Chapter 38: Classmates Become Fans, Teacher Requests Drafts

However, how was he to pass the few hours before dawn?

Song Chao scratched his head; having just learned how to use the internet, he didn't know what there was to do online.

Subconsciously, he looked left and right to see what the other guys pulling an all-nighter were doing.

He saw that most of these guys were wearing headphones, most were playing games, one was listening to music, one was watching a movie, and some were sleeping.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly wanted to see how Cao Sheng’s book was being pre-ordered on Rongshuxia.

He couldn't quite figure out how one would pay if they placed a pre-order.

He clicked on the homepage of Rongshuxia and found the banner at the top; this banner was both an advertisement for the upcoming publication of *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant* and a window for pre-sales.

It was also the pre-sale window.

He clicked the pre-sale window on the banner and saw that the announced pre-sale figure had already risen to 133,664 copies.

This number surprised Song Chao quite a bit.

He wondered how much money Cao Sheng could make.

He saw the pre-order button and, with a bit of curiosity, clicked it with his mouse.

The pre-order button turned into an input box, with "Pre-order Quantity" written in front of it and the unit "copies" behind it.

There was a default number "1" in the input box.

Behind the "1" was a "+" sign.

He clicked the "+" sign with his mouse, and the 1 in the input box became 2; he clicked it again, and the 2 became 3.

Moreover, every time he clicked, the amount displayed below changed.

For 1 copy, the pre-order price was 22.

For 2 copies, the pre-order price became 43, a discount of 1 yuan.

For 3 copies, the price became 63, another 1 yuan discount.

Below the amount, two payment methods were displayed.

One was game point card top-up.

One was bank transfer.

Song Chao clicked on game point card top-up, and three input boxes immediately popped up.

One input box read: Please enter card number.

The second input box read: Please enter password.

The third input box read: Please enter shipping address.

He clicked on bank transfer, and three input boxes likewise popped up under the words "bank transfer"; one box read: Please enter the remitter's name.

The second box read: Please enter the remittance date.

The third box read: Please enter shipping address.

Below these three input boxes, a payment account number also appeared.

Seeing this, he felt he had broadened his horizons; he hadn't expected that one could actually pre-order things online.

He had heard of these game point cards.

He hadn't expected they could be used this way.

With the remaining time and not knowing what to do, Song Chao clicked on *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant* again; this time, he started reading the reviews in the book review section.

Believe it or not, these reviews were actually quite interesting.

One review after another gradually made him lose track of time.

"I just want to know now, has the author really lived with a flight attendant? If he hasn't really lived with one, he couldn't write such a realistic story, right?"

"My name is Ran Jing. I declare that I have never lived with any man. I demand that the author compensate me for my loss of reputation! If he doesn't want to pay, that's fine, but the author must update two more chapters! Otherwise, I'll go to court and sue you!"

"The female lead is so good; I feel Ding Yang isn't worthy of her. It feels like Ding Yang is a bit dense, too stupid!"

"Borrowing this space to post an ad: *First Intimate Contact* is also written very well; everyone can go take a look."

Dawn broke, and Song Chao walked out of the internet cafe, listless. Passing by the school gate, he bought a few steamed buns and a cup of soy milk, eating as he walked into the campus.

He finished eating before reaching the dormitory.

Walking into the dormitory, he was just about to settle the score with Cao Sheng!

But he discovered that Cao Sheng's bed was empty, with only a folded quilt and pillow on it.

Did this guy go for a morning run again?

"Showing off so early in the morning..."

Song Chao rolled his eyes, muttered a word, yawned, and quickly dove under the covers.

He was already exhausted.

By the time he woke up, it was already lunchtime. His roommates had returned from class, and the sounds of them opening the door and talking startled him awake.

He opened his eyes and saw Cao Sheng walk into the dormitory, then suddenly spoke up: "Cao Sheng! Are you even human?"

This abrupt sentence drew the gaze of the few roommates who had just entered the dormitory, including Cao Sheng.

"What's wrong? What did I do?"

Cao Sheng was completely confused.

Song Chao pursed his lips, sat up, glared at Cao Sheng, and began to condemn him, "What do you think? You still have the nerve to ask? Let me ask you, was that book of yours, *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant*, finished a long time ago?"

Cao Sheng was a bit dazed and subconsciously nodded, "Yes, it was finished a long time ago. Why?"

Song Chao pointed a finger at Cao Sheng, "You finished it a long time ago, so why did you only post so little online? I specifically went to an internet cafe to pull an all-nighter to read your book last night, but I finished it in just over two hours. Do you think you've treated me fairly? Do you think you've treated my fifteen-yuan all-nighter fee fairly? You tell me yourself, aren't you being too excessive?"

"Huh?"

Cao Sheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

The few roommates who had just entered the dormitory heard this and understood, immediately bursting into laughter.

Zhai Jun: "Damn! I thought something happened!"

Guan Zhi: "Song Chao, is Cao Sheng's book really that good? It makes you hold such a grudge? Someone who didn't know better would think you'd been abandoned by him! Haha..."

Zheng Xiaoqiang: "You scared me!"

At this moment, Cao Sheng adjusted his mood and walked over with a smile, "Song Chao, you read all the chapters I've serialized so far?"

Song Chao nodded, "Yeah, I read them all. I really did specifically go pull an all-nighter to read your book last night."

Cao Sheng was a bit curious, "Then what do you think of how I wrote this book?"

Zhai Jun, Guan Zhi, and the others also gathered around curiously, looking at Song Chao.

Song Chao looked at Cao Sheng with a complex expression.

After a few seconds of silence, Song Chao gave Cao Sheng a thumbs up and sighed, "Third Brother, your writing is truly beyond reproach! You're much better than me. I couldn't even write a good 800-word essay before, but not only can you write something this long, you wrote it so brilliantly. You've practically brought Ding Yang and Ran Jing to life. I really didn't expect you to have this talent; I never noticed it before."

"Really? Is it that good?"

Guan Zhi expressed doubt.

Zhai Jun and Zheng Xiaoqiang looked at Cao Sheng in surprise, then looked at Song Chao.

Zheng Xiaoqiang: "Song Chao, is Third Brother's book really that good?"

Zhai Jun: "It makes me want to read it a bit."

Cao Sheng smiled, "You flatter me. It's not as good as you say; I'm just writing blindly."

Song Chao curled his lip, "Oh, give it a rest! If you were really writing blindly, could your book have over a million readers? If you were really writing blindly, would Rongshuxia specifically send an editor on a plane to find you and sign that contract? And would a publishing house agree to publish your book? To put it bluntly, isn't it because the website and the publisher both think highly of your book?"

Cao Sheng smiled.

He knew his writing was indeed a cut above his roommates', and if he were too humble, it would seem hypocritical, so he didn't say anything more.

And Song Chao's words made Guan Zhi and the others look at Cao Sheng differently than before.

Over the next few days, more and more of Cao Sheng's roommates read his book.

Gradually, a few of his classmates also read the book.

Without exception, everyone who had read his book looked at him differently than before.

Talent is something that others cannot see until it is revealed.

And the book *Days of Living with a Flight Attendant* that Cao Sheng wrote allowed the classmates who had read it to clearly feel the gap between them and Cao Sheng.

This afternoon.

As the English class was about to end, the English teacher, Cheng Ying, paced over to Cao Sheng's side and said with a smile, "Cao Sheng! I read that novel you wrote yesterday; it's really quite good! It seems it's not finished yet, though. Have you finished writing the rest of the content? If you have, could you let me have a sneak peek?"