Chapter 48: This Taste Cannot Be Experienced by Me Alone

Cao Sheng turned his face toward them, rose to his feet, clasped his hands together, and thanked them for their applause.

At this moment, his mood was also very good.

Because he not only failed to see any familiar faces in the queue, but also, while interacting with these book fans, had already subtly tested them.

For instance: asking which part of the plot in the book the other person liked?

Or asking how many chapters the other person had read?

And so on.

As an author who knew the entire plot of the book, he found it completely effortless to test whether these book fans were genuine; asking just one random question was enough to distinguish a real fan from a fake one.

At this time, the store manager and others had come before Cao Sheng, but what caught Cao Sheng's eye was a female reporter standing behind the store manager and the rest.

After a book signing session lasting several hours, the other reporters had long since left, yet this female reporter remained on the scene.

Like a lone goose separated from the flock.

At this moment, she was holding up a camera, taking photos of them, recording the scene at this very moment.

"Mr. Cao! You've worked hard, you've worked hard! Your book fans are too numerous, completely exceeding our expectations; you must be very hungry now, right? Sorry, sorry! We have already booked a private room at a nearby hotel; shall we go there for a meal right now?"

The store manager walked over and greeted Cao Sheng very enthusiastically.

Much more enthusiastic than when Cao Sheng first arrived.

Zhao Ping also said, "Yes, Mr. Cao, shall we go to the hotel first? Once we get there, we can eat and chat at the same time?"

The others immediately chimed in agreement.

Cao Sheng nodded, "Good! Shall we go then?"

"Go!"

"Good! Let's set off!"

"Mr. Cao, please lead the way!"

Amidst the chaotic chatter, Cao Sheng raised his chin toward the female reporter behind the crowd who had already finished taking photos, "This beautiful lady, you probably haven't eaten either, right? How about joining us?"

The female reporter was looking down at the photos she had just taken in her camera; upon hearing this, she looked up with a somewhat bewildered expression.

The store manager and others immediately extended invitations.

She instinctively glanced at Cao Sheng, showed a smile, and nodded, "Okay! Then thank you very much."

One person from the group stayed behind to watch the store, while everyone else boarded the business van outside the store and set off for the hotel.

In the car, Cao Sheng hesitated for a while before asking the store manager, "Manager Wang, I want to ask, roughly how many of these book fans today were arranged by you?"

This was something he had wanted to ask throughout today's signing session.

Upon hearing this, Manager Wang glanced at Zhao Ping, who was sitting beside Cao Sheng, because Zhao Ping had also asked this question today.

He laughed helplessly and shook his head, "None! We originally prepared several dozen people today to call over and create an atmosphere, but early this morning, we discovered that more and more book fans were coming to queue; before long, there were already several dozen people in line, and at that time, the signing session was still very far from starting, so I didn't have those people we prepared come over."

Cao Sheng: "???"

This answer was completely unexpected by Cao Sheng.

Because previously Zhao Ping had told him that, according to custom, today's signing session would definitely arrange for more people to come.

At that time, Cao Sheng had estimated that at least half of the "book fans" coming to queue today were shills.

For this reason, he had felt depressed in his heart for quite a long time.

Now they were telling him that the arranged shills for today simply did not come?

Cao Sheng turned his face to look at Zhao Ping beside him.

Zhao Ping's old face turned red; she felt embarrassed to meet Cao Sheng's gaze, lowered her head slightly, and said, "I'm sorry! What I told you before was the custom of our signing sessions; I also didn't expect that the people we arranged this time would not be used."

Cao Sheng: "..."

"It's fine! You didn't do it on purpose."

He spoke very generously with his mouth, but in his heart, he really wanted to pinch her cheek.

It was because of the misleading words from her that he felt unmotivated for the first hour or so when today's signing session just started, and he felt almost completely withdrawn.

During that hour or so, he thought of several singers in the original timeline who thought they were very famous but held concerts with very few audience members.

He felt he was much like those singers; he thought he was very famous, but actually it was all self-deception; in fact, he was just a joke.

While Cao Sheng and the others went to the hotel to eat, on the back seat of a taxi, a young man squinted as he flipped through a new book in his hands.

The title on the cover was "Days Living with the Flight Attendant."

As he flipped through it, the cover, being heavier than the other pages, hung down with a greater droop.

Revealing a signature on the back of the cover: Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

This was Cao Sheng's personal autograph.

Clearly, this person had just left Cao Sheng's signing session and had just received this signed book.

His name was Zhang Yang.

His name was very flamboyant, but his personality was very introverted.

On the first day "Days Living with the Flight Attendant" was published on Rongshu Xia, he saw it and had been following the updates until now, finding it very hard work.

Because this book initially updated one chapter every three days.

Although the update speed was later accelerated, it only became one chapter every two days.

For Zhang Yang, having to wait two days for an update of about three thousand words was simply not enough to read; it always felt like receiving sweet rain after a long drought, yet only receiving a single drop each time.

But he truly liked this story very much, unable to stop, and his heart always anticipated the content of the next chapter.

Just like that, he kept following the updates until now.

This feeling of chasing updates had already made him nearly go crazy.

So, when the announcement came from Rong Shu Xia that a signing event would be held in Shanghai today, he didn't hesitate much before rushing over.

In fact, he knew he could buy this book at other bookstores today as well.

But he still specifically took a taxi for over half an hour to arrive at the signing venue.

Because, like many book fans, he wanted to know if this book was truly based on the author's real experiences?

The result?

When he saw Cao Sheng at the signing event, he was surprised.

This guy from the Central Plains, with a bit of gray, was actually this handsome?

Could it be that the book really describes this guy's real experiences?

When it was his turn to have Cao Sheng sign the book, he couldn't hold back and asked, "Is what's written in this book your real experience?"

Cao Sheng denied it.

But Zhang Yang simply didn't believe him.

He felt that Ding Yang in the book was this guy's alter ego: equally handsome, equally good at writing, and equally fond of talking nonsense and lying.

Zhang Yang, sitting in the back seat of the taxi, finally finished the last chapter of the book.

This book has a total of only 82 chapters, while the online serialization has already reached chapter 57.

The chapters he hadn't read were not many.

So, he finished reading it before even getting home.

Closing the signed book in his hand, Zhang Yang, whose emotions were still immersed in the world of the book, raised his head slightly and stared blankly at the street scene outside the window, watching the passersby on the roadside, and he remained unable to snap out of it for a long time.

His state of mind was exactly the same as the protagonist Ding Yang's at the end of the book.

Ran Jing died, Ding Yang's entire world turned gray, and the sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and spiciness of their love became the most beautiful memories in his heart.

But only memories remained.

Zhang Yang, who had never been in love before, felt he would never love again; he felt as if he had already experienced a love that was etched into his bones, and the woman he deeply loved had passed away.

The taxi arrived downstairs at his building.

He paid the fare in a daze and returned home.

Sitting in front of the computer, as usual, he opened Rong Shu Xia and went to the comment section for "Days Living with an Air Hostess."

Looking at the posts in the comment section where people were waiting for the subsequent plot of this book.

He gradually came to his senses, a cold smile appearing on his lips, thinking: This taste of heartbreak cannot be mine alone; you all should taste it too!

Under this mindset, he began to write the post with a smile.

In this post, he raved about how wonderful the subsequent plot of the book was and how perfect the ending was, strongly suggesting that everyone go buy a copy to read.