Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

After the class meeting, Lin Yuan walked out of the classroom. His phone vibrated in his pocket, but before he could take a closer look, he suddenly felt a gaze upon him.

He looked up—

At the end of the corridor, a figure stood leaning against the wall.

She had burgundy, wavy hair, a tight black halter dress, and a sheer white sun-protective cardigan. Her skin was as white as snow, her eyes were upturned at the corners, and her red lips were as full as ripe cherries. She exuded a strong, aggressively beautiful aura.

She was looking at Lin Yuan with a half-smile, her gaze as if she were appraising an interesting collectible.

Lin Yuan paused slightly.

—Top-quality.

He mentally gave it a two-word evaluation.

Gu Zhiwan straightened up and walked towards him. Her steps were neither hurried nor slow, her waist swaying gently, exuding charm.

She stopped as she passed by Lin Yuan.

"Handsome," Gu Zhiwan tilted her head slightly, her red lips parted, her voice like a hook coated in honey, "I noticed you in the hallway just now. Are you in the directing department?"

Lin Yuan looked at her, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes, but his expression remained calm: "What, doesn't it look like her?"

"Yeah, it's true," Gu Zhiwan laughed, her eyes curving into a charming arc, "like you've wandered into the wrong class. The acting department is next door; with your looks, it's a waste not to go into acting."

"There's nothing I can do," Lin Yuan shrugged, looking sincere. "I'm a rather low-key person and don't like being in the spotlight. Being a director is so much better; I can hide behind the camera, giving orders, and openly tell handsome men and beautiful women to act the way I say it."

Gu Zhiwan raised an eyebrow: "Oh? So what role do you plan to have me play?"

"Act..." Lin Yuan deliberately dragged out the word, looking her up and down, "a vixen who brings ruin to the country."

Gu Zhiwan chuckled, raising an eyebrow slightly: "So, would you rather be that tyrannical emperor, or that Taoist priest sent to his death?"

"Being a Taoist priest is too miserable, and being a tyrannical ruler is too tiring," Lin Yuan said earnestly. "I think I'll just become a director. Also, although I'm very handsome, I'm not called 'Handsome Guy,' I'm called Lin Yuan. Of course, if you really want to be called that, you can call me 'Director,' since I might actually be directing you someday."

Gu Zhiwan narrowed her eyes and took a dangerous step closer, close enough for Lin Yuan to smell the faint scent of her perfume.

"You're very brave."

"How can you be a director if you're not brave enough?" Lin Yuan chuckled, not backing away, but too lazy to move closer either. "But if I dodge now that you're suddenly so close, what will people say—that a freshman in the directing department was scared away by someone from the acting department? How am I supposed to face people in the department after that?"

Gu Zhiwan stared at him intently, then suddenly smiled.

That smile was radiant and captivating, like the most vibrant rose in the height of summer.

"Interesting." She extended a finger with burgundy nail polish and gently tapped Lin Yuan's chest. "I thought all the directing students were bookworms buried in their art, but I didn't expect to find someone as interesting as you."

"Big director," she waved her phone, a slight smirk playing on her lips, "would you like to add me on WeChat?"

Lin Yuan readily pulled out his phone: "No door-to-door visits, that's outrageous."

Gu Zhiwan was stunned for a moment, then laughed so hard her shoulders were shaking.

"Hahaha...you..."

She laughed as she took out her phone and opened the QR code.

"Scan it."

Lin Yuan scanned the QR code, added the contact, and noted: "[Director Lin Yuan]".

Looking at his contact name, Gu Zhiwan also gave herself a label: [Gu Zhiwan, Department of Performing Arts].

"Acting major?" Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow. "No wonder, he's so good-looking."

"Such a sweet talker," Gu Zhiwan put away her phone, winked at him, and turned to leave, "aren't you afraid of getting cavities?"

After taking a few steps, she suddenly turned back.

The setting sun streamed in from behind her, gilding her silhouette with a golden edge.

"Lin Yuan, right?"

"Um?"

"Don't dream about me."

After saying that, she waved and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Lin Yuan looked away, glanced at his phone, and muttered, "So dramatic."

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze, took out his phone, and intended to see what had caused that tremor.

A message popped up at the top of the screen from the Red Eggplant Literature Network's backend.

[Jiang Cheng, Editor-in-Chief of the Xianxia Section at Hongqiezi Literature Network: Hello, I am Jiang Cheng, Editor-in-Chief of the Xianxia Section at Hongqiezi Literature Network. The performance of *Zhu Xian* is outstanding, and the platform has decided to upgrade you to an S-level contract. Would it be convenient for us to discuss this further?]

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"An S-level contract?" he muttered to himself. "That Red Eggplant (a nickname for a man) is pretty quick."

Let's go back to 9 a.m.

The conference room on the sixteenth floor of the headquarters building of Hongqiezi Literature Network.

A dozen or so people sat on either side of the long table, including the heads of the operations department, editorial department, legal department, and marketing department.

Jiang Cheng, the editor-in-chief of the Xianxia section, stood in front of the projection screen, which displayed only a screenshot—the Weibo trending topics list.

#Old man runs away#

#Biyao is dead#

#The old bastard of Mount Akina is not human#

#The Legend of Chusen Volume 1 Completed#

#Did you receive your razor blades today?#

Five keywords neatly occupied five spots in the top ten of the entertainment trending searches. Someone unfamiliar with the situation might have thought a wanted criminal had escaped from prison, but upon closer inspection, they were all related to a web novel.

"Data!" Jiang Cheng's voice rose uncontrollably, his eyes burning with fire.

The operations director adjusted his glasses and read out a series of numbers: "Within twelve hours of the completion of Volume One of 'Zhu Xian,' the total number of clicks surged by three million, the number of new favorites increased by 450,000, and the amount of donations exceeded 800,000 Red Eggplant Coins. The comment section received 120,000 messages in a single day, setting a new record."

He paused, then added, "By the way, our server's comment section lagged for ten minutes at nine o'clock that night. The tech team said they'd never seen anything like it in their lives."

"Is this even human?" The deputy director of marketing couldn't help but swear. "A single book brought the server down?"

Jiang Cheng gave a wry smile: "The author is still a newcomer."

The meeting room was silent for three seconds.

Then it exploded.

"When did newcomers become so incredibly talented?"

The meeting room was filled with chatter, like ants in a disturbed nest.

"The key is—" Jiang Cheng slammed his hand on the table, silencing the crowd, his voice filled with regret, "When we signed him, we weren't too confident in signing an S-rank; we only gave him an A-rank. Who could have imagined—"

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Who would have thought that this newcomer would cause such a stir in the entire Xianxia (fantasy martial arts) genre with just one book?

"The problem is," Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, "that after writing about Biyao blocking the sword, this kid immediately announced the end of the first volume and went into 'seclusion for cultivation.' When will the second volume be updated? Nobody knows. Will it be abandoned altogether? Nobody knows either."

The head of the legal department frowned: "An A-level contract... that won't retain an author like this, will it?"

"We definitely can't keep them." The operations director slammed his fist on the table. "If another platform poachs an author like this, we won't just lose one book; we'll lose the entire Xianxia (fantasy martial arts) genre's traffic!"

"We must upgrade to S-level." A vice president spoke in a deep voice. He had been sitting at the end of the long table without saying a word until now, and the entire room fell silent. "S-level contract, the highest level, go for it."

"Give him the best of everything: featured placement, operational resources, and priority development rights for the copyright." The operations director immediately chimed in.

"Yes, we can't let an author of this caliber get away."

Jiang Cheng looked around and nodded: "Have you reached a consensus?"

"unified!"

"Okay." Jiang Cheng took out his phone. "I'll contact him now."

Lin Yuan glanced at the message Jiang Cheng had sent on his phone, and then looked at the electronic version of the S-level contract.

The terms are very detailed, and the benefits are indeed very attractive—a guaranteed annual salary of three million, a revenue share increased to 70%, priority access to top-tier recommendations across the entire site, priority negotiation rights for film and game copyright development, one-on-one service from a dedicated operations team, and no mandatory update requirements.

He read through each item one by one, and after confirming there were no pitfalls, he replied with two words:

[Old Man of Mount Akina: Okay.]

He paused, then added:

[Old Man of Mount Akina: But I have no plans to update Volume 2 of Jade Dynasty for the time being. When I write it, and to what extent, is up to me.]

Jiang Cheng replied instantly:

Jiang Cheng: Understood. The platform believes good works are worth waiting for; the decision is yours.

Lin Yuan looked at the reply and nodded in satisfaction.

This red eggplant knows when to yield.

After signing the electronic contract, Lin Yuan stuffed his phone into his pocket and strolled back to his dorm. He figured he might as well sleep in before military training started, because he wouldn't be able to relax for the next two weeks.