Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Han Fei picked up a pen and crossed out all the guiding clauses in the contract that set expectations, such as "suggested annual contribution volume," and added a handwritten note: This contract does not set a minimum number of submissions; the author has complete autonomy in determining the writing pace. The author can pause at any time without incurring any liability for breach of contract. Finally, he added a clause to the submission method section: Editor Sun Yue will proactively contact the author; the author does not need to actively urge them. He handed over the contract, and Ye Cao signed it without even looking at it.

"President Han, this customized contract doesn't force me to submit a manuscript, and it even gives me a dedicated editor. I... I don't have much to say. It's just..." Wild Grass paused, took a deep breath, "After that editor arrives, will he think I speak in a rustic way, or that what I say is vulgar? There are some things I've kept bottled up for half my life, and it might not sound good if I say them. But as long as there's someone who can listen to me, I'll write however I want."

"Don't worry. She's our publishing house's most meticulous editor. She doesn't talk much, but she listens. Wait here for a bit, I'll go get her." Han Fei stood up. "By the way, Ms. Wild Grass, could I borrow your notebook for a moment?"

When Han Fei arrived at the editorial office, the first thing he did was to have everyone pass around the notebook.

"My God," Zhang Meimei said, "this isn't a notebook, it's the Book of Life and Death of a living Yama! Every word is like a dull knife, sawing back and forth in people's hearts. I've been an editor for over twenty years, and I've never seen anything like this... something that just grew out of the ground like this."

"I think I've seen this contractor's sister-in-law before," Chen Jianguo murmured.

"Huh?" Everyone turned to look at him. He covered his mouth and yawned, shaking his head repeatedly.

"No, no, no, don't misunderstand!" Chen Jianguo raised his hands. "I'm not saying I've actually seen them, but there are always women like that outside the dance halls in my hometown county, their smiles are enough to give you the creeps. Wild Grass has a sharp eye. He didn't just remember the events, he remembered the spirit of this era."

Only Cheng Xu laughed, but his laughter was interrupted.

"Take another look at that line from Xiao Sichuan," Zhou Tao said. "The emotional intensity, the character arc, and the time setting—it's all there! If this were written as a novel, how many people would cry their eyes out?"

Lu Hai tapped his buzz cut: "And that sentence about the village chief's daughter-in-law giving birth to a son, those short twenty words, perfectly encapsulate the ethics, power dynamics, hidden pains, and scandals of a village."

"Do you all understand now?" Han Fei's voice rang out. "This is the strongest moat for Qingniao. Lao Huai is a genius who writes, while Ye Cao is a genius who lives. Before, when we signed authors, we were fishing in ponds with fish. Now, Teacher Ye Cao is telling us that in those quagmires that no one cares about, there are real dragons."

Chen Jianguo pushed up his glasses: "Yes, I've been a proofreader my whole life, and the manuscripts I've handled could fill this room if they were piled up. But I can say with certainty that I've only ever felt this kind of impact—a single sentence that could represent a world—in the manuscripts of writers from the Republican era who truly came from the grassroots. Ye Cao wasn't creating; he was recording the breaths and heartbeats that were ignored by the times."

"President, what are we waiting for?" Lu Hai glanced at Sun Yue, as if to make sure she was on the right track. "Let's look along this path! Construction sites and assembly lines, as well as those small counties, towns, and villages—there's definitely more than one person like Wild Grass who has substance, substance, and a talent for writing! If we can unearth all of these people, then Tencent and NetEase couldn't replicate us even if they had ten years! Their authors are made through writing; our authors are made through living!"

"Lu Hai is right," Zhou Tao chimed in. "This is a completely different ecosystem of independent writers from the traditional literary world. They have no path dependence, no set routines; every word they write is squeezed out from the heavy pressures of life. If we can build a platform that encourages them to tell their stories, the energy that erupts..."

Han Fei smiled slightly: "You think the same way I do. Wild Grass isn't an isolated case; he's the first pickaxe we used to open a gold mine. Academic authors are our granary, ensuring a stable supply. But authors like Wild Grass are our strategic nuclear weapons. They bring an irreplaceable sense of realism and vitality, a barrier that no large company can build with algorithms and money. We need to discover such authors, but the method needs to be more systematic; let's call it the Root-Seeking Project."

"A root-seeking project?" Lu Hai said.

"Well, actually, Boss Zhou's task already included the basic outline of this plan, which is to collect local gossip. Now we can upgrade this task. When Cheng Xu goes next time, he should train Boss Zhou's ability to guide people in telling stories. Design a few questions, such as, are there any particularly tragic women in your village? Are there any strange people on your construction site? What is the scariest legend you heard when you were a child? Anyone who can tell a story that makes people's hearts clench can contact us."

"Uh..." Cheng Xu said, "But some people have stories, but they can't necessarily write them down."

"That's right. Most of the real 'wild grass' writers don't have high levels of education, are afraid of writing, and are even more afraid of being ridiculed. So, in order to get more stories in, we need to design an extremely low barrier to entry. Not just for Boss Zhou, but also at the end of future magazine back covers and SP newsletters, we'll include a simple submission guide, so everyone can submit their most unforgettable experience, even if it's just a sentence. If it's used, we'll develop the material. For contributors who can't complete their own submissions, we can pay fifty to two hundred yuan to buy the material, contact them to tell their stories and record them, and then have our contracted authors complete the writing. For contributors with some writing ability, we can also train them."

Han Fei looked at the crowd and saw that their faces were bright, serious, and resolute. He saw them nod.

"Of course," Han Fei said, glancing at his watch. "This is a long-term and ambitious plan. In the process of moving from a blueprint to actual operation, we will definitely face enormous challenges and even stumble into many pitfalls. For example, we may be overwhelmed by a massive number of one-line submissions. Most importantly, this 'Roots-Seeking' project is essentially a craft-like model, highly dependent on our individual abilities. How to transform this model from an individual case to a large-scale operation is the key to whether it can truly become a strategic nuclear weapon. But time waits for no one. We cannot wait until we have perfected all the processes before taking action; we can only implement and improve as we go."