I was in my final year of high school, and my deskmate found out I was writing a novel!

The call ended, but Ye Feng had a feeling that this matter wouldn't be over so easily.

Sure enough, three days later, on New Year's Eve, Ye Feng turned on his computer, preparing to post more today to celebrate the New Year.

However, the book review section is in an uproar!

Amidst a screen full of encouraging comments, a bunch of negative messages suddenly appeared.

"This plot is so weak!"

"Are they already padding the word count after it's released?"

"Has the author run out of creative ideas?"

"The character's personality has collapsed! The protagonist's behavior doesn't make any sense at all!"

Even more outrageous, he opened Weibo.

"#A popular author on a certain website is suspected of plagiarism."

The copy was exactly the same, and a "comparison picture" was also attached.

What's even more outrageous is that this picture was found on a pirated website, and they're comparing them like that?

"What the hell is this thing?!"

Ye Feng slammed his fist on the table in anger. Miao Miao happened to come up to him and saw his ugly expression. She came over and took a look, and she exploded instantly!

"They're disgusting! This picture is obviously photoshopped. Could someone be hiring someone to smear you?"

Ye Feng took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Getting angry was useless; he had to find a way to retaliate.

As for proving himself, he would never do it; anyone with a brain wouldn't believe it.

Miaomiao wasn't idle either; she immediately took out her phone.

"Let me check it out for you. These fake accounts are definitely suspicious. Our website has encountered this before; we can catch them every time they post comments from the same IP address!"

Her fingers flew across the screen as she logged into the data analysis platform she frequently used, entered the accounts that had posted those negative comments, and soon found the clues.

"Look, these accounts were all registered within the last week, and they all posted content at the same time!"

Ye Feng glanced at it and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Miaomiao, you know what, these people really went to great lengths to smear me. Look, the latest chapter has a significantly higher number of subscribers."

Everything requires payment; if you want to leave a comment, you have to pay first!

Just then, Lao Bai called, his voice filled with apology.

"Sorry, I just found out from the editors' group that the company is called Xingyao Media. They've done this before. I've already spoken to the website and asked them to clean up the book review section first."

"Thank you, Lao Bai. I'm also gathering evidence on my end."

Ye Feng also told Lao Bai about those accounts.

"I plan to write a separate chapter to explain the situation and post the timeline of the outline to reassure readers."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Feng immediately created a sales order in the sales backend.

Instead of immediately resorting to insults, he thanked the readers who had been following his updates and subscribing.

Miaomiao wasn't idle either; she immediately posted the evidence she had collected to her own account. She's a big internet celebrity with millions of followers!

They didn't directly name the other party's company, since there was no evidence yet. However, resourceful netizens had a way; they quickly uncovered everything, and a small-time internet troll even posted screenshots of them accepting the order.

The internet is just so magical!

That's bad, that company has been exposed!

Ye Feng wasn't idle either. He first called the police, and then contacted a well-known law firm in Shanghai.

Although he couldn't compete with that company in terms of capital, law firms only needed money, while the other party was just a film and television company, not powerful enough to control these law firms!

Furthermore, he also posted a Weibo post directly on Weibo.

"Regarding the matter of a certain company hiring online trolls to spread rumors that my novel is plagiarized, I have reported it to the police and collected evidence. I will use the law to protect my legitimate rights and interests."

This Weibo post was shared by readers and netizens shortly after it was published, generating even more buzz than the previous plagiarism rumors!

Xingyao Media originally wanted to play dead, but various revelations have already confirmed their innocence, so playing dead won't help!

Three days later, Xingyao Media had no choice but to issue a public apology, admitting to hiring online trolls to spread rumors, promising to compensate Ye Feng for the damage to his reputation, and disbanding the dedicated online troll team.

Below the apology statement, netizens were full of sarcastic remarks: "If you knew this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? Couldn't you have just discussed the cooperation properly?"

"Who would dare to cooperate with your company in the future? It's terrifying!"

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, just after the copyright battle ended, Ye Feng received a call from an unknown number. The caller was very polite.

"Hello Mr. Ye, I'm the project manager from Huace Media. We've been following your novels and admire your original writing abilities. We've also heard about the Xingyao Media situation. We'd like to discuss an adaptation collaboration with you. We'll fully respect your writing pace, won't ask you to stop updating, and will even invite you to serve as a screenwriting consultant. Would it be convenient for you to discuss this further?"

This is how you should seek cooperation; a legitimate company is definitely different.

Ye Feng chuckled into the phone: "Of course it's convenient, but I have one request—the adaptation must retain the core settings and character logic of the novel; it can't be changed arbitrarily."

"That's natural! We have great respect for the original work."

The other party readily agreed.

"We can send you the cooperation plan first. Please let us know if there are any adjustments needed."

Ye Feng was quite satisfied with the cooperation offer sent by the other party.

Firstly, there's the film and television adaptation; Ye Feng will be invited as one of the screenwriters.

Ye Feng could understand this, since he had never done editing work before.

Then he needed to provide the entire outline to the other party as soon as possible, which Ye Feng found somewhat unacceptable.

He does have an outline, and it's quite detailed.

Although he could simply "copy" the content from his phone into his mind, he always prepared an outline beforehand to prevent anyone from accusing him of plagiarism.

All he can offer is the content of the first season, which he has almost finished writing. So, according to Ye Feng, he will provide this part of the content first and let them test it out.

If it works out, we'll continue the collaboration; if not, then the other party probably doesn't intend to continue filming.

Moreover, from adaptation to filming and editing, it would probably take at least a year for the TV series to be completed. At Ye Feng's pace, he could finish updating the novel in a year.

Just in time, the novel finished and the TV series premiered, a seamless transition!

The other party is indeed very interested in cooperating. They have already learned about Ye Feng's previous book, and it's amazing!

It's just not suitable for adaptation with real people.

However, although Ye Feng's novel is not very long, they decided at a glance that it was a good project!

Historical dramas are a very large genre in television.

Furthermore, the novels that were released on the platform had an average subscription rate of 30,000, which is an incredibly impressive achievement!

This is also because his fans are very loyal. His previous novel was so amazing that it dominated the website for so long, and it is still ranked in the top few of the various rankings on the website!

Actually, many fans wanted him to continue writing the story, but he didn't, he was just being willful!