Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

Jiang Fan exported and saved the arrangement files for "Itch" and "Puppet Show," then stretched.

I glanced at the time; it was 2 PM.

He took his phone and strolled out of the company alone.

Qitian Culture's new office is not far from the studio, about a 15-minute walk.

The weather was nice, so Jiang Fan decided to go over and take a look.

The Qitian Culture area was much more lively than when I last visited.

Several potted plants have been added next to the reception desk, and the office area has been divided into several workstations, where seven or eight people are sitting and working.

As soon as Jiang Fan stepped through the door, a young woman with a ponytail at the front desk looked up.

He paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up from his chair, the pen in his hand falling onto the table with a clatter.

"You...you are Teacher Jiang Fan?"

Jiang Fan stopped. "Hello, I'm looking for your General Manager Song. Is she in?"

The little girl didn't hear the second half of the sentence at all.

"Mr. Jiang Fan! I heard on my first day at the company that they were publishing 'Journey to the West'! I was so excited for days! I never expected to meet you in person today!"

She spoke faster and faster.

"I've heard all the songs you wrote! I also loved watching 'Journey to the West,' it's a pity it's not available online now—"

She fumbled around on the table for a while, then pulled out a notebook and a pen, which she held up with both hands.

"Could you please sign your name? Please!"

Jiang Fan smiled and took the pen. "What's your name?"

"Xiao Na!"

Jiang Fan wrote the words "Let's encourage each other, Xiao Na" on the notebook, signed his name, and handed it back to her.

Xiao Na held the notebook to her chest, her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes were red.

Several new employees popped their heads out of the office all at once, eager to try their luck.

Is your CEO, Mr. Song, inside?

"Yes! I'll take you there!"

Xiao Na jogged around the front desk and led Jiang Fan inside.

Before they even reached the door, Song Siyi's office door opened from the inside upon hearing the noise.

Song Siyi stood at the door, arms crossed, and glanced at Xiao Na.

"Xiao Na, be more careful next time. If it happens again, I'll deduct it from your salary."

Xiao Na stuck out her tongue, said "Okay, President Song," and turned to run away.

Jiang Fan walked into the office, and Song Siyi closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat." Song Siyi walked back behind her desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Jiang Fan didn't go to the chair opposite her, but went around to her side and sat half-sitting on the edge of the desk.

Song Siyi glanced at him, said nothing, and picked up a stack of documents from the table.

"The first batch of one million copies has all been printed. It's divided into two volumes, with the words 'Presented by Qitian Culture' printed on the cover. We've also contacted the logistics company, and we'll start shipping them out tomorrow."

She turned a page.

"We have already received more than 3,000 application emails in our inbox, all from primary and secondary schools across the country. The demand has exceeded 400,000 copies."

Jiang Fan nodded.

"Send in the order of application. All shipping costs will be charged to the company."

Song Siyi closed the report, her brows furrowing slightly.

"This money was spent too much. The printing and shipping costs of one million copies have already burned through more than half of Qitian Culture's accounts."

"Don't worry about it." Jiang Fan picked up the cup on her table and took a sip of water.

"Once the books are in the students' hands, they will help us generate buzz to skyrocket."

Song Siyi thought about it and didn't refute it anymore.

The two chatted until 6 p.m., when everyone at the company had left work.

Song Siyi was still processing emails.

Jiang Fan reached out and closed the laptop in front of her.

"what?"

Song Siyi leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm telling you, don't do anything reckless."

Jiang Fan went behind her, placed his hands on her shoulders, and pressed his thumbs against the muscles on both sides of her neck, slowly massaging them.

"I'm just giving you a massage. You must be exhausted these past few days."

"It's alright." Song Siyi closed her eyes and her voice relaxed.

After pressing a few times, she couldn't help but let out a muffled groan, tilting her head back and resting it against Jiang Fan's chest.

"Xinghua Publishing House called again today," she said with her eyes closed.

"How so?"

"Their Vice President Zhou said he wanted to renegotiate the cooperation. The royalty split could be 30/70, with them taking 70%. They said this was the highest percentage they had ever offered."

Jiang Fan pressed his finger on the side of her neck, and Song Siyi hissed.

"Tell them they can split it 30/70. But we'll split it 70/70. Take it or leave it."

Song Siyi opened her eyes.

"They can't possibly agree to this condition."

"Then let's not cooperate. Once a million copies of our books are distributed in schools, there will be plenty of people lining up to cooperate with us. At that point, it won't be them choosing us."

Song Siyi didn't say anything more. She no longer had any doubts about Jiang Fan's business acumen.

Jiang Fan's hand slid down her shoulder, his fingertips touching the edge of her sweater collar.

Song Siyi pressed his hand down.

"Behave yourself."

Jiang Fan didn't stop; his hand slipped directly inside the loose collar of his sweater and climbed up a mountain peak.

Song Siyi's breathing became erratic, and she shrank forward.

"Jiang Fan... your words are like farts!"

Song Siyi's sweater was pushed up, the side zipper of her wide-leg pants was unzipped, and Jiang Fan pulled the pants down to her knees along with what was inside.

Song Siyi closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the desk tightly with both hands.

"I'm truly impressed by you..."

-

Forty minutes later.

Song Siyi sat in the boss's chair, tidying her clothes.

A few strands of hair peeked out from the ponytail and clung to her neck.

She glared at Jiang Fan.

"If you misbehave in the office again, I'm quitting."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist just now. Come on, let me take you out to eat." Jiang Fan stood up and patted his pants.

"...I don't believe a single word you say."

Song Siyi picked up her bag from the table and followed him out.

-

The next day, one million copies of "Journey to the West" began to be sent to primary and secondary schools across the country.

The logistics company's trucks drove out of the printing plant and split into dozens of routes heading to different provinces and cities.

The Education Bureau's donation receiving point received the books one after another, registered and stamped them, and distributed them to school libraries within its jurisdiction.

-

The Second Middle School of Shanghai.

The library opens at noon on Wednesday.

The administrator, Teacher Wang, unpacked the newly arrived box of books and placed them on the bookshelf.

The cover is white, and the upper volume depicts the silhouettes of the four travelers and a white horse traveling west.

A junior high school boy walked by and stopped.

"Journey to the West?" He pulled out the book and flipped through it.

"Isn't this the book that's been getting a lot of flak online?"

The students next to me came over.

"I heard it's been blacklisted by the Writers' Association, why would I even look at this?"

The boy had already turned to the first page.

Ten minutes later, he took the book to the lending desk.

"Teacher Wang, may I borrow this book?"

During evening self-study reading class, the boy took out the Journey to the West book he had borrowed at noon and spread it out on the table.

The bell rang, but he was still engrossed in reading.

His deskmate leaned over and glanced at him.

"Come on, let's go to the toilet."

"I'm not going, you go by yourself."

"What are you looking at so intently?"

"Sun Wukong went to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea and took a 13,500-jin iron rod. It could grow big and small at the same time, shrinking into the size of an embroidery needle and stuffing it into his ear."

My deskmate's eyes lit up.

"Really? Let me see."

"Let me finish reading it first. The library still has some; you can borrow it yourself."

The next day at noon, as soon as the bell rang, my deskmate rushed out of the classroom and headed straight for the library.

When we arrived at the library, the bookshelves were already empty.

"Teacher Wang! Is there still a version of Journey to the West?"

"They're all gone. They were all borrowed yesterday afternoon."

The same scene was playing out simultaneously in thousands of primary and secondary schools across the country.

In a junior high school in Hangzhou, Zhao Min, a ninth-grade Chinese teacher, confiscated a copy of the first volume of Journey to the West from a boy in the back row during the third period in the afternoon.

"Reading unrelated books in class, if it happens again, I'll call your parents."

The boy shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

In the teachers' office, Zhao Min put the book down next to her desk and began grading homework.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the last stack of papers was graded.

She stretched and her gaze fell on the book with the white cover.

He paused for a moment, then casually flipped to the first page.

When she looked up again, it was already dark outside the window.

The office was empty; she was the only one left.

Zhao Min glanced at the time: 8:40 PM.

She closed the book and stood there stunned for a long time.

Then he stuffed the book into the drawer, got up, packed his things, and prepared to leave.

She walked to the door, then turned back.

I opened the drawer, took the book out, and stuffed it into my bag.