Chapter 30

Though there were always some minor disputes between Demi and her brother Jack, there was no shortage of the kind of harmless mischief and warmth that exists between siblings in a happy family, which Jin Xuantai envied very much.

Nate's family was also a typical American family, and Demi and Jack represented the kind of interaction that most American families have between brothers and sisters.

Jin Xuantai was very envious of this.

At least his own family was not complete, which was a bit regrettable.

After returning home, Jin Xuantai did not go to the publishing house as he had said, but stayed at home all day.

What he told his wife Anna at Nate's house was just an excuse; Jin Xuantai had no intention of going to the publishing house to see Dave today.

During this whole day, Jin Xuantai stayed at home, working on his pirated "Fairy Tales" project, and completed the selection of short stories from "Grimm's Fairy Tales" within a day.

Not all of the "Grimm's Fairy Tales" were suitable for children, and some were bizarre, bloody, and dark, so these stories needed to be removed. Therefore, Jin Xuantai only selected some more appropriate fairy tales that did not exist in this parallel world.

Thus, Jin Xuantai spent the day writing at home, recovering from the hangover from the previous night.

His daughter played happily by herself and did not fuss at all about not being able to go out to play.

When putting his daughter to bed at night, the little one did make a fuss, crying for her mother, which made Jin Xuantai very sad.

In the end, Jin Xuantai managed to soothe the little one to sleep, which relieved him.

Although he felt guilty towards his daughter, Jin Xuantai was truly helpless in this matter.

Firstly, he only looked 16 years old, so where could he find a suitable woman to be his wife?

And even if he found a girlfriend, it was unlikely that she would be willing to take care of Coco.

Moreover, the most important thing was that Jin Xuantai had no room in his heart for any other woman and had never thought about bringing another woman into the lives of him and his daughter.

After all, Jin Xuantai's mind was still full of the image of his wife, which he could not shake off.

It was precisely because of this that Jin Xuantai felt that it was his fault that he could not meet his daughter Coco's need for a mother, and he felt very guilty.

His daughter was gradually growing up and now knew to cry for her mother, which made Jin Xuantai very troubled.

"Ah! Let's just take it one step at a time," Jin Xuantai could only sigh in secret.

Alone in the living room, Jin Xuantai turned on the LCD TV, intending to watch some late-night programs to pass the time and improve his mood.

Unfortunately, the TV programs on all channels were extremely boring soap operas, neither funny nor entertaining, which made Jin Xuantai's mood even worse.

So, Jin Xuantai played video games until 11 PM, then washed up and went to bed.

The next day, Jin Xuantai, as usual, changed his daughter's clothes and diaper, made breakfast for her, and then left home with her in the car.

Today, he was really going to the publishing house.

After all, he needed to show Dave the new novel "The Lord of the Rings" and discuss the publication details, as well as the publication of the "William Fairy Tales" he had 'created' in two days.

These matters were clearly too important to handle over the phone or by email; a face-to-face meeting was more appropriate.

With the manuscript of the novel and the fairy tales, Jin Xuantai drove his Audi A8, placing his daughter in the back seat, and headed towards Los Angeles.

In the morning, the highway from Monica City to Los Angeles was packed with cars, showing that many people lived outside Los Angeles but worked there.

Fortunately, Jin Xuantai was not in a hurry, so he did not mind the slow traffic on the highway.

He turned on the car's CD player and played some soft, soothing instrumental music, enjoying the drive as he slowly made his way forward.

As the car passed a certain point on the highway, Jin Xuantai curiously noticed that each shop in the commercial area had all sorts of alternative clothing, masks, and fun clowns and pumpkins displayed in front of them.

Oh, right, it was almost Halloween!

Jin Xuantai was initially confused but quickly remembered.

At the end of October, on the 31st, was Halloween in the United States.

On that day, children would dress up in all sorts of costumes and go door-to-door for candy, shouting "Trick or treat!"

When he brought his daughter to this timeline's America on January 1st, he had been so preoccupied with making a living that he had not experienced any American holidays. He had been either washing cars or washing dishes in restaurants.

His daughter, Coco, had also not experienced the festive atmosphere here.

But now things were different. His financial situation had greatly improved, and he no longer had to worry about money. So, he could certainly celebrate a proper holiday with his daughter.

Feeling guilty towards his daughter, Jin Xuantai decided to celebrate Halloween with her, letting her experience the fun of the holiday and making her happy.

Celebrating Halloween was actually quite simple.

All they needed to do was decorate their backyard and front door with items like jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, and spooky clowns, and prepare plenty of candy.

He and his daughter would also need to dress up in some unusual costumes.

On Halloween night, children would go in groups to every house to collect candy.

The Monica Beach community where he lived was primarily composed of white residents, so they would certainly not miss such a holiday.

Although there were only about 700 to 800 households in the community, considering that most American families had two or three children, and excluding single men and women, he would still need to prepare a lot of candy.

But what did that matter to Jin Xuantai?

He now had money and could buy a lot of candy, so he would not disappoint the children.

Moreover, he could also dress up his daughter and take her out to collect candy.

It took Jin Xuantai about an hour to drive to the publishing house, which was twice the usual half-hour due to the morning rush hour traffic.

When he left home, it was 8:00 AM.

But by the time he arrived at the publishing house, it was already 9:00 AM.

He parked his car in the publishing house's parking lot and took his daughter to Dave's office on the fifth floor via the elevator.

Today, Dave was not very busy. When Jin Xuantai found him, Dave was sitting at his desk, leisurely drinking coffee and looking out the large glass window at the bustling street below.

Standing at the door, Jin Xuantai politely knocked on the open office door instead of barging in.

The knocking sound interrupted Dave's leisurely coffee tasting, and he turned to see who it was.

Dave's secretary, Laura, promptly took the little one from Jin Xuantai's arms, just as she had done before, and the little one was clearly fond of playing with women, so her attention was diverted to Laura.

Seeing that Dave had noticed him, Jin Xuantai entered the office and directly stated his purpose.

"Since we discussed this on the phone last time, I won't repeat myself. Here is the manuscript of the first volume of the new novel 'The Lord of the Rings.' Take a look."

Jin Xuantai walked to the sofa, sat down, and placed the manuscript of the first volume of "The Lord of the Rings" on the coffee table in front of him.

Dave got up from behind his desk, walked to the opposite side of the sofa, and sat down. He leaned forward, reached out, and picked up the manuscript of "The Lord of the Rings" to flip through it.

Although Dave's appearance was not very attractive, his eyes as a senior editor at a publishing house were very good.

After a quick look through the manuscript of "The Lord of the Rings," he was almost certain that this was a fantasy novel that would sell well.

So, he looked up and seriously said to Jin Xuantai, "This is a novel that will sell well. How about letting us, California Cultural Publishing, publish it? I can even offer you a more favorable royalty rate, say 20%?"

Wow!

For the first novel, "A Song of Ice and Fire," Dave had only offered him a 10% royalty rate, but even that had made him a lot of money.

Now, with just the manuscript of the first volume of "The Lord of the Rings," Dave was offering a 20% royalty rate, which was a huge leap.

"Don't be surprised. You are now a best-selling author, so I can't treat you like a new writer. And you have great potential, and I don't want to offend a promising young writer like you."

Dave provided an explanation, which made sense, but it was a bit of a stretch.

To be honest, even if "A Song of Ice and Fire" had sold well and Jin Xuantai had great potential, it didn't warrant such treatment from Dave.

After all, this was a doubling of the royalty rate!

But Jin Xuantai didn't bother to think about the reasons; this was a good thing for him, wasn't it?

"I have no objections. I accept the 20% royalty rate. 'The Lord of the Rings' can be published by the publishing house, but only for the English print edition."

Jin Xuantai was not confused and reminded Dave slightly.

Dave smiled and was not concerned, "Our publishing house only wants the U.S. distribution rights for the English print edition, which is no different from 'A Song of Ice and Fire.'"

This reassured Jin Xuantai, and everything went smoothly, making him feel relaxed and happy. He began to like dealing with Dave.

In a good mood, Jin Xuantai took out another manuscript and placed it on the coffee table. This was the manuscript of the pirated "William Fairy Tales."

Dave looked curiously at Jin Xuantai and then at the manuscript on the coffee table.

"This is...?"

Jin Xuantai said, "A fairy tale I created. Can you take a look and see if it can be published?"

Ah, not only a fantasy story, but also a fairy tale? Your creative speed is really fast.

Hearing this, Dave's face showed surprise.