Crossing over, and then being blocked by a rich JK

Chapter 224: Jiang Lang's Talent Exhaustion Incident [4K6]

Chapter 224: Jiang Lang's Talent Exhaustion Incident (The End) [4K6]

[Teacher Watanabe's new book will be available in major bookstores the day after tomorrow. Is it the end of his talent or a new high? Please wait and see.]

With Akiba Bookstore’s public statement, the already intensifying public opinion was fueled.

At this point, the accelerator has been completely stepped on to the bottom, and there is no chance to step on the brakes.

24 hours later, this public statement appeared on the front pages of major portals.

For a moment, countless people's attention was focused here, and countless spectators also rushed in.

Some relatively perceptive bloggers also took advantage of this wave of traffic to make videos explaining the causes and consequences of the incident, which gained a lot of exposure.

As these onlookers became more aware of the incident, they also joined the battlefield.

Those who support Ryuichi Yanagisawa said that this mainstay of the literary world said this because he had high expectations for Watanabe.

Those who support Watanabe said, "Who are you? An author who has been a failure in recent years is pointing fingers at a young author with a bright future. Do you have the ability to do that?"
Furthermore, since we cannot compete in sales volume or popularity, we can only stand on the position of "predecessors" and grumble like a fly for a long time, but what can grumbling change?

Will it reduce the sales of Norwegian Wood, or reduce the total sales to half?

As a result, the comment section, which should have been quiet, became lively again, and everyone was fighting fiercely and calling for the key to come.

And during this debate, the heat of the incident reached a new level and reached its second peak.

A well-known blogger said that if nothing unexpected happens, this incident should be the biggest and most popular event in the literary world this year.

No matter who wins or loses in the end, both parties will gain huge traffic.

In other words, both sides win, win, win!
This is indeed true, but Ryuichi Yanagisawa's mood inexplicably became heavier.

As a veteran who has been in the industry for a long time, he knows very well what situations are controllable and what are uncontrollable.

The heat of the situation has now gone beyond the controllable range, which means that even if there is a cliff ahead, he no longer has the right to kneel down and admit defeat, indicating that he doesn't want to play anymore and wants to get off the car.

He could only be forced to gamble to the end.

Moreover, his intuition also told him that this time it would be very dangerous.

The reason is simple. Based on Akiba Bookstore's usual style, since they have decided to step down and respond publicly, they must have more than 60% chance of winning.

"But that's not necessarily the case."

Ryuichi Yanagisawa turned his head and put aside the thoughts that scared himself.

It's not the end yet, and he may not lose.

Moreover, his intuition had never been correct, just like that year when his intuition told him that he could not win the Naoki Prize, and he did not hold out much hope, but he won it that year.

"It's still a long way to go."

He closed his eyes and calmed his surging emotions.

Just as the blogger analyzed, no matter who wins or loses in the end, he will be the winner.

Since winning the Naoki Prize that year, he has not been in the public eye for a long time.

As for what he said on his blog, he can also explain it as a rash move, and then he can talk to Marseille privately to make a big deal out of a small matter, and then handle it calmly, and the small matter will be forgotten.

As for whether they believed it or not, he was inclined to believe that they did. After all, he had always been cautious in his public speeches and left a pretty good impression.

“So, I won’t lose!”

Yanagisawa Ryuichi opened his eyes and said this sentence as if to comfort himself or hypnotize himself.

*
That night, at nine o'clock in the evening, in the study of Watanabe's house.

"Yu."

After placing the cut fruit plate on the desk, Hamabe Ryoko pulled out a chair nearby and sat down.

"Ok?"

Watanabe Yu, who was writing a new song, put down his pen, raised his head and met Ryoko's gaze.

"Aren't you nervous?"

Hamabe Ryoko hesitated for a moment, but still asked this question.

She had confidence in him, but confidence did not mean she was not worried at all.

The outcome of a matter like this is too variable, and the other party can easily cheat.

If the quality is up to standard, the other party will focus on short-term sales, saying that you still haven't surpassed "Norwegian Wood", so doesn't that mean there has been no progress?
If the sales volume is acceptable but the quality is not so good, the other party will focus on the quality and say that the quality of your book is indeed much worse than that of the previous book.

Unless both the quality and sales volume are up to par, the other party will always have something to say.

And even if the quality and sales volume are both up to standard, the other party will only say that it was just a kind reminder from the predecessors. If pushed to the limit, they will just do a private Marseille and pretend to be dead.

To be honest, the risk her Yu took and the risk taken by that man named Yanagisawa Ryuichi are not equal at all.

“Kafka on the Shore?”

Watanabe Yu turned sideways, reached out and pressed the switch, making the light in the study brighter.

"Yes."

Ryoko Hamabe pursed her red lips, clasped her hands between her legs, and her face was full of visible worry.

"Do not you trust me?"

Watanabe Yu picked up a toothpick from the fruit plate, picked up a piece of peeled water chestnut and put it into his mouth.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that..." A trace of worry flashed across Hamabe Ryoko's brows, "There are too many places where the other party can make trouble."

"Well, how about this, if you smile a little, I might be able to think of a solution."

Watanabe Yu picked up another piece of water chestnut.

"You, I'm not kidding you!"

Hamabe Ryoko pursed her lips, and there was a hint of helplessness in her eyes.

She was seriously worried about him, but he was still so frivolous.

"I'm serious too, come on, open your mouth, ah."

Watanabe Yu brought the water chestnuts to Hamabe Ryoko's mouth.

"..."

After looking at each other for ten seconds, it was Ryoko Hamabe who couldn't help but look away first.

"what."

After giving someone a coquettish look, she smiled honestly and opened her mouth.

The water chestnut was put into her mouth.

"That's right, how can my Ryoko be so sad every day?" Watanabe Yuu smiled and withdrew his hand, then handed a paper document on the table to Hamabe Ryoko, "Take a look."

"Uh, okay."

Ryoko Hamabe, with a blushing face, was stunned at first, then she reacted belatedly and took the document handed to her by Watanabe Yu.

His sudden words "my Ryoko" made her very shy.

After all, he is just too cunning!

What a bad guy!

She pursed her lips, muttered something in her heart, and gradually focused her attention on the documents in front of her.

As line after line of content came into her eyes, the worry between her brows visibly lessened.

"Ryuichi Yanagisawa, male, from Tokyo, 39 years old this year, won the Naoki Prize three years ago. His representative work is "On the Sea". That year, there were no major works in the literary world, so they picked him out of the short ones."

As Watanabe Yuu spoke, he raised his head and looked at the warm glow shining down above his head.

The soft light of light brown fell on his face, and a feeling of fatigue surged up.

He closed his eyes temporarily.

"Before winning the Naoki Prize, his book sales were not very good. After winning the Naoki Prize, the sales of his book doubled."

Watanabe Yu continued.

"If you don't mention the specific figures and just talk about the increase, it's really impressive, but he originally only sold 20 copies. Even if it doubled, it would only be 40 copies, and it hasn't even broken through 60 copies yet."

Ryoko Hamabe shrugged and her eyes fell on the last line of the first page of the document, which detailed the specific sales volume of "On the Sea".

To be honest, compared with "Norwegian Wood", this book "At Sea" is not even worthy of being compared, it is completely not in the same league.

"Putting aside the issue of sales, before winning the Naoki Prize, people who knew Yanagisawa Ryuichi described him as a gentle person. But after winning the Naoki Prize..."

Watanabe Yu didn't finish his words, he just opened his eyes and looked at Hamabe Ryoko.

"He became a different person." Hamabe Ryoko read out the introduction on the document. "The gentle gentleman he used to be disappeared, and was replaced by an extremely arrogant and self-abased person. His friends asked him why he became like this.

"He said he was tired of wearing a mask and smiling at everyone, and he wanted others to live their lives by looking at his face.

“He didn’t have this ability before, but now he can do it.

“After that, his friends parted ways with him.

"It was also from that time that he no longer had any other friends." After reading this paragraph, Hamabe Ryoko raised her head.

Coincidentally, their eyes met in the air.

When their eyes met, his face was reflected in her eyes.

"In terms of quality alone, Kafka on the Shore is not inferior to Norwegian Wood. As for sales, this is not something you and I can decide. The market will give the answer, but one thing is certain: good things are good everywhere."

Watanabe Yu stood up and walked in front of Hamabe Ryoko.

"I won't fight a battle I'm not sure of, so please trust me, okay?"

He bent down slightly, gently stroked the side of her face, and said this very seriously.

"……it is good."

Hamabe Ryoko lowered her eyebrows and nodded meekly.

Now that he said so, how could she not believe him?

What's more, he was her danasama, and she believed whatever he said.

As the last 24 hours passed, "Kafka on the Shore" officially hit the shelves of major bookstores just as Akiba Books had predicted.

With the overwhelming publicity and the support of this event, the first batch of 30 copies of "Kafka on the Shore" sold a full 20 copies in just one morning.

Many bookstores with limited stock were sold out before noon, and had no choice but to shamelessly ask larger bookstores for supplies.

"So let me see if you are a paper tiger, Watanabe."

Coming out of a large bookstore, wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a hat, dressed like a suspect, Ryuichi Yanagisawa opened the plastic cover and muttered something in a low voice.

Although his inspiration has been mostly exhausted over the years and his writing skills have declined, his ability to evaluate whether a book is well written is still at the same level as before.

After finding a bench to sit down, he just started watching.

However, the more he looked, the more anxious he became.

His intuition, which always went against his will, failed today.

The worst situation that he didn't want to see happened.

Compared with Watanabe's previous book, the level of "Kafka on the Shore" has not only not declined, but has even improved.

As for sales.

If he remembered correctly, including the one he took away, there were only three copies of "Kafka on the Shore" left on the bookshelf.

You know, he went to the largest bookstore in the port area.

This also means...

call.

He shook his head and suddenly felt like he was back to the time before he won the Naoki Award.

At that time, he could only be cautious and pretend to be a gentle person when dealing with people around him.

later……

Ah.

Ryuichi Yanagisawa sighed and took out his cell phone. His arrogant expression had disappeared, replaced by a fawning look of begging for mercy.

After finding the phone number of Akiba Bookstore, he dialed it.

But this time, the call didn't go through.

He didn't think he was wrong, but he felt that if he didn't apologize, the private Marseille on the Internet and pretending to be dead would not work.

Toot, toot.

It’s a pity that his call didn’t get through.

Putting down the phone, he thought about it and instinctively wanted to dial the number he had edited.

But the moment his hand placed on the call button, a feeling of shame suddenly came over him.

Even though he knew his editor would not say those harsh words explicitly, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Ugh.

With a long sigh, he put away his phone.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, the worst had finally happened.

Sixteen hours later, the first group of readers finished reading "Kafka on the Shore" and their spirits began to become excited.

Although it was already early in the morning, these readers who finished reading the work first still went online, spontaneously wrote their reviews, and then communicated with other readers.

As more and more readers who stayed up late to read finished the book, online book reviews popped up like mushrooms after a rain, "Kafka on the Shore" became more and more popular, and the previous question of victory or defeat was once again put on the table.

But this time, all the people who had supported Ryuichi Yanagisawa before fell silent, as if they had disappeared from the face of the earth.

The few who still responded were drowned out by the condemnation of numerous readers.

——If "Kafka on the Shore" is a sign of running out of ideas, then all young and middle-aged authors in the entire literary world can announce their retirement.

Time passed slowly, and as the sun shone on the earth again, public opinion on the Internet began to become one-sided.

With dark circles under his eyes, Ryuichi Yanagisawa opened his blog, honestly posted the apology he had been thinking about for a long time, and then clicked publish.

After taking a look at his private message icon that was about to explode, he decided not to click it after all.

Now he knew why the president of the bookstore called him and asked him to delete the blog post, because he had hit a wall!

If he could do it again, he would definitely not be so impulsive.

But there are no ifs in life, only consequences and results.

And now it seems that it is too late.

[President, I have issued an apology statement]

Taking out his cell phone, Ryu Liuze opened the text message and sent the following message to the president of the book club.

If the other party is willing to protect him, then he still has a chance after the cold treatment.

It's too late

The message received a reply very quickly, but the four words were not quite the same as what he had imagined.

[Is there no chance? President, I promise I won't do this again. Please give me a chance! I beg you!]

After a moment's silence, he typed this line with red eyes and clicked send.

He couldn't accept this result.

Yes, there must be room for turning around.

As long as the president is willing to help him, he is the winner of the Naoki Prize! He was once full of vigor and vitality! He also brought benefits to the book company.

Just like a drowning person holding on to a float on the water, he tightly grasped the phone and waited for the response from the president of the book club.

Buzz. Buzz.

After three minutes that seemed like an eternity, his cell phone vibrated.

[Please read the latest statement from Qiuye Bookstore. I can’t help you. As for your contract, this is the end of it. You should take care of yourself.]

Okay, take care of yourself?

Ah.

Yanagisawa Ryuichi laughed dryly as if his soul had been hollowed out.

Based on his understanding of the president, if nothing unexpected happens, he has been blocked by the other party.

Putting down his phone, he reopened his laptop and clicked on the website of Akiba Bookstore.

then.

He saw the latest post.

That's an audio file.

pat.

He controlled the mouse and tremblingly clicked play.

The sound came from the player on the laptop.

"I don't care what the hell you have to do, you have to come to this party. If you don't come, you are not giving me, Yanagisawa Ryu, a face!"