The new book had just hit the shelves, like a newborn child coming into the world, no longer belonging just to itself.
Jian Jing did not pay too much attention to the sales figures. Instead, she wondered several times if Scarface would buy her book.
The answer was obviously yes.
Then the hidden barbs in the book would surely be apparent to him as well.
With so many flowers in the world, so many materials to use, why did the heroine's bitter hatred become a metaphor for a rose? A blood rose, that was naturally the bloodstained rose sent to the book signing!
That's right, she did it on purpose.
The moment she set pen to paper, all the potential consequences had already come to Jian Jing's mind, yet she still decided to do it, as if someone standing atop a high building inexplicably feels the urge to jump down.
It was very risky, very crazy, very irrational.
Jian Jing also found it odd that she would do this, as if there was some connection between the two of them that made her involuntarily want to respond to his earlier taunt.
He had used the demon doctor as innuendo, so she retaliated using the rose of gold.
It was as if they both lurked in the jungle, aware of each other's presence. He was hunting her, while she was no longer willing to be toyed with in his palm, watching for the chance to counterattack.
What a strange mental state.
It seemed Jian Jing was of two minds - one part of her personality obeyed her emotions to taunt him, while the other part fretted over doing this, not understanding at all why she would act so.
But what's done was done, no use having regrets now.
Tit for tat.
Things had already reached this point, so how would he react?
Jian Jing took a deep breath, slowly exhaling to calm her turbulent thoughts.
Thinking more was useless now. The enemy was hidden while she was exposed, she could only wait.
Anyway she was in no hurry at all, the more time passed the more chance she had to grow stronger, she had ample time to wear him down.
Just as she was pondering this, a WeChat message came in from Kang Mu Cheng, undoubtedly bearing good news - if sales were poor he would have come earlier to cushion the blow, so his long silence followed by a sudden message surely meant...
Indeed, after just a few days, sales had easily surpassed 500,000 copies.
And this was without much promotion yet.
Now that they had reached this point, Kang Mu Cheng could lend a subtle helping hand.
The early word of mouth was slowly fermenting, real readers mixing with fake ones, who could distinguish? As money was thrown into promotions, the splashes came one after another, wonderfully steady yet forceful, not seeming overly eager.
Even Chairman Tao had to admire Kang Mu Cheng's "steadiness".
After all, this book from Jian Jing was risky, coming just 5 months after the previous one, and if Rose didn't surpass the million copies benchmark like Demon 2, it would be rather embarrassing, making it seem the previous hit was just a stroke of luck and marketing hype.
Therefore, if it were Chairman Tao, the initial promotions would definitely not be so low-key.
He would opt to stir up a fiery popularity, giving the impression that sales were skyrocketing, even if it meant taking a loss to maintain the million-copy sales halo.
To be honest, who would actually keep a close eye on the sales figures? The "feeling" of good sales was enough.
Yet Kang Mu Cheng was in no hurry at all, the promotions very restrained.
In other words, readers did not receive a barrage of marketing pushes, flashy and abundant. Instead, they subconsciously noticed this book's name many times.
For instance, that booktuber mentioning it when introducing books he'd read in the first half of the year, ranking it first among 10 new books in that public account's list.
Bookworms.com strangely had posts debating whether "Rose, Gold, and the Assassin" was a mystery or romance novel. The threads shot upward as both sides argued intensely, attracting many onlookers.
People were strange creatures, with herd mentality but also contrarian mentality. Sometimes the more popular something was, the more skeptical they became. But many liked something yet didn't see much hype around it, and would indignantly try to promote it. This book is so good yet no one's reading it, the homepage recommendations are all trash, I have to recommend it.
The strategy worked very well.
Sales of "Rose, Gold, and the Assassin" steadily climbed towards a million copies.
Only Jin Wu suffered scoldings from Jian Jing's fans, feeling their big company wasn't doing its job properly with the crappy promotions.
Of course this barely affected things.
Kang Mu Cheng knew what he was doing, only waiting patiently.
Sure enough, by early June, sales had steadily crossed into seven digits and were still growing strongly. At the same time, word of mouth inevitably dropped somewhat - many felt this new book lacked the thick mystery flavor, with adventure elements greatly increased, losing the meticulous and serious reasoning of her previous detective stories.
Now Kang Mu Cheng's experience showed, if the promotions had hinted it was a "romance" the backlash would have been enormous.
Yet with Bookworms.com ratings falling to 8.2, sometimes ratings and sales were two different things.
The assassin's death had fooled too many people's tears.
Jian Jing's reader base originally rarely overlapped with romance novel fans, but this time the "gorgeous romance" chatter was too much, attracting many romance lovers to check it out.
One must know this audience alone supported Morning Star Publishing, not to be underestimated!
Later on, the momentum grew even fiercer than Demon 2, shooting upward.
Jian Jing immediately felt what was meant by "hot potato".
The writer WeChat groups were full of respectful congratulations and sour grapes, requests to recommend books, offers to introduce connections - a constant barrage. Her phone became a nuisance, with every message alert triggering a headache.
Editor Xu also came to probe, saying many were optimistic about Rose Gold and wondered what she thought.
To be honest, the glitz and glamor of the entertainment industry was the most dazzling of all sectors. At first Jian Jing did feel some curiosity, but after Shao Meng's murder, Tao Tao's madness, and Xie Wei's suicide, she understood the industry's helplessness and cruelty, inevitably finding it tasteless.
Making money was of course good, but frankly, she had no financial worries and didn't need that much money either.
So she handed it all to Kang Mu Cheng to handle: "Ask Chairman Kang, if suitable then do it, if not then forget it."
Editor Xu felt quite complex: "Our cooperation has reached your level, it's really one of a kind."
Jian Jing just smiled, also feeling it was rare.
Normally cooperation would never reach her and Kang Mu Cheng's stage. Of course there was some serendipity: like "Jian Jing" being alone and aimless back then, willing to let someone else take charge of everything. And Kang Mu Cheng had just returned home to take over the business, facing pressure from company elders to nurture new authors...
But all said and done, it was fate that brought them together.
She was an orphan in this world. Kang Mu Cheng was half friend, half family, having saved her life and nurtured her. Looking back, he was already the most important person to her.
Such a bond was precious, how could she bear to damage their relationship over money? Naturally she trusted him completely.
And Kang Mu Cheng did not betray her trust, being upfront with her: "Several companies have approached me, the prices offered are not bad." He reported the prices and companies, which did seem fair.
But then he added: "You can pick one of them, or...leave it to me."
"Oh," Jian Jing replied. "Jin Wu wants to adapt it?"
"The waters have been tested, time to cross the river." Kang Mu Cheng said. "Don't mind me, think it over carefully before deciding."
But Jian Jing only pondered briefly before affirming: "Then give it to Jin Wu. You can have the copyright fees, and give me a share of the profits later?"
Kang Mu Cheng shook his head. "No, too risky."
"Without risk, anyway you're getting the money while I'd have to find somewhere to invest it, might as well make things simple." She was nonchalant, even showing some annoyance. "Just take all the money for investments, it looks bad for me to spend so much."
With income shooting up, managing the bank deposits became an issue.
Jian Jing's priorities were not there. She wouldn't really hand over all her assets for the manager to control. Buying some funds and stocks with a portion of the cash was fine, the rest still needed a plan.
It wasn't a huge deal, but she was tired of it. Better to just give it all to Kang Mu Cheng, one less thing to worry about.
When Kang Mu Cheng heard this, he was torn between laughter and tears: "You've only got this little saved up, don't gamble it away. Making movies loses more and earns less, it's enough for a villa at least."
"I'm just one person, who needs two houses?" She shook her head, very calm. "More money, you don't take it with you when born, or when dead. Just let it go if it's lost."
She spoke earnestly, and Kang Mu Cheng believed her words. But who in the world would really reject more money? He understood in his heart that she just wanted to help him a little.
A year ago, if she had proposed this idea, he would have rejected it outright - why did she need to worry about it? But now, he no longer treated her like a child. After considering it for a moment, he actually agreed.
"Finances have been a bit tight recently," Kang Mu Cheng accepted her kindness, "I won't stand on ceremony with you."
Jian Jing was genuinely delighted.
But before the corners of her lips could curl up, he quickly added: "When you lose money, you'll learn your lesson."
Jian Jing: "..."
If she lost money, wouldn't he lose even more? That jinx!
However, while Kang Mu Cheng didn't sound optimistic, he took decisive action as always. Before long, he found a renowned female director for Jian Jing to invest in and prepare to shoot a movie under Golden Crow.
This female director usually shot commercial films, but the art films she had directed had won awards. Her personal style was extremely prominent and artistic. She was willing to take on this movie, first because she was interested herself and had previously discussed cooperation with Golden Crow, and second, because she wanted to shoot a money-making film to attract investment for the future.
Naturally, the news caused some ripples, but it no longer had anything to do with Jian Jing.
She was considering whether or not to participate in the recording of the third season of "Haunted House Daredevils".
The invitation had probably been sent to Kang Mu Cheng about a month ago.
He himself was not keen on it. He believed that writers should speak through their works and engage in spiritual communication with readers, rather than writers themselves appearing in front of the public and becoming idols.
But Jian Jing thought differently.
She used to love being cooped up at home. The better her stories, the more introverted she became. Now that she finally had a hobby, even if he still felt it improper, he couldn't bear to adamantly dissuade her.
Frankly, what was wrong with a little girl loving to play and make mischief?
Since this was the case, it was better to be on a variety show where everything was arranged by the production team, rather than really getting involved in criminal cases, which had more risks.
Therefore, without much hesitation, he sent her the plan: "Do you want to go?"
Last time she went to participate in a haunted house show, it led to an incident with Seven Star Coffins. So Jian Jing was not very enthusiastic this time. But when she looked at the plan, she was tempted.
This episode was called "Murder Hospital".
Unlike previous shows, this was a new haunted house opened abroad. The original site was a hospital where, in the 1970s and 1980s, the dean and doctors were involved in organ trafficking. On the surface, they did charity work, accepting homeless people who couldn't afford medical treatment. But in reality, they killed the penniless and powerless poor, and sold their organs to officials and nobles to profit handsomely.
For over a decade, no one knew how many souls the hospital had buried.
Then one day, after a patient's kidney was removed, he fell into a comatose state. The hospital thought he was dead, so they put him in a body bag and sent him away. But halfway there, the man woke up and escaped to report the case, thus exposing the truth.
Unexpectedly, when the police arrived at the hospital to arrest the dean, the dean, doctors and nurses had all disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed at all.
The case remains unsolved since.
After the hospital was abandoned, people around said that on foggy days, they could occasionally see white shadows floating around, as if white coats were drifting in the air, creepy beyond words.