Chapter 174: Is It Really Yu Wei?
“Using Keyboard as Mouse 0027: What a coincidence, bumping into Yu Wei recording a program at the bookstore.
Picture.jpg.”
Qi Luo An casually flipped to a new post in the book friends’ circle. Well, another one checking in thinking she was Yu Wei…
The photo was taken from downstairs. Yu Wei was sitting by the window on the second floor writing, and the photographer next to him was holding the machine filming him.
So far away, what could she even see? She glanced at it roughly and was about to scroll past, then suddenly noticed the environment where the group was.
Wasn’t this the bookstore they had stayed in before?
Qi Luo An still remembered that quiet afternoon when they shared a table by the window. She read a book, he wrote.
She didn’t expect Yu Wei to have the opportunity to revisit the old place. Nice for him. She wanted to go take a look too, but unfortunately, she really couldn’t get away.
The novel was going on sale tonight, so she had to finish writing the explosive updates chapters for the listing in advance.
Qi Luo An had also noticed that the guest opposite Yu Wei was a girl, but there was nothing to say about that. Recording a program, normal.
She wasn’t some gloomy yandere with a bunch of inexplicable petty thoughts. It was just normal socializing, let him do as he pleased.
However, this “Using Keyboard as Mouse” classmate performed well, the situation report was very timely, internally decided to give a set of collaborative keyboards.
……
“Higa is really too evil!!”
Sakuraya Rio finished the first five chapters of Malice and was completely immersed in the story. This first-person narrative style was inherently very engaging.
Plus the novel’s strong Japanese flavor, it had a special attack on Sakura people.
Unfortunately, the translation software was too machine-like. If there was a more down-to-earth translation, she might have been so angry she’d beat her chest and stamp her feet on the spot.
Yu Wei could actually produce the translation, but it was too time-consuming. Rewriting a whole book was too much work, better to let professionals handle it.
Seeing Sakuraya Rio hating Higa so much that she gnashed her teeth made him relieved. The more like this, the more shocking the final ending would be for her.
The brilliance of Malice was in repeatedly shattering established cognition. In 1996, internet communications weren’t developed yet, so during reading, everyone was basically kept in the dark.
But now the internet is too advanced. Any plot twist and people rush to post their understandings and thoughts, making it hard not to get spoiled.
So for others, the reading experience of this book was greatly discounted.
But it was different for Sakuraya Rio. She couldn’t understand Chinese spoilers, so she could fully immerse herself instead.
Plus, she was a bit silly and easily deceived by the plot. She was simply the perfect reader template.
“No rush, read slowly.”
Calculating the time, Qi Luo An’s novel should go on sale tonight. By then, The Devotion of Suspect X should be available to redeem, right?
Finishing Malice now would allow her to catch up with the new book’s updates perfectly.
After the first day’s program recording ended, Yu Wei went straight back to the company. He still needed to arrange the keyboard giveaway.
Although the giveaway was in Qi Luo An’s book, he was still the organizer of the event, so naturally it was under his name.
Mainly, mailing over ninety keyboards all over the country—Qi Luo An couldn’t handle it alone. Better to let the company take care of it.
“Have you finished writing the listing speech?”
He and Qi Luo An had agreed that the listing speech would mention “First subscription unlocks hidden benefit,” and then directly start the giveaway.
“Not yet. First time going on sale, feels like there’s a lot to say.”
This answer was within Yu Wei’s expectations. Usually, newcomer authors get very excited for their first listing and write a huge rambling pile.
It wasn’t necessarily bad, and it wasn’t impossible for someone to be moved by the listing speech to subscribe. It was just that such emotional readers were relatively few.
Old failures either go straight on sale or just mention a few updates for listing. After all, readers read books for the main text; no point in heartfelt pie-in-the-sky speeches.
Worth mentioning, Yu Wei’s first book’s listing speech was several thousand words, longer than two chapters of his novel…
After writing more books, that excitement gradually faded.
Yu Wei wasn’t idle either. While Qi Luo An wrote her speech, he casually wrote a chapter promo for her.
Due to the theme of her book, many readers probably still didn’t know about it. Might as well do a simple advertisement.
After all, as Qi Luo An’s book went on sale, the exchange data for the work would correspondingly get higher and higher. Better to have more readers.
Yu Wei didn’t write much content, just said to recommend the book and sent it out.
Normally, book recommendations write about the novel’s strengths, but netizens thought that book was written by him, so praising too much would seem weird.
Uninformed people might think he was just bragging about himself…
“Yu Wei posting a single chapter book recommendation for the first time? This guy has quite the face.”
“What do you mean quite the face? Isn’t this his own book?”
“Self-promoting, huh? Yu Wei is something else.”
“Already reading it. A bit wordy, but really good, quite interesting.”
Sure enough, many netizens still didn’t know about that book, but under the suggestions of many “helpful readers” in the comment section, they quickly learned the ins and outs of the matter.
What? Malice actually appeared ahead of time in this plagiarist novel?
Then it might really be written by Yu Wei. After all, besides him, no one else would play like this. Plus this book recommendation tonight, the credibility increased a lot.
Besides his own book, who else could have this face?
Just as they clicked the link planning to peep at this novel, Qi Luo An’s listing speech updated right on time.
Everyone was stunned seeing the latest chapter. No wonder Yu Wei did a chapter promo at this time—it was going on sale right then.
Coming in and immediately seeing the chapter promo traffic. You still say you’re not Yu Wei?
They clicked the listing speech with absolute certainty, but the very first sentence shattered their “unshakable belief.”
“Listing with ten updates.”
Ten updates? This has to be Yu Wei?
They didn’t know about others, but didn’t everyone know Yu Wei? Total salted fish. Before, he barely managed seven updates for listing, fumbling several times to finish.
And now this guy suddenly jumps out saying ten updates for listing. Is this still Yu Wei?
Where does this kid have that much time? Yu Wei has been so busy his feet haven’t touched the ground lately—not taking endorsements or recording variety shows.
Plus Star Rating is still updating steadily. He’s not Superman; where does he get time to stockpile ten novel chapters?
They were almost fully convinced before, but after seeing this casually mentioned ten updates, they put a huge question mark on whether “Double Sunflower” was really Yu Wei.
“There’s something here.”
Yu Wei was clearly a bit surprised seeing the ten updates message. He thought she was just talking big, didn’t expect her to actually put in the hard work.
This child might become an octopus.
Now Qi Luo An was qualified to interrogate him. After all, he really wasn’t as diligent as her.
Actually, what Qi Luo An had stockpiled was even more than that. She planned to use a few more chapters later to aim for daily ten thousand words a few days.
Could Yu Wei do that?
She wasn’t entirely exploding updates to interrogate Yu Wei. It was her first time writing a book with so much support from so many people; she was actually a bit flattered.
Even if everyone thought she was Yu Wei, this support was real, so she couldn’t disappoint them.
Stepping back ten thousand steps, since everyone thought she was Yu Wei, she definitely couldn’t embarrass him.
“Brothers, this isn’t Yu Wei’s. This author does three thousand words per chapter, ten updates is thirty thousand. If Yu Wei can do it, I’ll eat it.”
“I also feel it’s not. I just looked back; this author’s wording and phrasing is quite refined. Clearly read a lot of books.”
“So bold, daring to say our Yu Wei reads few books. Little dried fish, charge him!”
Qi Luo An was from the Chinese language and literature department after all. A literature major doesn’t equal good writing, but wording and phrasing were definitely relatively standard.
Yu Wei admitted this point. After all, he was a science guy; his academic language knowledge was long gone.
Of course, wording and phrasing didn’t mean much. For newcomers, writing style was the least important in web novels.
At least in Yu Wei’s view, Qi Luo An still needed practice…
Netizens who were originally convinced “Double Sunflower” was Yu Wei’s quickly wavered. Yu Wei was just a salted fish; what did he know about daily thirty thousand?
Not Yu Wei, then who was this? Able to know Yu Wei’s suspense novel idea ahead of time— they must have a close relationship.
While they speculated on the author’s identity and read on, the line at the end of the listing speech—”First subscription unlocks hidden benefit”—threw them into confusion again.
Isn’t this Yu Wei’s routine?
This kid used to pull this trick all the time, teasing readers daily. Besides him, who else would be this sneaky?
The listing speech left them all muddled. Was this author Yu Wei or not? For a moment, no one could really tell.
“I have a plan. Once the novel goes on sale, everyone don’t subscribe. See if Yu Wei gets anxious. If he does, it proves it’s his book.”
Is this a person?
Yu Wei was dumbfounded seeing this comment. Of course he’d be anxious—the book wasn’t his, but the work appearing in it was. How could he not be?
Readers’ this move was too ruthless, really scared him for a jump.
Qi Luo An saw the chapter review and was dizzy. Buddy, if you’re testing Yu Wei, don’t use the novel as a guinea pig. She got up early and stayed up late to stockpile ten updates, you know.
Fortunately, not many people paid attention to this netizen’s words. He had little influence and clearly couldn’t sway others.
“His heart is punishable, his heart is punishable.”
Though his plan didn’t succeed, the move was indeed ruthless. Anyway, Qi Luo An noted down the ID. Rainbow Cat o Young Hero, your keyboard is gone!
Everyone chattered for a while without reaching any conclusion, so they simply waited until midnight for the listing to see.
At least check if these ten updates were real or fake.
Qi Luo An didn’t dare delay either, quickly preparing. She was afraid of messing up the order, so she checked extra carefully.
Right after midnight, she bang bang banged and released the ten big chapters in one go. Even Yu Wei was shocked by this wave.
What if Qi Luo An’s book performance ends up better than his…
Yu Wei turned on auto-subscription, and the redemption panel for The Devotion of Suspect X appeared before his eyes.
[Redemption requirement: First chapter subscription greater than 800]
So low?
When Yu Wei went on sale, it required 5000 subscriptions already. Qi Luo An, on the other hand, just needed 800 first subscriptions.
But thinking about it, before his listing, he had redeemed quite a few works, and the exchange data kept piling up higher. Qi Luo An’s book only redeemed one Malice before listing, so the requirement hadn’t risen.
Looks like the system was pretty smart; the exchange data growth was quite even, not overly inflated.
In the future, if there were any advance works, he could even have Qi Luo An write them here first then redeem. The data requirements here were low, no need to wait long.
Then the two books could even collaborate…
After reading the first chapter post-listing, Yu Wei finally found the giveaway details in Qi Luo An’s “writer’s note”: Deduct 1 to randomly draw 99 readers for collaborative keyboards.
At the end, she didn’t forget to note that this time’s prizes were jointly sponsored by Ling Yue Company and Yu Wei.
“There really is a hidden benefit, tearing up.”
“Damn, I bought a keyboard myself, blood loss.”
“To be honest, I’m Spinning Top, draw me.”
“Isn’t the important part that last note? Yu Wei sponsoring the prizes—if this author isn’t Yu Wei, I’ll eat it.”
Trying to scam food and drink again?
Readers already confused by the giveaway comment in the note became even more confused. Was this really Yu Wei or not…
Netizens grew more baffled, but many who knew Yu Wei well already had the answer in their hearts, including Qi Yuan.
Coastal readers, be careful of typhoons, stay safe.
