Chapter 48: This Taste, I Shouldn't Be the Only One to Savor It

Cao Sheng turned to look at them, stood up, pressed his palms together, and thanked them for their applause.

At this moment, he was in a very good mood as well.

Because not only had he not seen any familiar faces in the queue, but he had also quietly tested the fans while interacting with them.

For example: asking them which part of the plot they liked?

Or asking them how many chapters they had read?

And so on.

As the author who knew the entire plot, it was effortless for him to test whether these fans were genuine; a single question was enough to distinguish a real fan from a fake one.

At this time, the store manager and the others came up to Cao Sheng, but what caught Cao Sheng’s eye was a female reporter behind them.

After several hours of the signing event, the other reporters had long since left, yet this one female reporter remained at the scene.

She looked like a lone wild goose.

At this moment, she was holding up her camera, taking photos of them to record the scene at this very moment.

"Mr. Cao! You’ve worked hard! There were far too many fans, which completely exceeded our expectations. You must be starving by now, right? Our apologies! We’ve already booked a private room at a nearby hotel; shall we head over there to dine now?"

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

Much more so than when Cao Sheng had first arrived.

Zhao Ping also said, "That’s right, Mr. Cao, shall we head to the hotel first? We can chat while we eat once we get there?"

The others chimed in one after another.

Cao Sheng nodded, "Alright! Shall we go?"

"Let’s go!"

"Right! Let’s head out!"

"After you, Mr. Cao!"

Amidst the chatter, Cao Sheng tilted his chin toward the female reporter behind the crowd who had finished taking photos, "This young lady, you haven't eaten yet either, right? Why don't you come with us?"

The female reporter was looking down at the photos she had just taken on her camera; hearing this, she looked up in a daze.

The store manager and the others extended their invitations as well.

She subconsciously looked at Cao Sheng, smiled, and nodded, "Alright! Then thank you very much."

The group left one person behind to watch the store, while the others boarded the commercial vehicle outside and set off for the hotel.

In the car, Cao Sheng hesitated for a moment before asking the store manager, "Manager Wang, I’d like to ask, how many of the fans today were arranged by you?"

This was something he had wanted to ask throughout the signing event today.

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

He laughed and shook his head, "None! We had originally prepared a few dozen people to come and boost the atmosphere, but early this morning, we noticed more and more fans lining up. Before long, there were already dozens of people in line, and that was still long before the signing event was set to start, so I didn't have the people we prepared come over."

Cao Sheng: "???"

This answer was completely outside of Cao Sheng's expectations.

Because Zhao Ping had told him earlier that, according to custom, they would definitely arrange for more people to come to this signing event.

At that time, Cao Sheng had estimated that at least half of the "fans" in line were plants.

He had felt depressed about this for quite a long time.

And now he was being told that the plants arranged for today hadn't even come?

Cao Sheng turned to look at Zhao Ping beside him.

Zhao Ping’s face flushed red; she felt too embarrassed to meet Cao Sheng’s gaze and lowered her head slightly, "I’m sorry! What I told you earlier was just the standard practice for our signing events; I didn't expect that the people we arranged this time wouldn't be needed."

Cao Sheng: "..."

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

He sounded magnanimous, but inside, he really wanted to pinch her cheek.

Because of the misleading information she gave him, he hadn't been able to get his spirits up for the first hour of the signing event, and he had almost felt like shutting himself away.

During that hour, he had thought of several singers from his original timeline who thought they were very popular but had almost no audience at their concerts.

He felt he was just like those singers—thinking he was popular when it was all just his own delusion; in reality, he was just a joke.

While Cao Sheng and the others were at the hotel eating, a young man in the backseat of a taxi was squinting as he flipped through the new book in his hands.

The title on the cover was *Living with a Flight Attendant*.

As he flipped through it, the cover hung lower than the other pages because it was heavier.

It revealed a signature behind the cover: Zhongyuan Yidianhui.

This was Cao Sheng’s autograph.

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

His name was Zhang Yang.

His name was bold, but his personality was quite introverted.

He had seen *Living with a Flight Attendant* on the very first day it was published on Banyan Tree, and he had been following it ever since, which had been a difficult process.

Because at the beginning, this book was updated once every three days.

Although the update speed had increased later on, it only became one chapter every two days.

For Zhang Yang, waiting two days for a chapter of about three thousand words was simply not enough; he always felt like someone suffering from a long drought who only received a single drop of rain each time.

But he truly loved this story and couldn't stop; he was always looking forward to the next chapter.

He had been following it like this until now.

The feeling of following the updates had almost driven him crazy.

So, when Banyan Tree announced that they would be holding a signing event in Shanghai today, he hadn't hesitated to rush over.

In fact, he knew he could have bought the book at other bookstores today.

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

Because, like many other fans, he wanted to know if this book was truly based on the author’s real-life experiences.

The result?

He was surprised when he saw Cao Sheng at the signing venue.

Could this Zhongyuan Yidianhui really be this handsome?

Could it be that the book really was this guy's true experience?

When it was his turn to have Cao Sheng sign the book, he couldn't help but ask, "Is this book based on your real-life experience?"

Cao Sheng denied it.

But Zhang Yang didn't believe him at all.

He felt that Ding Yang in the book was the embodiment of this guy—just as handsome, just as good at writing, and just as fond of spouting nonsense and lying.

Zhang Yang, in the backseat of the taxi, finally finished reading the last chapter of the book.

The book had a total of 82 chapters, and it had already been serialized up to chapter 57 online.

There weren't many chapters he hadn't read yet.

So, he had finished it before even arriving home.

Closing the signed book in his hands, Zhang Yang, still immersed in the world of the book, looked up slightly and stared blankly at the street scene outside the car window, watching the pedestrians coming and going, 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 had died, and Ding Yang’s entire world had turned gray; the bittersweet memories of their love had all become the most beautiful treasures in the depths of his heart.

Yet, only memories remained.

Zhang Yang, who had never been in love, felt that he would never love again; he felt as if he had already experienced a heart-wrenching romance, and the woman he loved deeply had passed away.

The taxi arrived downstairs at his home.

He paid the fare in a daze and returned home.

He sat down at his computer, opened Banyan Tree as usual, and went to the review section for *Living with a Flight Attendant*.

Looking at the posts in the review section from people waiting for the subsequent plot of the book.

He gradually came to his senses, a cold smile appearing on the corner of his mouth, thinking: This feeling of heartbreak, I shouldn't be the only one to taste it; you all should taste it too!

With this mindset, he smiled and began to write a post.

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