Chapter 519 A Bigger Surprise
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is already hot summer.
Summer is one of Cheng Xuyuan’s least favorite seasons now. The reason for this is that he doesn’t have air conditioning in the summer.
Sitting by the Weiming Lake, Cheng Xuyuan flipped through the two books in his hands.
Both books are cultural journeys, but they are printed in different fonts.
One was published by Harvest, and the other was published by Ming Pao.
The thickness of the two books is not much different, but the covers are in different styles.
As for the cover, Cheng Xuyuan prefers this one, which has a plain cover with only the title of the book and the author's name.
It looks very ordinary at first glance, but the more you look at it, the more flavor it has.
These two books are sample books given by the publishing house to Cheng Xuyuan.
Just as Cheng Xuyuan was leisurely flipping through two books, someone ran over from a distance: "Xuyuan, Xuyuan!"
Cheng Xuyuan turned his head and saw Chen Jianxun running towards him quickly. He didn't know if it was because he ran too fast, so he was a little out of breath.
"What's wrong, Jianxun?" Cheng Xuyuan asked casually.
Chen Jianxun said, "There's a call for you. Teacher Hong said it's from Editor Li from Harvest, and he wants you to go answer it."
"What happened?" Cheng Xuyuan asked casually.
"It's a good thing." Chen Jianxun said this, looking at Cheng Xuyuan with envy, "I heard from Teacher Hong that your cultural journey has begun to print 100,000 copies."
"It's only been two or three days and they're all sold out."
“They’re going to print more!”
"Did you know that I heard that your book could sell 500,000 copies?"
"Tsk tsk, your book is the most popular one recently."
After saying that, Chen Jianxun touched Cheng Xuyuan's shoulder with his fist, as if he wanted to use this method to express his congratulations to Cheng Xuyuan.
However, Cheng Xuyuan's reaction was very calm, which surprised Chen Jianxun a little.
The reason why Cheng Xuyuan acted calm was because he knew how terrifying the sales of this set of books would be in the future, and this was just the beginning.
Also, the current gains from this set of books, no matter how many copies are sold, have little to do with him.
All he was paid was seven yuan per thousand words.
In other words, his earnings were only two to three thousand yuan.
Although this was not a small amount at the time, it was much less than the print run.
"Why are you unhappy?" Chen Jianxun asked curiously.
"I'm happy." Cheng Xuyuan said with a smile, "But I feel a little distressed when I think that no matter how many copies are printed, it's only seven yuan per thousand words."
Cheng Xuyuan's words left Chen Jianxun speechless.
He really wanted to tell this friend that if his book could be so good, he would not ask for money.
"That's enough, just be content." Chen Jianxun glared at Cheng Xuyuan and said, "If other people heard you say that, I wonder how jealous they would be of you."
At this point, Chen Jianxun said, "Let's go quickly. Don't keep Editor Li waiting for too long."
Although Cheng Xuyuan felt that the money was too little, he still followed Chen Jianxun to the office.
When Hong Zicheng saw him coming, he smiled and said, "Xuyuan, it looks like your cultural tour is going to be a big deal."
"One hundred thousand copies were sold out in just two or three days. This speed is really fast!"
Cheng Xuyuan and Chen Jianxun were able to talk about the royalties, but when facing Hong Zicheng, he still smiled and said a few humble words.
Just then, the phone rang again.
Cheng Xuyuan picked up the phone and heard Sister Li's voice: "Xuyuan, your cultural tour is selling very well this time."
"Let me tell you, we plan to print an additional 500,000 copies first."
"If it's still not selling well, we'll just keep printing more."
Hearing the excitement in Sister Li's words, Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "I hope we can sell more."
Sister Li seemed to sense the low interest in Cheng Xuyuan's words, and said with a smile: "Once the influence of the cultural tour has fermented, we will prepare to hold a work seminar for you."
Cheng Xuyuan didn't take the work seminar seriously before, but it's different now.
Because the harvest was made in the East China Sea, this work seminar was also held in the East China Sea.
"Okay, then I'll wait for good news." Cheng Xuyuan replied with a smile, allowing Sister Li to sense his enthusiasm for this matter from his phone call.
After Sister Li chatted with Cheng Xuyuan for a few minutes, she hung up the phone.
After Cheng Xuyuan put down the phone, Hong Zicheng said to him, "Xuyuan, your cultural journey has received a lot of response recently!"
“Now that the book is finished, what are you going to write next?”
Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "Teacher Hong, I haven't thought about it yet. I may need to rest for a while."
"After all, I've been using my brain quite a lot these days."
Hong Zicheng was not surprised to hear Cheng Xuyuan say that he wanted to take a break. After all, for a writer, writing two or three short stories or novellas a year is basically considered diligent.
For someone like Cheng Xuyuan, who wrote a cultural journey of hundreds of thousands of words based on this information alone, it was also very exhausting.
It's normal to take a break!
"Xuyuan, it's good to take a break." Hong Zicheng said with a smile: "Summer vacation is coming soon, so it's a good time to go out and relax."
“After school starts, I will try to write two new works.”
Just as the two were laughing and joking, the phone suddenly rang and Hong Zicheng answered the call.
At first, Hong Zicheng's expression was still calm, but a minute later, his expression changed.
Moreover, the look he gave Cheng Xuyuan was filled with surprise.
This call was about himself. What was the situation that made Hong Zicheng look like this?
Although he was full of doubts in his heart, Cheng Xuyuan still waited quietly for Hong Zicheng to finish his call before looking at him.
Cheng Xuyuan believed that Hong Zicheng would definitely tell him anything about him.
Hong Zicheng did not speak immediately, but looked at Cheng Xuyuan with a strange look, and then said: "I didn't expect it!"
“I really didn’t expect this!”
These two confusing words are very puzzling.
Although Cheng Xuyuan had a good relationship with Hong Zicheng and often talked about everything with him, he still couldn't figure out what Hong Zicheng meant by these words.
The only thing that is certain is that this is definitely not a bad thing. If it were a bad thing, Hong Zicheng would not have spoken in this tone.
"Teacher Hong, what's the matter?" Cheng Xuyuan didn't want to beat around the bush with Hong Zicheng, so he asked directly.
"Xuyuan, this call is from above. They said someone from Xiao Rizi's Yihe Publishing House came and wanted to talk to you about publishing your Cultural Journey at Xiao Rizi."
Hong Zicheng said here, "Xuyuan, congratulations. From now on, your works will be published on Xiaorizi."
"sharp!"
Hong Zicheng was well aware that foreign works that could be actively introduced by a publishing house must be extremely excellent in themselves, otherwise they would not have been translated and introduced.
This is also a recognition of Cheng Xuyuan's works.
Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "Teacher Hong, you are too kind. I just happened to be here by chance. I believe that in the future, they will also introduce and study your masterpiece."
Cheng Xuyuan's words brought a hint of smile to Hong Zicheng's face.
He knew in his heart that Cheng Xuyuan said this more out of politeness, but this politeness still made him very happy from the bottom of his heart.
"I'd like to borrow your good words, Xuyuan. Haha, I hope that one day I can earn some foreign exchange like Xuyuan."
At this point, Hong Zicheng paused and said, "The higher-ups are on the phone. They hope Xuyuan can cooperate more with Yihe Publishing House so that more people can see your work."
Cheng Xuyuan didn't understand what Hong Zicheng meant, but he laughed and said, "Under normal circumstances, who doesn't want to cooperate and gain mutual benefits?"
"Teacher Hong, don't worry."
Hong Zicheng was a smart man, and he had already sensed something strange in Cheng Xuyuan's words.
Normally, Cheng Xuyuan should have done as requested, but his words meant that his interests must not be harmed.
Otherwise, how can it be cooperation and mutual benefit?
He wanted to say something, but thinking that Cheng Xuyuan seemed to be more familiar with this aspect than himself, he finally said: "Xuyuan, it's OK as long as you have the basics in mind."
“If your work can enter the small-time market, it will also be a big improvement for you.”
Hong Zicheng spoke the word "improve" in a somewhat high voice, and the meaning of his words was naturally self-evident.
Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Teacher Hong. I will definitely not let you down."
When Cheng Xuyuan walked out of Hong Zicheng's office, Chen Jianxun looked at him with disbelief.
The reason for this is that this incident was too shocking and unexpected for Chen Jianxun.
He could accept that Culture Journey was reprinted only two days after its release, but now even small-time publishers were introducing Culture Journey, which was beyond his expectation.
"Xuyuan, it seems that you will be an international writer in the future?"
Cheng Xuyuan patted Chen Jianxun on the shoulder and said, "What are you talking about? Am I still me?"
Although Cheng Xuyuan did not pay too much attention to this matter, the news still spread quickly.
This is due to the contribution of Chen Jianxun, but also to the contribution of Teacher Hong who answered the call.
In just half a day, not only the entire Yenching University, but even several schools next to Yenching knew the news.
This made Cheng Xuyuan, who had already received a lot of attention due to the publication of Culture Journey, even more popular.
Some people even went to the library just to take a look at Cheng Xuyuan.
Although Cheng Xuyuan was a little displeased with this sudden enthusiasm, he could do nothing about it.
After all, people are just a little curious about you, and you can only bear with it.
"Xuyuan, my uncle asked me to tell you that if your work can enter the Xiaorizi book market this time, it will be of great benefit to you."
"He asked me to tell you that you must seize this opportunity." Fang Yuqing came to Cheng Xuyuan and whispered to him.
Cheng Xuyuan patted Fang Yuqing's hand and said, "Don't worry, I know what's going on with this matter."
(End of this chapter)
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