Chapter 97: Saved Drafts

Knock, knock! Knock, knock!

Hearing someone at the door, Jiang Zheng stepped out of his room and went to open it.

Standing outside was Yuan Yuhua. Only now, there was a palm print on his face, making one side of his cheek swollen high.

“Do we not have a doorbell or something?” Jiang Zheng said.

“I didn’t want to press it!” Yuan Yuhua replied, bristling with annoyance.

“What happened to you? Why is there a handprint on your face?” Jiang Zheng asked.

Yuan Yuhua came inside and sat down on the sofa. Jiang Zheng had not brought it up yet, so he had not been that angry; but the moment it was mentioned, his irritation only grew.

“It’s all because of you!” Yuan Yuhua said.

“Because of me?” Jiang Zheng was baffled. He had not even gone out. How could it be because of him?

“Yes, because of you!” Yuan Yuhua said with absolute certainty.

“Explain yourself. How did you end up getting hit because of me?” Jiang Zheng asked.

“What was the point of you buying gifts? Your dad took the gifts you bought and kept showing them off in front of my dad. Last night, when I got home, I originally wanted to ask my dad for some money to buy a game controller. But the very moment I opened my mouth, he slapped me right across the face.

I asked him why he hit me, and he said that even Jiang Zheng knew to buy gifts for his father, while all I do all day is nothing and ask for money.

Tell me, wasn’t I hit because of you?”

The more Yuan Yuhua spoke, the more wronged he felt. He had only wanted a little pocket money. What had he done to deserve this?

That slap had come so fast he had not even reacted before it landed on his face.

What should have been a rather miserable story somehow made Jiang Zheng want to laugh more and more as he listened.

“All right, all right. I thought it was something serious. Stop looking so pitiful,” Jiang Zheng said.

“You think this is a small thing? That was a real slap. Look at my face—it’s swollen, and the handprint still hasn’t gone away,” Yuan Yuhua said.

“Then why did you come looking for me?” Jiang Zheng asked.

“I came to tell you to stop having Uncle show off the gifts you bought in front of my dad whenever he can. Otherwise, I won’t even dare go home,” Yuan Yuhua said.

“I thought it was something major. Why don’t you buy your dad a gift too? Maybe if your dad is happy, he won’t hit you,” Jiang Zheng said.

Yuan Yuhua rolled his eyes. “You think I need you to teach me that? If I had any money on me, I would have bought one already.”

Jiang Zheng said suspiciously, “That doesn’t sound right. I clearly remember you saying your dad gave you a thousand yuan for pocket money. How did you use it all up so quickly?”

“Wasn’t there an event a while ago? I spent it on skins,” Yuan Yuhua said.

Jiang Zheng was left completely speechless, staring at him wordlessly.

So the money had all gone to buying skins. If Yuan Yuhua had managed to save even a little of it, he would not have had to take that slap.

Of course, there was no if. He had already been hit.

“If you want, I can lend you some money to buy one. I happen to have a little on me,” Jiang Zheng said.

“Forget it. If my dad found out I borrowed money from you, he’d probably hit me again,” Yuan Yuhua said.

“Uh... then I guess there’s nothing I can do,” Jiang Zheng said.

“Never mind. I’ll just be more careful when I go back this time,” Yuan Yuhua said.

…

Days passed one by one, and Jiang Zheng’s summer vacation was nearly over.

His novel was nearing its end as well.

Through this period of nonstop stockpiling, Jiang Zheng had built up nearly five hundred thousand characters of draft chapters.

The ability to save up so much was inseparable from his blindingly fast typing speed and his almost complete refusal to go outside.

Speed alone would not have let him accumulate so many drafts.

With more than twenty days’ worth of chapters in reserve, Jiang Zheng could be said to be fully armed.

During those more than twenty days, his novel had firmly held the top spot on the monthly ticket rankings.

His baseline update every day was thirty thousand characters, something very few people could manage. Even more remarkable was that he could maintain extremely high quality in every chapter; whether it was the writing or the plot, there was nothing to criticize.

In general, stories of the myriad worlds had an inherent limitation: readers who had not seen the corresponding films, television shows, or novels often had trouble immersing themselves in them.

Without knowing the plot, some parts could seem murky and confusing.

But that was not a problem for Jiang Zheng. In every anime he adapted, the story was placed either very early in the plot or after the plot had ended.

Setting aside the worldbuilding, purely from the standpoint of story alone, it could completely be read as a brand-new novel. Even if one had never read the original work, it would not have too much impact.

Jiang Zheng sat firmly in first place on the monthly ticket rankings, and no one could push him down.

During this period, he also gained two Golden Alliances and several Silver Alliances, not to mention even more Alliance Chiefs.

He had deliberately posted a special chapter to promise the extra updates, planning to release them all together later.

Aside from the site where Jiang Zheng published, his novel was also astonishingly popular on other platforms.

Readers’ reviews of the book were all extremely high.

Although the book was a hit, its adaptation rights still had not been sold.

There was nothing to be done about that. This was one of the pain points of stories that crossed through many worlds: the rights were too risky to sell.

After all, Jiang Zheng’s book involved multiple domestic animated works. Writing about them in the novel itself was one thing, but once it was adapted into an anime, a television drama, a game, or something similar, the corresponding rights issues would come into play.

So despite how wildly popular the book was, the rights remained unsold.

Jiang Zheng did not especially regret it. For a newcomer, stories spanning many worlds were a very good path.

One could borrow an existing worldbuilding, and even borrow the plot and character designs, without having to spend much thought at all.

If he had tried to write a fully original fantasy novel, it would probably have led only to a dead end.

As for the fact that the book was about to finish, Jiang Zheng told no one.

He was afraid of being disturbed. Someone surely would not support him ending it so soon.

A novel of more than two million characters reaching its end was actually normal. But a monthly-ticket champion ending at just over two million characters was a little too fast.

At the very least, it would be more normal if it ended at four million characters or more.

But Jiang Zheng was eager to finish and did not want to drag it out any longer. After all, completing the system mission was what mattered most.

Then the final day of the month arrived. What should have been a fierce battle for monthly tickets instead seemed strangely calm.

At other times, in the last few days of the month, a war of the gods would unfold.

This month’s calmness was entirely because of Jiang Zheng’s novel.

With that book in place, no other novel could contend for first place.

In the morning, Jiang Zheng got up very early. After washing up and eating breakfast, he sat down in front of his computer.

He did not plan to read today.

Only the final bit of the plot remained, and he intended to finish writing it today. The nearly five hundred thousand characters of stockpiled chapters would also all be released today.

Of course, he would not release them so simply. He had written a special chapter.

Its purpose was to tell everyone that he was about to fulfill the extra updates he had promised before. Now that he had ample stockpiled chapters, he would let everyone enjoy them all in one go.