Chapter 44: Promotion and Release of Yi Yunxue's Album

Sweet Potato sent over the phone number.

Chen Jiang did not dial it immediately; instead, he first searched online for information about this person.

[Ning Fengyun, born in 1972, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association.]

[Representative works: *Island Folks*...]

Several of his works were very famous, and some essays could even be found in school textbooks.

This person held a very high status in the literary world.

Chen Jiang became even more puzzled. How on earth did this person know about him?

Chen Jiang made the call.

After about ten seconds, the call connected.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, I am Jianghe," Chen Jiang said.

"Hello, I am Ning Fengyun, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association." The person on the other end smiled as he spoke:

"Mr. Jianghe, I’ve finished reading your *Lord of the Mysteries*. Speaking of which, I suppose I'm your bookish fan."

"You've read my book?" Chen Jiang was instantly stunned.

Only then did it dawn on him. No wonder the other person brought him up—it turned out he had read his book!

"Yes. Don't let my age fool you; I usually like reading web novels too," Ning Fengyun asked:

"Are you very puzzled as to why, despite us having no relation or acquaintance, I would personally ask Sweet Potato to invite you to join the Writers Association?"

"Yes," Chen Jiang nodded.

"Actually, apart from traditional literature, I've even tried writing web novels myself."

"However, I haven't told anyone else about this."

"You are the first person outside of my wife and Yuewen to know about it," Ning Fengyun explained.

"President Ning, you..." Chen Jiang started to say, but was interrupted by the other person.

"Just call me Uncle Ning."

"Uncle Ning, how are your book's sales and stats?" Chen Jiang asked curiously.

"Hehe, certainly not as good as yours, but I do have over twenty thousand paid subscriptions," Ning Fengyun said with a chuckle:

"When I first started writing web novels, I had my submissions rejected several times. Later, I figured out the rhythm and patterns of web novels before I managed to get signed. But my performance wasn't good at all in the beginning; the writing style of web novels is just too different from traditional literature."

"As the word count grew, I gradually found the right way to write, and it wasn't until two million words that I broke ten thousand paid subscriptions."

"Now it's at four million words, and the average paid subscriptions are over twenty thousand."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jiang immediately guessed the title of the other's book: "Is it *Mist Slaughter*?"

That book belonged to the niche fantasy category and only broke twenty thousand paid subscriptions last September.

The early performance of *Mist Slaughter* wasn't very good; it belonged to the late bloomers and was a dark horse of last year.

Originally, there would have been no problem at all for this book to make it onto last year's Twelve Heavenly Kings list as a representative fantasy work, but in the end, it was passed over.

The book that made the list obviously had significantly fewer paid subscriptions than this one, which had also sparked dissatisfaction among the readers of *Mist Slaughter*.

Last year, the readers of this book almost flooded the comment sections under the Yuewen official pages.

In the end, the author himself came out to explain that he had voluntarily given up the nomination for the Twelve Heavenly Kings, which finally brought the matter to a close.

Chen Jiang had accidentally heard his own book fans mention this while lurking in a reader chat group.

Back then, he was still very puzzled, wondering if this person was a fool to turn down such monumental traffic.

With the honor of the Twelve Heavenly Kings, the probability of selling a work's copyright would be much higher.

Now it seemed the other person wasn't a fool at all; rather, he simply didn't care about this honor.

Given the other person's status, would he need to rely on this title to sell copyrights?

"It seems my young friend has also heard of my book," Ning Fengyun said.

"I never expected that book to be written by you, Uncle Ning," Chen Jiang exclaimed in wonder.

"Haha, many people in the Writers Association nowadays are quite arrogant. They think writing web novels is inherently inferior, as if writing traditional literature somehow makes them superior."

"But I believe web novels are the main trend for the future development of literature. In recent years, web novels have developed rapidly and have become an indispensable part of many citizens' daily lives."

"Web novels lean towards entertainment. I believe this popular literature, which ordinary people can easily understand, is an indispensable and vital force in the literary world. Over the years, I have continuously promoted web novel authors to join the Writers Association, and we have achieved small successes."

"Yet those old fogeys still stubbornly think web novel styles are too vulgar. This has always been the sore spot of web novels. I started trying my hand at web novel creation precisely to change others' perceptions, but obviously, relying solely on my own strength is not enough to change all this."

"Until I saw your work. Your *Mysteries* is very well written, with strong penmanship, logical settings that are extremely complex and rigorous, and deep, profound content. Your book made me see hope for changing traditional concepts."

"That is why I troubled Mr. Excellent to contact you, Mr. Jianghe. Would you be willing to join the Writers Association?"

"I am willing to join," Chen Jiang agreed.

"Good then. Let's add each other on WeChat, and you can fill out the forms—there are two application forms in total—and I'll help you submit them to the association," Ning Fengyun said on the other end of the phone.

After hanging up, the two added each other on WeChat, and the other party sent two files, asking Chen Jiang to fill them out.

After filling out the information:

[Ning Fengyun]: Once the application is approved, I will notify you.

[Chen Jiang]: Alright, thank you very much, Uncle Ning.

[Ning Fengyun]: You're too polite.

The moment he received the files, Ning Fengyun, who was far away in Jingdu, immediately sent them to his assistant.

And he instructed: "I will personally vouch for him. Give my membership quota for this year to this person."

...

One week after submitting the membership application, on a certain morning, Ning Fengyun informed Chen Jiang that the application had been approved and asked him to mail two two-inch photos with a blue background when he had time.

Then, he pulled him into a chat group.

[China Writers Association Members Group 4]

The group was very quiet, with basically no activity.

Chen Jiang saw a few familiar pen names in the group; they were all Great Gods and Platinum authors on Yuewen.

Since no one was speaking, Chen Jiang exited the chat interface.

At that moment, he saw Uncle Ning send another group chat invitation.

Chat Group: [China Writers Association Web Novel Exchange Group]

This chat group had fewer than two hundred members.

[Ning Fengyun]: Hehe, this is the stronghold for web novel authors in the Writers Association.

Only then did Chen Jiang understand that the reason the main Writers Association group was so desolate wasn't because everyone was too busy, but because a chain of contempt existed among the various literary circles, rendering the main Writers Association group merely a decoration.

This exchange group for web novel authors in the association was his true stronghold.

"Talk about arrogant!" Chen Jiang muttered to himself.

He accepted Ning Fengyun's group chat invitation.

Upon entering the chat group, the vibe changed instantly.

[Welcome to the new arrival!]

[Another big大佬 has arrived!]

[What's the big shot's book title? Is it a Yuewen author? I'm going to go pay my respects!]

[The newcomer should update their pen name.]

The administrator reminded.

So Chen Jiang changed his pen name to match.

[Jianghe]: That's right, I'm from Yuewen.

In an instant, countless authors popped up one after another.

[Holy crap, Big Jianghe!]

[Big Jianghe joined the association too?]

[Sob sob, an ordinary ten-thousand-sub author like me, how can I possibly be worthy of staying in the same Writers Association as Big Jianghe (ashamed)]

[Little brother Jianghe, you joined the association?]

At this moment, Sweet Potato also popped up.

[Jianghe]: Yes.

After chatting for a bit with a few Great Gods and Platinum authors in the group, Chen Jiang left a message: [I'm going to go write words.]

Then he exited the chat interface.

After writing for a while, Chen Jiang suddenly received a message from Yi Yunxue.

[Yi Yunxue]: My album promotion has started!

[Chen Jiang]: So fast?

[Yi Yunxue]: Not fast at all. Today is the 28th, and in three more days this month will be over.

[Chen Jiang]: When is the album releasing?

[Yi Yunxue]: Midnight on the first.

Chen Jiang stopped what he was doing and clicked on Weibo to check Yi Yunxue's profile page.

Sure enough, she had already posted a message:

[Dear fans and music lovers, after a period of hard work, my new album "Beginning of a Dream" has been completed and will launch on major platforms on the first of next month, which is April. Everyone, please look forward to it!]

[Also, please pay attention to our studio—Dream Beginning Studio (submission email attached).]

Below this post, she also released a teaser MV video, which played a short segment of the chorus from the album's title track, "Courage."

Yi Yunxue's melodious and resonant singing rang out:

"Love truly needs courage, to face the malicious gossip~"

"As long as you give me a single confirming look, my love has meaning~"

"We all need courage, to believe we will stay together~"

"In the crowded sea of people, I can feel your true heart placed in my palm..."