Chapter 106: Southern Weekend

“How have you been? Feeling under a lot of pressure lately?” Gu Xinxue teased. Their South Sea Publishing Company had also been drawing attention in the industry. How had this fan work, Sherlock the Detective, managed to carve out such a remarkable success?

At that moment, Zhang Chu had just arrived at Jiangcheng Airport. Speaking on the phone to Gu Xinxue, he vented his frustrations. “Editor Gu, the internet’s practically putting me on a pedestal now. Why didn’t anyone say I was the king of fan fiction before? Now that I need to attract hate and attention upfront, suddenly all the praise comes pouring in.”

“Don’t worry,” Gu Xinxue reassured him. “Sherlock the Detective is absolutely legal in our country. No matter what others say, it won’t affect your work. After all, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle passed away many years ago, and you were officially invited by Warner Brothers for the Genuine Detective Holmes project.”

Though those words were comforting, others didn’t see it that way.

Zhang Chu dragged his suitcase to a corner of the airport café and sighed helplessly. “It really hasn’t settled down these past couple of days. Hopefully, it won’t affect our summit?”

Gu Xinxue laughed heartily. “No worries. Thanks to the media coverage—from online outlets to print—the controversies between Beifei and Mr. Hua Ye keep getting mentioned. You’re constantly in the spotlight, and sales are finally picking up again!”

What more could one say? Any kind of exposure, positive or negative, boosts sales. No wonder those people loved to stir up controversy!

Zhang Chu was beginning to grasp some of the underlying patterns, but this kind of attention was pure pressure for him.

“I’ve arrived in Yanjing. Will you be coming straight to the hotel, or should our branch company’s driver pick you up?” Gu Xinxue asked, still a bit worried about the young man. He felt responsible for ensuring his safety.

Zhang Chu shook his head politely. “No need, Editor Gu. You get some rest. I’ll take a taxi to the hotel myself.”

“By the way, when will you arrive? A newspaper wanted to interview you, but they could only reach us to pass along the message.”

Zhang Chu hadn’t publicly shared his private contact details. The only way to reach him online was through Weibo, but with the flood of messages, comments, and reposts he received daily, it was easy to miss things. Since all his works were published by South Sea Publishing, it made sense for others to go through the company for communication.

“Which newspaper?”

Come to think of it, Zhang Chu had never been interviewed by a newspaper before. Only Jiangcheng TV and Jiangdong Satellite TV had featured him. The most famous local paper, Yangtze Evening News, had completely ignored him.

Since he had chosen to be a writer, it was pointless to be pretentious. If it was a reputable paper, Zhang Chu would definitely accept.

After all, a newspaper with a substantial circulation could bring significant prestige!

Gu Xinxue’s tone was a bit odd. “It’s Southern Weekly. I can’t believe they want to interview you.”

“Editor Gu, what do you mean by that?” Zhang Chu was displeased, as if being interviewed by Southern Weekly was somehow beneath him.

“Ha ha, slip of the tongue—I thought it was Southern Metropolis Daily,” Gu Xinxue chuckled.

Zhang Chu thought seriously for a moment. Southern Metropolis Daily had previously published articles criticizing him. Both newspapers were from the southern press group. Could they be teaming up to undermine him?

Maybe after the interview, they’d twist his words or take them out of context. Zhang Chu’s persecutory delusions began to expand.

But actually, the two were entirely separate entities—one a daily, the other a weekly. Southern Weekly was currently China’s largest circulation weekly, with the highest readership and the widest influence.

Landing a feature there would undoubtedly help Zhang Chu’s reputation and status, and also increase public understanding of him.

“Then, Editor Gu, please go ahead and accept it for me. But I reserve the right to refuse to answer any questions during the interview.”

Zhang Chu didn’t want to be trapped. He pondered whether he should redeem something from his system just in case.

Gu Xinxue breathed a sigh of relief. This kid was finally less stubborn and knew how to accept an interview. “I’ll get in touch with them and see if they can film you at the Suspense Literature Summit. That way, it’s a perfect opportunity.”

“Do as you see fit. I don’t know anything right now anyway.”

“This will be good for you. I’ll hang up now. Rest well during your flight and don’t get too nervous.”

...

After hanging up, Zhang Chu tossed his phone on the table and took a sip of coffee.

Beifei’s Strange Weapons had been forced to pay five million yuan in damages just for borrowing character names and some moves from Mr. Hua Ye’s The Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Yet Zhang Chu’s Sherlock the Detective, which borrowed comprehensively from the character names to the plot of Sherlock Holmes, had not been banned despite the severity of the fan fiction. Why then should Beifei be required to compensate?

In the past two days, Zhang Chu’s Weibo, which had just recovered from the hands of poetry enthusiasts and keyboard warriors, was immediately overrun by righteous netizens and Beifei’s fans, leaving no room to breathe.

“Damn it, Beifei is being sued, but why is this author still so smug publishing books?”

“You’ve got some nerve. The foundation said you infringed copyrights, yet you keep publishing and selling.”

“Everyone should be treated equally—ban Sherlock the Detective!”

“Clearly Zhang Chu has connections. They let him get away with poetry journal publications before, and now even with official charges of fan fiction infringement, he still acts as he pleases. It’s outrageous.”

“What the hell, committing crimes with full knowledge?”

“Haven’t read your books, but you’d better keep a low profile.”

“Poor Beifei, so many fan works are untouched, yet he’s the scapegoat. Sigh.”

“There really are shameless people in this world.”

All of the updates for Journey to the West Diary were from these accounts. Since Beifei’s books were banned, their readers were desperately seeking validation everywhere, as if dragging others down with them could save Beifei.

Such logic was hard for a normal person to comprehend.

Not only these so-called “concerned” netizens were monitoring, but professionals from the mystery, poetry, fan fiction, publishing, and media industries were all watching Zhang Chu and Sherlock the Detective closely, curious about how things would unfold.

Is the commercialization of fan fiction truly a dead end?

Copyright issues have always been a key focus of domestic enforcement. Fan fiction is not beyond the law. Even a top domestic author like Beifei made no defense in court regarding his early fan works—he simply promised to abide by the court’s ruling.

Perhaps the winter of fan fiction creation has already arrived.

***********************

Recommended: My friend Snow Aunt’s new novel, The Exiled Immortal Manor. The illiterate author mistakenly read “zhe” as “di,” but it’s actually “zhe.”

A mysterious jade pendant, a secret space—the path to a remarkable rise begins here.

Snow Aunt is a veteran author with consistently impressive updates. Fans of this genre should definitely give it a look—and leave a comment while you’re at it.