Chapter 44: Luckily, I’m Prepared!
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
At midnight, the guru, Heaven Xiao, was puzzling over the title for his new novel.
He had come up with five or six titles, but none of them looked satisfactory.
“No, it’s still not what I want…” He scratched his hair furiously and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll talk to my readers. Maybe I can find some inspiration there.”
He opened his own reader group, The God Clan Group, and greeted everyone.
Heaven Xiao: “Hi, guys. What are you talking about?”
Smiling Angel: “Master Xiao, you’re here! We’re talking about a super impressive novel we discovered today.”
Heaven Xiao: “Which novel?”
Smiling Angel: “It’s called ‘Battle Through the Heavens.’ The title’s awesome, but the book number is even more incredible! 1688888!”
Seeing this title and book number, Heaven Xiao’s eyes popped out!
Heaven Xiao: “F*ck! The title and the book number are indeed incredible! Who wrote it?”
Smiling Angel: “The author’s called Flying Bean. I haven’t heard of him. He must be a newbie. Right, Master Xiao, have you decided on your new novel title?”
A newbie?
Heaven Xiao immediately checked out the page for “Battle Through the Heavens.” After looking at the title and book number, an idea suddenly struck him!
Heaven Xiao: “Not yet. Hey, what do you think if I buy this title and book number from the newbie? I think the title matches the story of my new novel!”
Flower Heart: “Huh? Seriously? It’ll surely enrich your new novel!”
Heaven Xiao: “What about the others?”
Tough Guy: “It might work. The thing is, can it be changed? Will the newbie agree?”
Heaven Xiao: “Well, he’s a newbie. I’m afraid he’s wasting a good title and book number. I’ll give him some compensation, maybe 5000 yuan. There’s only 6000 words anyway. That means I’m offering him almost 1000 yuan per 1000 words. He’ll certainly agree. Then, I’ll contact the editors and ask them to deal with it. It can work!”
Smiling Angel: “It’s not a bad idea. It’ll indeed be a shame if you let the newbie waste such a good title and book number. I’m with you, master! So, you’ll release your new novel after getting that title and book number?”
Heaven Xiao: “Right, I’ll do that. By the way, do you have the author’s QQ account?”
Smiling Angel: “I removed him from the group, but he sent the message to many others. Let me see… Here it is.”
Heaven Xiao: “Okay, I’ve added him. I’ll talk to him tomorrow!”
…
The next morning, Wang Hao woke up early and got ready. After Mom and Dad went to work, he quickly went back to his room and took out the Fortune Dice. He took a deep breath.
“I hope today will be fine!” Wang Hao stared at the Fortune Dice. Since he had gotten “Lucky” yesterday, he knew there wouldn’t be the slightest chance of getting it again.
“Just a ‘Normal’ will do.” Let’s go, Fortune Dice!
Rattle —
The Fortune Dice spun on the table and eventually stopped. Wang Hao looked at the word on the top side of the dice. Normal!
Hahahaha, not bad! Normal level of fortune, just like ordinary people. I can live with that — as long as it’s not “Unlucky”!
“Off to work!” Let’s go!
The crew was still filming at Zhonghai Avenue today. It was about seven stations away from Wang Hao’s place. When Wang Hao arrived, Director Gao was discussing something with the screenwriter while the others were resting.
Thanks to Wayward Ren, the asshole Lu Tong was screwed. He didn’t come today.
“Hey, Hao!” Director Gao had already gotten used to calling him Hao after yesterday. The director thought it made him sound younger and more easygoing.
“Hey.” Wang Hao walked forward and asked, “What are you discussing, Director Gao?”
“The plot.” Director Gao smiled and introduced someone to Wang Hao. “This is our chief screenwriter, Mr. Li Fei.” And he introduced Wang Hao to Li Fei. “This is the interesting young man I told you about, Wang Hao.”
“Hm, hello.” Li Fei nodded slightly.
Although he still saw Wang Hao as an unqualified rookie, Wang Hao had delivered an impressive presentation yesterday. So, Li Fei wanted to ask for Wang Hao’s opinion. “I’ve thought about the plot you introduced. Pretty good setting. The main character is a typical skill hoarder. He knows knife throwing but can never show it to anyone. It’s more astonishing to save it for critical moments, right?”
Huh? He knows the concept of a skill hoarder? He’s a top screenwriter for sure.
Wang Hao nodded and said, “Hm, the main character appears to be a loser at the beginning, like the fact that he was kicked out of the army. But the reality is that he can do everything very well, and his superior sends him on a mission.”
“It’s good that you have your own ideas.” Li Fei touched his beard, then continued, “This setting sounds nice. It’s full of surprises. However, the biggest problem is that we’ll need to film everything all over again if we revise the plot like this. I’m afraid we’ll need a lot more money.”
Wang Hao totally understood Li Fei’s perspective.
In fact, it was easy for the crew to revise the script. The difficult part was the cost.
Usually, once they revised the setting, they would have to change the following or even previous scenes, which would then have a domino effect on the cost.
“Indeed.” Wang Hao nodded. “So, your meaning is…”
“Well,” Li Fei pondered and said, “just tell me your ideas first and I’ll use them as reference. If everything’s feasible, I’ll go to the investors and ask for more funding. Of course, if your ideas aren’t good enough, then we’ll have to continue filming with our original plot.”
Li Fei emphasized, “Remember, it must be exceptional, otherwise, it’ll be hard for me to persuade the investors.”
So, I have to tell him all the details now?
Luckily, I’m prepared!
“Okay, no problem!” Wang Hao borrowed a laptop from the crew. “I wrote something last night. Let me show you.” He logged into his cloud drive and downloaded “‘From Beijing with Love’ Synopsis.” When he was about to show it to Li Fei, he hesitated for a moment, then decided to change the title to “‘The Domestic Agent’ Synopsis”— who knows if there’s a James Bond in this world…
“‘The Domestic Agent’ Synopsis?” Li Fei looked at the title and joked with Director Gao. “Look at this young man. He’s planning to change my plot completely, haha.”
Director Gao smiled and replied, “The pen is mightier than the sword. I get it, I get it!”