Chapter 28: Rising to the Top

1 April 2023 | kaiyang

A few days later, something that I would never thought would happen to me happened. And it was not an April Fools' joke.

I woke up, without an alarm, close to noon on a lazy Saturday. As I reached out for my phone, I was greeted with a rude shock when I saw the number of missed calls and messaging notifications.

I first opened my chat with Ruan Dan'ni. She had sent me more than 10 messages, most of them asking if I was alright. I went through the other messages from Qian Sicheng and Assistant Producer Liang. By the time I was done scanning the messages, I was left shakened and breathless.

My pen name, Yu Wei, and web novel title, Snow Path, had appeared on Weibo's hot search. A netizen had published a post making allegations of plagiarism against me.

In the post, the netizen alleged that I had plagiarised the work of another web novelist, Yuni Qianjin (YNQJ). There was a side-by-side comparison of screenshots and extracts taken from YNQJ's Lost In A Flurry Of Time and my Snow Path, showing a high degree of similarity in terms of world-building, whole sentences and writing style.

I searched up YNQJ on the internet; but found no traces, other than the web novel, Lost In A Flurry Of Time, first published online in 2012. Digging deeper through the comments section of the original post, I discovered that Lost In A Flurry Of Time had two volumes, but the second volume was incomplete and the last update was in July of 2013. From the netizen's post, it seemed like YNQJ took a hiatus and never returned, and it YNQJ's only book was briefly popular in the early 2010s.

My phone rang—it was Assistant Producer Liang.

Taking a sit at my study desk, I placed a hand on my insubordinately beating heart and drew in a deep breath. Letting out a loud sigh, I answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Yujuan, this is Liang Peiwen from Haixing Media. I wanted to check if you have seen my messages?" Assistant Producer Liang spared little time on salutations and jumped straight into the main topic.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen your messages; but I know what this call is about," I whispered in a low voice.

"I assume that you have seen the hot search list?" she asked in a measured tone.

"Yes, I've briefly seen the post accusing me of plagiarism. But Assistant Producer Liang, I promise that I did not plagiarise. Even if you take me to court, I can only maintain that I did not plagiarise because that is the truth. Before today, I did not know of Yuni Qianjin, and have certainly never read Lost In A Flurry Of Time before. At this moment, I have not even checked what Lost In A Flurry Of Time is about, let alone know which parts of that book are similar to mine," I pleaded quickly. Even though my lips were moving, my brain was heating up and could barely register what I was saying.

Assistant Producer Liang made a soft hum in agreement. "OK, I hear you. Our team is currently looking into the source of the allegations and extent of the alleged plagiarism. We're not at the stage where there is any breach of contract yet, so no one is taking anyone to court, yea? For now, our Director Wang and legal counsel want to meet with you to discuss this issue. Do you have some time at 3PM on Monday, 3 April?"

I wiped at a drop of perspiration on the side of my forehead. "3PM on Monday? Ok, I'll take a day off work and head down to your office."

"OK, thanks. Oh, I also want to check with you—have you heard from anyone claiming to be Yuni Qianjin?"

"No."

"Noted. Yujuan, if anyone claiming to be Yuni Qianjin reaches out to you regarding the plagiarism, and if any media outlet try to contact you about this matter, please don't respond to them first but immediately notify me, alright?"

"OK, I got it. Thanks, Assistant Producer Liang."

After hanging up the call, I scrolled through Weibo again. There were already a number of reposts and a mix of comments scolding or supporting Haixing Media and Yu Wei.

There was even a ridiculous comment that the title of my book was a plagiarism of Cheng Yujin's song title, and a reply that it was too far a stretch to link his song and my book together, and another reply by another netizen not to drag their aidou into this mess, and yet another reply by a netizen who was likely my book fan that everyone should stay calm and wait for an official announcement by Haixing Media and Yu Wei-dada.

I closed the application on my phone and tilted my head upwards to the ceiling, feeling an ache in my shoulder and neck.

My phone buzzed with a message from Qian Sicheng: Will you call me back when you see this message?

Sighing, I returned his call. Over the past few days, we had slowly returned to being good friends; but we would certainly not be able to be as close as before. Even so, he was still a loyal and good friend to remember me at times like this.

Qian Sicheng picked up within two rings and he greeted me in a tone filled with concern. "Where have you been all morning? I couldn't reach you—I thought that something had happened to you!"

"I just woke up. Is this about my book being on the hot search?"

"Yujuan, I don't believe that you would plagiarise. Let me know if I can help with anything, ok?"

"Mm, I think I'll be ok. I'm thinking of contacting Lawyer Bai, who helped me with the negotiation of the IP contract. You think that he can help me?"

"Yes, he specialises in intellectual property law. If you have any issues engaging him, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help."

"Thanks, Sicheng. Oh, I have another call now. I'll drop you a text later."

Without waiting for his response, I lowered my phone from my ear to peek at the caller ID, and my mind went completely blank.

Why was Tan Qing calling me?

***

2 April 2023 | kaiyang

Waiting for the boarding gate to open, I rushed to settle all outstanding affairs before the flight.

First, I had to give Gu Jing some guidance on the work which she had to cover for me during my 3 days' annual leave. Fortunately, I had an easy-going and kind boss who swiftly approved my sudden leave request.

Thereafter, I had to inform Assistant Producer Liang that our meeting would have to be postponed, unless they were agreeable to have a video conference meeting.

Next, I would have to respond to Ye Haonan to thank him and apologise for not replying to him earlier regarding his offer to set me up with his good friend, and to politely decline it as I was not able to deal with it at the moment.

Lastly, I would have to update Tan Qing that I would be boarding the plane in about ten minutes.

Yesterday, I received a sudden phone call from her. Answering the call, the sound of her warm and gentle voice asking me if I was doing alright caused hot tears to well up in my eyes. After consoling me—who started to sob uncontrollably—she offered to help me out, having had experiences of dealing with such allegations and unwanted media. Apologising that she was unable to meet with me as she was in Beijing, she proposed to arrange for me to meet with her team in Shanghai. Gratefully, I accepted her help, but asked if I could travel to Beijing to meet her instead. Tan Qing gladly agreed and immediately arranged a plane ticket and accommodation for me. All I needed to do was to transport myself over.

About three hours later, I arrived in Beijing in the early afternoon. Walking out of the arrivals, I searched the crowd of people gathered at the arrival hall who were holding up pieces of paper and boards bearing various names and organisations in different languages. There was a young man holding up a board with my name printed on it. As soon as I approached him, he introduced himself as A'Du and said that he was Miss Tan's assistant sent to fetch me to meet her.

A'Du offered to take my mini luggage bag, but I politely refused and asked him to lead the way instead. I followed him to the car park, and into a large black car resembling those spacious vehicles which celebrities typically use as transportation. A'Du informed me that he would be taking me to "the company"—which I assumed was Tan Qing's record label company, Music-Box Dream Records (MBD Records).

As we drove closer to the city centre and passed by a music conservatory, I had sudden flashbacks of my dreams from a few months ago, in which I was a college student from the year 2012 who attended the conservatory.

I shook my head to get rid of those ridiculous flashbacks. I had only ever been to this city twice in my life. The first time was for a choral competition back in high school and the second time was when I visited MBD Records to meet Tan Qing at the end of my part-time job, just before I commenced my freshmen year of university.

Looking out of the windows, I could recognise some familiar streets and buildings, but many were unfamiliar. Slipping into a reverie, past memories—vivid as if they happened just yesterday—flooded my mind. In that moment, I had forgotten the reason that had brought me all the way to Beijing.

***