Chapter 65: Representatives from the City TV Station Arrive

Looking at these book reviews, Cao Sheng's corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

He couldn't help but recall the scenes from this afternoon at school, where hundreds of alumni queued up to ask for his autograph.

Chen Shuyun, his first love from the original timeline, had become his fan.

Some classmates, seniors, and juniors also came over to ask him for an autograph.

And that girl in the white dress named Ren Xueyi not only let him sign on her pale white arm but also told him she liked him and would come find him again.

And so on.

Then he thought of the simplified publication of "Days of Living with an Air Hostess," the signing events in five cities, as well as the simplified and traditional publications of "I Wish to Become an Immortal," and recently, he had even secured an ultra-high price of ten thousand per episode from Xinchang Publishing House.

After being reborn, in just over half a year, having achieved so much, he found his mindset had changed a bit.

He felt a bit floaty.

This suddenly made him feel alert.

Because his past experience told him: when he felt floaty, it was often the time when he was about to go downhill.

In this mental state, could he write the story under his pen well?

He opened the document for "I Wish to Become an Immortal" on his computer, squinting his eyes to examine the plot he had recently written, reviewing it again and again.

After reviewing it several times, he finally discovered a problem: the recent romantic scenes in this book were written a bit too much.

At the very beginning when he decided to write this book, he had consciously set up two female protagonists.

There are three female protagonists in total, and two have already appeared.

This was him consciously catering to the market.

Memories from before his rebirth told him that in the early days of web novel development, having multiple female leads was the trend, and three was already considered very few.

But...

He suddenly discovered that most of the plot he had written recently was a love triangle involving one man and two women.

The male protagonist was getting along well with both female protagonists, yet also found himself in a dilemma; overall, this plot lacked a bit of gratification and couldn't be counted as a qualified gratifying novel.

Perhaps readers of this era, lacking any better choices, would still look forward to and continue reading the subsequent plot even if they didn't like this part of the story.

But, after pondering for a moment, Cao Sheng deleted nine chapters of the recent plot in one go.

He cherished his reputation very much.

If he hadn't discovered this problem before, it would have been fine.

Now that he has discovered it, he should correct it immediately.

This was something he lacked when writing novels before his rebirth.

Back then, whenever he wrote unsatisfactory plot, he actually had a premonition that some readers wouldn't like it, but sometimes because of the full-attendance bonus, there wasn't enough time left that day to rewrite a chapter, so he would publish the chapters he wasn't satisfied with.

Plus, there were some so-called "poison points" that he unconsciously wrote, so the flaws in his works were a bit numerous.

This was probably also an important reason why he had always found it difficult to write a blockbuster work before.

After being reborn, his requirements for the quality of his own work became much stricter.

But tonight, he was the most ruthless, deleting nine chapters in one go, nearly thirty thousand characters.

If these thirty-plus thousand characters weren't deleted and were sent to Xinchang Publishing House, it would be nearly five thousand yuan; later, sending them to Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House would be another source of income.

Adding these two sources of income together, it would be enough to buy the house he currently lives in.

Deleting so many characters at once, he also felt a bit of heartache.

But he felt in his heart that doing this was right.

Money can never be earned to the end, but a writer's reputation cannot withstand being ruined day by day.

Eventually, there will come a day when it is completely ruined.

After deleting the nine chapters of stored drafts, he sat in front of the computer, holding a teacup, drinking tea while adjusting his mindset, letting his heart settle down bit by bit.

Eliminating the impact that the various achievements of the past half-year had brought to his mental state.

In his mind, he constantly recalled those days of frustration in the original timeline; he wanted to use the feelings from those frustrating days to remind himself: you are just relying on the advantage of rebirth to write a genre no one has written before; your true level is that of an old has-been; what are you proud of? Don't you know your own level yourself? If you don't hurry to improve, in a few years, you will be swept onto the sandbar by the new waves...

While thinking this, the names of various great gods flashed through his mind.

There was Xuehong, who was said to have once typed out ninety thousand characters in a single day.

There was San Shao, who claimed to have continuously updated ten thousand characters daily for ten years without interruption.

There was Shenji, the unprecedented winner of eight consecutive monthly vote championships.

There was Xihongshi, the king of subscriptions on Qidian for many consecutive years.

And there was Chendong, who had been in the industry for about twenty years, could still maintain a peak state, and swept all the major charts on Qidian.

And there was Tudou, who had just graduated from university not long ago and bought an entire building with the manuscript fees from one book.

And so on.

There were too many; the web novel great gods in his memory were countless, and most of them led the trend for several years.

In the past, these great gods were dark clouds over his head, making him unable to see the light of hope for success.

Now, these great gods in his memory could still give him great psychological pressure.

Because he knew these people would enter the industry one after another in a few years.

And they would quickly become famous.

Their combat power was more terrifying than the last.

Thinking of these people, when Cao Sheng put down the teacup in his hand, his face had already become calm as water, and there was not a trace of restlessness or pride in his heart.

He opened the outline of "I Wish to Become an Immortal," as well as the detailed outline for the next segment of the plot, and began to sort and adjust it bit by bit.

That night, he didn't write a single word of the main text of "I Wish to Become an Immortal"; all the time was spent adjusting the outline and the detailed outline.

He resolved to continue improving his writing ability.

To be ready for the future to compete with those people.

Before his rebirth, he was no match for them.

Now that he has lived a second life, he wants to shatter the psychological shadows these people left on him.

The next morning.

As dawn broke, Cao Sheng, as usual, wore his tracksuit and sneakers, stepped out of the courtyard, and began a slow jog along the sidewalk by the Xinanjiang River.

Since moving here, he never missed his morning run; he had only shifted the location from the school playground to the riverside sidewalk.

The air by the river was far better than at the school playground, offering both the coolness of the mist and the fresh scent of the weeping willows lining the banks.

Of course, running on the riverside sidewalk meant he couldn't run as fast as he did on the school playground.

Like other morning joggers, he ran at a moderate pace, crossed the Old Bridge over the Xinanjiang, reached the opposite bank, and then followed the sidewalk on that side back to the New Bridge several kilometers away.

Completing this loop covered at least ten kilometers.

In the first few days of running such a large loop, he struggled; by the last few kilometers, his speed was barely faster than a walk.

But he persisted in completing the loop every single day.

Gradually, it became easier.

His speed in the final few kilometers no longer slowed down too much.

Just as he was finishing the loop today, he turned into a bun shop by the roadside and ordered four beef buns and a bowl of beef bone soup containing neither beef nor beef bones.

The beef bone soup looked clear and watery, sprinkled only with chopped scallions and pepper, yet it was fragrant and savory; the key was that this beef soup was free.

He had eaten here once before and had fallen in love with it.

He had been coming here often recently.

After eating and drinking his fill, he walked slowly back to his residence.

After resting briefly until he stopped sweating, he took a shower and changed into a clean set of clothes.

Moments later, he set off for the school.

Today was still about welcoming new students.

But his mindset today differed from yesterday's.

He did not want to be recognized by any new student and then be asked for an autograph.

Even less did he want a queue of over a hundred people waiting for autographs; he had specifically put on a sun hat, hoping to avoid being recognized by the new students.

He hoped to quickly restore a peaceful life, allowing himself to focus on writing and gradually hone and improve his writing skills.

But...

In the morning, while he sat behind the table for welcoming new students and listened to his classmates chat, the counselor Lu Xiangwei, beaming with a smile, led a group of people to stand before him.

Among them seemed to be several school leaders.

A young, glamorous, fashionable woman held a microphone, a tall, burly middle-aged man carried a video camera, and a young Miss in her twenties carried a makeup case.

Lu Xiangwei stopped, gestured toward Cao Sheng, turned to the group, and introduced, "Leaders, Miss Cai! This is Cao Sheng from my class, the very famous writer Zhongyuan Yidianhui!"

After speaking, he turned to Cao Sheng and said, "Cao Sheng! Miss Cai from our city's television station wants to interview you; please cooperate."