201: Chapter 201: The whole school was sold out, even the Chinese teacher was impressed.

Jiang Fan exported and saved the Arrangement files for "Itch" and "puppet play", then stretched his arms.

He glanced at the time; it was two in the afternoon.

Grabbing his phone, he strolled out of the company alone.

Qitian Culture's new office wasn't far from the Studio, just a fifteen-minute walk.

The weather was nice, so Jiang Fan decided to walk over and take a look.

Qitian Culture was much livelier than the last time he had visited.

There were a few more potted plants next to the reception desk, and the office area had been partitioned into several workstations where seven or eight people were working.

Just as Jiang Fan walked through the main entrance, a young girl with a ponytail at the reception desk looked up.

She froze for a moment, then suddenly stood up from her chair, her pen dropping onto the desk with a clack.

"Are... are you Teacher Jiang Fan?"

Jiang Fan stopped. "Hello, I'm looking for your President Song. Is she in?"

The girl didn't hear the second half of his sentence at all.

"Teacher Jiang Fan! On my very first day of work, I heard the company was publishing journey to the west! I've been thrilled for days! I never expected to meet you in person today!"

She spoke faster and faster.

"I've listened to all the songs you wrote! I also absolutely love reading journey to the west, but unfortunately, it's no longer available online—"

She fumbled around on her desk for a moment, pulled out a notebook and a pen, and held them out with both hands.

"Could I get an autograph! Please!"

Jiang Fan smiled and took the pen. "What's your name?"

"Xiao Na!"

Jiang Fan wrote "Xiao Na, let's encourage each other" in the notebook, signed his name, and handed it back to her.

Xiao Na pressed the notebook to her chest, her lips pursed in a line, her eyes turning red.

The heads of several new employees in the office area popped up in unison, eager to try their luck too.

"Is your President Song inside?"

"Yes! I'll take you there!"

Xiao Na jogged out from behind the reception desk and led Jiang Fan inside.

Before they even reached the door, Song Siyi's office door opened from the inside, having heard the commotion.

Song Siyi stood at the doorway with her arms crossed, casting a glance at Xiao Na.

"Xiao Na, pay attention in the future. If there's a next time, I'll deduct your pay directly."

Xiao Na stuck out her tongue. "Understood, President Song." She then turned and ran off.

Jiang Fan walked into the office, and Song Siyi closed the door behind him.

"Have a seat." Song Siyi walked back behind her desk and pulled out her chair to sit.

Instead of sitting in the chair opposite her, Jiang Fan walked right over to her side and sat halfway on the edge of her desk.

Song Siyi glanced at him, said nothing, and picked up a stack of documents from the desk.

"The first batch of one million copies has been fully printed. It's split into two volumes, and the covers are printed with 'Compliments of Qitian Culture'. The logistics company has also been contacted, and shipping can begin gradually starting tomorrow."

She turned a page.

"So far, we've received over three thousand application emails in our inbox, all from primary and secondary schools across the country. The demand has already exceeded four hundred thousand copies."

Jiang Fan nodded.

"Ship them in the order of application. All shipping costs will be charged to the company's account."

Song Siyi closed the report, her brow furrowing slightly.

"This is a massive expense. With the printing and shipping for one million copies, more than half of Qitian Culture's funds have already been burned through."

"Don't worry about the money." Jiang Fan picked up the cup on her desk and took a sip of water.

"Once the books are in the students' hands, they will help us skyrocket the hype."

Song Siyi thought about it and didn't argue further.

The two chatted until six in the evening, by which time everyone in the company had off work.

Song Siyi was still processing emails.

Jiang Fan reached out and closed the laptop in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

Song Siyi leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"I'm telling you, don't do anything reckless."

Jiang Fan moved behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and pressing his thumbs against the muscles on both sides of her cervical spine, slowly massaging them.

"I'm just giving you a massage. You must be exhausted these past few days."

"It's alright." Song Siyi closed her eyes, her voice relaxing.

After a few squeezes, she couldn't help but let out a soft groan, tilting her head back to rest against Jiang Fan's chest.

"Xinghua Publishing House called again today," she said with her eyes closed.

"What did they say?"

"Their Vice President Zhou said they want to renegotiate the partnership. The royalty split can be 30-70, with them taking 70%. He said this is the highest ratio they've ever offered."

Jiang Fan pressed a spot on the side of her neck, making Song Siyi hiss in pain.

"Tell them we can do a 30-70 split, but we get 70%. Take it or leave it."

Song Siyi opened her eyes.

"There's no way they would agree to that condition."

"Then we won't cooperate. Once the one million copies of the book are distributed across schools, there will be plenty of others lining up to work with us. By then, they won't be the ones choosing us."

Song Siyi didn't speak further; she no longer had any doubts about Jiang Fan's business judgment.

Jiang Fan's hands slid down from her shoulders, his fingertips brushing against the edge of her sweater's collar.

Song Siyi held his hand down.

"Behave yourself."

Jiang Fan didn't stop. His hand slipped directly through the loose collar of her sweater, scaling a peak.

Song Siyi's breathing missed a beat, and her body shrank forward.

"Jiang Fan... your words are as worthless as farts!"

Song Siyi's sweater was pushed up, and the side zipper of her wide-leg pants was pulled open. Jiang Fan slid her pants, along with what was underneath, down to her knees.

Song Siyi closed her eyes, her hands gripping the edge of the desk tightly.

"I'm truly helpless against you..."

—

Forty minutes later.

Song Siyi sat in the executive chair, adjusting her clothes.

A few strands of hair had escaped her ponytail and clung to her neck.

She glared at Jiang Fan.

"If you ever mess around in the office again, I'm resigning."

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself just now. Come on, let me take you out to eat." Jiang Fan stood up and patted his pants.

"...I don't believe a single word you say."

Song Siyi picked up her bag from the desk and followed him out.

—

The next day, the one million copies of journey to the west began shipping to primary and secondary schools across the country.

The logistics company's trucks drove out of the printing factory, splitting into dozens of routes heading to different provinces and cities.

The donation receiving points of the Education Bureau received the books one after another, registering, stamping, and distributing them to school libraries within their jurisdictions.

—

Shanghai No. 2 Middle School.

On Wednesday noon, the library opened.

The librarian, Teacher Wang, unpacked a newly arrived box of books and placed them on the shelves.

On the white cover of the first volume, there was a silhouette of the four master and disciples and a white horse traveling west.

An eighth-grade boy walked by and stopped.

"journey to the west?" He pulled the book out and flipped through it.

"Isn't this the one that got trashed online?"

A classmate next to him leaned in.

"I heard it was banned by the Writers Association, why bother reading this stuff?"

The boy had already flipped to the first page.

Ten minutes later, he carried the book to the checkout counter.

"Teacher Wang, I'd like to borrow this one."

During the reading session of evening self-study, the boy took out the copy of journey to the west he had borrowed at noon and spread it on his desk.

Even when the bell rang for the end of class, he was still reading it with rapt attention.

His deskmate leaned over and glanced at him.

"Let's go, let's hit the restroom."

"I'm not going, you go ahead."

"What are you reading that's got you so hooked?"

"The Monkey King went to the East Sea Dragon Palace and got a thirteen thousand five hundred catty iron staff. It can grow and shrink, and he even shrank it into an embroidery needle to tuck inside his ear."

His deskmate's eyes lit up.

"For real? Let me see."

"Wait until I'm done. There are more in the library, go borrow one yourself."

The next day at noon, as soon as the bell rang, the deskmate dashed out of the classroom and headed straight for the library.

When he arrived at the library, the shelves were already empty.

"Teacher Wang! Are there any copies of journey to the west left?"

"None left. They were all borrowed by yesterday afternoon."

The exact same scene played out simultaneously in thousands of primary and secondary schools across the country.

In a middle school in Hangzhou, during the third class of the afternoon, Zhao Min, a ninth-grade Chinese teacher, confiscated the first volume of journey to the west from a boy in the back row.

"Reading non-academic books during class—if there's a next time, I'll call your parents."

The boy shrank back, not daring to utter a word.

In the teachers' office, Zhao Min placed the book on the side of her desk and began grading homework.

At four in the afternoon, she finished grading the last stack of test papers.

Stretching her arms, her gaze fell upon the book with the white cover.

Pausing for a moment, she casually flipped to the first page.

By the time she looked up again, it was already dark outside.

The office was completely empty; she was the only one left.

Zhao Min glanced at the time; it was 8:40 PM.

She closed the book and sat dazed for quite a while.

Then, she stuffed the book into her drawer, stood up, and packed her things to leave.

Walking to the door, she turned back around.

She opened the drawer, took out the book, and slipped it into her own bag.