Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

It seems I can no longer use the pen name 【枕玉】.

It's a pity his book wasn't finished yet...

But it's alright, since nobody reads it anyway, he can just continue writing in private without publishing it.

"Hu Tao, how did you know I was writing a novel?"

Xingqiu really wanted to know how Hu Tao knew he was writing a novel; he couldn't remember how he had given himself away.

"Well, Abedo told me about this."

Speaking of this, Hu Tao put her hands on her hips and said, "I am your poet friend and confidant, and you actually wrote a novel without telling your confidant! If it weren't for Abedo, I wouldn't even know about this!"

The autumn hemp has been harvested.

Why does Walnut know Abedo?

How come these two people know each other when there are so many people in Mondstadt and Liyue?

I should have told Abedo not to tell anyone that he was "Pillow Jade".

Also, when did they become close friends?

He chuckled awkwardly, offering only a weak explanation, "It's just an immature work, how could I possibly tell you..."

"That's not right of you!" Chongyun said, hands on his hips, feeling that Xingqiu didn't trust them.

He had initially thought Xingqiu was just embarrassed to tell them, but now it seemed he was deliberately keeping it from them.

"It's a good thing that you're writing novels. Do you really think we'll object or try to stop you?"

Xingqiu waved his hand awkwardly: "No, that's not what I meant..."

Xingqiu is usually the one teasing others, and this young master rarely has such an embarrassing moment.

He wasn't afraid of their opposition at all.

He just couldn't get over that hurdle and felt ashamed.

Chongyun, that guy, always misses the point.

"Hmph~" Hu Tao crossed her arms, knowing full well what was going on but saying nothing.

She wouldn't tell him that she had already bought "The Record of Finding the Sword in Autumn". She only told him that she hadn't bought it yet because she didn't want him to run away.

"Let's go find a teahouse and have a good chat about writing the novel. I've already written the outline, and Abedo is in charge of the illustrations. Now all that's left is to start writing!"

Hu Tao patted Xing Qiu's shoulder and put her arm around him as they walked forward to prevent him from suddenly running away.

"Great writer, you must guide me properly! Don't hold back your knowledge!"

Jiang Bai's gaze fell on Hu Tao's hand on Xing Qiu's shoulder, and then the next moment, he darted over from the other side, naturally pushed Hu Tao's hand away, and put his arm around Xing Qiu's shoulder.

"Yes, this matter is very important to us, and we cannot be careless!"

Xingqiu was pushed forward, and the forced smile on his lips became increasingly stiff.

He's ashamed now, and there's no way to run away, so he can only accept his fate.

"What are you guys planning to write? Why did you suddenly decide to write a novel?" Chongyun asked curiously as he took out an ice pop.

"Really? Why did you suddenly decide to write a novel?" Xingqiu, who had been preoccupied with shame for a while, finally remembered to ask about it.

"Well, this is related to a business of our Rebirth Hall. The client commissioned us to publish a book, to tell the stories of the snow-capped mountains buried deep in the snow, so that they won't be lost in the winds of history..."

In the teahouse, Hu Tao, who had booked a private room, slowly recounted the whole story.

"I see, then we really need to write it carefully." Xingqiu nodded, resting his chin on his hand thoughtfully.

If Hu Tao was just writing a novel on a whim for fun, then he could just do a shoddy job.

But if it's the last wish of a great adventurer and it concerns the past, then it needs to be written carefully.

"To ensure the novel's circulation and readability, I had already discussed with the client that it would be a novel, narrated in the third person, depicting his adventure in the snow-capped mountains, and that his name would be used as the protagonist's name..."

"At first, this was my idea: the protagonist, [Katis], finds an old notebook while tidying up his house. It was left by his grandfather, a great adventurer. His grandfather hid a precious treasure in the notebook, and in order to find the treasure, he follows the clues in the notebook to the snowy mountains..."

Listening to Hu Tao's narration, Xing Qiu agreed, "Putting out the 'treasure' as an incentive at the beginning is indeed a very good way to drive the story forward, and the 'treasure' can also attract readers very well."

"Upon arriving at the snow-capped mountains, he initially intended to search for treasure, following the instructions in the notebook. However, he discovered many anomalies: strange ruins, ancient murals, stone tablets covered by heavy snow, and the ghost of a beautiful yet melancholic young girl..."

"The protagonist is the only one who can see this spirit. During this journey, he travels with the spirit of a young girl, and after experiencing countless hardships and dangers, he falls in love with her..."

"But later, the girl disappeared. The protagonist searched for her relentlessly and discovered her true identity: she was a princess from an ancient kingdom thousands of years ago, who had been waiting here, both for her lover and for the day the snowstorm would end..."

Although Hu Tao's narration is very simple, the twists and turns are truly captivating.

Xingqiu had to admit that Hu Tao was a great storyteller.

Even though he had read countless novels, he was captivated by this story and eager to know what would happen next.

Hearing her stop speaking, Chongyun pressed, "And then what happened?"

Jiang Bai was quite familiar with the story of Neil from Snow Mountain, but at this moment he was also eager to know what the ending of the Walnut story was.

"Later, the protagonist climbed to the top of the mountain and saw the culprit that caused the heavy snow, as well as the princess's body, which had been frozen for many years and was long dead."

"For some reason, he regained his memories of his past life, but he was still powerless against the culprit that caused the heavy snow and was plunged into despair. All he could do was dig the princess's body out of the ice, embrace his lover, and die in the cold."

"The princess finally saw the hero return, but she never saw the flowers bloom again."

"Couldn't we have given it a happy ending?" Chongyun felt a pang of sadness.

“You don’t understand, only tragedies leave a lasting impression.” Xingqiu was quite experienced in this.

Hu Tao took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, which was parched from talking too much, and agreed with Xing Qiu's words.

"That's right! The snow mountain is a sad story in itself. There's no need to deliberately write a happy ending. Only an imperfect ending can make people feel unforgettable and thus spread the book more widely!"

Xingqiu clapped his hands, his eyes shining brightly, "I'm joining this book!"

Although this book is completely different in style from his other book, "The Record of Chen Qiu Picking Up the Sword," how could he miss such a wonderful story!

Chapter 171 Writing in Progress

“I’ll join too!” Chongyun raised his hand. “Although I can’t write books, I can do odd jobs like running errands.”

Jiang Bai watched helplessly as Chong Yun took his job.

However, he didn't rush to express his opinion, because he was one of the participants.

"With everyone's participation, we are sure to write a sensational story!" he said, officially settling the matter.

"Alright, now that the outline of the story has been finalized, let's talk about the revenue from this book after it's published. Let's draw up a contract so that these issues don't affect our relationship later."

Chongyun waved his hand, "I don't want any benefits, just having my name listed among the participants is enough."

He only wanted to participate in this matter, not for profit; his family of alchemists was not short of money.

"I don't need any profit either." Xingqiu waved his fan lightly, his magnanimous demeanor as the young master of the Chamber of Commerce drawing attention.

"Alright, then we at Wangshengtang will keep the profits! But if you're going to register under someone's name, will it be a pseudonym or your real name?"

Walnut would certainly not miss such a good opportunity to advertise for Wangshengtang.

After all, the story is based on a true story. She plans to write a scene where, after the princess disappears and the protagonist can't find her, Katis leaves the snow mountain and comes to the Hall of Rebirth to handle the "returning home" business.

After learning of his death, the temple came to the snow mountain to search for him, found his body and diary, and then wrote down the story according to his last wishes.

See how reasonable and realistic it is!

With such promotion, how could they worry about their business not being known by others?

It fulfilled Cartes's last wish, earned him royalties, and promoted the Temple of Rebirth! It was a triple win!

Xingqiu said, "A pen name will do, but I need to think of a new one. Don't tell anyone about my new pen name!"

Hu Tao looked at Chong Yun, "Chong Yun, what about you?"

“I’ll use a pen name too, but what should I call it?” Chongyun fell into deep thought.

Hu Tao had already decided on her pen name: "I plan to reverse my name and call myself 'Peach Pit'."

That way, anyone can immediately tell that it was written by her, Hu Tao!

"I'll just use my real name," Jiang Bai said with a smile.

This is a great opportunity to make a name for himself. If he, Jiang Bai, the Soul Ferryman, becomes famous, won't the commissions and bonuses just flow into his pocket?

......

While the group was discussing writing a novel, Klee was lying on the carpet in the Mondstadt Knights' confinement room, writing a letter with a pencil.

Although Qin didn't put her in solitary confinement for blasting the Snow Mountain Nails, she secretly fished in Fruit Wine Lake these past two days and was unsurprisingly caught and put in solitary confinement.

Keli's handwriting was not good; it was crooked and uneven. Because she was writing while lying down, her strokes were uneven, and the letter paper had many holes.

But she wrote it very carefully.

Dear Mom, Claire did something really big recently! Claire and her brother Abedo blew up the giant nail in the snow mountain and made a new friend!

Klee's new friend is a Moon Man, an older brother who cooks for her, plays in the snow with her, and promises to go fry fish together next time. Klee likes this older brother!

Keli also met a one-month-old sister, who was a red butterfly.

Together we blew up the giant nail in the snow mountain and took pictures!

Although it was cold in the snow mountain, Klee had a lot of fun!

The photo and letter were sent to Mom, who was begging to come back and see Claire soon! Claire took Mom to see the giant nail that had been blown up!

After finishing the letter, she carefully placed it in the envelope, making sure to put the photo in as well.

After carefully writing the address and recipient's name on the envelope, Klee put it in her bag, ready to mail the letter as soon as she left the confinement room.

......

In peaceful days, time always flies by.

After spending more than half a month, the team finally finalized the entire manuscript of "Snow Country Chronicles". The illustrations sent by Abedo were also completed, and it was just waiting to be published.

Xingqiu has experience in publishing; he has already published one book.

About a week later, Hu Tao received the first edition of the book.

The book cover uses a photograph of the Frozen Nail taken by Hu Tao, but it was redrawn by Abedo, who removed the redundant elements and the bombs that were attached to it, and focused on depicting the huge Frozen Nail.

The book cover is predominantly blue, giving it a cold feel. The large characters of the book are surrounded by a nail in the cold sky, as if the words themselves are about to be frozen by the coldness that overflows from the image.

Below the book title, there is another line of text that is quite prominent:

This book is based on a true story.

The author's name is on the very bottom line.

However, there are quite a few authors listed. The first is [Tao He], followed by [Chen Yu], then [Jiang Bai, the Soul Ferryman], and finally [Tian Heng Fang Shi].

Xingqiu complained for a long time about the pen name Chongyun had come up with.

This pen name is neither mysterious nor famous. When people mention "Tianheng Fangshi," they are referring to the alchemists of Tianheng Mountain, not this pen name.

When his friend complained, Chongyun just scratched his head.

He couldn't think of a good name, but after hearing Jiang Bai's intention in choosing a pen name, he felt it made a lot of sense, so he chose Tianheng Fangshi.

He doesn't need to make a name for himself, but he can make a name for all the alchemists.

And he didn't do much, just ran errands and did odd jobs while they were brainstorming. He was already quite satisfied to have his name on the list.

The cover is fairly simple, but the real highlight is the walnut advertisement printed on the last page.

The text mentions the new business of Wangshengtang, but for the sake of the overall plot, it is not described in detail. It just means that such a business exists.

At the end of the story, it is discovered that the protagonist is dead, and the person who brought the story back to the beginning also used Jiang Bai's real name.

Only when truth and falsehood are mixed together will people feel that this is a real story, rather than something someone made up.

On the blank page after the main text, Hu Tao not only included the "Returning to Roots" service, but also services for finding missing persons, and discounts for ordering the book.

It can be said that they don't miss any marketing opportunity.

"First, send one copy to Xiangling and Yunjin, then send one to Abedo and Bennett, and then have the guest elder send one to each of the storytellers in Liyue. Once the hype builds up, then Xingqiu can arrange for the Feiyun Merchant Guild to sell them on a large scale!"

The storytellers of Liyue are a large hub of stories, and most of the legends and tales people know come from them.

However, these stories have all been told to death. Occasionally telling some new stories can give the audience a sense of novelty and indirectly promote their books, which can be described as a two-pronged approach.