Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 116: The Anticlimax of the Ban
Shan Yingqi almost screamed to stop Zhang Chao, "Wait a minute!"

She knew that if this matter became a big deal, the one whose reputation would be truly ruined would not be Zhang Chao's, but Chunfeng Society's.

Forcing Zhang Chao to lose money and make the book available to the public for free, no matter how much pressure Chunfeng Publishing House itself is under, doing so will only make them completely lose the trust of the writer.

Unless Chunfeng Publishing House only wants to publish "Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales" and the Four Great Classics in the future.

Shan Yingqi said: "I will call the president now, wait for me."

After that, he started to call Han Zhongliang and reported what Zhang Chao was going to do. After a while, Shan Yingqi handed the phone to Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao picked up the phone, and heard Han Zhongliang's anxious voice saying, "Zhang Chao, give me two, no, one hour. I'll give you an answer in one hour."

Zhang Chao said in a deep voice: "Okay. I'll wait for you for an hour."

Shan Yingqi took back her phone and sat down on the sofa dejectedly. She was still frightened and sighed to Zhang Chao: "How dare you..."

Zhang Chao shrugged, went to pour a cup of tea for Shan Yingqi, and then said: "It's not a matter of whether I dare or not, but I can only do this."

In fact, no matter what Chunfeng Publishing House does, Zhang Chao personally has lost trust in this publishing house since Han Zhongliang decided to be the "middleman". Now Zhang Chao just wants to get rid of Chunfeng Publishing House as the middleman through this method and directly see who is behind the scenes.

Otherwise, whatever he did was just punching the air.

At this time, the doorbell of Zhang Chao's house rang. Zhang Chao went to open the door and saw an energetic old man standing at the door with a flat box in his hand.

Zhang Chao was surprised and said, "Professor Yan... Professor Yan, why are you here?"

The person who came was Professor Yan Jiayan, the former head of the Chinese Department of Yenching University. Zhang Chao had met him once in the elevator when he first moved in.

Later, Zhang Chao attended his special classes several times, but they did not have any direct communication.

Yan Jiayan lifted the small box in his hand and asked, "Do you know how to play chess? I'm tired of the bad chess players in the building."

Zhang Chao hurriedly let him in and said, "I know a little bit about chess, but not about go."

Yan Jiayan said, "It's chess. Let's play two games - do you have guests?"

At this time, Shan Yingqi also recognized Yan Jiayan, and quickly stood up and bowed, saying: "Professor Yan, I am Shan Yingqi, the editor of Chunfeng Press, you can just call me Xiao Shan. I came to see Zhang Chao... I have something to do. But it’s okay, you two can leave."

As he said that, he gave up the seat in front of the coffee table.

Yan Jiayan nodded, sat down in front of the coffee table, opened the flat box, and inside was a chessboard and chess pieces.

Zhang Chao poured tea for Yan Jiayan and sat opposite him.

Yan Jiayan said: "I am older than you, so I will let you go first."

The two men arranged their chess pieces and quickly played the common layout of the front cannon against the screen horse.

This is one of the most detailed chess positions ever disassembled, with some branches leading all the way to the endgame, and many moves that are sure to be draws for amateur players.

Yan Jiayan said: "Young people play chess in such a decadent way."

Zhang Chao didn't say anything and just made a quick attack.

Yan Jiayan smiled and said, "That's interesting - you didn't agree to join the international cooperation program?"

Zhang Chao was surprised and asked, "How do you know?"

Yan Jiayan said: "After all, I am the president of our Modern Literature Research Association. People in the academy usually ask for my opinion on matters like this."

Zhang Chao said: "If you let me go in August, that's a good thing indeed. But if you let me go in April, haha, you're asking me to be a coward."

Yan Jiayan said, "You are quite courageous... April, April... No wonder someone was so anxious to do my job and told me not to object to your recommendation. I became curious. If you want me not to object, I have to get to know you."

Zhang Chao said: "I am just a lousy novel writer..."

Yan Jiayan said: "That means your novel has touched people's sore spots - hey, you let it slip, General!"

Zhang Chao hurriedly gathered his thoughts. The old general went up and down the stairs in the camp several times and finally managed to block this round of attack.

After the situation eased, Yan Jiayan asked again: "They won't just give you sweet treats, right?"

Zhang Chao glanced at Shan Yingqi, who was sitting next to him, as obedient as a little rabbit, and replied, "It's nothing more than making it smell bad and then covering your mouth."

Yan Jiayan said, "You mean 'Literary Debate'? I read it. It's really outrageous, using public resources for personal gain."

At this time, Shan Yingqi's cell phone rang. She took a look at the caller ID and then handed it directly to Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao pressed the call button, and Han Zhongliang's tired voice rang out: "Zhang Chao? We at Chunfeng Society have little influence, and we can't get involved in this matter. Everything is going as usual with the publication of "Dwelling Narrowness". The two batches of books recently printed, totaling 10 copies, will be distributed through normal channels immediately. You can go to major bookstores at any time next week to check if you can buy it.

Besides, the other party said that they will send someone to talk to you tomorrow, or within tomorrow. You must not act impulsively. "

Zhang Chao smiled, but his voice was cold, and said: "Do you still think that I am raising the price and then waiting for them to give me higher conditions? How interesting." After that, he hung up the phone.

Seeing Yan Jiayan looking at him with curiosity, Zhang Chao briefly told him about his experiences in the past two days. Yan Jiayan's brows furrowed as he listened. When Zhang Chao mentioned that his manuscript had been rejected by several newspapers, the old man said nothing, but just pushed the rook hard to the bottom line of the chessboard: "Checkmate!"

Zhang Chao looked at the board and found that he had no pieces to move. He said helplessly, "I lost."

Yan Jiayan pushed the chess piece aside and said, "I didn't win this game happily, and you didn't lose either."

Then he closed the chessboard, picked it up and left. Before leaving, he said to Zhang Chao, "I really don't know what happened to you yet, but I will find out soon. Don't worry, as long as you are fine, no one in the Chinese Department of Yan University can drive you away."

Shan Yingqi naturally couldn't sit still anymore, she stood up and said to Zhang Chao: "I'm leaving too. I hope this incident won't affect the future cooperation between Chunfeng Society and you..."

Zhang Chao shook his head and said only one sentence: "I am very disappointed with Chunfeng Publishing House. Go back and tell your President Han that after these 10 copies are printed and sold, our cooperative relationship will end. We can just sign a supplementary agreement." Then he closed the door.

Shan Yingqi was standing outside the door, her face turning blue and red. Finally, she could only sigh and went downstairs helplessly.

Not long after Zhang Chao sat in front of the computer, he received a call from Dongfang Xing. His voice was as sincere as a sales anchor more than 10 years later: "Zhang Chao, your account problem has been solved. I'm really sorry, the company is adjusting the website structure recently, and not only you, but also many people's accounts..."

Zhang Chao directly pressed the hang up button.

A little later, the editor of Reading Newspaper called him and said sincerely: "After re-examination, we have accepted your manuscript and will publish it this Wednesday."

Zhang Chao immediately asked, "Which edition?"

The editor said: "Generally, we place articles related to novel reviews on pages 9 to 12 of the 'Book Review Weekly'..."

Zhang Chao didn't say anything.

The editor waited for a while, then said helplessly, "Then we put it in the 'Characters' section on page 7?"

Zhang Chao still didn't speak.

Finally, the editor could only say: "Then the 'Outlook' on page 5 cannot be put forward any further. If it is put forward any further, I will make a mistake. Page 5 is a special page for observing hot news in the cultural and academic circles. We will add an editor's note for you."

Zhang Chao then said, "Okay. Let me take a look at the editor's note before it's published."

Editor: “…OK…”

Just after he hung up the phone, the editors of the two journals he had called before also called and said that they could publish his article.

Zhang Chao said, "The Reading Newspaper has been taken away. But it doesn't matter, I still have the article here - but which page do you plan to publish it on?" After finishing the call, Zhang Chao looked at the time and it was already past 8 o'clock in the evening.

The crisis has been temporarily resolved, but it is not over.

The incident happened in a hurry, and Zhang Chao could only use the most resolute attitude to buy himself a chance to breathe. He was sure that the other party would not give up, and now he was just afraid of forcing him to do something desperate.

To be on the safe side, Zhang Chao backed up the files, including "Dwelling Narrowness", in various corners of the Internet.

The next morning, Zhang Chao just walked out of the gate of the community and saw a Mercedes-Benz parked on the side of the road. Two men in black suits and black sunglasses stopped Zhang Chao who was about to go to class and said to him, "Mr. Zhang, our boss wants to see you. Please come with us."

Zhang Chao burst out laughing and said, "You guys are... are you filming a Hong Kong gangster movie? If I don't go, you'll grab me and take me away? Do you believe that I'll lie on the ground and cry for help? I'm familiar with this trick."

The two men in suits looked at the university teachers coming in and out of the community gate, looking here curiously and were speechless.

Zhang Chao continued, "It's the 21st century, a society ruled by law. You should go to the South Gate to buy some new properties first! And 'come with us'. If he wants to see me, let him come to Yanda himself. Oh, I'm a student, don't come to me during class time to disturb my studies."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

Zhang Chao met this so-called "boss" at Yanshi University. He didn't know who the other party had contacted, but he borrowed a small reception room and invited Zhang Chao to go there after class.

When they met at school, Zhang Chao didn't have so many concerns and walked in openly.

In the reception room, a middle-aged man with a slicked-back hair and shrewd eyes, wearing a suit coat, turned around immediately when he heard Zhang Chao coming in. He shook his shoulders and his coat fell steadily into the hands of the younger brother next to him.

The middle-aged man stepped forward enthusiastically and shook hands with Zhang Chao, saying repeatedly: "It is better to meet in person than to hear about him. Zhang Chao is really a young and promising man, a young and promising man..."

After they were seated, he took the initiative to introduce himself: "I am Cen Xinjian from Huayang Real Estate, and this is my business card."

Zhang Chao didn't take his business card and asked directly, "Let's talk about the matter. There's no point in being hypocritically polite now."

Cen Xinjian took back the business card without any embarrassment and said, "We were wrong about what happened two days ago. Here, on behalf of the association, I would like to express my sincere apologies to you."

Zhang Chao asked: "We? The Association?"

Cen Xinjian nodded and said, "Yes. I am a director of the Real Estate Association. The novel "Dwelling Narrowness" is very good..."

Zhang Chao interrupted Cen Xinjian impatiently and said, "Don't tell me that the novel affects your house sales. I don't believe it. Even if my novel sells 200 million or 300 million copies, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Chinese people's rigid demand for houses."

Cen Xinjian was a little embarrassed now. After thinking for a long time, he said cryptically: "It doesn't matter if it is seen by 200 million or 300 million people, but if it is seen by certain people, then... then..."

Zhang Chao asked, "So what?"

Cen Xinjian sighed—Zhang Chao had been listening to people sighing these days—and then said, "It puts a lot of pressure on us... Do you know how destructive those two sentences in your book are?"

"Which two sentences?"

"'A house is a bastard, and a houseless person is a turtle' 'You are wrong, Xiaobei, turtles are born with houses, and a person without a house is worse than a turtle!'"

Zhang Chao recollected and remembered that there was such a sentence in the novel. It was a sentence in a long psychological confession made by Xiao Bei after he found out that his girlfriend had cheated on him.

The background of this novel is very different from the original, so the language style is not as refreshing as Shanghai-style novels, but rather wild and straightforward.

Cen Xinjian said: "Now many people are saying that we real estate developers have made young people worse than turtles. If we hadn't invested enough money in media advertising, public opinion would have long been...

Now the higher-ups have been saying that they want to regulate prices. But it’s difficult for us… We are wronged… So please…”

Zhang Chao stood up and was about to leave before he could finish. This stunned Cen Xinjian, who said hurriedly, "You... don't leave. We, we are very sincere! Don't you want to listen?"

Zhang Chao said, "I have made it very clear to Chunfeng Society's President Han last night, right? I am not raising the price, and I have no intention of accepting any of your offers."

Cen Xinjian was surprised and asked: "Then why did you come today..."

Zhang Chao said: "I came here because I also want to know the reason! When did I say that I would agree to your conditions when I come here?"

Cen Xinjian almost exploded on the spot, but he still held back and continued, "There is another question..."

Zhang Chao stopped and turned back and said, "You go ahead."

Cen Xinjian took a deep breath and asked, "How did you know the story of Haizao and that guy in the novel?"

Zhang Chao was stunned. He had never expected this. He had read the book and the drama of "Dwelling Narrowness" when it was first written, but he had never studied the twists and turns behind it. But he definitely couldn't dwell on this now, so he said, "How do I know? I wrote the whole novel. This kind of story happens every day. Any similarities are purely coincidental."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. Just think about how old I am. Who has the time to chat with me about this?"

Cen Xinjian wiped his sweat, sat back on the sofa dejectedly, and murmured: "That's good... That's good... This way I can get something back."

Zhang Chao walked out of the reception room, his back felt cold and his clothes were soaked with sweat. All this sweat came out when he said the last few words to Cen Xinjian.

He was not afraid of the "public outrage" of the real estate association, but the matter between men and women was definitely a "private grudge". Public outrage was always just a gust of wind, while private grudges were a knife. He hoped that the other party would believe his explanation.

But it's not over yet.

Within two days, he received a call from Zhao Changtian, who said in a complicated tone: "The application for adding a supplement...has been approved again. Let's proceed according to the original plan..."

That night, Professor Yan Jiayan knocked on Zhang Chao's door again. This time he brought another old man with him. He had white hair, wore glasses, and was very gentle.

Yan Jiayan introduced: "This is Lao Ning from the Management Institute. I brought him here to 'apologize' to you!"

Zhang Chao welcomed the two elderly people into the living room and said, "I can't afford this."

After Professor Ning sat down, he said, "I heard that you have encountered a lot of things recently? Are you under a lot of pressure?"

Zhang Chao said: "It's not a big deal, it has been basically resolved."

Professor Ning said, "This is really our fault. We didn't keep it confidential during the meeting last month, and the fact that everyone was passing around excerpts from your novel before the meeting leaked out..."

Naturally, Zhang Chao would not ask what the meeting was about.

Professor Ning said: "Your novel is well written, and it hits the point. 'Houses are bastards, and not having a house is a bastard'? That's a good curse! The current housing price increase is indeed..."

Half an hour later, Zhang Chao respectfully saw the two elderly people off.

Before Professor Yan went upstairs, he turned around and said to Zhang Chao, "Get ready and write a novel writing essay for Literary Debate. Their editor should call you in the next few days."

Zhang Chao returned to the house and sat quietly for a long time before he eased the huge sense of absurdity in his heart.

As someone who had experienced it, he naturally knew that neither the worries of the Real Estate Association represented by Cen Xinjian, nor the hopes of Professor Ning and other decision-makers actually happened.

House prices will remain the same as they should be. The reason why "Snail House" suffered so much is that it ran into trouble.

Zhang Chao now only wants to say one thing to both parties: "My Lord, times have changed..."

What he didn't expect was that more than a month later, a number of policies to regulate housing prices were promulgated, and the novel "Snail House" was suddenly pushed to the top by public opinion. Almost every real estate sales office would put dozens of copies on display for free reading. Some media even directly called small-sized houses "snail houses."

This novel also sold more than 1 million copies in just one year, earning him over 300 million yuan from just one book.

(End of this chapter)