I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

Yu Wen paused for a moment.

Although he agreed, he still had some doubts in his mind:

"Mr. Carter."

He carefully considered his words, "There's something I need to tell you upfront."

"The book 'To Live' is completely different from the culture of your West Coast."

"It depicts an ordinary old farmer in another era and on another land. The way Fugui, along with the people around him, lives and endures hardship is probably completely different from what is ingrained in the bones of you coastal people."

"You stayed up all night, even putting aside internal procedures, and flew over to tell me that you wanted to personally review this book. I appreciate your dedication."

"But then again, even if you actually dig this book out, I'm worried that not everyone will buy it."

Carter listened without interrupting.

After Yu Wen finished speaking, he nodded, his expression calm.

"What you said, I've thought about it too."

"The people on these two sides have different ways of life, thoughts, and perspectives on the world. You are writing about your land, the people of the coastal area. They are fundamentally different from the Fugui you portray."

He paused for a moment, "If we really pull it out and put it up for sale, will anyone buy it? Will readers there accept the book? Nobody can guarantee that."

"But this matter was never entirely a question of 'whether they like it or not' from the beginning."

Carter looked at Yu Wen, and his gray-blue eyes gradually brightened:

"I've been in this industry for over a decade. I've made hit products and I've also made flops. I understand the numbers on the books better than anyone else."

"But literature shouldn't be divided so clearly by region."

"Good things are good things. Where they grow from and what they look like have nothing to do with whether they are good or not."

"When I finished reading 'To Live,' I wasn't thinking about 'how many copies of this book will sell on the West Coast.'"

"I thought that people on the coast should be able to read such a good book."

Whether they understand it or like it after reading it is their business, but whether this book is placed in front of them is my business.

He smiled, a smile tinged with a hint of embarrassed honesty.

"To be honest, making money is one thing in this line of work, but I grew up reading literature. This is partly my job, and partly something I wanted to do myself."

"I just want people over there to be able to read this book. What they think after they read it is none of my business."

"But they need to have this book to read."

Yu Wen stared at the man from the West Coast in front of him and remained silent for a long while.

He originally thought that Carter, who flew over overnight, was nothing more than a shrewd businessman who had caught wind of the popularity of "To Live" in the Eastern region and wanted to grab a share of the pie ahead of time.

But those words just now...

What do you mean by "making money is one thing," "I grew up reading literature," "half of it is work, and half is what I want to do," "they have to have something to read"...?

This is not the talk of a businessman.

This is something only someone who truly treats a book as a book could say.

In a world where AI-generated novels are prevalent and even translation has been controlled by algorithms for fifty years, such people are rare.

Carter's words actually eased Yu Wen's unease about "sales channels."

He thought of another world, where Bai Ruiwen's English translation of "To Live" hung in a bookstore across the ocean, selling around 50,000 copies.

Fifty thousand copies wouldn't be considered a blockbuster in the business logic of that world.

For a novel about an "old farmer," this is already a pretty good example of "going global."

In other words, even if Carter were to resurface and be posted on the West Coast, and the response is lukewarm and he doesn't become popular, it wouldn't be a huge deal.

This book was never written for that particular land.

It's already quite good that people can even read it.

But next second...

Yu Wen suddenly paused for a moment.

wrong!

What flashed before his eyes for a fleeting moment was not "To Live".

It was another book that he had been pondering for the past few days, figuring out how to move it down the chain.

The Old Man and the Sea.

This book is different from "To Live".

This book is about the land on the West Coast.

The old man in this book is a fisherman who has spent his whole life at sea on their shore.

The big fish, the ocean, and the sharks that chase after the smell of blood in this book all live on that coastline that he had never set foot on, but which this Carter had watched grow up.

The language of this book is originally English.

It is the oldest West Coast soul, almost forgotten by this era of AI-driven wish-fulfillment novels, that is deeply ingrained in the bones of that land.

If translating "To Live" into English is like forcibly stuffing the story of an old Eastern farmer into the hands of a group of English speakers.

That "The Old Man and the Sea"...

It's not "suppress," it's "return."

Return everything from that land to them, exactly as it was.

At that moment, a sudden surge of excitement welled up in Yu Wen's heart, an excitement he hadn't even expected, a subtle, burning sensation.

He subconsciously glanced a few more times at the man in front of him who had flown in overnight from the West Coast to pave the way for "To Live".

The next book he hadn't even started writing yet seemed to be separated from him by a vast distance, by that unfamiliar land...

We made an initial encounter.

Yu Wen composed himself, took a deep breath, and suppressed his excitement.

This cannot be discussed with Carter now.

Before even opening the book "To Live," he had Carter carry it and pave the way for him.

Once this hurdle is overcome, the final blow in "The Old Man and the Sea" will fall...

He looked at Carter, and slowly nodded at him.

At that moment, he felt an inexplicable, genuine respect for the man in front of him who hadn't slept all night and had flown over overnight, and also a faint expectation that even Carter himself was unaware of.

"Mr. Carter."

He raised his hand and extended it towards Carter again.

"This book is now entrusted to you."