Chapter 1038: The Miracle Doctor's Manuscripts

Dark was considered the top author within the industry with his fame long ago spreading far and wide. Nobody knew his true identity, but according to his editor, Dark had a foul temper and was quite impatient. He refused to attend the events organized by the publishing companies and had never shown his face before. Hence, when Dark requested to include those terms in the contract, Eastern Brilliance accepted them right away in a bid to express their sincerity in working with him.

As Zhao Xinran's words were too harsh, the Eastern Brilliance staff was worried that Dark might end up getting offended. It would be a great loss to the company if he refused to work with them again. Thus, he didn't immediately do as Zhao Xinran said and instead looked at her manager.

Seeing that, Zhao Xinran knitted her eyebrows together. "Why are you looking at her? Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Calm down, Miss," said the manager hurriedly before turning to face the staff. "Tell Dark that we'll pay him double for the poster, but he has to put Jiang Zhao in the center position."

The staff nodded.

Over on the other end, Gu Mang narrowed her eyes when she saw the message. They want to bribe me with money? Isn't that akin to parachuting into the filming team and requesting for more screen time?

Gu Mang had been in the entertainment industry before. Although she was only working behind the scenes at the time, she had heard plenty about such ploys; those movies and dramas eventually ended up being drastically modified.

Placing a hand on the tablet and a leg on the sofa, Gu Mang slowly typed, [Follow the script.]

The staff took one look at his phone before turning the screen toward the manager. "Sis Tong, his answer remains unchanged."

Having been spoiled rotten and always getting what she wanted, Zhao Xinran's expression naturally darkened when she was rejected for the second time by a mere author.

In the capital, not only was the Zhao family considered a prestigious family, but their company Eastern Brilliance was also one of the top three media companies. As the Eastern Brilliance's young miss, Zhao Xinran was also naturally used to being fawned upon. Her entry to the showbiz industry had been smooth-sailing so far and she got everything that she wanted.

No matter how famous Dark is as an author, he's only able to make a living because the Eastern Brilliance bought the copyright to his work. I bet he's refusing to budge because he wants to make more money out of this. But then again, there's no need for us to make things ugly when money can solve the problem. Besides, his IP value is really high now. We have to maintain a relationship with him—however superficial it is—if we still want to work with him again. An Tong lowered her eyes as she mulled over this issue before looking at the staff. "Tell him that we'll triple his rate."

"Okay." The staff relayed the message once more, but he didn't receive a reply even after waiting for ten minutes this time. He directed a helpless look to An Tong before sending another message to Dark. [God D?]

Another five minutes passed, but his phone remained silent. There was no response from Dark, which clearly showed his refusal to comply with their wishes.

A dead silence lingered in the waiting room.

Zhao Xinran, who was sitting on the sofa, narrowed her eyes. "Does he think that everyone has to listen to him? We won't be using his poster anymore. Go find another illustrator. I want my name in front of Sheng Ting's on the poster."

She wants to bypass Dark? An Tong frowned as she looked at Zhao Xinran. "That won't do, Miss. Dark will be offended when he finds out. It'll be hard for us to work with him again in the future."

Besides, there's no need for her to compete with Sheng Ting. She isn't as famous as Sheng Ting, and doing this might be counterproductive. An Tong felt that her head was pounding. "Dark's fans don't think well of you in the first place. If you end up offending Sheng Ting's fans too, it'll be hard for us to control public opinion."

Although they had already prepared to leave the matter of the one-vote veto to the lawyers, it was just a tactic to scare Dark. An Tong reckoned that Dark was ultimately just a small author no matter how famous he was and that he wouldn't be able to stand up against Eastern Brilliance as connections and background were needed in a place like the capital. She didn't believe that Dark could remain fearless when they had the ace lawyer Jiang Shenyuan and his team on their side.

Besides, all it took was just a word from Eastern Brilliance to ban an author from the industry. If Dark was wise, he wouldn't deliberately court trouble for himself. Afterward, they just had to continue to use the carrot-and-stick approach properly, and the whole matter about the one-vote veto would blow over just like that. Not only could they exploit Dark in the future, but they would also have more speaking rights.

However, if they insisted on changing the poster and finding a lawyer, there was a good chance that Dark might end up resorting to desperate measures.

Zhao Xinran glimpsed sideways at them. "That's your business. What does it have to do with me? If you can't handle it, that just means you're not competent enough."

"Miss, I—"

Zhao Xinran interrupted. "Sheng Ting's fans will behave if he puts up a Weibo post to explain the situation. As for Dark… I know that the company wishes to continue working with him, but it's been two years since he published his last work. What makes you think that he can provide us with any valuable IP?"

"Dark still has the movie rights to two more works," explained An Tong.

"Then go settle the negotiation as soon as possible. There's still some time before the shooting starts, anyway," replied Zhao Xinran indifferently. Once the deal is confirmed, we can kick him out. It's not like the company hasn't done anything like this before. When the filming begins, word about me acting as Jiang Zhao will surely leak. But the company has got it all planned out. We'll just take it as a marketing campaign.

An Tong tried talking Zhao Xinran out of this, but she ultimately gave up upon seeing how insistent the latter was. "Alright."

…

Saturday morning.

There were some matters at No. 14 Research Center that required Lu Chengzhou to personally attend to. Hence, he was up early.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, he found Gu Mang still sleeping in bed. He walked over and sat down on the bedside before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Feeling ticklish, Gu Mang pushed his hand away and pressed it on the bed with her relatively smaller hand.

Lu Chengzhou held her hand. "I'll try to come back as soon as possible. Behave, and call me if you need me."

When he received no response from Gu Mang, he gave her fair fingertips a little squeeze. "A little response, please."

Gu Mang, who usually got grumpy when she woke up, was feeling quite irritated and tired from the night before. "Mhm."

Lu Chengzhou narrowed his eyes slightly when he realized that his wife was on the verge of kicking him off the bed. He was just about to say something when her phone on the nightstand suddenly rang. He looked at the exhausted girl in bed before picking up the phone.

The call was from Fei Luo.

When the call connected, Fei Luo immediately said, "Gu Mang, I'm about to set off now, and I'll reach around 10 AM. Will that time work for you?"

Lu Chengzhou looked down at Gu Mang with a gentle gaze while saying, "Just a second."

Fei Luo was surprised to hear the male voice. The next second, he heard Lu Chengzhou asking in an even gentler voice, "Editor Fei Luo will arrive at 10 AM. Are you able to wake up by then?"

"What time is it now?" asked Gu Mang with her eyes closed.

"8.30 AM."

"Yes."

After thinking about it for a second, Lu Chengzhou said to the phone, "I'll get someone to pick you up, and you can have lunch at Royal Garden. If the interview time is too short, you may continue again in the afternoon."

Fei Luo hurriedly said, "Don't bother, Mr. Lu. I can take a taxi there."

"It's no trouble," replied Lu Chengzhou. "Just send your hotel's address to Gu Mang."

Unable to refuse him, Fei Luo thus agreed to it.

After ending the call, Lu Chengzhou put down the phone and touched Gu Mang's face. "You can sleep for one more hour."

Gu Mang opened her eyes to look at him. "How long will you be gone?"

"Can't bear to see me leave?" teased Lu Chengzhou with raised eyebrows.

Gu Mang shot him a bland look. "I was just asking."

"Just say it if you miss me. We're already an old couple. There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Lu Chengzhou teased her further.

"You're the old one."

"That's why I love the young." Lu Chengzhou massaged her soft ear lobe. "You also have to respect your elders."

Speechless, Gu Mang thought, Fine, you win.

"I don't know how many days I'll be staying since I haven't got a clear idea of the situation," said Lu Chengzhou. "I'll text you once I get there."

Both of them did scientific research, although they were in different fields. Thus, Gu Mang knew how troubling it could get when one couldn't solve a difficult problem since nobody knew when they would be able to solve it.

She lifted the quilt and sat up.

"What's wrong?" Lu Chengzhou looked at her in confusion.

Gu Mang's voice sounded a little hoarse as she said, "I'm going to wash up before I go eat breakfast."

A smile spread across Lu Chengzhou's face as he watched her make her way to the bathroom. She still has the conscience to accompany me for breakfast before I leave.

…

By the time Fei Luo arrived at Royal Garden, Lu Chengzhou had already left.

Lu Qi led Fei Luo to the study, where he knocked on the door and opened it upon getting Gu Mang's permission. "Please enter, Editor Fei Luo."

"Thank you." Fei Luo nodded politely in response.

Inside the study, Gu Mang was sitting on a sofa chair and talking on the phone with a pile of documents next to her. "I'll organize the information and bring it to you at Monday's meeting."

From how she later flipped through the documents on the table and later stopped searching through them, it appeared that she was asked another question. "I have an e-copy of it. I'll send it to you later."

Fei Luo walked to the long sofa next to Gu Mang and sat down, putting his briefcase next to him.

Lu Qi then served him a cup of water. "Have some water."

Fei Luo nodded and whispered a soft 'thank you'.

Thereafter, Lu Qi turned around and left the study.

Gu Mang then told the person on the line that they had a few problems that needed to be solved during next Monday's meeting and that she wanted everyone to prepare the relevant information.

This went on for about five minutes.

"Okay," said Gu Mang before ending the call and tossing her phone onto the table. She then looked at Fei Luo. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but I still have a document to send."

"That's fine."

The e-copy of the document was saved on Gu Mang's computer, which was in the master bedroom's study. Thus, she got up and went to the bedroom.

The study's door closed, leaving Fei Luo alone inside.

He took out the things he needed for the interview later from his briefcase, which included his notepad, laptop, a recorder pen, and a camera. While placing them on the table, he noticed a stack of old brown paper from the corners of his eyes. He took a closer look and spotted a black-reddish snake logo on the bottom right-hand corner of the paper.

His eyes widened as he stared at the stack of paper in shock, and it took him several seconds before he slightly came back to his senses. He completely forgot how rude it was to touch other people's belongings without their permission as he stiffly stretched out his hand to pick up those old sheets of paper from the pile.

His hands trembled when he saw the familiar handwriting on them. These are the Miracle Doctor's manuscripts!