Chapter 48: A Waterfront Pavilion Gets the Moonlight First

"Here because of the reputation."
"+1"
"I heard you can find ZJ here. Is that true?"
As the rumors spread, it eventually evolved into ZJ endorsing Zijin, while Chen Fan, the intermediary, was completely ignored.
This message went viral, and along with it, the video posted by Prodigal went viral once again.
Someone posted a screenshot in the book club chat, and the readers instantly exploded, bombarding Chen Fan with questions about his relationship with ZJ.
"Confess and be lenient, resist and be strict!"
"Heh heh heh, just admit it, Zijin. Did you make some shady deal with ZJ for him to speak up for you like this?"
"Bigshot Zijin! If you can get me ZJ's autograph, I'll shower you with tips right now!"
Prompted by this fan, everyone else quickly caught on.
Ah, right, those close to the water get the moonlight first. They couldn't help but wonder if this was the closest they would ever get to ZJ in their entire lives.
They had to seize this opportunity!
"Me too!"
"Begging on my knees!"
Chen Fan replied with a smile.
"Want one? I've tucked all his autographed photos into my new book. Go get them! The first ten people to finish reading my latest chapter will each get an autographed photo of ZJ!"
The readers instantly went wild.
Zijin's message surged onto the trending searches once again.
......
In the capital, at the China Writers Association.
"Guanghui, your video blew up. The comments below are, well... horrendous."
Guanghui, the vice chairman of the China Writers Association, used to rely on various hard-core sci-fi novels to "piggyback" on the popularity of major sci-fi predecessors. Succeeding as the new wave superseding the old, he managed to leave a tiny mark in Chinese and even world sci-fi literature.
Until a few years ago, Guanghui was still persisting in his writing, but the results were less than ideal. Mocked by anti-fans who claimed he couldn't write books without riding on others' coattails, he grew disheartened, chose to stop writing, and became a profound regret for the vast community of sci-fi fans.
"Of course they are."
Even without latching onto Zijin's coattails, Guanghui was confident that the mere gimmick of his comeback to writing would make him explode in popularity. Perhaps driven by the thought of "how dare someone like Zijin even write 'hard sci-fi'", he had filmed this video.
In short, Guanghui did not regret releasing the video.
"No, you'd better come over and take a look. The comments under your video have strayed off course."
"Huh?"
Curious, Guanghui walked over to his colleague's side and looked at the computer screen.
At first, the comments were relatively normal, either celebrating his return to writing or scolding him for trying to milk attention again.
Then things started getting weird.
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Not a single person was discussing his new book, *Blue Star*. All the attention had been hijacked by a musician named ZJ.
The most frequent comment was simply "Here because of the reputation."
Guanghui: "......"
It seemed this video had suddenly lost its original purpose.
Could you guys at least pay some attention to my new book!
"Who on earth is this ZJ?"
"You don't even know him? That song *Chasing Dreams with a Foolish Heart* that you've had on repeat lately was written by him."
Guanghui belonged to the type of person who listened to songs without caring about the artists. *Chasing Dreams with a Foolish Heart* had truly struck a chord with him, and it was precisely this song that had awakened his original aspirations and sparked the idea of writing a new book.
Exiting the video, he saw that trending search topic which had suddenly skyrocketed.
#Zijin admits he and ZJ are good friends!# Hot
Damn it, why am I suddenly feeling a little bit envious of Zijin?
......
Chen Fan put away his phone after scrolling for a while. Well, consider it free promotion for his new book—a good thing.
After agreeing to give April an autographed photo of ZJ as well once the new book was published, he received another call, this time from Peng Jiaxin.
"Chen Fan, ZJ and Zijin know each other?"
"...Yeah, they're pretty good friends."
"No wonder when I said I wanted the copyright for *Flame Emperor*, you sorted it out in a snap. Thank you, hubby, mwah~"
Since Chen Fan was on good terms with ZJ, and ZJ was on good terms with Zijin, how Chen Fan managed to secure the copyright was crystal clear.
Chen Fan intended to confess the truth to Peng Jiaxin, but before he could even speak, she had already filled in all the details in her own mind, leaving him zero opportunity to chime in. Finally, saying "I have a meeting," she hung up the phone.
The entire sequence of events was swift and decisive, not wasting a single second.
Chen Fan stared at his phone in silent speechlessness. So she only called me before her meeting specifically to say thank you?
Touched, yet also curious about what expression she would make when they met at the company a few days later under his Zijin persona.
It ought to be quite a pleasant surprise~
It took a long time for Chen Fan to pull his thoughts back and regain the drive to work.
*The Three-Body Problem* wasn't urgent right now and could be set aside. Chen Fan decided to finish writing *Flame Emperor* today and then focus wholeheartedly on *I'm Surrounded by Beauties*.
Micai, Jianwei, Leyao—wonder where the readers will stumble... ahem, which beauty they will favor? Chen Fan expressed great anticipation.
"Mhm..."
In Peng Jiaxin's bedroom, Chen Mengting slowly woke up, catching the lingering fragrance left behind by Peng Jiaxin.
"Sister-in-law..."
She sat up and looked around in a daze.
Oh, right, sister-in-law had mentioned she needed to go to work.
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Wearing the little bear pajamas she had bought yesterday afternoon, Chen Mengting couldn't be bothered to change. Dazed, she got up and went downstairs to look for something to eat. At the stair landing, she happened to run into Aunt Xu, who was going to feed Xingxing.
There's a stranger?!
Chen Mengting's sleepiness vanished instantly as she looked nervously at Aunt Xu.
Aunt Xu's smile remained warm.
"You must be Miss Chen Mengting? I'm the chef hired by President Peng to take care of everyone's three meals a day. President Peng told me you like soup dumplings. I'm already steaming some downstairs, and they'll be ready in a moment. Soy milk has also been freshly ground for you, but since I didn't know your preference, I haven't added any sugar yet."
"Ah... Oh... Okay."
Dazed, Chen Mengting followed Aunt Xu downstairs. It wasn't until she bit into a soup dumpling that she felt a sense of reality.
Sister-in-law's family is really, really rich.
"Mmm! This is so good! What filling is this?"
"There's Australian lobster, abalone, beef and mutton..."
A steamer basket held eight soup dumplings with eight different fillings. Chen Mengting wouldn't have dared to dream of such a thing. She glanced sideways at the several other steamer baskets still steaming over there.
"Those wouldn't happen to be..."
"Yes, there are both meat and vegetarian options. Whatever filling you want, we have it. Or if there's anything else you'd like to eat, I can go buy the ingredients and wrap them fresh right now. Though, in that case, you might need to wait a little while."
Chen Mengting fell silent. In the end, she chose to finish all those soup dumplings with tears in her eyes.
These damned capitalists really know how to enjoy life!
What?
You're saying I'm the one enjoying it?
Oh, never mind then.
Stuffed and satisfied, Chen Mengting rubbed her belly and lay on the sofa, unwilling to move an inch.
"Ding-dong."
The doorbell suddenly rang. Aunt Xu wiped her hands, went to the door to swipe a card for the cleaning crew, and moments later, ten fully equipped cleaning personnel appeared before Chen Mengting.
They seemed to be regular visitors, so they didn't ask any unnecessary questions and briskly set to work.
Afraid of getting in the way, Chen Mengting hurried upstairs and hid in Chen Fan's room.
As soon as she stepped inside, she heard Chen Fan typing away furiously while letting out a sinister chuckle of "Heh heh heh."
"Prepare to face judgment, you foolish citizens of Blue Star!"
Chen Mengting: "......"
Never mind. She'd better go back and check if there was anything in her drawings that could be optimized.
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