I Became an All-round Artist

"Got it." "Got it." "Got it." "Will read tonight." The editors of Dingsheng replied one by one in the group chat. As for the thought, "Did the chief editor make a mistake?"—well, that was something they only dared to ponder internally. No one had the courage to voice it.

After work, Dingsheng's editors, still puzzled, headed to the bookstores, only to be stunned by the signs posted at the entrance of every major bookstore. The signs all bore similar messages:

"This bookstore has sold out of The Prince of Tennis. More stock will be available tomorrow. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Sold out? And the bookstore even put up a sign about it?

At that moment, Dingsheng's editors began to sense that something was off. For a bookstore to put up a sign like that meant there were a lot of readers wanting to buy The Prince of Tennis—a treatment usually reserved for bestsellers!

So... could this book actually be a hit?

One of the editors turned to their colleague in disbelief, asking, "Have you ever heard of a sports novel becoming a huge hit?"

"Nope." The colleague thought for a while, then firmly shook their head and declared, "Unprecedented!"

Bookstores are the barometers of sales. They always know which books are hot and which aren’t. Given the close relationship between publishers and bookstores, it wasn’t hard to get the sales figures for The Prince of Tennis.

In the following days, the entire industry’s attention turned toward this book and its author, Chu Kuang.

"Who would've thought!" Even some of the industry's most seasoned editors exclaimed in amazement: "A sports novel actually achieving these kinds of sales."

"Incredible." "This newcomer, Chu Kuang, has proven one thing with The Prince of Tennis: if you write it well, even sports fiction can be successful!"

"Isn’t he a trailblazer?" "Sports fiction has been written before, but no one has ever made it popular. According to industry standards, the first person to make a genre popular is considered the trailblazer, so this title fits."

"Exactly." "From now on, we’ll probably see a lot of writers trying their hand at sports fiction. And even those writers would acknowledge Chu Kuang as the trailblazer of the genre."

The buzz wasn’t just in the editor circles. Among readers, the discussions about The Prince of Tennis were also heating up. On various novel forums, you could see posts about the book:

"Highly recommend The Prince of Tennis!" "I’ve read it too, it’s really good." "After years of reading youth fantasy novels, especially ones with otherworldly adventures, this is the first time I’ve been interested in a sports novel after reading The Prince of Tennis." "I thought my taste was too niche, but it turns out there are a lot of people who love The Prince of Tennis!" "Haha, same here. Yesterday, I recommended The Prince of Tennis to my buddy, and at first, he refused, saying he wasn't interested in tennis. But after I forced him to read the first chapter, my book became his!"

The book market in Qinzhou was always bustling. In terms of sales, there were certainly books that outsold The Prince of Tennis. Many of the most popular authors had incredibly high monthly sales. But the terrifying thing about The Prince of Tennis was that, despite being in a niche genre like sports fiction, it was attracting as many readers as mainstream genres!

This was nothing short of a bombshell in the industry. As the industry reeled, major publishers suddenly ramped up their support and promotion of sports novels to an unprecedented degree.

...

Han Qi was a tennis player, a well-known professional in Qinzhou. After finishing his training session today, he was strolling outside when he received a message from a friend:

"I just realized tennis is so interesting! You’ve got a match tomorrow, right? Save me a ticket—I’m coming to watch!"

"Sure, but why the sudden interest in tennis?" Han Qi was puzzled. His friend had never shown much interest in tennis. Han had dragged him to two professional matches before, but the guy just yawned through them. Now, all of a sudden, he wanted to come on his own?

"You clearly haven't heard!" His friend replied, "I’ve been reading this novel called The Prince of Tennis. It’s all about tennis, and it’s super good. You should check it out if you get the chance!"

"..." Han Qi sent back an ellipsis and then replied, "It’s probably written by someone who doesn't know much about tennis. Novels like that can fool casual readers, but not someone who plays tennis professionally like me."

"It’s not too bad." His friend said, "Honestly, the tennis descriptions in the book seem pretty accurate—similar to what you’ve told me before."

Han Qi chuckled and shook his head. "Well, that’s to be expected. Basic tennis knowledge is easy to find online. If the author dared to write a tennis novel, they’d have at least done their homework. Who knows, maybe the author is just an amateur tennis fan. Qinzhou has plenty of those."

"Who cares!" His friend didn’t want to continue the conversation. "Just read the book, and you’ll see for yourself. Talk tomorrow!"

"Alright." Han Qi laughed. It was amusing that a novel could spark his friend’s interest in tennis when his professional career hadn’t. Just as he passed a bookstore, an idea struck him, and he went inside to buy a copy of The Prince of Tennis.

As a professional tennis player, Han Qi was actually pleased to see someone write a novel about tennis. Who wouldn’t want to see their sport gain more popularity? He thought he should support the author for that alone.

Back at his dorm, Han Qi picked up the book and casually flipped through it.

"Hmm?" After reading for a couple of minutes, Han Qi was surprised to find that the tennis knowledge in the book was actually quite accurate. The author wasn’t just writing nonsense for casual readers.

But the information was fairly basic.

He flipped through a few more pages and was stunned to discover that even the more advanced tennis concepts were described with remarkable precision, with no mistakes whatsoever!

"Looks like the author really knows their stuff." An average amateur couldn’t possibly have such a deep knowledge of tennis.

Intrigued, Han Qi opened the book to the first page and began reading from the start.

Back in his student days, Han Qi had been a big fan of novels. But ever since he started focusing on tennis, he hadn’t had much time for them. Today, though, he decided to treat himself to some reading as a way to relax before his match tomorrow.

Flip, flip.

The pages, with their fresh ink smell, turned one after another as Han Qi got more and more absorbed in the story...

Before he knew it, night had fallen.

Suddenly, his phone’s alarm rang, jolting him out of his trance. "What the—it's already 10 PM? I’ve got a match tomorrow!"

Agonized, Han Qi grimaced. He was completely hooked on The Prince of Tennis, dying to finish it all in one go. But if he stayed up reading tonight, he wouldn’t get enough rest and it might affect his performance in the match.

"I’ll finish it after the match!" Gritting his teeth, Han Qi reluctantly closed the book and, with a great deal of self-discipline, turned off the lights and went to sleep.