Chapter 196 - 144: Since She Won’t Acknowledge Me, I Won’t Acknowledge Her

Chapter 196: Chapter 144: Since She Won’t Acknowledge Me, I Won’t Acknowledge Her

A fair, slender hand casually picked up the phone and opened WeChat.

When she saw who the message was from, her whole expression changed. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in, and a smile broke across her lips.

She immediately set down her chopsticks.

She crossed her lovely legs and began to focus on her phone in earnest.

Yang Mi: What are you talking about? A little grade-schooler wouldn’t understand, you know.

When she’d been pestering him for updates, he had posted author’s notes time and again, hoping this "kid" who stole her parents’ phone to send donations would see the error of her ways!

Seeing her reply, Xiao Ran was more certain than ever. Yang Mi was the "little fox"!

’I can’t believe she’s still reading my book. This is a real surprise.’

Xiao Ran: Who would say that about you? Just tell me, and I’ll go sort them out!

’She is my boss now, after all!’

’An employee has to be polite when talking to the boss!’

’Especially when it’s the big boss!’

Yang Mi: Let’s get down to business. I was originally planning to buy it for 3.6 million, but since I already donated 100,000, I’m deducting that amount. I think that’s perfectly reasonable.

Xiao Ran: ...

’So unscrupulous!’

’All bosses are stingy!’

But grumbling aside, he was still very grateful.

After all, this price was still over four hundred thousand more than before. It was a welcome surprise.

’Who’s going to complain about having too much money?’

Xiao Ran replied with an extremely proper attitude: Okay, Sister Mi. No problem.

Yang Mi: By the way, don’t mention this to anyone. Just tell people that someone else from Jiaxing approached you.

She had essentially poached him right from under Director Zhang’s nose. If she made a big fuss about it, it would surely damage her relationship with him.

She was as shrewd as they come.

Xiao Ran: Understood!

Yang Mi: Also, how long are you planning to make this book?

Because of her acting career, she had read hundreds, if not thousands, of scripts over the years.

So, she understood a thing or two about plots. The way Xiao Ran was writing, he could easily write another 600,000 characters without any issues.

’In other words, a total of one million characters!’

’She was spending 3.5 million to buy a one-million-character novel, not just the 400,000 he had already written!’

As for why she was buying it so early instead of waiting for him to finish?

It was entirely because she was afraid Ai Qi would swoop in.

As the saying goes: strike first to gain the advantage, or strike late and suffer the consequences.

Opportunity waits for no one.

Seizing every opportunity—that was her life’s motto!

Seeing his boss asking about business, Xiao Ran’s expression turned serious as well.

He replied earnestly: My editor should have already sent your people the detailed outline. It’s planned for about a million characters, though it could end up being 1.1 million. After all, it’s hard to estimate the exact final word count.

Sometimes, I plan to wrap up a plot point in two thousand words, but by the time I’m done writing, I look back and it’s already five thousand.

That’s the kind of thing I can’t really control.

His answer reassured Yang Mi.

’Just as I thought,’ she mused. ’It looks like this 3.5 million won’t be wasted.’

Still, there was something Xiao Ran didn’t quite understand, so he couldn’t resist asking one more question.

Xiao Ran: Forgive me for being nosy, but why is everyone so keen on buying book rights for adaptation these days? Wouldn’t it be easier to just hire a screenwriter to write a script from scratch?

He genuinely didn’t get it. He was a perfectly good author, so how did he end up selling one set of rights after another? ’Have all the screenwriters today run out of ideas?’

’That can’t be it!’

Seeing his message, Yang Mi decided she was too lazy to type out a reply.

After all, a proper explanation would be quite long.

She cleared her throat, brought the phone’s microphone to her lips, and sent a voice message. "Because there are a lot of new actors nowadays. Scripts and books are different. With a script, the actors have to figure out the characters for themselves—study their personalities, their motivations."

"But a book’s descriptions are much more detailed. There’s no need for guesswork. You have scene descriptions, descriptions of clothes, descriptions of their inner thoughts, their actions... This significantly lowers the bar for new actors. All they have to do is follow what’s written and read the book carefully, and everything is taken care of."

’It’s a really effective way to launch a new star.’

’But she was only trying it now because she’d seen Director Zhang do it first.’

After hearing her explanation, Xiao Ran finally understood.

’So that’s how it is!’

’Awesome, more money is falling from the sky!’

Xiao Ran quickly replied: Thank you, Sister Mi. I’ll prepare copies of my detailed and main outlines and bring them with me when we sign the contract tomorrow. Please take a look when you have a moment. If there’s anything you’re not satisfied with, I can change it at any time.

Even through the screen, Yang Mi could sense Xiao Ran’s sincere and earnest attitude.

The corners of her mouth turned up in a slight smile.

She loved dealing with people who were humble, responsible, and easy to work with.

Yang Mi: No problem!

After replying to Xiao Ran, she tossed her phone aside, picked up her chopsticks, and went back to her meal.

’She still had a lot to do tonight!’

...

Old Zhang had spent the afternoon milling around his old classmates, listening to bits and pieces of their idle chatter.

Seeing Xiao Ran’s trembling back, Old Zhang sighed and walked over, his face full of sympathy.

’Anyone else would probably be crying in this situation!’

’I’d better go and console him.’

The thought was so heart-wrenching that he couldn’t help himself. He walked over to Xiao Ran’s side, his hands clasped behind his back. After a glance at the people nearby, he whispered, "Are you all right?"

At his words, Xiao Ran looked up at Old Zhang and grinned cheekily. "I’m fine. In fact, I’m doing great."

He was ecstatic at the thought of earning another huge sum.