Change always begins from the smallest places.
There are already two people around Wen Ying who are trying to pick up the pen and write again: one is Song Fotxiang, the other is her own father, Wen Dongrong.
Two middle-aged men, one a greasy poet, the other an old hand at bureaucratic manoeuvres. Trivial life has worn away their former passion, and in middle age, “responsibility” has awakened them. They both want to earn more money.
Earning money is not greed; earning money is not vulgar. Money can resolve many contradictions in life.
Money can allow Song Fotxiang’s daughter Song Chan to live better abroad. It can let Wen Dongrong continue sponsoring impoverished students to satisfy his spiritual needs. It can also elevate Wen Dongrong’s status in the family. Lately, Wen Dongrong has increasingly felt unneeded at home: his wife earns more than him, his daughter earns even more, his sense of presence is too weak!
If his income could increase, could that change the situation?
For example, with the two houses in the magic city, he could contribute to part of the mortgage.
For example, Chen Ru excels in banking performance. When going out for business talks and commuting, having a car entirely at her disposal would be more convenient.
After Wen Dongrong was transferred to Rongcheng and no longer needed to commute between two places daily, he once proposed giving the second-hand car that Wen Ying bought for him to Chen Ru to drive, but Chen Ru refused.
Wen Dongrong thought about it and agreed: it does not matter to drive an old car to work at a government agency, but banking is different. He should buy a new car for Chen Ru.
Chen Ru is very capable of earning herself; she can buy it without Wen Dongrong’s money, but if Wen Dongrong could contribute part of the money, Chen Ru would not refuse!
And the black-hearted cotton daughter: once he turns around and sends her some pocket money each month, would the black-hearted cotton not respect him?
For a man who has already handed over his entire salary, Old Wen urgently needs a legitimate and compliant side job to earn money.
Once he has made up his mind, Wen Dongrong is still very proactive. Before putting pen to paper, he first collects some newspapers and magazines, analyses which types he can write, which ones pay high fees. This action coincides exactly with when Wen Ying first submitted to magazines; indeed, they are biological father and daughter.
Wen Ying, who failed to catch Wen Dongrong’s brainwaves, arrived at the Rongcheng Publishing House on her own.
Yuan Fenghui arrived before her and was waiting downstairs without going up.
“Yuan-sensei.”
Yuan Fenghui looked Wen Ying up and down and nodded approvingly: “Not bad, you look quite spirited.”
After the two signed the agency contract, Yuan Fenghui had once seriously discussed everyday attire with Wen Ying.
No need to mention school: students can wear anything, school uniforms are the safest and least prone to error.
As for time outside school, if there are events, Yuan Fenghui would arrange everything. Without events, Wen Ying needed to pay attention herself.
No need to dress particularly flashy, nor wear luxury items. Yuan Fenghui hoped Wen Ying would manage her image when going out: neat and clean is the primary condition, and on that basis, paying a little attention to overall matching would be even better.
She must avoid sloppiness and dishevelment, because Wen Ying is already a public figure and can easily be recognised by passers-by when out.
This was not Yuan Fenghui being harsh, demanding Wen Ying maintain a perfect image in front of outsiders at all times; it was simply the basic素养 of a public figure. Wen Ying fully agreed with Yuan Fenghui’s view. Forget public figures, even ordinary girls have emergencies where they go out without washing their hair; in such times, wearing a hat makes a girl much more composed!
Wen Ying smiled. “Dealing with Editor-in-Chief Bao, how can I not look spirited?”
Yuan Fenghui laughed too.
The old fox and the little fox exchanged a glance, a tacit understanding surging in their eyes.
Editor-in-Chief Bao Lixin had been waiting in the office for quite a while. As soon as Wen Ying entered, she saw Xiao Nin was there too.
She did not know what Bao Lixin had discussed with Xiao Nin before; Xiao Nin kept her head down, unwilling to speak.
Compared to his previous evasiveness, this time Editor-in-Chief Bao was exceedingly enthusiastic. He greeted Wen Ying and Yuan Fenghui to sit, had someone bring tea and drinks, the whole process flowing smoothly and naturally like clouds and water.
It turned out Editor-in-Chief Bao did know manners; his politeness was very flexible!
“Quick, sit, sit.”
“I am truly sorry. I just started at the publishing house, so much work is not sorted yet. As soon as I returned from this business trip, I immediately urged the staff below to compile the sales data for ‘Teenage Idol’ and ‘The Galaxy and You’. The two of you can rest assured: we will pay the royalties for last quarter for both books at the fastest speed.”
As Bao Lixin spoke, he took out two settlement statements and handed one to Wen Ying and one to Yuan Fenghui.
From 1 August 2006 to 31 October, the fifth quarter since ‘Teenage Idol’ went on sale, it sold 362,289 copies. Wen Ying was to receive 1.744 million in pre-tax royalties.
“More than the fourth quarter?”
Wen Ying was a little surprised.
Before Bao Lixin could speak, Yuan Fenghui answered first: “Because of the boost from ‘The Galaxy and You’, and because you held signing events in five cities, the data surpassed the fourth quarter. I had anticipated this; if the sales data did not rise, I would find it strange!”
Bestsellers have sales cycles. ‘Teenage Idol’s hottest period has passed; the peak of over 700,000 copies per quarter will not return. However, influenced by various factors, small peaks will occasionally appear.
Although the agency rights for ‘Teenage Idol’ do not belong to Yuan Fenghui, and no matter how many copies it sells, Wen Ying does not need to share money with Yuan Fenghui, Yuan Fenghui still hoped the total sales of ‘Teenage Idol’ could be higher!
“Not bad, the fourth quarter data has risen. This book’s theme is welcomed by the market; old readers have read it, and new readers keep pouring in. Little Fish still has strength.”
Bao Lixin did not miss any chance to interject. Wen Ying smiled without speaking; Yuan Fenghui could not be bothered to acknowledge him.
Bao Lixin kept signalling Xiao Nin with his eyes. Xiao Nin kept her head down looking at the teacup on the table; the tea leaves, soaked in boiling water, fully unfurled, floating and sinking in the water, quite interesting.
‘The Galaxy and You’ boosted ‘Teenage Idol’s sales; its own performance was even better, selling 665,721 copies in one quarter!
Priced at 38 yuan, with 12% royalties, the royalty income was 3.035 million. Wen Ying taking half still amounted to 1.517 million.
The two books together meant the publishing house owed Wen Ying 3.261 million in pre-tax income.
With this sum, Wen Ying no longer needed to worry about the mortgage in the magic city; she could even make some other investments!
As soon as this thought arose, Wen Ying could not help glancing at Yuan Fenghui sitting beside her.
Wen Ying always had a premonition: Yuan Fenghui would come to coax her into spending this money quickly!
Yuan Fenghui raised an eyebrow and smiled. Wen Ying immediately sat up straight: as long as I do not talk much with Teacher Yuan, my money will stay in my own pocket…
The royalties for ‘The Galaxy and You’ amounted to 3 million; Wen Ying took half, the other half went to Tianjiao.
Both Yuan Fenghui and Wen Ying were beneficiaries, yet neither showed much excitement.
First, this was what Wen Ying and Tianjiao deserved; royalties that should have been settled long ago were dragged out by Bao Lixin for so long. Wen Ying was not a masochist who would turn around and thank the other party.
Second, neither Wen Ying nor Yuan Fenghui was foolish; almost simultaneously, they noticed a loophole.
“Editor-in-Chief Bao, if I remember correctly, ‘The Galaxy and You’ had an initial print run of 300,000 copies, then a reprint once, totalling 600,000 copies, right? Your sales statistics show 660,000; what is the matter with these extra 60,000-plus copies? We need an explanation from your publishing house.”
Having an agent had its benefits: the harsh words were said by the agent, so Wen Ying did not need to charge to the front lines of the quarrel.
Faced with Yuan Fenghui’s question, Bao Lixin gave an awkward smile: “This is my oversight at work. Because ‘The Galaxy and You’ is so popular, booksellers everywhere urged us to reprint. The publishing house urgently reprinted 200,000 copies last month and sent them to bookstores across the regions… It is still my fault for being on business trips all the time and not communicating with you promptly. I invited the two of you here today so I can apologise to you in person!”
Apologise?
Wen Ying could not hold back: “Editor-in-Chief Bao, this practice of yours is both irregular and unreasonable. My novel is reprinted, and I, the author, was not even informed! Now it is reprinting without notifying me; is the next step not telling me how many copies were sold at all?”
A novel with a print run of 600,000 copies actually sold 660,000.
Not informing the novel’s author about the reprint: Wen Ying had every reason to suspect that Bao Lixin’s next step would be to conceal or underreport actual sales data.
Sold 1 million copies, but tell Wen Ying only 500,000 were sold, and he could withhold two or three million in royalties… That is why in the industry, royalties are rarely calculated based on actual sales data; instead, they are based on print runs. After all, whether books sell or not, how many sell, is all up to what the publishing house says; the author has no channels to verify the statistics.
Wen Ying’s cooperation with the publishing house using actual sales data to calculate royalties raised the upper limit of her royalty percentage from the start. The “tiered royalty” model helped her secure 15% royalties.
Back then, Wen Ying was not worried at all that the publishing house would conceal data, because Zou Weijun would not cheat Wen Ying!
Now it was different.
Zou Weijun no longer worked in publishing, and Wen Ying would not sign such a royalty split mode again.
Wen Ying’s questioning made Bao Lixin’s expression turn ugly.
Xiao Nin suddenly raised her head. “‘The Galaxy and You’s second reprint, I did not know about it either. As Little Fish’s responsible editor, I will report this matter truthfully to the higher-ups!”
