NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 27
Years after resuming novel writing, Jian Jing was prepared for difficulties. But progress went much more smoothly than she had imagined.
She holed up at home for a week and finished the first story.
This directly prompted Kang Mu Cheng to change his plan and have dinner with Director Huang together with her.
They chatted for an afternoon. Jian Jing gained a lot of inspiration, and Director Huang also seemed to like the setting of the second part very much. The two sides reached a preliminary intention.
Although the subsequent contract terms need to be ground for a while, if nothing unexpected happens, "Demon Doctor" will become Jian Jing's second work to be adapted to the screen.
At this time, the game of hide and seek had been officially released, and was in full swing. People were not unfamiliar with Jian Jing's name, Jin Wu had also publicized it, and brushed her name to the homepages of many people.
What was even better was that after her name was associated with Director Ding, it was now tied with Director Huong.
People's energy is limited, and few people will carefully search for her information. Most people who glance over this news will only have a simple thought in their minds - this novelist named Jian Jing is qualified to cooperate with directors like Director Ding and Director Huang.
Kang Mu Cheng saw the opportunity and took it, without too much marketing, but it was still of great help to Jian Jing.
The most direct manifestation was none other than Writer Wu.
At a cultural event, he mercilessly fired shots, saying: "...At the salon, when asked how to view new writers, Writer Wu showed a very helpless expression, 'It is a good thing for young people to be aggressive, but writing requires experience. Read more and think more, this is what young people should do, otherwise even if you get praise by a stroke of luck, it will disappear very quickly. For example, a certain beautiful female writer who has gained fame recently - do writers make a living on their looks? I'm not afraid of offending people, I have to tell the truth, there is still a long way to go.'"
Jian Jing: [Old man on the subway looking at his phone.JPG]
She certainly remembered Writer Wu. He was the senior who was very dissatisfied with her at Jin Wu's annual celebration. However, what's the use of such criticism in the newspaper?
Times have changed.
Black and red are also red. Writer Wu was just giving her free publicity. She shook her head and didn't pay any more attention. What was more important now was the summer signing event.
Now that the adaptation of "Demon Doctor" has been confirmed, and the popularity has been high recently, plus it was summer vacation, Kang Mu Cheng scheduled the signing event in a rush.
The time was set at 10 am on July 1, the first day of summer vacation.
Jian Jing had just finished exam week and hadn't had time to take a lazy break. She was still forced to get up at 6 am and hurried to the familiar styling shop to do her hair.
"Going to class during normal times, going to work during vacation. She said in a voice message to Kang Mu Cheng, "I'm more corporate than corporate slaves."
Kang Mu Cheng, the capitalist: "Be there by 8 o'clock, don't be late."
Jian Jing: "..."
"Don't worry, it won't take long." The stylist comforted her, "It only takes a little work to make your hair look good. By the way, you can come for a touch-up in a couple of days to maintain it longer."
Jian Jing sighed: All beauty comes at a price.
Washing hair, conditioning, blow drying, styling, makeup... She spent a full hour and a half before appearing at the entrance of Tian Bookstore looking bright and beautiful.
This was the most famous large bookstore in the city, located in the downtown area. The place was not big, but it was very famous. Any writer signing events were mostly held here. Tian means "reading makes up for natural inadequacies", which is not difficult to see the ambition of the founder.
In addition to the posters of various new books on the shelves in the huge glass display windows, the most conspicuous thing was her signing event poster:
New popular writer Jian Jing signing event, Demon Doctor coming aggressively
July 1, 10 am Tian Bookstore 2nd floor reading room
Jian Jing suddenly stopped.
She saw that someone had drawn a little heart on her name with a red marker.
Who did it? A fan?
The thought flashed through her mind and was gone in an instant. She hurried upstairs.
There was also a direction sign at the top of the stairs on the second floor. She quickly found Kang Mu Cheng, but before she could say hello, her heart skipped a beat.
The staff gathered in twos and threes, whispering, strangely quiet.
[System: New mission released]
[Mission name: Skeleton incident at signing event]
[Mission description: A skeleton suddenly appeared in the bookstore where a signing event was supposed to be held. Please identify the identity of the deceased and lock in a suspect]
[Mission Rewards and Penalties: 20 courage points for success, no penalty for failure]
Jian Jing's expression changed slightly. It had to come eventually, but did it have to come when she was doing a signing event? If it couldn't be resolved before 10 o'clock, everyone's hard work would be in vain.
Whether it was herself, Kang Mu Cheng, or "her".
"Mr. Kang." She made up her mind to make a quick decision, and immediately called Kang Mu Cheng, "What happened?"
Kang Mu Cheng paused briefly and said, "There was a little accident, it's nothing, I'll take care of it."
Jian Jing appreciated his protection, but that was not what she wanted. She was straightforward: "This is my signing event, I won't let anyone mess it up."
Kang Mu Cheng was taken aback, not quite used to her strength. However, remembering her performance at Yuhui Villa, he sighed and conceded, "It's not a big deal either. Over by the display stand...a skeleton appeared."
"Display stand?" Jian Jing was puzzled.
Kang Mu Cheng tilted his chin to indicate she should look at the stage.
The scene had already been set up seven or eight parts done, with a deep blue velvet long table in the middle where Jian Jing would sign for readers. On the left side of the long table near the door, there were several exquisite pull-up banners, introducing her identity and today's works. On the other end, however, was an incongruous fallen skeleton.
She frowned and took a closer look.
It wasn't the pure white or off-white skull she had seen on TV, but a dirty, old, pale yellow color, some parts slightly darker, some parts lighter, unevenly distributed.
Judging by the body type, infants and young children could be ruled out, at least a teenager or an adult.
"When did this appear?" she asked the staff.
Everyone present knew her, and they talked about what happened, piecing together the course of events: The bookstore opens at 8:30 in the morning, but because there was a signing event today, the person in charge arrived at 6:30. Jin Wu's employees began to arrive around 7 o'clock and continued yesterday's booth setup. According to plan, the left side of the booth was pull up banners, and the right side was a pile of new books stacked into a small house shape. But today when the planner checked the media list, he found discrepancies in the number of chairs, and had to adjust the layout temporarily, moving the books elsewhere to make room for more seats.
"I thought someone was being lazy and left the cloth on it, so I just pulled it casually," said the staff member who discovered the skeleton, still in shock. "Who knew it was bones underneath, it scared me to death."
Jian Jing saw the red velvet cloth tossed to the side: "Wasn't this covering the books?"
"No, the books are shrink-wrapped, no need to cover them to prevent dust, and it doesn't look good either," the event planner said.
She asked again, "Does anyone remember when the cloth appeared?"
The planner told her very positively: "It wasn't there last night when I left, the store was already closed then."
"What time does the store close?"
The store manager looked very worried and replied, "10 pm."
It was now 8 in the morning, a full 10 hours for the crime to take place. Jian Jing nodded, asking, "Did the police say when they would come?"
"I didn't call them to report it," Kang Mu Cheng said as he strode over to explain, "According to the police's practice, this kind of non-emergency task is very low priority. But once the news spreads, the media's focus won't be on you anymore."
Jian Jing hesitated slightly, taken aback.
Kang Mu Cheng's concern was justified. The appearance of an unidentified skeleton at the signing scene would certainly attract the attention of outsiders. At that time, she and "Demon Doctor" would become the background boards of the case, forgotten by the public. Not only would the money and resources invested be in vain, she would also become a laughingstock in the industry.
But after considering it for a moment, she raised another possibility: "What if it was meant for me?"
"You mean this is a prank and someone wants to sabotage today's signing?" Kang Mu Cheng frowned, thinking of several competitors, his expression extremely ugly.
"Not necessarily," Jian Jing said cautiously. "It's just that if the news is kept secret and someone makes trouble on site, we'll be even less prepared to deal with it."
Kang Mu Cheng pondered for a long time, nodded and said, "That makes sense, it's best to resolve the matter before opening." With a teasing tone in his last words, "How about it, do you have any clues?"
"I want to look at the surveillance footage first."
This bookstore has three floors. The first floor is an ordinary bookstore, divided into multiple areas by book genre. The second floor is split in half, half books and half reading room. Every weekend, the reading room holds reading events, from parent-child reading programs to book signings by bestselling authors.
The third floor is a rooftop garden and cafe for customers to rest, read, and socialize.
The number of security cameras in the bookstore is neither too many nor too few. The first floor has the most to prevent theft, and the bookshelves area on the second floor also has two. But the reading room is a more private space, so there is only one in the corridor that can capture the front door.
However, this camera...was broken.
Of the remaining three cameras, one on the stairs could capture half the door, another in the corner was blocked by bookshelves and useless, and there was one by the emergency exit that was functioning properly.
This meant that the two entrances to the second floor were covered, plus the elevator cameras, it was possible to screen out the people who entered the second floor.
Jian Jing joined Jin Wu's work group and went through them one by one.
There were seven people in Jin Wu's work group: the planning manager, copywriter, design director, operations assistant, managing editor, president's assistant, and Kang Mu Cheng.
Planning, copywriting, design, operations were all from Jin Wu's PR department. The managing editor was the editor in charge of "Demon Doctor". The assistant was from the president's office.
Among the seven people, She Ji was not at the scene, and Kang Mu Cheng had no reason to harm her, so she can be ruled out unilaterally.
Looking at the bookstore side, since it wasn't yet opening hours, there were only three people at the bookstore: the store manager, the events department manager, and the cleaner.
The store manager was the person in charge of this Tian Tian Bookstore, the events department was the department that liaised with Jin Wu, and was responsible for planning events for the bookstore, including book signings by authors.
In total there were nine people.
Based on the timestamps from the surveillance footage, the approximate arrival times of each person can be determined:
06:01 - The cleaner arrived on the 2nd floor via the security passage and began cleaning
06:47 - The events manager of the bookstore opened the door and went from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor
07:00-07:15 - The planner, copywriter, and operations staff arrived one after another (according to their work group chat records, their agreed arrival time was around 7am)
07:30 - The managing editor arrived
07:45 - The CEO's assistant and Kang Mu Cheng arrived
07:50 - The store manager arrived
08:00 - Jian Jing arrived