Chapter 172

Why are there so few people after waiting for so long?

At 10:00 AM, Yan Cheng Qing, wearing a suit and tie, stood at the entrance of the bookstore, looking puzzled at the readers walking into the autograph session venue in twos and threes.

It had been an hour since the autograph session started, but in the bookstore of several hundred square meters behind him, there were only a mere 10 readers holding "Literary Spring" and preparing for autographs.

In terms of numbers, there were even fewer than the staff maintaining order at the venue!

Judging by this number, the total number of readers who could come to the autograph session today would not exceed 200.

Compared to his estimate of at least 1,000, it was a full 80% less!

Yan Cheng Qing subconsciously turned around and looked at Zhutian-teacher, who was cordially shaking hands with readers at the autograph table.

He looked at the other party's smiling appearance, but felt very bad in his heart.

As the responsible editor, he knew Zhutian-teacher's temper very well.

In his view, although Zhutian-teacher appeared very kind, she might be very angry in private.

No, he must remedy this as soon as possible, otherwise, today's autograph session would completely become a joke!

Yan Cheng Qing walked to the staff room at the back of the bookstore and found the bookstore manager.

"Manager Lightning, can you mobilize the neighbors and friends and relatives from the nearby shopping street to come and participate in the autograph session?"

Hearing this request, the bookstore manager's mouth twitched.

"Yan Cheng-san, isn't this inappropriate? Won't there be suspicion of faking it?"

He originally wanted to use this autograph session to promote the bookstore's sales business. He didn't expect that after waiting for more than an hour, so few people came.

Yan Cheng Qing looked around, and upon discovering there was no one else, bowed and said sincerely.

"I really have no other choice but to trouble you. If this continues, this autograph session will have to end early."

He paused and emphasized, "We won't let you help for nothing. All extra favor expenses will be additionally supported by Jingfan Publishing, including an additional 5% increase in today's venue rental fee."

He really had no choice; after all, the location of this autograph session was in Yokohama, not in Tokyo.

If it were in Tokyo, he could make a few phone calls and immediately find a large group of part-timers.

The bookstore manager hesitated, but still agreed.

Seeing the bookstore manager making the call, Yan Cheng Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then he thought of another problem.

Logically speaking, he had already greeted the student union at Yokohama National University and had the student union members post notices on the bulletin board. There shouldn't be so few people!

Could it be that Yokohama National University had arranged some temporary activities today?

Damn it, is my luck really that bad?

Yan Cheng Qing frowned and walked two steps, then went to the other side of the bookstore and made a phone call.

"Hello, is this the Yokohama National Student Union? I am Yan Cheng Qing. Let me speak to your President Changtian."

"Changtian-san, it's me. Have the flyers sent to you earlier been posted on the bulletin board?"

"You posted them? Are you sure? Not many students have come to the autograph session here! Please ensure there is no mistake; after all, we have already paid a fee."

"What? There is a Kejia Hall autograph session at the gymnasium? Akiwara Yuto?! Please tell me briefly."

After more than 10 minutes, Yan Cheng Qing hung up the phone. By now, he had roughly understood the reason—their autograph session had clashed with "April Youth"!

He subconsciously gritted his teeth, wishing he could rush over to the other party's autograph session and cause a scene right now!

In his view, "April Youth" was simply too shameless!

If it were just a simple time clash, Yan Cheng Qing wouldn't have too many opinions; after all, everyone was working hard for their own journals, and such things could only be unexpected.

But this autograph session for "April Youth" had also set its location at Yokohama National University! This made it hard to believe it was just an accident!

Not only that, according to the news he got from the student union, "April Youth" not only specifically arranged the autograph session venue in the school's internal gymnasium but also hired a large number of part-timers to distribute flyers at the school gate, letting everyone preparing to leave school know that there was an autograph session in the gymnasium!

In this case, many readers who originally intended to come here would choose to go to the gymnasium first because of the distance!

And for those students, the name Akiwara Yuto, who had frequently appeared in the news, also became a great gimmick!

Damn it, what should I do now! Yan Cheng Qing subconsciously frowned.

During last week's regular meeting, he had told the editorial staff that "April Youth" and Akiwara Yuto were nothing to fear, but now, he had been completely outplayed by the other party!

Just then, hurried footsteps came, and Yan Cheng Qing looked up to find his assistant editor.

The assistant editor said hurriedly, "Deputy Editor-in-Chief Yan Cheng, it's not good! 'April Youth' has also organized an autograph session and arranged it at the same time!"

Yan Cheng Qing raised his eyebrows, "I know."

"You know?" the assistant editor said in surprise, "Then should we organize a batch of giveaways like the other party?"

"Giveaways, what is that?" Yan Cheng Qing hadn't expected to hear this and became puzzled again.

"According to the promotional list, as long as you collect 10 signatures, you can get a chance to draw a prize, and the prizes include various textbooks!"

Hearing this, Yan Cheng Qing immediately reacted.

Because of copyright and other issues, Japanese textbooks are often extremely expensive, sometimes costing tens of thousands of yen, which is not a small number for students who have to buy them themselves!

And Kejia Hall, to which "April Youth" belongs, started by publishing textbooks.

So the giveaways the other party brought out were very likely just the inventory accumulated previously!

Using old books from inventory to promote their own journal, shameless, "April Youth" is simply too shameless!

Damn it! What should I do now!

Thinking that he would be responsible for the failure of today's autograph session, Yan Cheng Qing couldn't help but feel his vision go dark...

On the other side, Yokohama National University Gymnasium.

Akiwara Yuto sat at the arranged autograph table, kindly wrote the name "Akiwara Yuto," and handed it to a girl in a short skirt in front of him.

After receiving the signed book, the girl in the short skirt showed a brilliant smile and bowed, "Akiwara-sensei, I will always support you!"

Immediately after, under the arrangement of a Kejia Hall staff member, she walked towards the direction outside the venue.

Akiwara Yuto moved his wrist, which was a bit stiff from writing constantly, then looked up at the crowd still queuing in a long line, and subconsciously sighed.

This is truly a sweet "trouble"!

Before this, he thought this autograph session would be the same as the one at Anjiu Bookstore, held in a bookstore of about a hundred square meters.

But to his surprise, "April Youth" actually contacted the school authorities of Yokohama National University and rented the gymnasium.

He roughly estimated and felt that this gymnasium was at least a thousand square meters.

For an autograph session, it could be said to be unimaginably large!

But even with such a large area, it was now densely packed with people, which made Akiwara Yuto feel a bit puzzled. Do I have such a huge influence?

"Akiwara, have some water."

Just then, Asano Aiko, acting as his assistant, brought a bottle of mineral water and placed it in front of Akiwara Yuto. Seeing this, the staff also stopped the next reader who was preparing to come forward.

"Thank you," Akiwara Yuto thanked her and picked up the bottle to drink. Since the start of the autograph session, he had been signing constantly and had no time to rest at all.

After taking a big gulp, he handed the mineral water back to Asano Aiko, "Asano, how many people do you estimate are at the scene today?"

"About 4,000 people?" Asano Aiko looked around and said in an uncertain tone.

"So many!" Akiwara Yuto was startled.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. As far as he knew, Yokohama National had only 20,000 undergraduates and graduate students, but now more than 4,000 people had come, accounting for one-fifth of the total school population!

No matter how he thought about it, it was a bit too much!

According to his original estimate, 2,000 people should have been the limit.

Asano Aiko smiled, "Akiwara, the more people, the better. Anyway, just focus on signing."

She actually knew some specific reasons, which was that "April Youth" specifically applied to Kejia Hall for a batch of textbooks that were to be processed as special giveaways for this autograph session.

Although the number of these giveaway textbooks was less than 500, the students did not know the specific winning ratio, so they all rushed to the scene to get signatures.

Because it required 10 signatures to get a chance to draw a prize, many people teamed up and brought their classmates or club friends to sign again.

This also caused the autograph session scene to be a scene of great activity.

Asano Aiko looked around, and a guess formed in her heart.

According to her guess, the readers among these people who were truly interested in Akiwara Yuto and "April Youth" might not even be a quarter of them, right?

However, as long as "April Youth" sells, it's fine. As for the process, she'd better not probe too much.

Asano Aiko shook her head, and then remembered one thing.

It seems Jingfan Publishing's "Literary Spring" also has an autograph session nearby today. I wonder how many people they have there?