Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 264, 8th on the Forbes Celebrity Authors List
Zhai Da looked closely and saw it was the Most Charming Smile Award?
So he never brings it up?

Previously, Lou, the chief editor of Phoenix Media, said that there are some awards that sound trivial and are indeed trivial, but when written down and arranged, they seem very impressive.
Most of these awards are given out by newspapers and magazines, without even a trophy, and Zhai Da isn't notified; they're just done secretly in their own sections.
Okay, Zhai Da roughly understands what's going on. After all, a certain percentage of his book fans are indeed fans of his looks.
Sigh, so it's come to this? I, Zhai, have always relied solely on my personal abilities, but now I've been reduced to making a living by my looks.
Unfortunately, even a slight intervention was already the limit for writers' circles.
Zhai Da opened his laptop and checked the so-called "Literary Figures Weekly". It was a half-dead magazine under a certain newspaper, which mainly interviewed writers. However, because the sales were really poor, it was actually a "monthly" or even a "bimonthly" magazine under the name of a weekly magazine, and most of the interviewees were local mediocre people.

But then again, the magazine's name is catchy and sounds impressive, but consumers aren't really going to bother looking it up.
Among this whole row of honors that are as big as a wall, the most prestigious one is "Bestselling Novel Author of the Year". As the statistics for January were released, his "The Long Road to Lu" sold 260 million copies, beating "Tiny Times 1", which was released two months later, to become the bestselling novel of 08.

The brackets indicate a novel category, not the entire category. The top-ranked novel in the entire category is "Teacher Dan's Lectures on the Analects," and the second-ranked novel is "Teacher King of Wind and Rain's Lectures on the Three Kingdoms."

In fact, Guo Jinming's "Tiny Times" had a very close sales record. He suffered a loss due to the late release. If it weren't for Zhai Da's sensational sweep of three awards at the "Internet Awards" at the end of the year, and the second fermentation of Guo Jinming's own plagiarism scandal, he might not have won.

But then again, it's all history, the victors are kings and the losers are villains, so there's no point in talking about it.

This is his "debut work," while Guo Jinming has been famous for many years.

If Han Han, the veteran author, doesn't release a new book in 09, the competition between the two will continue into 09. However, this time, he will be releasing "The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual".

To date, the total circulation of "The Long Road of Lü" including the printed but unsold portions has reached nearly 3 million copies, generating approximately 9 million in royalties for Zhai Da, with over 7 million after tax. This was quite impressive in the literary world of 2008-2009.

For example, in the 08 Forbes list of highest-paid authors (China), the number one author, Professor Dan, who lectures on the Analects, only earned around 1200 million yuan in royalties.

Second place goes to veteran artist Han Han, who has multiple works on the market. Third place goes to Teacher Fengyu Wangguo. Fourth place goes to Teacher Guo. Zhai Da only has one book on the market, and although he is the champion in single-book sales, his total income only ranks eighth.

From now on, you can say you've been on the Forbes list, which fully demonstrates that as long as the awards are divided into enough categories, you'll always have something that makes the list.

Zhai Da has received the notification. Apparently, a trophy will be mailed to him. Zhai Da filled in the address in Harbin, so he might see it when he gets back.

In short, royalties have become his largest source of income, and it is purely personal income. Combined with the dividends from "Yueda Catering" and his previous savings, his personal savings are approaching ten million.

But he never mentioned it.

A bestselling book of the year has a long lifespan; for the next five years, "The Long Road of Lü" will generate considerable revenue.

If Zhai Da continues to have a presence in the literary world, it could even last for ten years, not even counting the new works he continues to publish.

Actually, he could just settle down as a writer, and when his inspiration runs dry, he could become a "director," making movies, appearing on variety shows, and living a comfortable life. But Zhai Da is still young.

He still wants to have fun.

Zhai Da thought for a moment and sent Lou En a text message to let him know that he had received the sample book, even though it was way behind schedule.

Not long after, Editor-in-Chief Lou called directly.

"Oh? You just received it? I thought you had already received it during the Spring Festival."

We've already distributed all the stock, and we're just waiting for the day after tomorrow for sales to begin before the authors receive their sample copies.

Zhai Da smiled helplessly: "It's alright, most of them are confirmed items, they're probably just backed up at some logistics point."

Of course, the holiday caused communication difficulties, which was also one of the reasons; otherwise, at least someone should have followed up with Zhai Da.

"I checked the items; the printing quality of the book is good."

"This time we switched to a better printing plant, after all, our teacher Zhai is already a well-known author~"

The two chatted for a few more minutes about their plans for the future.

The release of a work is undoubtedly a very important event for an author, but in reality, there isn't much that Zhai Da needs to do personally.

Just like online novels in later generations, monthly tickets are undoubtedly very important, but authors can't do much except write well and beg on their knees.

Phoenix Media has big ambitions this time, starting with an initial print run of 50 copies, striving to make it the best-selling novel for another year. This also strongly supports the promotion of Editor-in-Chief Lou En to General Manager of Phoenix Media.

Moreover, the pre-launch hype and serialization have been going on for many days on Weibo and blogs. Weibo, in particular, has seen rapid growth in just one month since its launch, with daily active users reaching 80, nearly a third of the old platform blogs. The short, fast surfing and sharing is indeed the choice of the times.

Li Tiantian was all smiles every day, which made her increasingly popular with the company's big boss.

Zhai Da, on the other hand, holds a commanding lead in fans, already boasting 400 million followers.

If we have to say what other efforts Zhai Da, as an author, can make, it's probably only to attend those grueling book signings and appear on TV shows to increase his exposure.

If he had to choose one, he would rather participate in a TV program, at least for the sake of something new.

Unfortunately, Phoenix Media was only rooted in the publishing industry, and its influence was mainly in the province of bulk publishing. Zhai Da also did not have an agent. After all the trouble, Lou En finally slapped his thigh.

He said he knew someone on a small, independent TV station and could get Zhai Da on the show "If You Are the One," and asked him to consider it.

Some of these guys have an absolute amount of exposure; they could practically make Zhai Da incredibly famous.
Zhai Da would obviously not agree.

"By the way, Mr. Zhai, when will your friend's 'The Story of Dongyang' be finished? We've been in contacting you indirectly, and we don't know where to urge you. Actually, the publishing house is very optimistic about that book. Suspense is a hot genre these days."

Zhai Da could only say, "She hasn't contacted me yet, so she probably hasn't finished revising it, but maybe it will be soon."

[The Pen of the Literary Girl] In the hands of the literary girl, it was actually not as good as Zhai Da's.

If Lu Siwen finishes, he believes the other party will inform him immediately.

After hanging up the phone, Zhai Da sent a text message to Lu Siwen to inquire about her progress. Then, staring at his laptop, he suddenly drifted off into a daze. His mind inexplicably drifted to the spider and Master Liu, who was now on the countdown to his inevitable demise.

So he sent a third text message to the construction team boss, asking about the transfer to another hospital. After learning that the team was already on its way to Lian City, Zhai Da put his phone down completely.

After a moment's hesitation, I typed a few words on the computer.

Lu Tu opened his eyes.

He thought of another effort that a writer could try, something he had been thinking about for a long time.

I've written a second ending for "The Long Road of Lü," a good ending indeed.

Since the new book is about to be released, let's encourage our old readers to come back.

Of course, it is also related to what I saw and heard at the hospital today.

The male and female protagonists, with their strong will to survive, deserve a happy ending where they grow old together in a parallel world.

It won't be very long, maybe only one or two thousand words.

------

The next morning, Yu Xiaoli went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to complete the "trial adoption" procedures, while Lu Wei stayed at home tidying up her small room.

She didn't have many belongings; most of them were sent to Shenzhou Zundi in Harbin. However, she still volunteered to clean the house and wanted to dress up the new member.

Zhai Da then called Xu Xuejun, who was still traveling, and then went to the workshop on Luochuan Road to retrieve the electric tricycle.

Then we drove towards the rural areas.

He wants to buy a second senior brother.

On his way to get the electric tricycle, he had already gone to the market. The pork there was all cobbled together from various sources, and most stalls couldn't even find a complete set of drains. So he could only try asking around in the countryside.

Ideally, you should randomly select a lucky piglet suffering from heatstroke in the pigpen and take it away intact.

Following his memory, Zhai Da arrived at a village on the edge of Sunmazhuang. After asking a few passersby, he walked along a narrow path and finally found a pigsty in a house.

There weren't many of them; three male pigs were huddled in a corner, whimpering. Two of them were female, so let's call them female pigs for now.

Adult pigs generally weigh over 200 jin (100 catties), and young pigs can weigh 150 jin (75 kg), which fully meets the 50 kg requirement for the unsealing task.

"Can you rip me off here?"

The villagers warned, "That's not allowed in principle."

I understand. It means they can rip you off, but they'll charge you.

Around 2000, when the internet began to become widespread, public outcry against "water-injected meat" and "sick pigs" emerged. Subsequently, relevant regulations were introduced to strengthen supervision. All pigs entering the market must undergo centralized quarantine and slaughter. Unless consumed by the owner, private slaughter is not allowed.

What followed was a condemnation of "what's wrong with farmers killing pigs?"

This fully demonstrates that public opinion is like water, flowing to wherever there are loopholes.
However, the regulations in the countryside are not strict now.

After agreeing on the price, Zhai Da stated that he wanted to take the pig back for composting. The villager said that composting a whole pig was unheard of, but he couldn't interfere with the fancy things city people did.

The pig was sold to Zhai Da for 13 yuan per kilogram, with an additional 200 yuan for slaughtering. The only requirement was that it be slaughtered completely, without excessive bleeding or cleaning of the internal organs.

The villagers called over their second uncle and third nephew. During the slaughter, the second pig struggled fiercely, and a strong green flame appeared in Zhai Da's sight, which was a pig's will to survive.

Zhai Da frowned slightly and turned his back.

He was starting to dislike the effects of the "Eight Sufferings." He was originally a completely indifferent and staunch carnivore, someone whose tears of sympathy would only flow from his mouth. But because he had "insighted" into things that ordinary people could not see, he suddenly felt a pointless pang of compassion.

The emphasis on this "compassion" made him a little uncomfortable, as if he were being forced to be "compassionate."

But ignoring this "compassion" feels guilty, as there's a fear that it might lead to a loss of empathy in the long run.
The most troublesome thing is that he can only turn off "equipment effects" but not "set effects," and I don't know if this system function has not been unlocked yet.

An hour later, Zhai Da carried his still-warm second senior brother back to No. 99 Luochuan Road.

They started digging a large pit with shovels.

The pit to bury the whole pig will take a while to work in. I should have had the excavator prepare five pits yesterday.

Next time, I'll see if I can use sheep instead, but I don't know if sheep can grow to 50KG.

After only a few shovelfuls, Zhai Da was stunned.

He dug up the tree roots.

Zhai Da squatted down to look at it. The tiny root was only half the thickness of a finger. Compared to the size of the "Executed Old Elm", it was like an inconspicuous hair. It was very tender. There was a faint pink sap secreting from the broken part, but it was not as red as yesterday.

Because it was newly transplanted, the soil layers were clearly demarcated; he dug along the boundary. This old elm tree had already sprouted new roots.
Is this speed at which growth and absorption are enhanced, and the effect is really that strong?
(End of this chapter)