Chapter 20#
“The web novel industry has developed for more than ten years and has now formed a massive industrial chain on the scale of nearly a hundred billion. In order to promote the healthy and sustainable development of web literature, Xingchen Web will join hands with [Redacted] to jointly create a grand gala truly belonging to the web novel world for readers and authors…”
Before Yao Jing on the news could finish speaking, Liu Huayi sneered and turned off the TV in the office.
“They truly have no shame!” he cursed. “It’s as if we didn’t spend a cent or put in any effort? How come in the end all other companies vanished, making it seem like only your Xingchen Web is left in the entire industry? If you weren’t here, would authors stop writing? Bullshit!”
Don’t Pigeon sat at his workstation, watching the boss pacing angrily in the office, occasionally revealing a gnashing and ferocious expression. He immediately shrunk his neck and decided to keep a low profile recently, so as not to run right into the boss’s line of fire.
Asking the boss to spend money was like cutting his flesh; asking him to spend money without getting results was like taking the boss’s life!
“Brother Li, the boss is calling for you,” a colleague poked his head in.
Don’t Pigeon: “…”
Having no choice, he could only stand up, considering himself unlucky, walk to Liu Huayi’s desk, and ask cautiously: “Boss, what do you need me for?”
“A company has contacted the copyright department, saying they want to buy the rights to Song of the Earth,” the lingering anger on Liu Huayi’s face had not yet subsided, but when talking about business, he still managed to suppress his internal rage and said seriously, “This matter should originally be handled by the copyright editor, but as you know, Yan Heqing’s situation is special and you are his managing editor, so it’s better for you to handle it.”
“Okay, boss.” Since the boss had spoken, Don’t Pigeon could only swallow his reluctance and accept. “But which company is it? And which rights do they want to buy?”
There are many types of rights: physical books, audiobooks, radio dramas, manga adaptations, and film/TV rights—each is different.
Of course, the most expensive ones were the film and TV rights.
For those “great gods” standing at the top of the web novel world on Xingchen Web, a single film/TV right could go for tens of millions.
“All of them,” Liu Huayi said.
“What?” Don’t Pigeon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Which company is so wealthy? With the current performance of Song of the Earth, a package deal should be worth at least ten million, right?”
“It’s Xinglan Entertainment,” Liu Huayi said. “A famous company in the industry, but they rarely take the initiative to buy rights. I talked to their boss on the phone this morning, and the price he offered was twelve million.”
Don’t Pigeon’s breath hitched.
Twelve million—after subtracting the portion shared with the author proportionally, they could get at least three million!
That’s almost half a year’s profit for Liuliu Web!
Don’t Pigeon was already imagining the scene of the company giving out red envelopes to every employee after getting the money, but Liu Huayi’s next sentence shattered his dream—
“I didn’t agree to it.”
Liu Huayi sat behind his desk with his fingers interlaced.
“What?” Don’t Pigeon was so anxious he started stammering. “Bo-boss, this is twelve million! Although I’m not usually in charge of copyrights, I know this price is already very fair!”
“Indeed,” Liu Huayi said. “But for an author like Yan Heqing, this price is far from enough.”
Don’t Pigeon was speechless.
“The potential of Song of the Earth, you and I both know very well, this will be an unprecedented novel,” Liu Huayi rubbed his brow. “I’ve been in the web novel industry for so many years and have never seen such a… peculiar work. It’s no longer just a novel; it’s a prophetic book concerning the national economy, people’s livelihood, and even the future development of all mankind.”
“For such a work, do you think buying out its rights for twelve million is truly being responsible to the author?”
Don’t Pigeon instinctively shook his head.
“Then boss, we won’t sell it?” he asked tentatively.
“Not sell? How is that possible!” Liu Huayi glared at him. “If we weren’t going to sell it, why would I ask you to handle it? My point is to have you haggle with Xinglan Entertainment. Thinking they can buy out all the rights for only twelve million—they’re dreaming. Even if Yan Heqing agreed, I wouldn’t! It has to be at least double!”
Don’t Pigeon: “…”
Alright, the boss is still that same boss. Too bad he was briefly moved earlier.
“Xinglan Entertainment…”
Qiao Jing remembered; he had several of his previous books’ rights bought by this company as well.
“But it’s only twelve million; this price is indeed a bit low,” he replied. He guessed the other side saw that the Yan Heqing account had only posted one book, and for a new author’s full rights to sell for this price was already quite amazing. “Has it been rejected already? That’s good. If the other side quotes again, let’s talk then.”
As a “great god” author who had once set records for copyrights in the web novel world, ten or twenty million made basically no difference to Qiao Jing.
Don’t Pigeon was moved by the Great God’s calm attitude, thinking: As expected of a big shot, actually remaining indifferent in the face of twelve million in cash!
“Don’t worry, Great God,” he said with high ambitions, “even if I work overtime until my liver explodes, I will definitely help you sell for a good price!”
Qiao Jing: “…Then I’ll trouble you.”
He closed the dialogue box and started writing today’s update.
Recently, the comment section of Song of the Earth had gained some strange readers. Although they were also discussing the plot, their tone was always inexplicably sarcastic.
They liked to harp on some insignificant details in the text and then launch a massive attack on the book and the author himself. Although 008 and Don’t Pigeon helped mute a batch of them, these people soon learned to be clever and started with “backhanded compliments,” finding any point to argue, inciting the emotions of other readers, making the whole comment section a mess, and dampening the spirits of many readers who just wanted to enjoy the story.
“These trolls are truly too annoying!” 008 said angrily. “And only a small portion are ‘water armies’ sent by other websites to cause trouble; the rest are all people who just follow the crowd. Everything was fine before!”
“Then don’t worry about it,” Qiao Jing said. “As long as it doesn’t affect my normal updates, it’s fine.”
He didn’t care much about the comments. Compared to trolls, what he paid more attention to were those comments that seemed ordinary but had an inexplicably strange word order.
Because hidden behind such accounts, it was very likely to be people from other countries.
The favorites for Song of the Earth had already set a historical record for Liuliu Web since its opening, reaching a staggering five hundred thousand. Such a large volume of readers finally caught the attention of those spies lurking on the country’s internet.
Once they opened this novel, their eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets—
Was the information they had gone through so much trouble to find all clearly written in this web novel!?
Were they being played with!?
A conspiracy, there must be a conspiracy!
The spies were all as if facing a great enemy, as if seeing an insidious and cunning rabbit sharpening its knife at them in the dark.
But in order to collect intelligence, they had to grit their teeth and download the Liuliu Web app, starting to diligently follow updates, leave comments, and cheer for the author just like the hundreds of thousands of readers.
Qiao Jing’s private message box was overflowing every day. “Foreign fans” and “overseas Chinese” from every corner of the world all hoped he could contact them, and made countless promises to Yan Heqing—whatever you want, as long as you come to our country, you’ll be treated as a guest of honor; we’ll print a million copies of your novel for free, and so on.
Among them, the M Country was the most wealthy, directly offering a price:
Five million dollars for one piece of China’s confidential information, with no upper limit depending on the specific content. Do you want to do it or not!
Qiao Jing’s response was:
Have 008 directly expose the true identities of these people, and then package and send them to the National Security Bureau (NSB).
NSB: “Nice, no need to worry about performance quotas this year!”
Fifty thousand for each spy—altogether, Yan Heqing helped them catch thirteen spies, and two suspected traitors, currently under investigation. Due to the orders from above, plus this merit, the NSB director was very happy to establish a good relationship with Yan Heqing. With a wave of his hand, he tipped Song of the Earth over six million.
“If there’s business, you must come find us again!”
“We never turn anyone away!”
Qiao Jing: “Don’t mention it, happy to cooperate.”
Intelligence departments of various countries: “FK! I knew you ‘Rabbit’ were up to no good!”
Actually engaging in “fishing” law enforcement—have you no shame!
Regardless of how furious the foreign intelligence heads who had “lost both the bride and the soldiers” (suffered double losses) were, Qiao Jing wouldn’t care about their thoughts anyway. But for Jing Xinglan, he truly didn’t expect that he would actually be rejected.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
Qiao Jing finished the last line of today’s chapter, sighed, and got up to open the door.
“What now?” he asked, looking at the man at the door, his tone showing no emotion.
If this continued, he really would have to start considering moving.
“You ask me what now?” Jing Xinglan stared at him. “Qiao Jing, I did this all for you!”
Qiao Jing: ?
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” he said coldly. “If there’s nothing else, I’m closing the door.”
“Wait a moment!”
Jing Xinglan grabbed the door frame. He frowned and said, “Anyway, twelve million should be a good price, shouldn’t it? Why won’t Yan Heqing sell? Or is this your boss’s idea?”
Qiao Jing’s eyes widened slightly, only then remembering that in Jing Xinglan’s eyes now, he was “his own” editor.
“I’m just an editor; how would I know?”
“Then give me Yan Heqing’s contact information, and I’ll talk to him personally,” Jing Xinglan said.
Although he said it was for Qiao Jing’s sake, he had actually been following the story quite intensely lately, and his intention to buy the rights to Song of the Earth was sincere.
Qiao Jing naturally couldn’t give him the contact information.
Nonsense, Yan Heqing was himself; wouldn’t that surely give him away?
But facing Jing Xinglan’s bright and piercing gaze, he could only find a random excuse: “Yan Heqing isn’t short of money. And he has very high requirements for the adaptation of his work, saying he must personally designate the actors, otherwise no deal.”
“So arrogant?” Jing Xinglan raised an eyebrow, but strangely, he wasn’t angry; instead, a faint sense of appreciation for this author rose in his heart. “But designating actors is a power only top ‘great gods’ have. He’s only written one book, and he’s not at the level of someone like Jing Hua Shui Yue…”
Halfway through his words, Jing Xinglan suddenly paused.
He thought of a possibility.
When exactly did Jing Hua Shui Yue terminate his contract with Xingchen Web?