Chapter 613 - 370: The Three with Locked Hearts

What is love? Love is two people asking each other what to eat every day, until one of them dies.

Although Li Peifeng had returned to living alone, his daily routine wasn’t much different from when he was living at Zhao Qingge’s place, except for the change in sleeping location. During the day, he still worked at Old Zhao’s house.

"What’s for breakfast?"

"What’s for lunch?"

"What’s for dinner?"

In philosophy, there are the famous three questions of life. Li Peifeng also had three questions a day, and the answers Zhao Qingge gave were always different, which was quite nice.

No matter how troublesome it was to make certain dishes, even if it was something like sweet and sour pork, braised intestines, squirrel fish, watermelon cake, lion’s head meatballs, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, or the Three Non-Stick, as long as Zhao Qingge could name the dish, instead of saying ’whatever,’ Li Peifeng could make it.

It’s a bit troublesome, but Zhao Qingge also helps in the kitchen. Cooking together, putting in effort, and enjoying the food together is a wonderfully simple yet happy experience.

As for the academic projects Zhao Qingge tasked him with, Li Peifeng completed them on time. The remaining progress would have to wait until school starts and he could work with the project team again, but he actually had some other work he wanted Zhao Qingge’s help with.

Interestingly, this help was related to the research on the international dissemination of online literature.

"Sword and Magic is planning an overseas release. The translation work was initially handled by Endpoint, as they have a dedicated translation team, but you and I both know their translation quality is only slightly better than machine translation. Even though Endpoint said they would pay special attention to the translation of Sword and Magic, I wasn’t entirely convinced, so I took the translation rights back into my own hands."

"Some Chinese readers even contacted me voluntarily, wanting to help translate Sword and Magic, but I didn’t agree, because I place great importance on the overseas dissemination of this book, and therefore, on its translation work."

Translation is another dimension of a good book.

A foreign language book, once translated, is almost equivalent to rewriting it. After translation, whether it can still be as precise, rigorous, and convey the same emotions and meanings as the original intent of the author becomes questionable.

If possible, Li Peifeng would like to do the translation work himself, but while he has the ability, he doesn’t have the time. The creation of Sword and Magic already occupies most of his day, and if he were to take on translation as well, the update speed would certainly be affected.

Therefore, Li Peifeng wanted Zhao Qingge’s assistance. Qingge not only has the translation skills, being proficient in foreign languages with deep literary knowledge, but is also very familiar with the creative concepts of Sword and Magic.

And when Li Peifeng proposed the idea, Zhao Qingge agreed without much hesitation and then gave a suggestion.

"Actually, we can make the translation of Sword and Magic part of our current project. There’s nothing better than translating this book to thoroughly understand the issues of international dissemination of online literature. Translating and serializing the most popular web novel domestically into English, and then observing its overseas reception... this is a great case study."

Zhao Qingge said, "So I could assign the translation work to the project group. Initially, the students can handle the most tedious work, and then you and I will proofread together. This way, we can save time and effort."

Li Peifeng thought to himself, you, Zhao Qingge, are the epitome of a capitalist, but exploiting free labor like this is somewhat blatant.

"Isn’t it a bit inappropriate? It could easily lead to gossip."

Mr. Li subtly reminded that this was essentially using public resources for private purposes, and the quick-witted Zhao Qingge adjusted his approach, pondering, "Then how about this: when school starts, I’ll arrange a lecture for you on campus, mainly discussing this book, and use that opportunity to announce that our project group is expanding. Then you can recruit a few students from there to specifically help you translate Sword and Magic, and they can be affiliated with this project group."

"This is a national-level project, which is very attractive to both PhD and master’s students. Participating in it allows them to publish papers, which offers many conveniences... Your labor fee can also be appropriately reduced, say to one-third of the market price, and at that time, I can use the project funding to reimburse you partly."

Li Peifeng nodded repeatedly, saying, "Good, this plan kills three birds with one stone, you are too smart... but forget the reimbursement, if the translation fee is too low, I’m afraid there will still be gossip. I’ll pay for it out of my pocket."

"Suit yourself, send me the novel archive after lunch, and I’ll see if I can help you translate some. When is the overseas version scheduled to launch?"

"I have thirty Chapters of backlog, and after that, translating three Chapters a day steadily should be sufficient."

The overseas version of Sword and Magic might take at least half a month to release, but another work by Li Peifeng that’s been adapted into a TV drama has already wrapped up filming.

Three days before school starts, Ding Teng, the director of The Devil CEO’s Obsession with Me, called Li Peifeng to inform him about the wrap.

However, after wrapping up the filming, there still needs to be post-production, reviews, and launching processes, so there will still be some time before The Devil CEO airs. Li Peifeng wasn’t too concerned.

He wasn’t even concerned about how The Devil CEO would perform after it aired. He’d sold the copyright, he wasn’t involved in the filming, and its post-broadcast success or failure had nothing to do with him.

In the end, Li Peifeng simply viewed The Devil CEO as a commodity, not his creation. Of all the books he had written, only this Sword and Magic was truly considered by him as a work he devoted considerable effort into.