Chapter 120: Scratching One's Head in Agitation

A preface can be an introductory essay detailing the inspiration and history behind a book; it can be a biography, featuring evaluations from the author or their friends; or it can be an explanatory text guiding the reader on the proper way to approach the work, and so on.

The author’s preface written by Zhang Tan was mediocre—neither fully classical nor vernacular—forced and contrived, lacking any highlights.

However, at the very end, it finally touched upon the theme, informing the reader what the story was about.

Tao Laosan, for his part, found the preface to have a certain flavor. Having finished it, he felt a slight anticipation for the novel; the growth of a great hero promised to be an interesting story with a fresh concept.

Immediately, Tao Laosan skipped the table of contents and turned directly to the first chapter.

"The Stormy Change."

"The surging waters of the Qiantang River flowed day and night, endlessly winding past Niu Village in Lin’an, before emptying into the sea. Along the riverbank stood dozens of tallow trees, their leaves red as fire. It was the eighth month of the lunar calendar..."

The story of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* began to unfold slowly before Tao Laosan’s eyes.

On a stormy night, the treacherous villain Duan Tiande, acting under the instructions of Prince Wanyan Honglie of the Jin Kingdom, bloodied Niu Village outside of Lin’an. The families of Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin, who had fled there from Shandong, met with a tragic disaster, their homes destroyed and their families torn apart. Yet, all of this was merely a ploy staged by Wanyan Honglie to play the hero and save the beauty, Yang Tiexin’s wife, Bao Xiruo.

In the ensuing chaos, the pregnant Bao Xiruo and Li Ping were separated; one was abducted by Duan Tiande, while the other was taken to the Jin capital’s princely estate.

The Quanzhen Taoist Qiu Chuji believed his own plot to thwart Wanyan Honglie’s collusion with Wang Daoqian had brought disaster upon Niu Village and the two warriors, Guo and Yang. While searching for their orphans, he was provoked by Duan Tiande into a conflict with the Seven Freaks of the South, which ultimately led to the tragic death of Master Jiaomu.

Later, after the misunderstanding was resolved, Qiu Chuji and the Seven Freaks of the South agreed to split up, each searching for and instructing the descendants of the Guo and Yang families, with a pact to meet at the Zuixian Restaurant in Jiaxing eighteen years later to settle the score.

From there, the Seven Freaks of the South traveled deep into the desert to instruct Guo Jing, the son born to Li Ping. Unexpectedly, they encountered Mei Chaofeng, and one of the seven, Zhang Asheng, was killed. Afterward, putting aside their hatred, they settled in the desert, painstakingly teaching Guo Jing martial arts, hoping that with the Seven Freaks’ external martial arts, they could raise a disciple no less capable than Qiu Chuji’s.

As it happened, Guo Jing had once saved Princess Huazheng, the daughter of Genghis Khan, from the jaws of a tiger, allowing the mother and son to live in the desert in relative peace.

Eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Qiu Chuji sent his disciple Zhen Zhibing to the desert to urge the Seven Freaks of the South to bring Guo Jing to keep their appointment. Along the way, they encountered a formidable little red horse. Guo Jing used his light-body technique to subdue it, but in doing so, he accidentally revealed the fact that he possessed internal energy. After some entanglement, the Seven Freaks discovered that a Taoist had been coming frequently to teach Guo Jing internal arts...

The story flowed steadily, the prose seemingly possessing a magical quality that kept the reader hooked, unable to stop reading.

"Good, it's just too good!"

The first volume of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* contained 150,000 characters. Tao Laosan’s reading speed was not fast; he had barely finished over 50,000 characters in an afternoon. Seeing that it was getting dark and he needed to return to school for evening self-study, he had to close the book, sighing in admiration.

He wanted to put it back, but he couldn't bear to.

He had been successfully hooked by the novel. He was reluctant to spend the money to buy it, but he was just as desperate to keep reading. Before coming to the bookstore, he had planned to come every day for a while, striving to finish the book for free. Who knew that putting it into practice would be so difficult? The story of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* was like a cat’s claws, scratching and scratching at his heart.

It was an unbearable itch; he just wanted to read it.

"Hey, classmate, are you buying this? If not, I'm going to buy it." Seeing Tao Laosan holding the book, wanting to put it back but hesitant, another student standing nearby couldn't help but tap him on the shoulder.

Only then did Tao Laosan notice that, over the course of the afternoon, the copies of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* on the shelf had sold out.

Only the one in his hand remained, along with a few copies being read by others nearby.

In an instant, Tao Laosan decided to buy it.

He was afraid that if he didn't buy it now, there would be none left next time he came. Perhaps the bookstore would restock, but there would inevitably be a delay. Tao Laosan did not want to wait a moment longer; every extra moment of waiting was an extra moment of torment.

"Of course I'm buying it. I was just about to pay."

He rushed to settle the bill.

Walking out of the bookstore, Tao Laosan felt a pang of heartache. The price was 18.6 yuan, an incredibly extravagant expense—with that money, he could have had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant.

However, while his heart ached for the money, Tao Laosan also felt very satisfied.

When he had been about to put it back, it felt like his heart was being cut by a knife; now that he didn't have to, he felt much more at ease and content.

He gave a smug smile: "I'll go back and read it slowly!"

...

Torn between the pain of the expense and the joy of the story, Tao Laosan carried *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* back to school.

Meanwhile, the author of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, Zhang Tan, was also gritting his teeth, feeling both pain and pleasure.

The pleasure came from the fact that after several reprints, *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* had finally reached the phenomenal figure of 800,000 copies sold, placing it in the top ten best-sellers in the mainland market for 2002. While it was slightly inferior to Han Jingming’s latest novel, which had already exceeded one million copies, martial arts literature was not a mainstream genre to begin with.

With sales of 800,000 copies, Zhang Tan was satisfied, Li Yan was satisfied, and the publisher was extremely satisfied as well.

But while there was satisfaction and joy, pain was inevitable.

Li Yan called to share some heartbreaking news: "Pirated editions have already appeared on a large scale across the country. Based on what I've learned from booksellers in various regions, there is solid evidence that at least four major publishers have pirated the first and second volumes of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*. There are also quite a few small publishers printing and selling them as well."

Piracy was a topic every author could not avoid. From the moment he started writing, Zhang Tan had anticipated this.

After all, even in the future year of 2016, piracy had not subsided much; whether it was physical books or web novels, they were flooded with massive amounts of pirated material.

"Can we sue them?"

"It’s very difficult," Li Yan sighed, sounding frustrated. "The penalties for piracy cases are not heavy, and it's not certain that we would win. Publishers have all sorts of excuses to evade direct evidence. Even if we win, the fine the other party pays might not even cover the legal fees, and we don't have enough staff to go around haggling and litigating with them one by one."

Zhang Tan was also frustrated when he heard this, but such was the reality, and it was hard to change with human effort. He could only say, "Send letters to warn them."

"Mhm, the publisher is already working on contacting them to have these publishers stop the piracy. But this can only be considered doing our best and leaving the rest to fate; we'll reduce the piracy as much as we can. However, you need to be prepared—the sales of the subsequent volumes will definitely be significantly affected. Once pirated booksellers see the sweetness of profit, they will follow suit the moment our new books come out."

"I understand. Let's try to minimize the impact of piracy. If there's really no way, we'll just earn a little less," Zhang Tan said helplessly.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Tan laughed at himself with a touch of self-mockery.

Unable to curb the piracy, he could only adopt an "Ah Q" spirit, thinking that pirated books were cheaper and could spread more quickly in the market, letting more readers know his name.

Building his reputation earlier would attract the attention of the film and television industry sooner, leading to adaptations of his novels.

That was, at least, an unavoidable benefit.

"I just hope the pirated books are proofread well enough, and that they don't have missing pages or scrambled layouts that ruin the reading experience of my book."