Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 106 Sweeping Hong Kong Island
On January 2005, 1, Yanda officially began its holiday. Zhang Chao was able to "escape" from the drama club and boarded a flight to Hong Kong Island.

After the Zhuang Zhongwen Award Ceremony in December last year, Xu Zidong verbally invited him to visit Lingnan University in Hong Kong for an exchange, and later issued a formal invitation letter through the school.

Zhang Chao took advantage of the break between the winter vacation and the semi-finals of the "New Concept Composition Competition" to go to Hong Kong Island.

At this point in time, schools in the mainland have just started their winter vacation, but the opposite is true for the University of Hong Kong. Their winter vacation (usually from 2 days before Christmas to mid-January) is over and they have just started their spring semester.

After nearly 4 hours of flight, Zhang Chao finally set foot on the land of Hong Kong Island in the evening of the 21st.

But what he didn't expect was that Xu Zidong actually came to pick him up in person. In the car, Xu Zidong said, "The students are very excited to hear that you are coming. Your lectures and salons are all fully booked. The lectures have been moved from the small auditorium to the big auditorium."

Zhang Chao was surprised: "Are students from Hong Kong Island so interested in me?"

Xu Zidong said: "One reason is that your book "Youth Like You" sold very well. It has been reprinted twice in less than half a year. Although you are not the first mainland writer to sell such a large number of books in Hong Kong Island, you are definitely the only one who is still alive.

It’s strange how Hong Kong people buy books – despite the declining birthrate, 10 of the top 7 best-selling books are children’s books, and the remaining 3 are either inspirational, health-preserving, or about how to fight others. As for literature, you may not even see a single book in the top 30.

Among last year’s bestsellers, there was even a book called “How to Read a Book” – I have lived here for decades, and I still don’t know whether Hong Kong Islanders can read.”

Zhang Chao asked: "Is there another reason?"

Xu Zidong said: "... This, you will understand after discussing it with your classmates tomorrow. I am embarrassed to say it out loud myself."

Sure enough, the next day, after Zhang Chao finished his speech on the theme of "Mainland Youth Literature in Transition", the first Hong Kong student who stood up to ask a question shocked him:
"In this year's Forbes ranking, you are the first mainland writer to have earned over 1000 million yuan in royalties. I would like to ask you, how do you make so much money by writing books?"

At first, the student tried hard to express himself in Mandarin, but later on, he became obviously excited and spoke in Cantonese.

Zhang Chao finally understood why Xu Zidong said that he was embarrassed to say it out loud. As the most commercial city in the country and even the world, the pursuit of wealth by Hong Kong Islanders is engraved in their bones. Even literati are not immune to this, let alone ordinary students.

When Mr. Jin Yong was running Ming Pao, he was famous for being stingy with his royalties. Even for his old friend Ni Kuang, he would not raise his royalties by a single cent.

The main reason why Zhang Chao is famous in Hong Kong is because he is rich! After the person in charge of the Forbes rankings said he was the "richest writer in mainland China" last year, Mingchuang Press keenly captured the business opportunity and launched a special round of publicity in conjunction with the media.

At the beginning of this year, Forbes officially announced the celebrity list for 2004. At the top of the list were naturally business owners, but Zhang Chao was the highest ranked among writers. Forbes said that his royalty income last year reached 1100 million yuan.

Yu Qiuyu ranked second with over 900 million followers. Familiar names such as Han Han and Xiao Si were also among them.

This year was also the first year for online writers to be included in the list. Xue Hong earned 120 million yuan in royalties for his novel "The Way of the Ascension Dragon".

I guess no one would have thought that this list would be dominated by online writers many years later.

Although Zhang Chao knew about the news, he was too busy at the end of the semester and had not been anywhere else except the two schools and his own home. Naturally, he also declined all interviews, so he had no idea to what extent the public opinion had fermented.

Zhang Chao sorted out his thoughts before answering, "Every writer who 'makes so much money' thinks it is a pleasant surprise when he makes money from writing for the first time. This shows that when you start to create a work, your motivation should not be how much money it can make, but whether the story can first move you..."

Fortunately, the students who asked questions later were generally of relatively high quality, and the questions gradually focused on his creations. However, from time to time, students still asked him about "irrelevant topics" such as how he felt after becoming famous.

After the lecture, Zhang Chao hurriedly found Xu Zidong and asked him how he was being promoted in Hong Kong. Xu Zidong went to the reading room and took a few newspapers to Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao opened them and saw:
"Becoming the richest writer at the age of 19, Zhang Chao's masterpiece has earned him tens of millions in royalties!" "The most powerful young writer in mainland China, he writes the tragic song of the end of the road for boys and girls!"

“‘Youth Like You’ is actually an autobiography? Revealing Zhang Chao’s unknown love life!”

"One woman marries two men, the feud between the richest writer and two universities!"

"Zhang Chao raids Hong Kong Island and will teach Lingnan University the secrets of getting rich through writing!"

Zhang Chao: “……?!” He immediately borrowed Xu Zidong’s phone and called Pan Yaoming of Mingchuang Society: “President Pan, you are going too far…”

In the afternoon, there is an open literary salon, which is more relaxed.

In addition to Lingnan students, the discussion also included undergraduate and graduate students from other universities who came through various connections.

Zhang Chao briefly talked about his recent creations, and the students were very surprised that Zhang Chao no longer wrote "youth literature." Teenagers are a large readership of his, and Zhang Chao's move is almost equivalent to giving up a large portion of his income.

Xu Zidong joked: "Then you may not be the richest man next year."

Zhang Chao said with a smile: "Whoever wants to be the richest person can be the richest person. If I can avoid being on the list, I will even give some money to that ranking list."

This is when a young man said, “I think you’re better off on the list.”

Zhang Chao asked curiously: "Why?"

The young man introduced himself first: "My name is Ge Liang, and I am currently studying Chinese for a PhD at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I think your inclusion on this list at least shows that there is hope for young people to engage in literary writing."

Zhang Chao asked, "Aren't Han Han and Xiao Si both young people? I'm only a few years younger."

Grant said: "I think they are more marketing their personal image rather than their works; their works are just one of their 'accessories'. They have many such accessories - rebels, racing drivers, idol stars... literature is not even the most important one.

But you took the initiative to give up youth literature, which proves that your ambition in literature far exceeds theirs. Your works are always greater than you, so I think your inclusion on the list will inspire young writers more than these two. "

Zhang Chao said: "What you said made me see myself from another perspective. Thank you very much."

Ge Liang continued, "But I have a question. Your work "Youth Like You" has already been adapted into a film and television series. "Your Name" has also been published as a comic book, and it may even be adapted into an animation in the future. Will your future writing serve this kind of adaptation more and more? After all, the revenue brought by this part may far exceed that of simple publishing."

Zhang Chao said: "What you said reminded me of a senior whom I met a few days ago. He said to me: Works can be commercialized, but the personality of the writer cannot be commercialized. This sentence shocked me a lot. When I write novels, the first thing I consider is whether it can provide my readers with a new worldview, that is, to present a world that few people pay attention to to expand their spiritual territory.

I withdrew from youth literature because I could no longer provide a new worldview in this field. I went to college, left the small county where I lived, and entered a whole new world. My spiritual territory expanded, and I wanted to share my observations with my readers.

As for whether the final work is suitable for adaptation into comics, film and television dramas, I don’t think it is within my consideration. Besides, I can complete the creation of the script myself and do not rely on adaptation. "

As soon as he finished speaking, applause broke out in the salon.

(End of this chapter)