Chapter Thirty-Three: Exposed

Yan Ling furrowed her brow, not expecting Zhou Xuan to be so hard to deal with. “Of course. You should know that among so many works each year, only a few can ever be adapted. Without formidable capital and operations behind them, it is impossible.”

“I know that. But I believe in my novel. The Love of Hawthorn Trees will definitely catch a director’s eye. Just like A Ming Dynasty at the beginning, when almost no one was optimistic about it, I was full of confidence.”

Knowing all along that The Love of Hawthorn Trees would be adapted, Zhou Xuan would certainly never do something as foolish as selling away the rights. He was still waiting for Zhang Yimou to come calling, so he could invest part of the funds.

Yan Ling was also thoroughly puzzled, and a faint chill rose in her heart: Could it be that Zhou Xuan knew something?

“Editor-in-Chief Yan, do you know how much of a share Western Ridge Publishing gave me for A Ming Dynasty?” Zhou Xuan asked with a smile.

“I don’t know that. They keep things very tight over there. But you’re a newcomer, so it can’t be more than ten percent at most.” Thinking of A Ming Dynasty’s runaway sales, Yan Ling could not help but feel that Western Ridge Publishing had truly struck gold.

With A Ming Dynasty alone, Western Ridge Publishing would enjoy very comfortable days for the next year or two, and might even use this opportunity to break into the ranks of first-tier publishers.

“Heh, then you’ve guessed quite wrong. I signed a wager agreement with Western Ridge: starting at a five percent royalty for one hundred thousand copies, and for every additional one hundred thousand copies, the rate rises by one percentage point, up to twenty percent. Tell me, if A Ming Dynasty sells for a year, how much royalty should I receive?”

“What?” Yan Ling cried out in disbelief.

Given the momentum of A Ming Dynasty, selling 1.6 million copies within a year should not be a problem. By that calculation, Zhou Xuan would be entitled to the maximum twenty percent share.

Looking at Zhou Xuan’s somewhat youthful face, Yan Ling had the strange feeling that the new waves were driving out the old, and the old waves were dying on the beach.

So many editors with decades of experience, and yet none of them could see as clearly as a sixteen-year-old boy. What a life wasted.

Realizing that the young man before her was nothing like those precocious child writers, and that his difficulty was even greater than that of a seasoned old hand, Yan Ling gave up any hope of acquiring the film and television rights to The Love of Hawthorn Trees at a low price.

“All right. Since you won’t sell the film rights, then we can only offer you a fifteen percent royalty share. What do you think?”

Fifteen percent was acceptable, but Zhou Xuan wanted more. He shook his head. “Twenty percent. No negotiation.”

At those words, Yan Ling nearly slammed the table and walked out in fury.

Losing the film rights and still having to pay a twenty percent share made publishing The Love of Hawthorn Trees feel like dried chicken ribs: tasteless to eat, yet too regrettable to throw away.

Just then, Zhou Xuan’s phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Wei Xiyue’s number. Glancing at Yan Ling, he asked, “May I take this call?”

Zhou Xuan stepped outside and answered, “Hello, Editor-in-Chief Wei?”

“Zhou Xuan, I’ll be arriving in Rongzhou shortly. Are you free this afternoon? We want to publish your The Love of Hawthorn Trees and would like to speak with you in person.”

Zhou Xuan’s expression turned strange. Wei Xiyue was coming to snatch the film and television rights to The Love of Hawthorn Trees again.

At this point, Zhou Xuan was fairly certain that some rumor had leaked out; otherwise, they could not possibly be so eager.

As expected, after taking Wei Xiyue’s call, Zhou Xuan received calls from several other publishers as well. They were all publishing houses or magazines that had once received his submissions, all wanting to publish The Love of Hawthorn Trees, and all insisting on the film rights too.

Back in the shop, Zhou Xuan went straight to Yan Ling and said, “Editor-in-Chief Yan, do you still think there’s any need to hide it from me? I just took three or four calls from publishers all at once. Every single one wants to publish The Love of Hawthorn Trees, and every single one also insists on the film rights.”

Yan Ling had already noticed that Zhou Xuan had taken several calls, and had felt that something was amiss. She had not expected the news to spread so quickly. Since Zhou Xuan would rather die than sell the rights, there was no point in continuing to conceal anything.

“Last night, at a gathering with friends, the famous director Zhang Yimou spoke highly of The Love of Hawthorn Trees and said he hoped to acquire the film rights and bring it to the big screen.”

“So Western Capital wants to make the first move and take all the film rights from me first, then discuss investment with Zhang Yimou afterward?” Zhou Xuan said with a smile, thinking, So that’s it after all.

“Zhou Xuan, the film industry is so sluggish right now, with annual box office totals only in the hundreds of millions. In general, even if an author sells the rights, the most he can get is a transfer fee of a few tens of thousands. Even if Director Zhang particularly likes your The Love of Hawthorn Trees, he will at most give you one hundred thousand. But if the royalty share is raised by five points, given the potential of The Love of Hawthorn Trees and the film’s release, sales reaching one million copies is entirely possible. One hundred thousand versus at least an additional million in royalties—you don’t need me to tell you which is more worthwhile.”

Yan Ling continued to persuade him, laying out her reasoning in impeccable order.

It had to be said that Yan Ling was truly an excellent negotiator, but Zhou Xuan was certainly going to disappoint her.

He did not want to continue discussing the topic. “Thank you for the suggestion, Editor-in-Chief Yan, but I still cannot agree. If you can raise the royalty share to twenty percent, I can let Western Ridge Publishing publish The Love of Hawthorn Trees. As for anything else, forget it.”

After a long while, Yan Ling let out a heavy sigh and said helplessly, “All right. Since you’re so determined, I have nothing more to say. But as for the twenty percent royalty share, I’ll still have to go back and discuss it with the leadership at the press.”

“All right. I won’t see you out. Sorry to have made you come for nothing,” Zhou Xuan said with a smile.

“But it wasn’t for nothing. At least now I know that the famous Zhou Zixuan is still only a middle school student. I think even our press would not want to fall out with a genius of boundless promise. I hope we’ll have a chance to cooperate in the future.” Yan Ling spoke very politely.

Zhou Xuan could not help admiring her composure. Even after being refused, she remained unfailingly gracious.

“All right.”

After seeing Yan Ling off, more than ten minutes later Wei Xiyue arrived in the county town, and Zhou Xuan went to another teahouse to wait for him.

He had feelings for Western Ridge Publishing, but since Western Ridge also wanted to obtain the rights to The Love of Hawthorn Trees from him at a bargain price, Zhou Xuan had grown somewhat disgusted.

As the saying goes, no merchant is without cunning. Zhou Xuan understood it clearly now: even when cooperation is good, when profit is at stake, people still value profit above the bond between them.

Sharing wealth is easy to say, but in many cases, it is nothing more than words.

Zhou Xuan knew full well what Wei Xiyue wanted, but he wanted to see whether Wei Xiyue would mention Zhang Yimou to him. If they met and Wei Xiyue did not bring it up at all, then Zhou Xuan would have to think carefully about continuing his cooperation with Western Ridge Publishing.

At four twenty in the afternoon, Zhou Xuan sat across from Wei Xiyue, the editor-in-chief of Western Ridge Publishing.

A cup of lemon water on the table had been drunk halfway, while a cup of clear tea had just been brewed and was still sending up wisps of heat.

“Just that?” Zhou Xuan asked coldly after hearing the terms Wei Xiyue offered on behalf of Western Ridge Publishing.

As expected, Western Ridge Publishing had only offered a fifteen percent royalty share, along with a one-hundred-thousand film-rights fee.

Although the film industry was sluggish at the moment, if a novel were adapted into a movie, it would certainly serve as publicity and help book sales rise to another level.