Neither Wen Ying nor her readers gave Blue Whale any chance to put on a show.
Wen Ying entered the venue first. The readers, excited as they were, still restrained themselves and queued up obediently.
If the line stayed orderly, Little Fish could sign faster.
With so many fans here, if each person only got one book signed, Little Fish would still have to write thousands of characters. Her wrist would get tired, wouldn’t it?
The readers felt sorry for Wen Ying, yet none of them could bring themselves to give up their chance for a signed copy. The only thing they could do was queue properly, keep the event running smoothly, and save her energy.
The female staff from Shanghai Literature Press had been lurking in Wen Ying’s reader groups for far longer than a day or two. They had long witnessed the cohesion of her fans. Even so, watching the perfectly orderly signing venue now, they could not help sighing in admiration.
“Little Fish is so lucky. She has a group of high-quality readers. They love her novels, but they respect her as a person even more!”
Ding Chao smiled. “The readers are lucky too. The writer they love has an extremely serious attitude toward creation. Look at Teacher Little Fish’s three novels. Each one is better than the last. She never rests on her laurels. She keeps pushing to improve… And Teacher Little Fish has impeccable character. A young female author like her truly deserves to be called a teen idol!”
Ding Chao had not interacted with Wen Ying many times, but from their few encounters he had observed plenty of details.
He had a good idea of what kind of person Wen Ying was.
On Wen Ying’s side, the signing was already proceeding in perfect order. Journalists were still crammed together on the left, snapping photos furiously.
Outside the venue, Blue Whale stood forlornly where she was.
If Wen Ying had been ignored like this, her fans would have rioted long ago. For some reason, even though Blue Whale had a long queue inside, only a handful of people voiced any dissatisfaction at her treatment. Most of her “fans” showed no reaction at all.
Bao Lixin was furious at Blue Whale’s uselessness and stepped forward himself to grab some spotlight.
When he started talking about the adaptation plans for Crown of Thorns, two journalists finally showed interest and turned their microphones toward him.
One blunt reporter asked straight to his face, “I heard Mr Cao Bo has stepped down as producer of Crown of Thorns. Is this related to the online accusations that the book plagiarised Star River and You?”
“Yes, many netizens are calling Crown of Thorns a copy. Does Chief Editor Bao have anything to say about that?”
Another journalist refused to be outdone and fired an equally sharp question.
Oh, there was news here!
The reporters who had been surrounding the left side swarmed over like cats that smelled fish.
Bao Lixin achieved his goal.
Any attention was better than none.
Bao Lixin had a thick skin. Blue Whale did not.
Being directly questioned about whether Crown of Thorns had heavily “borrowed” from Star River and You, Blue Whale could not utter a single word.
It was June, and Shanghai was already getting hot.
Bao Lixin shamelessly hogged the spotlight and failed to notice anything wrong with Blue Whale.
Her face was deathly pale, cold sweat pouring from her neck and forehead. She swayed unsteadily.
She had barely slept last night, had no appetite this morning, and had forced down only a cup of coffee to stay awake. Now surrounded by a crowd in a stifling environment, her nerves stretched to breaking point.
When a string is pulled too tight, it snaps.
Thud.
Blue Whale collapsed backwards.
Several journalists leapt aside.
“Blue Whale fainted!”
“…This has nothing to do with us.”
“Is she faking it?”
Some heartless soul wondered out loud if she was pretending to faint to escape the questions.
Bao Lixin was stunned too.
She fainted?
What about today’s signing?
The venue manager panicked. Blue Whale had collapsed right at the entrance. Would they get blamed later?
“Get her to a hospital quick. Looks like heatstroke…”
Heatstroke could be mild or severe. Mild cases recovered quickly; serious ones needed immediate medical attention.
In front of so many people, even a skinflint like Bao Lixin could not be too obvious about his callousness. He had staff help carry Blue Whale to the nanny van.
Before the door closed, Bao Lixin tossed out two polite lines about hoping the media would be kinder to new authors and give newcomers room to grow.
The journalists stood dumbfounded in the breeze.
What did he mean? That Blue Whale fainted because they pressured her?
Ridiculous. The media had not accused Crown of Thorns of plagiarism; they were only seeking the truth!
“She’s hardly a newcomer. Didn’t she already publish a book before Crown of Thorns?”
“What was it called again… Never mind. I think Blue Whale’s just guilty!”
The commotion outside never reached Wen Ying’s world.
At first Wen Ying had no idea Blue Whale had fainted. She had only signed a few dozen copies when she noticed the queue next door had completely dispersed.
Wen Ying was full of question marks.
Blue Whale cancelled her signing?
They were supposed to fight. The enemy had fled without a battle.
Make-up artist Kiki had come along today and stayed by Wen Ying’s side in case touch-ups were needed.
When she saw the other queue vanish, Kiki grew curious and slipped out like a fish through the crowd.
A little later she returned and, while Wen Ying took a water break, filled her in.
“Blue Whale fainted?”
“She did. Some say heatstroke, some say low blood sugar. Of course, most people think she was faking it because journalists kept asking about the plagiarism rumours.”
Kiki’s face was full of mockery. “Fainting was the only way she could get out of that situation.”
As they spoke, another disturbance broke out outside.
Security tensed, terrified of a stampede. The venue manager almost wished he could faint like Blue Whale to escape the pressure.
Wen Ying’s readers were equally on high alert.
Everyone went into battle mode.
They had restrained themselves from hitting Blue Whale. When she fainted on her own, they were secretly delighted.
What was happening now? Were Blue Whale’s “fans” actually planning to attack Little Fish?
It was not surprising that readers’ imaginations ran wild. The world never lacked weirdos. Crown of Thorns undeniably copied Star River and You, yet a tiny minority refused to accept it and even claimed Star River and You was inferior.
So what if it was plagiarised?
If the plagiarised version was better, it was simply a superior re-creation!
No wonder those people liked Blue Whale. Birds of a feather.
Whenever Wen Ying’s readers saw such comments online, their livers ached with rage.
Now all of them adopted defensive postures. Kiki was unafraid of chaos. She went out again and came back with the latest update. “Blue Whale has been taken to hospital. Her signing is cancelled. Some of her fans are disappointed but understand she’s unwell. The ones causing trouble are the other portion of her ‘readers’. With the event suddenly cancelled, they won’t get paid the rest of their money, so of course they’re kicking up a fuss.”
Kiki made no effort to hide her schadenfreude.
Wen Ying was mortified. “Payment? You mean those readers—”
Kiki clapped with glee. “I was wondering how Blue Whale’s queue was almost as long as yours. Turns out at least half of them were paid to stand there and make up the numbers!”
