306: Chapter 306 Not an opponent, but a colleague

The entire class was silent for a full three seconds.

During those three seconds, over forty heads were spinning in sync,

trying to process exactly what Lin Que meant by "And the bad news?"

Wu Di was the first to react, his voice cracking:

"Brother Que! The first sentence counts as good news, but the second one is definitely bad news!

Clashing with Teacher Jian Shen's release! How is that not bad?!"

"Oh, that."

Lin Que tightened the lid of his water bottle, his tone as flat as if he were saying the cafeteria had braised pork today.

"I know."

"You know?!"

Wu Di leaned back thirty degrees, nearly flipping over along with his chair.

"Huaxia Publishing House notified me a long time ago." Lin Que placed the water bottle on the corner of his desk and added, "Besides, I have to take leave to go to Shanghai to serve as the signing representative and participate in the launch event on-site."

The air seemed to be sucked out of the classroom.

Fang Zhiyuan's arm, holding his phone, froze mid-air.

Two girls in the front row glanced at each other, their mouths forming identical 'O' shapes.

Li Bowen's hand, adjusting his glasses, stayed fixed on the bridge of his nose for five seconds without moving.

Wu Di had the biggest reaction; he stood up abruptly, leaning over the desk with both hands and thrusting his head toward Lin Que, his expression conflicted.

"Brother Que, you... how about you don't go?"

"Why?"

"Teacher Jian Shen is coming on strong!

You saw the hype for ordinary world; tens of millions across the internet followed it during its serialization.

If you go and compete on the same day, isn't that..."

Wu Di swallowed hard, his words trailing off.

Beside him, Fang Zhiyuan finished his sentence:

"Like an egg hitting a rock."

Several boys nearby nodded in unison, their faces saying "he's not wrong."

Lin Que leaned against his backrest, hands interlaced behind his head, and glanced at Wu Di.

"What's there to fear? Such a big-name author wouldn't care about a few student essays like ours."

"That's true, but..."

Wu Di wanted to argue further, but the sound of chair legs scraping the floor came from the back row.

Li Bowen stood up.

He adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, the lenses reflecting the sunlight from outside, and his entire aura suddenly shifted.

The science student, usually so low-profile he was practically invisible, now struck the pose of someone delivering an academic report.

Facing the class, he spoke slowly, but every word carried cold, hard logic.

"Lin Que, don't be so quick to be optimistic. Let me crunch the numbers for you."

Lin Que raised an eyebrow.

Li Bowen pushed up his glasses and held up one finger.

"First, consumer budget constraints.

Next Saturday is the second week of school; high schoolers' pocket money is already limited.

A monthly book budget is fifty to a hundred yuan at most.

We don't know the price of the physical edition of ordinary world yet, but unlike web serialization, physical books have many costs; one copy will likely cost at least several dozen yuan.

After buying Jian Shen's book, how much will be left?"

He held up a second finger.

"Second, the bandwagon effect.

Jian Shen's readership is in the tens of millions. ordinary world has already completed user education and built up a reputation during its web serialization phase.

Once the physical books hit the shelves next Saturday, social media platforms will be flooded with unboxing videos and check-in photos.

When average consumers see everyone buying the same book, herd mentality will push them straight toward Jian Shen."

A third finger.

"Third, the competitor siphon phenomenon. This is the most lethal point.

When a phenomenal product and a newcomer's work appear in the same timeframe, the phenomenal product acts like a black hole, sucking away almost all attention and traffic.

Bookstore display space is limited, media coverage is limited, and readers' time is limited.

All three of these things will be devoured completely by ordinary world next Saturday."

Li Bowen paused for two seconds, as if waiting for an answer in class.

"Conclusion: Lin Que's book signing will most likely be deserted, and his sales figures will be suppressed to a very ugly number."

The entire class was dead silent.

Li Bowen's voice carried no emotional color,

but every point of his analysis struck hard against everyone's hearts.

Wu Di sat dazed in his chair, his mouth opening and closing a few times without making a sound.

Images began to play automatically in his mind.

The second floor of a large bookstore in Shanghai.

At the left counter, the display for ordinary world is swarmed with people; the line stretches to the escalator, and security guards hold up cordons to maintain order.

Everyone is holding books with earthy yellow covers, their faces filled with a pilgrimage-like devotion.

In the right corner, a solitary signing table.

A thin stack of anthologies is piled on the table, completely ignored.

Lin Que sits behind the table, a signing pen in front of him with the cap still on.

Cold air blows directly from the AC vent, fluttering the promotional flyers on the table that no one has picked up.

Occasionally, someone walks by, glances at the nameplate on the table, gives a polite nod, and then quickens their pace toward the long line opposite him.

The more he thought, the clearer the image became, and he gripped his notebook tighter and tighter.

"No, this won't do."

Wu Di's voice exploded from beside Lin Que.

He slammed a palm onto the desk, pushed his chair back, and stood up straight.

"Classmates, we can't let Brother Que go there and lose face alone!"

The entire class's gaze snapped toward him.

Wu Di's face was flushed red, his voice hushed but full of vigor:

"Brother Que is from our Class 3! He's from No. 1 High! He represents the face of all of us!"

He pointed to the red banner with yellow characters above the blackboard.

"What does the banner at the school gate say? 'unrivaled national scholar'! Those four words were hung by the school!

If next Saturday is deserted, it won't just be Lin Que losing face; it'll be the reputation of the entire Jiangcheng No. 1 High School!"

"Therefore!" He looked around, every word resonant.

"I propose that the whole class pools our pocket money and goes offline next Saturday to boost sales!

Buy as many as we can! Ten yuan, twenty yuan, whatever you can spare!

Let's use our actions to show everyone that No. 1 High's champion didn't win for nothing!"

As soon as he finished, responses rose from all sides.

"Count me in! I'll give thirty!"

"I'll give fifty!"

"I'll make my mom buy one too!"

Wu Di went even further, raising his hand and shouting:

"I'll give a thousand! And I'll get my dad to give two thousand! We can't let people look down on us!"

The atmosphere in the classroom shifted from heavy to outright tragic and heroic.

A group of seventeen-year-olds was passionately pooling their pocket money, vowing to go head-to-head with the greatest giant in the literary world today.

Their goal was clear: even if they had to sell everything they owned, they had to preserve their brother's dignity.

Lin Que sat in the corner, watching the scene unfold.

A perfectly measured look of touched emotion was on his face, his lips slightly pursed, his eyes warm.

Under the desk, his right hand was death-gripping the flesh on the inside of his thigh.

It hurt.

But he had to.

If he laughed now, everything would be ruined.

The "competitor giant" that his hot-blooded classmates were willing to sacrifice everything to fight...

the behemoth that Li Bowen had used three economic theories to prove invincible...

the terrifying opponent that had caused Zhang Ya's eyes to redden from imagining such a miserable scene...

was currently sitting in the last row of the classroom, drinking mineral water and listening to them discuss how to pool money to defeat him.

Lin Que took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging laughter back into his chest.

He stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and bowed deeply to the class.

"I truly appreciate everyone's kindness."

"But I really can't take this money. The dignity of No. 1 High has never been bought through crowdfunding; it's written with a pen.

If you really want to support me, just sleep in on Saturday.

If I, Lin Que, can't even handle a situation like this, then winning the championship really would have been for nothing."

His voice was steady, his expression solemn, and his posture was a textbook example of "facing death with equanimity."

Wu Di excitedly grabbed his arm:

"Brother Que!"

"Go with peace of mind! We've got your back!"

Lin Que nodded vigorously.

The pinch marks on his thigh grew two shades deeper.

Ding—

The class bell rang.

The class reluctantly returned to their seats, still filled with passion, the lingering air of tragic heroism yet to dissipate.

The sound of high heels came from the hallway.

Shen Qingqiu pushed the door open and entered, lesson plans in her left hand and a notebook in her right.

The second she stepped onto the podium, she sensed something was wrong.

Every face was filled with "tragic heroism," an expression identical to when someone announces that finals have been moved up by two weeks.

Shen Qingqiu scanned the room and paused for two seconds.

"What's going on?"

No one dared to answer.

Shen Qingqiu set down her lesson plans and leaned against the edge of the podium with her arms crossed.

"Out with it. What happened?"

Fang Zhiyuan hesitantly raised his hand and explained the release date clash in a few words.

After listening, Shen Qingqiu's expression didn't change as her gaze swept toward the corner.

"Lin Que, what do you think?"

Forty pairs of eyes snapped toward him.

Lin Que stood up from his seat.

He didn't rush to speak, instead looking at the red College Entrance Examination countdown board above the blackboard,

then glancing at the freshmen running laps on the playground outside.

Then, he spoke.

"Teacher Shen, I think it's quite good."

The whole class was stunned.

"What is Teacher Jian Shen's ordinary world about? It's about how the most ordinary people survive through the hardest days."

"And who are the contestants of our Fu Zhi Yao? We are just a group of the most ordinary high school students, ordinary people desperately writing amidst piles of desks."

"Releasing on the same day isn't a clash."

Lin Que's voice was steady.

"We are peers."

...