[{"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-47":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},2348281,4589,"Chapter 47: The Endless Stream of Book Fans","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-47",47,"\u003Cp>\"Wow, he's this handsome?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is he really Central Plains Little Grey? This is too handsome, right? I thought the person who wrote this book would be some sleazy guy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn! I really suspect now that this guy wrote about his own personal experiences. Looking like that, could he really hook up with a flight attendant?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This son of a bitch has to be the most handsome among all writers, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Cao Sheng was busy signing for the \"fans,\" the \"fans\" in line whispered to each other, eyeing the all-black-clad Cao Sheng with varied expressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, Cao Sheng wore black suit trousers, a black shirt, and black leather shoes; he was as black as a crow, but devastatingly handsome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a person, sometimes there really wasn't much to say about him other than his looks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as it happened, what the fans saw today was precisely his handsomeness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, there were too many people discussing him, and with all the voices mixed together, it was hard to hear clearly what they were saying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng only vaguely caught words like \"handsome\" and \"this guy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing these, he felt quite unsettled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought to himself: These shills, other than picking me apart, can't say anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn't heard anyone discussing the plot of his book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This disappointed him greatly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just before getting out of the car, he had seen a queue over a hundred meters long outside the bookstore and was quite surprised, thinking there were more fans than he had expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A queue over a hundred meters long, if there were two fans per meter on average, would be about two hundred people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't a huge number, but it wasn't particularly small either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the answer from Zhao Ping, a staff member from the publishing house, was like a basin of cold water poured over his head, instantly leaving him feeling chilled to the bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at that hundred-meter queue again, he noticed that the distance between some people was more than a meter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, in such a long queue, there were likely only about a hundred people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And judging by Zhao Ping's tone, most of these hundred-plus people were likely shills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were at most only a few dozen real fans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few dozen...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His book, *Days Living with a Flight Attendant*, had recently exceeded two million total reads on Banyan Tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Shanghai was the frontier of fashion in the country, likely the place with the most internet users at the moment; the number of young people who had read his novel might also be the highest here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In such a place, for there to be only a few dozen real fans at his signing event, how could he not be deeply disappointed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, his heart went cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He just tried his best to keep a smile on his face and speed up his signing, hoping to end this event early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no expectations for the upcoming signing events in his heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why wasn't it finished yet?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I've been signing for over an hour, right? Why are people still constantly coming from outside the door with new books for me to sign?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng gradually began to feel that something was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt that at his signing speed over the past hour, those one or two hundred people outside the bookstore should have been finished long ago; why were there still people queuing outside? Why wasn't it over?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked up at the queue in front of him; there were twenty or thirty people queuing inside the bookstore, and he didn't know how many were still queuing outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was going on? The people who had just gotten their signatures wouldn't have gone to the back of the line again, would they?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is that how they're playing this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is there ever an end to this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He frowned and turned to look at Zhao Ping, wanting to ask her when it would end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Ping met his gaze and looked at him in confusion, not knowing what his look meant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng: \"...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, a fan standing in front of him, waiting for a signature, started a conversation with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many fans had talked to him before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng had also tried his best to respond with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey! Central Plains Little Grey, are you and Ran Jing still together?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This question reached his ears, pulling Cao Sheng's attention back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng looked up at the young man in front of him and shook his head with a smile, \"Ran Jing is a character in the book; I don't have a Ran Jing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man frowned, his eyes showing suspicion, \"Really? Isn't what you wrote in this book your real experience?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng shook his head with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He signed the book for the person and handed it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this very moment, from an angle Cao Sheng couldn't see—at the end of the queue outside the bookstore, people were constantly running over to join the line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some were fans who had come specifically for this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some were pedestrians on the street who saw so many people queuing and heard it was a signing for a particularly popular novel where one could buy a book signed by the author, so they also walked over to join the line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today was Sunday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Students and office workers, as long as they wanted to come today, generally had the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just that Shanghai's traffic was congested, and not everyone could make it early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cao Sheng, sitting inside the bookstore signing, couldn't see the situation outside and still thought it was the shills who had already received signatures going back to the end of the line after leaving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, there was another situation that Cao Sheng was completely unaware of at this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Banyan Tree, the review section for *Days Living with a Flight Attendant*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Early this morning, some new posts had been popping up in this review section.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The content of the posts was basically all related to today's Shanghai signing event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such as:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Today is the day of the Shanghai signing; friends in Shanghai are lucky. If you go buy a book today, not only can you get the author's autograph and see the author in person, but you can also finish reading all the remaining plot of the book in one go. If I were in Shanghai, I would definitely go buy a copy today.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why is the first stop of the signing tour in Shanghai? Are you looking down on us in Guangzhou?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Friends in Shanghai, when you go to the signing today, can you bring a camera and take a photo of Central Plains Little Grey for us to see? Seeing his photo should tell us if this book is his real experience.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I want to know the plot of the rest of the book right now. Can friends who bought the physical book today come out and say what happens later in the book? Is it good?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why doesn't this signing tour include our great Nanjing? The ancient capital of six dynasties, do you not think much of it? Isn't that a bit too much?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is it about time? The signing today should have started, right? Are there any friends at the scene who can come out and say what the author actually looks like?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are there many people at the signing today?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How is the grand finale written? Are Ding Yang and Ran Jing still together at the end?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shanghai, the signing event site.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already past 12:00 PM, and Cao Sheng was still signing; people were still coming in from outside the bookstore in a steady stream, and Cao Sheng's stomach had long been growling with hunger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could only pick up the teacup at his side from time to time to take a sip, using the tea to stave off hunger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, his mood was much better at this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he had long felt that something was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since he started suspecting that those shills were going to the back of the line after getting his signed book, he began to pay attention to every \"fan\" who came to him for a signature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paid attention for a long time, and to his surprise, he didn't see a single familiar face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He never discovered anyone coming to him for a signature a second time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What did this mean?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking that those queuing behind might all be real fans, he felt much more comfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His heart was finally no longer feeling cold and desolate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 1:30 PM, the space in front of his signing table was finally empty; no one came to ask for a signature anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Ping, the bookstore manager, and the staff all gathered around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The manager led the applause with a face full of smiles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Ping and the others followed suit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the number of people wasn't large, the applause was very loud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone looked at Cao Sheng with smiles on their faces.\u003C\u002Fp>",1516,"2026-06-21T01:55:54.452Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","b08a8aede6f0ab4789dc15aacf6e7e61a596181f5044d50c61f7c3e0d793a87e","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-48","dreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-chapter-46",338,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdreaming-back-to-1997-i-became-the-forefather-of-cover.jpg"]