Later that afternoon.
He was taking a small nap.
Everything had been settled. The ban on his head had been lifted, and the conflict with his enemies had been settled. Everything that had happened before had come to a perfect end. As a result, he had a very good sleep and had a very good night's sleep. From the moment decree # 43 was passed down, Zhang Ye had not been idle. He was fighting this and that, busying himself with this and that. Every day, there was an endless amount of scolding. Luckily, he managed to pull through. Under everyone's incredulous gaze, he managed to carve out a path for himself. He did not fall from the beginning to the end.
Willpower.
Stamina.
Mental fortitude.
Intellect … alright, it didn't seem to be that.
This was the toughest and toughest test for Zhang Ye ever since he debuted. And Zhang Ye had done what no one else could. Under such great pressure and pressure, he had handed in a perfect answer sheet. For a moment, Zhang Ye felt very fulfilled. This was a sublimation for him and a crucial step towards his goal of becoming an international celebrity. He felt that he had become "strong" again.
Creak.
Dong. The sound of a door opening and closing.
Zhang Ye rubbed his eyes and turned around. He had been woken up by the noise. When he looked at his watch, it was already past 5 PM. It was almost time for dinner, so he stretched and got out of bed.
There were voices coming from outside.
"Little Li, come in quickly."
"Auntie, there's no need. I'm going back now."
"How can I do that? Come in and have some water before you leave."
"Then … then I'll do as you say. Thank you, Auntie."
One of the voices belonged to his mother, while the other was that of a young woman. Zhang Ye did not know who she was. She sounded like a neighbor, but the voice sounded a little familiar.
His father seemed to have gone over. "This is?"
He heard his mother say from outside, "This is Li Mei from Eastern Publishing Firm. I just came back from grocery shopping and was downstairs carrying something that was too heavy, so I nearly fell down the stairs. It was Little Li who held me up. Look, she even brought the stuff up here. Only when she spoke did I realize that Little Li wanted to sign a copy of our son's new book and found out our address. She stood downstairs for a long time but was too embarrassed to come upstairs. Hur hur, hurry up and pour Little Li a cup of tea."
Li Mei said, "Auntie, don't stand on ceremony. I'm not thirsty."
"If you're not thirsty, drink some too. Come and have a seat. I'll call Little Ye out in a while," his mother said.
Li Mei exclaimed, "Teacher Zhang is here too?"
His mother smiled and said, "Yeah, he's taking an afternoon nap."
Li Mei?
Eastern Publishing House?
Oh, isn't this the female comrade who spoke to me on the phone before? How did she know the address? It seemed like he had really put in a lot of effort.
When Zhang Ye heard this, he came out in his pajamas. The moment he opened the door, he saw the person from the publishing firm. He looked to be about 22 or 23 years old, even younger than him. His looks were average and he was dressed in professional attire. It was a very plain color. From his demeanor, he did not seem to have been working for long.
"Hello." Zhang Ye greeted.
Li Mei quickly turned around and said, "Aiyo, Teacher Zhang, how are you? Did I disturb your rest?" She was very excited to see Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "No, I just woke up too. Thank you for bringing the dishes over for my mom. Come, have a seat."
Li Mei said, "It was just a slight effort on my part."
His parents politely invited her to sit down and drink some water. The two of them were rather good-natured people and did not take it for granted that she had come with an ulterior motive. Since Li Mei had helped them, they had to thank her. In this aspect, Zhang Ye had taken after his parents and had been brought up since he was a child.
They chatted for a while.
His parents and Zhang Ye did not mention anything about the publishing firm, nor did Li Mei. They just chatted casually.
But after a while, his mother stood up and said with a smile, "Have a seat, Little Li. I'll go and make dinner."
Li Mei quickly stood up as well. "Let me help you."
"Hai, that won't do." His mother waved her off.
Li Mei chased after her and went into the kitchen. "I've been in Beijing for several years now and have always been cooking for myself. My culinary skills are definitely not as good as yours, but washing and chopping the vegetables is still not a problem. Let me do it!"
"Look at this child." His mother smiled helplessly and said, "Don't get your hands dirty. How can I ask you to help me? Just stay for dinner later."
Li Mei said politely, "If you don't let me help, I won't be able to eat."
After pushing for a long time, his mother finally said, "Hai, alright then. Just wash the vegetables and don't worry about anything else."
"Yes." Li Mei was very happy and her hands were very nimble. She immediately got to work. Her movements were very practiced and it was obvious that she had done a lot of work before.
Li Mei had indeed come with a mission today. Actually, it wasn't really a mission. It was just that during the meeting at the publishing firm at noon, she had brought up a few books for review. Later on, when everyone was discussing about it, the news of Zhang Ye's lifting of the ban on his novel also reached them. Immediately, this Legend of Wukong, which more than half of the editors at the publishing firm had read and loved, was put on the agenda. Several of the executives at the publishing firm wanted to publish this book very much. Not only did they think that Legend of Wukong was very good, just the name of Zhang Ye alone was enough for them to spend a lot of money on it. Sales? Loss of money? They had never considered that before. That was because Zhang Ye's name was equivalent to sales in the publishing industry.
But what did Eastern Publishing Firm have?
In terms of scale, they were not one of the top big publishing firms. In terms of funding, they were not one of the top publishers in the industry either. They were just a medium-sized publishing firm. They might be attractive to other authors, but to someone at Zhang Ye's level, it was clearly not attractive at all. They believed that as long as Zhang Ye released the news that he wanted to sell the copyright to Legend of Wukong, or that he wanted to work with the publishing firm for royalties, then now that his ban had been lifted, there would definitely be countless large publishing firms that would flock to him. Even if Zhang Ye did not say anything about it, many of the publishing firms would have already approached him. As such, Eastern Publishing Firm knew that they were not competitive enough and did not have much hope for it. After the meeting, they directly threw this mission to a newcomer who had just joined the publishing firm for a year.
That newcomer was Li Mei.
The leader did not have much hope, but Li Mei did not. She was very serious about this matter and immediately went to look for a college classmate of hers who was now a reporter. After spending a lot of effort to owe her a lot of meals and repeatedly guaranteeing that she would keep this matter confidential, she finally got Zhang Ye's phone number and the address of his parents. In the end, when she called, she got a cold shoulder. Li Mei did not give up. She hesitated for a long time and still came here. She waited foolishly downstairs and was too embarrassed to go upstairs directly. In the end, her luck was really good today. She felt that the Heavens were taking special care of her. After waiting for an hour, she actually saw Zhang Ye's mother. Because of the mathematical conjecture, Zhang Ye's parents had appeared on the news before. Li Mei had done her homework and naturally knew who they were.
Li Mei felt that since their publishing firm was not the one that could offer the most money, nor was it the largest in terms of scale, what else could they compete for? They could only compete with their sincerity!
"Auntie, let me do it."
"Aiya, didn't I just ask you to wash the vegetables?"
"I did it while I was at it, it's fine. Please don't stand on ceremony with me."
"This child."
"Auntie, why don't you take a rest? The floor is slippery, so be careful not to fall again."
"Alright, I'll be watching."
"Auntie, don't bring so many things when you buy groceries in the future. It's too heavy. If you buy too much next time, just give me a call. I don't live too far from here, so just call me and I'll help you carry them."
"Where do you live?"
"Red Gate."
"Whoa, that's already in the Daxing district. Isn't that far from here?"
"It's fine. The subway is very fast. Just call me if you need anything."
Li Mei rushed to do the work and was very sweet with her words. Zhang Ye's mother liked her very much, so she started to talk more with Li Mei. The two of them chatted non-stop as they cooked.
In the end.
The dishes were ready.
Zhang Ye went over to carry the dishes. "Pass them to me."
Li Mei took them herself. "Teacher Zhang, don't worry about it. It's hot, so I'll carry them."
His mother beamed and said, "Those two dishes were cooked by Little Li. I think her culinary skills are even better than mine. This child is really not bad. She's also very attentive."
"Thank you, Editor Li. I didn't expect you to be so busy." Zhang Ye felt a little embarrassed. "Quickly sit down and eat. You've been working all day."
When it was time to eat, everyone sat down and ate.
His mother tasted a mouthful of food and was immediately full of praise for Li Mei's culinary skills. Then, seeing that Li Mei did not mention anything about the novel, his mother decided to help her ask, "Son, who did you sell the copyright to?"
Li Mei's eyes widened a little.
Zhang Ye ate and said, "I haven't sold it yet."
His mother said, "Little Li's publishing firm also wants to buy your copyright. It doesn't matter who you sell it to. Why don't you talk to Little Li and see if the price is suitable?" She turned around and said, "Little Li, how much are you all willing to pay?"
Li Mei put down her chopsticks and stopped eating. She said in a serious tone, "Auntie, I won't beat around the bush. The highest price that the management has given me is the simplified Chinese copyright for Legend of Wukong. If we go through the buyout route, the highest we can get is 1.5 million RMB. Then, uh, I heard that the simplified Chinese copyright for Ghost Blows Out the Light and Zhang Ye's Compilation were returned to Teacher Zhang after they breached the contract. If it's possible, we would also like to get them back. If we re-release Ghost Blows Out the Light, the sales will definitely not be too bad. After all, the market was not fully saturated after the first edition was released."
His mother asked, "How much is this?"
Li Mei said, "For Ghost Blows Out the Light, it's 1 million RMB. For the compilation, it's 300,000 RMB. But we have to include some of Teacher Zhang's recent poetry works. Oh, I think the rights to the fairy tales that were published by the Children's Youth Publishing Firm have been returned as well? Their Children's Youth Publishing Firm no longer has the rights to publish them anymore. If Teacher Zhang trusts us, we can also publish fairy tales. It's just that we have not done much in the children's literature market in the past, so we can't really guarantee the sales. I have to tell you this first, so there's no need to hide anything. "
His mother nodded slightly. "How much is it in total?"
"Adding it all together, it's a total of 3 million RMB," Li Mei said nervously. Then she began to observe Zhang Ye's facial expression.
Zhang Ye did not say anything and continued eating.
His mother rolled her eyes and gave her son a kick under the table. "Say something? Is that alright? "
Zhang Ye said indifferently, "Sure."
The Legend of Wukong was very famous, but in Zhang Ye's previous world, the sales of The Legend of Wukong would definitely not be able to compare to Ghost Blows Out the Light. It was much worse. Furthermore, there was also the problem of the word count. The word count of Ghost Blows Out the Light was many times that of The Legend of Wukong, so of course it would be more expensive than The Legend of Wukong. Even if the copyright had already been sold once, it could still be sold for 1 million RMB. Considering all these factors, the 1.5 million RMB that the other party offered for The Legend of Wukong was actually not a low price, especially when this novel was already available for free reading on a blog. There were pros and cons to free reading on the internet. The pros were that they could get an early look at the novel and strengthen the promotion to promote the physical novel. The cons were that many people had already read the novel from beginning to end and felt that it was average, so they might not buy the physical novel.
3 million RMB?
That was still alright.
When Li Mei heard Zhang Ye say that it was alright, she was completely stunned. Her hands were trembling in excitement. "Ah? You mean … "
"I'll leave the copyright to your publishing firm. When I get back, send me a copy of the contract with the terms and conditions. Once I sign the contract, it will be done," Zhang Ye said.
It's done?
It's really done??
Li Mei immediately felt like she had been hit by a huge pie in the sky. She felt a little dizzy. "Teacher Zhang, I-I thank you for your trust. Thank you!" Then she hurriedly said to Zhang Ye's mother, "Auntie, thank you!"
His mother smiled and said, "Hurry up and eat."
Li Mei stood up. "I'll go and get the contract done first!"
"This child, why are you in such a hurry?" But his mother held her back. "Little Ye has already agreed to it, so he definitely won't sign it to anyone else. It doesn't matter if we get it done sooner or later. Sit down and eat first. If you don't finish eating, I won't let my son sign the contract. Hurry up."
Li Mei could only suppress her anxiety and say, "Alright, Auntie, I'll listen to you." Then she had a great appetite and started shoving food into her stomach.
His mother exclaimed, "You don't seem to have a big body, but you can really eat a lot."
When Li Mei heard that, she blushed.
After the meal, Li Mei ignored Zhang Ye's parents' attempts to stop her and brought the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen. After washing the dishes, she left Zhang Ye's house.
Outside.
It was getting dark.
Li Mei walked out of the neighborhood and jogged to catch up with a taxi in front of her. After getting in, she hurriedly dialed the number of the team leader who had brought her along at the publishing firm.
Du du. The call connected.
"Little Li, what's the matter?" the middle-aged man on the other end asked.
Li Mei clenched her fists and said, "Team Leader! It's done! "
The team leader was confused. "What's done? What is it? "
"The task that you gave me in the afternoon." Li Mei's heart was thumping non-stop. Even now, she still couldn't believe it. "I-I-I've done it!"
The team leader on the other end was shocked. "Are you talking about Zhang Ye's publishing?"
Li Mei said, "Yes!"
"The copyright to Legend of Wukong?" the team leader asked.
Li Mei added, "Ghost Blows Out the Light and the other copyrights … have all been secured as well! Teacher Zhang has already given them to our publishing firm. Once we're done with the contract, he will sign it! A total of 3 million RMB! "
Pa! The sound of a thigh being slapped came from the other end of the line. "That's great! Well done, Little Li! Beautifully done! What a beautiful job! Wait for me to report this to the editor-in-chief! The contract will be printed immediately! Little Li, you've really done a great service for our publishing firm this time. You've even managed to complete such a difficult task? Good! Good! Good! " When this task was given to them, their publishing firm did not hold much hope. Otherwise, they wouldn't have handed it over to a newcomer. With Zhang Ye's literary talent and such a big name, why did so many big publishing firms reject him and give the copyrights to a medium-sized publishing firm like theirs instead? It didn't make any sense. They thought that they might not even get to see Zhang Ye's face!
But who could have expected that Li Mei would actually complete it in just one afternoon!?
With Zhang Ye's copyrights, not only would their publishing firm earn a sum of money, with Zhang Ye's name on it, their reputation in the industry would also rise to the next level!
Eastern Publishing Firm.
"It's done!"
"What's done?"
"Zhang Ye has signed it!"
"Ah?"
"Are you for real?"
"What the heck! Teacher Zhang has become a writer for our publishing firm? "
"Surely not? That's even possible? Who was the one who did this? Isn't this too awesome? Zhang Ye is such a big publishing god, and he even managed to sign it? "
"It was Li Mei who did it!"
"Little Li?"
"What? It was a newcomer who took it? "
"Li Mei is going to be promoted soon! Haha! "
The contract was quickly prepared and brought by Li Mei to Zhang Ye's parents' house. This time, Li Mei was not the only one who came. There were also three or four people from the publishing firm who came along. There were legal staff, copyright editors, and even the editor-in-chief who came personally to take charge of this very significant signing of the contract. It was very grand as Eastern Publishing Firm gave Zhang Ye the highest level of treatment. Finally, after both parties signed the contract, the editor-in-chief went out to make a phone call. A minute later, the money was transferred to Zhang Ye's account. It could be said that it was done extremely quickly. He did not even blink when the money was transferred!
Zhang Ye was also quite surprised. He had never received money so quickly before. After deducting the 3 million yuan from taxes, it would still amount to more than 2 million yuan. Royalties were different from personal income tax as they were less deducted. So with such a sum of money coming into his account, it was just nice to solve Zhang Ye's urgent need for funds.
The editor-in-chief had a private conversation with Li Mei before. In the past, he did not even know that there was such a newcomer in the publishing firm and did not pay much attention to her. Only after receiving the news did he realize that there was such a capable young woman in the publishing firm. After chatting for a while, he felt that this newcomer was right. Their publishing firm did not have anyone that they could offer, so what could they rely on to compete? What could they rely on to compete with others? They could only rely on their sincerity! As such, not only did they pay the royalties quickly, they even paid the full amount in advance. Even the compensation for breach of contract, other than a few essential clauses, did not include any of the usual compensation clauses. Yes, they did not even include those clauses. This showed their sincerity to the greatest extent. They knew that the incident with Beijing Education Publishing Firm had annoyed Zhang Ye a lot.
Just like that, the matter was miraculously settled!
On the same night, the news of Zhang Ye signing with Eastern Publishing Firm spread like wildfire in the industry!
"Ah?"
"Eastern Publishing Firm? What kind of place is that? "
"I've never heard of it before either?"
"I know, it's a medium-sized publishing firm in Beijing. It's not a big publishing firm."
"How can that be? Why did Zhang Ye sign with them?"
"I don't know. I heard from a friend that it also included the copyrights to Ghost Blows Out the Light, Zhang Ye's Compilation, and those fairy tales! They were all given to Eastern Publishing Firm! Hai, I'm so fucking envious of them. They've managed to pull a big tree over to their side this time, and it's even a cash cow at that. Our publishing firm's CEO even got a few of us to form a team to take down Teacher Zhang Ye, but before we could even set out, it was already over! "
"Our publishing firm was also bent on getting Zhang Ye's publishing rights, but it's a pity that Eastern Publishing Firm got ahead of us. This is really a dark horse. No one could have expected this outcome!"
"Who took it down?"
"I heard that it was someone called Li Mei."
"Li Mei? Why haven't I heard of her before? "
"Who is this godly person?"
"She's a newcomer."
"Damn, surely not, right?"
"So many veteran editors from big publishing firms have all lost to a newcomer?"
"Li Mei?"
Slowly, Li Mei's name began to spread in the publishing industry!
In fact, only Li Mei herself knew that signing Teacher Zhang Ye was not as difficult as everyone thought it would be. Those who had not met Zhang Ye before, due to the influence of the news reports and the scolding incident, would subconsciously think that Zhang Ye had a bad temper and was not easy to talk to or communicate with. As a result, they would view signing his new book as an extremely difficult task and treat it as an impossible task. But Li Mei had interacted with Zhang Ye before, and it was the kind of face-to-face interaction she had with him. She knew that Teacher Zhang was not as "scary" as everyone thought he was. Instead, he was very kind, reasonable, and did not put on an air of being a celebrity. He was also a very filial person.
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