Chapter 53: The Comeback to Victory [Third Update!]

With money in his pocket, Zhang Chu naturally felt unhurried. He spent over seven thousand yuan on a third-generation HP Omen gaming laptop, completely swept away by the salesman's persuasive pitch. In reality, he didn't play games often, nor did he need the memory for graphic design or any other demanding software; all he really needed was to install Word for writing.

The three of them—Zhang Chu and his parents—couldn't resist the salesman's relentless eloquence, especially when the purchase came with a generous gift bundle: a mouse and, most notably, an Amazon Kindle, which was perfect for Zhang Chu.

It was summer break, and many incoming freshmen in Jiangcheng were choosing to buy brand-new laptops. The promotional bundles offered by the stores were genuinely appealing.

Once home, Zhang Chu eagerly connected his new laptop to the WiFi and used a flash drive to transfer everything over from his old computer.

He had barely written a fifth of the second chapter of “Detective Sherlock” and figured he might as well try out the new keyboard and see how it felt.

Though not quite a two-finger typist, Zhang Chu had never trained professionally, so his speed was nothing to boast about. He relied entirely on pinyin input, not the more advanced Wubi method, and had to constantly check for typos and mistakes.

“Sigh, this is really a bit slow. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have chosen a TV series with only videos and no scripts!”

Turning images and videos into words was no easy feat; it was a real test of patience. Zhang Chu had jumped straight into a high-difficulty challenge, so it was no wonder he grumbled as he typed.

The new keyboard felt quite nice—soft keys, a cool red backlight, and a quiet typing sound. Overall, it was designed for comfort and did a good job of protecting his fingers.

Time was short, but in two hours, Zhang Chu had written over four thousand words—just a first draft, of course, requiring many revisions before it was ready.

...

June 30th was a special date: the last day of the first half of 2018, and also the deadline for the Warner Brothers film “Sherlock Holmes” writing contest.

Warner Brothers, Suiyue Mystery Magazine, and countless online fans of the contest had their eyes fixed on the top two spots in the rankings.

“The Will of Holmes” still held onto first place. Even though Xu Fei quickly deleted his Weibo after his scandal broke, the impact was huge.

The entire contest had turned into a farce, yet Warner Brothers insisted on keeping the target up for all to see, drawing in countless online tourists.

Now, everyone was hoping for a fig leaf to cover the embarrassment—to finally knock that damn book down from the top!

“What on earth are Warner Brothers thinking? This contest feels so abrupt and inconclusive.”

...

At her desk, Liu Qiao kept refreshing the page. Technically, all these works were chosen by Suiyue Mystery Magazine, so she shouldn’t have a preference.

But things had gotten out of hand, turning into a stain on the world of mystery fiction—one that would be brought up repeatedly for a long time.

Across from her, her colleague Wan Yuan slapped his hand on the desk. “Hey, everyone, look! ‘Detective Sherlock’ has finally taken the lead!”

“Really? After all this time, it finally climbed to the top!”

“Zhang Chu deserves first place. He’s worthy of the title.”

“Thank goodness Xu Fei didn’t win—otherwise our magazine would be infamous right along with him.”

“Don’t celebrate too soon; there are still a few hours left. What if Xu Fei manages a last-minute surge?”

Liu Qiao quickly sent the good news to Zhang Chu, not wanting to give rival magazines a chance to poach him.

...

Busy working on his novel at the new computer, Zhang Chu didn’t even notice his phone buzzing beside his bed. He was about to wrap up the story, wholly absorbed in his writing.

He wanted to finish “Detective Sherlock” in one go. This project had dragged on long enough—for what was meant to be a short story to earn a 500-yuan-per-thousand-words fee, he never expected to be contending for first place.

Mystery fiction was hardly mainstream; the current attention was due to his special status. Once the “top scorer” aura faded, most readers would inevitably drift away.

A change of path was inevitable; Zhang Chu couldn’t afford to invest years building a slow-burn career in mysteries.

“If all goes well, I can hand in the second chapter to the magazine tomorrow. Who knows what Nanhai Publishing is thinking?”

He saved his draft to the cloud, then opened his browser, found the contest’s website in his bookmarks, and clicked in.

At that moment, “Detective Sherlock” had edged ahead of “The Will of Holmes” by 1.36 million votes, staging a last-minute comeback in the final hours!

Meanwhile, in discussions about modern adaptations of Holmes, Zhang Bowen’s “The Science of Deduction” had also quietly climbed to the edge of the top ten.

If Zhang Bowen were willing to reveal his identity, the attention his piece could garner would be far greater.

...

Father and son appearing on the leaderboard at the same time was both a delightful anecdote and a potential source of controversy. Rumors of ghostwriting were bound to surface. What’s more, Zhang Bowen was a proud man; seeing his son achieve so much, he didn’t want to ride his coattails—he wanted to surpass him through his own efforts.

“First place at last. What a bumpy journey it’s been,” Zhang Chu mused. Released only in the final days of the month and to have pulled off such a comeback—it was nothing short of a dream.

Chu Lan joyfully took a screenshot of the rankings and posted it to her Moments to show off. In the past month, she’d posted more than she had in the entire previous year.

“My son has taken first place again—amazing! [Thumbs up]”

Her Moments was full of relatives, friends, colleagues, and parents of her students; they’d all watched Zhang Chu go from TV appearances, to the “Death of Red Hare” revelation, to his college entrance exam results and acceptance—completely bombarded by his achievements.

This time, the likes flooded in; there was never a shortage of those happy to celebrate success.

Zhang Chu glanced at his mother’s Moments and couldn’t help walking into the living room to complain, “Mom, I really think you should tone it down a bit. If you keep this up, your friends might end up blocking you.”

“Why? They’re always bragging about their own kids. Why shouldn’t I be able to show off too?” Chu Lan was genuinely puzzled.

“No, no. I just worry that those uncles and aunties will see the gap between their kids and me and start to feel upset. Their children might suffer for it. Give them a little breathing room!”

“True. Just yesterday, your Aunt Zhen signed her boy, Xiao Qiang, up for two summer courses—and he’s only in third grade!” Chu Lan realized it wasn’t good to keep stirring things up. “Alright, I’ll wait a few days before posting again.”

From the side, Zhang Bowen gave Zhang Chu a thumbs-up. Clearly, that thick-skinned attitude wasn’t inherited from him!

***

Three updates delivered on time. Birthday bowl ready—please recommend, bookmark, and tip me with the full package~

Friends, let me linger a little longer on the homepage’s new book rankings!