After writing a novel again after a long absence, Jian Jing was prepared to encounter difficulties. However, the progress was much smoother than she had imagined.
She stayed at home for a week and finished the first story.
This directly prompted Kang Mucheng to change his plan and make an appointment with Director Huang to have dinner with her.
They chatted for an entire afternoon, and Jian Jing gained a lot of inspiration. Director Huang also seemed to like the setting of the second part, and the two sides reached a preliminary agreement.
Although the subsequent contract terms will take some time to work out, if nothing unexpected happens, "The Devil Doctor" will become Jian Jing's second work to be adapted into a film.
At this time, Hide and Seek had been officially released and was very popular. Everyone was familiar with Jian Jing's name, and Jinwu promoted it again, putting her name on many people's homepages.
What’s even more interesting is that after her name was listed together with Director Ding, it was now listed alongside Director Huang.
People have limited energy, and few people will search for her information carefully. Most people glance at the news and only have a simple thought in their minds - this novelist named Jian Jing is qualified to work with directors like Director Ding and Director Huang.
Kang Mucheng knew when to stop and did not do any excessive marketing, but it was still of great help to Jian Jing.
The most direct expression of this is writer Wu.
He fired mercilessly at a cultural event.
The report said: "… At the forum, when asked how he viewed new writers, Writer Wu showed a very helpless expression, 'It's good for young people to be aggressive, but writing requires experience, observation, and thinking, which are what young people should do. Otherwise, even if they get praise with temporary luck, it will soon disappear. For example, a beautiful female writer who has become quite famous recently - do writers make a living by their looks - thinks she has achieved great success, but I am not afraid of offending people. To be honest, she is far from it.'"
Jian Jing: [Grandpa looking at his phone on the subway.jpg]
Of course she remembered Writer Wu, the senior who was very dissatisfied with her at the Jinwu Anniversary Celebration. However, what was the point of criticizing her in the newspaper
Times have changed.
Being black and red is still red, and Writer Wu was just giving her popularity for nothing. She shook her head and stopped paying attention to it. What was more important right now was the book signing event during the summer vacation.
Now that "Devil Doctor" has confirmed its film and television cooperation, it has been very popular recently. And it is summer vacation, Kang Mucheng hurriedly set the schedule for the book signing event.
The date is set for July 1, the first day of summer vacation.
It was just the exam week for Jian Jing, and she didn't even have time to sleep in. She was still forced to get up at six in the morning and rush to a familiar hair salon to get her hair done.
"I go to school on weekdays and work on holidays." She sent a voice message to Kang Mucheng, "I am more of a social animal than a social animal."
Kang Capitalist Mucheng is cold-blooded and ruthless: "Be there at 8 o'clock, no lateness allowed."
Jian Jing: “…”
"Don't worry, it will be done quickly." The stylist comforted her, "Your hair will look better after a makeover. By the way, you can come and dye it again in a couple of days, so it can last longer."
Jian Jing sighed: All beauty comes at a price.
Washing her hair, conditioning it, blow-drying it, combing her hair, putting on makeup…it took her a full hour and a half before she appeared at the entrance of Butian Bookstore in a glamorous manner.
This is the most famous large bookstore in the city, located in the city center. It is not big but very famous. Whenever writers have signings, they always choose this place. “Bu Tian” means "reading makes up for the deficiencies of nature", and it is not difficult to see the ambition of the founder.
In the huge glass window, besides posters of various new books, the most eye-catching one is the billboard for her book signing event:
New popular writer Jian Jing's book signing event, "Devil Doctor" is coming
July 1, 10:00 a.m., Reading Room on the second floor of Butian Bookstore
Jian Jing stopped suddenly.
She saw that someone had drawn a heart on her name with a red marker.
Who did it? The fans
The thought flashed through her mind, she didn't care and quickly went upstairs.
There was also a sign at the stairs on the second floor. She quickly found Kang Mucheng, but before she could greet him, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The staff gathered in twos and threes, whispering to each other, and were extremely quiet.
[System: New task has been released]
[Task Name: Human Bone Incident at Book Signing Event]
[Task Description: A skeleton suddenly appeared in the bookstore where the book signing event was supposed to be held. Please find out the identity of the deceased and identify a suspect]
[Task rewards and penalties: 20 courage points for success, no penalty for failure]
Jian Jing's face changed slightly. What was supposed to come would come, but could it not come when she was having a book signing? If it couldn't be done before ten o'clock, all the hard work of everyone would be in vain.
Whether it is himself, Kang Mucheng, or "her".
"Boss Kang." She decided to make a quick decision and immediately called Kang Mucheng, "What happened?"
Kang Mucheng paused for a moment and said, "There was an accident. It's okay. I will handle it."
Jian Jing was grateful for his protection, but this was not what she wanted. She said bluntly: "This is my book signing event, I won't allow anyone to mess it up."
Kang Mucheng was stunned. He was not used to her strength. However, remembering her performance at Yuhui Villa, he sighed and gave in, "It's not a big deal. Over at the booth... there is a corpse."
"Booth?" Jian Jing was puzzled.
Kang Mucheng raised his chin and motioned for her to look at the stage.
The scene was already well-decorated, with a dark blue velvet long table in the middle where Jian Jing would sign autographs for readers. On the left side of the long table near the door, there were several exquisite roll-up banners, introducing her identity and today's work, while at the other end a crooked corpse was standing abruptly.
She frowned and looked closer.
It was not the pure white or milky white skull seen on TV, but a dirty, old light yellow color. Some places were slightly darker, some places were lighter, and the distribution was uneven.
Judging from the body shape, infants and young children can be ruled out, but at least they are teenagers or adults.
"When did this happen?" she asked the staff.
Everyone present knew her, and they pieced together what had happened: the bookstore opened at 8:30 in the morning, but because there was a book signing today, the person in charge arrived at 6:30. Jinwu's employees arrived around 7 o'clock and continued the booth setup from yesterday.
According to the plan, there was a roll-up banner on the left side of the booth and a pile of new books folded into a small house shape on the right side. But when the planner checked the media list today, he found that the number of chairs was inconsistent, so he had to temporarily adjust the layout and move the books to another place to make room for more chairs.
"I thought someone was being lazy and just threw a piece of cloth on top, so I just pulled it off casually." The staff member who found the body was still in shock, "Who knew there were bones underneath? I was scared to death."
Jian Jing saw the red velvet cloth thrown aside and asked, "Isn't this covering the book?"
"No, the books are all covered in plastic, so there's no need to cover them with cloth to keep out dust, and it won't look good," said the event planner.
She then asked, "Who remembers when the cloth appeared?"
The planner told her confidently: "It wasn't there when I left last night. The store was already closed by then."
“What time does the store close?”
The store manager looked worried and replied, "Ten o'clock in the evening."
It was eight o'clock in the morning, and the crime had been committed for a full ten hours. Jian Jing nodded and asked, "Did the police say when they would come?"
"I didn't ask them to call the police." Kang Mucheng strode over and explained, "According to police practice, this kind of non-emergency task is ranked very low, but once the news gets out, the media's attention will no longer be on you."
Jian Jing was slightly startled and couldn't help hesitating.
Kang Mucheng was right to worry. The appearance of an unidentified corpse at the book signing event would certainly attract attention from others. By then, she and "Devil Doctor" would become the background of the case and be forgotten by the public. Not only would the money and resources spent be wasted, but she would also become a target of criticism in the industry.
But she thought about it for a while and proposed another possibility: "What if it's aimed at me?"
"You mean, this is a prank, someone wants to ruin today's signing?" Kang Mucheng frowned, several names of competitors flashed through his mind, and his face looked extremely ugly.
"Not necessarily." Jian Jing said cautiously, "But if we conceal the news and someone finds out, it will be even harder for us to handle it."
Kang Mucheng pondered for a while, nodded and said, "That makes sense. It's best to solve the problem before the show starts. So, do you have any idea?"
The last words were teasing, but not sarcastic.
"I want to check the surveillance first."
This bookstore has three floors. The first floor is a regular bookstore, divided into multiple areas according to the type of books. The second floor is divided into two parts, half is books and the other half is a reading room. Every weekend, a reading club is held in the reading room, ranging from parent-child reading programs to autograph sessions by best-selling authors.
The third floor is a sky garden and cafe for guests to rest, read and take photos.
There are quite a few surveillance cameras in the bookstore, with the most installed on the ground floor to prevent theft. There are also two bookshelf areas on the second floor, but the reading room is a more private place, so there is only a camera in the corridor that can capture the door.
This camera... is broken.
Of the remaining three cameras, the one at the stairwell can capture half of the door, the other one in the corner is blocked by the bookshelf and is useless, and there is also one at the emergency exit, which can function normally.
In this way, there are cameras in both entrances and exits of the second floor, and combined with the surveillance in the elevator, people entering the second floor can be screened.
Jian Jing joined Jinwu’s work group for personal reference.
There are seven people in Jinwu’s work group: planning manager, copywriter, design director, operations assistant, editor-in-chief, assistant to the president, and Kang Mucheng.
The planning, copywriting, design, and operation are all done by Jinwu’s Publicity Department. The editor-in-charge is the editor in charge of "Devil Doctor" in the editorial department, and the assistant is from the president’s office.
Among the seven people, Design was not at the scene, and Kang Mucheng had no reason to harm her, so she was unilaterally excluded.
Looking at the bookstore again, since it was not yet opening time, there were only three people in the bookstore: the store manager, the activities manager, and the cleaner.
The store manager is the person in charge of the Butian Bookstore. The event department is the department that connects with Jinwu and is specifically responsible for planning events for the bookstore, and the author signing event is one of them.
Nine people in total.
According to the monitoring time, the arrival time of each person can be roughly determined.
06:01 The cleaner arrives at the second floor from the emergency passage and starts cleaning
06:47 The bookstore's event manager opens the door and goes from the first floor to the second floor
07:00-07:15 Planners, copywriters, and operators arrived one after another (the chat records of the work group showed that they agreed to work at around 7 o'clock)
07:30 The editor arrived
07:45 The president's assistant and Kang Mucheng arrived
07:50 The store manager arrives
08:00 Jian Jing arrives