Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 190 Character setting, character setting, and damn character setting!
It was three days later that Zhang Chao saw Xing Siyuan again, in a courtyard house in Houhai, Jingcheng District, Yanjing.

This is a standard three-in-one courtyard house. There is a carved screen wall at the entrance, and a south room is used as a reception room. Passing through the hanging flower gate, the inner house appears before the visitor.

The main room had been converted into a banquet hall, with a large round table in the middle, brightly lit, and tableware that was either inlaid with gold or plated with silver. Next to the banquet hall were a sobering room and a mahjong room.

The side rooms and backyard were converted into different functional rooms, including a tea room, billiard room, reception room, etc. Of course, a few guest rooms with good privacy were also left for living.

There is also a separate garage that can accommodate 3 small cars.

Zhang Chao was accompanied by Huang Jiefu, Ma Boyong, Shuang Xuetao, Xia Da and others. Xing Siyuan insisted on treating everyone to a "family dinner" and emphasized that it was a "simple meal", hoping that everyone would not refuse.

Who knew that her "home" was this courtyard house with three entrances and covering an area of ​​nearly 1000 square meters; and that the "simple meal" was prepared by inviting half of the chef team from a big hotel.

After touring the whole place, Huang Jiefu sighed, "Boss, you always ask me to find a bigger place for us to work together. Why don't we buy a courtyard like this?"

Hearing what Huang Jiefu said, Ma Boyong and others' eyes lit up and were full of anticipation.

The main reason why Zhang Chao didn't want to buy a siheyuan before was that unlike in the 80s, the prices of siheyuan houses have started to take off in recent years. If they are well-maintained, with leaking roofs, solid foundations, unobstructed drainage, and no complicated property rights disputes, they basically start at tens of millions.

Most of the cheap courtyard houses are former slums or offices of old units. They have fallen into disrepair over the years and need to be extensively renovated after purchase, otherwise they will not be comfortable whether for living or working.

This renovation will cost at least one or two million yuan just for the civil engineering and hard decoration, and it will take at least a year or two to complete the work, so someone needs to supervise the construction.

Zhang Chao didn't want to bother with it, so he didn't have any intention of living there. Besides, when he was experiencing life before, he often followed Lao Yu into the alleys, and he had a very bad impression of the Siheyuan.

But the Xing family's courtyard was indeed attractive. He suddenly remembered what Xing Youtian had said to him: "I have several courtyard houses in Yanjing, all of which have been renovated and maintained. Pick one when you go back, and I'll have someone handle the transfer of ownership for you!"

When Zhang Chao first heard about it, he thought it was a small courtyard with one entrance and two entrances, where the Xing family or other people would live when they came to Yanjing for business. He didn't expect that there would be such a large club. The market price should be no less than 3000 million.

If the yard has been renovated like this and can be used right away, then getting one is a good option.

However, Zhang Chao did not make a clear statement, but simply said: "The Siheyuan is good, but it takes up too much capital. It is not worth it to have liquidity problems and affect subsequent projects just for an office."

At this time, Xing Siyuan said proudly: "What's the big deal? My dad said - this place will be mine from now on! If you want to come and work here, you can do it tomorrow!"

Xing Siyuan's innocence made everyone laugh.

Shuang Xuetao majored in law, and Zhang Chao talked with him the most about how to operate Xing Siyuan's affairs. He smiled and explained: "This place can be your 'base', but it is not suitable as the base of 'Midnight Tide'."

Xing Siyuan widened her eyes and asked in confusion: "Why?"

Shuang Xuetao said: "Have you forgotten the 'positioning' issue I talked to you about these past two days? From the very beginning, you should maintain the image of a cool, mysterious, and solitary young writer.

In Yanjing, I live in a quadrangle worth tens of millions; when I want to see cherry blossoms, I fly to Nagoya; when I want to feed pigeons, I fly to the Cathedral Square in Paris or Milan; when I want to study, I fly to Los Angeles..."

Xing Siyuan still opened her big eyes and said: "I... this is what happened. Last year I wanted to drink authentic cappuccino, so I flew to Italy. So, I will just continue to live like this?" Everyone: "..."

Zhang Chao took over the conversation and said: "... Lao Ma, Xue Tao, write it down, these are all materials that can be posted on the blog. Although Siyuan has not yet completed her work, she has reached the state of "the book is like the person, the person is like the book, and the person and the book are one"!
Siyuan, remember to take photos when you go to these places, both landscape photos and selfies. But for selfies, you can only take side profile photos, or wear sunglasses, or have your hair cover your face... In short, mystery is important! "

Xing Siyuan still seemed to understand what was said. At this time, her subordinate came over and whispered, "Miss, you can all take your seats now."

Everyone sat down in the main hall. After a while, various dishes were served one after another, including braised prawns, sea cucumbers with scallions, chicken slices with lotus leaves, meatballs with four joys, and grilled abalone...

Zhang Chao was stunned and said, "Why are all the dishes here Shandong cuisine? Aren't you from Shanxi?"

Xing Siyuan said with disdain, "Only people of my dad's generation like to eat this. It's all noodles, noodles, noodles. They make people fat. Every time I go home and go abroad, I have to lose weight for two weeks."

Zhang Chao was happy. He had eaten a lot of Shanxi cuisine recently and had a deep understanding of it. The big meal that the Shanxi Office in Beijing invited a few days ago had 4 kinds of noodles. Although there were many varieties and the taste was good, it was still a bit heavy for Zhang Chao, a southerner who grew up eating rice.

Everyone ate and talked at the same time. Since they were all core members and would all participate in the planning of Xing Siyuan's works, they had no reservations.

"Lao Ma, have you decided on a pen name for Siyuan? I've said that the style must be distinct, and it must reflect both the person and the book."

"I've thought of a few. Which one do you think is better? 'Hua Yao', 'Ran Ying', 'Yi Xiao Mo', 'Yun Wu Ruo'..." Ma Boyong said as he dipped his finger in tea and wrote out the words that could easily cause ambiguity on the table.

After reading it, Zhang Chao frowned. Ma Boyong was a little bit confused about what he meant, so he said: "A distinctive style does not mean using characters that are easy to mispronounce. This '窈', '筱', and '箬' are all easy to be mispronounced.

Siyuan needs a pen name that is unique, easy to remember, and catchy... so I'll have to trouble you to think about it."

Ma Boyong nodded to indicate that he had taken note of it.

Zhang Chao then asked Xing Siyuan, "Siyuan, have you finished applying for your blog?"

Xing Siyuan nodded and replied, "I applied yesterday, but I haven't decided what to post yet."

Zhang Chao said: "The general principle of your blog content is less words, more pictures, and it should be 'life-oriented' - of course, here I mean your 'life'..."

Then he turned to Xia and replied, "For example, tomorrow morning, send someone from your art team to take a group of photos. They are: Siyuan's silhouette reading a book under a pomegranate tree while holding a Persian cat; the sky above the courtyard, preferably with pigeons flying; and the duckweed in the big water tank in the yard..."

Then he said to Ma Boyong: "The accompanying text is - 'In the early summer morning, only books can comfort my soul'..."

Xing Siyuan was stunned for a moment as she watched Zhang Chao talking and laughing with great authority.

No one expected that Zhang Chao actually wanted to "package" Xing Siyuan instead of just trying to please this overly rich fan.

Finally, Zhang Chao concluded: "Whether Siyuan's book can be successful depends on three points - character setting, character setting, and damn character setting!"

(There will be another chapter later)
(End of this chapter)