Could it be that female readers are naturally drawn to yuri and boys love?
When she asked herself this, even Xu Qin let out a bitter smile.
She didn't know whether female readers were inherently drawn to these genres, but she did know one thing: even as the founder of the site, she herself liked boys love.
Wasn't that ironic?
On one hand, she advocated for more orthodox, more literary romance works.
On the other hand, she herself had little interest in them.
Even the currently popular youth literature only sold well because of celebrity-style promotion. Strip away fan worship, and if it relied purely on book sales, perhaps no one would buy it at all.
Maybe romance really had no market anymore.
People were already tired of these unoriginal romance stories.
Forget it, let the market develop on its own.
With a sigh, Xu Qin scolded herself. Being overly literary was a kind of illness.
Just as she was about to shut down her computer, something caught the corner of her eye.
'The Peony Pavilion Girl'.
It was the title of a novel. But for some reason, the moment she saw those words, she was instantly drawn in.
This title felt different from all the others.
'The Peony Pavilion Girl'.
She murmured it again, and that sense of difference grew stronger.
Yes, compared to other titles, this one carried a certain elegance.
Other novels had names like domineering CEOs, delicate wives, or things like 'My Lord, I'm Not Afraid'. Compared to those, 'The Peony Pavilion Girl' felt like heaven and earth apart.
What a beautiful title.
It carried a classical charm while also feeling fresh and refined.
Just for this title alone, Xu Qin clicked into the novel.
Now the question was, with such a good title, how was the writing?
She began reading.
But just the very first line stunned her.
"A fine time and beautiful scenery, yet wasted away; delightful moments, but in whose courtyard? Let it be told that in the Du household there was a daughter named Liniang…"
"A fine time and beautiful scenery, yet wasted away; delightful moments, but in whose courtyard?"
No transmigration, no CEOs, no yuri, no fujoshi themes. And yet, with just a single sentence, Xu Qin was completely captivated by 'The Peony Pavilion Girl'. If you asked her why, she probably wouldn't be able to explain it.
Maybe it was the poetic opening.
Maybe it was the narrative style.
Or perhaps women were simply more emotionally receptive.
A few minutes later, Xu Qin finished the first two chapters.
"So beautifully written."
"Isn't this exactly the kind of work I've been searching for all along?"
Almost instantly, Xu Qin instructed her editors to send a contract offer to the author.
…
Strangely, after Zhang Huiping told Huang Yifan that Su Jingru suspected him, Su Jingru didn't approach him at all over the next few days, nor did she mention the essay.
However, she seemed to have gone a bit crazy recently, assigning seven essay topics in a single day, claiming it was to better understand the class.
Huang Yifan had no particular opinion. Since she wasn't causing trouble for him, he was happy to take it easy. As for the assignments, he treated them just like everyone else, writing them one by one. But he didn't take them seriously. Most of the time, he simply wrote whatever came to mind. In his own words, these essays were nothing but meaningless ramblings. Though he used to dislike this style, it worked perfectly fine for dealing with homework.
What Huang Yifan didn't realize was that he was no longer the same person as before.
Through continuous learning and, more importantly, a transformation in mindset, he had become fundamentally different from others.
Though it wasn't obvious on the surface, his thinking had already surpassed that of most people.
From one perspective, this change was good; it meant progress.
But from another perspective, it hinted at an underlying crisis.
That very evening, Huang Yifan received a phone call.
It was from Wuyue of Lingdian Chinese Web, informing him that 'The School Belle's Bodyguard' had been placed on Huaxia Mobile's recommendation.
Huang Yifan found it a bit strange. He had previously rejected their operation plan, so why had Lingdian still chosen his work?
But he didn't dwell on it.
He only knew one thing, if his memory was correct, 'The School Belle's Bodyguard' had become a god-tier novel on mobile reading in his previous life.
He had thought he had missed that opportunity.
Yet somehow, fate had brought it back. The novel still made it onto the Mobile Reading platform.
This was a chance for a fish to become a dragon.
This was what Huang Yifan saw as a rise fueled by sheer advantage, almost like cheating.
Once 'The School Belle's Bodyguard' appeared on Mobile Reading, it began breaking records one after another, redefining what web novels could achieve.
On the first day, with only a second-tier page recommendation, it generated over 5,000 RMB in daily sales.
To understand how shocking that was, the previous record for such a recommendation slot had been 500 RMB. This was ten times that.
And this was just the beginning.
After its strong performance, it was immediately promoted to the homepage.
On the second day, daily sales exceeded 10,000 RMB.
By the third day, it was featured on the homepage's premium section. That day marked a miracle; daily sales surpassed 50,000 RMB.
With continued promotions, its daily revenue climbed from 50,000 to a peak of 300,000 RMB.
In just one month, the novel generated 5 million RMB in profit on the Mobile Reading platform.
Projected annual profit? At least 50 million RMB, according to analysts.
Meanwhile, Huang Yifan's author ranking on Lingdian skyrocketed from 2-star to 9-star, officially reaching god-tier status.
And success wasn't limited to just this one book.
On Songjiang Net, his adaptation of 'The Peony Pavilion Girl' quickly captivated female readers.
Especially the iconic scene where Du Liniang meets Liu Mengmei in a dream and shares an intimate connection, it sent readers into a frenzy.
On that day, nearly every female reader following the updates felt electrified. And later, when Du Liniang dies from longing and is resurrected through love, readers become completely entranced. Many declared 'The Peony Pavilion Girl' the number one romance novel in Huaguo for 2015.
In publishing, it even surpassed Guo Cheng and Han Jin, becoming the year's top-selling book.
As for 'A Chinese Ghost Story', it caught the attention of film studios and was adapted into a television series. Huang Yifan even wrote a theme song for it, 'A Chinese Ghost Story', the same song once performed by Leslie Cheung in his previous life.
Needless to say, with both a compelling story and a classic song, the series became the highest-rated show of the year.
At school, Huang Yifan's remarkable essays drew increasing attention from Su Jingru. Eventually, under her arrangement, he participated in the New Concept Writing Competition. Though he didn't fully showcase his abilities, he still crushed the competition and won first prize.
However, perhaps success had come too easily.
Perhaps Huang Yifan had grown a bit restless.
Or perhaps he had begun to believe he was truly exceptional.
One day, after updating 'The School Belle's Bodyguard', he started writing another novel.
It was called 'Martial Domination', a xuanhuan novel, and also his first completely original work since arriving in this world.
The result…
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Glossary:
The theme song is 'A Chinese Ghost Story' ("倩女幽魂", Qiànnǚ Yōuhún), performed by Leslie Cheung (张国荣, Zhāng Guóróng). It was the iconic theme song for the 1987 Hong Kong film A Chinese Ghost Story, and remains one of the most famous songs associated with Chinese cinema.
yt: https://youtu.be/blgM1xod7t0?si=AsrNdZUwNZnU1B58
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