Chapter 596: Game Changer
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Pi, what happened?" asked Zhang Zian as he followed it upstairs.
Pi could barely wait to grab his hand and pull him towards the desk.
"Eek eek! Eek eek!" Pi was jumping up and down with excitement. Zhang Zian had never seen it so excited before. Its strength was recovered, with even more energy than when it had first arrived at the pet shop.
"Easy, easy! Don't hurt yourself!" Zhang Zian quickly reminded it, scared that it might fall over in such eagerness.
Pi pointed at the screen, to the website's work management page. The number of Favorites was at a shocking 735.
"What?" Zhang Zian rubbed his eyes, thinking that maybe he read the wrong number. But after another look, the number was still 735.
"Is there a glitch in the website? Sometimes programmers like to play pranks near the end of year. They could have gotten a new job and decided to fool around with the website. Their boss will give them a hard time for doing this." He was trying to find a reasonable explanation for the unbelievable occurance in front of him.
He did advertise in the Library last night so that Pi could get more readers. But getting 600 more Favorites overnight was too wild. Instead of a miracle, he'd rather believe that the website was glitching.
"Refresh the page," he suggested.
Pi obeyed and refreshed it.
The number of Favorites: 741.
Another refresh.
The number of Favorites: 749.
The number increased with almost every refresh.
"Eek eek! Eek eek!"
Pi joyfully clicked the mouse, and kept repeatedly refreshing the page.
Zhang Zian stared at the growing number with elation, not thinking about anything else. If he was in a dream, he hoped that he would never wake up.
"Pi, check out the comments. If there are really this many real readers, they'll surely have left some comments," he said. Although he was also thrilled, he had to remain calm, just in case it turned out to be fake.
Pi listened to him and clicked through the comment section. Zhang Zian was surprised to see that the section was filled with comments, mostly with words of encouragement.
[Fantasy Night 1]: Not bad. I read all of it in one sitting, mostly interested in the stories about hunting pets. They all have their good parts though, and the descriptions about pets are well written (although I don't know if they're correct). But for reading, the feeling is the most important thing. I'm caught up.
[virtualhai]: It's excellent. I just started it today. Haven't seen such nice stories in a long time~
[Drowning by books]: Author~ Four recommendation votes are yours from now on. Will not stop until you go viral.
[I am the sparking light]: Author, please check out the recommendation comments for your book, written in the other libraries. It's quite useful.
[tn134]: Keep it up. You're recommended by the Library. I'm hopeful for you!
Before today, there were only three comments in the comment section. Now, there was at least a dozen, and new ones kept getting posted.
It wasn't only the comments and Favorites, but also the numbers of clicks and recommendation votes. They were growing at an incredible rate, almost exponentially!
After reading the various comments, Zhang Zian thought that it couldn't be a dream, because dreams could never be this beautiful.
Now, he could finally see that the advertisement he posted the other night had worked. Pi's novel was now liked by a variety of list creators, and was added to their libraries.
But he didn't plan on telling anyone about it, because there wasn't any reason to. Pi was the author of the novel. All he had done himself was some trivial advertising, just like when he advertised for Uncle Li.
"Do you see that? Everybody loves your book. Congrats! Don't ever say that you're not meant to be a writer," he said while looking straight into Pi's eyes.
"Eek eek! Eek eek!"
Pi grabbed tightly onto his arms and cried like a baby. Its tears ran down its face like pearls falling from a broken necklace.
"Stop crying, Pi, you should be happy now!" He comforted it by tapping its shoulder, and handed it a tissue. Even in its worst moments, Pi didn't cry. But now, when things were getting better, it decided to cry.
He could understand its emotions. This was similar to when Zhao Qi first walked into his pet shop. After being lonely and hiding his feelings for so long, the sun finally came out. Pi started writing on a whim, but gradually it had invested all of its time and energy into it, and had even stopped reading Chinese books. Now that it was finally paying off, how could it not be thrilled?
Pi took the tissue, wiped its tears, and nodded. Still, tears streamed down its face uncontrollably.
Zhang Zian stopped trying to comfort it, and let it cry as much as it wanted to. It would be best if it could let out all of the negative energy it had been building up for so long, and then allow it to move on in relief.
Lu Yiyun called for him a few times from downstairs. She wanted to ask him about the business registration. He asked her to deal with it herself, saying that he was busy. He felt like Pi needed him more in that moment.
After a while, Pi finally stopped crying. Its eyes were puffy, but it still was smiling.
"Eek." It pointed at a comment for him to look at.
[Aroma in Dreams]: I like the imagination of the Schrödinger's cat, so cute and adorable. I like Maneki-neko too, so silly and cute. Hope to see more adorable cats in the future.
Zhang Zian laughed. "This person thinks that Galaxy is only fictional. Galaxy would cry if it read this."
"Eek?"
Pi stared at him expectantly, and typed in a Word file, Everybody likes cats. Will anyone like me?
Zhang Zian paused and suddenly came to a realization. He said, "Of course, someone will like you for sure! It's just that you haven't appeared yet. After your appearance, I'm sure you'll have lots of fans! Not just you, but Old Time Tea, Richard, Snowy Lionet, and Famous too. All of them will be liked, I promise!"
Really? But I'm not as cute as a cat, or as impressive as a dog. And I can't talk like a parrot, Pi typed, desolately drooping its head.
It wanted to be liked, but it dared not wish for it, because it wasn't sure why exactly people would want to like it.
"Of course I mean it." Zhang Zian encouraged it. "Pi, don't look down on yourself. Maybe you aren't as cute as a cat, or as impressive as a dog, and can't talk like a parrot. Because you aren't a cat, dog, or parrot. You're Pi, and you're unique. You don't need to compare yourself with them. You have a pair of crafty hands, and an intelligent brain. You can even use a computer and write novels. None of them have these talents. Keep your head up."
Pi lifted its head slowly, and gazed into Zhang Zian's eyes.
"Pi, can you promise me? Don't hang your head down anymore. Face the world with your head up, like Fina and Old Time Tea, would you?" He spoke seriously.
Pi bit its lips and vigorously nodded its head.