Baby: Account- three years old, Collection of novels read- 0, Subscription Rate- nine percent.  Purchased tickets for one author.

Qi Cong paused and looked at the ID of this “Baby,” then after scanning his empty reader column he frowned.

Wait a minute, this very shameful ID, why did it feel so familiar…? He thought of something, then suddenly sat up upright and looked at the ID in disbelief. He pulled up the old Jiangtian.com website and logged in with his author account.

The data on the old website for “Chivalrous Bones” was still preserved. Qi Cong clicked into the author’s background and entered the comment section of the first chapter of “Chivalrous Bones” then went straight to the earliest comments.

In 2016, the new novel “Chivalrous Bones,” which had been released for a while, finally got its first comment from reader Murmuring Baby. This comment read: Author, your pen name and my ID seem to be similar so it seems we are destined for each other. Well, write well and go for it!

His initial reply read: Thanks for your support. Sorry for the impulsive start, the outline of this novel hasn’t been perfected yet, so I will continue updating it after I have perfected it.

Murmuring Baby replied: It’s okay, I’ll wait for you.

I’ll wait for you.

Qi Cong switched back to the new Jiangtian.com website and looked at this Baby account.

Was it the same person?

Although there wasn’t much hope, Qi Cong couldn’t help turning to the comment section and using the search tool page by page to look up the Baby ID. Finally after scrolling through more than 100 pages, several messages from “Baby” appeared. It was a pity that these comments were just ordinary comments automatically generated by the system when the votes were made without Baby leaving any additional messages.

Qi Cong became inexplicably persistent, and didn’t give up and continued to look page after page. The Baby ID appeared more and more frequently. Qi Cong scanned the comments of  Baby and found that when Wu Heng wrote him a negative comment he would show up and purchase tickets for him. He also had a big fight with Wu Heng’s fans, using extremely sharp words. Several Wu Heng fans were so angry that they wanted to have a fight with Baby in person.

Qi Cong felt a bit silly.

This Murmuring Baby … was so fierce.

But it was also a bit cute.

It could be some grumpy teenage boy.

Qi Cong wanted to laugh, but at the same time he felt very warm. It felt very good to be supported unconditionally. When he thought of something, he clicked on the author’s menu and tentatively opened the comments on the first chapter of  “Chivalrous Bones”and turned to the first page.

In 2020, the third day after the “Chivalrous Bones” moved to the new Jiangtian.com website after the comment area was finally unsealed, Baby left the comment: Welcome back, I have been waiting for you.

It was the same Murmuring Baby as before.

It was his reader, a reader who had waited for him for three years.

Qi Cong leaned into the back of the chair and looked at this comment for a while. Then holding his mouse he cut back and forth between the comment section of the old and new Jiangtian.com website, re-visiting the reward list on the new website. Then he clicked into the comment section that was just hastily read more carefully.

“Murmuring write more”, “Murmuring big cheers”, “Very well written looking forward to the follow-up.”, “Just continue and ignore these brain-dead fans”, “Fengyue and Liu Fengyue are completely different, I feel it!”, “Ah ah ah, Fengyue kill me!”, ‘When will Fengye recast the broken sword?!”, “The way Water Without a Trace wrote it was completely different, it is so much faster paced!”, “Where does the broken blade come from, the fisherman in Hucheng, hiss, I have goosebumps…” 

Sentence after sentence, page after page it was all affirmations, discussions about the plot that he once couldn’t find anywhere were now right in front of his eyes.

Real readers.

Qi Cong pursed his lips and then hooked up the corners of his lips. Then like a sudden rich fool he silently laughed.

He also has readers, readers who urged him to update, who were afraid he would leave, who supported him, who encouraged him.

Qi Cong couldn’t help but stand up, wanting to go to Shen Jia to share the good news. But after walking a few steps he remembered that it was late now and Shen Jia was busy all day so he was probably already asleep…

He picked up his cell phone and wanted to call Qi Yin, but just as he dialed he immediately hung up.

No it was too late, his mother must already be in bed.

He turned around twice and then suddenly turned to look at the computer, bent down and held the mouse to once again enter the author’s background and open the update scheduled for tomorrow. Then he added a few words of thanks to everyone in the text, saved it and opened the Penguin app. He found the only group chat on his Penguin account and opened it.

This was the group that Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife asked him to join before. At that time he applied and it wasn’t approved for a long time so he wasn’t sure when Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife approved him.

He looked at the members of the group and wasn’t surprised to find the group of gods who helped him, such as Hui Nantian… He put his hand on the keyboard and typed.

Murmuring Water: Hello everyone, I’m Murmuring Water. Thank you all for your help, thank you very much.

The originally quiet group immediately buzzed with people enthusiastically responding to his greetings and welcoming him. People like Hui Nantian even sent him a friend request.

Qi Cong quickly accepted it.

Several private chats were sent over at the same time.

Hui Nantian:  Just show up, ignore all those crazy lunatics and focus on your own writing.

Ru Qing Way: Cultivation friend, this old man is crossing his fingers that Water Without a Trace’s contract will be terminated soon and they lock all the novels he has written. Cultivation friend, don’t be angry, write well and find your own path.

Iron Pestle Grinding Into a Big Iron Bar: For writing, the most important thing is persistence. Ignore the voices on the side and cheer up.

Jiuqu Corridor: Hello, this is Jiuqu Corridor.

Xuan Yuanjian: From now on I will be your brother in this group. You can call me Xuanyuan, but don’t call me Jianjian.

Goodwill came from all directions and Qi Cong responded to everyone’s words one by one. Then he solemnly sent a thank you to Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife.

Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife returned his words with patting shoulder emoji.

Qi Cong put down  his phone and looked out the window at the star-dotted sky, remembering the fireworks he had just seen. He remembered the encouraging comments, and he suddenly felt a glimmer of hope of being able to catch up with Gu Xun.

He can also become good at something.

A shooting star suddenly burst across the sky making Qi Cong freeze. Then he let out a laugh and closed his eyes to make a wish.

 

….

 

The next day on the way to the airport Zhao Zhenxun talked to Qi Cong about preparing to help him take off his mental patient label. Qi Cong nodded after listening, deliberated for a moment and asked, “Brother Zhao, I want to ask what my current salary arrangement is. Am I still on an assistant’s salary or will I start the artist contract?”

“I was just about to tell you about that.” Zhao Zhenxun fished out a document from his bag and handed it to Qi Cong. “This is the amount of your pay for ‘Legend of Youth’ and the future revenue share after the release of ‘A New Life’. Take a look and tell me any objections you have.”

Qi Cong took the document and looked at it.

Zhao Zhenxun added, “You Changxue is the role I requested for you. At first, there was no pay for the role, but then the investors took the initiative not to treat the actor and let the financial side pay your salary according to newcomers standards.”

The pay he received for “Legend of Youth” is really not much. After the deductions, Qi Cong would probably only get 20,000 yuan. For a small cannon fodder role that doesn’t have many scenes it was already good pay. As for the sudden initiative of the investors to pay him money, it was probably because of Gu Xun.

Qi Cong looked at his share for the ‘A New Life’ song and found it the same as in his artist contract, so he  handed the document back to Zhao Zhenxun. “I have no objections.”

“Then we’ll go by this. One more thing, the company has arranged for a camera team to follow the process of you recording ‘A New Life ‘. This footage will be made into a vlog and released along with the song so be prepared to face the camera.”

Qi Cong was surprised for a moment, but then just nodded.

After arriving at the city, Qi Cong didn’t even return home, and was directly taken by Zhao Zhenxun to a recording studio under the Manju Entertainment Company where he followed the vocal teacher and recording engineer to start practicing before the official recording of the song. The camera team was already waiting for him, so from the first moment Qi Cong appeared, the camera was aimed at him.

Qi Cong didn’t have time to be nervous or care about the camera, as he was directly caught by the heavy task of singing practice.

This song was not a difficult song to sing, but its melody was very catchy and the arrangement was also very bright. The lyrics seemed to be tailor-made for Qi Cong, as if they were written straight from his heart.

“Qi Cong?”

Qi Cong looked up from the music sheets and looked at his vocal music teacher.

The vocal music teacher smiled and asked, “Are you familiar with it?”

Qi Cong nodded his head.

“Why don’t you hum it first? For the first time, you don’t have to worry about the accenting tones. You also don’t need to sing the lyrics clearly, just get the key right first. Can you do it?”

Qi Cong nodded again. “Yes.”

With that, he picked up the cup of water on the side and took a sip to moisten his throat. Then he looked at the music, quickly going through the score in his brain before adjusting his breathing and opening his lips.

“The legendary ……”

The gentle, slightly sandy male voice swept through the quiet room, clean, soft, and with a low tune. It sounded like a fresh breeze wrapped in a fog that floats through the world before the onset of heavy rain, bringing a dampness mixed with the smell of grass and trees.

All the staff members couldn’t help but put down their work and look at Qi Cong who was wearing a simple shirt and casual pants in the middle of the room as he looked at the music score and hummed it.

Outside the practice room, Master Cao Dewen, a composer who had hurried to the room, withdrew his hand that was about to knock and looked at Qi Cong through the half-open door.

In the corner of the practice room, the photographer adjusted the angle and pointed the camera at Qi  Cong’s face.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

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