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Chapter 170 0167 [Author Forum] (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader 99玖玖久久)

The event, jointly organized by Mengya magazine and the Shanghai Writers Association, was called the "First Intergenerational Literary Communication Forum".

We invited writers from three generations—old, middle-aged, and young—to sit together and discuss literary creation.

The event lasted for a week, with the first day spent meeting in Shanghai and the remaining six days in Qiandao Lake.

Chen Guiliang certainly wouldn't go to Qiandao Lake; his agreement to attend the opening ceremony in Shanghai was already a great favor to Mengya magazine.

Sprout Magazine.

President Zhao Changtian asked, "Is Chen Guiliang sure he wants to come?"

“Yes, it’s only the first day,” Hu Weishi said. “He’s not going to Qiandao Lake, saying it’s too time-consuming.”

Zhao Changtian nodded and said, "It's already good enough that he could attend the opening ceremony, after all, he doesn't make money from writing books anymore. What about Han Han?"

Hu Weishi said, "He has to race, he can't leave. He really can't leave, he even called me last night to apologize."

"Where is Guo Xiaosi?" Zhao Changtian asked Li Qigang.

The reason for asking Li Qigang was that Hu Weishi and Guo Xiaosi had fallen out, so only Li Qigang could make the invitation this time.

Li Qigang said with a wry smile, "The first time I called him, he said he needed to discuss it with his agent. The second time I called him, he said he needed to discuss it with his image consultant. In all my years in the industry, this is the first time I've known that writers can have agents and image consultants."

Zhao Changtian frowned: "Isn't he putting on too much airs?"

“It’s not that he’s arrogant,” Li Qigang said with great certainty. “He doesn’t dare to come; he’s afraid of being criticized if his reputation is ruined. I spoke with his agent on the phone, and the agent has been trying to persuade him. Guess who his agent is?”

"Who is it?" Hu Weishi asked curiously.

Li Qigang smiled and said, "Jin Lihong, the deputy editor-in-chief of Yangtze River Literature and Art Publishing House."

"The deputy editor-in-chief of Yangtze River Literature and Art Publishing House is Guo Jingming's agent?" Zhao Changtian and Hu Weishi were both extremely surprised.

Jin Lihong is a very senior figure in the publishing industry.

She has spearheaded the planning and design of books by authors including Wang Shuo, Liu Zhenyun, Jiang Wen, Bai Yansong, Cui Yongyuan, Yu Qiuyu, and Hai Yan.

Li Qigang said, "Jin Lihong is very capable. I can guess what she wants to do. She plans to use all her resources to help Guo Xiaosi eliminate the negative impact. This event is an opportunity to connect with the Shanghai Writers Association. The next step is to get Guo Xiaosi to join the Writers Association. But Guo Xiaosi is still too inexperienced and too self-conscious. He doesn't dare to meet his fellow writers at all."

"He can come or not, it's up to him. He even sent me a text message cursing at me!" Hu Weishi said irritably.

……

Literary Forum, Opening Ceremony.

There weren't many writers present; fewer than 40 people attended.

Sixty-one-year-old Cheng Cun arrived at the venue leaning on a cane.

He suffers from ankylosing spondylitis and has been walking with a bent back and crutches for many years.

Cheng Cun also participated in the game where Shi Tiesheng was made the goalkeeper; he acted as the referee, leaning on his crutches.

"The 'Three Kingdoms Kill Online' is going to release fire-pack generals!" Cheng Cun said to Yu Hua.

Yu Hua replied dismissively, "Is that so?"

Cheng Cun questioned, "Have you not been playing lately? A Cheng is online all the time. A Cheng is stealing my vegetables every day now."

"Stealing vegetables?" Yu Hua didn't understand.

“Happy Farm,” Cheng Cun said.

What is Happy Farm?
Looking at Cheng Cun's full head of white hair, Yu Hua wondered if he was out of touch with the times.
It's not that he's out of touch, it's that Chengcun is too trendy.

This veteran writer is online every day. Later, when Han Han had a major online battle with Bai Ye and Fang Zhouzi, he, despite his advanced age, still got involved and sided with Han Han throughout the online flame war. In the first battle, he offended many writers in the industry, and in the second battle, he was relentlessly attacked by Fang Zhouzi's fans.

More and more young writers arrived, and Cheng Cun, leaning on his cane, went over and asked, "Who among you plays 'Happy Farm'?"

"Huh?" Zhang Yueran and the others were a little confused.

Ma Zhongcai, a writer born in the 80s, timidly raised his hand: "I'm just playing around."

Cheng Cun handed over a small notebook: "Write down your Youke account, and I'll add you as a friend later."

Ma Zhongcai scratched his head, sensing that something was amiss.

Li Haiyang said, "Teacher Chengcun, I also steal vegetables, but I do it on Renren. Hehe, you can't register a Renren account."

Cheng Cun ignored him and asked the others, "None of you are stealing vegetables?"

The crowd shook their heads.

After Cheng Cun left, Song Jingru, an editor at *Chinese National Geography* magazine, asked, "What is 'stealing vegetables'?"

Liu Lina, a female writer born in the 80s, shook her head: "I don't know."

Zhou Jianing, a master's student at Fudan University, said, "It's a casual game that's available on Renren.com. I was addicted to it for over a month and even paid for a membership."

Suspense novelist Cai Jun asked, "Is it that Chen Guiliang's website?"

“Yes,” Ma Zhongcai said, “didn’t you recommend his book, ‘Those Things About the Ming Dynasty,’ on your blog?”

Cai Jun explained, "Li Xunhuan asked me to recommend him, it's like returning a favor. I've never met Chen Guiliang, nor have I read any of his books. Apparently, he became popular again recently and became some kind of billionaire."

Zhang Yueran had just returned to China after graduating from university in Singapore and had no idea what was going on: "Who is Chen Guiliang?"

Li Haiyang said, "Like me, he won the first prize in the 6th New Concept Writing Competition. His historical novel, 'Those Things of the Ming Dynasty,' is selling very well. I estimate that it will sell over a million copies in another month."

"That's amazing," Zhang Yueran said.

Zhao Yan, who has changed his pen name to Nado, also came over and sat down: "He is still running a company. He recently received venture capital, and the value of his shares is 160 million yuan. Sigh, I never expected that. Back in November two years ago, I even gave him feedback on his preliminary manuscript. At that time, he was just a senior high school student."

Zhang Yueran was even more confused: "What kind of company does he run?"

Zhou Jianing said, "Xiaonei.com is a campus social networking site. All of my classmates in the graduate program are Xiaonei.com users."

Yan Ge, a female writer born in the 80s, said: "This person is from Sichuan Province. The Xihua City Daily loves to report on him. By the way, he is also Guo Jingming's high school classmate."

Is Guo Xiaosi coming today?

"Who cares if he comes or not."

"Where's Chen Guiliang?" "He seems to be coming. Han Han is definitely not coming; he's busy with racing."

"Look, Xiao Fan and Jiang Feng are here!"

"..."

Chen Guiliang arrived at the perfect time; he had gone out for barbecue with two high school classmates the night before.

One is Li Dongqiang, my roommate in room 302, who studies at a second-tier university in Shanghai. The other is a classmate from before the arts/science division, who is studying electrical engineering at Shanghai University of Science and Technology. Neither of them went home for the summer vacation.

He was half-drunk, then slept soundly until dawn.

Sitting in the taxi, Chen Guiliang received a call from Ao Yanzhen: "QQ Space has officially launched. Apart from a few functions such as groups, the other functions are almost exactly the same as our Renren.com."

"Shi Qian and the others have already returned with the contract," Chen Guiliang instructed. "Work closely with Tudou.com to plan the event, encouraging Renren.com users to create their own videos, upload them to Tudou.com, and then embed them into Renren.com. Tudou.com will discuss the specific details with Xie Yang. Also, expedite the promotion of Renren.com in high schools."

"When are you coming back?" Ao Yanchen asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "I'm flying to Chengdu tonight to go home. I'll be back at the company next week."

"You seem to have a lot of free time."

"It's about getting the team working together. I'll see how well you're getting along when I get back."

The Chinese internet has developed rapidly in the past few months.

Last month, for the first time, the number of internet users using broadband exceeded the number of dial-up users.

Moreover, compared to the beginning of the year, online payment has become increasingly mature in just three months. The number of online shoppers has increased rapidly, with the media even describing it as an "online shopping boom."

The number of mobile phone users has reached nearly 4 million—mobile phone prices have plummeted this year.

The phone Chen Guiliang is using now can be bought for only 500 yuan.

As a result, SMS top-up and payment are becoming increasingly common.

All of these factors have led to a significant increase in profits for both the online version and the physical cards of "Three Kingdoms Kill"!

As someone who has been through it all, Chen Guiliang has the deepest understanding of these changes; at that time, China was truly making rapid progress.

Um, there's something else.

Twelve days after Chen Guiliang secured the investment, JD.com officially launched...

"Chen Guiliang!" Hu Weishi waved to him from outside the venue.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Sister Weishi."

Hu Weishi was very happy that Chen Guiliang, now a very wealthy man, had not turned his back on him.

The two entered the venue, where there was a long table in the middle, with two rows of tables and chairs on either side.

The writers on the left are middle-aged and older, while the writers on the right are younger.

Chen Guiliang walked to the seat with his name tag, and glanced around. Only Guo Xiaosi's name tag was empty.

Guo Xiaosi really doesn't dare to come.

In another timeline, after repeated persuasion from his agent, he finally agreed to attend the opening ceremony in Shanghai. He then changed his mind midway through, but after another round of persuasion from his agent, he rushed to the Qiandao Lake venue the next day.

As a result, he checked into the hotel but dared not show his face. He dawdled around until he reached the outside of the venue but then refused to go in. They finally managed to persuade him to enter the venue, but because he couldn't stand the stares from the other writers, he left halfway through the meeting. Then, he was exposed for acting like a diva.

When Chen Guiliang appeared, everyone in the venue looked at him, and the media reporters also turned their cameras towards him.

Wearing casual shorts today is nothing unusual; some people even came in flip-flops.

Chen Guiliang glanced at the nameplates next to him; the one on the left was called Xiao Fan, and the one on the right was called Cai Jun.

Chen Guiliang shook hands with Cai Jun: "Hello. Thank you for recommending 'Those Things of the Ming Dynasty' on your blog. I really like your 'The Deserted Village Apartment'."

"You're welcome," Cai Jun replied with a smile.

The young man on the left is a scholar of pure literature. Chen Guiliang wasn't very familiar with him, so he just smiled and nodded in greeting.

The opening ceremony was very simple. The leaders of the Writers' Association only spoke for two minutes, and then they allowed the media reporters to take pictures.

Next, the writers shared their writing experiences.

Wang Meng, being the most senior and oldest, recounted many stories from the past, which Chen Guiliang found quite interesting.

However, some of the older writers made awkward remarks.

It was clear they wanted to lower their guard and use humor to connect with the young people. But their humor was outdated, and their words carried a paternalistic tone, which made the young writers in the audience very uncomfortable.

Yu Hua lowered his head, perhaps out of boredom, and began to fiddle with the matchbox provided by the hotel.

Ge Fei smoked a cigarette, staring blankly at the white paper on the table.

Cheng Cun, however, was quite lively. He held his Nikon camera and wiggled around, sometimes aiming it at middle-aged and elderly writers, and sometimes at young writers to take pictures.

Xiao Fan, to Chen Guiliang's left, and Jiang Feng, further to his left, were smoking and whispering to each other about their own affairs.

Cai Jun on the right is texting, and Zhou Jianing on the right is doodling.

What a fucking boring writers' forum.

Chen Guiliang took out his phone and started playing Snake.

After the middle-aged and older writers finished speaking, it was the turn of the younger writers.

Soon it was Chen Guiliang's turn. He put away his phone and said, "I participated in the essay competition in order to get a lower score on the college entrance exam. I wrote 'Those Things About the Ming Dynasty' to earn some royalties. That's all."

"Hahahaha!"

A soft chuckle broke out in the room; he was being quite honest.

Su Tong leaned his head on Yu Hua's shoulder and said, "Damn it, I remember going to Italy a few years ago. The organizers asked why I write, and I was the only one who honestly said I dreamed of becoming a writer. All of you guys went on stage and spouted nonsense. It made me feel like an idiot."

Yu Hua said, "I'm not making this up. I just want to work at the cultural center and coast along."

(End of this chapter)