Before 1995, even before the new millennium, entertainment options worldwide were scarce. In 1966, an even earlier time, entertainment was even more limited, especially in Hong Kong, where printed media remained the primary source of entertainment.
When the City Daily announced the arrival of a new type of martial arts novel, everyone was eagerly anticipating it.
“Zheng Sheng, you are the creator of this novel. Our editor-in-chief wants to know how many copies of the newspaper should we print?”
This was the City Daily’s inquiry to Zheng Sheng before the serialization of “The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty.” They were also hopeful about the number of copies to print. If they printed too many, they would lose money if they couldn’t sell them all. If they printed too few, and the demand was high, they would also lose out on potential sales.
“What is your usual daily print run and sales figures?”
“We… Don’t laugh, but we only print less than five thousand copies.” This was actually the City Daily’s people being nervous. The actual number was much lower, and they were currently losing money every day. If it wasn’t for their major shareholder injecting a last-minute investment, they wouldn’t have been able to afford Zheng Baicheng’s earnest money.
“Then print twenty thousand copies and have the printing factory on standby. I have faith in my own novel. For the first issue, release twenty thousand words. This novel, I plan to write close to two million words. For a serious illness, you need a strong medicine.”
“Yes, yes, Mr. Zheng, you are right.”
After hanging up the phone, Zheng Baicheng felt a bit of risk. He wondered if people from this era would appreciate the early release of “The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty.” He had followed the internet novel format and written three golden chapters at the beginning.
As it turned out, his worries were unfounded. At noon the next day, the area outside Chen’s General Store was filled with people. They each held a copy of the City Daily, asking questions about “The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty.”
“You caused this mess, you figure it out.”
Zaohuoqiang didn’t want to stay there. There were too many people, and he was annoyed. His peaceful life… it wasn’t peaceful before, but now it was just even more lively.
“Thank you to all the book readers. Please calm down. I will be continuously updating the novel. Don’t rush. Keep the anticipation. Your enthusiasm is affecting my neighbors’ lives, and I feel guilty. Please read the next chapter.”
That day, everything in Chen’s General Store was sold out. Zheng Baicheng experienced the power of book readers urging for updates in person. He became the first generation “internet celebrity,” although at the time, it would have been called “famous person.”
Seeing the seemingly looted Chen’s General Store, the neighbors didn’t know what to say. Today truly opened their eyes.
Xiao Fen and Xiaohua had collapsed onto their chairs, exhausted. Zheng Baicheng wasn’t much better, and Zaohuoqiang, looking on, felt a bit emotional. He had never experienced such a thing in his life, not even a situation like this where the store was completely cleared out.
“Ah Cheng, I’ve been running this general store for so many years, this is the first time I’ve encountered a rush like this. You’re amazing!”
“Dad, we haven’t even cooked dinner, we might have to go out to eat.” Zheng Baicheng wasn’t bothered by this but was a bit embarrassed talking about food.
“No worries, I’ve already ordered takeout.”
Looking at the two girls, collapsed from exhaustion, Zaohuoqiang felt a sense of admiration. The girls were very hard-working.
“I’ve already had someone deliver goods. It’ll be better tomorrow.”
The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty, after being slightly altered by Zheng Baicheng, created the phenomenon of "papers being as expensive as jade in Luoyang." He didn’t expect people back then to have such... imagination. This was also the reason why Ni Cai Zi could achieve the name of "talented person" in Hong Kong.
The next day, the City Daily published on the front page that they had sold thirty thousand copies yesterday due to limited printing capacity… Then, they published pictures of the book fans rushing to Chen’s General Store and buying everything out.
“One day, they emptied a general store. Why did the boss and employees collapse?”
Seeing the pictures of Zheng Baicheng, Xiao Fen, and Xiaohua collapsed from exhaustion was quite humorous. This was taken by the City Daily staff when they came to deliver the good news yesterday and saw them in that state.
Some were happy, some were sad. While the City Daily was pleased with their sales, which didn’t decline but remained stagnant, those at the struggling Business Daily were feeling sour.
“Ah Long, go find Zheng Sheng and ask him to write another novel. Otherwise, our good situation might not last.”
Just as Li Chenglong was about to leave, he was stopped by Li Gongru. He said, “Ask him if he’s interested in investing in our Business Daily. Give him… give him 10% of the shares.”
“He might not agree.” He wanted to say that 10% of the shares might not be enough to convince him. Jin Daxia had 50% of the shares of Ming Pao.
“It’s fine. As long as he produces two novels a year, no, just one novel a year is enough. We can pay him a high royalty.”
Zheng Baicheng’s commercial value was recognized by the market, and naturally, the Business Daily wanted to tie him down. It was like the “fresh meat” in later years. Once they realized that young people didn’t care about depth but only appearance, they started to mass-produce them.
Those who shared this thought weren’t just the Business Daily; other newspapers also had the same idea. They saw that a near-bankrupt City Daily had suddenly turned around, and naturally, they wanted to bind this money-making tree to their newspapers. Even Ming Pao was tempted. However, out of “face,” they didn’t go as far as the others and prepare to pay to get him on board.
“Thank you for Ming Pao’s kindness. When I have the time, I will definitely contribute to Ming Pao.” This was a subtle rejection. “Having time” meant not having time. The people from Ming Pao understood this and left unhappily.
Those who were observing in the shadows were delighted to see Ming Pao return empty-handed. They immediately reported this to their headquarters and gave a detailed account of the situation to their boss.
Why didn’t Zheng Baicheng want to join Ming Pao? It was because they were too stingy.
Back then, many people asked Cha Sheng for a raise, but he rejected them all.
“You don’t spend that much money, why would you need a raise?”
This one sentence silenced countless people. Even Cha Sheng’s friend, Ni Kuang, submitted his work to other newspapers. Knowing this anecdote, Zheng Baicheng naturally wouldn’t contribute to Ming Pao. He just wanted to quickly build up his fame, make some money, and then he would be able to protect himself in Hong Kong and gain a foothold.