Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 205 Invites You to Beijing North to Participate in Sharing the Pie!

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling."

"Hey?"

"Hello, Teacher Zhai. This is Xinglang. It's been a long time since we last contacted each other. Do you still remember me?"

She glanced at her phone contacts: "Of course I remember, how could I forget? Li Tiantian, right? Hello."

In the dimly lit bedroom, red, blue, and yellow light spots spun around, making the ordinary room feel eerie.

Zhai Da got up from his desk, where a novel he had handwritten with a fountain pen was under the desk lamp.

Juanjuan's handwriting has filled a thick book.

Walking to the bedside, Zhai Da turned off the constantly spinning "intracranial disco light," instantly clearing the atmosphere of the room and making it conform to the core socialist values.

My highly focused mind gradually drifted away from the novel's plot, mainly because I had a few drinks with Wu Yue last night; otherwise, I wouldn't have turned on the disco lights today.
Over the phone: "We should have paid you a share of the readership revenue yesterday, but I don't know if you received it?"

"Received, thank you for your support."

The revenue-sharing agreement between Xinglang Blog and Zhai Da has been in effect. Currently, his blog has reached 200 million followers, making him a bona fide "internet celebrity" in this era before the internet has fully exploded, even though the term "internet celebrity" hasn't even been coined yet.

However, the revenue sharing from reading is settled rather slowly, with payments made the following month for the previous month. So far, he has only received five or six payments. He doesn't rely on this for a living; it's considered an extra income.

Of course, the numbers are still quite considerable. During the serialization and release of "The Long Road of Lü", the number of readers surged, reaching approximately 24 per month.

However, it has almost reached its limit because the blog itself is not good enough. Even as the number one self-media platform in the country, its daily active users are only a pitiful 300 million. Even though Zhai Da has become a top "blogger", he has touched the ceiling of the platform.

The photos of "Clown Poker" can attract attention, but ultimately they are "pulling people in" from blog users. It's impossible to force someone who doesn't have their computer on to look at Zhai Da's content.

Fortunately, the money came without any effort on Zhai Da's part. From his perspective, he didn't even lift a finger. Lu Siwen managed it very diligently, editing content, replying to fans, and cleaning up comments daily even after "The Long Road of Lü" was discontinued. Netizens all felt that "Writer Zhai" was very approachable and kind.
Zhai Da still insists on sharing this extra income with Lu Siwen according to the original 7:3 agreement.

Logically, once Sina has made the payment, there seems to be no need to call to confirm, especially since it's Li Tiantian, who seems to have been rising steadily in the past six months.

She should know that Lu Siwen manages the blog.

I vaguely heard Lu Siwen mention that Li Tiantian had been promoted to L3 level, which means she is in charge of a medium-sized team of about 50 people. This speed is like sitting on a rocket.

"Teacher Zhai, the end of the year is approaching, and I would like to ask if you have any announcements or plans for the end of the year."

"I'm going to class now."

Zhai Da was baffled. Could it be that I could perform a skit on the Spring Festival Gala?
"On December 19th, we would like to invite you and your team to attend the 'Starry Night Online Gala,' which will be held at the Chang'an Grand Theater in northern Beijing."

Upon hearing the name, Zhai Da felt a momentary daze. In his previous life, it was called "Weibo Night," an event attended by a large number of celebrities every year; basically, everyone in the entertainment industry, from the very unknown to the most famous, had to make an appearance.

But I'm a writer.
"Uh, is this some kind of online awards ceremony, and does it include writers?"

Li Tiantian was well-prepared: "Of course, the main event of the online awards ceremony is the awards presentation. We have three important literary awards: 'Author of the Year,' 'Best Literary Work of the Year,' and 'Most Popular Literary Work of the Year.'"

Zhai Da was taken aback, thinking to himself, "Why are they dividing it into such detailed categories?"

It wasn't until Li Tiantian mentioned that they had prepared 50 awards, 30 of which would be presented offline, that Zhai Dacai suddenly realized what was going on.
Sharing the pie online
To be honest, these days, the awards at the Star Wave Internet Awards still have some prestige, after all, it's the undisputed king of online media.

“All three awards are judged by a combination of industry experts and online voting. I’ve looked at them and you have a good chance of winning. However, due to the process, the prerequisite for participating in the judging is that you must attend the ceremony in person to receive the award. So I’m taking the liberty of calling you.”

Zhai Da pondered for a moment, truly never expecting that he would be able to participate in "sharing the pie online" after being reborn.
Actually, I'm quite interested.

The arrangement there is a one-day event, and you need to arrive in northern Beijing 1-2 days in advance for some preparatory interviews and small activities.

Zhai Da thought about it and finally agreed to the invitation. Although it was an award mainly for the film and television industry, it would be interesting to join in the fun.

“That’s great. Since you don’t have an agent, I’ll just send you the schedule directly.”

Li Tiantian changed her tone, becoming more excited and confident: "There are also some other things, which we can discuss in detail when you come to Beijing. We will be launching a brand new self-media platform early next year, and we sincerely invite you to join us."

She had mentioned this matter several months ago, and Zhai Da guessed that it referred to "Weibo," the entertainment king of the next few years. However, he was not quite aware that he had changed Li Tiantian's fate and inspired her at a crucial meeting.

This also resulted in the platform being created earlier than the original timeline, and Li Tiantian became a very important character in it.

With her work focus shifting, Li Tiantian had been busy with the new platform for the past few months and had long since stopped participating in the blog. However, she felt that Zhai Da was her lucky star and sincerely hoped that with the birth of "Weibo", Zhai Da could bring his influence to the new platform as soon as possible.

After hanging up the phone, Zhai Da glanced at the calendar on the wall. November 12th, one month until the Internet Festival.
Come to think of it, I was reborn in mid-March, which means it's only been eight months.

Three months before the college entrance exam, three months of summer vacation, and two months before the college results were released on Weibo.

Indeed, leisure makes time fly by, while a fulfilling life makes time drag on. Even though I feel like I've experienced so much, when I look up, I'm still in this era.
Zhai Da sat back down at his desk and looked at the last few lines of his handwritten notebook about "The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual".

This book is almost finished, written intermittently, but thankfully the quality is good. After a moment's thought, Zhai Da picked up "The Pen of an Artistic Girl," intending to conclude her thoughts.

But his pen had just run out of ink. After a moment's hesitation, in order not to let his inspiration slip away, he picked up a ballpoint pen.

"Zhong Ming was forgotten by Gu Xiaonian in the past, or perhaps the 'she' in this timeline never remembered her at all."

"From 2008 to 2024, sixteen years will take him to smooth out the wrinkles of time, until they are reflected on his face."

"The future has been changed. Will he still be able to wait for his Gu Xiaonian sixteen years later? Zhong Ming doesn't know."

"Only during the times of living alone, being alone, and waiting alone, do I occasionally look up."

"But I find myself still in this long era."

Zhai Da closed the pen cap and examined the overall impression.

There's no problem even though I didn't use the "Artistic Girl's Pen" or wear the "Dynamic MP3 Player".

Even though this is the most important ending of the entire book.

As time went by, he had long since become a qualified writer, possessing not only external advantages but also internal strength.

Yes, my second book is finished.

In the overall structure of joy in the first part, suspense in the middle part, and sadness in the last part, he incorporated a large number of "prophecies".

It's not about showing off in front of others for no reason, but about believing it will be helpful to everyone.

For example, it predicted "the coming of the GPU era", "the pollution and irresponsibility of our daily lives to the ocean", "the occurrence and prevention of a terrible global infectious disease", "the blockade and difficulties of chip technology", "the future and basic principles of AI technology", and so on.

There are counterfeit products even among genuine ones; some are only partially counterfeited.

Of course, when readers first read it, they won't notice these "blunted" words and phrases. Their first reaction will be to be attracted by the story. Many of the feedbacks may not come until ten years later, and by then the book may have been forgotten in a corner.

But this is his own "romantic journey across time and space".

Zhai Da closed his notebook and decided to take a scanned copy to school tomorrow and then send it to Phoenix Media.

They were already itching for the second half.

Zhai Da opened his laptop, logged into QQ, and sent a message to the contact whose contact was labeled "Artsy Girl".

"I've finished my book, how's yours?"

------

At the same time, a thousand miles away, in northern Beijing.

Although not as intense as Harbin, winters in northern Beijing are by no means "pleasant" and pose a considerable challenge for new students from the south.

In a four-person dormitory room at Peking University's Yenching Campus, a slender figure with short hair is writing at her desk.

Heating in northern Beijing starts later, and Lu Siwen's fingertips were icy cold and red, so she had to warm them up with a hand warmer every now and then.

The conditions weren't particularly harsh, and Lu Siwen wasn't a spoiled girl. She felt that she needed to live in the dormitory to experience real university life and looked forward to becoming friends with her roommates.

This has nothing to do with material conditions.

Of course, the house her parents bought for her in northern Beijing can't be wasted. She still goes there to clean it every week. The 200-square-meter apartment is still a good place to train her "independent living" skills.

After arriving at the Chinese Department of Peking University, which she had always dreamed of, Lu Siwen did not experience the "literary sublimation" she had imagined. Even here, which is renowned, first-year students attend classes in the same routine.

Information was flying around in the teaching building, the cafeteria, and various QQ groups. She also inexplicably gained the embarrassing nickname "Goddess of Peking University".

This caused her some difficulties in her interpersonal relationships.
As she was writing, her phone vibrated slightly. Lu Siwen glanced at it and her face lit up with joy. It was a text message from Zhai Da!

"I've finished my book, how's yours?"

Lu Siwen's face stiffened, her head drooped, and her short hair fell from behind her ears to her eyes.

She exhaled a sigh of dejection from her pink lips, feeling as if her soul had weakened.

How did it all end so quickly? I asked you about it a while ago and you kept saying you were "busy with other things lately."

How did you get here so fast, Zhai?!

(End of this chapter)