Chapter 70: A Small Sales Explosion

To his surprise, Zhang Chu didn’t become famous through his works, but rather because his witty posts were shared by an increasing number of comedy microblog accounts. After these posts went viral, his follower count shot past six figures, making him a minor celebrity on the internet.

“Your microblog posts are pretty funny. I see everyone cheering you on in the comments,” Chu Lan remarked casually from the sofa as she watched TV, chatting aimlessly with her son. She prided herself on being a trendy mom—she used social media, kept up with the times, and was determined not to be left behind by the world.

Zhang Chu was bursting with pride. He shook his head and replied, “It’s nothing, really. Not worth mentioning.”

At that moment, he was anxiously awaiting the first-day sales figures from Nanhai Publishing, so much so that he didn’t even notice his mother’s expression.

“You’re just a kid. What would you need that much money for? When your royalties arrive, let me keep them for you, and I’ll use them for your future wedding,” Chu Lan said kindly, her face full of motherly concern.

But Zhang Chu was already immune to this tactic. He refused flatly, “That trick might work on toddlers, but I lost all my New Year’s money to it over the years. I’m an eighteen-year-old of the new era—I want financial independence.”

Despite being a man in his thirties mentally, he felt no shame calling himself a youth. A college student with empty pockets simply wouldn’t do. He was eager to escape the single life, if only the Great God of Harmony would show some mercy.

“Everyone says my friend circle is boring—just news shares or your updates. Help me post something interesting, will you?” Chu Lan tossed her phone to Zhang Chu with a flourish, relishing the feeling of being the empress dowager and leaving everything to her son.

Zhang Chu had endless ideas. Without complaint, he took the phone and got to work on his mother’s political assignment. In no time, he had typed out a post and announced, “Mission accomplished!”

“So fast?” Chu Lan was skeptical. She unlocked her phone with a swipe and checked her friend circle—within less than a minute, over a dozen people had already liked or commented. It really seemed effective.

She tapped open the list of likes and then read the post. She nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

“People keep calling me beautiful lately. I thought about it all night… who let the secret slip?”

“If I’d known life would be this exhausting now, I never would have descended to the mortal world in the first place…”

These two consecutive posts mirrored the style of Zhang Chu’s microblog content and immediately caught the attention of Chu Lan’s friends. Who would have thought that their usually quiet Teacher Chu was such a narcissist in private?

“Delete them now! What is this nonsense? Although… I am indeed quite pretty,” Chu Lan said threateningly. She definitely didn’t have Zhang Chu’s thick skin and couldn’t withstand such praise.

Just then, Zhang Bowen came upstairs after finishing the handover at the bookstore. He glanced at his fuming wife and immediately regretted his timing. He shouldn’t have come up so soon.

But Chu Lan’s mood flipped in an instant and she exclaimed excitedly, “Old Zhang, your son just called me a fairy who descended to the mortal world. After all these years raising him, he’s finally developed some good taste!”

“Descending from above doesn’t necessarily make you a fairy. It could be Pigsy as well,” Zhang Chu muttered from the side.

No sooner had he finished than several murderous glares were directed at the back of his head, the air thick with danger.

For his own safety, Zhang Chu quickly explained, “But my mom must have been a fairy of the highest order in her past life—maybe even Chang’e herself!”

That was more like it. Chu Lan finally set down the feather duster in her hand.

Zhang Bowen admired his son’s boldness. He smoothly changed the subject, “Have today’s sales numbers come in? Was it a surprise or a scare?”

“They said seven o’clock, but now it’s past eight and still nothing. Maybe my book sold so well the system crashed?”

“Wake up! You may not be good-looking, but you shouldn’t daydream. Our store did sell quite a few though. A lot of people wanted to take photos with you, but I didn’t call you down.”

It was true—ever since they’d been featured on Jiangcheng TV, Jiangdong Satellite TV, and a host of local media outlets, Hanlin Pavilion’s business had been booming. Though not quite as bustling as the major Xinhua Bookstores, they were busy nonstop, restocking frequently with an ever-increasing variety of books.

Zhang Chu shrugged helplessly, “So how many copies did we sell?”

“Eleven. The best-selling book today was ‘Detective Sherlock,’ and more than half were bought by acquaintances.”

Even so, Zhang Chu was satisfied. If his own store sold eleven copies, the Xinhua Bookstores in Jiangcheng must have done at least as well, and he didn’t expect too much from the others.

Buying physical books online was common, but because Nanhai Publishing released the books early, many websites were out of stock, so online sales weren’t high at the moment.

...

Though Gu Xinxue was home from work, he sat at his desk, anxiously refreshing the website run by the National News and Publication Center and the National Copyright Bureau.

“I wonder if Zhang Chu’s book will do well. It’s the best-quality and best-promoted mystery novel lately.”

Gu Xinxue harbored a certain resentment. Out of all the different genres, he’d been assigned to oversee domestic mystery and detective fiction—arguably the least promising category.

No matter how hard he worked to discover and nurture new and established writers, the results were always disappointing; readers rarely responded.

Now, with ‘Detective Sherlock’ backed by the entire Sherlock Holmes canon and Zhang Chu’s own notoriety, if it still couldn’t succeed, then there was little hope for the rest.

If a book didn’t catch fire early, the odds of it being discovered later amidst the sea of books were even slimmer.

Waiting was agony. He could only make rough guesses from distributor feedback: it was more popular than most debut works, but far from a bestseller.

After nearly an hour, the crashed website finally came back online. Gu Xinxue hurried to check the daily rankings.

There was no point looking at the first page—even if the world ended, no domestic mystery author would appear there. He started his search on page two.

Page two began at rank fifty-one: a romance novel titled ‘The Demon CEO at My Side’ had sold 5,190 copies in one day—astonishing!

The ranking included not just fiction, but also literature, art, biography, test prep, self-help, educational materials, children’s books, parenting, entertainment, health, travel, comics, cooking, English, computing, law, history, and more. The variety was staggering.

Gu Xinxue adjusted his glasses and his gaze finally settled on rank ninety-one.

Rank ninety-one: ‘Detective Sherlock’ by Zhang Chu, Nanhai Publishing, 3,914 copies sold.

“We made the top one hundred!”

It was like a bomb going off in Gu Xinxue’s heart—the joy was indescribable, and for a moment, he didn’t even know how to celebrate.

*****************************

Please recommend this book! The protagonist is about to show off at university—the excitement continues!