I Became an All-round Artist

On the last night of June, as seventy thousand copies of The Legend of the Immortal were unloaded into the warehouses and shelves of Jing'an Bookstore, the company erupted in chaos!

"Are you out of your mind, Pei Du?"

"You ordered seventy thousand copies of The Legend of the Immortal?"

"Do you even know how much other bookstores in Qinzhou ordered?"

"None of them even ordered more than ten thousand!"

"Everyone else is avoiding it, but you treat it like a treasure?"

"Did you take a kickback from Silver Blue Publishing?"

Pei Du received several calls from higher-ups, filled with accusations, doubts, and concerns. His response to every call was the same: "If there’s a problem, I’ll take responsibility."

Was he regretting it?

Maybe a little.

The reaction from the higher-ups was much more intense than he had anticipated. Even his subordinates were worried, thinking Pei Du had been swindled by Silver Blue Publishing.

"The general manager is in deep trouble now."

"Silver Blue must be desperate to sell the book, so they unloaded it all on us."

"All we can do is hope that more readers buy it tomorrow."

"With seventy thousand copies in stock, we’ll sell as much as we can, but the more that’s left, the bigger the blame on the manager."

"..."

Pei Du gritted his teeth. At this point, regret was pointless. He gave three quick orders:

First, the company's website homepage must feature The Legend of the Immortal tomorrow.

Second, starting tonight, all Jing'an Bookstore banners should be replaced with promotions for The Legend of the Immortal.

Third, in all branches of Jing'an Bookstore, the prime front-row shelves should only display The Legend of the Immortal. All other books should be moved to less prominent summer reading sections.

Pei Du wanted every customer walking into Jing'an Bookstore to immediately notice The Legend of the Immortal.

"Understood."

His staff had no choice but to comply. The general manager had clearly gone off the deep end.

Naturally, the big move didn’t escape the attention of industry insiders. Everyone who caught wind of the news had the same reaction:

Pei Du has lost his mind!

No one knew what kind of crazy potion Silver Blue Publishing had given Pei Du, but for him to go this big, it seemed like he was gambling with his position as general manager.

"He's pushing it too far."

"Is Pei Du a superfan of Chu Kuang?"

"Other than a fan, I can’t think of anyone else who would have so much faith in The Legend of the Immortal."

"He might get fired over this."

"While everyone else is playing it safe, he's going all in."

"…"

Bookstores in Qinzhou were naturally in competition with one another, and many laughed when they saw how much Pei Du was risking. If the book didn’t sell, Jing'an Bookstore would surely survive, but losing out on seventy thousand copies would still be a significant blow. If The Legend of the Immortal flopped, Jing'an’s reputation would take a hit, which is exactly what competitors were hoping for.

Everyone was eagerly awaiting the next day.

That night, Pei Du couldn’t sleep. He felt uneasy, lying awake until dawn.

"So painful…"

People in their forties don’t handle all-nighters well, and Pei Du, at forty years old, was no exception. After a sleepless night, his head throbbed. A cup of water helped him feel a little better.

Should he go back to sleep?

Shaking his head, Pei Du decided to visit one of the bookstores, as he couldn’t shake off his anxiety.

Jing'an Bookstore, the fifth-largest bookstore in Qinzhou, had several branches in Su City alone. Pei Du went to the largest one.

This particular branch had three floors.

After arriving, Pei Du ordered the doors to be opened and did a quick inspection. Just as he requested, The Legend of the Immortal banners filled the store, and the front-row shelves, reserved for the store’s top recommendations, were stacked with the book.

Across Su City... no, across all of Qinzhou, only Jing'an Bookstore gave The Legend of the Immortal such high visibility.

"Manager, the store hasn’t opened yet."

A nervous employee gently reminded him, knowing all too well the stakes Pei Du faced today.

"No worries."

Pei Du waved it off and found a corner seat to rest his eyes.

The staff went about preparing for the day, too afraid to say much.

An hour later, the bookstore officially opened.

The bustle of customers filled the air, waking Pei Du from his half-sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he saw a steady stream of customers entering the store.

Huh?

The customers seemed surprised.

They quickly noticed that from banners to walls to shelves, the entire bookstore was promoting The Legend of the Immortal, making it impossible to miss.

It was rare for a book to receive such aggressive promotion.

Naturally, curious customers began picking up The Legend of the Immortal and flipping through its pages.

Pei Du’s drowsiness vanished in an instant, his red eyes fixated on each customer holding the book, as his mind screamed just two words:

Buy it!

Buy it!

Buy it!

Pei Du even had the urge to personally go up and make a sales pitch, but this wasn’t a clothing store. Approaching customers out of the blue would likely scare them away.

And he did scare someone.

One customer, who had just picked up The Legend of the Immortal, suddenly noticed a man in the corner staring at him with bloodshot eyes, nearly causing him to drop the book in fright.

"My apologies."

Pei Du coughed and waved his hand, apologizing repeatedly as he quickly looked away. But his peripheral vision stayed locked on the customers, while his mind’s little voice kept shouting:

Buy it!

Buy it!

Buy it!

It was almost mystical—after that inner chant, the first customer who picked up The Legend of the Immortal actually went to the register to buy it.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

More and more customers began picking up The Legend of the Immortal, to the point where the cashiers started exchanging glances:

Is this selling well?

Could it be the result of the heavy promotion?

That question was answered half an hour later when two-thirds of the books on the The Legend of the Immortal shelf had already sold, leaving the top rows empty. The speed at which it was selling was astonishing!

"It’s selling this fast?"

The cashiers’ wide-eyed expressions said it all. Their experience told them that it wasn’t just the promotion—it was the quality of the book driving these sales!

Soon, another customer arrived at the counter with a copy of The Legend of the Immortal, looking excited as he said, "I’d like to check out."

"Is this book really that good?" One cashier couldn’t help but ask, realizing too late that her question was inappropriate.

"Haha."

The customer paused, then laughed. "Is that even a question?"

"Of course, it's a statement."

Pei Du, who had somehow made his way to the counter, smiled at the customer before turning to his staff and growling in a low, nasal voice:

"Why are you standing there? Go restock now!"

The cashiers froze for a moment before realizing that the shelves, once filled with The Legend of the Immortal, were nearly empty.

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