Chapter 51: Playing Opposite Roles

  "I bought a ticket for tonight's train and will probably arrive in Beijing tomorrow."

  On PP, Zhou Yi Fan sent a message to Li Zhi Cheng on Monday.

  "Ah, train?"

  "What's wrong, is it the train? What's the problem?"

  "Why can't you just buy an airplane ticket and come over?"

  "Sweat, big brother, I'm poor, and you didn't pay me for the article, can't afford it."

  Zhou Fan was sweating profusely, although he wasn't poor. Having only taken a plane once in his past life, the concept of such a high-end thing still hadn't sunk into his head. Of course, even if he remembered now, Zhou Fan didn't want to go anyway. Money was too hard to earn, so it's better to save some.

  "I, I..."

  Li Zhi Cheng burst into tears, then sent a message, "Oh my god, if other publishers hear that the writer we invited came by train, I'll be scolded to death. Alright, forget what I said, we'll cover all your expenses for food and accommodation, just rest assured, as long as you remember to give me the invoice later."

  "Come on, why didn't you say so earlier."

  Zhou Fan curled his lip and quickly made a phone call to book an airplane ticket.

  At noon at 12 o'clock, Zhou Fan bid farewell to his parents and set out on a journey to Yanjing.

  Two hours later, Zhou Fan arrived in Beijing.

  "Wah, taking an airplane is really enjoyable."

  It won't work out if we really take the train, at least we can only make it tomorrow morning.

  The original poor peasants instantly turned into petty bourgeoisie life, indeed making people feel emotional.

  "Are you... Mr. Zhou Yifan?"

  At the exit, a friend holding up his nameplate looked at Zhou Fan in front of him with suspicion, who was too young.

  "Of course, guaranteed genuine."

  Zhou Fan nodded in response, but was slightly depressed in his heart. Before coming here, he had gone to a beauty salon to get a makeover and tried to look more mature. Unexpectedly, he was still thought to be very young.

  "Haha, indeed a hero emerges in his youth! My name is He Yuan, and I'm Secretary Li's assistant."

  "Hello, hello."

  Two people chattered excitedly and got on the bus, heading straight for Sanlian Bookstore.

  "Mr. Zhou, please wait a moment, General Manager Li is in a meeting, you can have a drink of water first."

  He Yuan took Zhou Fan to a rest room.

  "Hmm, it seems like your company has been having some trouble lately."

  He took a sip of tea and asked He Yuan in a small voice.

  "Huh, how did Mr. Zhou know."

  "Haha, from entering the company until now, I found that all employees in your entire company have a serious face, this doesn't look like an ordinary day at work."

  "Mr. Zhou is not only good at writing, but also has a keen eye."

  He Yuanpei nodded in agreement after glancing at Zhou Fan and said, "What you said is right, there's indeed some trouble."

  "Go ahead and talk, anyway it's boring. I also want to understand more about you guys since we'll be interacting with each other frequently in the future."

  "Alright."

  "As it turns out, this trouble is also related to Mr. Zhou's 'Book of Sword Enmity'."

  "What?"

  Zhou Fan was puzzled, what did this have to do with him?

  "Do you still remember New Star Publishing House which contacted you before?"

  "Xin Sheng Bookstore, it seems there was such a thing, but the other party had an arrogant attitude and was rejected by me. What's going on, is Xin Sheng Bookstore trying to give you trouble because your company published my book?"

  If it is so, then it can be understood.

  He Yuan sighed again and nodded slightly.

  For him, he really didn't know whether publishing Monday's "Book of Sword Enmity" was good or bad.

  On one hand, it's indeed an opportunity, on the other hand, the challenges we're facing now are also too troublesome.

  I thought Xinxing Publishing House was just making some small trouble, but unexpectedly, this time they are really going all out. They have even mobilized their connections in the publishing industry accumulated over decades to comprehensively ban "The Record of Sword and Enmity" from being sold in major bookstores across China. Fortunately, there are a few powerful bookstores in Yenching that Xinxing Publishing House cannot handle.

  If not, I'm afraid Zhou Fan's autograph session this time will also be unknown whether there is a place.

  Of course, if it weren't for the efforts of Xinsheng Publishing House, they wouldn't have considered holding this book signing event. After all, Zhou Fan's "Shu Jian En Chou Lu" is not bad, but Zhou Fan is just a new author and isn't very well-known in literary circles. To put it in internet literature terms, he hasn't cultivated his own unique style yet. In such circumstances, who knows how many die-hard fans there are? If only a few people show up to the book signing event, that would be depressing enough.

  But this time, in order to create momentum for Shu Jian and also for the future of Sanlian Publishing House, they had no choice but to invite Zhou Fan out.

  Perhaps they would rather have readers on the other side of Zhou Fan's online presence give them some support and cheer them on.

  After chatting for about half an hour, Li Zhi Cheng, the boss of Sanlian Publishing House, finally appeared after finishing his meeting.

  "Could it be that this is Zhou Yifan, Zhou brother?"

  On PP, Li Zhi Cheng and Zhou Fan chatted very familiarly. Although it was their first meeting, Li Zhi Cheng showed great politeness.

  "Is this Li Zhicheng, Big Brother Li?"

  Zhou Fan also learned Li Zhi Cheng's way of speaking and came up with a similar sentence.

  Hahaha...

  One sang and the other harmonized, and the three of them burst out laughing.

  "Sorry, sorry, Brother Li wants to apologize to Younger Brother Zhou. Originally wanted to pick you up, but just couldn't get away earlier. Just finished a meeting now. Come on, come on, come on, Brother Zhou must be hungry, He Yuan, go book a private room."

  Three people came to a scenic Jiang restaurant on the edge, looked at the scale, not high-end, nor low-end, belonging to the mid-range level. With Zhou Fan's current identity, it was indeed only possible to arrange for such a restaurant.

  "Come on, Brother Zhou, since I didn't go pick you up earlier, let me punish myself with a drink first."

  Li Zhi Cheng came from a humble background and worked his way up, it can be said that he started from scratch. Without any background or connections, he was able to grow Sanlian Publishing House to its current scale, which is indeed not easy. With just a few words, he was able to create a pleasant atmosphere. Such tactfulness, Zhou Fan asked himself if he could achieve it.

  In his eyes, Li Zhi had a little appreciation for Chen, at least this person was smooth enough and knew how to get things done.

  The three of them ate and drank while chatting, occasionally leaning towards Zhou Fan's work "Book Sword". Of course, Zhou Fan also understood their intention. They might like the book on one hand, and on the other hand, they probably wanted to build a relationship with the author. After all, which author in this world doesn't like readers discussing his work?

  Of course, apart from this one, Li Zhi Cheng also gave a piece of good news during the casual conversation, "I said to Brother Zhou, I think you were right about one thing, that is, our first batch of printing 500,000 copies was really too few."

  "In just a few days, how did Brother Li become so sentimental?"

  Zhou Fan was slightly surprised.

  "Alas, it's all because of me. I underestimated the power of Brother Zhou. You don't know that after we released the news about the pre-sale of Book Sword, we have already received 300,000 sets of pre-orders from the Huaxia region."

  In a world where selling 30,000 sets is already a bestseller, just pre-ordering 30,000 sets is a record that can't be ignored. It's indeed a small miracle. Moreover, this is the work of a newcomer. If Li Zhi Cheng hadn't learned about the statistics of 30,000 sets during the meeting, he would have been worried to death.

  It's known that Xinsheng Publishing House is several dozen times larger than Sanlian Publishing House, they are overwhelming, Sanlian Publishing House will definitely be at a disadvantage.

  However, with 30,000 sets pre-ordered online, the situation began to slowly turn around.

  Perhaps, as Zhou Yifan said, Book and Sword can sell more than 1 million sets, even 2 million sets.

  If so, even if it's a threat to Xinsheng Bookstore, they can still resist with all their might.

  However, Zhou Fan heard the number 300,000 sets and didn't show much excitement, instead responding with a sentence, "300,000 sets, not bad."

  Although 30,000 sets seem a bit small, thinking of the readers on the internet, their willingness to buy physical books is indeed lower, so I won't think about it anymore. However, regarding Zhou Fan's expression, Li Zhicheng and He Yuan were dumbfounded, this guy, don't know if he has too big an appetite or truly doesn't understand the publishing industry?

  But anyway, this is a good start.

  "By the way, Brother Li, I just heard Secretary He mention that you've been having some trouble lately. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help?"

  If such trouble is the matter of Sanlian Publishing House, Zhou Fan doesn't have the mind to help. But if it involves himself, he still has to consider carefully. This is selling his own book, isn't it? If he doesn't sell it at a good price or sell more, not only will he be unfair to himself, but also to Jin Yong, his predecessor from his past life.

  "Don't worry, Brother Zhou. Actually, I was a bit worried just now too. But after tallying up the pre-order data for the new book, we can handle any subsequent troubles. However, there is a small issue tomorrow, so be careful, Brother Zhou."

  "Oh, what trouble will tomorrow bring?"

  "Received the news, Xinsheng Bookstore is also preparing to hold a book signing event at Haidabook City tomorrow. Moreover, the author they invited is Minglai, a well-known author in Huaxia who specializes in youth idol books."

  "Who is Ming?"

  Zhou Fan thought for a moment in his mind, and it seemed that he didn't have much to say about this author. However, seeing Li Zhi Cheng attach great importance to it, he put away his disdainful gaze and said, "In other words, they want to play against us."

  "Yes, it's possible."

  Li Zhi Cheng nodded and felt that he had put pressure on Zhou Fan, then said, "Brother Zhou, don't worry about it. Actually, this is nothing. In the past, major publishing houses often did such things. Tomorrow's move would be best to endure. No matter what provocations the other side makes, we won't respond."

  Li Zhi Cheng is not a person who likes to cause trouble, although the other party has made him angry. But what can he do? One is a well-known author nationwide, and the other is just a newcomer. Even if you think highly of yourself, you can't force your way through. Moreover, the media often reports that Ming Lei's fans are brainless and often make irrational moves.

  "Don't worry, Brother Li, I know what to do. By the way, how many people will come to this signing event?"

  "Haven't heard any news about this for the time being, but based on their previous autograph sessions, the scene was always very lively. Probably around three to four hundred people, there should be some..."

  "Three to four hundred people."

  Zhou Fan was taken aback for a moment.

  "It's a bit too much."

  Li Zhi Cheng thought Zhou Fan was intimidated, so he said some comforting words, "This can't be helped, although many people don't like Ming Lei, but this is just their strength. However, I believe that in the future, you will definitely surpass Ming Lei, and even surpass any author."

  "Haha, thank you for your kind words, Brother Li."

  Is it possible before the arrival of Zhou Fan?

  His surprise was not that there were many fans at Ming Lei's autograph session, but rather that there were so few people and yet he still dared to be arrogant. To think that when Zhou Fan announced that he would hold a book signing event for "The Record of Sword and Enmity" at the Yanjing Hai Da Book City, a group of reader fans enthusiastically signed up. By the time Zhou Fan boarded the plane, more than 4,000 people had already registered in the book fan group.

  If all 4,000 people come tomorrow, the scene will be... wow...

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