Chapter 125: A Person of Great Importance Arrives

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By the time the three of them returned that night, it was almost midnight. In high spirits, Kim Hee-sun dragged Xu Danni and Liu Qingshan to the night market for a few beers.

It was her first time trying barbecue from the mainland, and for a while her inner glutton ran wild.

Xu Danni showed not the slightest awareness that she was intruding, calmly ignoring the couple as they fed each other.

According to her, a qualified host first needed the temperament of a bystander who could endure solitude.

She had stayed with them from before noon until midnight without a single complaint. It seemed that this young star hostess was well on her way to becoming a veteran artist of the broadcasting world.

Were there veteran artists in broadcasting? Of course there were. Most of the older generation of national television hosts were renowned for possessing both talent and virtue, and were equally respected by the people.

The hostess had been drinking that evening, so she could not drive. Thus, to Liu Qingshan’s great delight, she stayed the night at his home.

After eight o’clock the next morning, people began arriving one after another, as though they had arranged it beforehand. Each carried a different sort of breakfast and reported for duty.

Park Hye-jin and Yu Yi, whose relationship had progressed at lightning speed after returning to Kyoto, even showed up with dark circles beneath their eyes, looking for beds in which to sleep.

According to them, they had spent the entire night discussing their future in a bar. Though utterly exhausted in both body and mind, neither had wanted to part.

They had not shared a room, however, as though they had made some sort of agreement with each other.

Liu Qingshan had important business to attend to that day. The extraordinary popularity of Battle Through the Heavens on the website had finally driven the editorial department to take the initiative.

He had handed the daily uploads over to Kim Hee-sun. The novel, whose status had only just been changed, had astonishingly been pushed to the top of the monthly recommendation-ticket rankings by its readers within three days.

Although it was a new book that had only entered the rankings a few days earlier, its daily update of twenty thousand words was impossible to withstand. The editor responsible for it contacted Liu Qingshan and tried to persuade him to update at a more reasonable pace, but when that failed, the site simply began arranging the signing of the second contract ahead of schedule.

This was because Liu Qingshan had made it clear when signing the first contract that he would agree only to cover the first million words. If, after the novel went premium, the site failed to provide a contract guaranteeing updates for the first month, he reserved the right to move to another website.

It was something the novel website had never encountered before. But then again, what other new book had ever required a team of lawyers merely to negotiate its contract?

Moreover, the novel had attracted a huge readership within three days of its launch. The website was willing to grit its teeth and acknowledge the contract’s terms because it could not bear to abandon a novel in such a promising new style.

Following Wang Huansheng’s suggestion, the second contract would also be used to deliberately leak Liu Qingshan’s identity, which would make things far more convenient for his future works.

Of course, only a handful of people would learn his true identity. Wang Huansheng had no idea why Liu Qingshan was taking such pains to conceal himself, but once his employer had given an order, there was nothing to do but carry it out.

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Yu Yi was not the only one who came to report for duty. Shi Hui and Park Hyeon-hee were certain to appear, and apart from the tour group led by Kunale, which had not yet returned, nearly all of Liu Qingshan’s old acquaintances had shown up.

Because of this, Kim Hee-sun pulled him aside and asked whether he was hiding some major event from her.

Liu Qingshan smiled bitterly and shook his head. After glancing around, he finally decided to summon Che Geng for questioning.

As it turned out, Che Geng knew nothing either. He had merely received a last-minute notification and had followed them over in a daze.

It was not until someone arrived around noon that the two hosts finally understood what was going on.

The newcomer was Chen Zuming, accompanied by only one female assistant, Ella.

“Didn’t you return to Hong Kong?” Liu Qingshan asked in surprise.

“I did go back, but I was sent right back the next day. My father came too. He’s waiting in the car in the parking lot.”

“What on earth are you people plotting? You’ve been acting mysterious all morning. I asked everyone, and not one of them admitted to knowing anything!”

“Haha, don’t blame me. It was all arranged behind the scenes by my father! Say, Shanzi, you haven’t forgotten that your birthday is only a few days away, have you?”

Liu Qingshan slapped his forehead. “Oh, right! It really is almost my birthday! But I’m nobody important. How could I possibly make Big Brother come all the way from Hong Kong just to celebrate with me?”

“Well, that is to say…” Chen Zuming suddenly began to stammer. “It isn’t entirely for your birthday. The release date for Myth has been set, and my father brought people here for publicity. Kyoto is the first stop!”

Liu Qingshan’s expression instantly turned awkward. “So you didn’t come specifically to celebrate my birthday. I knew it! With Big Brother Jackie Chan’s status, there’s no way he would make a special trip just for me!”

Kim Hee-sun held back a laugh. “Did you invite all these people too? What are you gathering them here for?”

The people who had arrived early that morning were not all from the country either. Jawah, the owner of the Dad Hotel, had come with an attendant of his own.

Chen Zuming said with a smile, “I know about that much. Boss Yang is treating everyone to lunch today. He said he invited all your connections in Kyoto. But I wasn’t the one who arranged it. It should have been Sister Hye-jin’s idea. Where is she?”

Only then did Kim Hee-sun understand. She turned and hurried upstairs to find Park Hye-jin.

Chen Zuming pulled Liu Qingshan over to Jawah and began clamoring for red wine and cigars. With Jackie Chan accompanying him, he had not dared carry those beloved indulgences around with him.

“Jawah, I can’t believe you’ve gone bad too. You’re the one hosting the banquet at the Dad Hotel, aren’t you? I asked you several times this morning, and you refused to say a word!”

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Liu Qingshan glared fiercely at Jawah as he interrogated him.

Jawah was a short, stout man with a large beard. Jiggling his enormous belly, he explained cheerfully, “It has very little to do with me. Your Sister Hee-sun instructed me to keep quiet because she thought it would be fun. She told me to conceal it for as long as I could!”

“But you could have waited at the hotel. Why come all the way to our house? Did you really enjoy spending the entire morning with nothing to do?”

“I didn’t want to come either. Boss Yang rented out an entire floor, and I was supposed to stay at the hotel and make the arrangements. But Miss Park called me and said there was an important guest whom I had to receive personally!”

Liu Qingshan’s mind grew even more confused. There was definitely something strange going on here, and perhaps Park Hye-jin was the only person who knew the truth.

His curiosity became overwhelming, and he could not help turning toward the staircase leading upstairs.

Park Hye-jin had somehow appeared there at that very moment. Kim Hee-sun noticed Liu Qingshan’s gaze, immediately abandoned Park Hye-jin, and flew toward him like a little bird.

“Shanzi, guess what? Klam is coming! Big Brother Jackie Chan has arrived too. The two of them arranged all this together and kept it secret from you!”

At last, Liu Qingshan understood. So the news of Klam’s arrival had been given only to Jackie Chan; Jawah probably had not known either.

As for why Klam had chosen to come just as the publicity campaign for Myth was beginning, that had not even crossed Liu Qingshan’s mind. Perhaps it was merely a coincidence.

And Boss Yang’s lavish banquet was certainly not solely for Myth. Klam’s arrival was the true reason, and it also explained why the banquet was being held at the Dad Hotel.

By then, Kim Hee-sun had already asked Chen Zuming, “Since your father has arrived, shouldn’t we go downstairs now? We can’t keep Big Brother waiting forever!”

Chen Zuming explained with a smile, “My father said not to worry about him. We can wait for a phone call and go down afterward.”

Liu Qingshan looked at Park Hye-jin, who had just walked over. “Are they all waiting for Mr. Klam? Someone of his stature would normally require us to bring flowers and greet him at the airport, wouldn’t he?”

Covering her mouth, Park Hye-jin giggled. “Someone else is handling that. Mr. Klam is entering the country through official channels, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to interfere.”