[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of":3,"chapter-dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-35":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Dreaming Back to 1997: I Became the Forefather of Web Novels",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2348269,4589,"Chapter 35: Exaggerated Pre-order Numbers","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-35",35,"\u003Cp>That night, Cao Sheng and the others ate until past one in the morning before returning to the dormitory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for whether they would be unable to enter the dormitory at this hour?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was absolutely impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their school's female dormitories all had perimeter walls, courtyard gates, and gatekeeper aunties, but most male dormitories had no walls, let alone courtyard gates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the male dormitory buildings also had dormitory managers, the managers did not care what time you returned at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the school gate?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small side gate remained open all night, making entry and exit very free.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just that returning so late made washing up a bit inconvenient; except for the water room and the restrooms where the lights were still on, all the dormitories had their lights out, so if one wanted to wash up, one had to go to the water room in the dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as Pang Yunhai and the others returned, they all climbed into bed to sleep; everyone had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, and a few were even drunk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng was not drunk, nor was he in a hurry to get into bed; using the moonlight from outside the window, he found his washbasin and towel and went to the water room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he washed his face with cold water, the cold water against his skin made his mind much clearer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This hot pot meal tonight had cost him over two hundred yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't feel bad about the money, but thinking about how after his rebirth, he had earned so much in royalties, yet the first people he honored were not his parents but those roommates, and then thinking about his father working in the brick kiln in this sweltering heat every day, only earning two or three hundred yuan for a month of hard labor, while he had spent over two hundred on a single hot pot meal for his roommates tonight, he felt a bit uneasy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking that tomorrow was Saturday, he planned to go to the clothing mall to buy his parents some clothes, shoes, and such, to bring back to them when summer vacation started next month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, he suddenly thought of the old house back home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly wanted to use his royalties to rebuild the old house and improve his parents' living environment; as for the house he wanted to buy for himself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt he was still young and his current rate of earning money was quite fast, so he could completely afford to buy it later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He went to the clothing mall and picked out two sets of summer clothes and shoes for each of his parents; before his rebirth, he had started buying these things for his parents every year from the time he was around 30, because they were always reluctant to buy them for themselves, so he knew exactly what sizes of clothes and shoes they wore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no awkwardness of wanting to buy clothes and shoes for his parents but not knowing their sizes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After buying these, he also bought a suitcase on the way, which was perfect for putting all these things inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he dragged the suitcase into the dormitory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Dongming looked at the suitcase in Cao Sheng's hand in surprise and asked with a smile, \"Yo, Boss Cao! You bought a suitcase? Is there anything in this suitcase?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng smiled; when they were eating hot pot last night, they had given him the nickname \"Boss Cao,\" implying that he was very rich now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bought some clothes and shoes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng replied casually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Dongming gave an \"oh\" of realization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That evening, after Cao Sheng returned from showering in the bathroom and put his changed clothes into the basin, preparing to take them to be washed, Zhai Jun in the dormitory asked curiously, \"Hey! Boss Cao! I heard you bought a suitcase full of new clothes and shoes today, why aren't you wearing them?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng was a bit surprised to hear such a question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He chuckled and explained, \"Oh, those were all bought for my parents; I didn't buy any for myself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhai Jun, Song Chao, and the others were very surprised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Chao: \"Really? You didn't buy a single thing for yourself?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng: \"I have clothes to wear.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhai Jun: \"Your clothes are all old.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng chuckled again, \"Old clothes are comfortable to wear.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, he wanted to keep a low profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew that human hearts were complex; the classmates around him were all just drifting through life, and very few were studying seriously. He, Cao Sheng, had published a novel and earned royalties before even finishing his freshman year; it could be said that he had both fame and fortune, which was naturally prone to jealousy and envy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, he was handsome to begin with; if he were to dress himself up too flashily, he didn't know how many people would hate him for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't want that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How did that saying go?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Do not say things that are not conducive to unity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng felt that one should also not do things that are not conducive to unity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now, he didn't want to be that high-profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Cao Sheng wanted to keep a low profile, Banyan Tree was very high-profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On Monday at noon, after Cao Sheng finished lunch and went to the internet cafe to update *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant*, he saw that the banner announcement at the top of the Banyan Tree homepage had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The original banner announced that *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant* was about to be published and could be pre-ordered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But today, the content of the banner Cao Sheng saw had become: \"Warmly celebrate that the pre-order number for the physical book of *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant* has exceeded 100,000!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the number \"100,000,\" Cao Sheng was startled and suspected he had misread it; he closed his eyes, carefully counted the \"0\"s above again, and only then confirmed that he hadn't misread it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he still couldn't believe that his book could have so many pre-orders in just a few days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Banyan Tree had only been established for half a year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was his book, *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant*, really the first web novel, and could the first web novel be this popular?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unable to believe it, he immediately logged into his email and sent a message to ask Wang Jing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sister, the announcement on the website homepage says the pre-order number has exceeded 100,000. Is that true? Are there really that many people pre-ordering?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After sending this email, he originally thought he wouldn't get a reply for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, it was lunch break now, and Wang Jing shouldn't be in front of her computer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She might only see his email after she started work in the afternoon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unexpectedly—within a few minutes, Wang Jing replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—\"Haha, I can understand your skepticism. Yes! Although the number of pre-orders for your book is not small, it is indeed far from reaching the 100,000 mark. The current total real number of pre-orders is over 20,000, but for publicity, we definitely have to exaggerate a bit, right? This can achieve a better promotional effect and should stimulate the sales of your book; it's quite good. By the way, you must not tell anyone about this real number! You must keep it confidential!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, the final royalties paid to you will definitely be based on the actual sales, so you need to be mentally prepared for this; it cannot be calculated based on the number we publicized. I hope you can understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, I think the final actual sales should be able to exceed 100,000 copies; after all, we've only been pre-selling for a few days and have already had so many pre-orders, right?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, after Huachengchubanshe learned about our pre-sale situation, they have already changed the original first printing of 5,000 copies to 50,000. If our pre-order number here can reach 40,000 or 50,000, I estimate that the first printing number there might increase further; maybe the first printing could even reach 100,000 copies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, I want to say congratulations! You can wait to count your money, haha.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reading this email, Cao Sheng smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought: I knew it, how could there be 100,000 pre-orders so quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, he also suspected whether Wang Jing was lying to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe the real number of pre-orders was actually 100,000?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was Banyan Tree trying to swallow his royalties?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his reason told him: the number Wang Jing said should be the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just a few days, 100,000 pre-orders was too exaggerated a number.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt that perhaps after this summer vacation was over, the pre-order number here at Banyan Tree could exceed 100,000, but now? The possibility was extremely small.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pre-order number announced by Banyan Tree was soon known by Cao Sheng's roommates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along with them, his entire class, teachers, and counselors all knew about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During Tuesday morning study, the seats in front, behind, and to the sides of Cao Sheng were filled with other classmates, all male; the girls couldn't squeeze in at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the classmates sitting around him all had different expressions; some asked him for sample books, specifically the signed kind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some shouted for him to treat them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some jokingly asked him if he had really dated a flight attendant girlfriend and if he could introduce her to everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girls in the front rows also turned their heads from time to time to look at Cao Sheng with strange gazes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng originally thought that was it and it couldn't get any livelier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unexpectedly, after the counselor Lu Xiangwei arrived in the classroom, he also came to his side with a smile and stopped, then asked: \"Cao Sheng! I heard you wrote a novel recently that is about to be published? And it sold 100,000 copies? Is that true?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng looked at Lu Xiangwei in surprise, his expression quite stunned; he hadn't expected that even the counselor Lu Xiangwei had heard about it.\u003C\u002Fp>",1708,"2026-06-21T01:55:54.452Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","40638a2313bb7bf822bd660c4297ee6af9993209559e6420e6869d4164c210ab","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-36","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-34",338,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-cover.jpg"]