บท 10: The Extremely Unlucky Tian Bin!
After work.
"Hey, did you hear about it?"
"I just went for dinner. What happened?"
"The rookie nearly fought with Tian Bin."
"Ah? Seriously? What happened?"
Many people in the office began speaking in whispers. Everyone loved a commotion.
Zhang Ye did not go home either. He rubbed the game ring to open his inventory and took out the chewing gum-like object he had previously taken out from a treasure chest. He opened the package. And at this moment, Tian Bin had come back in from outside. As the two of them sat across from each other, their seats were in close proximity to one another. If Tian Bin wanted to get to his seat, he had to pass by Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye quietly stuck the Unlucky Sticker onto Tian Bin's trousers with a finger. This thing could not be seen by anyone other than Zhang Ye!
Pa!
Tian Bin had the feeling that Zhang Ye had touched him when he walked past. However, when he looked down, he could see nothing, so he coldly glanced back at Zhang Ye.
The game ring made an announcement!
The Unlucky Sticker has been used. Effective for 5 minutes. Countdown begins. 4:59, 4:58...
Although Zhang Ye's antics got on Tian Bin's nerves, his mood today was still good, overall. "Recalling Spirits" was currently the most upward-trending ghost story and he had spent a lot of effort securing the audio & broadcast rights to the novel. A few other provinces' radio stations had launched a bidding war to secure the rights, but in the end, Tian Bin had won the rights. He had actually resorted to under-the-table methods and had went directly to the publisher, instead of the author, who was a rookie. He negotiated with the publisher's management and promised a higher price for the rights. As to how the publisher would negotiate the payout with the author, it was none of Tian Bin's business. He had only promised the publisher that the bid price would not be revealed to the author and that the station and the publisher would be the only ones gaining from this deal.
Tian Bin saved no effort, as he wanted to make use of this novel to help boost the listenership of his "Late-night Ghost Stories" segment, attract more sponsorship and gain a name for himself.
Beep, beep. Another short message came.
Tian Bin looked at his mobile phone. It was a message from the publisher's vice-president, wishing success to Tian Bin's radio segment, as well as a reminder to not divulge the fees agreed upon for the novel's audio & broadcasting rights.
Tian Bin smiled and, as he replied while he walked, something happened on the office desk to his left!
A female colleague was thinking of taking her lunchbox and getting off work, but when she stretched out her arm, she did not pay attention, causing the lunchbox’s lid to crash to the ground with a "ding dang" sound.
Tian Bin just happened to step on it and slip to the ground. With a slam, he crashed to the ground!
"Aiyah!”
"Ah, Teacher Tian!"
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry, are you alright?"
Tian Bin was in pain. But as he stood up, he waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it."
He picked up the phone and saw that the message interface was gone, so he created a new message and typed, "President Li, please rest assured that we would not be asking about how you split the profits with the author. We will not be revealing our end of the deal with Li Gen either. This is not our first time working together, so you can trust me." After writing this, Tian Bin scrolled to President Li's contact to send out the message, but at this moment, the colleague opposite was preparing to knock off from work. When she was passing Tian Bin, she accidentally knocked into him. The silk fan she was holding fell and landed, spread out on the floor.
Tian Bin lost his balance, stepped on the fan at the same time and then came crashing onto the ground once again.
"Brother Tian!"
"I am so sorry!"
"You...... Aiyoo, my back. What's going on!"
This time, people in the office paid more attention. Two falls in the space of a few seconds?
How unlucky could it get?
Tian Bin stumbled onto his feet, so angry that he wanted to give a good scolding. He took a look at his phone and realised that while he was falling just now, he had scrolled to the wrong contact, which just so happened to be the author, Li Gen. President Li and him both had the surname of Li. Therefore, their contacts were just beside each other.
Tian Bin felt really angry and planned on choosing the correct contact again.
But all of a sudden, Li Si walked up from behind at a fast pace, "Brother Tian!"
Tian Bin turned his head around, "Peng!!"
The fluorescent light above his head exploded without a warning!
The light tube's pieces came falling towards them and gave Li Si a scare. His reflexes caused him to place his hand forward to protect himself, but instead hit Tian Bin on his chin.
Tian Bin screamed out, "Putong!"
As he fell backwards onto the ground, his hands tightened and, at the same time, the message was sent!
Li Si rushed to help him up, "Brother Tian! Sorry! This..."
Tian Bin was nearly in tears, "What are you doing!? Do you not have eyes!?"
Li Si scratched his head and said, "I'm sorry, Brother Tian. I wasn't aware. Who would have thought that the light would explode?"
But when he picked up the phone to take a look at the screen, Tian Bin's face changed. Damn it! How did it get sent!?
He wanted to save the situation, but it was already too late!
This scene played out in front of Zhang Ye. He saw clearly with his eyes how Tian Bin fell and was knocked into. Their colleagues were laughing, thinking, “What bad luck Tian Bin has today!”
Three times!
He had fallen down three times!
Didn't you check the almanac before leaving the house?
But this was not the end. Just as the effects of the Unlucky Sticker was ending, the Literature Channel's person in charge rushed in!
"Tian Bin." Zhao Guozhou called loudly.
Tian Bin acknowledged, knowing that something was wrong, "Leader."
Everyone looked over, without knowing what had happened.
Zhao Guozhou screamed, "What the hell are you doing!"
"Eh?"
"The author of "Recalling Spirits", Li Gen, just called and demanded that the contract be voided and for us to stop the broadcast of his novel!"
"And if we infringed upon his copyright, he will send us his lawyer's letter!"
"Wasn't this matter supposed to be handled by you?"
"Why has it become my problem now?"
Tian Bin didn't dare to say a word and just looked down.
The rights for the novel "Recalling Spirits" were all with the author and the same went for the audio rights. It was down to trust that the author allowed the publisher to negotiate on his behalf. Therefore, strictly speaking, without the author's written permission, any agreements were not legal. This was how it was for "Recalling Spirits" and Tian Bin had only signed a contract with the publisher. If the author had taken his part of the payment, then the contract would have been in effect. But even so, if the author wanted to, he could have the contract voided!
Zhao Guozhou chided him for a full ten minutes.
Finally, the Literature Channel's several managers arrived and everyone was discussing the issue at hand. Only then did Zhang Ye and the others understand what had just happened. It was now known that Tian Bin had an agreement with the publishers of "Recalling Spirits" for the novel's audio rights. He would keep the agreed price a secret from the author and let the publisher keep a part of the profits. Actually, this was very common in the industry. Even if Tian Bin did not purposefully hide the details, as long as the publisher did not mention it, the author would not have known. But somehow, Tian Bin's message with all the details of the deal was sent wrongly to the author!
Isn't this a nail in the coffin?
Isn't this disgusting?
Cancelling the rights wasn't too much. If it were any other author who saw that message, the outcome would have been much worse!
Tian Bin explained, "Leader, this time it was my mistake, but I feel that we can continue with the broadcast. The contract has already been signed with the publisher, actually....."
Wang Xiaomei, who had not knocked off yet, replied with displeasure, "Are you going to fight the court case?"
A head of the editorial team also chipped in, "It definitely cannot be broadcasted!" "Who will be responsible when problems arise?"
They were a public institution and profits were not the main problem; responsibility was.
Everyone was discussing back and forth, but finally Zhao Guozhou slammed his hand on the board, "Change the novel. All departments who have suitable ghost story resources, help out. Tonight's broadcast cannot be cancelled. Use the shortest time and settle the new novel's copyrights!" Zhao Guozhou pointed at Tian Bin's nose and said, "It's all on you! Wait for your punishment!"
In contrast, Tian Bin looked like his father had just died!
While Zhang Ye's anger simmered, he realized the Unlucky Sticker had only been in effect for five minutes. Just a short five minutes had passed and Tian Bin's luck became like this? This item is too miraculous! It looks like, in the future, besides the nickname "Zhang Jingkong", another nickname is necessary. Yes, how does “Famous Detective Kogoro Mori” sound!?
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