The moment he started uploading more chapters, he gained a significant number of loyal readers, subscriptions, and votes.
Over the past week, Cui Geng had written about eight to ten thousand words daily. The old him would never have imagined that he would be capable of such a thing.
What’s more, the numbers were increasing mainly because he was working for longer hours. He had not added more words or diluted the story on purpose. Thus, the novel’s quality was more or less maintained.
Of course, there were some sick people among them. After an entire day of writing, those people would return to their hotel rooms at night to write one more chapter and tidy up the general plot. To Cui Geng, they were beasts.
Cui Geng would never do such a thing. He only worked for eight hours each day and wrote an average of a thousand words per hour. That was not considered fast, but it was already significant for him.
Now that he had gotten used to it, Cui Geng was even beginning to enjoy it. He had to admit that under exceptional circumstances, writing could be quite addictive. The only thing was that Cui Geng had run into a small problem now.
As he ate his take-out, he raised his problem at the table. “Everyone, I feel like my story has been developing too quickly. I can’t seem to continue writing anymore. What should I
do?”
Everyone looked at him and then simultaneously said, “Cut it here.” Cui Geng, “…”
Once Cui Geng brought this topic up, the heartless writers stopped offering serious advice.
as a
It was a common practice among writers to persuade those who were doing better than the rest to drop their novels halfway.
Of course, Cui Geng could not blame them. Too many writers were using ‘writer’s block’ as an excuse to boast about their achievements.
Thus, whenever writers suspected that someone was trying to boast about their achievements, most would choose to pre-empt it and say ‘cut it here’ to bring the topic to a close.
Cui Geng was speechless. He did indeed have that problem because he had not properly thought about the plot for the novel in the beginning His novel was doing well, and his plot was not horrible; however, the framework that he had laid was too small.
Cui Geng had only intended to write two to three thousand words per day. Progressing bit by bit that way would allow him to keep writing for a long time. However, he had ended up writing eight to ten thousand words per day in the past week. All of a sudden, he realized that he could not extend the main plot much longer.
He guessed that the book would be done once he hit a million words or so.
What should he do then?!
Of course, as a writer who was used to leaving his books incomplete, doing so again did not feel scary. He had already cut off many stories abruptly; it had become a breeze for him. Now, he could pick up the sword again without even looking.
The problem was what his new book would be about once he cut this novel here.
Cui Geng had no idea.
After lunch, Zhu Xingan said, “I’ll give all of you an hour to upload everything that you’ve written in the morning and get some rest.
“According to the schedule, we’ll be touring around Jingzhou this afternoon. We’ll have some activities to refresh our minds and gather new material.
“Cherish the time. We’ll gather at the hotel lobby in an hour.”
Exhausted, Pei Qian fell in and out of sleep in the car.
He had finally taken his closed-book exam. Over the past few days, he had buried his head in his books, so that he had had no time to work.
However, trying to cram everything at the last minute had been effective. Pei Qian guessed that he would get at least seventy marks.
If he had paid his way through the examinations, he would probably only have gotten sixty marks. Yet, he now had hopes of getting over seventy marks based on his own skills. It was worth being proud of!
To Pei Qian, the time that he had spent studying had not been wasted. As long as he could score slightly higher than Ma Yang, he would be satisfied.
“The next three exams are open-book; I don’t think I have to work that hard anymore. I can keep an eye on the company now. “That’s strange. For some reason, I feel like I’ve forgotten about something.”
Pei Qian spent two minutes trying hard to recall what he had forgotten, but he soon gave up.
He had just taken an exam, and his brain was now completely relaxed. He was not in the right state to try and recall those details.
What’s more, he had too many businesses to take care of now. Pei Qian hardly had the energy to keep track of everything.
He yawned and decided to return to his apartment for a nap first.
Little Sun was a steady driver, but Pei Qian found it difficult to sleep because of the seat belt. Thus, he whipped out his cell phone, accessed Zhongdian Chinese Network’s application, and then caught up on his novels.
Pei Qian had many hobbies. He liked reading comics, watching shows, playing games, watching movies, reading novels, and the like. However, he was a jack of all trades.
After all, he was only doing all of these to entertain himself. There was no need to be so professional; it was all for fun.
Before this, Pei Qian had been reading novels online on Infinite Chinese Network. That was because there was a greater variety, and the novels were often more refreshing.
As for Zhongdian Chinese Network…
On one hand, Zhongdian Chinese Network’s earlier novels had been too trashy. Pei Qian had not been able to bring himself to read them. On the other hand, he had not wanted to support his own company.
However, he had started to read novels on Zhongdian Chinese Network recently.
At the end of the day, he was doing it for work.
Pei Qian felt the need to keep an eye on Zhongdian Chinese Network’s state because it was now generating profits. Before this, Ma Yiqun had tried to submit a sum of money to Tengda, but Pei Qian had rejected it. Yet, until now, Pei Qian had not asked where Ma Yiqun had decided to spend the money.
Part of the reason was that he had forgotten because he had been too busy. However, another part had been that asking too many questions would be out-of-character for Pei Qian.
Instead, Pei Qian thought that as long as he kept a close eye on Zhongdian Chinese Network’s application, he would be able to decipher where the website was headed.
He had to admit that Zhongdian Chinese Network was producing a significant number of good novels now. Pei Qian could finally bring himself to keep reading a couple of novels on the site.
It was the Year 2011. The current trend was exciting Xuanhuan novels about young underdogs with unlimited potential. Most of the top novels on the website were Xuanhuan or Xianxia novels, and many novel gods would attain their titles in the next two years.
Of course, the website’s name was different, and the actual books were different from what Pei Qian remembered.
Still, no matter what, Pei Qian continued reading them. Even though he had read the novels before, he had forgotten their contents completely.
Zhongdian Chinese Network’s library was following Infinite Chinese Network’s closely. The Xuanhuan novels on the former website could be considered the imitations of similar but more popular novels on the latter.
Pei Qian randomly selected novels to read, according to whatever caught his interest on the homepage of the website. He would read them for a while and then quietly delete them once he got bored. He did not even make it to the most current chapter for most of those novels.
Today, when he refreshed the library, Pei Qian was shocked.
A list of new chapters had been uploaded to the few novels that he had saved. In fact, they had been uploaded just two hours ago, at about 12 noon.
Pei Qian frowned, feeling like something was amiss.
What could have happened to make all of those authors upload new chapters at the same time? Could it be a large-scale event among friends?
He quickly clicked on one of the novels to read its latest chapter.
“Hello, readers! I’m only uploading two chapters today because the website has planned team activities for us this afternoon. We’re getting out of jail for a while and touring around Jingzhou to gather new material. I’ll upload more tomorrow!”
Many readers had already left comments below the chapter.
“It’s about time! You’ve been uploading a lot recently. Don’t overwork; get some rest. It’ll be alright as long as you write seven to eight more chapters to make up for this tomorrow.”
“You’ve really been kidnapped! The website even kidnapped so many authors at the same time!”
“Hahaha, ‘getting out of jail for a while’?” “Another author said earlier that he’s attending a class. I thought that it would just be a talk. At the time, I even wondered what use it would be. All I cared about was that he updated the story! Now, from the looks of it, the class is really a ‘lockdown’ organized by the officials! Well done!”
“A certain no-show has been uploading four chapters each day for the past few days as well. I strongly request the officials to keep holding this class!”
“Are there still available slots in the class? I have a regular one-chapter beast here who really needs to attend that class to be educated!”
“Honestly, I think the class is good, but a lot of authors have been writing cliffhanger endings recently. Does the class include professional training for writing cliffhanger endings as well?”.
Beads of cold sweat formed on Pei Qian’s forehead as he read the readers’ comments.
At the same time, a bad feeling surfaced in his gut.
From the comments, Pei Qian quickly confirmed several things. Ma Yiqun had indeed invested the money on mid-tier writers. He had brought those authors to Jingzhou, organized a class, and significantly improved their efficiency!
As for how he did that…
Pei Qian guessed that he had failed to adhere to the Tengda spirit!
Pei Qian was speechless. This Ma Yiqun… how dare you cause a mess like that under my nose?!
It looked like the mid-tier writers were getting better and better. Not only were they uploading more chapters, but they were also drawing inspiration from one another through their constant interaction. Their plots and writing skills were beginning to improve!
If a novel god emerged from among them and he rose to fame, more people would visit Zhongdian Chinese Network!
One had to understand that content was the most important thing in the creative industry. Without content, everything else would be useless.
Many customers would download live-stream platforms’ clients because they liked a certain live-streamer; they would also become loyal users of websites for online literature because they liked a certain novel.
In this world, there was no such thing as pirated copies. If one really liked a book, they could only read it at a stipulated website. There would be no such thing as the author working hard for nothing in return and piracy sites profiting from the content’s popularity.
Thus, Pei Qian sensed a hidden danger.
He immediately called Ma Yiqun to ask where Zhongdian Chinese Network’s online authors’ class was being held. Then, he said to Little Sun, “Turn around; we’ll go to the outskirts first.”
Chapter 396 - A Bunch of Hard Workers!
Half an hour later, at the office building where the online authors’ class was being held…
Ma Yiqun led Pei Qian towards the ‘lockdown area’ that Zhongdian Chinese Network created.
Although Ma Yiqun had left this class entirely to Zhu Xingan, he had to personally tend to and report to Boss Pei now that the latter was here.
“Boss Pei, this is the plan for our class.
“This is a template of the agreement we have signed with the writers.
“This is the daily schedule…”
Ma Yiqun brought each set of documents before Boss Pei, looking and sounding very proud of himself. He was indeed quite proud because the figures and traffic for the website had evidently increased during this period!
If only one author had started uploading many chapters each day, it would probably only affect his own novel’s figures and have minimal effect on the website.
Yet, what if more authors started uploading multiple chapters each day?
Every now and then, the website would organize events that gave readers double the number of votes, or something similar, to motivate writers to upload more chapters and thus improve the traffic on the website.
Now, the class was causing the mid-tier writers to upload multiple chapters per day. Naturally, readers of each book were reading more regularly, and the website’s figures were improving.
“Boss Pei, these are the website’s increasing figures during this period. “These are feedback from the readers.
“All in all, the class has been a major success! It’s been a win-win situation for readers, writers, and the website alike!
“We’re planning to hold the next class immediately after this one ends. We’ll continue to accept new writers and turn these classes into the norm.
“Of course, at the end of the day, you were the one who pointed us in the right direction, Boss Pei!
“You were right. We can’t keep thinking about poaching novel gods over. We have to cultivate them on our own.
“I’ve thought about it already. Even if we poached novel gods from other websites and quoted them extremely high prices, the website would still have lacked the right environment and driving force to maintain the novel god’s popularity. “Now, the class is going to nurture novel gods. As long as we keep nurturing these mid-tier writers, I’m sure that our website would become better with each passing day. It would only be a matter of time before a novel god emerges from among these mid-tier writers!”
Pei Qian was speechless.
If Ma Yiqun had not said those things, Pei Qian would not have guessed that the problem had become that serious.
At that moment, the writers were still touring around Jingzhou with Zhu Xingan. They had not returned yet.
Thus, Pei Qian and Ma Yiqun could keep talking there without being interrupted. Pei Qian casually switched a computer on and realized that it entered the lockdown state automatically. There was no way anyone could do anything entertaining on this computer.
Then, he read the contents of the agreement…
As a slacker himself, Pei Qian’s heart turned cold at once.
This was a well-hidden trap!
Isn’t this akin to a factory that turns huge batches of slackers into hard workers?!
Pei Qian felt the urge to destroy this factory and free the captive writers based on upholding the Tengda spirit.
However, on further thought, he realized that he could not force his way through this problem.
That was because Ma Yiqun had stipulated that the writers were to work eight hours a day and not a single minute overtime!
In name, that had not gone against the Tengda spirit. Furthermore, the website was even providing food and accommodations, a basic salary, insurance, and funds. That was better treatment than most could ask for.
The only problem was probably the automatic lockdown state that the computers went into once they were switched on.
Pei Qian thought that he could start here.
However, he needed to find a logical reason to get rid of it. He needed the writers’ cooperation.
Without revealing his own thoughts, Pei Qian continued chatting with Ma Yiqun about other details of the class while waiting for the writers to return.
They had gone out at 1 PM. Pei Qian guessed that they would be back any time soon.
Lare
Soon after, they heard footsteps outside. “The famous historical sites in Jingzhou are quite ordinary. They don’t look that nice, but I did take a few photographs so that this wouldn’t become a wasted trip.”
“Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is
not bad. Why haven’t I seen it in other cities?”
“Jingzhou seems like quite a livable city.”
The schedule for the afternoon had been quite simple. First, the writers went to Jingzhou’s few historical sites, which were not that well-known. There, they had a taste of Jingzhou’s history and culture. After that, they went to the nearest Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to rest.
Since the schedule was quite simple, nobody felt tired.
At that moment, the writers were walking back to the ‘lockdown area’ where they normally worked. That was when they realized that the door was open. Ma Yiqun was seated there with another young man.
Everyone paused and then greeted him one by one. “Boss Ma!”
Ma Yiqun smiled and stood up. “Did you have fun, everyone? Let me introduce all of you to this man. He is the President of Tengda, Boss Pei Qian. He came down today especially to visit all of you…”
As Ma Yiqun briefly introduced Boss Pei, everyone greeted him. He was the boss of their boss; of course, they had to be respectful.
Most of the writers did not know or care for the ways of the world. However, they still had basic manners.
Pei Qian did not care about those things either. He had waited all this time for a reason. Thus, he cut straight to the chase.
“You’ve been working hard during this period, everyone! If there’s any area in which we are lacking, please feel free to raise it up. We’ll correct it at once.
“What do you think about this online authors’ class? Has it been effective?”
Seeing how polite Boss Pei was being, everyone quickly replied, “Boss Pei, you’re too kind! Boss Ma has been taking extremely good care of us. We’re very thankful. Of course, we don’t have any complaints!”
“The class is very effective. We’ve been more creative, our lives have been more regulated, and our health has been improving. All in all, we’re very thankful to Boss Pei and the website for giving us the chance to attend this class!”
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