My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

The conflict between the United Daily News and Auntie has a long history. Auntie started her career with the United Daily News, but the United Daily News, which pursues literary depth, completely looked down on her formulaic sadomasochistic money-making literature and kicked her out after only a few years.

As the aunt left, she abducted the third-in-command of the United Daily News, now the owner of Golden Crown, which can be considered revenge.

This time, the United Daily News finally seized the opportunity and took advantage of the popularity of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" to make fun of the aunt.

They shamelessly extracted every passage from Mr. Snail and Auntie's book that touched on their views on life and death, and published them side by side on an entire page.

On the left is Mr. Snail's message: "That's how youth is; no matter how you spend it, it will be wasted, so why not waste it on you?"

On the right is my aunt's: "Life is nothing but an emptiness; living is nothing more than waiting to die."

Mr. Snail: "If I could avoid intense ecstasy, I would naturally avoid the onslaught of sorrow. But I insist on this ecstasy, even if it leads to an abyss."

The elderly woman said, "Why do people live? In the end, we all die anyway."

Readers instantly understand that Mr. Snail's writing about regrets is filled with warm memories; even missed opportunities and losses can be beautiful in retrospect. But Auntie's stuff is just depressing, and she's even definitively depressing herself.

The United Daily News' series of outrageous actions have caused an uproar in Taiwan's literary circles, with those who have a voice responding one after another.

The cultural scoundrel Li Ao, never one to back down from a mile, said something truly outrageous: "Old woman's writing, her books, only the titles are good! But 'How Many Sunsets' is from the Three Kingdoms period, and 'The Moon Over the West Tower' is by Li Qingzhao. What merit does she have to dare to defile the words of these great masters...?"

The next day, the United Daily News dug up old grievances—listing N reasons why someone's famous works became bad reading material.

The proprietress really didn't understand why she suddenly became the target of everyone's criticism, even though she had stopped suppressing that book!

Moreover, first of all, I did not offend any of you, nor did I start any verbal battles against that child. How can you live with yourselves treating me like this?

At the book pre-sale event, the aunt had a dark face and was too lazy to pay attention to the reporters who were deliberately trying to cause trouble. She also didn't understand why the owner of Golden Crown was so sure that she was his soulmate.

Not long ago, she could still stubbornly insist that "young people are just experiencing a passing fancy," but now that "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is selling like hotcakes, she can no longer say that. Facing the camera, she simply coldly utters:

"I will use this book to prove who the true masters of Taiwan's literary scene are."

Unfortunately, the readers did not cooperate with her idea of ​​"becoming the master" at all. Instead, they turned around and embraced the sun... no, they embraced the lost "You Are the Apple of My Eye"!

On December 5th, Auntie's new book, "Asking the Setting Sun," was launched with a grand opening. The first print run was 100,000 copies, which were distributed throughout bookstores across the island. However, after the first week, the sales figures came out—less than 20,000 copies were sold.

At the same time, sales of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" officially exceeded 600,000 copies.

Six hundred thousand versus twenty thousand, a thirty-fold difference—Zhao Wen felt a little sorry for himself after such a slap in the face.

After copying "Love Letters," Zhao Wen received his first installment of royalties.

NT$800,000 – this is the settlement amount for selling 100,000 copies in four days from October 28th to 31st, with subsequent payments to be made monthly. Based on a total sales volume of only 600,000 copies, he could earn NT$4.8 million in royalties from this book alone.

But how could it only sell 600,000 copies? Zhao Wen estimated that, given that this book was released more than 20 years in advance and there were no competitors, doubling the sales from over a million copies should be quite reasonable, right?

Looking at the check for 800,000 yuan in his hand, the pent-up frustration that had been building up in Zhao Wen's heart for two lifetimes instantly dissipated.

He transmigrated in September, and in almost three months, he experienced firsthand the poverty the original owner had endured for over a year. He had to carefully consider whether to add an egg to an oyster omelet, and he was stingy with his allowance, giving it only 15 dollars.

Money gives people courage, and that's absolutely true. Two months ago, at the old street market, his eyes kept glancing at the price tags, but now he just picks the best ones, feels confident with his pockets full, and walks with a bit more steadiness.

Zhao Wen didn't want to engage in revenge spending, but he could only blame the money in his hand. It came too easily, like a gust of wind... He had to make up for all the things he couldn't bear to part with before, and the things he had wronged before!

Instead of buying a new house, he found the landlord of the house next door in the backyard.

The old wooden houses in Lane 88, Section 2, Yongfu Road are a row of one. Zhao Wen's ancestral house only has two rooms in the front yard, and three old wooden houses connected in the back. An elderly couple who are moving to Taipei to live with their son are living there.

Zhao Wen spent NT$12 to buy the three wooden houses along with the small courtyard in the middle.

"Don't rebuild, just reinforce and renovate it as it is now," he told the construction team. "Replace the beams and columns with sturdy ones, redo the plumbing and electrical work, paint the walls white, and keep the wooden floors and windows as they are."

Aside from the heat, Zhao Wen felt that this place was becoming more and more like his hometown. The old man at the alley entrance and Uncle Bing looked at him with a sense of relief, which was very heartwarming.

If he has money, he'll spend it; Zhao Wen doesn't hold back at all. He bought the most expensive refrigerator, TV, air conditioner, and sofa—three air conditioners in total! Besides the air conditioner, he also installed a TV in his younger sister's room, because Zhao Wen hasn't watched television for decades...

They also bought two guitars and a piano. The piano was for Zhao Wenwen; if she couldn't learn to play, it would just be a toy.

In his previous life, Zhao Wen had sporadically studied guitar for two months. He knew some basic open chords, basic strumming, and simple strumming and singing. He knew almost nothing about barre chords or scales and could only transpose using a capo. His skill level was at the beginner level.

However, he is now an incredibly intelligent person with superhuman abilities. All the guitar performances he watched in his previous life and the music theory books he skimmed through in those two months have become knowledge deeply imprinted in his mind.

For now, all you need to do is treat playing the guitar as a daily pastime, dedicate one to two hours each day to consistent practice, and once you develop muscle memory, mastering the guitar will no longer be a difficult task.

The reason he practiced guitar so much was because he wanted to copy songs...

In Taiwan in 1981, releasing a song was a polarizing affair. Only top musicians like Liu Wenzheng could negotiate a fixed fee of 200,000 to 300,000 NT dollars per album, while ordinary singers and songwriters had no bargaining power.

But as a qualified plagiarist, entering the market now is like having a "guaranteed success" cheat code. All the songs I bring out are hits that have been proven by the market in later generations. As long as I weigh the suitability of the works to this era, it's OK.

The music industry is a gold mine; why not dig it out while you can!