Chapter 46: Book Signing Event

"Third Brother! Are you leaving tonight?"

That evening, as Song Chao was packing his luggage in the dorm, preparing to head to the station in a while, he asked Cao Sheng.

Cao Sheng smiled. "No! I'm not leaving tonight."

Song Chao made an "oh" sound. "Then are you going home tomorrow?"

Cao Sheng nodded.

He also wanted to go home tomorrow; this semester had finally ended, and having not been home for half a year, he had missed his family terribly.

But the email sent by Wang Jing forced him to change his plans.

He had no time to go home for now.

Because the day after tomorrow was the day he was supposed to arrive in Shanghai.

With time so tight, if he went home first, he would probably spend most of the next two days on the train.

Even if he chose to fly, the schedule would be tight, and he would only be able to stay one night at home.

So, he decided to wait until he was done with his tasks before returning.

That night, five roommates left their dorm.

Early the next morning, two more left.

By 8 a. m., only Cao Sheng remained in the entire dorm.

Cao Sheng thought of Tan Lei.

This old classmate had taken the same train to school with him at the beginning of the year, and upon arrival, she had repeatedly told him that when the semester ended for the holidays, she wanted to take the train back with him.

Later, when they met for a morning run on the playground, she had mentioned it again.

But from last night until now, he hadn't seen her come to find him.

Cao Sheng sat in the dorm for a while, then went out.

He planned to buy himself two sets of clothes and shoes; wearing old clothes was fine while at school, but since he was going to Shanghai tomorrow to face the media and book fans, he felt he should dress up a bit, just as a sign of respect to the media and fans.

As he walked out of the school gate, he was still thinking: maybe Tan Lei is waiting for me to find her, or maybe since I told her I already have a girlfriend, she doesn't want to go back with me anymore.

Just like in the original timeline, ever since he got a girlfriend, Tan Lei stopped mentioning going back together during the holidays.

Cao Sheng hailed a taxi at the school gate and went to the clothing city, buying two sets inside and out.

One set of denim clothes, which he prepared as casual wear.

One set of a black suit with a black shirt.

He also bought a pair of sneakers and a pair of black leather shoes.

He had no particular insight into matching clothes, but his foundation was good, so nothing looked bad on him.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the clothing store, wearing the denim clothes and sneakers, he looked handsome, like a sunny and handsome college student.

After changing into the black shirt, black suit, and black leather shoes, the man in the mirror was still handsome, but with an added touch of stern temperament.

The next day, July 10.

Around 10 a. m., Cao Sheng, dressed in denim clothes and sneakers, dragged a suitcase out of the airport.

Yes, he had come by plane this time.

Anyway, the plane ticket was reimbursed by the publishing house.

From a distance, he saw a tall woman in the crowd of people greeting arrivals holding a sign with the name Cao Sheng written on it.

Cao Sheng walked straight over.

That afternoon.

In the coffee area of a five-star hotel, Cao Sheng accepted an interview from the Wenhui Daily.

The reporter interviewing him was a round-faced woman in her early thirties.

The nameplate on her chest read: Xu Yun.

This was the first interview arranged by Huacheng Publishing House.

The interview had just begun.

Xu Yun: "Cao Sheng! It's a pleasure to meet you. Did you know? I've read Your work; I count myself as one of your book fans!"

Cao Sheng smiled. "It is my honor."

Xu Yun: "You're too polite. As one of your book fans, the first question I want to ask is: Is 'The Days I Lived with an Air Hostess' based on your real experiences? Does the female lead, Ran Jing, have a real-life prototype?"

Cao Sheng shook his head slightly. "No! No air hostess came to ask me to share a rental."

Xu Yun was amused.

Then, following Cao Sheng's lead, she asked: "So, if an air hostess like Ran Jing came to ask you to share a rental, would you agree?"

Cao Sheng: "Why wouldn't I agree?"

Xu Yun: "So, are you living alone in a rental right now? But as far as I know, you are still a freshman student, right? You don't live in the dorm?"

Cao Sheng shook his head. "No! I live in the dorm."

Xu Yun was surprised. "Then what you just said about no air hostess coming to share a rental? You live in the dorm; does that mean you'd have to let an air hostess move into your dorm?"

Cao Sheng chuckled lightly. "So, this book is not written based on my real experiences."

When he first started the interview, he was indeed a bit nervous.

But after chatting for a few sentences, he gradually relaxed.

This had to do with Xu Yun's interview style, which was like chatting with a friend, and also with his N dating experiences before his rebirth.

With rich dating experience, it's hard to be nervous in front of women.

That night, Cao Sheng was arranged to go to the Shanghai Broadcasting Station.

Accepting an interview for a radio program.

The two radio hosts interviewing him this time were a man and a woman.

There was another interview assignment for him the next day.

The third day, July 12.

"The Days I Lived with the Flight Attendant" officially went on sale.

That morning, Cao Sheng got up early; he had suffered from insomnia the night before. He clearly wanted to fall asleep early, but his mind, uncontrollably, kept thinking this and that.

For a while, he thought: if tomorrow at the book signing, only a few fans came to buy the book, how embarrassing would that scene be?

Then he thought of the scene where tomorrow at the book signing, the crowd would be exploding with popularity, hundreds of fans waving his works, rushing forward in a scramble.

Various possibilities flashed through his mind involuntarily.

Making it difficult for him to fall asleep.

This morning, he woke up even earlier.

He simply got up. When he went to the bathroom to wash his face, to avoid showing up at the book signing with two dark circles under his eyes, he specifically used hot water to wash his face.

But even so, after washing, he saw that his complexion in the mirror still looked a bit poor.

There were still a bit of dark circles.

Past 10 a. m.

Accompanied by the publishing house staff, Cao Sheng took a car to a Xinhua Bookstore in the JA District.

Before he even got out of the car, he saw a long line queued up in front of the bookstore, stretching over a hundred meters along the sidewalk by the road. Passersby could not help but turn their heads to look, and there were even two traffic police officers maintaining order.

Cao Sheng glanced twice, then turned to ask Zhao Ping beside him, "Sister Zhao! Are all these people fans who came on their own? Did you arrange for anyone to come and queue?"

Zhao Ping was the staff member arranged by the publishing house to receive him.

Hearing this, Zhao Ping smiled slightly and said softly, "Today is the first stop of the book signing. According to custom, we would arrange for more people to come over, but I am not very clear on the specific situation today."

Cao Sheng fell silent.

In his heart, he suspected whether all the fans queuing up were arranged by the publishing house.

Because of this suspicion, he got out of the car very calmly. Even when the queuing crowd saw him and turned their gaze toward him, he was not nervous.

A voice kept echoing in his heart: "Stooges! They are all stooges!"

Consequently, when he saw several reporters from media outlets around him taking photos and filming him, he was not nervous either.

Because the disappointment in his heart had already made it impossible for him to feel nervous.

He followed Zhao Ping into the bookstore. Facing the store manager who warmly came up to greet them, he only cooperated with the acting, thinking in his heart that this store manager's acting was quite good; he deserved to be a store manager.

When he started signing for the "fans," he remained very calm. He just tried to keep a smile, signing with swift, flowing strokes, wanting to sign faster, even faster, to end this book signing early, to end this ordeal early.

He was like a ruthless killer; while signing, his heart was completely calm.

And while he was busy signing for the "fans."

Zhao Ping, who had been accompanying him, came with the store manager to a deserted bookshelf. Looking at the bustling scene over by Cao Sheng, thinking of the question Cao Sheng had asked when he first got out of the car, she couldn't help but ask the store manager beside her in a low voice, "Hey, Brother Wang, how many people here today did we arrange? Fifty?"

The store manager, with a face full of smiles, looked over at Cao Sheng. Hearing this, he casually replied, "Originally, we arranged for a few dozen, but this morning, more and more people came to queue. Seeing that the situation was not right, I didn't let our people come over."

"What?"

Zhao Ping was stunned for a moment, then turned her face to look at Cao Sheng, who was trying hard to keep a smile and signing quickly. She stared blankly; she felt that Cao Sheng's smile was not happy.

It even made one's heart ache a little.