"Chen Ya told me that he made the film for one reason," Jiang Xinhai said, "and that was to make money."
"Making money? But... wasn't he already making a fortune from writing at that time?" Qin Yunchu asked in surprise.
"A huge profit? No," Jiang Xinhai said. "The domestic publishing industry was very depressed at the time. Do you know how many copies of his best-selling novel, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, were printed? Barely a million copies, and that was after several reprints."
"ah?"
This answer was extremely counterintuitive. In Qin Yunchu's mind, the Jinyong Ancient Cage was too famous, and it seemed like everyone in China had seen it, so it shouldn't be just this.
Jiang Xinhai said, "There's nothing surprising about that. The domestic publishing industry was in decline at the time. You've also worked as a book editor, so you should be well aware that the first edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes only had 100,000 copies."
Qin Yunchu was stunned for a moment, then nodded. Actually, a first print run of 100,000 copies was already quite impressive for Chen Ya, a newcomer at the time. Even selling 10,000 copies was considered a blessing for an unknown newcomer.
Qin Yunchu said, "If we calculate the price of 100,000 copies of the book at 35 yuan, the royalties would be about 6.5%. In other words, Chen Ya only received... a little over 200,000 yuan for the first edition?"
"Yes, the royalties increased a bit later, but taxes still had to be deducted, plus various other expenses. In the end, by the time he finished writing more than 50 sets of books, he only had a total of 8 million on hand."
"8 million?" Qin Yunchu's lips moved. "How could it be only this much?"
Jiang Xinhai smiled bitterly and said, "Less than expected, right? It's completely inconsistent with its reputation. The main reason is that, firstly, the publishing industry was indeed in a downturn at the time, and secondly, there were too many pirated books. Most people actually read pirated copies."
Qin Yunchu pondered, "Hmm... Indeed, our biggest headache back then was pirated books."
"So what he actually got was just enough to get out of poverty, and it was far from a tidy fortune. What's more... he immediately threw most of it into real estate."
Jiang Xinhai paused, then continued, "He bought dozens of houses in Beijing and Shanghai in one go."
Qin Yun took a deep breath when he first arrived. "Dozens of units? Oh, indeed. The real estate market back then wasn't as crazy as it is now."
Gu Yuqing finally couldn't help herself and joined the conversation: "At that time, the housing prices in Beijing were around 6,000, and they were still unsaleable. He bought so many, which shows his good judgment."
Jiang Xinhai said seriously, "Maybe it's more than just foresight. The real estate market boom was mainly due to the wave of large-scale infrastructure construction that followed that year. He was able to spend all his money on the real estate market the year before. I doubt he could foresee the future. Even the powerful and wealthy back then wouldn't dare to invest money like that."
Gu Yuqing pursed her lips and said, "Maybe he traveled back from the future?"
Qin Yunchu smiled silently. No one would take this joke seriously.
"Well, so he used all his money to buy a house. Later, to make money, he started making movies with Su Xiaonuan?" Qin Yunchu asked, "But why Su Xiaonuan?"
"Maybe it was because Su Xiaonuan was his only friend at the time," Jiang Xinhai said. "Making a movie requires not only money, but also connections and resources."
"That's why it's so amazing," Qin Yunchu said. "He and Su Xiaonuan were just ordinary people from a small mountain village back then, right? They were even still in school. How did he convince those people to help him make the movie?"
"He asked a literary giant for help, and with a script, he went to Cao Kunguan, a well-known producer at the time," Jiang Xinhai said. "The script was called 'Crazy Stone.'"
…
"Xiaoyou, have you ever thought about this question: why haven't we discovered any time travelers yet?"
In the taxi, Su Xiaonuan suddenly said.
Xia You came back to his senses and blinked.
She was very glad that Su Xiaonuan changed the topic away from Chen Ya, so that she could think about other issues normally.
Xia You asked, "Are you talking about the space-time version of the Fermi Paradox?"
“Well, it’s called the Fermi Paradox.”
"Fermi said that if there are aliens in the universe, then after a long enough time, humans will definitely be able to observe aliens," Xia You said. "Similarly, if a time machine is invented, then people will definitely encounter people who traveled from the future to the present by time machine."
Su Xiaonuan smiled and nodded, "So, what do you think?"
"That means there are no aliens in the world." Xia You leaned his head against the car window. "Humanity ultimately failed to invent a time machine. It perished before it could be invented."
Su Xiaonuan asked, "Are you afraid?"
"Why should I be afraid?"
"Why aren't you afraid?"
"It will definitely take many years for humans to become extinct anyway," Xia You leaned against the car window and said quietly, "I will have already perished before that. It's none of my business."
Su Xiaonuan said, "But have you ever doubted that some people in this world seem to be able to foresee the future and do amazing things? Have you ever doubted that those people might have traveled from the future?"
Xia You suddenly raised his head: "What do you mean?"
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