Chapter 106 The New Editor

The cell phone on the bedside table vibrated three times before Li Ruoyu lazily reached out her arm. She brought the phone to her eyes and looked at the caller ID. In that instant, a strange gleam flashed across her slightly haggard, sickly face.

"How did you get my cell phone number?" Si Yu said as soon as she answered the phone, without any greeting.

"Uh..." Feng Bujue paused for two seconds and replied, "I said... then how did you know it was me calling?"

"It's Xiaogutou... wheeze..." Si Yu actually blew her nose into the phone without hesitation. After taking away the tissue, she continued in a heavy nasal voice, "She accidentally let it slip once, and I unintentionally remembered it, so I know it's you calling now."

"How careless does she have to be to leak an eleven-digit number..." Feng Bujue said with a smile, "And you even 'unintentionally' remembered it..." He couldn't help but complain.

After these few unscrupulous words, both of them knew very well in their hearts: Feng Bujue had undoubtedly gotten the number from Xiao Tan; and on Si Yu's side, she had actually learned Feng Bujue's cell phone number from Bei Ling long ago and had it stored in her phone all along.

So the question is, why do Xiao Tan and Bei Ling know everything?

Obviously, they have a good relationship, so they often contact each other outside of the game. As for how good their relationship is... with Single's Day approaching, I think it's better not to talk about such heavy topics.

"Get to the point," Si Yu said in a rather rude tone, indicating that Feng Bujue could change the subject.

Jue-ge naturally had to accommodate the girl at this moment. He smiled and said, "I'm just calling to ask about your illness (I'm concerned about you)."

"I had a high fever last night, and now it's noon on the second day. If anything was going to happen, your call would only be to confirm my cause of death (I'm fine)," Si Yu replied.

"I can't help it, I didn't see Xiao Tan's message until late at night. That kid was in a script at the time, and I had no way to ask for your contact information," Feng Bujue replied. "Besides... even if I had your cell phone number, it wouldn't be appropriate to call a sick person in the middle of the night (Actually, I wanted to call you a long time ago, but I was afraid of disturbing your rest)."

"Oh, is that so (You're quite thoughtful)," Si Yu replied coldly.

"Yeah..." Feng Bujue replied.

Then, the two fell into a brief but rather awkward silence. By the way, the content in the parentheses above is the subtext that these two socially awkward guys wanted to express.

"Since you're not in any serious condition, then I'll see you online when you get better," Feng Bujue broke the silence.

"Okay," Si Yu replied, paused for two seconds, and said, "Thank you for your concern... goodbye."

"Goodbye," Feng Bujue replied.

The two hung up their phones almost simultaneously.

"Whew..." Feng Bujue sighed and put his phone on the coffee table. Then, he stood up from the sofa and stretched. "What's with this subtle atmosphere... it feels more tiring than killing monsters in a script."

Just as he hung up the phone, the intercom at the door suddenly rang.

"Huh? I didn't order takeout," Feng Bujue muttered, walked to the door, and picked up the receiver. "Who is it?"

A young woman's voice came from the other side: "Hello, I'm looking for Mr. Feng Bujue."

The voice was unfamiliar. It was the first time Feng Bujue had heard it.

"That's me, who is this?" Feng Bujue asked.

"My surname is An, I'm your new editor, and I have some work-related matters to discuss with you," the other party replied.

"New editor?" Feng Bujue asked suspiciously, "Then what about old Chen (Feng Bujue's original editor)..."

"Can I come up and talk?" the other party interrupted him.

"Oh, sorry, wait a moment." Feng Bujue quickly realized that it was impolite to have someone stand downstairs at the gate and talk to him, so he pressed the door opener.

Two minutes later, the Miss An arrived by elevator.

Feng Bujue was waiting behind the door, staring at the corridor through the peephole, so he opened the door before the other party rang the doorbell.

"Hello, Bujue, I'm your new editor, An Yueqin." An Yueqin had seen Feng Bujue's information at the magazine, and she knew that the person in front of her was "Bujue," so she introduced herself directly.

Feng Bujue shook hands with the other party while sizing up the stranger.

This Miss An looked to be around twenty-five years old, with delicate features and wearing black-rimmed glasses. Her long hair was tied up behind her head. Her figure was slightly petite, but her height was over 1.7 meters. She was wearing formal attire, a white shirt with a dark suit on the outside. Both the depth of the neckline and the length of the skirt were very appropriate.

"Hello, hello..." Feng Bujue said, "Please come in." He let An Yueqin in and added as he closed the door, "Sit anywhere, watch out for the cat."

An Yueqin first looked around the room before going to the sofa and sitting down.

"Would you like something to drink?" Feng Bujue asked.

"No need to bother..." Miss An was about to say "No need to bother, just a glass of water will do," but she only got half the sentence out.

"That's great!" Feng Bujue actually replied and plopped down on the sofa. "By the way, what happened to old Chen?"

An Yueqin replied, "He resigned."

"Ah? How is that possible? What's the reason?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Too much pressure," An Yueqin said.

"How can he just resign without even saying goodbye to me?" Feng Bujue continued.

An Yueqin looked at him: "Because the pressure on him mainly came from you."

"Huh? What did I do?"

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about today."

An Yueqin's tone was very serious, and her expression always revealed a hint of arrogance. Although her age was similar to Feng Bujue's, her aura and pressure were more than twice as strong as old Chen's.

"However... first of all, there's something about me that I think it's better to tell you first." An Yueqin said, operating her cell phone a few times, opening a search website, entering something, and then showing the page to Feng Bujue. "As you can see, I am the granddaughter of the chairman of the Sirui Group."

Feng Bujue had naturally heard of the name Sirui Group, just like he had heard of Microsoft or Nike. The two words "Sirui" symbolized a business empire in their universe. And the page that Feng Bujue was seeing at this time was the search results after searching "Sirui Group chairman granddaughter" online.

Feng Bujue read, "Whoa... that's really it. So, does that mean I'm... an employee of... a subordinate magazine社 of... a publishing subsidiary... of your family's parent company, is that the situation?"

"Not only that, don't forget that most of your published works were released through this 'subsidiary' you mentioned," An Yueqin replied.

"Hehe... it seems like I'm relying on the big mountain of Sirui to make a living," Feng Bujue laughed. "Should I call you... Miss?"

"On the contrary, I'm telling you my identity directly so that you don't treat me differently," An Yueqin said.

"Hmm... that's right, even if you didn't tell me, I would have found out about this soon with my personality. At that time... my attitude towards you would definitely change," Feng Bujue said frankly. "Instead of that, it's better to make everything clear from the beginning."

"Yes, so please be sure to regard me as an ordinary editor who just took office today," An Yueqin said.

"I'll do my best," Feng Bujue replied lazily. He was thinking: What's going on? Is a big financial group sending its rich third-generation down to the grassroots to gain experience?

"Very good, then..." An Yueqin said, "Let's talk business." As she said that, she took out a magazine from her bag and placed it on the coffee table.

"Uh... you don't want to critique my manuscript from last month here, do you?" Feng Bujue said.

"Of course not." An Yueqin pointed to the magazine. "I just want to ask, have you bought or read our magazine?"

Feng Bujue was honest: "I bought a few issues before signing the contract with the magazine and at the beginning of the serialization. But I haven't read it for the past six months or so."

"Then please take a look first." If An Yueqin knew about Jue-ge's problem, she definitely wouldn't have said that.

Without saying a word, Feng Bujue picked up the magazine and started flipping through it page by page. Although he was reading at a glance, it was impossible for him to finish reading these dozens of pages quickly. And An Yueqin didn't want to interrupt him, since she was the one who asked Feng Bujue to read it.

So, in the blink of an eye, twenty minutes passed...

Feng Bujue put down the magazine: "I've finished reading."

"He really 'finished reading' it." An Yueqin thought to herself, but she still said in a normal tone, "Can you tell me your overall impression of this magazine?"

Feng Bujue seemed to understand the other party's intention. After a little consideration, he opened his mouth and said, "The paper quality and printing are good, considered top-notch in the market; the pricing is also reasonable, not unacceptable; the content has no major problems, but the advertisements take up almost half of the space, which makes people feel a little watered down."

"Yes, you're right," An Yueqin said, "My opinion is roughly the same as yours. The sales of our magazine's print version are much worse than the electronic version because there are too many advertisements, which makes readers feel... that they bought a magazine, but only read half of the content."

"But that's how all print magazines are these days... without advertisements, you can't even recover the printing costs," Feng Bujue said.

"So we have to reform," An Yueqin slapped the magazine with her hand.

"This kind of thing is managed by the marketing department... why are you discussing it with me so enthusiastically?" Feng Bujue was a little dumbfounded.

"It's their business if people in other departments are just holding down their jobs and doing nothing. As a member of a company, if you see a problem, you shouldn't stand by and do nothing," An Yueqin interrupted.

"Whoa~" Feng Bujue smiled, "Then what do you want to do?"

"It's not 'want' to do," An Yueqin said, "This morning, my report 'has already' been submitted to the editor-in-chief's desk." She paused, "He has also agreed that from May, our magazine will be changed from a weekly to a bi-monthly publication."

"Have you ever thought about..." Feng Bujue said, "If you were really an ordinary employee, just entering the company, and you threw a report over the head of your direct superior to the highest leader's desk... what the consequences would be."

An Yueqin knew what Feng Bujue meant, and she replied sonorously, "The editor-in-chief will adopt my opinion, regardless of my identity." Her tone was indeed very confident.

"Hehe... classmate, 'shi wei su can,' (holding down their jobs and doing nothing) is actually a relatively unpopular idiom," Feng Bujue said in a schoolteacher-like tone. "But 'zi qi qi ren' (deceiving yourself)... we often use it in our daily life."

An Yueqin leaned forward, glaring at Feng Bujue with displeasure, "Bujue, I've read your articles, you've almost written the word 'narcissism' on your face... you must think you're really talented, right?"

"Yes," Feng Bujue leaned back on the sofa, "I am very talented." He paused for a few seconds and recited calmly, " 手舞石上月，膝橫花間琴. 过此一壶外，悠悠非我心." (Waving hands to the moon on the stone, with a guqin across the knees among the flowers. Beyond this pot of wine, nothing else lingers in my heart.) Then, he picked up a cup of cold coffee that was already on the coffee table and took a sip, as if he were tasting wine. "I just made it up for you, what do you think?"

An Yueqin was so taken aback by Jue-ge's bluff that she was speechless for a moment. She had never met anyone who wrote poetry for her in her life.

Three seconds later, Feng Bujue laughed: "Ha... don't think too much about it, it's Li Bai's 'Drinking Alone by Moonlight.'"

An Yueqin was a little embarrassed and angry, and a blush quietly appeared on her cheeks: "Is it amazing to quote scriptures and make witty remarks?"

"Not at all," Feng Bujue said. "In this day and age, a good background and strong connections are the most amazing." He spread his hands, "You ask others not to treat you differently, that's a good idea, but you'd better correct your own style and attitude first.

"If you really think you can be an ordinary editor like old Chen, then do your job conscientiously. Don't take the salary of a salesperson and worry about the heart of the chairman. That's called transgression, understand? In ancient times, your whole family would be killed, and in modern times, you'd be fired.

"Also, think before you speak about things like 'people in other departments are holding down their jobs and doing nothing.' Even if it's true, you shouldn't say it, aren't you just saying that the leaders are fools and blind? Do you want to quit?"

Feng Bujue's attitude was extremely arrogant. "Finally, let me give you some friendly advice. When you just leaned over, I smelled an expensive perfume, which seemed to be saying to your colleagues - 'Get away.' If you don't want to be the target of workplace cold violence, let me advise you, your attitude should be approachable in the future, your clothes should be more casual, use cheaper perfume, and drive a worse car to work. Most importantly... don't rat on people behind their backs."

As An Yueqin listened to Feng Bujue's words, her expression changed several times. The momentum she had when she entered the room had long since disappeared. At this moment, she looked like an intern listening to an experienced master talk about life.

"Are you done?" An Yueqin asked after a long time. At this moment, her expression was quite complicated, as if she wanted to get angry, but she also revealed a bit of grievance.

"Almost... don't get angry, you were the one who asked me to treat you like an ordinary editor," Feng Bujue said triumphantly. "If you change your mind now and want me to treat you like a young miss, I can totally understand."

An Yueqin ignored him this time and started to talk business: "From May, the magazine will be changed to a bi-monthly publication, the number of pages will be doubled, and advertisements will be reduced. Therefore, all contracted authors who are currently being serialized, including you, must add 30% more content each month, and must..." She said each word clearly, "De! Li! Ver! On! Time!"

Feng Bujue swallowed, his face turned pale in an instant. These four words were simply a death warrant to him.

Having said that, An Yueqin stood up: "Your manuscript is well proofread and your stories are also popular. Your only problem is two words - delayed submissions. But, starting this month, please strictly adhere to the submission date on the contract." As she said that, she walked to the door and reached out to open it.

Feng Bujue darted over and knelt down with a thud. "Young Miss! Let's discuss it again! Let's talk about it! I..."

An Yueqin had already stepped out of the door. Looking at Jue-ge's shameless kneeling, her mood inexplicably improved again. She wanted to laugh a little, but she still tried her best to keep a straight face and said seriously, "I'll come again on May 15th. Please have the June manuscript ready by then. Contact me by email if you have any questions. The email address remains the same." She hesitated, and finally said, "Um... thank you... goodbye." Only then did she turn and leave.