Chapter 65: Visitors from the City Television Station

Looking at these book reviews, the corners of Cao Sheng’s mouth could not help but curl upward.

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

His first love from his original timeline, Chen Shuyun, had become a fan of his books.

Some classmates, seniors, and upperclassmen also came over to ask him for autographs.

And there was that girl in the white dress named Ren Xueyi, who not only had him sign her fair, bare arm but also told him she liked him and would come looking for him again.

And so on.

Thinking further about the simplified Chinese publication of *Living with a Flight Attendant*, the book signing tours in five cities, and the simplified and traditional publication of *I Wish to Become an Immortal*, he had even recently secured a super-high price of ten thousand per volume from Xinchang Publishing.

After his rebirth, in just over half a year, having achieved so much, he found that his mindset had changed a little.

A bit carried away.

This suddenly made him feel a sense of alarm.

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

In this state of mind, could he write the stories under his pen well?

He opened the document for *I Wish to Become an Immortal* on his computer, squinting as he scrutinized the plot he had recently written, reviewing it over and over again.

After reviewing it several times, he finally discovered a problem: there was a bit too much romance in the recent plot of this book.

At the beginning of deciding to write this book, he had consciously set up two additional female leads.

There were three female leads in total, and two had already appeared.

This was him consciously catering to the market.

Memories from before his rebirth told him that at the beginning of the development of web novels, multiple female leads were the trend, and three was already considered very few.

But...

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

The male lead was caught between two female leads, managing both sides but also finding himself in a dilemma; overall, this segment of the plot lacked a sense of satisfaction and could not be considered a qualified "satisfying" novel.

Perhaps readers of this era, having no better choices, would still look forward to and follow the subsequent plot even if they didn't like this part.

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, so be it.

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

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

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

Coupled with some so-called "poison points" he wrote unconsciously, there were a few too many flaws in his works.

This was probably an important reason why he had always found it difficult to write a major hit in the past.

After his rebirth, he was much stricter with the quality requirements for his works.

But tonight, his actions were the most ruthless; he actually deleted nine chapters in one go, nearly 30,000 words.

If these 30,000-plus words weren't deleted and were sent to Xinchang Publishing, that would be nearly five thousand yuan, and sending them to Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing later would be another source of income.

Adding these two incomes together would be enough to buy the house he was currently living in.

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

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

Money could never be earned in full, but an author's reputation could not withstand being ruined day after day.

There would eventually come a day when it was all gone.

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

He cast aside the influence that each of the achievements over the past half-year had brought to his state of mind.

In his mind, he kept recalling the days of his frustration in his original timeline, wanting to use the feelings from those frustrated days to remind himself: You are only relying on the advantage of rebirth to preemptively write a subject that no one has written about; your true level is just that of an old failure, what are you proud of? Don't you have any idea what your own level is? If you don't seize the time to improve, in a few years, you will be slapped onto the beach by the waves behind you...

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

There was Xue Hong, who was said to have once typed 90,000 words in a single day.

There was Sanshao, who claimed to have updated ten thousand words every day for 10 years without interruption.

There was the unprecedented winner of eight consecutive monthly ticket championships—Shenji.

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

And there was Chendong, who had incredible stamina, remaining at his peak after about 20 years in the industry, sweeping all the major charts on Qidian.

And there was Tudou, who had just graduated from university and used the royalties from one book to buy an entire building.

And so on.

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

Once, these "great gods" were the dark clouds above his head, making him unable to see the light of hope for success.

And now, these "great gods" from his memories could still put a lot of psychological pressure on him.

Because he knew that these people would all enter the industry within a few years.

And they would become famous quickly.

Their combat power would be more terrifying than the last.

Thinking of these people, when Cao Sheng put down the teacup in his hand, his face was already as calm as water, and there was no longer a trace of restlessness or pride in his heart.

He opened the outline for *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 his time was spent on adjusting the outline and the detailed outline.

He was determined to continue improving his writing ability.

To wait for the future, and to compete with those people.

Before his rebirth, he was no match for them.

Now that he was living a new life, he wanted to shatter the psychological shadows these people had left on him.

The next morning.

At the crack of dawn, Cao Sheng, as usual, wore his sportswear and sneakers, came out of the courtyard, and slowly jogged along the sidewalk by the Xinanjiang.

Since moving here, he hadn't missed his daily morning run, only changing the location from the school playground to the sidewalk by the river.

The air by the river was much better than on the school playground, having both the coolness of water vapor and the fresh fragrance of the weeping willows by the river.

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

Like other morning runners, he ran at a moderate pace, crossing the old bridge over the Xinanjiang, arriving at the opposite bank, and then running along the sidewalk on the other side to the new bridge a few kilometers away before returning.

Running a loop like this was at least ten kilometers.

During the first few days of running such a large loop, he found it very strenuous; by the last few kilometers, his speed was not much faster than a walk.

But he insisted on doing a loop every day.

Gradually, it became easier.

His speed for the final few kilometers was no longer too slow.

Today, as he was about to finish the loop, he turned into a steamed bun shop by the road and ordered four beef buns and a bowl of beef bone soup that had neither beef nor beef bones in it.

This beef bone soup looked clear and thin, with only a little green onion and pepper powder sprinkled on it, but it was very fragrant and delicious; the key was that this beef soup was free.

He had eaten here once before and had grown to like it.

He had been coming here often recently.

After eating and drinking his fill, he walked slowly back to where he was staying.

After resting for a moment, waiting until he was no longer sweating, he took a shower and changed into clean clothes.

A moment later, he set off for school.

Today was still about welcoming new students.

But his mindset today was different from yesterday.

He didn't want to be recognized by any new student again and then have them ask him for any autographs.

He wanted even less for hundreds of people to line up for autographs, so he deliberately wore a sun hat, hoping to avoid being recognized by the new students.

He hoped to return to a peaceful life as soon as possible, allowing himself to write in peace, and to polish and improve his writing ability bit by bit.

But...

In the morning, as he sat behind the table for welcoming new students, listening to his classmates chatting, the counselor Lu Xiangwei came to him with a group of people, his face full of smiles.

Among them, a few seemed to be school leaders.

A young, beautiful, and fashionable woman held a microphone in her hand, a tall and sturdy middle-aged man carried a video camera, and there was also a young girl in her twenties carrying a makeup case.

Lu Xiangwei stopped, reached out toward Cao Sheng, and turned to introduce him to the group, "Leaders, Miss Cai! This is Cao Sheng from my class, the very famous great writer, Zhongyuan Yidianhui!"

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