Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 313: Ticket to the Upper Class Society
Zhang Chao's book signing lasted for nearly five hours, until someone from the library came to warn that if they didn't end it, the lights in the hall would be turned off. Simon & Schuster Publishing reluctantly cut off the queue and then spent another 5 minutes to "wind it up."

Zhang Chao signed thousands of books in one breath. Not to mention his hands, even his eyes began to fail to recognize the name "Zhang Chao". He just felt it was so strange, as if it had nothing to do with him.

When I got backstage, I drank a large cup of coffee in one gulp. Under the stimulation of caffeine, my brain barely got rid of the numb state.

He really didn't expect that American readers would be more enthusiastic than those in China!
David Miller asked cautiously, "Zhang, are you interested in going to Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco to sign another game in each?"

Zhang Chao quickly waved his hand and refused, "No..." Then he said seriously, "Writers should still maintain a sense of mystery!"

Everyone: “…” Ah, yes, yes, yes, whatever you say now is right!
Alice Mayhew asked, "Zhang, our publishing house is very interested in the website you mentioned at the press conference..."

Zhang Chao pretended not to understand and said, "Then you can ask your book reviewers to open an account there. Welcome! After 12 o'clock tonight, the website will be officially online!"

Alice Mayhew was unwilling to give up and continued to ask: "I mean, it is very expensive to run such a website. Simon & Schuster can..."

Zhang Chao smiled at the old lady and said, "Do you have so little confidence in Simon & Schuster?"

Alice Mayhew: “Huh!?”

Seeing that she didn't understand, Zhang Chao continued, "The royalties paid to me by Simon & Schuster are still very generous. Of course, there is also Random House... Well, I think it can still support its operation for a while.

We can talk about it when the money is not enough!"

Seeing that Alice Mayhew wanted to say something, Zhang Chao quickly said, "Okay, I'm really tired. Our journey has come to a successful conclusion! Thanks to Simon & Schuster and the two of you for your careful preparations. I was generally happy along the way."

Alice Mayhew had no choice but to give up and watched Zhang Chao get into the car with regret in her eyes.

When they got in the car, Xu Ruiya asked Zhang Chao, "How come Weibo went online so quickly? I was shocked. Didn't you say you would release it after you return to China?"

The last project Zhang Chao prepared before leaving "Tide Culture" was the recently launched "Weibo", which was only known to a few people who participated in the last meeting. It can be regarded as his "gift" to everyone.

If "Tide Culture" wants to continue to expand its influence and grow into a top cultural operation brand after he leaves, it will not have enough stamina to rely solely on a few best-selling authors, a few film and television dramas or animation products.

Only with Weibo can we take the initiative in public opinion and propaganda to a certain extent.

However, the plan at that time was to wait for Zhang Chao's show and autograph session in the United States to be a great success, and then return to China to release it. After all, the key area of ​​operation of this website is still in China.

Zhang Chao explained: "This is a decision I made after the California Zephyr's journey. With the American Indian's counter-promotion, the time was ripe.

If we wait until we return to China, the popularity will drop and the effect won’t be as good.”

Xu Ruiya was still a little worried and said, "Isn't it a bit hasty? Some of the preparations we made in the early stage have not been completed yet..."

Zhang Chao smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry, I've arranged everything. Just stay by the computer tonight, there will definitely be a surprise."

Susan chimed in, "I want to be the first American to register!"

Zhang Chao said: "You can give it a try - but your chances of success are not high!"

A few people were chatting and laughing, and before they knew it, the car had arrived at the hotel entrance.

Just as Zhang Chao in the library had just said to Alice Mayhew, his work in the United States this time had ended. Next, Xu Ruiya would go back to her parents' home in the United States for a few days, and then go to Los Angeles to spend some time with Ma Bo.

Susan returned to her life as a columnist. The experiences of the past few days were enough for her to write another in-depth report about Zhang Chao - Zhang Chao asked that at least the title be reviewed by him.

Zhang Chao will stay in New York for a few days to collect materials for his new novel "Homeland". After all, the lives and thoughts of Chinese Americans in different eras are completely different, and he wants to visit more.

As for living, they can move to another base purchased by Huang Jiefu - an apartment in Brooklyn.

However, as soon as he arrived at the hotel front desk, Zhang Chao was stopped by the lobby manager: "Mr. Zhang, here is an invitation for you! The person who came told me that I must hand it to you personally."

Zhang Chao took an envelope from his white-gloved hand with some confusion. The light gold silk paper cover felt thick and steady, and was sealed with a bright red wax seal. The emblem on the wax seal was a capital letter "T" in cursive script.

There were also words such as "Mr. Zhang..." written in cursive letters, confirming that it was for Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao did not open the invitation to check its contents, but handed it to Xu Ruiya and said, "You should handle it."

Xu Ruiya took the envelope, weighed it carefully, handed it back, and said with a smile: "I'm afraid you need to decide for yourself this time."

Zhang Chao frowned and stuffed the envelope into his arms, saying, "So troublesome? Let's go upstairs and pack our things first."

Several people went upstairs and returned to their respective rooms to pack their luggage before gathering in the small living room of Zhang Chao's suite.

Zhang Chao used a paper cutter to cut open the wax seal and took out a piece of thick and steady silk paper from it, but it was not light gold, but warm ivory white. Zhang Chao glanced at the words on the letter and handed it to Xu Ruiya, saying helplessly: "It's so fancy, it's hard for me to read it, you read it."

Xu Ruiya took it and looked at it, saying, "This uses Gothic, which is a Gothic font. It is indeed difficult to recognize." Then she carefully read the invitation and said, "The main content is to invite you to attend a charity auction in two days. The location is Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York...

There will be a dance and buffet after the auction. The rest is just some clichés of compliments and requests for you to attend, which is common in American invitations of this kind.”

Zhang Chao asked curiously, "Why don't you just reject it for me? I already said I'm not interested, why do you want me to decide for myself?"

Xu Ruiya shook the letter and said with a smile: "This is different from the previous 'cheap stuff'. This is a real ticket to the American upper class. Don't you really want to take a look?"

Zhang Chao shook his head and said righteously, "I'm still not interested. I'm a red scarf leader, how can I be corrupted by the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism!"

Susan didn't understand this joke, but Xu Ruiya, who had been in China for a long time, got it. She burst out laughing and asked, "Don't you want to know who invited you?"

Zhang Chao asked casually: "Who?"

Xu Ruiya turned the front of the letter toward him, pointed at the signature and said, "Trump Foundation!"

Before Zhang Chao could react, Susan covered her mouth and exclaimed, "That upstart? Zhang Chao, you're right not to attend! He's a rude barbarian with no bottom line. He's also a complete male supremacist and racist!"

Zhang Chao: "..." But he still reached out and took the letter. He hesitated for a while and said, "Since it's him, I'm suddenly interested..."

Then he looked at Susan mischievously and said, "I won't delay Ruiya's reunion with her family. Susan, are you interested in going with me? Maybe you can meet some people who can help your career."

Susan was immediately confused when she heard this. Although she had just scolded him happily, the reason Zhang Chao gave was also very tempting.

She is a traditional American leftist, and is not interested in right-wing businessmen like Trump. But Zhang Chao's temptation is great. After all, it is an "upper class" event. As a columnist and reporter, it is very attractive to go and see it. Zhang Chao said, "If you don't want to go, it's meaningless for me to go alone. Ruiya, help me call back and refuse..."

Susan said quickly: "No, don't rush to refuse! I, I will think about it again..."

The two of them looked at her embarrassed look and laughed out loud...

All the actions taken by Zhang Chao at the new book launch conference were immediately reported back to China, shocking several "circles".

The first to feel the crisis were the IT industry. Chen Tong, the person in charge of Xinlang Blog, was immediately called to the office by Xinlang's CEO Cao Guowei. With a gloomy face, he placed in front of him a photo of Zhang Chao holding up "www.weibo.com".

“What’s going on here? Isn’t Zhang Chao our blogger? Why is he starting a social media site?” Cao Guowei asked.

In 2007, the Internet gradually entered a period of transformation, especially the increasing decline of portal websites, which were replaced by the rise of search engines and social media.

Xinlang has just won the "portal war", beating NetEase, Sohu and Yahoo; and it is the "only one" in blog operation, and even Tencent has not been able to get a share of it.

Who knows what kind of "Weibo" Zhang Chao came up with - as soon as he heard the name, Cao Guowei felt a sense of crisis from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Tong picked up the photo and looked at it again and again. He felt as if something in his life had been taken away, but he couldn't put his finger on it... He pondered for a long time and said, "I just got the news. But I don't think this website called Weibo or Weishu can threaten us."

Cao Guowei asked: "How can you be so sure?"

Chen Tong explained: "What Zhang Chao said sounds good, but Weibo has two fatal flaws, which doomed it to be a niche website. First, its positioning was not 'popular' enough from the beginning, and it mainly served those book lovers, especially those who loved physical books.

The number of such people is very small, whether in China or the United States, and their influence is difficult to spread. People go online mainly to relax and have fun. Who would be willing to open a website just to see what other people are reading?

I think Zhang Chao was influenced by his former partner Dongfang Xing. Dongfang Xing likes to create professional blogs, but what is the result? The number of hits is not as high as Zhang Chao's "Our Way to School" website.

Second, although the length of 140 characters is good for short, flat and fast communication, it is too thin for a screen as large as a computer. We all know the reading experience of mobile web pages..."

Cao Guowei looked at the high-end NOKIA N81 phone on his desk and thought about using its 2.4-inch screen to browse the web. He felt a headache just thinking about it.

But he still asked one more question: "Should we develop a similar project as a preventive measure?"

Chen Tong thought about it and said, "We should first improve the blog. The number of users has increased rapidly in the past few months. After Xu Cainv, Han Han's blog has also received over 100 million hits...

I think we should not be in a hurry at all. Let's see how Zhang Chao's Weibo is doing first. At worst, we can..." Before he finished speaking, Chen Tong stretched out his palm and shook it vigorously.

Cao Guowei understood what he meant: "Well, what you said makes sense. "Blog" "Weibo"... "Blog" "Weibo"... I always feel that there is some connection between them... Forget it, if he really does well, we can just acquire "Weibo"."

Chen Tong nodded and said, "Don't worry, Weibo won't be a big deal! We won't have to spend much money to buy it when the time comes!"

Of course, the literary world was also shocked.

The Writers Association didn't know how many meetings it had held for Zhang Chao alone, but the current one was the most "serious". Not only were the chairman, honorary chairman, and vice chairman in Beijing present, but several of Zhang Chao's teachers were also brought along.

Wei Qining, who works as a full-time political worker, smoked one cigarette after another and said in a deep voice: "Zhang Chao's "Weishu.com" is simply a mess! Foreign works that have not been screened are presented to Chinese readers in this way...

What if this mechanism is exploited by someone with ulterior motives? Ordinary readers have very weak discernment! "

"What are you afraid of? Ordinary readers don't have the ability to read English books directly!" A voice suddenly came out from the crowd.

Wei Qining looked over and found that it was Yu Hua, so he frowned and said, "Don't always protect your students. Are you still talking about organizational principles? - Chairman, I think we need to discuss this matter with Zhang Chao!"

Tie Ning sat at the head of the conference table, looking calm and composed. He asked, "What are you talking about? Should we not launch this "Weishu.com" for the time being?"

Wei Qining knew that such a matter was out of the control of the Writers Association, and Zhang Chao was even less likely to agree. However, he still had other ideas, so he suggested: "Why don't we send a working group to Zhang Chao's "Weishu.com"? "

Everyone was stunned: "Huh?"

Tie Ning also frowned now and asked, "Working group? What for?"

Wei Qining said righteously: "Of course I am responsible for guidance and review! To prevent readers from being deceived! We can't let the Americans do whatever they want, right?"

These words left everyone else speechless for a moment.

At this time, Wang Meng spoke up, his tone full of doubt: "Does Zhang Chao's "Weishu.com" only allow Americans to speak, but not Chinese? Why does it sound like our readers are dumber than American readers and more easily deceived?

We can also send some 'elite soldiers' to register accounts and seduce American readers!"

Many people at the scene laughed out loud, and Wei Qining was speechless for a moment.

Yu Hua muttered, "That's right. They always say we need to 'communicate', but how can it just flow this way or that way?"

Liu Zhenyun "cheered" and said: "Hey, let's fool each other first, who knows who will fool whom? Don't underestimate the strength of our readers..."

The entire conference room fell into a thick silence again.

……

At 12: PM Eastern Time, Weibo was officially launched.

Many readers, book reviewers, and writers from China and the United States who heard the news immediately flocked to the website, ready to be the first to try it out.

As a result, as soon as the page was opened, everyone was dumbfounded. They saw that the page was divided into two halves, with China and the United States each occupying one half.

The American half is circled with a blue border. At the top, a user has already posted a book review. If you look closely at the avatar, it is none other than Stephen King’s smiling face.

The Chinese half was circled in red, and at the top there was a user who had posted a book review, with Yu Hua's messy hair as his avatar...

Both of them recommended a book they were reading recently:

Stephen King recommended Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem.
Yu Hua recommended Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain".

(End of this chapter)