sinovels Chapter 109 Overseas Markets
Chapter 109 Overseas Markets
The grand occasion on the day the April issue was released was the first time Meng Zhaoming had ever witnessed in his twenty years in the industry.
That afternoon, several owners of large newsstands in Beijing called. One owner with a gruff voice asked on the phone, "Can you restock your 'Duku' magazine?" Meng Zhaoming asked how many copies had sold, and the owner said, "We received fifty copies this morning, and they were all gone by noon. People are even asking at the door when the next issue will be published." Meng Zhaoming hung up and received several more similar calls. Then he called the printing plant: "Reprint. I can't decide how many to print this time; print as many as you have."
In Langya City, *Story Club* magazine appeared at newsstands two days later than in first-tier cities.
On Wednesday afternoon, Luo Jinnian passed by the newsstand near the school gate after school and saw a middle-aged man wearing glasses standing there flipping through the March issue. He flipped through it very slowly, as if learning word by word. When he reached the last page, he suddenly closed the magazine, stood there silently for a few seconds, and then said to the owner, "I'll take this one."
This was the first time he had ever been so eager to buy a magazine. He got off work early and was lucky; he found a piece he liked.
As Luo Jinnian walked past him from behind, she saw him tuck the magazine under his arm and walk away into the distance.
Luo Jinnian did not stop, and continued on his path.
That evening, Luo Jinnian didn't log onto the forum. While having dinner, he received an outrageous message from Jiabei: "Our forum has crashed."
This forum usually discusses tea-related works from early spring, so the server isn't very good, and it's normal for it to crash when there are many visitors.
Luo Jinnian wiped his mouth and flipped his phone face down on the table. Chu Qingning, sitting opposite him, glanced at him and asked, "Did something happen at the company?" Luo Jinnian replied, "Nothing's wrong," and continued eating.
Seeing that my younger brother was in good spirits, I knew it was a good thing.
Chu Qingning did not press the matter further.
The next morning, when Luo Jinnian went to school, he found that the situation was even more outrageous than he had expected.
During break, Li Haoran, a classmate sitting at the next table, came over with a crumpled magazine in his hand. It was definitely not his own; the cover was curled up from being turned over so many times.
He patted Luo Jinnian on the shoulder: "Have you read this story? It's extremely bloody."
Luo Jinnian glanced at it and saw that it was "Saw," then nodded, "I've seen it."
"I knew you'd seen it."
Li Haoran often saw this classmate reading books, and knowing that they shared the same hobby, he wanted to confide in him after just reading a good book.
Li Haoran began to gesticulate wildly as he recounted the plot. When he said, "That dead man got up from the ground," he was as excited as if he had set up the whole scheme.
"I don't know how the author came up with such a wild idea. I've heard that all his stories are of this high quality. I really want to meet the author in person."
Gu Yanxi, who was listening nearby, shook her head and whispered, "The real culprit is far away, but right in front of you."
Luo Jinnian checked the forum when it became accessible again.
The pinned post on the homepage has been replaced with a special thread for the July issue, titled "Intensive Discussion on 'Saw'", and there are already over 400 replies below it.
Someone took a screenshot of the "Game over" illustration on the last page, enlarged it, and carefully studied the changes in the font. "This Jigsaw was there from beginning to end. He was listening to them talk the whole time, but no one ever suspected the corpse."
Many people have already begun analyzing the worldview of "Early Spring Tea," saying that Jigsaw is similar to John Doe in "Seven": "Both of them believe they are not killing people, but educating them. They teach them to cherish life and to be good people. Whether they actually become better is not their concern. They are only responsible for raising questions, not for solving them."
"Both criminals were philosophers, but unfortunately, when they devised these schemes, they never considered who gave them the right to judge the world."
Luo Jinnian stared at the comment for a few seconds, then closed the page. Saying that Jigsaw is like John Doe has some truth to it, but it's not entirely accurate. John Doe is purely a punisher, while Jigsaw carries a more didactic connotation.
In Jigsaw's trap, you might still have a chance to escape, but in Seven, the outcome of each of the seven cases is predetermined from the very beginning.
He closed the forum and didn't leave a comment on that post.
Interests in film and television adaptations began to emerge. Jia Bei compiled a list and sent it to the group, listing the names of six companies. Luo Jinnian reviewed it and deleted four of them. Some projects lacked sincerity in their planning, some offered too low a price, and some were just companies they wanted to buy and store away.
He didn't think about it for long.
From the very beginning, "Saw" was never sold to anyone else; they would definitely make it themselves with such a good script.
On the weekend, Luo Jinnian made a phone call to Zhao Bo from her rented apartment.
When Zhao Bo answered, his voice was hoarse from staying up all night. Luo Jinnian asked him what he was doing, and he said he was writing a script, and he was revising it to the third version. He was so tired of revising it that he felt like he was going to die.
Luo Jinnian said, "Don't change it yet, take a look at this first," and then he sent the outline of the Saw movie script to Zhao Bo's email. After sending it, he said on WeChat, "Call me after you've read it."
That night, Luo Jinnian waited until eleven o'clock.
At 11:15, Zhao Bo called.
He was silent for a moment on the phone, then said, "What were you thinking when you designed the Jigsaw script?" Luo Jinnian replied, "I won't give you an answer here, so are you going to film it or not?"
Zhao Bo fell silent this time. "I'll film it. Give me the complete script, and I'll film it."
Luo Jinnian chuckled on the other end of the line, "This is the complete script I'm sending you. Just show it to me after you've revised it." Zhao Bo agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Luo Jinnian walked to the window. Winter in Langya City had passed, and the trees outside the window were cast in deep shadows by the streetlights. The leaves trembled gently in the breeze, like someone who had just exhaled.
Luo Jinnian was thinking about something: "Saw" should become the first truly genre film produced by Early Spring Culture.
The film falls under the suspense genre, but it can't be categorized solely as suspense. *Saw* is definitely not the kind of soft-core suspense that can be packaged as a "social realism mystery." It's designed to be purely hardcore, ruthless, and imbued with religious and social themes. It's a genre film.
One room, two people, a saw, and a cassette tape.
All of this happened in an abandoned bathroom.
The suffocating feeling created by the designed enclosed space is the core element that makes this story truly effective.
Jigsaw doesn't need to turn the whole city upside down to prove he's alive. He just needs to hide under a corpse, listen to the conversation between two men, count the seconds, and wait for the door to close.
Luo Jinnian drew the curtains, preparing to take a shower. Her phone lit up; it was a message from Zhao Bo: "How do we get this script approved in China given its level of gore?"
"I don't expect to see it in domestic theaters."
Luo Jinnian's brief words dispelled the young director's concerns.
In fact, Saw was designed from the very beginning to expand into overseas markets.