Chapter 35

That night, Cao Sheng and the others ate until past one in the morning before returning to the dormitory.

As for whether they would be unable to enter the dormitory at this hour?

That was absolutely impossible.

The girls' dormitories at their school had walls, courtyard gates, and gatekeeper aunts, but most boys' dormitories had no walls and certainly no courtyard gates.

Although the boys' dormitory buildings also had dormitory managers, the managers did not care what time you returned at night.

As for the school gate?

A small door there was open all night, allowing free entry and exit.

It was just that returning so late made washing up somewhat inconvenient; except for the water room and the restroom where lights were still on, all dormitories had their lights out, so if one wanted to wash up, one could only grope in the dark to the water room.

As soon as Pang Yunhai and the others returned, they all climbed into bed to sleep; each had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, and several were even drunk.

Cao Sheng was not drunk and did not rush to bed; 借着 the moonlight from outside the window, he found his washbasin and towel and went to the water room.

When washing his face with cold water, the cold water applied to his face made him much more alert.

This hotpot meal tonight cost him over two hundred yuan.

He did not feel pained about this small amount of money; it was just that thinking that after his rebirth, having earned so much manuscript fee, the first people he honored were not his own parents but those few roommates, and then thinking that his father, in this scorching heat, went to the brick kiln factory to unload bricks every day, working hard for a month could only earn two or three hundred yuan, while he tonight treated his roommates to a hotpot meal that cost over two hundred yuan, he felt somewhat uneasy in his heart.

Thinking that tomorrow was Saturday, he planned to go to the Clothing City tomorrow to buy some clothes and shoes for his parents, and when summer vacation started next month, he would take them back to give to them.

Also, he suddenly thought of the old house at home.

He suddenly wanted to use his manuscript fee to rebuild the old house in his hometown and improve the living environment for his parents; as for the house he himself wanted to buy?

He felt he was still young, and the speed at which he was earning money was quite fast, so he could definitely buy one a bit later.

The next morning.

He went to the Clothing City and picked out two sets of summer clothes and shoes each for his parents; before his rebirth, starting from around age thirty, he had begun buying these things for his parents every year because they were always reluctant to buy them for themselves, so he knew clearly in his heart what sizes of clothes and shoes they wore.

There was no awkwardness of wanting to buy clothes and shoes for his parents but not knowing what sizes they wore.

After buying these, he also conveniently bought a suitcase, which was just right to put all these things inside.

When he dragged the suitcase into the dormitory.

Wei Dongming unexpectedly glanced at the suitcase in Cao Sheng's hand and asked with a smile: "Yo, Boss Cao! You bought a suitcase? Is there anything inside this suitcase?"

Cao Sheng smiled; during the hotpot meal last night, they had given him the nickname "Boss Cao," implying that he was now very wealthy.

"Bought some clothes and shoes."

Cao Sheng replied casually.

Wei Dongming had an "Oh" of realization.

That evening, when Cao Sheng returned from the bathroom after showering and put his changed clothes into the washbasin, preparing to carry them to wash, Zhai Jun in the dormitory asked curiously: "Hey! Boss Cao! I heard you bought a suitcase full of new clothes and new shoes today; why aren't you wearing them?"

Cao Sheng was somewhat surprised to hear such a question.

He laughed helplessly and explained: "Oh, those were all bought for my mom and dad; I didn't buy any for myself."

Zhai Jun, Song Chao, and the others were very surprised.

Song Chao: "Really? You didn't buy a single one for yourself?"

Cao Sheng: "I have clothes to wear."

Zhai Jun: "Your clothes are all old."

Cao Sheng laughed helplessly again, "Old clothes are comfortable to wear."

Actually, he wanted to keep a low profile.

He knew human hearts were complex; the classmates around him were all just killing time, with very few studying seriously; he, Cao Sheng, hadn't even finished his freshman year but had already published a novel and earned manuscript fees; one could say he had fame if he wanted fame and profit if he wanted profit, which was already very likely to provoke jealousy and make people envious.

Moreover, he was already handsome; if he dressed himself up to look all proper and distinguished, he didn't know how many people's hatred he would attract.

He did not want that.

How did that saying go?

— Do not say words that are detrimental to unity.

Cao Sheng felt that one should also not do things detrimental to unity.

For now, he did not want to be so high-profile.

Just...

Although Cao Sheng wanted to keep a low profile, Rongshuxia was very high-profile.

At noon on Monday, after Cao Sheng had lunch and went to the internet cafe to update "Living with the Flight Attendant," he saw that the banner announcement at the top of Rongshuxia's homepage had changed.

The original banner announced that "Living with the Flight Attendant" was about to be published and could be pre-ordered.

But today, the banner content Cao Sheng saw became: "Warmly Celebrating the Physical Book Pre-orders of 'Living with the Flight Attendant' Breaking 100,000 Copies!!!"

Seeing the number "100,000," Cao Sheng was startled and suspected he had misread it; he closed his eyes briefly, carefully counted the "0"s on it again, and only then confirmed he had not misread it.

But he still could not believe that his book could have been pre-ordered in such large quantities in just a few days.

Rongshuxia had been established for only half a year.

His "Living with the Flight Attendant" was still the first web novel; could the first web novel become this popular?

Unable to believe it, he immediately logged into his email and sent a message to Wang Jing.

"Sister, is it true that the pre-order number written on the homepage announcement has broken one hundred thousand? Are there really that many people pre-ordering?"

After sending this email, he originally thought he would not get a reply for the time being.

After all, it was now lunch break time, and Wang Jing should not be in front of the computer.

She might only see his email after she went to work in the afternoon.

But unexpectedly—within a few minutes, Wang Jing replied.

— "Hehe, I can understand your doubt. Yes! Although the quantity of your book currently pre-ordered is not small, it indeed has not yet reached the number of one hundred thousand; the actual total number of pre-orders currently is over twenty thousand. But regarding promotion! It definitely needs to be exaggerated a bit, right? This can achieve better promotional effects and should stimulate the sales of your book, which is quite good. By the way, you absolutely cannot tell this actual number to anyone outside! You must keep it confidential!

Also, the royalties finally paid to you will definitely be based on actual sales figures; you must be mentally prepared for this, and they cannot be calculated according to the numbers we promoted. I hope you can understand.

However, I believe the final actual sales figures should break through one hundred thousand copies; after all, our pre-sales have only been going on for a few days, yet so many copies have already been reserved, right?

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you: after Huacheng Publishing House learned about our pre-sale situation here, they have already changed the originally planned first print run of five thousand copies to fifty thousand copies. If our pre-sale figures here can reach forty or fifty thousand, I estimate the first print run quantity there might increase further; perhaps the first print run could reach one hundred thousand copies.

Finally, I want to say congratulations! You can wait to count your money, hehe."

After reading this email, Cao Sheng smiled.

He thought: I said how could it be possible to have reserved one hundred thousand copies so quickly.

Of course, he also had some doubts about whether Wang Jing was deceiving him.

Perhaps the actual number of copies reserved really is one hundred thousand?

Is Rongshuxia trying to swallow his manuscript fees?

But reason told him: the figures Wang Jing mentioned should be real.

In just a few short days, one hundred thousand copies were reserved; this number is too exaggerated.

He felt that perhaps by the end of this summer vacation, the pre-sale quantity at Rongshuxia here could break through one hundred thousand, but now? The possibility is extremely small.

The pre-sale figures announced by Rongshuxia were quickly known by Cao Sheng's roommates.

Consequently, their entire class, teachers, and counselors all knew.

During Tuesday's morning self-study, Cao Sheng's seat front, back, left, and right were filled with other classmates; they were all male, and girls simply could not squeeze in.

And the classmates sitting around him, each with different expressions, some asked him for sample books, and they wanted the signed kind.

Some shouted for him to treat them to a meal.

Some jokingly asked him if he had really dated an air hostess girlfriend? Could he introduce her to everyone for them to get to know?

The girls in the front row also occasionally turned their heads to look at Cao Sheng with strange gazes.

Cao Sheng originally thought it would be just like this, and it couldn't get any more lively.

Unexpectedly, after counselor Lu Xiangwei arrived at the classroom, he also came smiling to stop beside him, and opened his mouth to ask: "Cao Sheng! I heard you recently wrote a novel that is going to be published? And it sold one hundred thousand copies? Is there such a thing?"

Cao Sheng looked at Lu Xiangwei in surprise, his expression quite shocked; he never expected that counselor Lu Xiangwei had also heard about it.