Chapter 1 Cui Geng

Cui Geng gave it a quick glance. The agreement mainly stipulated some rights and obligations of this training class.

For the website, it needed to provide authors with a basic salary, five social insurances and one housing fund, a working environment, accommodation, meals, and other convenient conditions. Not only were there clear regulations on the amount of the basic salary and five social insurances and one housing fund, but there were also clear instructions on the standards of accommodation and meals.

In addition, there would be about 10 hours per week, or two afternoons, used to organize some collective activities.

As for the author, the only clause that needed to be followed was to fully obey the website's daily workflow arrangements; otherwise, the website could unconditionally terminate the contract and take back all the previously promised benefits.

Below were the detailed workflow arrangements for the training class.

What Cui Geng cared about more was that the process stipulated that all authors had clear working hours. They had to be at their workstations from 9 am to 6 pm every day, with a one-hour lunch and rest break in between.

Cui Geng was satisfied with everything else, but he was a little hesitant about the working hours.

As a lazy bum whose effective working time was only two or three hours a day, he actually needed to work eight hours a day at his workstation?

This was probably a bit difficult.

He was very worried that if he failed to complete his work goals, the website would directly cancel all the benefits. Wouldn't that be very embarrassing?

Cui Geng raised his question: "Director Ma, does this clause mean that I only need to work eight hours a day? Are there any other requirements, such as having to write 4,000 words?"

Ma Yiqun shook his head: "There is no word count requirement."

"Writing is a creative activity, and every author may have times when they get stuck and can't write, so we don't have any rigid requirements for the word count."

Cui Geng breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be easy if there were no word count requirements!

Anyway, he could surf the Internet, slack off, and do whatever he wanted, and eight hours would pass quickly.

Here, they provided food and accommodation, and they would regularly take everyone on local tours in Jingzhou to relax. He could also hang out and chat with other authors. The only cost was changing the place where he surfed the Internet.

Maybe the computer they provided here was even better than his own.

In short, it was very cost-effective.

Cui Geng flipped through the agreement and didn't find anything tricky, so he signed his name with peace of mind.

"Okay, I'll arrange someone to take you to your accommodation later."

"To give everyone a leisurely and quiet environment, we have arranged for you to stay in a hotel in the suburbs. The workplace is just a five-minute walk from the hotel."

"Don't worry, although it's in the suburbs, the living conditions and other aspects will definitely not be bad."

Ma Yiqun put away the agreement.

Cui Geng nodded: "No problem."

Anyway, everyone was a rough guy and didn't have high requirements for living conditions. It didn't matter if the place was a little out of the way. Most authors were homebodies and didn't want to go out, so this was not a problem.

...

...

January 14, Friday.

At 8:30 in the morning, the phone alarm rang, waking Cui Geng up.

He instinctively turned off the alarm and continued to sleep.

"Brother Cui, it's about time to get up. You told me last night to wake you up in the morning," a voice said next to him.

Cui Geng suddenly realized something and opened his eyes and sat up.

He was not at home now, but in a hotel!

Yesterday, he and some other authors had checked into the hotel arranged by the website.

The hotel environment was not bad. Although it was in the suburbs, it should be considered a relatively good three-star hotel. The rooms were spacious, clean, and tidy, and had all the necessary items.

He was staying in a double room, and his roommate was a new author who was a year younger than him, calling him Brother Cui and showing him great respect.

"I'll be ready soon!"

Cui Geng got out of bed, brushed his teeth and washed his face at lightning speed, and was dressed neatly in five minutes.

The two of them had breakfast at the hotel and went to the nearby workplace together.

Yesterday afternoon and evening, all the authors in the training class had arrived one after another, not one less.

Everyone was an author from Zongdian Chinese Website and had basically heard of each other, so they exchanged pleasantries.

Zhu Xing'an had also arrived and took everyone to the workplace where they would usually write.

The workplace prepared by the website was in a nearby office building. They had legitimately rented a relatively spacious room, which was filled with neat rows of workstations.

Mechanical keyboards, large-screen monitors, and spacious desks also had pens and notebooks, probably for some authors to organize their thoughts.

In addition, there was a long conference table in the room, and next to it was a snack area with various snacks and a capsule coffee machine.

In short, these conditions were quite superior compared to ordinary companies.

Zhu Xing'an watched as everyone found a place to sit.

"Okay, it's almost time. Everyone can rest at their workstations, have a cup of coffee, and start thinking."

"My workstation is near the door. If you have any questions during the writing process, you can come and ask me directly."

"In addition, there will be a ten-minute break every hour. The bell will ring at that time, and everyone should consciously stand up, move around, and look out the window to relieve fatigue."

Cui Geng specifically found a workstation in the corner, farthest from Zhu Xing'an.

This would create a perfect blind spot, making it impossible for Zhu Xing'an to see what he was doing.

In short, as long as he slacked off for eight hours and squeezed out two or three hours in between to write something, he could get by.

Cui Geng pressed the power button on the computer, lightly tapped the keyboard, and made a crisp "da da" sound, which was very pleasant.

The quality of the monitor was also good, with a high resolution, and it seemed to be set to anti-blue light mode, which looked very soft and would be less harmful to the eyes than ordinary monitors.

The desk height was a standard height, and the height of the chair and monitor could be adjusted at will.

The ergonomic chair was very comfortable to sit in. The backrest perfectly conformed to the curve of the back, and the armrests were exactly level with the desk. With his elbows bent at ninety degrees, he could rest his forearms on the armrests and place his palms on the palm rest of the keyboard, making it very comfortable and effortless to type.

As for the mouse, headphones, etc., although they were not very related to writing, they were also great accessories and better than the ones Cui Geng used at home.

The computer's configuration was unknown, but it had a very cool logo on it, which seemed to be the letters "rof".

Since it was a desktop computer, it must have a decent dedicated graphics card, right? Playing large-scale games should not be a problem.

Even if he couldn't play games, wouldn't it be great to watch dramas on this big screen?

"Pitter-patter..."

The sound of typing had already begun in the room.

Soon, this typing sound quickly spread and turned into a mechanical keyboard carnival.

If there was only one person using a mechanical keyboard, especially a blue switch mechanical keyboard, in a quiet room, it would be like smoking indoors, and no one else could concentrate on their work.

However, if everyone in the room was using a mechanical keyboard to type intensely, it would be like a group of smokers gathering to smoke together. There would be no mutual disturbance at all, and instead, it would create a unique atmosphere that everyone enjoyed.

However, for Cui Geng, who just wanted to slack off, this sound was a bit annoying.

"Damn, how can inspiration come less than a minute after sitting down? Are these people even human?"

"Forget it, forget it, look on the bright side. With so many keyboards typing to cover me, I won't be discovered slacking off."

"These are over-ear headphones, so the sound insulation should be pretty good."

"Anyway, I'll check the computer configuration first..."

"Holy crap???"

The computer's configuration was obviously good, and it booted up quickly.

Cui Geng was sitting in the innermost position, and he had gone to get snacks and coffee before turning on the computer, so he was a bit slower than the others.

After booting up, Cui Geng originally planned to check the computer configuration and network speed before deciding which game to download, or just watch a drama.

But as soon as it booted up, before he had time to move the mouse, he saw the writing software on the computer automatically open and display in full screen, entering a locked state.

Cui Geng: "???"

He was a little dizzy and subconsciously pressed alt+f4, but there was no response.

He also pressed ctrl+alt+delete, but still no response!

This kind of writing software has a similar small dark room function. After opening it, before completing a certain number of words or the countdown ends, this computer can't do anything but write!

And the setting of this computer was even more extreme. After booting up, it would automatically open the writing software, and after shutting down and restarting, it would continue to open automatically. There was no target word count and no time limit, meaning that unless a technician came over, the small dark room state could not be canceled at all!

Of course, this website would generally leave a Baidu interface for authors to search for information, but it was only limited to searching for information and could not even play videos.

Cui Geng seemed to understand why some authors could enter the writing state so quickly.

If you don't write, you can't do anything else at all!

Cui Geng was about to vomit blood. Such a big screen, such a high-configuration computer, but it could only be used for writing. What a waste!

He tried a few times and then gave up, because he knew that the programmers of the writing software must have thought of all the methods he could think of and would definitely block all the paths.

Once the small dark room was turned on, he should stop thinking about those crooked ways.

The sound of mechanical keyboards typing could be heard all around, but Cui Geng felt like a prisoner who had just been sentenced to life imprisonment, and his heart was cold.

Cui Geng's mind was racing, thinking about his current situation.

Suddenly, he had a good idea.

"Editor-in-chief! I have a plot that requires me to watch a clip from a certain movie! What should I do?"

Cui Geng couldn't help but feel proud. What a legitimate reason!

As an online novelist, he needed to often draw material from movies and games. This was reasonable, right?

For many things, he needed to write while watching the scenes from the movie; for some content, he needed to personally play a certain game in order to write effectively.

But this computer could only search for the most basic information and could not meet these needs at all.

So, it was also reasonable to make this request at this time, right? It could also be considered thinking about the other authors, right?

Cui Geng didn't have any more excessive demands. He would be satisfied as long as his computer could play videos normally, so he could watch dramas and movies!

Zhu Xing'an pushed up his glasses, seemingly prepared for this. He pointed to an empty computer next to him: "If you need to find material, you can use this computer."

Cui Geng: "..."