The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 277

In private employee groups, it was common to see similar complaints:

[President X is really annoying, every meeting lasts two hours, and we still have to work overtime afterwards]

[I know, even with overtime pay, this really sucks]

[President Y is not bad, our department is quite efficient]

[I'm so jealous, President Y is strict but has no other issues]

[How come Dai An is not saying anything? Let's have Japanese food for lunch?]

[Boss Kang just gave me some tasks, I can't go]

[Should I pack you a lunch box?]

[Thank you, love you]

Dai An turned off her phone and started concentrating on work. Her job was a very romantic personal secretary to the CEO, and at least 3 out of 10 romance novels from Morning Star Publishing next door had "secretary" as a keyword.

However, being a secretary for the CEO in real life consisted of tedious and complicated tasks - scheduling meetings, making dinner reservations, replying to emails, answering phone calls. It required patience, attention to detail and prudence. An absent-minded young girl wouldn't last three days before getting fired.

Dai An graduated from a prestigious university and started interning in her third year, which allowed her to land this job straight after graduation. Her current salary already exceeded most of her classmates. Other than being busy without breaks occasionally, everything else was fine.

To get back on topic, the extra task she suddenly received today was to organize documents for a meeting.

In the afternoon, President Kang had a meeting with the executive from a newspaper company. It was an old and renowned newspaper company whose previous owner had retired, and his daughter took over, planning some major changes recently.

This female president was a great beauty.

"President Yan, welcome." Kang Mu Cheng extended his hand.

"President Kang." President Yan had short hair, but did not look masculine at all. Together with her red lips, she looked glamorous instead, politely shaking his hand, "We meet again."

The two chatted while walking into the conference room to discuss cooperation.

Dai An prepared tea and coffee and finished her job, then immediately went to the pantry to gossip with colleagues.

"The atmosphere seems good!" She said excitedly, "I wonder if I'll be asked to order dinner for them to get to know each other better."

Her colleague peeked at the glass partition of the conference room, holding a coffee cup: "Wow, she's so pretty. How old is she?"

"Thirty. She just got back from the States. Their newspaper company has been collaborating with us for a long time. I heard her father was even an old friend of the Chairman."

"Childhood friends of equal standing, she's just like a destined fiancée character from a novel!"

"Aren't those always antagonist roles?"

"You are not keeping up. Rich, beautiful female second lead awakening is the trend now."

"Don't female bosses like her usually have actor boy toys?"

"Power couples can be exciting too... Oh no, Teacher Jian?" Her colleague suddenly noticed the voice wasn't Dai An's. She turned around and it was instantly awkward.

Jian Jing was oblivious, still peeking with them: "Have they just started? When will it end?"

Dai An said: "President Kang has other appointments in the afternoon, why don't you go rest in the lounge for now, Teacher Jian?"

Jian Jing nodded and familiarly made her way to the lounge.

Dai An asked her colleague: "Which five-star hotel was that Instagrammable afternoon tea you mentioned the other day?"

Her colleague was shocked: "You're ordering that one? It's super expensive, still 800+ even on Groupon!"

"Teacher Jian drops by every time, and President Kang always asks me to order afternoon tea for her." Dai An gave her a knowing look, "Don't worry, no matter how expensive it is, he won't even bat an eye."

Her colleague couldn't help but laugh, lowering her voice: "A little princess, huh—"

While gossiping about others, others are also gossiping about you.

Jian Jing actually overheard parts of their conversation, but didn't take it to heart. She found a book in the lounge, by an award-winning literary author. The writing was elegant and stream-of-consciousness, making people feel drowsy.

"Creak--" The door opened.

Kang Mu Cheng called her: "Come have dessert."

Jian Jing yawned and ambled to his office. The interior design was simple as always, with all books arranged alphabetically. Displayed on the shelves were award ceremony photos of various authors.

She glanced over and was slightly unhappy: "Why is mine at the very edge?"

"It's in order of age." Kang Mu Cheng asked, "Where do you want to put it?"

Jian Jing picked up the framed photo of herself in a rose wedding dress accepting the Dream Pen award, and placed it right in the middle.

Kang Mu Cheng looked at it several times, brows slightly furrowed.

"No good?"

He walked over to rearrange the other photos in alphabetical order of surnames, so J for Jian Jing was conveniently in the middle spot.

Jian Jing: "..." Editors and their occupational syndrome really couldn't be underestimated.

Dai An brought in coffee and the afternoon tea set, completely covering the coffee table.

Jian Jing tried a piece of cake, not bad, it wasn't too sweet. The sandwiches were ordinary, but the fruit jam scones were a little overly sweet.

"Busy?" She asked.

"Not too busy."

Dai An thought inwardly: Yes, pushing aside one appointment does mean you're not busy.

Kang Mu Cheng asked: "Why the sudden visit?"

"Why else does one visit the boss?" She retorted.

Kang Mu Cheng said: "Out of money? What do you want, I can pay for you first."

Dai An contemplated: Can I get an advance to buy an apartment?

"Of course it's to make money." Jian Jing threw her manuscript at him, "New story, ten thousand words. Take a look."

Dai An glanced at her watch, pleased inwardly: Time to check out restaurants. I can finish work by 5 pm today.

Sure enough, Kang Mu Cheng flipped through the manuscript and immediately said, "Dai An, please help book a table — what do you want to eat?"

Jian Jing said: "Home-cooked food."

Freeloading President Kang's treats, she was already sick of exotic cuisines. Just looking at the restaurants gave her a headache. She just wanted to freeload at his place and eat Aunt Wang's cooking — ordinary yet comforting.

"Call Aunt Wang to cook more dishes." Kang Mu Cheng instructed without even raising his head.

Dai An said: "Yes, President Kang."

She tactfully closed the door, leaving them in peace.

Kang Mu Cheng immediately started reading the new chapter while Jian Jing unabashedly dug into the afternoon tea. The cake was pretty good, not too sweet. The sandwiches were nothing special. The fruit jam scones were a bit too sweet.

With only ten thousand words, it was just introducing the beginning of the story.

Kang Mu Cheng quickly finished reading and contemplated: "A female high school student who sleepwalks, mysteriously appearing at crime scenes all the time? What's the significance of this setting?"

Jian Jing explained: "Through her dreams, she re-traces and re-constructs the cases and eventually finds the murderer."

Kang Mu Cheng asked: "Isn't that a little gimmicky?"

"I don't like stories that are too realistic." She sat on the armrest of the sofa, facing the floor-to-ceiling window with golden sunlight falling all over her body as if she was cloaked in golden robes. "Murder is cruel enough already. Adding a touch of surrealism isn't so bad."

Kang Mu Cheng didn't object much: "Jing Jing, I'll always support your decisions. But I have to remind you not to focus too much on the romance subplot."

Jian Jing blinked: "Why do you say so?"

"The neighbor living opposite is an old classmate." He said, "I assume you wouldn't randomly set up a character."

Jian Jing pinched her fingers together: "Just this much."

Kang Mu Cheng said: "No need to set anything in stone. As long as it doesn't steal the show it's fine."

"No, it's personal preference." She gazed afar, laughing softly, "I feel like love is like walking down a forest trail — the hidden path ahead, the hazy morning fog, a calling from the other side. It's uncertain yet the most interesting part. Once through the entire forest and at the destination, the story would end."

Jian Jing continued: "By then, the reader is already satisfied and losing interest to explore further. Wouldn't that mean poor sales for my books?"

"Nonsense." Kang Mu Cheng shook his head, "According to you, Morning Star's warehouses would be filled with unsold inventory."

She said: "I'm just saying, what do you think?"

He gathered the manuscript and replied: "As long as you're happy, however you write is fine."

"Then I'll stop worrying." She jumped off the sofa back, "Finished work?"

"It's 4:15 pm. What finishing work?" Kang Mu Cheng said, "Let's put aside the manuscript first. I have something to discuss with you."

He went to his desk and took out a stack of English newspapers: "I originally wanted to bring this up next month, but since you're here, take a look first."

Jian Jing picked up the newspaper, which was a news report from the United States, with a special section introducing bestselling books. In the past six months, the name "Devil Doctor" had always been on the list, with only slight ups and downs in its ranking. There were even special reviewers writing critiques for it.

She was surprised: "It sells that well?"

"The setting caters to their tastes very much."

Although the Devil Doctor kept the name "Devil", it actually had nothing to do with Satan. Rather than saying it was the embodiment of the devil, it would be more accurate to describe it as an aggregation of human evil.

Jian Jing had never thought of adding any religious elements. The hunter and God were never involved either.

But in the translation process, the translators naturally translated it into the more familiar "devil" for foreigners, and its image shaping was also very similar to the demons they were familiar with.

Foreigners accepted it without any pressure.

Without the cultural barrier, the bestselling book that was popular domestically naturally also gained love overseas. After "Devil Doctor 1" was translated overseas, it quickly made it onto the recommendation list. Then Volumes 2 and 3 were published successively, and overseas book fans were already addicted.

Recently, "Devil 3" was almost simultaneously launched overseas, and its sales figures kept rising, very impressive.

With high sales figures, various awards naturally favored it.

Kang Mu Cheng flipped to the latest issue: "You won the Best Overseas Novel of the Year award. The award ceremony is next month, do you want to go?"

It would be summer vacation by then, so of course she would go. Jian Jing asked, "I don't need to buy a special dress this time, right?"

Kang Mu Cheng looked up at her.

Jian Jing: "?"

Kang Mu Cheng: "Unless you get married, otherwise, I don't want to buy you any more white dresses."

She laughed loudly.

Outside the conference room, the employees exchanged glances with each other.

In the private chat group:

One of the employees silently opened the gossip forum page and found the bookmarked post - "The 818 Golden Crow CEO and His Little Princess".

The post had been up for three months and already had nearly a hundred pages of replies, still a hot topic on the forum.

OP: I finally worked up the courage to resign. I wrote about some of my insights and inside information in the publishing industry in my previous post, and got a lot of support from colleagues in the industry. This time I decided to write something more lighthearted and expose some gossip I've been following for a long time.

As usual, I have already resigned and will no longer be in the publishing industry, so I have no competitive relationship with all of you colleagues. I'm starting this thread purely for entertainment, not to praise or criticize anyone. If you say I'm making things up or that I was ranked lowest in performance evaluation, then so be it.

Alright, let me chat with everyone about the online novelist Jian Jing, who is known as the Golden Crow's little princess. It's not really other jealous colleagues trying to smear her reputation. It's just that the sweet female protagonist herself is much more attractive than the novels by Morning Star next door (I hope President Tao next door won't be upset, haha).

...

The employee pulled the post to the latest reply, chose to post anonymously, and wrote:

Today the little princess came to the company again and had unobstructed access to the CEO's office for a day!

In the CEO's office.

Jian Jing: "Achoo!"

Kang Mu Cheng: "Is the air conditioning too cold?"

"It shouldn't be." She was very confident in her physical endurance. After thinking it over, she could only say, "Could it be the readers urging me to write faster from behind the scenes?"

Kang Mu Cheng laughed. "Then hurry up and write."

Jian Jing: *sigh*, making money is really difficult.