Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 223 - 219: Means (4k)

Flushing, in the office.

Wang Jian was watching the NBC channel while silently criticizing in his mind,

"This El, how shameless can you be to appear on TV?"

Indeed, because of skin color, it had been somewhat difficult to rent an apartment in the Bronx District at first.

But that rent, which was much higher than what African Americans were charged, should have settled the account, right?

As for the "I’m a Great Mage" incident, regardless of the outcome, framing him had been a fact.

After his success, he hadn’t sought revenge, which was already a nod to past kindness.

Now, El had the nerve to bring a group of Black people on the interview, claiming he had given him so much help.

And that he hadn’t repaid El after finding success?

Please, he didn’t recognize any of the old Black men behind him.

Apart from El, the two Black people he was more familiar with were still in prison in Los Angeles!

Just then, Wang Jian’s phone ringtone went off.

After answering the call, he heard Sarah’s voice.

"Wang, a journalist contacted our childhood friends, wanting to interview about your past."

"It seems the journalist’s intent to smear you is quite obvious."

Childhood friends?

Hearing this term, Wang Jian felt a jolt in his heart.

Although according to his memory, there had been basically no interaction with those kids, let alone any emotional attachment.

But...

Those journalists couldn’t have gotten evidence from his foster parents, could they?

"Who contacted you?" Wang Jian quickly asked, "Do you know the content of their conversation?"

"A buddy works at an electronics store," Sarah’s tone also sounded urgent, "he recorded what happened during the interview with an MD."

"He’s in contact with me now, wanting to sell the recording for ten thousand US dollars."

Eh...

There are such operations?

Wang Jian shook his head and immediately replied, "Buy it."

"I’ve already got it and am on my way to you."

Moved by these words, he felt a little emotional.

Although ten thousand US dollars was a mere trifle to him,

For Sarah, who had seen her income plummet after completing Prison Break, that was no small sum.

"Thank you," Wang Jian whispered.

"Huh?" Sarah was taken aback, then laughed lightly, "You never thanked me when you stole money from me as a kid."

Soon, her voice was buoyant again, "All right, I’m already downstairs at your building."

Then, without waiting for a response from Wang Jian, she hung up.

Moments later, under the watchful eyes of Sarah and Tom, Wang Jian pressed the play button on the MD.

After listening to the recording, he deeply furrowed his brow.

The questions hadn’t involved anything about foster parents, but the bias was too apparent.

Is this...

Really a move against him?

Wang Jian thought for a moment and immediately dialed Matthew’s number.

"Matthew, could there be a slip-up regarding my foster parents?"

"Foster parents?" It took Matthew a long while to respond,

"Don’t worry, Wang."

"According to the Code of Ethics and confidentiality agreements, anyone who leaks information would lose their professional qualifications."

"I don’t think anyone would risk their future for a few thousand dollars, right?"

Wang Jian thought it over and nodded.

Aside from the foster parents, what other vulnerabilities did he have to worry about?

Right, Anomalies!

He picked up the phone again and called James.

"Don’t worry, Wang," James’s voice came through, steady and reassuring, "Viacom Group has already made contact with ABC."

"They’ve promised not to make any reports that would affect the viewership of Anomalies."

Hearing this, Wang Jian was genuinely baffled.

Indeed, without any schemes, how can one break a move?

He glanced at the television, listened to the recording again, and was still clueless.

The relentless reports about his wealth and his failure to help his former companions.

Which demographic would care most about this judgment?

In an instant, a word flashed in Wang Jian’s mind.

"Nigger!"

"Tom, among our website’s paying subscribers, is there a large portion of African Americans?"

"Shouldn’t be," Tom contemplated, then said confidently,

"According to the statistics from computer users, most of the payers aren’t African American."

"And for mobile users, where stats can’t be accurately traced, mobile phones are expensive."

"Most African Americans can’t afford them."

So, it won’t affect his income either?

Wang Jian massaged his temples, feeling like his intelligence was being stretched thin.

"Tom, do you think we should hire a media manager? After all, Twitter is a kind of media too."

"You’re the boss, you make the call," Tom shrugged nonchalantly, "By the way, Wang,"

"The stockbroker you had me look for, I’ve found him."

Hmm?

Wang Jian, unable to comprehend NBC’s intentions, temporarily set this matter aside.

After all, the US dollar is what matters most.

Wasn’t maintaining the persona of a writer just for the money too?

He took the business card Tom passed him and looked it over.

"Cornwall Capital, Jamie Mac?" Wang Jian asked casually, "Doesn’t sound familiar."

"You said to find a compliant broker, and that meant looking for young people in young capital firms," Tom replied.

Eh... alright.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number from the business card.

And what greeted Wang Jian was a frenzy of flattery.

So there are such characters on Wall Street too?

Not everyone is like Lehman, acting all elite.

"Mr. Wang, you have a great eye," Jamie Mac spoke quickly, "The prospects for Apple computers are excellent, it’s currently at a historical low."

"How low?" Wang Jian asked curiously.

"Uh..." There was a pause on the other end of the phone, "0.97 US Dollars."

Less than one US Dollar?

Is this not the very definition of a junk stock?

Wang Jian shook his head in silence.

If it weren’t for the numerous mentions of the iPhone in books, he definitely wouldn’t have touched it.

He thought about his financial situation and, aside from his wealth on paper, he roughly had about 20 million US Dollars in liquid assets.

Thanks to Twitter, thanks to going public.

wangwen.com can finally withdraw cash normally again!

So, to deal with any emergency, he had to keep around 5 million US Dollars in liquid assets.

"You need to come to Flushing so we can sign a contract."

"Ah? Okay, okay!" The figure on the other side was filled with surprise.

Wang Jian hung up the phone, still marvelling, "So there really are poor people on Wall Street too!"

"Wang, you’re investing in Apple?" Sarah asked, "I have some funds too, can I join in?"

"Uh," Wang Jian pondered for a moment, feeling there was no big issue.

"But Apple is a junk stock; are you sure you’re optimistic about its future?"

"It’s not that I’m optimistic about Apple, I just trust you," Sarah said with a smile on her face.

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading out," Tom said, furrowing his brows and speaking awkwardly.

Sarah glanced at Wang Jian, took out her checkbook, and signed for an amount of 80,000 US Dollars.

"I’m brainstorming ’Prison Break 2’, I’ll be leaving too."

After both of them left the office, Wang Jian let out a long sigh.

Although he was full of confidence that Apple’s stock would rise,

the fact that his account balance dropped from twenty million to five million was still quite painful.

"Right!" Wang Jian suddenly sat up straight, "Although I have no intention of flaunting wealth like some kind of tycoon,"

"But ’Empresses in the Palace’ seems to have only been adapted halfway."

He quickly opened the backend and checked the payment rate for female-oriented works.

It seemed that picking another historical figure and following the ’Harem’ formula could earn him another tidy sum!

At that moment, he remembered that he still hadn’t returned the ten thousand US Dollars to Sarah.

"Forget it, I’ll just give ten percent of this book’s earnings to Sarah as a gift."

"I may love money, but I still have principles."

He looked at El on the TV and frowned, "This type of person, don’t expect to get a single dollar from me."

"But Sarah," Wang Jian hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "She’s worth it."

...

Meanwhile, inside NBC’s office building.

Bob Woodward was sitting leisurely in his office chair, sipping tea.

As a legendary journalist who would be remembered in both the history of the United States and the world,

he naturally wouldn’t grovel or try to ingratiate himself with upper management when dealing with one of the big three television networks.

The deputy director hesitated while watching the program on TV, but still addressed Woodward, "Mr. Woodward, what we want is for writers to recognize Wang’s true colors so that bestselling authors will return to the publishing houses."

"And through Simon & Schuster Publishing House, secure more film and television adaptation rights for Viacom Group’s subsidiary companies."

"But what’s the point in having some low-class African Americans make statements about Wang being stingy and unprincipled?"

"Most of them aren’t users of wangwen.com, this can’t even affect Wang’s subscription revenue, can it?"

"Heh heh," the middle-aged white man chuckled, "There’s a lot about the ’Watergate Scandal’ I can’t cite as an example, and you wouldn’t enjoy hearing it anyway."

Wood sipped his coffee and slowly stood up. "For ease of understanding, let me use ’the King of Pop,’ Michael Jackson, as an example."

He picked up the remote control and pressed a button, and the big screen in the conference room displayed the main events of Michael Jackson’s life.

"Even though his records were mainly bought by whites, skin color was an important reason for Jackson’s rise to fame."

"For instance, the help from the famous African musician Quincy Jones, as well as the honor bonus of being ’afro light.’"

"Once, the Grammys were even protested by many fans for not awarding this ’King of Pop.’"

"And among these, the African community naturally protested the most vigorously."

"By then, his influence in the industry had surpassed that of many record companies. The ensemble singing of ’We Are the World’ is one such manifestation."

"After that, Jackson secured a record-breaking contract. He was virtually about to change the entire record industry by himself."

Wood looked at the deputy director and asked with a smile, "But now, why do many singers no longer want to collaborate with Jackson?"

The deputy director thought for a moment and firmly said, "The child incident?"

"No, that was just the big breakout." The legendary journalist pointed his finger at "skin issues." "He was abandoned by the African community, and the civil rights activists are the ones with the loudest voices."

Wood pressed the remote, and the photo on the big screen changed to Wang Jian.

"Now, let’s take a look at this Asian young man who’s trying to change the landscape of the publishing world."

"The reason why this incident has spread so widely also has to do with the voices of many African celebrities."

"However, fortunately, he’s only Asian, and changing the African community’s view of Wang doesn’t require as much time as it did for Michael Jackson."

"Plus, his behavior of not seeking a clique has offended both the lower-class Africans and African celebrities."

"How many African celebrities now don’t have so-called partners? And these partners definitely have a much greater influence on celebrities than an Asian author, right?"

"But there are still groups like the HIV community and animal protection organizations supporting Wang," the deputy director mused.

"These groups are too niche to spark a mass incident," Wood shook his head and said with a smile.

"Although we haven’t obtained concrete evidence about Wang’s adoptive parents," the legendary journalist added, "we’re not judges; we don’t need to convict him."

"With the largest support group abandoning him, how should the television station guide public opinion? NBC should have quite the experience, right?"

"By now, ’Anomalies and Creatures’ should have finished airing. We can release Wang’s consumption records."

"Luxury cars, luxury villas, and off Fifth Avenue, every model of clothing from all the luxury stores."

"Furthermore, with ’Anomalies’ being produced with zero investment, the author community is likely to abandon him as well."

Wood sat back down and took another sip of his coffee. "A billionaire without any base, especially since he’s Asian."

"And he’s not like Wang An, who’s involved in many job positions."

He stared intently at the deputy director. "So, some unconventional methods can now be implemented."

"Uh..." The deputy director snapped out of his reverie and hurriedly said, "The media industry isn’t like Washington; it wouldn’t be that intense."

"Oh," Wood tapped the photo of Michael Jackson and smiled slightly, "then that’s truly unfortunate for Mr. John Lennon and Ms. Yoko Ono."

Then, he changed to a more casual tone, chatting with the deputy director.

"After Mr. John Lennon was assassinated, I remember lining up in music stores to buy his commemorative album."

"At the time, we were only concerned with enjoying the music and criticizing Yoko Ono but didn’t notice that Mr. Lennon’s record company was being acquired by a major label."

The legendary journalist looked at the deputy director’s surprised expression and waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Sigh, when people get older, they tend to reminisce about the past."

"It’s probably because of the female check-in officer involved with Wang regardless of age, and that female author who’s been to prison and received a bunch of luxury goods that remind me of Yoko Ono."

"By the way, have you read Wang’s works?" He nodded in admiration, "His ’Arcane Throne’ is truly wonderful."

"Even someone like me, who doesn’t like to read fantasy novels, was utterly engrossed."

"Indeed." The deputy director nodded and agreed, "It’s an excellent work."

"How much box office would ’Arcane Throne’ bring in if it were adapted into a movie?" Wood said offhandedly.

"Well, I must get back to work." The legendary journalist stood up. "Please convey to Mr. Redstone that I’m very interested in serving as the head of NBC’s news department."

The deputy director quickly responded, "I believe the NBC news department will enter a period of rapid development under your leadership."

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