Chapter 193

See Your Uncle Alexander Out

Memories flooded back.

Sophia Sullivan was caught off guard.

That person grabbing a man's collar and making a scene was actually her?

She met Alexander Laurent's amused gaze.

Her toes curled instantly.

She wished she could dig a hole and disappear.

Alexander raised an eyebrow. "Remember now?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Does that even need asking? Of course not. Who wants to be knocked on the head? It's not a wooden fish. Too many knocks will make you stupid."

He said it lightly.

Dispelling her embarrassment.

"Then why did you knock me..." she muttered under her breath.

The cause and effect became clearer.

He had started it.

Alexander became serious. "You can drink, but don't overindulge."

"Okay."

Sophia nodded obediently.

She didn't dare argue.

"What are you talking about?" David Sullivan asked, wiping his hands as he returned.

He picked up the pear soup and drank it all.

Alexander sipped slowly. "We were discussing drinking..."

"By the way, Alexander, stay for lunch. We'll have a couple of drinks. We haven't finished discussing that new nuclear power generation technology..."

Alexander didn't agree immediately.

Instead, he looked at Sophia. "What do you think?"

"Don't... don't drink?"

Alcohol causes trouble.

"The Professor has to go to the lab this afternoon. Dad, you shouldn't drink either. Let's just eat."

David nodded. "Then Alexander really shouldn't drink. Just the two of us will have some."

"Oh?" Alexander raised an eyebrow. "Sophia likes to drink?"

"She does. Just yesterday she said she'd have a couple with me, but her mother stopped her."

Sophia's scalp prickled.

She blinked her eyes furiously.

Her father didn't notice at all.

"But she knows her limits. She just tastes a sip or two occasionally," David added. "Last time was an exception."

Sophia was speechless.

Alexander chuckled softly. "Yes, she certainly calculates everything and knows her limits in all things."

"Hehe..." Her father grinned foolishly.

David cooked lunch again.

He worked efficiently.

Soon the table was full of dishes.

The menu was completely different from last time.

At the table—

"Alexander, eat more, make yourself at home!"

David finished greeting.

He turned to Sophia. "Why didn't you get a glass? I'll go get one—"

"Dad! Don't..." Sophia hurriedly stopped him.

David: "?"

"Alcohol is bad for your health. Let's not drink."

David looked stunned.

What about their private agreement?

Sophia said seriously, "My awareness has improved. Dad, you shouldn't drink either."

David: "..."

"Mom doesn't like you drinking either, right?" Sophia looked at Isabella.

David: "..."

The little cotton-padded jacket was leaking.

After the meal.

Alexander rolled up his sleeves.

He prepared to help clear the dishes.

David quickly stopped him.

"No need, no need, I'll handle it."

Alexander insisted. "You didn't treat me as an outsider when you asked me to stay for a meal. Don't start now."

"Well..."

David was still hesitating.

Alexander had already gathered the dishes and walked into the kitchen.

Isabella looked surprised.

"See? A man as diligent as Alexander is rare. Hehe, just like me. No wonder we get along."

Isabella was speechless.

Praising someone while complimenting himself.

At one in the afternoon.

Alexander prepared to leave.

David was turning soil on the balcony.

He called out without turning his head. "Clara, see your Uncle Alexander out!"

Alexander's steps faltered.

His back stiffened slightly.

Sophia quickly stood up. "Dad, stop messing up the generations! Professor, let me see you out..."

"Okay."

Sophia walked him out.

David muttered under his breath. "Last time she said she would acknowledge him as an uncle..."

...

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

David and Isabella stayed in Kyoto.

Sophia felt the time was right.

She prepared to arrange a meeting between Isabella and Stone Macmillan.

"Mom, there's another reason I invited you to Kyoto this time."

"What is it?"

Sophia took out a document folder and pushed it over.

"This is your contract with Editor Moore. I had publishing professionals and an intellectual property lawyer look at it..."

Isabella's heart tightened.

Sophia motioned for her to open it.

"The parts marked in red are all unreasonable clauses. This publishing house is actually a studio controlled by Editor Moore..."

It wasn't even a legitimate publishing house.

A legitimate publishing house has proper qualifications.

It can publish reading materials with ISBNs.

This studio could only deal in illustrated merchandise, audiobooks, and e-books.

No wonder Isabella hadn't had a new book published in ten years.

It wasn't that she couldn't write.

It was that Editor Moore couldn't get her published.

That's why every beginning and outline was rejected.

"If she couldn't get it published, why did she sign your mother back then? And for ten years?"

Isabella was completely stunned.

David was relatively calmer.

He raised the key question.

When Editor Moore signed Isabella back then.

She paid a after-tax signing fee of 200,000.

200,000 was a significant amount ten years ago.

Why would she be willing to pay so much without an expected return?

Sophia pointed to the third page of the contract.

"The second big trap is here. Party A grants Party B exclusive agency rights for all copyrights of its published works.... The split ratio is on the attached page... Where is the attached page?"

David looked down carefully.

Sophia shook her head. "There is no attached page."

David was shocked.

This meant the contract didn't stipulate the royalty split for previously published books.

Editor Moore could give it all.

Or she could give nothing.

Isabella said softly, "In these ten years, I've only received royalties five times. The most was eighty thousand, the least five thousand."

Sophia's heart sank.

It was cruel.

But her mother needed to know the truth.

"I checked the domestic publishing sales rankings for the past ten years. 'The Weapon' and 'The Deserted Village School' were consistently in the top 20."

Isabella nodded. "I asked Editor Moore. She said the publishing market was shrinking, sales were declining, so royalties naturally decreased."

Sophia pondered. "The domestic publishing industry indeed it had encountered a winter chill. But that might not be the whole reason. Did she ever mention the overseas sales of 'The Weapon' and 'The Deserted Village School'?"