"Brother, the phone—it's for you."
That afternoon, as usual, Lin Baicheng was at home writing when his younger sister, Lin Qin, called from downstairs.
"Coming!"
Lin quickly stood up and went downstairs.
"Little sis, who's calling?"
He asked the girl standing at the stairway.
Lin Qin, fifteen years old and currently in Form 3, was a pretty young girl. In fact, among the three Lin children, both sisters—Lin Shufang and Lin Qin—were beauties, and even Lin Baicheng was a handsome young man. Clearly, they had inherited their looks from their mother, Zhao Huilan.
As for their father, Lin Haishan—well, there wasn't much to say. He was as ordinary as a man could be.
"It's that Uncle Hu again."
Lin Qin replied. Since it was the weekend, she was at home resting.
"Hello, Chief Editor Hu."
Lin had already guessed who it was. At this point, the only Hu who would be calling him was Hu Zhiwen, the boss of Star Daily.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Lin!"
Hu's hearty voice came over the line.
After a few polite exchanges, Hu got straight to the point: he invited Lin to come to the newspaper office for afternoon tea to finalize their negotiations. He stressed this would be the last meeting—if they still couldn't reach an agreement, the deal would be off.
Lin naturally agreed to go.
"So, today's the final round."
After hanging up, he returned upstairs with a serious expression to change clothes before heading out.
It had been almost a week since his last visit to Star Daily. That meeting had ended without agreement. In the two days after, they had contacted each other again, but still couldn't reach terms: Hu had raised his offer to 18% of the shares, while Lin lowered his demand to 25%. With 7% still between them, they had parted without success.
In the following days, Hu hadn't contacted Lin again, nor had Lin reached out to Hu.
Meanwhile, Lin had continued trying to contact smaller newspapers, but upon hearing about his background, almost none were willing to meet or review his manuscript. In short, there was no progress.
Although there were quite a few papers in Hong Kong, the total was barely over fifty. By the day before, Lin had already run out of options.
Now, he was down to only two choices: either cooperate with Star Daily, or wait until his entire novel was completed before approaching the two other papers that had said they'd be willing to review it. Alternatively, he could try the big papers—but the odds of them agreeing were vanishingly small.
The issue was, those two smaller papers had only said they'd read his manuscript after it was finished, not that they would definitely serialize it. There were no guarantees.
So in truth, Lin's bottom line had already shifted downward. Even if Hu hadn't called today, in another day or two he would have reached out himself. Fewer shares just meant earning a little less. What really mattered was serialization—earning his first bucket of gold.
After changing clothes and getting some money from his mother, Lin set out.
Star Daily.
This time, unlike before, there wasn't a single employee in sight. Lin didn't know whether it was because it was the weekend, or because Hu had sent everyone out.
"Chief Editor Hu!"
"Mr. Lin!"
It really was afternoon tea—Hu had tea leaves and a set laid out.
Lin wasn't in a rush. He had already decided: as long as the conditions weren't worse than before, he would accept.
After half an hour of tea and small talk, Hu finally got serious.
"Mr. Lin, let's talk business. Since you weren't satisfied with 18% last time, I have one final proposal. If this doesn't work, then there's nothing more I can do."
"Please go ahead."
Lin listened carefully.
Hu said:
"The base remains 18%. That's yours regardless of whether the novel saves the paper or not. After that, within the first half month of serialization, the daily circulation must reach at least 3,000 copies. Only then will the paper break even and survive. At that point, I'll transfer another 2% to you, raising your stake to 20%."
"From then on, for every additional 2,000 copies in average daily circulation over the next month, I'll transfer another 1%—up to a cap of 5%. In other words, if within six weeks the daily circulation reaches 13,000 copies, you'll hold 25% of the shares."
"This is the best I can offer. If you can't agree even to this, then I'll have no choice but to shut the paper down."
Hu truly didn't want to close the newspaper if he could help it. This arrangement was, in fact, favorable to him: if he ended up transferring 7% more shares, it would mean circulation had soared, making his remaining 75% far more valuable. He would still come out ahead.
"Chief Editor Hu, I look forward to working with you."
Lin readily extended his hand without further argument.
"Glad to cooperate!"
Hu shook hands, visibly relieved.
Because this was a matter of share transfer, their oral agreement had to be followed by a proper contract and legal formalities.
The next morning, Lin returned to Star Daily—this time with a lawyer in tow.
He wasn't foolish enough to take Hu's word blindly. When it came to protecting his own interests, no amount of caution was too much.
The drafted contract reflected the same terms as their discussion the day before, but with several additional clauses Lin had insisted on.
For example:
He was granting Star Daily only the serialization rights for The Storm Riders, and only for the first part. Future sequels would not be included.
All other rights—publishing, film, comics, and so on—remained his alone.
Star Daily must have no outstanding debts.
In the event of closure, its net assets must remain above HK$100,000.
These clauses were to ensure Lin's protection. He had no way of knowing whether Star Daily's actual net assets might even be negative. By setting these conditions in writing, he could sign with peace of mind.
The last thing he wanted was to walk away not only without earnings, but saddled with debts.
Hu didn't object; after all, he wasn't out to cheat anyone. He accepted all the terms.
Finally, with both sides' lawyers confirming everything was in order, Lin and Hu each signed the contract.
Their cooperation was officially sealed.