Chu Li felt that there could be a handful of people in this world who were as useless as her, who would go limp when someone they liked held their hand... She lowered her head, staring at her hand that was being held, fearing that she would get so nervous that her palms would sweat and then be rejected -
That's so embarrassing.
Joo-Chuan walked in front. He was wearing a black sweater and jeans. After he had his hair done, he looked as good as any male lead in a Korean drama. He was tall and straight, with an indifferent expression and a firm gaze straight ahead. If he walked straight onto the red carpet at the Flower Awards ceremony, no one would say anything...
How many little girls on the street are looking back——
Hey, stop looking.
It's mine, I can't take it away.
I have worked so hard to get this, and I will never let it go so easily...
"Teacher, if you go to the book signing event like this, I'm confident that selling 50,000 or 60,000 copies of the book on the spot is not a problem," Chu Li quickened his pace and followed the man, the corners of his lips raised unconsciously, "Why don't you want to sign books?"
"I hate crowded places and smiling and pretending to be friendly with hundreds of strangers."
"…But this is the image you create for the outside world."
"It's just a character that can be created by typing a few words and posting on Weibo," Zhu Chuan glanced lazily at the little girl who was struggling to keep up with him on her relatively short legs. "In real life, if I have to smile at a stranger for two hours, I'd choose death."
Chu Li: "..."
What a “gentle and smooth jade-like young master Chuan”.
The character setting... was so successful that she almost believed it.
Chu Li: "Teacher Jiang Yucheng always threatens you to post a Weibo post to expose your true face. In the past, I always thought he was threatening you and would not actually do that, but at this moment, I suddenly feel that if he really did that, there is nothing wrong with it..."
Zhaochuan raised his eyebrows.
Chu Li: "It is to act on behalf of heaven."
Zhuchuan glanced at her, then raised their clasped hands and shook them in front of her eyes, as if it was a hammer harder than a hammer: "Isn't that why you like me?"
"…………" Chu Li thought carefully about what he meant, and then asked, "Who are you calling a pervert?"
Zhuochuan snorted and squeezed his head.
At this time, the two of them came to the door of the cinema. In March 2014, the most worth-watching domestic film released nationwide was "Black Coal, Thin Ice". Chu Chuan read the film reviews on the Internet. People said that this film was very good in terms of plot arrangement, tension and atmosphere. In addition, the heroine Katsura Luanmei was also his favorite. He was looking forward to going to the cinema to support the box office...
I was about to check for the nearest suitable showtime, but when I looked back, I found that the little girl I brought was standing in front of the movie poster of "The Magpie in the Palace", unable to move.
Yes, it was "The Magpie on a Different Branch", which was adapted from the novel of the same name by the international writer and director Mr. Houston Herman, who pushed him out of the golden position at the Old Chinese Bookstore.
Zhuchuan: “…”
After the novel of "The Strange Bird on the Other Branch" became a super hit, the movie of "The Strange Bird on the Other Branch" was also released during the Lunar New Year holiday this year. The entire movie was produced by the world's largest film production company AIR, with a top-notch screenwriting team, top-notch shooting techniques, and excellent special effects that did not take the production funds as money...
It can be said that AIR is the ultimate dream of every filmmaker and the highest level hall that every writer can enter when bringing his work to the world.
Mr. Herman, the original author of "The Strange Bird on the Other Branch", is Turkish and is good at shooting works with strong national characteristics. This time, "The Strange Bird on the Other Branch" can be regarded as a return to his original nationality, so his work is also full of exotic literary and narrative techniques, exquisite and shocking pictures, and plot content full of suggestive fun... For a while, the box office was extremely popular, breaking the norm, and the discussion about the content of the movie script continued on the Internet. So far, more than a dozen professionals in different industries have expressed completely different opinions on the movie——
Like a kaleidoscope.
It's like "Hamlet" in the movie world.
Hirokawa: "...What do you mean by standing in front of the poster of "The Magpie on the Other Branch" with a crazy look on your face? Do you want to end all ties with me?"
Chu Li raised his head, looking puzzled: "Aren't we here to see this?"
Chu Chuan said calmly, "I'm here to see Katsura Magne."
Chu Li: “………………………………don’t be like that, The Magpie on the Other Branch is very popular, I didn’t go to see it with my brother during the Chinese New Year just to save it for when I get back to watch it with you.”
"I won't," Zhu Chuan took a step back, looking resistant, "You asked me to contribute to the box office of the movie of the same name that pushed me out of the golden stacking position!"
Chu Li Fu'e: "Aren't you also a fan of Hermann..."
Zhuo Chuan regained his paralyzed dead look and said, "Until he rushed the Luo River Divine Book down from the golden pile in the Old Chinese Bookstore, I was."
Zhuochuan: "Nowadays, colleagues are probably enemies."
"Calling yourself and Herman 'colleagues' is really shameless. You'll get a lot of money if you post on Weibo..." Chu Li reached out and grabbed Zhu Chuan and dragged him to the ticket office. "Come on, let's go. Just watch this. Don't think I don't know that you've secretly watched the trailer of "The Magpie in the Other Branch" at home more than a dozen times."
"That's because you didn't notice that I watched Guilun Magnesium more than 20 times..."
"Teacher! Can you be more promising?"
"What does it mean to be successful? To work as a screenwriter for Hermann's novels one day? To adapt a novel into a movie and have AIR make it?"
"That seems too much, and should be classified as 'delusion'."
"I've been too indulgent towards you lately, so you've become more and more unbridled."
While Zhuo Chuan was muttering in dissatisfaction, Chu Li had already taken out her wallet with a smile and asked the ticket seller for two tickets. When choosing her seat, she didn't even have the time to open her mouth before she was squeezed to the side by her little princess's male companion. Under the look of the ticket seller who said, "I know if he wasn't so handsome you wouldn't have kept him to celebrate the New Year and Valentine's Day with him," the little princess who had been threatening not to look at him a second ago chose the prime seat in the middle of the front row.
Facing Chu Li's questioning eyes, he cleared his throat and said righteously: "If you want to watch it, then watch it carefully. Movie tickets are not money, right?"
"Teacher, if you keep saying one thing and thinking another, what will happen if AIR Company comes to buy your writing to make a movie and asks for 10 million and you blurt out 'Do you think I'm a beggar?'"
"They won't have a chance to ask for money," Zhu Chuan stuffed the change for buying popcorn into Chu Li's hand, and drove her away like a primary school student, while ruthlessly saying in a steady voice, "If they are willing to film my novel, I will take the initiative to offer them 10 million before they even open their mouths."
“…”
The latest movie was about to start in five minutes. Chu Li used the pocket money given by Zhao Chuan to buy a bucket of popcorn, held her in her arms, and followed him into the theater to take his seat... This was their second time watching a movie together, but this time they didn't bring Jiang Yucheng along.
Before coming, Chu Li had read some film reviews, but when watching the film, she still felt that the plot was rather obscure and difficult to understand. Of course, it could also be because of my lack of education. Anyway, when she was one-third of the way through the film, when a group of men in white clothes were dancing in circles with their heads up in the air, challenging the limits of the human body, Chu Li's hand had already reached out dishonestly to Cheol Chuan...
The hand hesitated.
Then she carefully pried open his arm that was hanging at the side of his body, and stuffed it into the gap between his body and arm, half hugging his arm.
I looked up at Chu Chuan, and saw that the man was still staring at the movie screen...
He looked very serious.
Chu Li lowered her head and yawned slightly in the dim light of the cinema. The hand that was holding Zhao Chuan's arm quietly tightened and pinched his sweater...
At this moment, a man whose eyes were fixed on the big screen without moving suddenly raised his other hand, reached out and quietly pressed her head down, so that she was frozen in a stable position with her arms around his arm and her head resting on his shoulder.
In the darkness, Chu Li widened his eyes slightly.
The man patted her head and then took his hand away, as if to say, go to sleep if you are sleepy, even though it was the movie you insisted on watching.
"...Teacher." Chu Li lowered his voice.
The man raised his hand and pressed his index finger to his lips.
The corners of his lips slightly raised.
In the darkness, with only the flickering lights of the screen in front, Chu Li felt that the curved corners of his lips made her look like she was possessed. She grabbed his sleeves, rubbed her head against it, and kissed the upturned curve as carefully as a dragonfly touching the water.
Then I felt like I had gotten a huge bargain, my heart was filled with joy and I put my head back.
Thirty minutes later.
Chu Li leaned on Zhu Chuan's shoulder and squinted for a while. When she opened her eyes, the movie had evolved from "half-understanding" to "what the hell"; Zhu Chuan, on the other hand, seemed to be watching it with great interest... Chu Li rubbed her head against his shoulder, making a rustling sound, and then raised her head to look at him in this posture: "Teacher, do you really understand what the movie is about?"
"...Can an uneducated person shut up?"
“…”
Chu Li lowered his head, dimmed the light on his phone, opened it and checked WeChat. He immediately saw the messages from Ah Xiang and Yu Yao.
【Flying Elephant: Lao Miao is really gone. 】
[Yu Yao: The scoundrel has done himself a disservice and is preparing to take over.]
Chu Li's heart skipped a beat. He clenched his phone and glanced at the group chat. Before the (+99) unread messages, there was indeed a message notification that Lao Miao had quit the group chat... Sitting in the cinema, Chu Li was still a little confused: he had been fighting for a year and a half, and originally just wanted to use Yu Yao's hand to suppress Lao Miao's arrogance. He didn't expect that his "strong and proud character" could not bear the slightest grievance. After just a few times, he actually resigned and left.
Chu Li was so excited that she set off firecrackers. She looked up at Zhu Chuan but finally refrained from disturbing him.
Chu Li held back until the movie was over, the subtitles played, and the lights came on. Only then did she impatiently grab Zhao Chuan and say, "Lao Miao...really resigned!"
“…”
Zhuchuan yawned, took off his glasses and rubbed his sore eyes, then lowered his head and saw such a happy face—
It was the first time I realized that when people are extremely happy, their faces can really glow.
Such a small thing makes her so happy?
Looking at her pair of dark eyes, Zhuchuan felt complicated at this moment. He thought about the dissatisfaction he felt when he wanted to ask her to resign in the car before, and now, he was a little glad that he did not say it at that time.
Ah, never mind.
...Whatever.
Anyway, I'm here, nothing can go wrong.
The man thought about it, and his eyes softened. He raised his hand and used his fingers to tidy up her short hair that had rubbed against him and made it a little frizzy. He hummed softly, "Go home?"
Feeling his fingertips brushing through her hair, Chu Li blinked and her smile faded slightly: "...Um, Mr. Chu Chuan..."
"What?"
"..." Chu Li paused, "Nothing, let's go home."
——The result of the date that day was that I held hands and secretly kissed the corner of his lips. But in the end, I didn’t have the courage to ask: Teacher Chuchuan, so, are you my boyfriend?
...I really want to hear you admit it in person.
Not because I asked, but because you admitted it.
Even just once.
…
The next day, Chu Li returned to Yuanyue Society. The first email he received when he opened his mailbox was a notice from the society that Lao Miao had entered the resignation handover period. Based on his performance in the past year, it was natural for Chu Li to be promoted to deputy editor-in-chief of "Moonlight" magazine!
It is unknown to what extent the company's top management agreed to the deal so readily because they felt guilty about Chu Li's previous scapegoating for the "Little God" case.
Chu Li only knew that she watched a movie, and after returning, she was promoted and given a raise. At the same time, the biggest thorn in her eye was gone - this meant that in the editorial department of Moonlight magazine, the marketing department lost the spies they had planted...
After Lao Miao entered the handover period of resignation, he was as silent as a corpse. He handed over the coser column he was working on to Xiaoniao as his inheritance. Xiaoniao was naturally grateful for this, but Chu Li just watched coldly: after all, she wouldn't want these things even if they were given to her.
People always have to have some pride.
Although the secular world often forces us to bow down for the sake of money.
But even ants struggling at the bottom will inevitably need to straighten their backs occasionally.
After Lao Miao decided to get out, Chu Li temporarily put aside her dissatisfaction with Yuanyue Society. At the moment, the revision of "Moonlight" magazine was just around the corner, and "The Lost Amusement Park" was about to start preparing for online pre-sales. She was completely focused on these two things and had no time to think about other things.
At this time, the fact that Jiang Yucheng's popularity had been declining in recent years was indeed exposed.
At that time, the pre-sale and lucky draw of Zhechuan's "Luohe Divine Book" on Weibo reached 110,000;
Suo Heng's "Little Fairy" is probably just over 10,000;
Jiang Yucheng's pre-sale Weibo was only forwarded for two or three days, and the number of reposts was only about 20,000 to 30,000. According to the feedback from Taobao network marketers, "The Lost Amusement Park" is far behind "The Divine Book of Luo River" in terms of both treasure collection and number of inquiries...
Let alone selling an astronomical number of pre-sales like "Luohe Divine Book", it would be difficult to get 30,000 or 50,000 through online pre-sales... With such sales, Yuanyue Publishing House would not be able to offer the same price as "Luohe Divine Book".
It might be difficult to have the same first print number.
“…………………………How do you sell it?”
Chu Li racked his brains, thinking over and over, trying to figure out what other solutions there were to "The Lost Amusement Park" besides online pre-sales... Finally, one day when he was still worrying about how to make a surprise announcement for the revision of "Moonlight" magazine, a light bulb finally flashed in his mind, and he remembered what Chu Chuan had said casually that day -
【Signing.】
At that time, Chu Li sat up from the chair like a dead fish.
Yes, Mard, autograph signing! ! ! !
Think about how crowded the booth of New Shield Publishing House was when Mr. Herman's "The Magpie on a Different Branch" was first signed nationwide! ! ! !
In conjunction with the redesigned first issues of "The Lost Amusement Park" and "Moonlight" magazines in May, Jiang Yucheng will hold a spontaneous book signing at the largest book fair in G City on Labor Day in May!
As far as she knew, Jiang Yucheng, like Zhu Chuan, had never held a book signing before, nor had he shown his face in public.
Now let’s have a lively book signing!
This is quite a big commotion!
New fans, old fans, and casual fans, you should also queue up to buy this book just to “see what the master looks like”, right?
"…Why didn't I think of that earlier?"
Chu Li patted his forehead. After coming up with an idea, he did not rush to make a business plan. Instead, he opened QQ and found Jiang Yucheng... It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and Jiang Yucheng's avatar was indeed lit.
Chu Li took a deep breath——
This is a negotiation.
Other publishing houses are not fools. When Jiang Yucheng was at the peak of his career in the early years, he never held a book signing event. This means that he, like Zhuo Chuan, is instinctively opposed to this matter.
She had to convince him—
Chu Li rubbed his hands.
[The navy hired by the monkey: Teacher, I may need to discuss with you the sales plan for the book "The Lost Amusement Park"...]
[Jiang Yucheng: I saw it. It seems that the forwarding is not very effective. I am sorry to have worried you. :)]
The deadly aura blew across the screen and was a bit irritating.
Chu Li's hand paused on the keyboard for a while.
[The water army hired by Monkey: Teacher, we can't use Chu Chuan as a horizontal comparison for everything. Besides, it was Chu Chuan's first original book online pre-sale at that time. There were quite a few people who forwarded it because it was new. Many of them came just to join in the fun, right...]
【Jiang Yucheng: Hahaha! 】
【Jiang Yucheng: I know all this, you don’t need to comfort me. I know that my popularity has been declining in recent years. A few hundred thousand premieres is probably the limit, and Xindun only gave me this number.】
[The navy hired by Monkey: ...Three hundred thousand is also possible. ]
【Jiang Yucheng:? 】
[The Monkey’s hired naval forces: Teacher, for sales and to return to the top, people always have to make some sacrifices, right? ]
[The Monkey’s hired trolls: The teacher has been silent for too long these years, causing him to be almost forgotten by some fans… We have to find a way to call back the love in their hearts!!!]
[The Monkey’s hired trolls: Let the name “Jiang Yucheng” become a hot topic again, back into people’s sight – use the loudest voice to announce to everyone: The King is back, I have published another book!!!
[The water army hired by Monkey: There is an international book fair in G City on Labor Day in May. The venue is large, the flow of people is large, and students are on vacation... Have you ever considered holding a book signing event there for the first time in your life with readers filling up a venue of several thousand square meters? ]
Chu Li mustered up the courage to send out a long string of words, staring intently at the screen, and was so nervous that he could not sit still.
It seemed like a century had passed.
Jiang Yucheng's profile picture frame slowly lit up -
【Jiang Yucheng: Huh?】
【Jiang Yucheng: Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask you, what’s going on between you and Chu Chuan? Have you confirmed your relationship?】
Chu Li: "..."
She led thousands of troops and charged into the enemy camp.
The other party avoided the attack, so he hit her weak spot and turned the tables.