Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 248: Party at Sea (Happy New Year to Everyone)

A few days later, Wang Jing completed the resignation procedures and came to Huizhou from Shanghai, officially becoming Cao Sheng's personal assistant.

Cao Sheng temporarily arranged for her to live in the courtyard where he had lived before.

With Wang Jing taking up his post, Cao Sheng felt that he had less to worry about.

For example, he no longer had to worry about the decoration and accounts of the Internet cafe. Wang Jing also took care of the things that needed to be purchased in the villa, daily necessities, care of flowers and plants, and other trivial matters.

It seems that he doesn't have to worry about anything in his life except typing.

With more free time, I have time to go fishing.

Just this afternoon, he was sitting by the river next to the villa again, with a fishing rod on his back, basking in the sun while waiting for the fish to take the bait.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Jing, wearing blue slim jeans and a black short down jacket, came to him and handed him a registered letter with a smile.

Cao Sheng reached out to take it, tore open the seal, shook the envelope, and poured out a small notebook.

Wang Jing squatted down curiously to look at the small notebook in his hand.

This is the membership card issued to Cao Sheng by the Anhui Writers Association.

A few days ago, the Provincial Writers Association called Cao Sheng and invited him to join.

Cao Shengwan couldn't refuse, but also didn't want to offend the people from the Writers Association, so she reluctantly agreed. She filled out a form on the computer and sent it to the other party. Today, she received this small notebook.

Cao Sheng casually opened it, took a look at it, and then stuffed it into his coat pocket.

He really has no interest in joining the Writers Association.

But it has only been more than two years since his rebirth, but he has already become a member of the Huizhou Writers Association and the Huizhou Writers Association.

He discovered that the people in the Writers Association were good at doing ideological work for others.

Before this, Huang Qingya invited him to join on behalf of the Huizhou Writers Association, and he couldn't refuse.

This time, the Provincial Writers Association invited him and it was difficult for him to refuse.

"You can write that you are a member of the Provincial Writers Association in your personal profile later."

Wang Jing said with a smile.

Cao Sheng glanced at her, laughed and shook his head, "Forget it! It's boring!"

He really found it boring.

After being in the online literature circle for so many years, he has a deep feeling - this industry is not one where you can make a living by relying on qualifications and status.

Readers will not follow your book just because you have a flashy title in your profile. Sometimes it may even have the opposite effect.

It is easy to cause disgust among some readers.

Simply put: the work can be high-profile, but the author cannot.

This is a little different from traditional writers.

Traditional writers promote themselves, which can not only increase their own fame, but also boost the popularity of their works.

But one characteristic of online writers is that they are down-to-earth and very close to their readers. If you openly show off your identity, many readers will feel distant and will not want to read your work.

To put it bluntly, the most important thing for online writers is to let their works speak for themselves. Only when the quality of their works is high enough can they impress readers and make thousands of readers sincerely support you and willingly spend money to subscribe to your works or buy your physical books.

In Cao Sheng's memory, many veteran masters' works have gradually declined in performance as time passed. Even if they have written masterpieces that are considered masterpieces by countless readers, as long as the quality of their new books is not good, readers will still vote with their feet and abandon you without even saying goodbye.

Therefore, he is very clear that if one day the quality of his works declines and his writing style fails to keep up with the times, then no matter how many cool titles he gives himself, he will still fail.

That's remarkable, I'm just a little slower than others.

Others might be disgraced if they fail to write a good book, but he, relying on the popularity and number of fans accumulated under the pen name "Zhongyuan Yidianhui", might have to wait until the quality of three or four works in a row seriously declined before he would be disgraced.

This is likened to the rate at which an ice cube melts.

An author with few fans is like a small ice cube. If it is not kept cool, it will melt quickly.

His pen name, Zhongyuan Yidianhui, is like a big ice cube. If it is not refrigerated continuously, it will take some time to completely melt into water.

……

"Boss! I've already booked the flight to Pengcheng."

Wang Jing began to report the matter to Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng nodded.

The next day, he flew to Pengcheng with Wang Jing, Liang Hongfei and Teacher Huang.

First go and order the computers needed for the Internet cafe, and then go to Hong Kong for sightseeing.

They stayed in Pengcheng for three days, ordered the computer, and arrived in Hong Kong on the fourth day.

Cheng Long arranged for an assistant to greet him.

The hotel was also booked for them.

When they arrived at the place, Cao Sheng asked Wang Jing and others to go out for fun. He had no plan to take the three of them to meet Cheng Long. That night, Cheng Long really invited him to go on a fishing boat to eat seafood.

Hong Jinbao, Yuan Biao, Yuan Hua and Joey Wong were present.

Cheng Long even invited Joey Wong to come.

"Are you familiar with Brother Cheng Long?"

After getting on the boat, Cao Sheng asked her curiously.

Wang Zuxian smiled and nodded, "Not bad! We have worked together before."

Cao Sheng thought of the movie "City Hunter" starring her, Cheng Long and others.

Cheng Long smiled and continued, "I asked Ah Xian to come here today mainly because I heard that you two had a tryst. I thought that since you two had a tryst, you should have a good relationship, so I asked her to come and keep you company. Am I right?"

As he said this, he winked at Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng: “…”

Hong Jinbao, Yuan Biao and Yuan Hua all smiled as they listened, and their ambiguous glances swept across Cao Sheng and Wang Zuxian's faces.

Cao Sheng laughed and looked at Wang Zuxian. He thought she would explain something, but she just smiled and didn't show any intention of explaining. It seemed that she didn't care about the joke at all.

At this moment, Cao Sheng once again wondered if she was suffering from depression or if she had really let go of fame and fortune.
"Brother! I didn't expect you to be so gossipy. If I said Sister Xian and I were innocent, would you not believe me?"

Cao Sheng spoke up.

"Of course I don't believe it!"

Cheng Long burst into laughter after he finished speaking.

Hong Jinbao and others couldn't help laughing out loud.

Even the smile on Wang Zuxian's face deepened.

The fishing boat they were on was not big.

There was a bamboo shed in the middle of the boat, and they sat under it with a coal stove next to them. The boatman steered the boat at the stern.

The boat is going quite fast.

A middle-aged woman was busy doing something in front of the cabin.

Cao Sheng and others were chatting happily under the boat awning.

Sometimes they talked about interesting things about the "Ip Man" crew, sometimes they talked about Jackie Chan's experience in making movies over the years, and occasionally they talked about Joey Wong's film career.

From time to time, we would talk about Cao Sheng's novels and plays.

Cao Sheng spent most of his time listening, as he felt this was a good opportunity to collect writing materials.

If he writes entertainment works in the future, for example, a story about a male protagonist traveling back to Hong Kong in the 80s or 90s, the things that Cheng Long and the others are talking about now can be used.

However, as the topic went on, it went off track.

Yuan Biao, who has basically stayed in Maple Leaf Country in recent years, asked Cheng Long about the current situation of a martial arts troupe in the Cheng Clan. This one sentence made Cheng Long's smile freeze.

After a moment of silence, Cheng Long sighed, "Him! When I was filming that play last year, he broke his leg. While he was in the hospital recovering from his injury, his wife ran away with his money. If I hadn't arranged a house for him to live in after he was discharged from the hospital, he would have to live in a pigeon coop now!"

Yuan Biao was very surprised. "His wife also ran away with the money? No way?"

Yuan Hua continued: "What's there that you can't do? Haven't you seen enough of this kind of thing over the years?"

Hong Jinbao looked at Cao Sheng and explained with a smile: "This is how it is in our industry. We action actors and martial artists get injured all the time. Broken arms and legs are common. When we are healthy, we are always working on the set. We don't spend much time with our wives, so relationships are prone to problems. In the past, many brothers in our Hong Family Class had their wives run away with the money."

Cao Sheng: “…”

He had seen Cheng Long talk about this in an interview on the Internet before.

He didn't expect that he would be able to listen to it live when he came to eat seafood today.

"Then you still dare to get married?"

Wang Zuxian suddenly asked.

It immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Cheng Long smiled and said, "I didn't intend to get married. I got married because I was pregnant."

Hong Jinbao: "What's there to be afraid of? Just don't let a woman manage your money!"

Yuan Biao: "My wife and I have a good relationship, so I'm not afraid."

Yuan Hua: "Sanmao is right! Just don't let women manage your money and there will be no problem."

Cheng Long agreed: "Yes!"

Then, he looked at Cao Sheng with a heartfelt expression and tone, "Brother Cao! You are so famous at such a young age, and you will definitely be wealthy in the future. As someone who has been through this, I'm giving you a piece of advice. If you get married in the future, don't let your wife manage all your money! Giving your wife all your money is like handing over half of your life to her. You never know when you wake up one day and find that you have nothing. The more money you give her to manage, the more likely she is to leave you!"

Cao Sheng: “…”

At this moment, Cao Sheng felt Cheng Long's foresight.

As a person who had been reborn, he had seen many true stories and news stories before his rebirth, and he knew how high the divorce rate would be in the future.

So I have long thought about how to protect my property.

And Cheng Long now has this awareness.

"Don't teach him bad things! How can you teach him like that?"

Wang Zuxian suddenly spoke again.

Made everyone laugh.

After an unknown amount of time, the fishing boat came to a larger fishing boat. The larger boat lowered a rope with a bucket tied to it.

The woman at the bow of the boat stepped forward, untied the bucket, and carried it under the awning.

Cao Sheng looked into the bucket curiously and saw a lot of lobsters, oysters, unfamiliar sea fish, etc.

The woman there skillfully handled the fresh seafood, and the cooking method was very simple, either steaming or boiling.

The conditions on the ship are limited, and we can’t prepare overly complicated dishes.

Soon, a pot of steamed oysters was ready and placed in a basin on the small table between them.

Cheng Long immediately invited everyone to start eating.

Cao Sheng watched how they ate and learned how to eat it in the same way, a very primitive way. He grabbed the oyster shell and used a dinner knife to cut the meat inside and eat it.

Yuan Biao was more particular and even dipped his food in the sauce. However, Cheng Long, Hong Jinbao and Yuan Hua had no intention of dipping their food in the sauce at all. They ate with gusto and kept asking Cao Sheng and Wang Zuxian to eat quickly.

Cao Sheng tried it without the dipping sauce and took a bite. He found it extremely delicious, fresh, tender, soft and juicy.

It tastes much better than the oysters I had at barbecue restaurants before.

So he quickened his tasting pace.

When Cheng Long, who was sitting opposite him, saw this, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he became more convinced that Cao Sheng was a foodie.

Wang Zuxian ate more politely, but she also kept eating.

Sitting on this small fishing boat and eating seafood, the environment is a bit simple, and the boat is also up and down with the waves.

The small chandelier in the boat awning was still shaking, but the taste of the seafood that had just been caught was indeed delicious.

As he was eating, Cao Sheng suddenly felt that sitting on such a small boat, watching the ups and downs of the waves and smelling the fishy smell in the sea breeze was really a unique experience.

After eating for more than an hour, everyone was almost full, and Cheng Long called out, "Big sister! Give me some tea!"

Then, I started chatting with everyone.

This time, he asked Cao Sheng out of curiosity, "Hey! Brother Cao, I see that you are very efficient in writing scripts! In just about half a year, you have already written four. Have you written any new scripts recently?"

This topic attracted everyone's attention to Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng nodded, took the cup of tea handed to him by the elder sister who had just cooked seafood for them, and smiled: "I recently wrote one for Director Feng Xiaogang. The few I wrote before were not suitable for his directing style, so I could only write a comedy script specifically for him."

Cheng Long said "oh" in understanding.

Yuan Biao curiously asked, "The few scripts you wrote before were not suitable for his directing style? Are you talking about the four scripts you sold to Huang Baiming?"

Cao Sheng shook his head, "No! These are a few other scripts that I'm going to use in my new book."

Hong Jinbao was surprised. "What? You have several other scripts? Are they kung fu-related? Are there any suitable for me?"

Upon hearing this, the others all stared at Cao Sheng.

Cheng Long's eyes lit up slightly.

Wang Zuxian was simply surprised.

Cao Sheng looked at them and smiled, "They are not pure kung fu. There is one about vampires and werewolves, one about Xianxia, ​​one about gorillas as the protagonist, and one about mecha. Do you know mecha? They are robots that are magnified many times, but they are fighting machines controlled by humans."

After a pause, Cao Sheng looked at Hong Jinbao and said, "These four scripts all require a lot of special effects shots, and the investment costs are higher than one another. I don't know if they are suitable for you."

Hong Jinbao was still interested after hearing this. "It's okay! I've made a lot of special effects films before. For example, I used a lot of special effects shots in the ghost films I made before. It's okay if the cost is a little higher. I can get investment! Can you show me the scripts of the vampire and werewolf, and the fairy tale script you just mentioned?"

Cao Sheng smiled.

He didn't think Hong Jinbao could make these two films well.

But if he looked at the script, there was no problem, so he nodded and said, "I'll send it to your email when I get back to Huizhou. The scripts are all in Huizhou, I didn't bring them with me."

Hong Jinbao nodded repeatedly to express his gratitude.

Cheng Long was more interested in the other two scripts.

"Humans control mechas to fight? The mechas you are talking about are robots like Transformers?"

Cao Sheng nodded, "Yes! Robots that are tens of meters or even hundreds of meters tall. Humans can control the robots to walk, fly, and fight inside the robots just like driving a car."

Cheng Long leaned forward slightly when he heard this, "This is cool! Can you send me the script?"

(End of this chapter)