Chapter 15: Rising Popularity, the Label of Heartbreak

The diverse reviews in the comment section always brought a smile to Cao Sheng’s face, especially whenever he saw someone assuming the book was based on true events; his lips couldn't help but curl upward.

He felt that readers these days were truly adorable.

He had no intention of explaining for the time being that the story was fictional.

Because if readers believed the book was based on true events, they would have a stronger sense of immersion and a better reading experience.

Moreover, the constant discussion about whether the book was true or not would increase its popularity and help it spread more easily.

Therefore, keeping the fact that the content was fictional to himself for now was beneficial for both him and the readers.

He even thought about never explaining it at all.

……

After reading the comments for a while, Cao Sheng, in a good mood, logged into his email, pulled out a saved chapter, and posted it to Rongshuxia.

He was wondering if he should speed up the update rate for this book.

For example, changing it to every two days? Or once a day?

After all, the website had already arranged a recommendation slot for his book, and he didn't know how many days it would last; while on the recommendation slot, increasing the update speed would certainly accelerate the growth of the book's popularity.

Once it was off the recommendation slot, speeding up the updates would have much less effect.

But if he sped up the updates, the book would finish serializing very quickly; the entire text was only 82 chapters long, so if he updated daily, it would be finished in about two months.

With the current number of readers on Rongshuxia, it would likely be difficult to accumulate many readers in a two-month serialization period.

After thinking for a good while, Cao Sheng decided to try updating every two days for now and see how it went for a period.

After all, this was the first work he had written since his rebirth, and if possible, he certainly hoped it would be seen by more people.

A work written for the love of it was just for the sake of popularity.

Furthermore, if the popularity could rise high enough in the near future, he could also try to see if the book could be published soon.

At the end of the day, he still hoped the book could earn him some royalties to improve his life as soon as possible; limited by his living expenses, he had been eating very plainly every day recently, and such days were a torment for him.

He wanted to eat meat!

He really wanted to.

……

After this day, Cao Sheng really started updating one chapter every two days.

And the results were indeed quite good.

The number of readers increased by several thousand every day, and the growth rate was getting faster and faster.

The response in the comment section was also very good.

Such as: "The author is too diligent lately, updating a chapter every two days, it's truly blissful!"

"Zhongyuan Yidianhui! Can you be even faster? Can you write a chapter every day? Can you?"

"Keep it up! Author, your recent performance is great, you must keep it up!"

And so on.

Cao Sheng could see similar comments every time he came to the internet cafe to update chapters recently.

But he didn't dare to speed up the updates any further.

The saved manuscripts on hand were simply too limited.

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed, and the time arrived at the beginning of April.

"Living with a Flight Attendant" had already been serialized to 20 chapters, and the number of readers had risen to over 80,000; such rapid growth in popularity had a lot to do with the strong promotion from Rongshuxia.

Rongshuxia was very different from the web novel sites in Cao Sheng’s memories.

At Rongshuxia, although they also recommended works, there was a "Writer Recommendation" slot; this slot didn't promote works, but rather individual writers.

Among them were many famous traditional domestic writers.

And as "Living with a Flight Attendant" climbed onto the recommendation slot, Cao Sheng’s pen name, "Zhongyuan Yidianhui," also became one of the strongly recommended writers.

The combined effect of the two types of recommendation slots made the popularity of his book grow very quickly.

Let’s put it this way: perhaps because his book was the first long-form serialized novel on Rongshuxia, for a period recently, almost every reader who came to Rongshuxia had seen his book.

For the entire website, his book was in a league of its own; compared to other short works on the site, it was too special.

It’s just that……

For Cao Sheng, the book's online popularity was of no use for the time being.

Perhaps it could be published in the future, but the hope for publication in the near term was not great.

Therefore, he had been seizing every moment to write his new book, "I Wish to Become an Immortal," during this recent period.

In half a month, he had finally written about sixty or seventy thousand words.

Actually, at his previous typing speed, if he worked hard, he could have written over a hundred thousand words in half a month.

But before, he was a full-time writer and typed directly on a computer; his computer typing speed was much faster than his handwriting speed.

And now?

Except for weekends, he had to attend classes during the day, and relying solely on handwriting during evening self-study, he couldn't get his speed up no matter what.

Writing sixty or seventy thousand words in half a month was already the result of his hard work.

And with the beginning of these sixty or seventy thousand words written, he felt much more relaxed.

Because these words were already enough to submit to publishers in Wanwan.

Once he converted all these saved manuscripts into electronic documents, he could submit them immediately; if nothing went wrong, there should be a great hope for this book to be published.

In order to submit as soon as possible and get the review results quickly, he didn't go to class for several mornings in a row over the next few days.

Because he had been staying overnight at the internet cafe for several consecutive days to upload the manuscripts.

Every time after staying overnight, he would sleep in the dormitory for the whole morning.

Perhaps he had skipped too many classes these past few days; this morning, while he was sleeping soundly in the dormitory, he suddenly felt someone pushing his upper arm. Cao Sheng woke up from his deep sleep in a daze, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the old face of his counselor, Lu Xiangwei.

Cao Sheng was startled, his expression changing slightly, but that was all; he didn't scream, nor was he shocked into sitting up.

Because his mindset was still that of a 40-year-old, and he had long since lost any awe for the counselor Lu Xiangwei.

Moreover, in his impression, Lu Xiangwei had a pretty good temper and had been given the nickname "A-Wei" by students in private.

Therefore, even though he was caught in bed by Lu Xiangwei for skipping class to sleep, he wasn't too panicked, and his expression quickly relaxed as he slightly raised his hand to greet him: "Hello, teacher!"

Lu Xiangwei looked at him helplessly, pursed his lips, and sighed: "Cao Sheng, I heard you haven't been to class for the past few mornings, right? What's wrong? Are you heartbroken from a breakup?"

He paused, and without waiting for Cao Sheng to respond, Lu Xiangwei added: "Even if you are heartbroken, you still have to attend class! If you keep skipping class like this, when will you ever find another partner? Don't you think so?"

Cao Sheng: "???"

At this moment, even though Cao Sheng knew Lu Xiangwei had a good temper, he was still surprised by these words from Lu Xiangwei.

He thought to himself, I skipped class and was sleeping in the dormitory, and you caught me; not only did you not scold me, but you're also advising me like this?

"Teacher, I'm not heartbroken."

Cao Sheng spoke up to deny it.

He didn't want to be labeled by others all the time.

Last time, because he stayed overnight at an internet cafe and didn't return to the dormitory, his roommates labeled him as having checked into a hotel with a girl the next day.

Today, because he went to the internet cafe to stay overnight again, the counselor labeled him as heartbroken.

Good grief, he had only stayed overnight at the internet cafe a few times, yet in the eyes of his roommates and the counselor, he had already completed the entire process from dating and checking into a hotel to a breakup.

It was equivalent to adding a dating experience to his romantic resume.

He didn't want to add such an experience out of thin air.

It’s just that……

Facing his denial, Lu Xiangwei chuckled slightly, a touch of sympathy in his eyes as he looked at him, and he even reached out to pat Cao Sheng’s head, comforting him: "It's no use denying it; I also came from your age, teacher. I know exactly why you've been skipping class for several days and sleeping in the dormitory."

Cao Sheng looked at him in astonishment.

Lu Xiangwei: "Let's forget about this morning. Get some good rest, adjust your mood, and go to class properly in the afternoon. If you keep skipping class like this, you'll definitely fail several subjects in the final exams, and I won't be able to help you then."