Chapter 8

ps: Newbie here, seeking recommendations and support from all the great readers!

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This meal lasted until three in the afternoon. Considering that Zhang Wei and the others had night shifts, they vetoed Li Minghui's suggestion to go to a KTV. However, under Zhang Wei's subtle hints, Li Minghui still sent Cheng Juan back to her apartment. They chatted for a while before he returned to his place.

After drinking some alcohol, Li Minghui felt dizzy. As soon as he got home, he received a text message. Seeing it was from Cheng Juan, he felt a bit excited and read it: "Have you arrived? Take care of yourself, it's getting cold!"

Reading the caring words, Li Minghui felt the alcohol wear off, and his heart warmed. He replied: "Yes, I know. You should go to sleep, you have a night shift tonight!"

"Okay, I know. Goodnight!"

Cheng Juan's reply came quickly, with a playful emoji. Li Minghui's heart was boiling with excitement, and it took him a long time to calm down.

He rested for a while. By the afternoon, the alcohol had worn off. He wanted to send another text to Cheng Juan but didn't know what to say. After hesitating for a while, he decided to turn on his computer.

Logging into QQ, he then logged into the author backend. As soon as he entered, he heard a "ding" and saw a new message.

Li Minghui's heart suddenly raced, and he chuckled with excitement, "It can't be a contract message, right!"

Li Minghui knew that Qidian's contracts were sent to authors through the backend. He had learned this from the forums. If a work was highly regarded, it might be contracted before reaching 30,000 words, sometimes even at 20,000 or 10,000 words.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Li Minghui carefully opened the message, hoping it was the contract he wanted to see.

Sure enough, when Li Minghui saw the message, he was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed, as it read:

"Hello, I am Gua Gua, the editor of Group 4. Your work has been submitted for a contract.

Please add the contract editor Xiaodou as a friend on QQ to discuss the contract details. When adding, please note: Book title 'Zhu Xian,' author name Ming Guang Hui Yao, submitted by Gua Gua."

"Contracted! 'Zhu Xian' was recognized so quickly!"

Li Minghui's hands waved excitedly, not knowing where to put them.

The contract was undoubtedly a recognition of Li Minghui's work by the website, indicating that it had been approved by the Qidian editors. Li Minghui also knew a bit about the contract process at Qidian.

If a work was contracted before 30,000 words, it meant the editor had extremely high hopes for it, indicating good commercial value. The earlier the contract, the better. However, there was also an element of luck, as editors had to read many books. Therefore, finding a good book at the right time and right moment was a matter of probability. Li Minghui knew that he not only had the talent but also good luck!

However, a contract was just the first step towards success for a work. Even so, for a newbie like Li Minghui, it was still a significant encouragement.

Although he knew that the contract for 'Zhu Xian' was inevitable, given its classic status in the previous life, if it wasn't recognized by the editors, Li Minghui would have considered changing platforms. Nevertheless, he was still thrilled that it was contracted so quickly.

Li Minghui was eager to share his joy with someone. The first person he thought of was his best friend, Zhang Wei, but then he thought it might not be a good idea.

"Maybe I should send a text to Cheng Juan?"

Li Minghui suddenly had an idea. However, he also thought it might not be reliable. He put his phone down but then remembered that he should interact more, as his senior had suggested. So, he picked up his phone, edited a greeting message, and sent it to Cheng Juan.

"This way, the senior won't say I have low emotional intelligence anymore!"

Muttering to himself, Li Minghui opened his QQ and added the contract editor's QQ. After entering the verification message and sending it, he waited for a response.

Li Minghui was very excited. He didn't do anything else, just kept refreshing the author backend, checking his favorites.

In the morning, he had 18 favorites. When the contract message came, he noticed it had increased to 24. Now, after refreshing again, it had increased by one more.

For a newbie, there was nothing more joyful than seeing the favorites increase. However, after refreshing several times, the favorites stopped growing, remaining at 25 with no further movement.

Thinking about it, Li Minghui clicked into the page of his novel, 'Zhu Xian.'

At this moment, his book's data had changed.

Total clicks: 128

Weekly member clicks: 39

Total recommendations: 15

Total words: 12,945

Seeing the new data, Li Minghui's face lit up. Although the data was still quite low, for someone who had been on Qidian for years, it wasn't bad. With only 10,000 words, he already had over 100 clicks, and the weekly member clicks and recommendations were enough to place him in the top ten of some less popular categories for new authors.

However, the fantasy genre was quite popular, so he still had a long way to go.

He then checked the book review section. The reviews were more active now, with a few new comments. Clicking on the new comments, Li Minghui read them.

"Boss, the book is good, I'll wait until it's fully updated before reading!" — Only Reads Long Novels

"How many chapters do you update a day? Strongly suggest more updates!" — Book Hunter

These two comments were new, and the second one already had three replies.

Li Minghui clicked to see them.

Second floor: "Sofa!" — Professional Review Snatcher

Third floor: "It's a new book, how many can there be?" — Call Me White

Although the reviews didn't have much substance, they still made Li Minghui very excited. If readers didn't like the book, they wouldn't stay or leave comments. The active review section could also attract more readers.

Feeling lucky, Li Minghui checked his QQ again. Perhaps the editor had already gone home, as there was no response from Xiaodou. Li Minghui was anxious because the timing of the contract was crucial, directly affecting the recommendation schedule.

With a mix of hope and fear, Li Minghui thought of his phone, wondering if Cheng Juan had replied. He quickly checked it. Perhaps he had been too engrossed earlier and hadn't noticed the message tone. He saw that Cheng Juan had already replied.

A slight smile appeared on his lips as he quickly read the message.

"Hehe, just woke up. Saw your message, sorry. Have you eaten?"

"Oh, she asked if I've eaten. How should I reply? I remember the senior used to reply like this!"

Li Minghui thought for a moment and edited a message: "Not yet, want to come out and eat together?"

Feeling his emotional intelligence had improved, Li Minghui chuckled to himself. He checked the message for typos and other issues, then sent it.

"Hehe, feeling good today, might as well splurge a bit more!"

Li Minghui didn't mind spending money. He lay in bed, waiting for Cheng Juan's reply.

A while later, Cheng Juan's message came: "Oh, no need, I've already eaten. You should eat quickly!"

"Uh... the script is off. What's going on?"

Li Minghui was confused, feeling a bit discouraged. All his previous excitement vanished, and he didn't feel like replying. He was very depressed.

"If she doesn't want to eat, fine. I'll... cook for myself!"

Li Minghui thought for a moment, sat up, and went to the bathroom. He hadn't eaten much earlier, just a lot of beer. He hadn't noticed the urge to urinate while he was excited, but now he felt it strongly.

After relieving himself, Li Minghui felt refreshed. He washed his hands thoroughly with soap, dried them, and started cooking noodles.

By eight o'clock, Li Minghui felt his mental energy had fully recovered, and he was very energetic. He put down his phone, sat in front of the computer, and excitedly organized his thoughts before opening the writing software. Countless ideas flowed through his mind, transforming into the content he needed to write. The keyboard clattered as he typed.

With the writing software, his mental energy was fully converted into creative talent, and Li Minghui's inspiration flowed like a stream. He didn't feel tired at all, but rather increasingly excited. In the state of the writing software, what was a painful task for other authors became the happiest time for Li Minghui.

After two hours, Li Minghui stopped voluntarily, though he was still in the flow. He had gradually figured out the pattern of the writing software. When his mental energy was almost depleted, a small prompt would appear, and he would suddenly pause. If he paid attention, he could stop in time to avoid a headache.

Satisfied with what he had written, he checked the word count, which had increased to over 5,100 words.

He spent some time proofreading, corrected all the typos, and saved the draft. Li Minghui then realized he had forgotten to update after the morning update. Checking the time, it was only a few minutes past ten, so he still had time. He immediately logged into the author backend, selected the work management, copied over 3,000 words of the draft, and pasted them into the new chapter upload page. He added a title and, remembering that other authors often included a postscript for votes and favorites, he added one too.

"Hello everyone, I am the author of 'Zhu Xian,' Ming Guang Hui Yao. I hope you can support Xiao Hui by favoriting and recommending. Thank you!"

Checking everything was correct, Li Minghui immediately clicked to upload the chapter. Feeling sleepy, he didn't check the favorites or the data for 'Zhu Xian' again. He turned off the computer and went to sleep...