Chapter 164: The Old Men Who Neglected Sleep and Meals

Zhang Chu tried to calculate how much income this million-plus sales figure could bring him, but gave up after a brief attempt.

After all, the royalty split for online e-books did not match that of physical books. Even among e-books, Amazon differed from Douban Read or Duokan, not to mention all the other channels.

Authors could be considered vulnerable groups; whatever these channel distributors handed over was what they got, and it was nearly impossible to get the true sales figures.

Only powerful writers and literary agencies had the qualification to negotiate with them and obtain precise backend data, a level Zhang Chu had not yet reached.

In less than half a year, he had transformed from a complete newcomer into a veteran author, his rate of ascent so rapid that people frequently cast sidelong glances of astonishment.

Not only were his book sales impressive, but more importantly, both of his works had even sold their film and television adaptation rights. This was what made numerous authors envious!

In this world, there were plenty of writers whose cumulative book sales exceeded one million, but very few among them had managed to sell their adaptation rights.

Only the absolute top-tier existences across various genres could sell every single one of their works at high prices.

In fact, many people knew that Zhang Chu's ability to sell his adaptation rights did not rely on the help of Dream Dragon Culture, but rather because his works were exceptional enough to draw massive attention worldwide!

"Since we hit a million in sales today, I must reward myself properly."

Zhang Chu was essentially just giving himself an excuse for a binge-eating and heavy-drinking session. He decided to treat his dormitory roommates to a meal to thank them for helping cover for him when he was absent and for occasionally saving seats for him in class.

Anyway, there were still two college English classes together this afternoon, so he was not in a rush to contact them immediately.

...

The autumn scenery on the campus of Yanda University looked somewhat desolate. As the autumn wind swept past, leaves fluttered down from the tall arbors.

A withered leaf landed right on Zhang Chu's head as he rode his bicycle. Over the past few days, he had been too busy to properly appreciate the scenery, but now he finally slowed his pace slightly instead of recklessly rushing through his schedule.

Inside the classroom, An Mi and the others were already seated and self-studying. Although class did not start until three-thirty, they had arrived at the classroom before two o'clock. Such diligence was something Zhang Chu could not match.

"Brother Chu, where is your new book?"

Yang Ling was somewhat of a fan of Zhang Chu. He lowered his voice to inquire, eager to lay eyes as soon as possible on the work Zhang Chu had poured his heart and soul into writing.

Zhang Chu placed his textbook on the desk and replied, "It was only uploaded to the internet early yesterday morning. If you want to read it, I'll send you a read-only document tonight when I get back, but you must make sure it doesn't leak out."

"Don't worry, I'll be the only one reading it," Yang Ling promised, feeling immensely delighted. Among Zhang Chu's countless readers, he would definitely be the first to read it. When the time came, showing off a little and dropping spoilers would surely infuriate those people.

College English was actually quite a boring subject. Probably everyone present could easily pass the CET-6 exam directly, yet they still had to study it slowly.

With the blessing of the primary English mastery skill from his system, Zhang Chu found these texts and tests completely effortless.

...

All sounds of nature fell silent; even the noises of cats and dogs around the residential complex grew quiet, leaving only the occasional faint sound of a car passing by in the distance.

Suddenly, a shrill ringing sound shattered the stillness. The young man sleeping soundly on the bed had to squint his eyes, unplug the charging cable from the phone on his nightstand, and answered the call in a daze.

"Hello?"

Zhang Chu felt a slight pang of displeasure. He had been sleeping so well, yet someone had to call in the middle of the night and disturb his sweet dreams.

"Little Zhang Chu, are you asleep?"

An aged voice came through, sounding somewhat familiar. Zhang Chu rubbed his eyes and checked the caller ID name—it turned out to be a call coming from Ma Qiwei's side.

Perplexed, he asked, "Professor Ma, are you on a business trip or vacation in the United States? It's only a little past three in the morning over here."

"Ah, is it already three o'clock?" Ma Qiwei himself was surprised. He explained, "We just finished reading your *Life of Pi* overnight, and we have some questions we'd like to ask you."

Over at the hotel, a group of elderly gentlemen whose average age exceeded sixty were sitting on the sofa, each holding an e-reader, their attention entirely focused on the smartphone resting on the coffee table.

Ma Qiwei and the others had originally been extremely curious about this work, and coupled with Chen Yingsong's rating of a full score, this group naturally could not resist stumbling upon a gem; once they saw something exceptional, they simply could not bear to put it down.

Before they knew it, it was already three in the morning, yet every single one of them remained full of energy. They held differing opinions regarding the two endings of *Life of Pi*, which led to this phone call.

Once Zhang Chu figured out the whole story, his sleepiness instantly vanished. "Teachers, you all should hurry up and go to sleep. You need to take care of your health and avoid staying up all night cultivating immortality!"

At this point, Chen Yingsong chimed in, "How can we sleep without figuring this out! You rascal sure know how to dig traps for people."

"I believe the ending of this story was originally meant to be decided by the reader and the story itself. However, we are still very curious: which story do you think is the real one? Was it his faith that made him fabricate the experience of drifting with animals, or did you genuinely intend to narrate these miraculous experiences?"

"What on earth does that carnivorous island signify? Does it imply that Pi actually sustained his life by eating his mother's flesh and maggots? Those meerkats were just maggots on a corpse."

An unfamiliar voice inquired, making it clear that this group would not go to sleep until they got an answer.

Zhang Chu felt somewhat flattered now. Although he did not know who exactly was beside Ma Qiwei, according to the saying that "only great scholars converse with one another," they must be masters of their fields as well.

Knowing that he had kept so many masters awake all night reading his book gave him an instant surge of achievement.

Facing the question, Zhang Chu thought about it carefully and weighed his words before saying, "I wanted the readers to choose for themselves the story they find better. In fact, both endings are possible."

"I wrote both stories down. One of them is so miraculous that it doesn't seem real, while the other is so brutal that it's hard to accept. Neither story explains the cause of the shipwreck; in both versions, Pi underwent immense suffering, lost his family, and became the sole survivor to reach the Mexican Gulf. The insurance investigators needed to make their choice, and readers must make their choice as well."

"When the insurance investigators chose the story with the animals, Pi said something along the lines of: you choose to follow God. I personally prefer the version with the animals, but of course, you are all free to make your own choice."

Many people among Ma Qiwei's group were obsessing over how the second story corresponded to the previous events, feeling as though many details matched up. They were convinced that Zhang Chu must have laid a trap and that the plot could not possibly be that simple.

However, these details merely illustrated the possibility of a second story, which did not necessarily mean it was the truth. The truth was always meant to be chosen by the readers themselves.

"I still strongly believe in the second explanation. The appearance of the carnivorous island should mean that Pi, driven by desperate hunger, began eating rotting human flesh, and the tiger was actually just a feral, beastly personality split off under his state of extreme exhaustion and weakness. When he was rescued, that animalistic nature was no longer needed, rationality regained control of the human, and the tiger walked straight into the jungle without looking back and disappeared."

There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand readers. Upon hearing Ma Qiwei's perspective, Zhang Chu did not refute it; instead, he agreed, "You see, you have also provided your own view. The truth is not what matters; what matters is how you feel about it."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and go to sleep, you brat. We old fellows need to get some sleep too, otherwise we'll all be nodding off during tomorrow's manuscript review."

"Got it! Goodbye, teachers. I hope I'll have the opportunity to listen to your teachings in person next time."

Zhang Chu tossed the phone aside, let out a yawn, and collapsed straight onto the bed, falling fast asleep.