"Huang Yifan, what have you been busy with these days? Other than mealtimes, I can't even see you around."
It was lunchtime again. Zhang Huiping placed two sheets of draft paper on the table and sat down to eat with Huang Yifan.
"Busy picking fights with masters of the literary world."
Huang Yifan said half-jokingly, picking up the draft paper Zhang Huiping had brought. "What's this?"
"Picking fights with literary masters? Come on, Huang Yifan, can you be serious for once?"
"Believe it or not."
Huang Yifan replied helplessly and glanced at the draft. "My resilient heart is like the stars in the night…"
After reading just a few lines, he nearly choked on his food. "What is this? Why does it feel so cringey?"
"It's an essay by Guo Cheng."
"I mean, Zhang Huiping, why did you copy down Guo Cheng's essay?"
"Isn't there going to be a recitation competition? I'm planning to recite this piece, 'Stars of the Night.' What do you think? It's pretty good, right?"
"This is a disaster."
Huang Yifan looked like he was about to cry. "Didn't I tell you not to read Guo Cheng and Han Jin's stuff? And you're even going to recite it? Did your brain short-circuit or something?"
"But didn't you say you were just bragging?"
"Uh… did I say that?"
"Yes."
Zhang Huiping confirmed.
"Oh, come on…"
Huang Yifan felt exasperated. "H-how do I explain this? Do I look like someone who just brags? Of course not. Just yesterday, I went head-to-head with literary masters and knocked them all down. Someone of my status wouldn't brag like that."
"There you go again."
"You…"
Huang Yifan was speechless. He hadn't expected that one day Zhang Huiping would leave him this frustrated.
Wasn't she such a sweet girl before? How had she changed like this?
"Alright, fine. I was bragging about fighting literary masters. But seriously, don't recite Guo Cheng's essay. Here, I'll write one for you. Just recite mine instead."
"That's great, here."
As she spoke, Zhang Huiping handed him paper and a pen from her pocket.
"…Why are you carrying these around?"
Huang Yifan asked curiously.
"Well…"
Zhang Huiping blushed slightly and said awkwardly, "I've been practicing recitation lately, so I keep paper and a pen on me to jot things down."
"That makes sense."
Nodding, Huang Yifan took the paper and pen. Without any hesitation, he finished writing in just over twenty minutes.
"Here, use this essay for your recitation. But don't say I wrote it."
…
Mota Publishing House.
"Gao Hong, what have you been doing lately? I entrusted you with the entire youth literature section. Look at this, yesterday Han Jin's book sold how many copies nationwide? One thousand. Just one thousand! Do you think Guo Cheng is some rookie? If this number gets out, we'll be the laughingstock of the industry."
Editor-in-Chief Ren Changxing of Mota Publishing held a report in hand, staring sternly at Gao Hong.
"Editor Ren, actually… this isn't entirely our fault. It's all because of that damn Qiushui. You probably know that recently there's been a major debate in the literary world over prose theory. And out of nowhere, Qiushui claimed that modern prose is just empty whining with no real meaning. Then he used his own theory to defeat a group of well-known scholars. And with that one essay he wrote, readers started abandoning the old style of prose. Han Jin's essay collections used to sell really well, but this time they got dragged down by the situation."
"And Editor Ren, it's not just Han Jin. Guo Cheng's works are also being ignored. All of this is Qiushui's doing."
"I don't care about Qiushui or whoever. I only care about results. Gao Hong, a publishing house, has only one goal: to produce bestsellers. Han Jin is a leading figure in youth literature. If that brand collapses, do you know what the consequences will be?"
"Editor Ren, don't worry. I've already discussed it with Han Jin. He'll be releasing a new youth literature work. But this time, not essays but a novel. A campus novel. That's what he's best at."
"Fine, go handle it. But I don't want any surprises this time."
…
"Finally reached 5 stars."
After class, Huang Yifan logged into the Huaguo Writers' official website. After checking, he found that the pen name Qiushui had risen to 5-star status.
This gave him a small sense of satisfaction.
Ji Ziping was right, arguing really does boost your ranking.
Looks like he should pick more fights like this in the future.
Of course, he also knew it wasn't that simple.
While arguments in the literary world happened from time to time, most were small-scale disputes. Something like this, a nationwide theoretical debate on prose, might not happen even once in ten years. So relying on such battles to climb ranks wasn't realistic.
Still, 5 stars were already pretty good, and Huang Yifan was content.
He then checked the privileges and benefits of a 5-star writer.
Finding nothing particularly interesting, he skipped over them.
After closing the site, he saw a message on TT from Hongdou, an editor at New Moon Publishing.
"Fanchen, your 'A Chinese Ghost Story' is doing great. It's already sold 500,000 copies."
"Wow, that fast? Didn't it just hit 400,000 not long ago? Another 100,000 in just a few days?"
"Heh, partly because your work is good, partly because we increased promotion. And of course… partly because you got lucky."
"Lucky? How so?"
"There's been a big prose theory debate recently. Heard about it?"
"I saw something about it in the newspaper, but what does that have to do with my novel?"
"How could it not? Think about it. Why did the debate start? Because Qiushui criticized a youth literature writer named Nianhua. Then the debate escalated. The traditional camp believed prose shouldn't need a clear theme, like the essays Guo Cheng and Han Jin write. But Qiushui argued for 'loose form, united spirit.' In the end, he defeated them all and followed up with 'Back View,' which basically wiped those theme-less essays off the market. Guo Cheng and Han Jin are the leading figures of youth-style prose, so their works stopped selling almost overnight."
"I see. So their essays aren't selling, but readers still want something to read… so they ended up buying my 'A Chinese Ghost Story' instead?"
"Haha, exactly."
"Didn't expect to get lucky like this."
Huang Yifan chuckled awkwardly. This was an unexpected benefit from his own literary battle.
Looks like picking fights might come in handy again someday.
"Congratulations."
"Same to you."
They exchanged congratulations.
"But Fanchen, there's something I need to ask."
"What is it?"
"To push your book further, we're planning a nationwide signing tour in ten cities. What do you think?"
"Sorry, I don't have time."
Huang Yifan refused immediately.
Online fiction was one thing. Many web novel authors were young, and it wasn't unusual. But print publishing was different. He wasn't ready to reveal himself yet, nor did he want unnecessary controversy. He had no intention of becoming an "entertainment-style" author like Guo Cheng or Han Jin. He preferred quietly writing in the background.
"Think about it. Readers love meeting authors. A signing tour could boost your sales significantly. And right now, youth prose is being suppressed, which is the perfect chance for 'A Chinese Ghost Story' to expand. If you don't seize this moment, once Guo Cheng and Han Jin release their new books, your momentum might be crushed."
"Oh? They're releasing new books?"
"Yes. They're leaders in youth literature and understand their audience well. Your 'A Chinese Ghost Story' is good, but it's still a supernatural story, too niche. It can't compete directly with youth literature. If you don't take advantage now, breaking one million sales will be difficult."
Hongdou made a valid point. Huang Yifan nodded, but suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
"In that case… Hongdou, what do you think about me writing a youth literature novel too?"
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