Chapter 5

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Xu Yuan looked at the fat man in the guest seat, who was faking a smile, covered his chest with his hands, and breathed hard.

He complained to himself, “Mom, it would be much better if you donated your heart than give it to Lei Yong. At least it might benefit society. It was this fat man who ruined your son’s reputation!”

According to the prompt of the simulator, Lei Yong had put some overlord terms and some terms, which made Xu Yuan sell himself to Lei Yong, in the contract that Xu Yuan just signed.

Not only did his best-selling first effort become Lei Yong’s money-making tool, but all the words published within five years, including the IOU, and the copyright, would all go to Lei Yong. Any profits generated from Xu Yuan’s works would not belong to him.

That was just like a mother, who went through a difficult pregnancy for ten months, and lost her child after she raised her child for eighteen years or more. Her child was made to somewhere else to be a slave and the money he or she earned went to someone else.

Anyone in this situation would die of anger.

In the parallel world, Xu Yong was young and stubborn. He had insisted on going to court, but in the end, he lost miserably. His parents had not seen much of the outside world, either. When they heard Lei Yong’s name, they believed him completely, so they signed the contract without hesitation.

Then, it would cause a tragedy for the rest of their lives!

“What should I do now?” Xu Yong started a brainstorm, and he stood there motionlessly.

Xu Yuan’s mother stared straight at Lei Yong. She poked Xu Yuan lightly with her elbow and said, “Xu Yuan, go and cut a piece of cake for Mr. Lei. He must be really helpful for you.”

Lei Yong was a well-known person in the publishing circle. He was the person with the highest status at the dinner table.

The others also chimed in. They urged Xu Yuan to be sensible and try to leave a good impression on Lei Yong.

They had been invited to participate in Xu Yuan’s 18th birthday, so they must be quite kind to Xu Yuan. They would be sincerely happy for Xu Yuan’s success and naturally did not want Xu Yuan to neglect that man who might be helpful for Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan did not expect the test to come so quickly and so directly. He clenched his hands under the table and smiled at Lei Yong.

Xu Yuan repeatedly reminded himself that he should not alert the enemy. If he angered Lei Yong and Lei Yong gave him a hard time in advance, he would not be able to turn the situation around.

He had to calm down first.

Thinking of that, Xu Yuan obediently cut a piece off the cake, which was the biggest one. He carried it with both hands to Lei Yong and said with a smile.

“Mr. Lei, this is for you. In the future, I would be needing instructions from you.”

Lei Yong patted his bulging stomach and said, “I don’t eat sweets.”

Xu Yuan still had a smile on his face. He thought to himself, “if you don’t eat sweets, you should have told us earlier. What a waste of time!”

Xu Yuan’s mother tried to smooth things over and said with an awkward expression. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lei. What do you like? We’ll go prepare for you right away.”

Lei Yong was not polite at all. He pushed the cake away, stood up, and said. “The contract has been signed. I attended the birthday party too. You should just write!”

With that, Lei Yong walked out with his head up. Xu Yuan’s mother and father went to see him off respectfully. They did not dare to straighten their backs, which were like shrimps. They respectfully sent him out of the door.

When Xu Yuan saw his parents being so humble, he felt very uncomfortable.

But what was even more uncomfortable was that he already signed the contract. When thinking about it, he felt really sick. Why did he start his life after signing the contract!

Before he opened his eyes, Xu Yuan had already inherited the memories of the first half of his life, as well as his previous writing experience. These could be said to be the greatest treasure of his life.

As for other things such as netizens arguing about which of Lamborghini and Ferrari was better and the prices keeping falling on the stock market, he could not care less. He did not want to remember such useless information.

After Lei Yong left arrogantly, Xu Yuan became quite worried. The entire birthday party became boring. Everybody left after the meal.

After that, he followed his parents back to their cramped rented apartment. After saying good night, he returned to his room.

Although he had already made some money from writing his own book, his parents, who had lived half of their lives frugally, wanted to save up this money. Once they had enough money for the down payment, they would buy a house in the city.

This was too similar to life in the original world. In fact, it would be even more miserable in the future. Xu Yuan had seen everything, so his fighting spirit couldn’t help but be even higher.

What could be confirmed now was that his way to book publishing had been cut off.

Lei Yong was a black-hearted copyright dealer. He would not let Xu Yuan go just because he had a good attitude. If Xu Yuan continued to write physical books, it would only benefit others.

But the only skill Xu Yuan could rely on to make a living was writing. He had to first get out of the current predicament before he could start earning money.

At this moment, he unconsciously took a look at the bookshelves.

Xu Yuan liked writing so he naturally liked reading as well. The bookshelves were filled with the books he had read. He had read domestic and foreign classics, ancient and modern novels, as well as famous popular literature.

Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes and carefully scanned the shelves. He found that some familiar books were not on the shelves.

Although Xu Yuan couldn’t remember all the names of the books that he had read, he had inherited the memories of the first half of his life and found that in the parallel world he had no impression of many of the books that were really popular in the original world.

Xu Yuan then had a sudden inspiration. He seemed to have grasped the key.

Xu Yuan looked at the computer on the small desk. It was bought by Xu Yuan in the parallel world with his first payment. It was probably the most expensive electrical appliance in the entire rental house.

He opened the web page to search for the titles of the books he remembered.

As expected, the search engine told him that no relevant information had been found. Some books did not exist in this parallel world at all.

When he knew the result, Xu Yuan was somehow mixed. He was happy that he could take a shortcut and become a porter of the good books, bringing the famous books from the original world for his own use.

What made him worried was that his pen name and copyright were all in someone else’s control.

Xu Yuan did not know what he should do now. How could he find a way out for himself while being shackled?

Should he take part in the Nobel Literature Prize selection and write a world-famous book?

According to the life in the simulator, Xu Yuan would not only be cut off by Lei Yong, but would also be condemned by netizens who did not know the truth, making him embarrassed in public.

If Xu Yuan became the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, there would be an official platform to help him. Even if Lei Yong was audacious in the extreme, he would not dare to make a reckless move.

Could he write a copy of Mo Yan’s “Big Breasts and Wide Hips”?

“No, that’s impossible!” Xu Yuan shook his head and stopped thinking about that.

Every year from September to January 31 of the following year, the Nobel Prize in literature would accept recommended candidates, but he could not recommend himself.

Although the 18-year-old Xu Yuan was already somewhat famous, he was not good enough to cause a stir in the literary world. No one would recommend him, who was so young, and the Nobel Prize for Literature had such a long time span.

Even if Xu Yuan was selected, his reputation might have already been stained by Lei Yong. After all, no one liked to make money on their knees, and Lei Yong was the same.

Xu Yuan now needed to break through the blockade of the publishing industry. He wanted to make a lot of money fast. He had better make enough money and attract a large number of fans before Lei Yong ruined him!

When thinking about it, Xu Yuan anxiously walked around the room. He wanted something that spread fast, had a big impact and had no publishing problems. Well, it should be only online novels.