Chapter 260 Yang Guiren's Difficulties
"We are going to print another 50,000 copies. I will send someone to deliver the contract to you."
"Brother Li, you should reprint it and send the contract to Ma Weidu."
Liu Hongmin and Peking University Press have an old relationship, so naturally they would not have a conflict over such a small matter.
However, Liu Hongmin's status is now different from what it used to be. Although Li Huanfang's personal relationship with Liu Hongmin has not changed, he still had to call and say hello.
In the following days, Liu Hongmin thought he could just wait for Random House to publish "The Frozen Throne". While he was sitting there counting money, Yang Guiren came to his door.
"Brother Yang, what's going on?"
Liu Hongmin looked at his worried face and asked in confusion.
Yang Guiren sighed, "Brother Liu, I'm here to beg for alms from you."
Liu Hongmin was stunned. "What's wrong? Your family needs money urgently? Just go find Lao Zou!"
Zou Shifang was in charge of Liu Hongmin's small treasury in Hong Kong. As long as the money Yang Guiren needed did not exceed one million Hong Kong dollars, Zou Shifang had the right to withdraw it.
Yang Guiren shook his head, "I'm not a flaw, I'm about to be fired."
When Liu Hongmin heard this, he immediately knew what was going on.
"Brother Yang, Lao Chen and the others have gotten you a lot of good books, how come you are still unemployed?"
Yang Guiren spread his hands, "Those books are all distributed by the publishing house. I'm just an editor, and I make money by relying on writers I know. As a result, in the past two years, you've been writing either fantasy or science fiction. Although the circulation is considerable, it's far inferior to your suspense novels."
Liu Hongmin felt a headache. "But I just finished writing The Frozen Throne. I need to take a break, right?"
Yang Guiren grabbed Liu Hongmin's hand and said, "I don't care, Brother Liu, if you don't help me, I will lose my job."
"Let go first!" Liu Hongmin pried his hands apart, "Brother Yang, can we not be so shameless?"
"Brother Liu, I still have a family to support. If I lose my source of income, I will have to be a househusband."
“Househusband is good.”
"What's good about that? Brother Liu, you know that Hong Kong is a patriarchal society. If I become a househusband, my social status will drop to the bottom."
Yang Guiren almost cried, made a scene, and even hanged himself, just like a housewife. It was a waste of his talent for him not to be a househusband.
Liu Hongmin was so annoyed by the noise that he raised his hands in surrender.
"Stop, stop, I'm convinced by you. You stay in the capital for a few days, and you can take me away when I finish writing."
"Thank you, Brother Liu!"
"This is just the first time!" Liu Hongmin said sternly, "If it happens again, you'll have to pray for the best!"
"Of course! Of course!" Yang Guiren knew that it would not look good if he threw a tantrum like this, but he had no other choice!
In the past few years, when Liu Hongmin was there, Sanlian Publishing House made a lot of money. But after Liu Hongmin cooperated with Random House, except for the traditional Chinese copyright, which remained in Sanlian Publishing House, all other foreign language copyrights belonged to Random House.
Sanlian Publishing House didn't get a share of the profits, so it was naturally jealous. At first, Sanlian Publishing House was able to hold back. But seeing a large amount of profits being lost every year, the shareholders of Sanlian Publishing House gradually became restless.
So, they started to make trouble for Yang Guiren. If he couldn't take Liu Hongmin's novel back, he would probably have a hard time in the future.
Yang Guiren also knew that human desires were unlimited. If he took back Liu Hongmin's manuscript, Sanlian's shareholders would definitely ask him to ask Liu Hongmin for the manuscript again.
Now he used his friendship with Liu Hongmin to ask for a manuscript. If he did it again, Liu Hongmin might not even see him.
He didn't have the nerve to ask Liu Hongmin for help, so he decided to find another buyer immediately after returning. If the shareholders hadn't pressed him hard, he wouldn't have come to Liu Hongmin for help. Because he knew that Liu Hongmin's friendship was very valuable. "Thank you, brother Liu, you saved my life!"
Liu Hongmin looked at him and felt that there must be something behind this. After sending Yang Guiren away, Liu Hongmin called Zou Shifang.
"Old Zou, what happened to Yang Guiren?"
Zou Shifang was stunned for a moment, "I haven't heard of it! What's wrong?"
Liu Hongmin told him about Yang Guiren asking him for a manuscript, and then said, "This is very unusual. Find someone to check what's going on."
Zou Shifang nodded, "Leave it to me! I'll call you back when I get news."
"it is good!"
After hanging up the phone, Liu Hongmin turned on the computer.
While waiting for the computer to start up, Liu Hongmin took out the outlines he had accumulated from a folder beside him. After flipping through them for a while, Liu Hongmin found a suspense novel.
"Manslaughter"!
Adapted from the movie "The Accidental Murderer", the story is still very exciting. After Liu Hongmin wrote the outline, he was busy writing other more profitable novels.
If Yang Guiren hadn't asked for the manuscript, Liu Hongmin didn't know when he would have put the outline aside! After all, its prototype story didn't appear until more than 20 years later.
Liu Hongmin went over the content of the movie in his mind and then began to write.
As I was writing, the phone suddenly rang.
Liu Hongmin pushed the keyboard forward and reached out to pick up the phone. "Hello?"
Zou Shifang's voice came from the phone, "Hongmin, Yang Guiren is really in trouble."
Liu Hongmin was not surprised. Yang Guiren was not a fool. He knew that his friendship with him was very important, but he still asked for a manuscript. He must have encountered difficulties. He was always generous to his friends, so he agreed to write a manuscript for Yang Guiren.
Zou Shifang continued, "Sanlian Publishing House was jealous of Random House, so they took their anger out on Yang Guiren and forced him to ask you for the manuscript."
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "It seems that Sanlian Publishing House does not want to cooperate with us in the future."
Zou Shifang also laughed, "You are just jealous! Your brain is naturally not normal."
"I don't care whether it's normal or not!" Liu Hongmin said disdainfully: "After I get the proceeds from this manuscript, I will cut off my cooperation with Sanlian."
Zou Shifang: “Okay!”
After hanging up the phone, Liu Hongmin continued to write the manuscript. After five days of hard work, he finally finished "Manslaughter".
After printing a few copies, Liu Hongmin handed them to Chen Yu, "Send one to Yang Guiren. For the remaining three copies, mail one to Richard, give one to Beijing University Press, and send one to Renming Literature."
"Renming Literature" has helped him deal with troubles many times, and this time it can be regarded as a reward for "Renming Literature".
Yang Guiren stayed in the guesthouse the whole time. After receiving the manuscript, he said to Chen Yu with great gratitude: "Thank you, Brother Liu, for me."
Chen Yu nodded, "I'll pass on the message."
Yang Guiren knew that it was useless for him to say anything now. He asked Chen Yu to help convey the agreement again, and then he went to a few games and flew back to Hong Kong.
(End of this chapter)
