't take it to heart.

He didn't believe she would genuinely care about his health.

This is all due to the impression left on him by the image of Fan Jin Suo from the original timeline.

"Yes, I know, I'll be careful."

Cao Sheng verbally agreed.

Fan Jinshuo: "Then... shall we go take a shower together? I'll scrub your back for you?"

This can be done.

There are other rooms and a bathroom on the third floor.

Cao Sheng led her to the next room to take a shower.

She tried to tease him again, but he stopped her.

It's not that he's no longer capable.

Rather, he has never liked to do this twice in a row. He cherishes his health and has always been mindful of this, without needing anyone to remind him.

……

Fan Jinshuo is gone.

Cao Sheng returned to his study, rested for half an hour, and then began writing in the afternoon.

That night.

When Cao Sheng went to bed, he checked his phone and found that A Jiao and Asa had both called and texted him that evening.

Asa: "Brother Cao Sheng! We have to go back to Hong Kong. The company suddenly gave us a notice, and we have to rush back tonight. Thank you for your hospitality. I'll come see you again when I have time."

Ah Jiao: "Brother Cao Sheng! This is so annoying! My agent suddenly called and told us to go back. They said there's a commercial performance that requires our attendance, and we have to rush back tonight. Ugh! I really don't want to go back like this. I wanted to see you one more time! But oh well, goodbye. I hope we can have a good drink together next time. Bye-bye!"

They've left?

Cao Sheng was quite surprised, but also quite happy.

He really hasn't had time to deal with them lately.

It would be best if they could go back as soon as possible.

The phone contained not only messages from the two of them, but also missed calls and unread messages from Andy Lau.

The message reads: "Mr. Cao! Infernal Affairs will be released on June 18th. Are you free to attend the premiere? I hope you can make time to attend so we can have a good chat, okay?"

Cao Sheng had already heard about the news that "Infernal Affairs" would be released this summer.

The specific release date is unknown.

I'll find out tonight.

Are you going to the premiere of "Infernal Affairs"?

Cao Sheng thought for a moment and replied to the message, "Where is the premiere held?"

A few moments after the message was sent, Andy Lau called directly.

"Mr. Cao, you're still up so late? You weren't working this late, were you?"

Andy Lau's voice came through the phone.

Cao Sheng smiled and said, "I rest at this time every night. My phone was on silent when you called me, I'm sorry!"

Andy Lau: "It's okay, it's okay! My phone is with my assistant most of the time! I can't answer every call right away, so I understand! I completely understand."

Cao Sheng: "Thank you, long live understanding."

Andy Lau: "Yes! Yes! Long live understanding! By the way, the mainland premiere of 'Infernal Affairs' is decided to be held in Beijing. I haven't paid much attention to which theater the Hong Kong premiere will be held in, but it should be held two days earlier. Which one would you like to attend? I'll arrange it for you!"

Cao Sheng didn't hesitate for long before saying, "From the capital, I suppose! It's been a long time since I've been to the capital, and I'd like to go and take a look."

He knew in his heart that these days, the Hong Kong entertainment industry was far more dazzling than that of the mainland.

If I go to Hong Kong for the premiere, I should be able to meet more celebrities and more big names in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

In comparison, the star power of the mainland entertainment industry is much dimmer.

But he felt that since the film had two premieres, he, as a mainland Chinese, should support the mainland premiere.

Andy Lau: "Oh, okay, okay! I'll have someone send you an invitation as soon as possible!"

Cao Sheng: "Okay, thank you for your trouble."

……

The two chatted for a while longer before ending the call.

Time passes day by day.

Cao Sheng works like a typing machine every day, sitting in front of the computer typing during the day and still typing at night.

Before we knew it, it was May 31st.

After midnight tonight, it will be June 1st, the day "Cultivation Chat Group" will be available for purchase.

The new book has already surpassed 21 words on Qidian.com.

Cao Sheng currently has only over 3 manuscripts in hand.

He originally wanted to save up more manuscripts before they were published.

However, the plan was suddenly interrupted by Cheng Long's request.

Recently, he has been working on the script for "The Twelve Zodiacs" every night; otherwise, he would definitely have tens of thousands more words in his new book's draft.

He wrote tens of thousands of words less in the novel, and the screenplay for "The Twelve Zodiacs" was also less than tens of thousands of words long.

We've only finalized the script outline.

During this period, he searched for a lot of information online. Although he hated the Qing Dynasty, he did not want to fabricate something out of thin air to smear the Qing Dynasty in the script. He also did not think that he needed to fabricate any negative information. As long as he used the content in the textbooks and added some real historical materials, he could easily nail the Qing Dynasty to the pillar of historical shame.

In addition to researching materials related to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the twelve zodiac animal heads, Cao Sheng also researched information on famous historical sites and modern buildings around the world.

This is a characteristic of films co-produced by Jackie Chan and Lung; they specifically choose these locations for filming. Additionally, it's to evoke their own emotions.

Cao Sheng even went out of his way to watch a few old movies.

They were looking for old war films.

He felt that in order to write a good script for "The Twelve Zodiacs", some emotionally engaging plot points were essential.

Simply put, it's about emotional manipulation.

The goal is to ignite patriotism in the audience while watching this film; otherwise, it will be difficult for them to empathize with the protagonist's choice to risk his life to seize the animal heads.

It's not hard to make an action movie exciting; just make sure the fight scenes are exciting enough.

But for an action movie to move the audience, it needs to be emotionally stirring.

In the history of Chinese-language films, the best original timeline is probably Wolf Warrior 2.

It stirred up the audience's patriotic enthusiasm, thus achieving amazing box office success and critical acclaim.

Cao Sheng hopes that the film "Chinese Zodiac" can also stir up the audience's patriotic enthusiasm.

As a screenwriter, he believes that to achieve this, one needs to first evoke patriotism when writing the script.

Only when one evokes such emotions can one possibly evoke the audience's emotions through one's own writing, the director's control, and Jackie Chan's performance.

A person who lacks patriotism cannot write a good patriotic novel.

Before his rebirth, Cao Sheng had read many online novels.

When military literature was all the rage, he also read some military novels.

As he read on, he noticed that all well-written military articles were imbued with a strong sense of patriotism.

However, he wasn't in the mood to write the script tonight.

After dinner, I took a cup of tea to the study on the third floor.

Logging into the author backend on Qidian, looking at the number of people who have collected "Cultivation Chat Group", all sorts of thoughts came to mind, and my mind was very scattered.

This made him realize that he probably wouldn't be in the mood to write anything tonight.

It's not that this book doesn't have enough collectors.

In fact, "Cultivation Chat Group" currently has 131883 members who have added it to their favorites.
More than 13.

It has more than 20,000 more followers than his previous book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," when it was released.

He recalled that when "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was released, the number of collectors seemed to be over 108000, and he jokingly referred to it as 108,000.

The book "Cultivation Chat Group" now has over 13 collectors.

The number of subscribers after it's released should be quite high.

Therefore, his mind was scattered tonight, not because he was worried about the book's performance after it was released, but because whenever he had a new book to be released, his mind would uncontrollably wander to many people and things.

For example, he remembered that before his rebirth, on the night a book was released, two author friends would frequently ask him questions on QQ.

One of my author friends sent me a message a little while later, asking, "It's almost midnight, are you nervous?"

They asked the same question repeatedly.

He was already nervous, and the questions made him even more nervous.

Another author friend would send a message every now and then, asking, "Have you finished writing your author statement for the book's release?"

A little while later, a message came over saying, "How many chapters have you saved up? So-and-so's new book is also going to be released tonight. I heard he's going to release 20 chapters tonight. How many chapters are you planning to release?"

and many more.

The questions made him so agitated that he wanted to block both of his friends.

For example, before his rebirth, on the night his new book was released, his girlfriend at the time sat next to him, holding his phone, and kept looking at the author assistant page on his phone, refreshing the subscription data after the release every now and then.

One moment they're saying, "The first chapter has over 100 subscribers. Is that a high number?"

One moment they're saying, "The first chapter has over 200 subscriptions, how much is that worth?"

A moment later, he said, "The first chapter has over 300 subscribers, and only half an hour has passed, right? How many subscribers do you think there will be in 24 hours? Give me your estimate!"

and many more.

It can be said that he vividly remembers the scene and feelings on the night each book was released.

I've experienced all sorts of emotions.

They were greatly disappointed and felt as if they were dying.

I was pleasantly surprised and extremely excited.

There was a calmness where everything was as expected, but within that calmness lingered a subtle sense of disappointment, because there were no surprises.

and many more.

And tonight?
Sitting in front of the computer, looking at the number of people who had collected "Cultivation Chat Group" in the author's backend, Cao Sheng recalled many people and past events, and also wondered if many people would be paying attention to the sales performance of his book tonight.

It seems like the moment to decide my fate has arrived again.

He always had this feeling whenever a new book was released.

Because the performance of each new book directly affects whether his life will get better or worse.

If a new book becomes a success, his income for the next year or so will allow him to live comfortably and confidently in front of anyone.

Conversely, if a new book flops, he will be caught in a period of constant self-reflection for a long time to come.

Will they reflect on whether they are truly suited for this profession?

Do you ever doubt whether you have any hope left in this life?

I'll increasingly envy those office workers with stable incomes.

and many more.

Of course, even if his new book flops now, it won't have a big impact on his life.

At least it won't affect the quality of his life in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

but……

However, it will affect other aspects.

For example, it might lead many people both inside and outside the industry to believe that Zhongyuan Yidianhui is no longer viable and has finally begun its decline.

For example, more people will laugh at him.

Many people enjoy seeing others suffer misfortune.

This is human nature, and it's unavoidable.

Suddenly, his phone, which was on the table, rang.

He picked up his phone and saw that it was a message from Jin Hezai.

"Go on QQ! Let's chat for a few cents! Hurry up."

Cao Sheng smiled and immediately logged onto QQ.

Seeing his QQ avatar flashing incessantly, he clicked the mouse, and dialog boxes kept popping up, as if he had been infected with a computer virus.

Actually not.

The message was sent by You Jin He Zai.

Some came from other authors, but most were private messages from readers.

Cao Sheng checked each one and replied to each one.

Jin Hezai: "Are you there?"

"Your new book is going to be released tonight, right? How many chapters have you prepared? Can you release 100 chapters tonight? Hehe."

"Huh? Aren't you going to reply? Don't you want my subscription support anymore?"

……

Evil Child Liu Yidao: "Ah Hui, what time is the book going on sale tonight? I've already prepared the bullets, I just recharged 100 yuan. Let me put it this way! No matter how many chapters you publish tonight, I'll subscribe to them all. How much money you make from me depends on your own performance!"

(End of this chapter)