Chapter 443: Four Days, Four Cities, Seventy Thousand People

Chapter 443: Four Days, Four Cities, Seventy Thousand People

On the 27th, Meng Fan’s book signing at the Shanghai Stadium began at 9 a.m. As with the day before, people had already started queuing outside the venue while the sky was barely light. By the time the doors opened at 8:30, two long lines had formed outside, and fans filed in one after another to wait in assigned seats. Many manga fans had seen it the day before—damn, it was packed!

“2.76 million!”

“What’s 2.76 million?”

“At midnight, they reported the first-day sales of Volume 9 at 2.3 million, right? Just a little while ago, new online sales data came out: from midnight to 7:04 a.m., it increased by exactly 460,000. That means the single-volume sales of Volume 9 have reached 2.76 million!”

“I don’t really get it!”

“Look!”

“Holy crap! That’s just surpassed the first-edition single-volume sales of *Attack on Titan 13*!”

“Yeah! If these sales were in Japan, *Mountain and Sea Strange People* would be the second-highest-selling single volume in Japanese manga history! Second only to *One Piece*!”

“The highest-selling volume of *One Piece* seems to be over four million, right?”

“Yeah! And there are plenty of volumes over three million!”

“Given the current trend, it seems no problem for Meng Fan’s volume to hit three million!”

“Three million is definitely no issue, but reaching four million might be tough—it depends on what happens next! After three million, every additional ten thousand is hard! Unless some big spender throws money at it, but then it loses its meaning!”

“That’s right! It still comes down to the manga’s popularity after the Olympics’ influence fades!”

“The quality of the manga is undeniable, and our country’s manga market is growing every day. It’s not impossible for the market size to surpass Japan’s!”

“Speaking of which, what I’m most looking forward to is *Mountain and Sea Strange People* doing well in Japan!”

“I hope that day comes! And I believe it will!”

“Of course! Meng Fan’s popularity in Japan is sky-high, hahaha, and the manga quality is there. What’s missing now is time! Of course, it’s important not to mess up later on!”

“That’s how long-running manga works!”

“...”

The “neighbors” seated in the audience chatted with each other while waiting for Meng Fan to appear, sharing many common topics and quickly getting acquainted. As for how many bromances or couples would emerge from this, it was hard to calculate.

Meng Fan entered the venue at 8:55, greeted everyone, waved his hand, and the highlights from the competition started playing on the big screen. Naturally, the audience’s teasing followed, and the signing began amid lively laughter and chatter.

This signing in Shanghai didn’t have the amusing incident of “free lunch entering the venue,” but the excitement was even greater than in Hangzhou—one could even say it was quite lively.

Around 11-something, a staff member came up to Meng Fan and said something. Then, the waiting fans saw the staff member bring out a familiar face—none other than Shi Shiwu!

“Shi Shiwu!”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Haha, the guy who messed up his live stream last night is here!”

“Bro, I remember his screw-up was around 3 a.m., right? You watched until three, then came to queue in the morning—are you that dedicated?”

“Aren’t you the same, hahahaha!”

“So, is there some shady deal between these two, hahahaha!”

“They hooked up at Shi Shiwu’s Lion City concert last time, right?”

“I heard Shi Shiwu said he’d write a song for Meng Fan—wonder if he’s done it yet?”

“Maybe he’s here to deliver the song!”

“...”

“You’re here.”

Meng Fan greeted Shi Shiwu, finished the signature he was working on, then smiled apologetically at the people behind him, signaling them to wait. He took the microphone handed over by a staff member and said to the entire audience, “Teacher Shi is here to cut in line. I have to ask you all if that’s okay. Of course, if he wants to cut, you can make some demands.”

As soon as Meng Fan said this, the whole crowd erupted in cheers.

“Sing!”

“Sing!”

“Sing!”

Well—there were also some less harmonious chants, like—kiss one.

Of course, the reason Meng Fan was leading the crowd was that Shi Shiwu had already mentioned it himself beforehand. Otherwise, even if Shi Shiwu was a singer, it wouldn’t be polite to just randomly stir up the crowd to make him sing.

And Shi Shiwu hadn’t come just for an autograph, nor did he need to ride on someone else’s popularity. He was genuinely interested in Meng Fan and wanted to get to know him better, to see if they could become friends.

Shi Shiwu went with the flow, sang a song, then got his autograph and left, saying he was going back to catch up on sleep.

About an hour after Shi Shiwu left, more people arrived. This time it was Su Qingcen, Bai Zhi, and Meng Caiwei. These three certainly weren’t there for autographs—Meng Caiwei went without saying, and everyone knew Su Qingcen and Bai Zhi were familiar with Meng Fan. Asking for autographs would have been over the top. They had come to bring food.

The signing in Shanghai, like in Hangzhou, ended close to midnight. Even at midnight, many fans stayed behind, waiting to take photos with Meng Fan.

After this, Meng Fan didn’t need to rush overnight to the third stop, the capital. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t make it—there were no flights or trains that late, and driving frantically wouldn’t guarantee arrival in time. So he waited for the earliest flight to the capital the next day. Even at the earliest, he landed at 9-something in the morning and reached the signing venue by ten, meaning the signing in the capital started at ten.

Starting an hour late, Meng Fan sped up a bit to make up for it, and in the end, the number of signings was similar to Shanghai’s.

During this time, celebrities also showed up, even more than in Shanghai, including Teacher He, whom he had met a few times, added on WeChat, and kept in touch with, along with several athletes based in the capital.

After the capital signing ended, Meng Fan rushed to Shenzhen early the next morning. Once that signing was done, this first round of domestic signings came to a close.

Four days, four cities, signing for nearly 70,000 people—anyone else would have collapsed, at least their hand would be ruined. But for Meng Fan, it was okay.

His hand definitely wouldn’t be ruined. To be honest, to allow time for fans to meet and interact with him, Meng Fan had deliberately slowed down. Otherwise, even 20,000 people a day could be signed quickly, cutting the time in half without much trouble. Physically, he was fine, and sleep was even less of an issue.

Of course, Meng Fan wasn’t tired, but the staff following him were exhausted.

After the signing in Shenzhen, even though Meng Fan offered to take them out for a late-night meal anywhere they wanted, followed by a second round of their choice, they all waved him off and chose to go back to the hotel to crash.

The next day, Meng Fan didn’t return directly to Hangzhou. Instead, under the guidance of a senior named Yi Xin, he visited the Penguin Animation headquarters.

(The End)