Chapter 20 Birthday Party

Half an hour later,

Wang Jian walked out of the coffee shop with five copies of "I'm a Great Mage," a complex expression on his face.

The reason for the complex expression was that the second novel had finally appeared.

He was again able to translate from Chinese to English, relying on novels he had read in his past life, to continue raking in money.

He should,

be able to, right?

But it was precisely because of the appearance of the second novel that he experienced a moment of mental disorientation.

Then, Roy seized the opportunity to half-threaten, half-coax him into signing a new print run contract.

The final agreement reached was: for the subsequent English editions of "I'm a Great Mage," 200,000 copies would be added to the print run, with the royalty share increased to 7%.

For the French and Latin versions, because of the translation, the publisher and Wang Jian each contributed 1% of their royalties, resulting in a final royalty share of 6%.

Moreover, he received a promise that the 4% royalty share from the sales of "I'm a Great Mage" would be settled tomorrow.

However, Wang Jian's mood was still very down.

Because this was still far from the normal treatment of a bestselling author, who could start at 12% and also had guaranteed minimum royalty earnings for reprints.

You should know that on the bestseller list published this afternoon, "I'm a Great Mage" ranked 19th, even overpowering "Conversations with God," which was hailed as the "benchmark bestseller of '95."

Wang Jian sighed.

When he signed the initial publishing contract, he did not understand the unwritten rules of book publishing and distribution.

He hadn't set as a condition for the publisher to increase promotion and print runs the ability to sell a certain number of copies within a limited time.

It seemed that he still needed to find a professional.

As he pondered this, he approached the check-in officer Lily with the books in hand.

At this time, Lily's fingers were straightening out her golden hair, her gaze unfocused on a small booklet.

Wang Jian walked closer and saw it was something like an autograph book.

He cleared his throat and startled Lily awake.

Then, he handed over the "I'm a Great Mage" to her.

Lily came to her senses, took the novel, and assessed Wang Jian with a contemplative look.

This gaze made Wang Jian very uneasy.

So, he quickly backed away, ready to turn and leave.

Suddenly, Lily's crisp voice reached his ears,

"Gene is having his birthday party at home tonight, and you can pretend to be Gene's brother and help entertain. I don't know how to deal with so many little boys."

The image of unruly children instantly surfaced in Wang Jian's mind.

Worse than one was a group of them.

He couldn't help asking, "What about Gene's father? Isn't he going?"

"His father?" Lily displayed a look of disdain, "He's gone on a vacation with his new wife."

"Are you going?" Lily's pale eyebrows furrowed slightly, asking impatiently.

Wang Jian originally wanted to firmly say, "No!"

But then he remembered he still had over thirty days of community service.

Alas, one must bow under the eaves.

"I'll go," Wang Jian said resignedly, "Do I need to prepare a gift?"

Lily, relieved by Wang Jian's agreement, then thought to herself that perhaps having a big boy as a boyfriend wasn't such a bad idea after all, definitely more reliable than an older man.

So, she handed "I'm a Great Mage" back to him, "This is fine."

"Seven o'clock tonight, remember to be on time."

Wang Jian took the novel and quickly left Lily's side to prevent the woman from causing any more trouble.

Soon, today's community service was over.

After checking out, everyone left.

The convict who had been slightly at odds with Wang Jian over "I'm a Great Mage" saw him holding five copies of the book and came over, patting Wang Jian on the back with an approving look.

To this, Wang Jian could only respond with a wry smile.

He hurried back to his apartment, changed into clean clothes, and, suppressing the fear from being bossed around by his relatives' kids in his past life, arrived at Lily's front door.

Hearing the children's laughter inside, Wang Jian shook his head vigorously and hesitated before ringing the doorbell.

The door opened, and Lily appeared in a red long dress.

The bright red dress complemented her fair skin, and the sight of her collarbone below the straps made Wang Jian shift his gaze uneasily.

Just as Wang Jian was stunned, a light laugh suddenly came from behind Lily.

A red-haired woman, arm in arm with Lily, winked and made faces at Wang Jian.

Lily nudged the red-haired woman with her elbow, then welcomed Wang Jian through the door.

Then, she turned to the kids playing video games on the couch and said, "Gene, Brother Wang is here to celebrate your birthday."

Gene put down the controller and told his game partner, "Those thirty lives, he taught me that."

Then he took off, his little legs going "thump, thump, thump" as he ran up to Wang Jian.

He then stretched out his hands and shouted, "Present!"

Wang Jian hurriedly pulled out the book "I'm a Great Mage" and handed it over.

As expected, kids from any country are just as hard to deal with.

Gene took the novel, glanced at the cover, and then cheered loudly.

""I'm a Great Mage," huh, all my friends say it's really cool."

Then he turned to Lily and said, "Mom, read it to me tonight!"

Lily was nodding with a smile when the red-haired woman next to her suddenly changed her smiling expression.

She whispered to Lily, "Wasn't there talk that this book promotes violence?"

Lily answered with a smile, "Gene was fussing for this book, so I took a special interest."

"In the evening, CNN news said that the publishing industry association had confirmed there's no issue with the book, and it remains rated for all ages."

The red-haired woman looked enlightened and then turned to Wang Jian, saying, "Is this the one who peeked at your stockings and got super embarrassed?"

Lily's face turned red, and she quickly glanced at Wang Jian, murmuring an acknowledgment.

"Have you tried it yet?" the red-haired woman boldly asked.

Thinking of the last time, Lily replied verbally, "Try what? He's only seventeen, I'm nearly thirty."

"That's what makes it thrilling, doesn't it?" the red-haired woman said with a laugh.

After that, she stopped teasing Lily.

Instead, she turned to Gene and said, "Gene, come here, your godmother has a birthday present for you."

Saying so, she pulled a Lego set from behind the door.

Gene took the toy and sweetly said, "Thank you, godmother."

Then he ran back to the couch to continue playing his game.

Lily gestured with her eyes for Wang Jian to join the kids in their video game.

And she followed the red-haired woman into the kitchen to prepare the food.

Wang Jian looked at the eight or nine little boys and felt overwhelmed.

But he had no choice but to suck it up and join the children in their play.

"Brother, brother, do you know kung fu?" one child asked.

"I don't." Wang Jian was immune to this question.

"Then can you cook? Kung Pao Chicken?" another child asked.

He could actually do that.

However, Wang Jian feared the child would then ask him to make some on the spot, so he replied, "No."

"Then, is Dragon Ball yours? And the Great Wall?"

"Dragon Ball isn't, the Great Wall is," Wang Jian felt his head ache.

At that moment, Lily came out of the kitchen, smiling as she watched Wang Jian playing with a group of little boys.

Then, as if struck by an idea.

She glanced back at the red-haired woman in the kitchen, then looked at the children on the couch.

She turned her eyes, and headed back to the bedroom.

Soon after, she appeared beside Wang Jian with a nearby hotel's room card.

She patted Wang Jian on the shoulder and pointed to a corner of the living room.

Once both were in the corner, Lily used the gesture of running her fingers through her hair to cover the blush on her face and glanced at Wang Jian with her pale blue eyes.

Then, she stuffed the room card into Wang Jian's hand, "You did well today. As a reward, meet me tomorrow morning at nine. Remember, nine o'clock."

Meanwhile, Gene's character in the game had died off.

So, he lay on the couch, turned his head to look at the two sneaking around, and asked, "So, brother, are you my mom's boyfriend?"