Wakaki Yasuhiro was a well-known writer. At the age of 29, he won the Araki Prize for his book "The Absurd Thief".
He was now in his forties. His hair was slightly white, and he wore a pair of light red rimmed glasses. He was dressed in a grey suit and tie. He stepped onto the stage and bowed slightly to the crowd. Everyone applauded him.
Wakaki Yasuhiro had written several works in the past ten years. Among them were "Hometown", "Empty Talker" and "The Last Soul Fiend".
In particular, "Empty Talker" could be said to be Wakaki Yasuhiro's best work in the past ten years. It brought him many honors. In the recent Oka Prize, "Empty Talker" was successfully nominated and almost won the crown.
Even if it didn't succeed, it still made the famous Wakaki Yasuhiro famous. It made his status rise and he became one of the top writers in Japan.
Therefore, the host of the Araki Prize this time was Wakaki Yasuhiro. It was enough to show his identity and status.
"As everyone knows, the Wild Wood Prize has always prioritized quality. If there isn't a suitable work, we would rather fail than make up the numbers. But what we are very happy about is that this year, we have produced three outstanding new works." Wakaki Yasuhiro did not hold the script for his speech. He spoke to the audience.
"These three works are – Takashi Ikegaki's" The Crane from Afar ", Hiroshi Murakata's" Remembrance is not nostalgia ", and Shinji Yamada's" Who is the Second Man "!"
"Let's applaud for these people!" With that, Wakaki Yasuhiro applauded. Then the audience applauded. Amidst the applause, Takashi Ikegaki and Hiroshi Murakata stood up and bowed to the people around them.
Takashi Ikegaki was wearing a custom-made black suit today. His appearance was extraordinary, and coupled with the meticulous dressing, it made him look very elegant. His gentle and modest attitude could not help but greatly increase people's impression of him.
As for Murakata Hiroshi, the most powerful candidate for the Araki Prize, he had a wavy hairstyle that was not commonly seen in Japan. His eyes were small, his eyebrows were thick, and his mustache was long, giving people a very strange feeling.
Hiroshi Murakata was a diligent writer. He wrote a lot of short stories, but his name was not famous. Until the publication of "Remembrance is not nostalgia", it received a lot of positive comments. It was said that Hiroshi Murakata's book was profound and thought-provoking. It was a good book worth reading.
And there was a famous Japanese writer Keiyuki Yamagawa who made such comments.
Keiji Yamanokawa was best at writing short stories. His articles were profound, humorous, and had rich philosophical connotations.
Reading his novels, one would find that if one were to delve deeper into the issues of human nature and human relations, as well as the speculations that arose from this, and "Notes to No One" was the masterpiece of Keiyuki Yamano.
Yamanokawa Keizhi was usually a very serious person. He did not usually praise people, and those who were worthy of his praise must have something outstanding about them.
Because of this, when Keiyuki Yamano reviewed Hiroshi Murakata's "Remembrance Is Not Nostalgia" with a high evaluation, Hiroshi Murakata became known to more people, and he even made it into the Wild Wood Prize shortlist, and now became one of the three candidates.
After the two of them bowed to each other, Pei Zi Yun did not move forward. This caused the surrounding people to be astonished.
Someone in the audience whispered in a regretful voice, "Is Yamada Shinichi not here yet? Hmm, what a pity. I will definitely fail the Desolate Wood Rewards this time. "
Works that could be selected for the Desolate Wood Prize would naturally not be bad. In a situation where the works were about the same, the author's attitude was very important.
Every award needed to be recognized — whether it was the recognition of the person involved or the public.
A candidate who couldn't come to receive an award would usually be eliminated. There were even some major international awards that stipulated that if a candidate couldn't receive an award in person, the award would be nullified.
Now that Pei Zi Yun didn't even show up, everyone else was looking down on him.
However, the podium did not seem to be affected at all.
Wakaki Yasuhiro continued, "Now, let's invite Hideo Nihon to announce the Desolate Wood Prize for everyone!"
At this moment, there was another round of warm applause.
Hideo Nihon was also a well-known author, known as the "Father of Evil". His most famous book was "Revenge". This book vividly portrayed the evilness of human nature, making people gasp in amazement. Some people even said that "Revenge" showed the evilness of human nature. This book brought him many honors.
This time, the Desolate Wood Prize was announced by Hideo Nihon.
Hideo Nihon stepped forward and opened the name list in his hand. There was not much suspense. After all, he was an author and not a professional host. He only said slowly in a low voice, "The winner of this Desolate Wood Prize is Yamada Shinichi's" Who is the Second Man "!"
When Hideo Nihon announced the result, there were people below who were dissatisfied. Even the Japanese could not maintain their composure at this time. Someone whispered, "Yamada Shinichi didn't even come, how can he win the award?"
Someone else also replied, "Yes, could it be that there is some inside story to the Desolate Wood Prize? This time, the winner of the Desolate Wood Prize will definitely be 'Commemoration, Not Remembrance'. How can 'Who is the Second Man' win the award? "
"No, I think it should be 'The Crane From Afar'!"
Although it was not an open question, there were still whispers below the stage. Wakaki Yasuhiro listened to the noise below and frowned as he walked to the center of the stage. He held the microphone and said, "Please remain quiet. The winner of the Desolate Wood Prize is absolutely fair and just!"
"Due to special reasons, Yamada Shinichi cannot come personally. He will receive the award on behalf of his representative."
After Wakaki Yasuhiro finished speaking, the noise in the venue became quiet. After all, everyone present was someone with status. Although they were somewhat puzzled and dissatisfied with the final result, they immediately understood what kind of occasion this was, so they kept quiet.
Hearing this, Sakako went up to receive the award.
At this time, there were still people muttering in low voices, expressing their dissatisfaction.
Sakako held a trophy in her hands. This trophy was made of platinum, with three words written on it, 'Desolate Wood Prize'. This was the symbol of honor.
When Sakako returned to her seat, she did not directly hand the trophy to Pei Zi Yun. This was because everyone was watching and it would be easy to link it to Pei Zi Yun. Instead, she congratulated him softly, "Yamada Shinichi, you are really amazing!"
While the Jin Kawa Shrine was dealing with the aftermath of Pei Zi Yun's attack on the Uchiyama Group, they once again evaluated Pei Zi Yun.
This time, the Jin Chuan Shrine had made a conjecture based on the information they had gathered. It was highly likely that Pei Zi Yun was the reincarnation of a warrior's soul. There was also a small possibility that he was born this way. But no matter what, such a person was definitely qualified to be the young master of the Jin Chuan Shrine.
However, Pei Zi Yun receiving the 'Desolate Wood Prize' was a pleasant surprise.
For a samurai to receive such an honor was something that had never happened before. The Jin Kawa Shrine had no choice but to adjust their evaluation and attitude.
Although in terms of money, writing a novel might not be able to match up to a successful retirement, writers were highly respected in Japan and had a high status in society. In some aspects, even samurai would find it difficult to achieve.
Thus, Sakako Sanako's feelings were somewhat complicated.
At this time, the president of the White Rock Academy Publishing House, Omuri Hiro, came over. It was Nagano Narumi who passed Pei Zi Yun's latest manuscript, .
When Omuri Hiro saw it, he was shocked. He didn't expect the youngest author to have written such a good book. Just in case, he came over personally.
Omuri Hiro looked at Pei Zi Yun and said, "Congratulations on receiving the Desolate Wood Prize. Firstly, I believe that with this reputation, we can increase the print run of . It's even possible to sell 100,000 copies."
There was a precedent for this. Once a book received a great prize, it would cause the sales to increase rapidly. 100,000 copies was a relatively conservative figure.
"As for this , our publishing house will sell 10,000 copies of the original manuscript, and the royalty will be 12%. How about that?"
Pei Zi Yun smiled when he heard the president's words.
Before receiving the Desolate Wood Prize, selling 6,000 copies of the original manuscript for was already a very good deal, and the royalty was only 8%. Now that he had received the Desolate Wood Prize, the royalty had increased significantly.
This was very realistic!
Pei Zi Yun did not raise any conditions to the president. He nodded his head and said, "White Rock Academy has helped me a lot. I agree to this condition!"
Sakako frowned and seemed to have something to say. However, Pei Zi Yun remained unmoved.
After the president left in satisfaction, Sakako turned to Pei Zi Yun and said, "Yamada Takeshi, the price can be raised a little more!"
Pei Zi Yun shook his head and said, "Although I have received the Desolate Wood Prize, I am indeed a newcomer. I'm not like some newcomers who have already debuted for five to six years."
"That's why I don't have a lot of reputation, and my asking price can't be too high. White Rock Academy's price is actually very fair, and I've taken quite a bit of risk. Furthermore, I'm happy working with White Rock Academy, and there's no need to haggle over every ounce. We'll have a long time to work together in the future."
The original draft of the 200,000-word Nocturnal Ghost alone was worth 5 million yuan. If it sold 100,000 copies, it would be 12 million yuan. Including the ongoing sales of Who is the Second, it would be an annual income of 20 million yuan.
Pei Zi Yun needed money, but he didn't care much about it. He wasn't calculative about it either. He was willing to receive favors from others, and he would repay them in kind. Most importantly, although he hadn't announced that he had completed his mission, he could feel that he had completed a huge part of it. He was overjoyed, and decided to continue working hard.
"Plans can't keep up with changes, but this change is very beneficial."
"The wooden blade dominates the entire country. My original plan was to sweep away all the dojos."
"But how can sweeping away the dojos compare to sweeping away the evil spirits?"
Thinking of this, Pei Zi Yun took out his phone and looked at the time. Seeing that the meeting was about to end, he said to Sakako, "Now, it's almost time to go to the Rimien Dojo!"
Hearing this, Sakako did not speak. She confirmed the time and nodded. "Yes, Yamada Takeshi! It's almost time. Our people have been arranged. Let's go through the back door! "
After saying this, Sakako was very pleased with Yamada Shinji's confidence. Although she did not know where this confidence came from, the Japanese were very superstitious and believed that momentum often determined victory or defeat. She immediately got up and led Pei Zi Yun to a small door and out of the hotel.
Obviously, this small door was a hidden passage of the hotel. It was only used in emergencies or special circumstances. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy to avoid the reporters.
After all, although they were strangers before and no one paid attention to them, Sakako had just received the Araki reward. This was the focus of the reporters, so how could they leave so easily?
Although it was drizzling when they went out, they saw a row of cars within ten steps. Sakako personally held an umbrella and pointed to a silver-gray car in the middle of the car, saying, "Yamada Takeshi, this is your car. Please come in!"
Pei Zi Yun entered the car and found that the driver was silent. He was wearing a black suit and looked solemn. This was the background of Mikawa Shrine.
"Let's go!" Sakako took over the command of the car and did not let the chores bother Yamada Shinji. After giving the order, she found that there was no objection and felt relieved.
The car quietly filed out and crossed the road in the light rain.
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