CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 50: TOOL MAN CHU TIAN

Even without knowing the genre, the synopsis and the six thousand words of content alone had already captivated her.

The unique setting and the fresh, magnificent story—especially the six-character phrase, ’A human lights the candle, a ghost blows it out,’ central to the novel *Candle in the Tomb*—piqued her curiosity even more.

Fearing someone else would snatch it first, she immediately marked this novel as special and sent out a message.

However, to better assist the author, she did not send a contract offer right away. In her view, the novel had tremendous potential. So, she sent her contact information, planning to talk first and look at the outline. If there were no issues, she would then heavily promote this novel.

But after she sent the message, it seemed to vanish without a trace. Coupled with being swamped by meetings and departmental adjustments these past few days, she had somehow neglected such an important matter!

How could this be? This is the most promising and innovative work I’ve seen this year. Today is already the third day, and my permissions can only lock it for three days. After that, it will re-enter the general pool for other editors to see. If I can’t sign the contract today, then this novel will likely slip through my fingers.

Thinking of this, Qiu Ye hurriedly opened the author’s chat box, only to find her message still there, and the contact information was exactly right.

She also checked her messaging app. Indeed, no one had added her. Could it be they haven’t seen it?

Since the other party hadn’t added her, she would have to add them.

She found the author’s name, Nanmeng, and clicked to view their information.

"Nanmeng, Phone: 12345665... Messaging ID: 58455..."

She first tried adding the messaging ID, but after waiting half an hour with no response, she couldn’t sit still any longer and quickly made a phone call.

***

"Oh, I don’t want to go to work, it’s so hard to breathe, I feel like a fish stranded on the shore..."

Chu Tian hummed a little tune, a roll of toilet paper in his left hand and his phone in his right, as he leisurely strolled towards the restroom.

PFFT! PFFT!

"Who farted?"

"Sorry, that was my phone."

Chu Tian held his phone and walked out, trying hard not to burst into laughter.

Just thinking about his colleague’s ashen, disgusted expression made him want to laugh. His ringtone sounded exactly like a fart, and anyone hearing a fart suddenly from behind would probably look unhappy.

What he didn’t know was that after he left, that colleague, still clutching a piece of toilet paper, stared blankly at another person and said, "That... was it really a ringtone? I felt like he messed his pants."

"..."

Luckily, Chu Tian didn’t hear that; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to laugh.

"Hello, who is this?"

"You... um? Oh hello, may I speak to Mr. Nanmeng?"

"Nanmeng? Yes, that’s me."

I almost forgot the pen name I just created.

Qiu Ye sighed in relief. She had finally contacted Nanmeng.

But why does his voice sound so strange? It’s as if he’s using a voice changer; it’s both raspy and hoarse.

"Here’s the thing, Mr. Nanmeng. A few days ago, you posted a novel. I sent you a message; did you see it?"

"Message? What message?"

He genuinely didn’t know about this. He had been waiting for news these past few days and indeed hadn’t seen any message.

"You didn’t see it? No worries, you can check when you get back. I just wanted to talk to you about the specifics of the book."

"Is this about signing a contract?"

"Yes, it’s about the contract. But before signing, I wanted to ask you about the outline, which is..."

The two of them talked for a while, and Chu Tian finally understood. The editor explained that she had never encountered such a genre before and wanted to review the story outline. Signing the contract itself wasn’t an issue, but a better understanding would help with subsequent promotional strategies.

Of course, there was another layer of meaning. Since some of the content involved supernatural elements, she needed to consider this carefully; otherwise, she would have offered to sign the contract on the spot. It wasn’t that supernatural topics were forbidden. However, if a work involved the supernatural, its classification needed careful consideration—that was the key.

In this world, unlike in his past life, the classifications were quite distinct. Promotional content was closely related to classification, and the target readership for each was very specific. This was why this step was necessary.

Of course, even in his past life, Chu Tian had been clueless since he wasn’t from this industry and hadn’t even learned how to use the platform.

Through their conversation, he finally understood why there had been no message; it wasn’t that there was no message, rather, it had been sent directly to his author dashboard. He recalled seeing a notification earlier. After clicking it, he had found a writing recommendation. He’d been too lazy to check subsequent notifications and had thus inadvertently missed the message the editor sent, leading to a delay of over two days due to this oversight.

After finally finishing their conversation, he quickly clutched his stomach and dashed to the bathroom. This time, it wasn’t for slacking off on company time; he genuinely couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Just as he emerged from the bathroom, feeling refreshed, he bumped squarely into Xu Qingqiu, who was coming out of her office. Startled, he instinctively turned to flee.

"Hold on, where are you going?"

"Ah? Can’t I go to the restroom?"

"You’ve been in there for an hour. Your legs must be numb, right?"

"They are a bit numb... No, I mean, I just came out..."

"I don’t want to hear it, just come with me!"

"Ah?"

Xu Qingqiu didn’t care what he wanted to do and dragged him toward the recording studio.

If it hadn’t been absolutely necessary, she really wouldn’t have sought out Chu Tian. However, for the past few days during her singing practice, she constantly felt off-key, and even the recording engineer remarked that her voice lacked a certain ’soul.’ No matter how hard she tried, it just didn’t work.

The moment she saw Chu Tian earlier, her heart had suddenly throbbed. A complex mix of anticipation, anxiety, longing, and fear had surged through her instantly. She immediately realized what she was missing. That’s why she had specifically dragged Chu Tian along, wanting to test if singing in his presence would make a difference.

"Teacher Xu, are you ready?"

"Not yet, but I want to try again."

The recording engineer sighed but said nothing. He had been assisting Xu Qingqiu with her practice for the past two days and was deeply impressed by her professionalism. She arrived very early each day and stayed until the afternoon. If her voice didn’t require rest breaks, she probably would have sung from morning till night.

Truthfully, the song could have been recorded as it was. But Xu Qingqiu, always striving for perfection, wanted to achieve an even better result. He didn’t argue; his job was to accommodate the client. Today, because she genuinely couldn’t get into the right mindset, the recording engineer had suggested she take a break. He just hadn’t expected her to return so soon.

In his mind, he could only feel immense respect for her. Such dedication from a female Singer! No wonder she rose from a newcomer to a Queen in just a few years.

"He’s my assistant. Just let him find a place to sit. You don’t need to mind him," Xu Qingqiu said to the recording engineer, pointing at Chu Tian.

The recording engineer nodded without comment. An assistant was of little consequence to him.

Only Chu Tian was left standing there, utterly bewildered.

"Wait, what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Just stay here and don’t move."

With that, Xu Qingqiu turned and entered the recording booth.

What the heck? She just randomly dragged me here and now I’m supposed to just stand here? What for?