Chapter 571: Signing A Contract
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian received a message from Masanori Suzuhara and was finally relieved.
He could figure out how difficult this matter was because theautomatic dog was.h.i.+ng machine company had no business in China. Andunlike a smart toilet seat or a rice cook, an individual could not bringan automatic dog was.h.i.+ng machine from j.a.pan to China…Money was not theproblem, but the transportation and s.h.i.+pping fees were the issues here.If not because that company happened to have brought some automatic dogwas.h.i.+ng machines to China to partic.i.p.ate in the show, Zhang Ziancouldn’t even get samples from the show. The details of the voltagedifferences in China and j.a.pan mentioned by Masanori Suzuhara were alsovery good. He hadn’t visited j.a.pan before, so he did not know that thestandard voltage in j.a.pan was different from that of China. When themachines were delivered to his shop, it would be tragic if he directlyinserted the plugs into the power sockets.
When the company agreed to sell the automatic dog was.h.i.+ng machines toZhang Zian, the next step was to talk about some details. Zhang Zianwould try his best to close the deal. After all, this was the seller’smarket, and as the buyer, Zhang Zian must pay for the s.h.i.+pping fees inChina.
“Eeek!”
Pi stuck its head out of the stairwell and gestured to him.
There was no customer in the shop currently. Lu Yiyun was drawing.w.a.n.g Qian and Li Kun were playing games on their mobile phones invarious positions. The elves were either watching TV, playing, or takinga nap. Zhang Zian followed Pi and went to the second floor.
“What’s the matter, Pi?”
“Eeek!”
Pi excitedly pulled the lower hem of his sweater and pointed to the living room, motioning him to go there and look.
The laptop on the desk was open, and the screen was displaying theplatform for the authors on the Qidian Chinese website. A new shortmessage sent from the website was displayed on the center of thewebpage. “Greetings, author. Your work has pa.s.sed the review and hasreached the standard to sign a contract. Please wait patiently for theeditor in charge to contact you. At that time, please indicate the t.i.tleof your book and your name.”
The QQ number of the editor in charge was also given at the end of the short message.
“It means that you can sign a contract with Qidian regarding yournovel? Great, Pi! I know you can do it!” Zhang Zian said excitedly.
Pi was also overjoyed, jumping up and down in the room, dancing, and shouting, just like an ordinary monkey.
“It’s not easy…” This was the second thing that had happened to ZhangZian today that deserved celebrating. He looked at the ecstatic Pi andwas sincerely happy for it.
Since Pi began writing the novel, it had risen earlier than theroosters and slept much later than the dogs. Every morning when ZhangZian woke up, he could see the vague fluorescent light from the computerscreen. And every night, after everyone had gone to bed, he couldoccasionally hear the slight page turning sounds and Pi scratching itshair in the living room. He knew that Pi must have encountered someproblems and had been struggling on how to write the plots in the novel.
The novel was not completely fict.i.tious, but Pi did not copy its lifein the pet shop into its novel either. Instead, it would choose andmodify some aspects from real life, and even adjust the timelines ofcertain events to better serve the plots in its novel. Writing the novelwould be very easy if Pi just copied everything from its real life. Butin that case, no one would read its novel because it was not a novelbut a diary.
Every day from the morning, while other elves were eating, Pi wasthinking about the plots; while other elves were playing, Pi was typing;while other elves were taking a nap, Pi was looking up information inthe unt.i.tled book. Even in the dead of night, when it was about to restin the basket hammock chair, if it suddenly had a good idea, it wouldimmediately get up and record the plot briefly in its doc.u.ment in caseit would forget the next day.
The harder Pi worked, the more Zhang Zian worried that its effortsand diligence would not be rewarded. The rate of authors signingcontracts with Qidian website was 1/9. Now that Pi had received themessage to sign a contract, which meant that it had defeated the othereight authors. How could he not be happy for it?
“Eeek?”
Pi pointed at the QQ number at the end of the short message, notknowing what the number meant. For these minor issues, Pi tended to askZhang Zian directly rather than looking them up in the unt.i.tled book.
“Oh, QQ is an instant messaging tool. You need to communicate withthe editor in charge via this. Come, let me teach you how to use it.”
He sat next to Pi to explain how to use QQ to add friends and chat with them.
Pi learnt how to use QQ in no time. It entered the QQ number of the editor in charge, and then clicked to add him as a friend.
A moment later, an icon with the avatar of a bald monk appeared in Pi’s QQ contact list.
Pi typed in the QQ chat box: Greetings, editor in charge, I am the author of Pet King, nice to meet you.
It was the first time for Pi to chat with people, a stranger even, onQQ, so it chose its words cautiously. After sending the message, itasked Zhang Zian by gesturing: Will he find out that I am a monkey?
“No,” Zhang Zian laughed, “How could he find out? There was a wittyremark before – ‘You never know if you’re chatting with a person or adog on the Internet.’ And certainly, the editor could not tell whetherhe is chatting with a human or a monkey…What’s going on, are you worriedabout people finding out that you are a monkey?”
“Eeek!”
Pi typed: It will be very troublesome if they know, right?
“That’s right.” Zhang Zian admitted that there would be a sensationif people knew that Pet King was a novel written by a monkey.
After a while, the bald monk sent a smile emoji.
“Eeek?”
Pi scratched its head, not understanding what this expression meant.
Zhang Zian explained, “This means that he has received your message.Pi, don’t worry. I heard that the editors are very busy because eacheditor is in charge of hundreds of authors. You just need to set yourmind at rest and continue writing your book.”
Pi repeatedly nodded, and then looked at the interface of QQ for afew more times. After confirming that the other party did not speakagain, it minimized the QQ interface.
“By the way, Pi, how many readers have added your novel to theirlibraries now?” Zhang Zian asked. This number indicated how many peoplewere reading Pi’s novels.
Pi suddenly became dejected. It opened the work management section of the website to let Zhang Zian see.
At a glance of the number, Zhang Zian who was quite happy before became extremely upset.
Add to Library: 27
Pi had been uploading more than 50,000 words on the website, and ithad written about 20 chapters, but only 27 people were reading itsnovel, which meant that on average, the novel could attract one readerper chapter. Besides, these readers might have only read the beginningof the book and added it to their library but have not read the latestchapters.
As evidence, there was no comment in the comment section.
Zhang Zian could not think of any useful words to comfort Pi. All hecould do was pat it on the back to encourage it. In the past, he evenscorned people when he saw at the w.a.n.g Haige Forum that 40 readers hadadded some novel to their libraries when 50,000 words of that novel hadbeen uploaded, because he believed that when Pi had written so manywords, over 40 readers would definitely have put Pi’s novel in theirlibraries. Nevertheless, the reality had smacked him ruthlessly in theface.
According to the instructions from the website, Zhang Zian used his ID to help Pi fill out the contract.
Now, he needed to go out, print the contract and mail it.