Chapter 084: Inviting Director Zhao for Tea

Although in the end, Zhang Tan didn’t come to blows with Li Wei, thanks to Wang Conglun’s intervention, he still couldn’t suppress the fury burning inside him. He didn’t care that they failed to agree on the price; what truly infuriated him was the sheer brazenness of the other party. It would have been bad enough had Li Wei merely tried to fob him off with insulting offers, but to turn around and demand half the royalties as a kickback, and then, at last, to hurl an insult at him, calling him worthless—this was beyond endurance.

Zhang Tan could not swallow this. He had never been one to endure humiliation for the sake of long-term gain. If even a company boss dared curse him out, he’d be ready to flip the table on the spot, let alone tolerate such behavior from a deputy director of some publishing house.

He believed firmly that indulging the wicked only breeds more evil. He didn’t care for that so-called gentleman’s maxim of “revenge can wait ten years.” His principle was simple: tolerating scoundrels only encourages them.

People like Li Wei only grew more brazen the more you tolerated them. To demand half the royalties as a kickback—such audacity could only have been cultivated by having gotten away with this sort of thing many times before. If a new author gave in at the outset, they’d be trapped, chewed up and spat out, and the vicious cycle would continue, with these bloodsuckers growing ever bolder each time.

That was why Zhang Tan always believed one had to master the ways of the scoundrel. “A petty man takes his revenge from dawn till dusk.” If you dare demand a kickback, I’ll report you right then and there. To root out evil promptly is to promote the good. Cut off the hand as soon as it reaches out, and next time, they’ll think twice. Delaying only lets things fester and grow worse. All those cases of fraud and extortion in society ultimately came from letting things slide at the beginning, until, over time, the situation rotted through.

Zhang Tan had no intention of backing down, nor did he want to play out that tired old drama of “wait until I’m famous, then come back to slap them in the face.” He only wanted to act now, to clear his mind with swift action.

In other words, Zhang Tan was not one to hold grudges, because he avenged every wrong immediately. This time was no exception.

...

Staring at the leftover food on the table, Zhang Tan remained silent.

Beside him, Wang Conglun was still trying to comfort him: “Don’t take it too much to heart. If you can’t work with Li Wei, don’t. There are other publishers...”

But Zhang Tan wasn’t really listening to the specifics of what Wang Conglun was saying. He suddenly recalled from the dinner that Wang Conglun seemed quite familiar with the ins and outs of the publishing world. With that in mind, Zhang Tan picked up a cold slice of green pepper bean curd and asked, “Editor-in-chief Wang, the Wuhai University Press must have a big influence here in Hubei, right?”

“That’s right.” Wang Conglun pondered for a moment and replied, “Wuhai University Press is directly under the Ministry of Education, a key national university press, and also the national center for humanities textbook publishing for universities. They hold the rights to publish a wide range of books and periodicals. Many of the smaller presses in Hubei are actually affiliated with Wuhai University Press. It’s quite influential in the region.”

“And competition? Are there any publishers that can rival it?”

“There certainly are. Wuhai Press isn’t much weaker than Wuhai University Press, but it mainly focuses on political, economic, and legal publications, so their business doesn’t overlap much. Especially since most presses aren’t very interested in publishing martial arts novels.”

“So you’re saying Li Wei really does have the power to ensure no publisher in Wuhai will help me publish my book?” Zhang Tan frowned.

“Pretty much, but there are so many publishers across the country—how far can Li Wei’s reach really extend? He can only interfere in Wuhai or Hubei. Beyond that, he’s powerless. But then again, outside Wuhai or Hubei, our magazine, ‘Legend of Past and Present,’ doesn’t have as many contacts, so we can’t help introduce you. Publishing would be much harder.”

With a sigh, Wang Conglun expressed his regret over not being able to broker a deal.

Li Wei made an outrageous demand. Zhang Tan refused to yield. And so...

But then Wang Conglun looked on the bright side, thinking to himself, “It looks like Zhang Tan’s book publishing plans have fallen through, but maybe that’s for the best. He can just focus on contributing to ‘Legend of Past and Present: Wuxia Edition’ and stop worrying about getting a book out. Having a traditional Chinese edition published is already a rare achievement, making more money than most authors.”

Wang Conglun’s self-deprecating thoughts were unknown to Zhang Tan, who at that moment was lost in his own schemes.

A glimmer of thought flashed in Zhang Tan’s eyes as he suddenly asked, “Wuhai University Press isn’t a monolith, is it? There must be people who don’t see eye-to-eye with Li Wei. He’s only a deputy director, after all—he can’t control everything.”

“Of course, there are always rivalries in big organizations. But don’t get your hopes up for publishing. Li Wei is the deputy director in charge of publishing. His character might be lacking, but he’s got sharp political instincts. Others can’t easily intervene.” Wang Conglun thought Zhang Tan was looking for a roundabout way to succeed.

“Still, it’s worth a try.” Zhang Tan perked up. “Editor Wang, since you know Wuhai University Press so well, could you introduce me? There must be some other deputy directors or people eyeing Li Wei’s position who don’t like him. Maybe I can work something out with them.”

Wang Conglun wanted to shake his head but didn’t refuse in the end. “It’s a long shot, but if you want to try, I’ll make the connection.”

With that, Wang Conglun pulled out his phone, found a number, and dialed. As he called, he said to Zhang Tan, “This is Zhao Shijie, deputy director of the office at Wuhai University Press. There’s a lot of money in publishing, and Zhao once competed with Li Wei for the publishing post but lost. Li Wei didn’t exactly win fair and square, and Zhao has never accepted it.”

An office deputy director was basically a glorified head of general affairs, a position with much less “oil and water” than publishing. No wonder Zhao Shijie was disgruntled.

Zhang Tan couldn’t help but feel a bit more hopeful about Zhao Shijie.

Still, he didn’t place too much hope in his plan. Wuhai wasn’t his turf; he was just a minor author, with neither connections nor clout. Taking on Li Wei was a bit of a stretch.

But if he didn’t try, Zhang Tan would never be at peace.

...

Zhao Shijie quickly agreed to Wang Conglun’s invitation. As a sidelined office deputy director, he rarely got invited to dinners, so he had no reason to turn down a rare opportunity.

That evening, at a grand restaurant, Zhang Tan met Zhao Shijie.

Introductions were made, thanks to Wang Conglun.

Zhao Shijie was quite curious about such a young author, but when it came to publishing, he could only shake his head, saying he couldn’t help—publishing wasn’t part of his responsibilities.

Zhang Tan wasn’t disappointed at all; after all, he hadn’t asked Wang Conglun to introduce Zhao Shijie for the sake of publishing.

He just smiled at Zhao’s refusal.

The meal passed slowly. Though Zhao Shijie couldn’t help with publishing, he still voiced his indignation at parasites like Li Wei and joined in the cursing.

Zhang Tan, too, vented his anger.

With a universally disliked figure like Li Wei as a target, the atmosphere at the table actually grew much livelier.

After dinner, they exchanged phone numbers with polite formality and went their separate ways.

Having paid the bill, Zhang Tan thanked Wang Conglun for the introduction, politely declined his offer to arrange a hotel, and planned to find his own place to stay.

As soon as Wang Conglun left, Zhang Tan immediately took out his phone and called Zhao Shijie. “Hello, Director Zhao? This is Zhang Tan… Yes, that’s right. Here’s the thing: I’d like to invite you for tea. With Editor Wang around earlier, there were some things I didn’t feel comfortable saying… No, it’s not about publishing—it’s something else… Yes, thank you for agreeing to meet.”

Having successfully arranged a meeting with Zhao Shijie, Zhang Tan let out a long sigh of relief.

He felt a bit like one of those villains in TV dramas, plotting in secret.

Except those villains targeted good people, while he was aiming at a pretentious bloodsucker.

“I wonder if Zhao Shijie has the nerve. If he does, we’ll make a big move and get rid of that bastard Li Wei. If not… I’ll just write a formal complaint and make Li Wei’s life miserable. After all, as a press directly under the Ministry of Education, they’ll have both a Party Committee and a Disciplinary Committee. If I file a real-name report, they’ll have to look into it at least a little…”