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 the

automatic dog was.h.i.+ng machine company had no business in China. And

unlike a smart toilet seat or a rice cook, an individual could not bring

an automatic dog was.h.i.+ng machine from j.a.pan to China…Money was not the

problem, but the transportation and s.h.i.+pping fees were the issues here.

If not because that company happened to have brought some automatic dog

was.h.i.+ng machines to China to partic.i.p.ate in the show, Zhang Zian

couldn’t even get samples from the show. The details of the voltage

differences in China and j.a.pan mentioned by Masanori Suzuhara were also

very good. He hadn’t visited j.a.pan before, so he did not know that the

standard voltage in j.a.pan was different from that of China. When the

machines were delivered to his shop, it would be tragic if he directly

inserted the plugs into the power sockets.

When the company agreed to sell the automatic dog was.h.i.+ng machines to

Zhang Zian, the next step was to talk about some details. Zhang Zian

would try his best to close the deal. After all, this was the seller’s

market, and as the buyer, Zhang Zian must pay for the s.h.i.+pping fees in

China.

“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 in

various positions. The elves were either watching TV, playing, or taking

a 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 the

platform for the authors on the Qidian Chinese website. A new short

message sent from the website was displayed on the center of the

webpage. “Greetings, author. Your work has pa.s.sed the review and has

reached the standard to sign a contract. Please wait patiently for the

editor in charge to contact you. At that time, please indicate the t.i.tle

of 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 your

novel? 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 Zhang

Zian today that deserved celebrating. He looked at the ecstatic Pi and

was sincerely happy for it.

Since Pi began writing the novel, it had risen earlier than the

roosters and slept much later than the dogs. Every morning when Zhang

Zian woke up, he could see the vague fluorescent light from the computer

screen. And every night, after everyone had gone to bed, he could

occasionally hear the slight page turning sounds and Pi scratching its

hair in the living room. He knew that Pi must have encountered some

problems 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 life

in the pet shop into its novel either. Instead, it would choose and

modify some aspects from real life, and even adjust the timelines of

certain events to better serve the plots in its novel. Writing the novel

would be very easy if Pi just copied everything from its real life. But

in that case, no one would read its novel because it was not a novel

but a diary.

Every day from the morning, while other elves were eating, Pi was

thinking about the plots; while other elves were playing, Pi was typing;

while other elves were taking a nap, Pi was looking up information in

the unt.i.tled book. Even in the dead of night, when it was about to rest

in the basket hammock chair, if it suddenly had a good idea, it would

immediately get up and record the plot briefly in its doc.u.ment in case

it would forget the next day.

The harder Pi worked, the more Zhang Zian worried that its efforts

and diligence would not be rewarded. The rate of authors signing

contracts with Qidian website was 1/9. Now that Pi had received the

message to sign a contract, which meant that it had defeated the other

eight authors. How could he not be happy for it?

“Eeek?”

Pi pointed at the QQ number at the end of the short message, not

knowing what the number meant. For these minor issues, Pi tended to ask

Zhang Zian directly rather than looking them up in the unt.i.tled book.

“Oh, QQ is an instant messaging tool. You need to communicate with

the 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, on

QQ, so it chose its words cautiously. After sending the message, it

asked 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 witty

remark before – ‘You never know if you’re chatting with a person or a

dog on the Internet.’ And certainly, the editor could not tell whether

he is chatting with a human or a monkey…What’s going on, are you worried

about 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 sensation

if 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 each

editor is in charge of hundreds of authors. You just need to set your

mind at rest and continue writing your book.”

Pi repeatedly nodded, and then looked at the interface of QQ for a

few more times. After confirming that the other party did not speak

again, it minimized the QQ interface.

“By the way, Pi, how many readers have added your novel to their

libraries now?” Zhang Zian asked. This number indicated how many people

were 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 it

had written about 20 chapters, but only 27 people were reading its

novel, which meant that on average, the novel could attract one reader

per chapter. Besides, these readers might have only read the beginning

of the book and added it to their library but have not read the latest

chapters.

As evidence, there was no comment in the comment section.

Zhang Zian could not think of any useful words to comfort Pi. All he

could do was pat it on the back to encourage it. In the past, he even

scorned people when he saw at the w.a.n.g Haige Forum that 40 readers had

added some novel to their libraries when 50,000 words of that novel had

been uploaded, because he believed that when Pi had written so many

words, over 40 readers would definitely have put Pi’s novel in their

libraries. Nevertheless, the reality had smacked him ruthlessly in the

face.

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.