'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' was first published on Wave Reading Literary Network in May of that year. Without a publishing contract or any promotional recommendations from the platform, it gradually built up a respectable following through nothing more than reader word-of-mouth.
Many readers voluntarily promoted this rare and outstanding wuxia novel on forums and WeChat groups. More than a dozen fan groups dedicated to 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' were established, giving the novel a certain degree of influence within the niche world of online literature.
However, the novel was clearly geared more toward the traditional print market than the mainstream online-fiction audience. As a result, it differed significantly from the popular web novels dominating the internet at the time. Its search traffic remained relatively modest, placing it in the category of a work that was appreciated by readers but never truly became a mainstream hit.
By October, 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' had a search index of just over twenty thousand on Shansou, the country's largest search engine. Among novels of the same genre, its ranking was fairly low, nowhere near the Top 100.
Everything changed the moment Lu Chen Workshop and Chen Fei'er Workshop announced that they had acquired the rights to 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' and planned to adapt it into a television drama the following year.
Overnight, the novel exploded in popularity across the internet.
By eleven o'clock that night, searches for the title had exceeded five million. Before long, it had climbed onto the list of trending searches featured on Shansou's homepage.
And the vast majority of that search traffic flowed directly to Wave Reading.
Faced with the overwhelming surge of visitors, the people at Wave Reading could hardly believe their luck.
A dramatic increase in traffic was certainly a good thing. Competition in China's online literature industry has become extremely fierce. The rise of intellectual-property-driven entertainment had created one success story after another, and the value of bestselling web novels continued to climb. Every major platform was investing tremendous effort into marketing and promotion in hopes of capturing a share of this highly profitable market.
Without any advance preparation whatsoever, an enormous number of internet users suddenly flooded in.
It felt as if a giant pie had fallen straight from the sky.
The whole thing seemed almost unbelievable.
Yet the biggest problem was that although 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' had debuted on Wave Reading, the website had never signed the novel under contract.
All rights remained firmly in the hands of the author.
The author was free to sell those rights to whomever he pleased, while Wave Reading could only watch helplessly from the sidelines, unable to benefit in any meaningful way.
Had the novel actually been under contract with Wave Reading, Lu Chen Workshop, and Chen Fei'er Workshop would have had to pay a tremendous price to acquire the adaptation rights.
After all, who in the entertainment industry didn't know about Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er's ability to turn television dramas into major successes?
Print publication.
Film and television adaptations.
Animation.
Video games.
Feature films.
The possibilities were endless.
Watching such a huge piece of prime intellectual property sitting right in front of them while being unable to claim it for themselves was naturally frustrating.
The website's senior management was miserable, and as often happened, that frustration rolled downhill.
The responsible editor and the chief editor both received severe criticism.
How bad could a work be if both Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er had personally chosen it?
Moreover, the novel had already been performing quite well on the website. In hindsight, they should have spent the money necessary to acquire exclusive rights from the beginning instead of allowing such a golden opportunity to slip away.
The losses they were now facing were enormous.
In truth, the editor was completely innocent.
When Lu Chen originally uploaded 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' to Wave Reading, his purpose had merely been to test readers' reactions. He had never intended to relinquish any of the novel's rights.
Lu Chen had no need for the relatively small income generated by subscriptions and revenue sharing.
'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' was the pilot project for his grand wuxia intellectual-property strategy.
Naturally, all rights had to remain firmly under his own control.
How could the editor and chief editor of Wave Reading not feel wronged?
Unfortunately, they had no idea about the true circumstances. They genuinely believed they had missed the chance to secure a future blockbuster intellectual property.
Their regret only deepened the following day.
The number of users who had added 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' to their favorites on Wave Reading skyrocketed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands almost overnight.
Every one of them felt as though they had made a disastrous mistake.
They had effectively spent time and resources helping someone else create value.
Of course, Wave Reading did not come away entirely empty-handed.
At the very least, a large number of readers had joined the platform specifically because of the novel. Among those who bookmarked 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer', the majority were newly registered users, and the positive impact this brought to the website should not be underestimated.
The online edition of the novel had reached approximately 500,000 Chinese characters, equivalent to roughly two and a half print volumes.
And every chapter was available to read for free.
Naturally, that made it highly attractive to readers.
As an outstanding example of the new-style wuxia genre, 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' had finally entered the public spotlight for the first time.
Given enough time, its reputation and popularity were bound to spread further and further through word of mouth.
At the same time, the novel's print edition was about to be released. With ample time for public interest to build and mature, the television drama adaptation scheduled to begin production the following year was certain to attract enormous attention.
This was precisely the opening movement of Lu Chen's grand wuxia IP strategy.
"So, are you satisfied now?"
The day after the announcement was made public, Chen Fei'er called Lu Chen. Her laughter could be heard through the phone.
"You're not still blaming me for signing little sister Gegen Tana away from you, are you?"
Lu Chen smiled wryly.
"I wasn't blaming you in the first place."
"I heard that Sister Lu Xi was a little unhappy about it..."
Chen Fei'er was remarkably well-informed. She explained:
"Actually, this was partly my fault. I never expected that posting the video of you and Gegen Tana on my blog would create such a huge reaction. I was worried it might affect her life, so I decided to sign her directly."
Because of the video Chen Fei'er had uploaded, Gegen Tana had unexpectedly become an internet sensation.
In today's highly developed entertainment industry, she would inevitably be viewed by some people as a potential cash cow. Even though she lived on the vast Mongolian grasslands, there would still be people willing to track her down.
Given Gegen Tana's pure and kind-hearted nature, it would be far too easy for her to lose herself in the bizarre and complicated world of show business.
Chen Fei'er did not want a moment of impulsiveness on her part to ruin the future of such a beautiful and lovable Mongolian girl.
So she simply signed Gegen Tana to her workshop, cutting off everyone else's ambitions at the source.
In reality, the contract Chen Fei'er signed with Gegen Tana was extremely flexible.
If Gegen Tana was unwilling, she could continue living a carefree life on the grasslands exactly as before.
If she wanted to see more of the outside world, or wished to appear on television screens, then Chen Fei'er's network of contacts and industry resources would be more than sufficient to protect and support her. She would not need to come into contact with the darker side of the entertainment industry.
This was Chen Fei'er's responsibility.
And it was also Gegen Tana's good fortune.
Once Lu Chen understood the thoughtfulness behind Chen Fei'er's actions, he was deeply moved.
Having a girlfriend with such a gentle and considerate heart was also his good fortune.
"Actually, Sister…"
"I know!"
Chen Fei'er interrupted him with a laugh before he could explain.
"Sister Lu Xi definitely wasn't angry. And I've already called her, which is why our two workshops released the announcement together."
Lu Chen was completely convinced.
"So the two of you were in on it together!"
Chen Fei'er laughed.
"You're busy enough with work already. There are plenty of things you don't need to handle personally. As long as you keep hold of the big picture, that's enough."
"By the way, I've got some good news for you!"
Lu Chen's attention was immediately diverted.
"What good news?"
(End of Chapter)
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