"Pi, what happened?" asked Zhang Zian as he followed it upstairs .
Pi could barely wait to grab his hand and pull him towards the desk .
"Eek eek! Eek eek!" Pi was jumping up and down with excitement . Zhang Zian had never seen it so excited before . Its strength was recovered, with even more energy than when it had first arrived at the pet shop .
"Easy, easy! Don't hurt yourself!" Zhang Zian quickly reminded it, scared that it might fall over in such eagerness .
Pi pointed at the screen, to the website's work management page . The number of Favorites was at a shocking 735 .
"What?" Zhang Zian rubbed his eyes, thinking that maybe he read the wrong number . But after another look, the number was still 735 .
"Is there a glitch in the website? Sometimes programmers like to play pranks near the end of year . They could have gotten a new job and decided to fool around with the website . Their boss will give them a hard time for doing this . " He was trying to find a reasonable explanation for the unbelievable occurance in front of him .
He did advertise in the Library last night so that Pi could get more readers . But getting 600 more Favorites overnight was too wild . Instead of a miracle, he'd rather believe that the website was glitching .
"Refresh the page," he suggested .
Pi obeyed and refreshed it .
The number of Favorites: 741 .
Another refresh .
The number of Favorites: 749 .
The number increased with almost every refresh .
"Eek eek! Eek eek!"
Pi joyfully clicked the mouse, and kept repeatedly refreshing the page .
Zhang Zian stared at the growing number with elation, not thinking about anything else . If he was in a dream, he hoped that he would never wake up .
"Pi, check out the comments . If there are really this many real readers, they'll surely have left some comments," he said . Although he was also thrilled, he had to remain calm, just in case it turned out to be fake .
Pi listened to him and clicked through the comment section . Zhang Zian was surprised to see that the section was filled with comments, mostly with words of encouragement .
[Fantasy Night 1]: Not bad . I read all of it in one sitting, mostly interested in the stories about hunting pets . They all have their good parts though, and the descriptions about pets are well written (although I don't know if they're correct) . But for reading, the feeling is the most important thing . I'm caught up .
[virtualhai]: It's excellent . I just started it today . Haven't seen such nice stories in a long time~
[Drowning by books]: Author~ Four recommendation votes are yours from now on . Will not stop until you go viral .
[I am the sparking light]: Author, please check out the recommendation comments for your book, written in the other libraries . It's quite useful .
[tn134]: Keep it up . You're recommended by the Library . I'm hopeful for you!
Before today, there were only three comments in the comment section . Now, there was at least a dozen, and new ones kept getting posted .
It wasn't only the comments and Favorites, but also the numbers of clicks and recommendation votes . They were growing at an incredible rate, almost exponentially!
After reading the various comments, Zhang Zian thought that it couldn't be a dream, because dreams could never be this beautiful .
Now, he could finally see that the advertisement he posted the other night had worked . Pi's novel was now liked by a variety of list creators, and was added to their libraries .
But he didn't plan on telling anyone about it, because there wasn't any reason to . Pi was the author of the novel . All he had done himself was some trivial advertising, just like when he advertised for Uncle Li .
"Do you see that? Everybody loves your book . Congrats! Don't ever say that you're not meant to be a writer," he said while looking straight into Pi's eyes .
"Eek eek! Eek eek!"
Pi grabbed tightly onto his arms and cried like a baby . Its tears ran down its face like pearls falling from a broken necklace .
"Stop crying, Pi, you should be happy now!" He comforted it by tapping its shoulder, and handed it a tissue . Even in its worst moments, Pi didn't cry . But now, when things were getting better, it decided to cry .
He could understand its emotions . This was similar to when Zhao Qi first walked into his pet shop . After being lonely and hiding his feelings for so long, the sun finally came out . Pi started writing on a whim, but gradually it had invested all of its time and energy into it, and had even stopped reading Chinese books . Now that it was finally paying off, how could it not be thrilled?
Pi took the tissue, wiped its tears, and nodded . Still, tears streamed down its face uncontrollably .
Zhang Zian stopped trying to comfort it, and let it cry as much as it wanted to . It would be best if it could let out all of the negative energy it had been building up for so long, and then allow it to move on in relief .
Lu Yiyun called for him a few times from downstairs . She wanted to ask him about the business registration . He asked her to deal with it herself, saying that he was busy . He felt like Pi needed him more in that moment .
After a while, Pi finally stopped crying . Its eyes were puffy, but it still was smiling .
"Eek . " It pointed at a comment for him to look at .
[Aroma in Dreams]: I like the imagination of the Schrödinger's cat, so cute and adorable . I like Maneki-neko too, so silly and cute . Hope to see more adorable cats in the future .
Zhang Zian laughed . "This person thinks that Galaxy is only fictional . Galaxy would cry if it read this . "
"Eek?"
Pi stared at him expectantly, and typed in a Word file, Everybody likes cats . Will anyone like me?
Zhang Zian paused and suddenly came to a realization . He said, "Of course, someone will like you for sure! It's just that you haven't appeared yet . After your appearance, I'm sure you'll have lots of fans! Not just you, but Old Time Tea, Richard, Snowy Lionet, and Famous too . All of them will be liked, I promise!"
Really? But I'm not as cute as a cat, or as impressive as a dog . And I can't talk like a parrot, Pi typed, desolately drooping its head .
It wanted to be liked, but it dared not wish for it, because it wasn't sure why exactly people would want to like it .
"Of course I mean it . " Zhang Zian encouraged it . "Pi, don't look down on yourself . Maybe you aren't as cute as a cat, or as impressive as a dog, and can't talk like a parrot . Because you aren't a cat, dog, or parrot . You're Pi, and you're unique . You don't need to compare yourself with them . You have a pair of crafty hands, and an intelligent brain . You can even use a computer and write novels . None of them have these talents . Keep your head up . "
Pi lifted its head slowly, and gazed into Zhang Zian's eyes .
"Pi, can you promise me? Don't hang your head down anymore . Face the world with your head up, like Fina and Old Time Tea, would you?" He spoke seriously .
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