House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 427: Lan Zhoukai’s Advice

A few days after “Journey Under the Midnight Sun” went on sale, its sales figures continued to rise steadily, thanks to recommendations from readers who had preordered the book and word-of-mouth within Yang Yi’s fan groups.

However, it was worth mentioning that on the review page of the Sahara Online Mall, it was evident that this book was not a novel universally loved by all. The reviews were highly polarized; some readers gave it exceptionally high praise, with many marveling at Yang Yi’s imaginative brilliance and declaring that the book would go down as a masterpiece in the suspense and mystery genre!

Others, however, expressed that they simply couldn’t bring themselves to finish reading it, as the book was far too dark, and the male and female protagonists actually possessed somewhat anti-social and anti-human traits.

And that was indeed the case. However, even among the buyers who said they couldn’t continue reading, very few gave the book a low rating. They still praised Yang Yi for his “writing skills” and narrative ability.

Not liking it was simply a matter of personal preference; they didn’t deny that the book was excellent!

Therefore, although the book’s influence had yet to build up, its rating on the Sahara Online Mall was already remarkably high, no worse than those of the two bestselling works “Soldiers’ Assault” and “Drawing Sword”!

But today, when Lu Benjie, the deputy editor-in-chief of Sahara Publishing House, called Yang Yi, he was not calling about sales or reviews. Instead, he shared feedback from recent reader letters, mentioning that many readers were hoping Yang Yi would hold a book signing event. The readers’ curiosity about Yang Yi has been overwhelming!

“I’m not going to hold a book signing. We’ve been over this before. I don’t like appearing in public.” Yang Yi still refused.

Lu Benjie wasn’t surprised. He had already known that Yang Yi would say that, so he went on to tell him about the publishing house’s new plan.

Because Yang Yi had previously paid little attention to managing his fan base, his fan communities were in a rather scattered state, which was actually a significant waste of resources.

Now that Sahara Publishing House was fully responsible for Yang Yi’s literary affairs, they decided to take over for Yang Yi and help integrate his book-loving fans by setting up an official fan group. Or rather, they would create a discussion community specifically for Yang Yi, similar to a Tieba forum, where they could gather everyone together to discuss Yang Yi’s works and related topics. That way, if Yang Yi released a new book in the future, they could also promote it in a unified way.

“That’s a great idea! What do you need me to do?” Yang Yi agreed.

“We’ll need you, Boss, to set aside some time to interact with readers in this community. Then we’ll organize some activities, and we may need you to provide prizes such as signed books and autographed photos,” Lu Benjie said.

“Signed books are fine, but forget about autographed photos.” Yang Yi said with a helpless smile. “I’m not some young girl. Why bother with autographed photos?”

And just like that, the matter was settled.

After putting away his phone, Yang Yi smiled at Lan Zhoukai in front of him and said, “Sorry about that, Brother Lan.”

Today, Yang Yi was called out by Lan Zhoukai. The two of them were going to visit the fitness center where Chen Shiyun’s father, Chen Guoqiang, worked.

After their hiking trip last time, Lan Zhoukai had asked Chen Guoqiang what kind of exercise would be suitable for someone like him who wanted to lose weight and stay healthy.

Chen Guoqiang recommended boxing to Lan Zhoukai. It wasn’t a case of him praising his own specialty; boxing had indeed become the first choice for many wealthy people when it came to working out.

Because when it came to non-competitive boxing, it wasn’t as scary as people imagined. Practicing boxing could not only build one’s strength and sharpen one’s reflexes, but also promote overall physical health and development!

After all, boxing was a sport that involved using both the hands and feet, engaged the entire body, and required one to think as well. It worked a much wider range of muscle groups than activities like running or bench pressing. Moreover, unlike yoga or dancing, which were somewhat feminine, boxing was a very masculine sport!

So, Lan Zhoukai became interested and set aside some time today to try a boxing class.

But going alone would have been too boring, so Lan Zhoukai had dragged along his good friend Yang Yi.

Because Yang Yi was sitting in Lan Zhoukai’s luxury car, Lan Zhoukai had heard everything he said on the phone, and he expressed a different opinion regarding Yang Yi’s attitude.

“Brother Yang! I think your attitude about not wanting to appear in public is wrong!” Lan Zhoukai poured Yang Yi a cup of chilled yogurt drink. They were kept in the refrigerator of his luxury car. The extended version of the car was practically like a small private room in the back. There were also red wine and liquor in Lan Zhoukai’s refrigerator, but it wasn’t appropriate to drink those today.

“Why do you say that?”

“Your wife is a big star, right? Although you two haven’t made your relationship public yet, you can’t hide a fire with paper. There’ll definitely be a day when the reporters expose it. If you don’t build up your own reputation now, once the public finds out, they’ll definitely think you’re living off your wife and that you’re not good enough for her!” Lan Zhoukai spoke to Yang Yi frankly, without holding anything back.

“As long as two people have a strong enough relationship, they won’t be affected by public opinion!” Yang Yi said confidently. “Besides, as long as we know our own situation, that’s enough. Why should we cater to what the public thinks?”

“People are social creatures. As long as you live in society, it’s impossible not to be affected by it. There’s nothing wrong with the man being stronger and the woman being weaker, but when the woman is stronger and the man is weaker, the man will always be mocked. I don’t know what Mo Fei will be like, but when the time comes, I’m afraid you’ll be the first one who can’t take it!” Lan Zhoukai had only gone on for so long because he treated Yang Yi like a brother.

“All right, all right! Brother Lan, I’ll seriously think about it and find a way to deal with it.” Yang Yi smiled and waved his hand. “We’re almost there. We should get ready to get out. Why are we still talking about this?”

Lan Zhoukai didn’t know Yang Yi’s true situation, but Yang Yi certainly knew them himself!

He was Mu Li’ang, a great writer, a multi-millionaire boss, and even a transmigrator who had been reborn. So, what did it matter if the woman was stronger and the man was weaker? That simply did not apply to him!

The fitness center where Chen Guoqiang worked was located in a bustling area of Tingshan District. Not only was it close to the luxury residential area where Lan Zhoukai and the others lived, but also close to several major housing developments in Tingshan. Its business was specifically aimed at wealthy people!

So, the fitness center was quite large as well. It occupied the second through sixth floors of an entire building. Whether it was the regular fitness area or the dedicated areas for activities such as dancing, yoga, and boxing, each had its own separate floor.

Chen Guoqiang came downstairs to greet them. He brought Lan Zhoukai and Yang Yi, along with Lan Zhoukai’s bodyguards, up to the boxing gym on the sixth floor.

The entire floor was wide open, with no partitions in sight. There were several fully equipped boxing rings, along with heavy bags, speed bags, and some simple equipment for training the back and arm muscles.

The boxing rings were the main attraction. There were many boxing coaches in the gym, and most of the people who came here could afford one-on-one personal trainers. They trained directly in the rings under the guidance of their coaches.

“Not bad!” Lan Zhoukai looked around and nodded with satisfaction.

Yang Yi glanced at him and chuckled to himself.

This guy had probably reached his judgment simply because the equipment here looked relatively new. After all, he was a very visual person.

Yang Yi, on the other hand, looked more deeply. After only a few glances, he could tell that the boxing coaches here had widely varying levels of skill. There were genuine fighters like Chen Guoqiang who had real skills and had competed in matches, but there were also some rookies who had probably trained with a coach for two years or worked as sparring partners before applying for jobs as coaches here.

Of course, during regular training sessions, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in their skill levels, and the coaches certainly weren’t going to demonstrate their actual fighting abilities to their students!