After finishing all the arrangements, Zhang Wang went to a nearby milk tea shop, ordered a drink, and observed the shared phone booth situation while drinking.

Previously, when Ruan Guangjian was painting, the phone booth had already attracted quite a lot of attention. Now that the phone booth was officially completed, people immediately came to take photos as keepsakes.

It must be said that everyone was quite civilized.

All the people spontaneously queued up in an orderly fashion, taking turns to take photos with the Modist painting on the outside of the phone booth.

During this process, some people who had initially just come to join the excitement caught sight of various new components inside the phone booth through the glass, which suddenly sparked their curiosity.

“There seems to be a lot more stuff inside.”

“That looks like a beverage machine. Is it free?”

“You think 10 yuan to go in and drink as much as you want? Of course, you have to pay extra.”

“There’s also a capsule toy machine, and two microphones! What does that mean? Can you sing in there?”

“What’s that thing under the folding chair? I’ve never seen it before.”

“It feels much more equipped than before. Everyone, please make way, I want to go in and have a look.”

“Hey, hey, hey, we’re in line here.”

“Let’s form two lines, we’re not queuing for the same thing! You guys take photos, we go in to experience, we won’t interfere with each other.”

“What about those of us who want both photos and the experience…”

After some commotion, the crowd quickly divided into two lines.

One line was for those preparing to take photos with Modist’s painting outside, while the other was for those queuing to enter the phone booth for the experience.

Previously, no one entered the phone booth because there was too little inside to experience.

But now with more items and original artwork outside, the improved status made more people willing to go in.

People judge by appearances, and the phone booth was no exception.

The first to enter was still a couple.

After all, going into such a place alone would be quite strange—not only lonely but also being observed by people outside.

After the two entered, they happily closed the door and then pulled the curtains.

At the same time, people outside saw the remaining time appear on the small display screen: 15 minutes.

This way, those in line could roughly know how long until their turn.

Of course, this function still had flaws at present. For instance, one could only know how much longer the current occupants would be inside, but couldn’t accurately know the estimated time for the entire queue.

Zhang Wang silently noted this point, planning to later introduce a function like queue number ticketing or estimated queue time.

Inside the phone booth, the couple began curiously exploring this small world.

“Oh, two free drinks, we can choose cold or hot beverages?”

“And we can sing for free?”

“Wow, so for just 10 yuan for 15 minutes, this is a great value!”

“There’s also a capsule toy machine… unfortunately, the capsule toys aren’t free.”

“What are you thinking? If capsule toys were free too, the business would lose money.”

“Shall we sing a song?”

“Is it okay? It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“It’s fine, you can’t hear the mall noise in here at all, which means the soundproofing is quite good.”

The price of 10 yuan for 15 minutes initially seemed high, but with so many new features added, it suddenly wasn’t expensive anymore—it was even a bargain!

And for Zhang Wang, he was still making a profit.

Beverages were only free once. Customers who sang for fifteen minutes got two cups, singing for an hour also got only two cups. If they got thirsty, they would buy more drinks.

Moreover, the cost of drinks in the beverage machine wasn’t high. Take hot drinks as an example: 1000 grams of instant coffee or milk tea powder could make about 50 cups of 250ml hot drinks, with each cup costing about 0.5 yuan. The more raw materials purchased, the cheaper they were, lowering costs further.

Even accounting for water and electricity fees, selling a cup of beverage for two yuan still yielded a profit.

Of course, one shouldn’t expect too much from the taste.

Furthermore, the capsule toy machine could earn extra money.

The two picked up the microphones on the table and found a small box containing free microphone covers. Two were provided free upon entry, but additional ones would cost money.

As the accompaniment melody began, the two started singing.

…

Outside the phone booth, those still queuing faintly heard weak music coming from inside.

“Huh? They’re singing?”

“This… how long are they going to sing?”

“Damn, they renewed! The remaining time changed to half an hour!”

“…Let’s go, how long do we have to wait!”

Seeing that the couple inside was about to engage in a prolonged session, with the display screen showing a remaining time of at least half an hour, many who had originally wanted to queue for the experience gave up and dispersed.

However, Zhang Wang, sitting in the nearby beverage shop watching this scene, felt instantly reassured.

If people went in and came out quickly, that would be bad, indicating that the phone booth wasn’t attractive enough!

But now, the first couple was going to sing directly for half an hour inside. This showed that the shared phone booth model itself had no issues!

The remaining phone booths could soon be completed and then deployed in various shopping malls throughout Jingzhou…

These would be long-term money trees!

Once all twenty shared phone booths were set up and had recouped their costs, he would immediately report this good news to Mr. Pei!

…

…

In the afternoon, in a taxi heading from Jingzhou Airport to the Shenhua Luxury View Office Building.

A young man opened the writer’s backend app on his phone, created a new chapter, and very skillfully typed “Leave Notice” in the title position.

“Due to attending the first online author study class organized by Terminus Chinese Website in Jingzhou, I’m taking a one-day leave. Please be informed.”

“Also, requesting votes!”

After typing this in one go, the young man put away his phone and casually looked through the taxi window to appreciate the scenery of Jingzhou.

A few minutes later, he took out his phone again, opened the Terminus Chinese Website app, and checked the reader comments below this chapter.

“Damn, I thought it was an update!”

“The pigeon spirit is taking leave again? Count how many times you’ve taken leave this month!”

“It’s not even 3 PM yet, can’t you write at night?”

“Not bad, you’re improving. Previous times were all about classmates getting married, but I don’t know why all your classmates’ weddings happened at once. This excuse is better, keep it up!”

“Frequent leave-taking is a sign of abandonment. Tell me, are you going to abandon this book, too?”

“Damn, please don’t! I just caught up with the progress. Your book has only six hundred thousand words, it’s still just a baby!”

“Asking for leave and requesting votes, shameless!”

“See this vote? *Rip* I’d rather tear it up than give it to you!”

Looking at the readers’ indignant comments, the young man smiled slightly, already accustomed to it.

Cui Geng was one of the members of the Terminus Chinese Website’s author study class this time. His pen name was “Desperate Word-Typing Tentacle Monster,” though this pen name was a perfect irony.

Normally, he was a stable one-chapter-per-day beast, but he would skip updates and take leave based on his mood, and would shamelessly ask for votes every time he took leave.

Moreover, he had abandoned two or three books midway, earning him widespread notoriety.

But ironically, his ideas at the beginning of each book were particularly good, with perfect early pacing, drawing readers in. Although readers cursed every time, they could only helplessly continue reading.

Cui Geng sighed quietly to himself: “Sigh, I’m telling the truth this time. I am here to attend the study class, but why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

Among web novel authors, there were diligent ones and lazy ones, and Cui Geng belonged to the extremely lazy category.

Because he lacked motivation.

In the year he graduated from college, he first felt the material pressure of the real world, so, having nothing better to do, he decided to write web novels for a living.

But after writing for just half a year, his family’s property was requisitioned for demolition.

Cui Geng drifted for a while, then felt empty again, so he decided to reform and start anew, determined to properly complete a book this time and become famous with one work.

As a result, several other houses owned by his family were also requisitioned for demolition.

Cui Geng often lamented that life was full of ironic twists.

Who would still have the mood to write books in such circumstances?

Thus, Cui Geng’s current state was one of going with the flow.

This time coming to Jingzhou, he came with tourism in mind.

He didn’t know what the study class would teach, but once he heard there was a basic salary with meals and accommodation included, he immediately signed up.

Unexpectedly, he was selected.

Probably because successful authors on the Terminus Chinese Website were indeed not many…

Cui Geng had first written on the Infinite Chinese Website, but his reputation for abandoning works became known not only to readers but also to editors. Every time he started a new book, many old readers would follow him just to spit water.

Having no financial worries, Cui Geng reluctantly decided to switch platforms to start fresh and express himself.

Thus, by a twist of fate, he arrived at Terminus Chinese Website, which was relatively friendly to mid-tier authors.

“I heard there are quite a few interesting places to visit in Jingzhou.”

“This is a perfect opportunity to use the excuse of attending the study class to have a good time in Jingzhou for a few days.”

“I have a legitimate reason for taking leave, surely readers can’t say anything now?”

“This is research, and writing is intellectual labor. Playing more helps keep the mind clear and the mood pleasant, which helps write better content.”

“Everyone will understand for sure!”

Just as he was pondering these thoughts, they arrived at Shenhua Luxury View.

Cui Geng got out of the taxi and took the elevator directly to the editorial department of the Terminus Chinese Website.

Someone welcomed him warmly and led him to the reception room.

Before long, Ma Yiqun came to the reception room, and the two began chatting casually.

During their conversation, Cui Geng learned that he was the first author to arrive in Jingzhou for the study class, which surprised him a bit.

On second thought, it made sense—he had just received the invitation yesterday and had already arrived today, which was indeed quite quick.

The main reason was that he wanted to use this excuse for taking leave as soon as possible, which was why he was so eager.

After chatting for a while, Ma Yiqun brought out an agreement.

“This is the agreement for this web novel study class, everyone has to sign it.”

“Please carefully review some of the details here, and sign once you confirm there are no issues.”

“There will be some requirements for you, but don’t worry, they are all very basic requirements, nothing too demanding.”

Cui Geng was startled: “Hmm? There’s an agreement?”

It seemed quite formal.