Chapter 27

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.

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