Chapter 189

Changning City, Wenxue Group.

Urban Fiction Editorial Team.

Qianzhou sat in his office chair, beaming with pride.

He kept refreshing the webpage on his computer, staring at the backend data for the entire day.

Aside from replying to authors' messages, using the restroom, and eating, he spent almost every moment watching the growth trends of I Am Really Not a Star.

His excitement wasn't just because this was his first ten-thousand-subscription novel.

More importantly, based on the current trend, the potential and peak this book could reach far exceeded a mere ten-thousand subscriptions.

If the traffic conversion rate remains high enough, Chongran's book might even surge straight to twenty thousand average subscriptions—or higher.

Unfortunately, I Am Really Not a Star had only just launched on Wenxue Group's other channel platforms today, and Qianzhou would have to wait until next month to get the channel data.

He had no idea how I Am Really Not a Star would perform across these various channels.

Logically, a light, 爽文 like Chongran's should be very popular on the channels.

But without daily channel performance data, Qianzhou couldn't rest easy—his mind kept itching.

Even so, I Am Really Not a Star's performance on the main site today alone was enough for Qianzhou to celebrate.

From just after two a. m. this morning until five p. m. now, I Am Really Not a Star had firmly held the number-one spot on the site's bestseller list, unshakable.

On one hand, this was because the campaign attracted massive traffic; on the other, Chongran had delivered exceptionally.

Updating a chapter every half hour, he had now published over thirty chapters!

Over sixty to seventy thousand characters in total!

This update volume didn't just shock the readers of I Am Really Not a Star—it spread like wildfire across major reader QQ groups and forums.

As a result, even readers who hadn't cared about the reading campaign had unwittingly learned about I Am Really Not a Star.

Shocked by the sheer volume, they flocked out of curiosity to join the buzz.

The traffic flowing to I Am Really Not a Star thus snowballed—not fading as the campaign progressed, but intensifying further.

Especially today, January 1st, the early stage of each month's monthly vote ranking.

I Am Really Not a Star rose from third place on the monthly vote chart, climbing steadily until, by five p. m., it surged to the top, backed by a massive wave of new readers.

With dual number-one rankings, any reader browsing Qidian Chinese Website for books could hardly avoid this one.

Of course, this didn't mean Chongran's book was truly the site's absolute number one.

His current success was purely the result of a massive traffic surge.

Once this wave passed, real strength would determine his standing.

But for Qianzhou, even if he had only Chongran's book, it was already enough to secure him among the top editors.

At the very least, he wouldn't be eliminated at the bottom.

In contrast, Qing Yue, the female editor next door, had been having a rough time lately.

As K-pop fiction gradually declined, her former author advantages had turned into liabilities, hurting the performance of her contracted novels.

After all, most of her authors came from K-pop fiction backgrounds; as the genre lost popularity, their attempts to switch genres became extremely difficult.

After repeated failures, many authors, disheartened, could only return to regular jobs and quietly leave the online novel field.

That wasn't unusual—genre trends in online novels often shifted within just a few years, even months.

Moreover, Qing Yue wasn't a senior editor; this situation was perfectly normal.

Editors in other categories occasionally faced similar issues.

But what bothered Qing Yue was that the new editor next door, who had joined months after her, had already produced several high-quality novels in just half a year.

That alone wasn't so bad.

Even if she'd produced just one ten-thousand-subscription novel, it wouldn't have mattered.

But no one expected Qianzhou to produce a phenomenon like I Am Really Not a Star.

Under normal Qidian recommendation procedures, this book had only shown the standard quality of a top-tier novel.

Then, because the author wrote an original song, he got lucky—it was sold as the theme song for a TV drama.

Even luckier, the drama's poor quality made the song stand out as surprisingly pleasant.

Then, incredibly, he successfully contacted the singer of the song and launched a joint interview promotion.

With this entire combo of moves, Qing Yue felt that even any of her own top-tier K-pop novels could have soared.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became.

But Qianzhou didn't care—he kept posting backend screenshots and good news in the editorial team chat group.

"Too bad it came a bit late," said Hongdou, head of the Urban Fiction team, regretfully. "If Chongran had written this book a few months earlier, it could've made it to our year-end gala."

"Boss, no rush," Qianzhou said cheerfully. "Chongran's only sixteen this year—he's got a long future ahead. If he missed this year, there's always next year."

"True enough," Hongdou chuckled, secretly pleased.

Though Chongran wasn't his personally mentored author, having a hit like I Am Really Not a Star in his team significantly boosted his own performance—it was definitely a good thing.

But Qing Yue suddenly chimed in coldly: "High school students have little life experience. Writing one hit novel is already impressive. If he doesn't ground himself properly, earning so much so fast might make him arrogant—and his next book could crash completely."

On purely logical grounds, this wasn't wrong.

But saying this to Qianzhou while he was in high spirits was undeniably irritating.

Yet Qianzhou wasn't angry at all.

Before, he might have worried.

But after meeting Chongran in person, Qianzhou no longer had such concerns.

The kid was far too mature—for both character and conduct, he displayed a steadiness uncommon among peers, with zero trace of arrogance or extravagance after making big money.

So when Qing Yue made her sarcastic remark, Qianzhou simply smiled: "He's a top student at a key high school, ranked among the best in his class. It's already impressive he finds time to write online novels."

"Even if he quits writing novels later, he'll still be a top-tier 985 graduate."

So I don't need to worry about these things for him—just do what an editor should do.

After saying this, Qingyue's expression changed slightly; she moved her lips but didn't know what to say, only muttering softly under her breath, and no one around heard what she muttered.

"Alright," said Editor Hongdou, glancing at Qingyue before standing up. "Tomorrow is the annual meeting—I need to have dinner with a few authors. If you have any authors under you coming to the event, feel free to invite them for a meal too."

Here, Hongdou added with a chuckle: "These guys are all loaded—each richer than the next. We shouldn't be polite; grab as many free meals as we can."

After saying this, the other two senior editors also stood up, clearly having authors under them coming to Changning City for the meeting.

Only Qianzhou and Qingyue remained at the company, since neither had any major authors under them.

Qianzhou ignored Qingyue next door, opened QQ on his computer, and found Chongran's avatar.

【Qianzhou】: What are you doing? Still writing?

【Chongran】: No, I'm home celebrating New Year's.

【Qianzhou】: So all thirty-plus chapters you posted today were pre-written?

【Chongran】: Of course. I'm not a god—how could I write two thousand words every half hour nonstop?

【Qianzhou】: Then… how many are you planning to post today?

【Chongran】: One chapter every half hour—forty-nine chapters total, plus one extra chapter posted at midnight, making fifty.

【Qianzhou】: Awesome…

Besides "awesome," Qianzhou didn't know what else to say.

How the hell did this kid manage to stockpile so much pre-written material while still attending classes?

Fifty chapters total!

In word count, that's exactly one hundred thousand words!

Posting one hundred thousand words in a single day—that's more than many authors post in a whole month…

Thinking of this, Qianzhou couldn't help opening the author group under his management and posting a message.

【Qianzhou】: All you guys just sit around chatting in the group all day.

【Qianzhou】: Look at Chongran! Fifty chapters posted in one day!

【Qianzhou】: I'm not asking much—just write four or five thousand words a day. Don't keep canceling updates, okay?

Li Luo was also in this group, but he usually stayed silent.

When he saw Qianzhou had just finished chatting with him, then immediately posted this in the author group, he burst out laughing.

Clearly, the pressure to update was real.

"What are you looking at?"

On the living room sofa in Room 401 of Jincheng Community, Ying Chanxi noticed Li Luo's smiling lips and leaned over curiously to ask.

But Li Luo typed fast, instantly switching to his chat with Zhao Rongjun.

【Zhao Rongjun】: I broke up with her.

【Li Luo】: Oh? Are you sure it's a breakup?

【Zhao Rongjun】: Fine, I'll admit—it's not really a breakup… Luo Jiajia already has a boyfriend.

Beside him, Ying Chanxi glanced over curiously and asked: "Does Zhao Rongjun even like someone?"

"That's not liking," Li Luo shook his head. "It's just a boy's fleeting emotional response to unexpected kindness from a girl."

As long as a girl isn't so ugly she's repulsive, if she shows even a little kindness to a boy like Zhao Rongjun, he'll easily develop feelings for her.

Most boys grow up starved of kindness from girls; once they experience it even once, they mistake it for love.

【Li Luo】: Come out tomorrow—I'll take you to play basketball.

【Zhao Rongjun】: Okay, but can you not bring Ying Chanxi and the others?

【Li Luo】: Why not?

【Zhao Rongjun】: Seeing how close you two are makes me feel awful.

【Li Luo】: Then why don't you just tell XiXi directly? She's sitting right next to me—she saw everything.

【Zhao Rongjun】:???

The next second.

Li Luo's phone was snatched away.

【Li Luo】: Don't worry—I'll come tomorrow too. I'll comfort you properly!