Chapter 90: Never Underestimate a Young Man of Humble Means

Damn it!

You can insult me, but you absolutely cannot insult the Red-Haired Old Monster!

The Red-Haired Old Monster is the god in my heart!

“Then tell me, why is this book no good?” Shen Xian replied.

By the time he reached the company entrance, the chief editor had tossed the car keys to the driver and settled into the back seat alone.

Since he was free anyway, it was as good a time as any to take a swipe at a new writer, make them understand that writing online fiction was not so easy, and let them face reality.

“You say this book is traditional fantasy, but why does it have a detector in it, and some kind of bronze coffin? I can’t make sense of it!” the chief editor replied.

“Just because you can’t make sense of it doesn’t mean it’s bad. This book is going to create a whole new genre!” Shen Xian said.

“Laughable. Every author I’ve met says the same thing, but after twenty or thirty thousand words, they flop so hard even their parents wouldn’t know them!” the chief editor thought with amusement. “Where do they find so many idiotic writers?”

Shen Xian kept replying, “You can insult me, but you cannot insult this book!”

“Fine, fine. Then let me ask you: do you have any track record?” the chief editor asked. “How many words have you written before?”

Shen Xian said, “This is my first time.”

The chief editor completely lost interest. “All right, I get it. Take a look at other places. This one won’t pass with me anyway.”

Shen Xian answered with a famous line: “Good. I only want to tell you that this book is definitely going to explode in popularity. When the time comes, don’t you dare regret it!”

“For thirty years the river runs west, for thirty years it runs east; never mock a young man for being poor!”

“Remember my pen name, Lord Without Harm!”

“One day, this pen name will blind your eyes!”

Utter nonsense.

A trace of derisive laughter crept across the chief editor’s lips.

He had seen this sort of thing far too often. He had risen from editor to chief editor himself, and he had met far too many newcomers, each one saying, My book is definitely going to be a smash.

And in the end?

So bad even their own parents would not know it.

They had already reached the hotel entrance. As the chief editor got out of the car, he glanced back once more at the manuscript and shook his head. “It doesn’t fit the mainstream at all. Ridiculous!”

“What doesn’t fit the mainstream?” A cool voice sounded beside him.

The chief editor looked up and saw a tall, strikingly pure-looking woman standing before him in a light blue knitted dress.

Lin Zixia!

“Hello, President Lin. Good to see you again!” the chief editor said at once, politely.

Lin Zixia nodded. “Shall we go inside and talk?”

At the chief editor’s level, he would normally have no资格 to attend this wedding.

But Lin Zixia, wanting to save time, had asked him to come over, planning to discuss cooperation with him while eating at the wedding banquet.

This was not the only such case today.

For the wealthy, time was money.

They would first use scraps of time to roughly settle a framework or direction for cooperation, and then sign the contract later in a proper setting, saving a great deal of time.

Quite a few guests had already arrived at the wedding venue, and the two of them found a quiet table and sat down.

“What did Chief Editor Lu just say was not in line with the mainstream?” Lin Zixia asked.

She had also become very interested in online fiction lately, or rather, in money.

Although the level of web fiction in this world was not highly developed, the readership was huge and the population immense.

There was greater room for adaptation.

A fantasy novel that, in Shen Xian’s eyes, read like it had been written by a grade schooler sold game rights for more than three million, paperback sales reached five or six hundred thousand copies, and after its film and television rights were developed, it started at the tens of millions.

And because copyright protection laws in this world were extremely well developed, piracy was practically nonexistent.

Even legitimate digital subscriptions were in the tens of millions.

So for a single book to bring a company tens of millions in profit, or even more, really was nothing unusual.

That was not even counting a film adaptation.

If it were adapted into a movie, with that reader base behind it, a box office of several billion really would be possible with eyes closed.

But since she had never been in contact with this industry before, she planned to start by asking about small matters.

“Oh, well...” Lu Bo took out his phone. “At midnight last night, I received a manuscript in my inbox. It was completely out of step with the mainstream, and this morning the author argued with me for a long time.”

Although the chief editor’s email and contact information were posted on the website, once someone reached the chief editor’s position, they basically stopped receiving unsolicited submissions. Even if they did, it was only from top-tier authors.

Nor was there any writer bold enough to send their first submission directly to the chief editor.

The proper process should have been this:

Submit to the editor; if the editor thought it was acceptable, it would be passed up to the managing editor; if the managing editor approved, it would then be handed to the chief editor for the final decision.

Of course, that applied to high-priced manuscripts, or works by authors with some reputation.

For ordinary manuscripts, the editor alone had the authority to make the call.

If the editor thought it was no good, it was rejected on the spot.

So an author like Shen Xian, who submitted directly to the chief editor from the outset, was extremely rare.

Chief Editor Lu first explained the process to Lin Zixia, then said, “A brand-new newcomer, and he still had the nerve to say he’d make me regret it.”

Lin Zixia immediately grew interested. “What kind of manuscript is it? May I take a look?”

She had spoken with him on the phone before. The gist had been to go all in on the copyright side, especially the rights for fantasy novels, to cultivate a batch of fantasy works, turn them into major intellectual properties, and formally enter the online literature industry.

Last year, the online literature industry contributed more than twenty billion in total value. The pie was huge, and Lin Zixia intended to claim her share.

Lu Bo naturally would not refuse the suggestion of such a patron and directly forwarded the manuscript to Lin Zixia.

Lin Zixia read it very carefully at first, but after a while she shook her head. “Honestly, it’s written all right, but I can’t keep reading. There’s nothing especially appealing about it. Maybe I’m just a female reader and don’t like this sort of thing.”

Lu Bo said, “This manuscript really is ordinary. The beginning has a little gimmick, that’s all.”

“The fantasy novels we accept are always about the protagonist being hunted by enemies, falling off a cliff, finding a cave below, discovering an unparalleled secret manual inside, and then practicing to success before coming out for revenge. That’s the mainstream,” Lu Bo said. “The homogeneity is severe, yes, but readers love it.”

Lin Zixia nodded. “That does make sense.”

Lu Bo then handed over the phone. “And also, take a look at this. The author’s hostility is really something.”

Lin Zixia glanced through the exchange between Lu Bo and Shen Xian, then said faintly, “Pen name Lord Without Harm? What a cringey pen name. Even if the book were decent, we still couldn’t take him. His character is no good.”

Lu Bo nodded. “Exactly. This author has basically been blacklisted on our Gray Canticle site.”

Lin Zixia asked, “What’s your site worth now?”

“Probably around seven or eight billion in market value. Just the content department and copyright department under my charge alone can create five or six hundred million in value each year,” Lu Bo said with some pride.

Their company’s reading app had already reached tens of millions of daily active users and several million paying users.

The seven or eight billion valuation was from last year.

This year, adding another billion or so would be about right.

Lin Zixia asked again, “Do you think it would be more worthwhile for me to buy a stake in your company, or to buy the whole company outright?”

Lu Bo was startled.

So this was the strength of a young lady from the capital’s inner circle?

A hundred-billion deal, and she could speak of it so casually without even blinking?

After thinking for a moment, Lu Bo said, “A stake would be better. Buying it outright would carry more risk.”

Lin Zixia considered it. “I think I’d rather buy it outright. One hundred percent ownership, sole decision-maker. Easier.”

Hiss...

So rich?

Rich beyond humanity, damn it.

Lu Bo drew in a sharp breath. “I can’t make that decision. I’m just an employee. The real authority is in the boss’s hands.”

For a Chinese literature website, the most important parts were the content department and the copyright department, both of which were under Lu Bo’s management.

But there were also the distribution department, operations department, finance department, legal department, business department, advertising department, and so on.

Lu Bo could only count as a department head.

“Then help me arrange a meeting with your chairman. If this works out, your position stays the same, your salary increases by fifty percent over the current level, and I’ll also give you some shares. I think you’re very capable,” Lin Zixia said.

Lu Bo grew excited. “I will gladly serve President Lin!”

Lin Zixia nodded. “All right, let’s stop here for today. If you have nothing else, you can also enjoy Yao Feiyu’s wedding. If you do have something, go handle your work.”

Lu Bo stood up. “All right, I’ll contact the boss right away and call you back as soon as I have news!”

Lin Zixia nodded, then narrowed her eyes and saw someone familiar entering.

Shen Xian!