Detective Conan: The Literary Genius is Actually a Great Scientist

Lin Ran's lips twitched as she looked at Suzuki Tomoko's "Ask me, ask me" expression.

The dignified head of the Suzuki Group, at this moment, looked like a primary school student waiting for the teacher to announce the test results, with his hands clenched in front of his chest and his eyes shining like fireflies in the dark.

"I'm just a kid, I can't guess. Tell me already," Lin Ran complained, losing interest in writing any further. She put down her pen and stared at Suzuki Tomoko, waiting for her answer.

"Hmm~ guess~" Suzuki Tomoko persisted, her face flushed with excitement, clearly overwhelmed by excitement, and she even started to act coquettishly like a little girl.

This contrast was too much for the young man to bear, so he tentatively asked, "32 copies?"

This data was derived from the fact that "Norwegian Wood" sold 30 copies on its first day in Japan. After all, the population of the UK is more than half that of Japan, and East Asia is his stronghold with more supporters.

So normally, this number should be cut in half, but considering Tencent's extensive promotion during this period and the magic of "Harry Potter" itself, Lin Ran not only didn't cut it, but also added 2 more.

But seeing Tomoko Suzuki's reaction, he knew he had guessed wrong.

Tomoko Suzuki pursed her full red lips and shook her head vigorously with a seductive expression: "No, guess again."

"Then tell me first, is it too much or too little?"

"Too few."

"40 copies?"

"It's 54 copies! 54 copies!" Suzuki Tomoko finally couldn't hold back any longer and stepped over to share this good news with Lin Ran.

"How many?" Even though she had prepared herself mentally, Lin Ran was still shocked. She jumped up from her chair and exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you kidding me? 54 copies? Is it that exaggerated?"

"It's that exaggerated!"

Tomoko Suzuki's voice trembled slightly: "I've confirmed with Tencent several times; this is the data, there's no problem!"

"Hiss~"

Lin Ran gasped, sat back down, and tried to calm herself down to see if she was dreaming. Was Harry Potter really that exaggerated?

Tomoko Suzuki, her small, plump, fair hands propped up on the table, leaned close to him, looking even more excited than he was, and asked, "Little Ranran, do you know what this number means?"

"mean……"

"This means that Harry Potter has broken all records for first-day sales of books worldwide! Not just children's books, not just fantasy, but all categories! In the history of publishing, no book has ever achieved this number on its first day!"

Lin Ran looked at the woman in front of her who was so excited she was about to jump up and wanted to calm her down, but she found that she couldn't calm down either.

This data... is fucking outrageous!

It's worth noting that Harry Potter was released globally simultaneously by Penguin, and this is just the data from the UK alone, which has already broken various records.

"Calm down, calm down, calm down first." Lin Ran muttered to herself, acting like a worldly-wise writer: "This is just the UK data. We still have to wait for Tencent to get the global sales figures tomorrow. And even if the first-day sales are high, it only means the marketing was successful. We still need to see if we can maintain that momentum in the following days and week, and if we can keep it stable..."

He couldn't continue reading after only half of it.

54 million copies!

Who the hell could stand this?

Screw calm, screw stability, I'm going to fly high today!

The young man suddenly stood up, took two steps in place, and, not knowing how to express his excitement, simply picked up the woman's voluptuous body and started spinning her around in circles.

Tomoko Suzuki paused for a moment.

Then, looking at the little man's excited face, she gently reached out and hugged his neck.

After spinning around for so long, Lin Ran was a little dizzy before realizing what he had done. He coughed lightly, put her down, rubbed his slightly dizzy head, and grinned, saying, "To hell with all that! Let's live for today, worry about tomorrow later! Let's have some fun first!"

Tomoko Suzuki was also a little dizzy. She touched her forehead with her delicate hand and looked at the little man who was trying to act like nothing had happened with a playful smile.

Lin Ran ignored her.

Like every writer's first reaction upon receiving sales figures, the first thing to do is calculate the money: "Let me figure out how much money I can get..."

This is different from the previous books.

Harry Potter earned pounds, damn it.

Before he could even process what was happening, Tomoko Suzuki had already given him the answer with a smile: "According to Penguin's contract, you can earn £5.60 for every Harry Potter book sold. 540,000 copies would be £3,024,000, which is roughly 39,916,800 yuan."

"Whoa!"

Lin Ran was completely excited.

His two trips to London were worthwhile; he walked the red carpet, attended a launch event, gave interviews, and chatted and smiled with the British people. The British people contributed nearly 40 million RMB in sales to him in just one day.

"So, when the global data comes out tomorrow, I'll really be a guy earning over a hundred million a day?"

The great writer Lin was so elated.

This money comes faster than robbing a bank, and it's legal and honorable.

I still remember when the first week's data for "The Devotion of Suspect X" came out, he complained that the exchange rate in China didn't sound right, so he figured out how to calculate it in Japanese yen, making himself a billionaire just for fun.

Unexpectedly, today he can finally say with pride that he is someone who earns a small goal every day.

Tomoko Suzuki watched with a smile as the young man, who was raising his fist and ecstatically leaping into the air, stood there. Although earning over a hundred million a day was not a compliment for their other identities, it was a curse.

But for editor Pengzi and teacher Xiamo, earning over 100 million yuan a day is a new miracle in the book industry that the two of them have created together.

For Lin Pengzi, this is the most important thing.

After throwing a few punches to expend some energy and calm himself down, Lin Ran, feeling refreshed, waved his hand and said, "Let's go, have the chef cook a couple of dishes, and we'll have a couple of drinks to celebrate!"

"Who's with you two brothers?" Tomoko Suzuki rolled her eyes at him.

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue, my brother and I will have two drinks."

"Who said you're my brother?" Suzuki Tomoko rolled her eyes at him again, this time with more nuance, her eyes conveying a mix of reproach and coquettishness.

"...So tell me, what's our relationship?"

"you guess."

Lin Ran shut up.

Playing riddles with a woman: if you guess right, you get no prize; if you guess wrong, you're in big trouble.

One phone call and the 24-hour on-call chef team immediately gets to work. Don't complain about the trouble or having to work overtime in the middle of the night; as long as the money is right, everyone is full of energy.

Doesn't Lin Ran often stay up late writing?

But today's harvest is the greatest reward for his efforts.

In life, people are driven by nothing more than fame and fortune. What people hate is not working overtime, but rather the lack of adequate overtime pay.

If you're not going to hang the streetlights while I'm working overtime without pay, who will?

Before long, several steaming hot dishes were served: steamed sea bass, stir-fried beef with yellow peppers, cucumber salad, and a pot of slow-cooked soup. They were all home-style dishes, but they were excellent because they were cooked thoroughly and had a strong wok aroma.

Tomoko Suzuki took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet and asked the hotel to send up a few bottles of local beer.

The two of them ate and drank in the living room, facing a table full of dishes and the London night view outside the window.

"Come, Your Majesty."

Lin Ran raised her glass: "This glass is for you."

Tomoko Suzuki raised her glass and clinked it against his: "What are you toasting me with?"

"A toast to that ten million you made back then." Lin Ran looked at her, her gaze frank and open. "Without that ten million, there would be no Xia Mo today, and no Harry Potter. So, the first toast is to you."

Tomoko Suzuki laughed and tilted her head back to take a sip.

Lin Ran poured herself a second glass: "The second glass is for us."

"us?"

"Yes, it's us." Lin Ran raised her glass. "You're the editor, and I'm the author. This book is a collaborative effort. You were in charge of the initial push, and I was in charge of supporting from behind. We couldn't do it without either of us."

Tomoko Suzuki smiled broadly: "Isn't it reversed? Shouldn't it be Ranran, you sprinting back and forth behind me?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Lin Ran choked on the wine in her mouth and glared at her helplessly: "On such a joyous occasion, can you please stop thinking about driving your beat-up car?"

"Does Xiao Ranran mean she's disgusted by this car because it's an old, beat-up vehicle?" Suzuki Tomoko asked, her eyes lowered and her lips curving into a pitiful expression.

Lin Ran was convinced.

Women always seem to focus on these trivial details.

"Auntie, your car isn't dilapidated at all." Lin Ran put down his wine glass and slowly scanned her over. It's just driving, right? He's an experienced driver. "The exterior is sleek, the paint is shiny, the chassis is stable, the shock absorption is good, it's comfortable to sit in, and easy to drive. The only downside is that it's fuel-inefficient; most people can't afford to maintain it."

Suzuki Tomoko was amused by his "car review" and laughed heartily: "Little Ranran, you really know a lot about cars! Tell me, can this car even run now?"

"It can run, it can run." Lin Ran quickly waved her hand and put a piece of stir-fried beef on her plate. "It just consumes a bit of engine oil, so it needs to be maintained frequently. Besides, with such a good car, how could I bear to drive it too hard? If I were to bump or scratch it, I would be the one who would feel the pain."

"I knew you couldn't bear to part with it, otherwise you wouldn't be so upset."

Tomoko Suzuki raised her glass and clinked it with his, took a sip, and then said quietly, "But Ranran, whether a car is good or not can't be judged by its appearance alone. You have to look at the engine, the transmission, and whether it can give the driver that... thrill of complete control when it's running."

When she said "in control of everything," her eyes sparkled, her red lips parted slightly, and her fingertips lightly traced circles on the rim of the glass—the meaning couldn't be clearer.

What man wouldn't want to control a queen who controls everything? The thrill of conquest is something even a god couldn't match.

Lin Ran coughed lightly, not wanting to continue discussing this dangerous topic with her, and raised her glass again: "The third glass, to the future."

"future?"

"right."

Lin Ran smiled at her, her eyes more serious than ever before, and said, word by word, "This is only the first book. There are many more to come. Editor Pengzi and Teacher Xiamo, the two of us have a long way to go in the future."

Suzuki Tomoko, holding a wine glass, lost in thought upon hearing this.

They were both intelligent people, so she naturally understood what those words meant.

This is a promise Lin Xiaoran made to Lin Pengzi, a promise to walk side by side for the rest of their lives.

Outside the window, a gust of wind suddenly swept through the London night sky.

The wind came without warning, as if the sweltering heat of many days had finally found an outlet, sweeping in from the Thames and blowing away the last few dark clouds on the horizon.

Moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds, streaming into the living room, falling on the dining table, the wine glasses, and even on Tomoko Suzuki's profile.

Her mood at that moment was like the moon after the dark clouds had dispersed.

Little Hayashi Tomoko.

Finally, the clouds parted and the moon shone brightly.

Seeing her staring at her blankly, Lin Ran smiled slightly and teased, "My Queen, Editor, aren't you planning to travel to the future with this little writer?"

Tomoko Suzuki slowly came to her senses.

Those phoenix eyes, which usually witnessed the ups and downs of the business world and the coldness and warmth of human nature, were now brimming with tenderness.

She is a woman who has emerged from a storm.

She took over the Suzuki Group in her twenties. The old men on the board treated her like a pretty face, her competitors laughed at her as a rich girl who made a living off her looks, and even her own uncle publicly said, "The Suzuki family will be ruined by a woman."

She gritted her teeth and, step by step, trampled those who looked down on her underfoot, turned their mocking words into jokes, and transformed the Suzuki Group from a local enterprise into a global giant.

Before meeting this young man, she had won countless battles: business negotiations, capital games, and human manipulation. She had won at everything, but she had never felt satisfied when she won. Every time she returned to her empty office after a victory, she had only one feeling.

tired.

That kind of exhaustion isn't physical; it's mental exhaustion. It's the exhaustion of standing at the top for too long, without anyone to confide in.

But now, she suddenly doesn't feel tired anymore.

Because she knew that someone would accompany her on her journey ahead, walking alongside that little Lin Pengzi.

Tomoko Suzuki raised her glass with a slight upturn of her red lips and a hint of moisture in her eyes, her smile radiant as she said, "To the future!"

"To the future!"

Two pairs of wine glasses gently clinked together in mid-air.

Little Lin Xiaoran and little Lin Pengzi, like the talented scholar and beautiful lady in a play, made a promise to stay together for life under the flowers and moon.

In the future, we must walk side by side.

……

That night, the two, having opened their hearts to each other, drank quite a bit and even had two more dishes of snacks brought up to accompany their drinks, chatting and eating as they ate.

The main problem is that we're all too excited to sleep.

Later, they simply moved to the sofa, watched TV, ate barbecue, and drank some wine, which was quite pleasant.

Halfway through their drinks, with the TV still on, Tomoko Suzuki flipped through the channels with the remote, finally stopping at a channel showing a horror movie.

"What kind of horror movie are you watching in the middle of the night?" Lin Ran glanced at the screen.

"It's only when you watch it late at night that you get the feeling." Suzuki Tomoko crossed her legs, holding a skewer in one hand and sucking on it with her red lips, while adjusting the volume with the remote control in the other hand. Satisfied, she leaned back and rested her head on Lin Ran's shoulder.

Lin Ran glanced at it and saw that it was a horror movie related to a chainsaw maniac, where people were being hacked with chainsaws. She had never seen it in her previous life, so it was probably some small production company that imitated it.

When a movie becomes popular in the West, a bunch of people will follow suit and imitate it. If you're talking about Jaws, I'll be talking about Megalodon; if you're talking about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I'll be talking about Rise of the Monkey King. It's all about piggybacking on the trend.

Having been exposed to those low-quality, spooky videos on QQ Space from her previous life, Lin Ran still had a high threshold for horror films of this era.

Back then, he was browsing social media late at night when a ghost face suddenly popped up, scaring him so much that he almost threw his phone away. From then on, he developed the skill of remaining calm even when Mount Tai collapses in front of him.

After enjoying a bite of barbecue and a sip of wine, he even had the interest to comment: "The female lead is quite pretty; it's a pity she's not more famous."

"Am I prettier than you?" Tomoko Suzuki scoffed.

"She's definitely not as beautiful as you," Lin Ran said without changing her expression. "Who can compare to Her Majesty the Queen's elegance?"

"And what about your senior?"

"..."

Lin Ran was too lazy to pay attention to these women who were so competitive about everything.

Not getting an answer, Suzuki Tomoko wasn't angry. She stuffed the half-eaten skewer she was having, which she felt was getting a bit greasy, into Lin Ran's mouth, and then picked out another one for herself.

The TV was showing the first appearance of the chainsaw maniac, chasing people with a chainsaw in hand. I must say, the terrifying atmosphere was really well done.

Lin Ran was watching with great interest when a fragrant, warm body leaned against her chest.

"Little Ranran, I'm so scared~"

Suzuki Tomoko spoke with a mix of nervousness and fear, her beautiful eyes fixed on the television screen, her body naturally leaning closer.

A sign that a girl is timid is that when watching horror movies, she presses her chest tightly against him, suppressing her panicked heart, in order to feel a little bit of peace of mind.

But you're Tomoko Suzuki, why would you be nervous or scared?!

Lin Ran had a lot of complaints she didn't know where to vent them.

But he was a magnanimous man after all, and in the end he didn't push her away. Instead, he adjusted his position and let Suzuki Tomoko choose a comfortable spot to lie down.

Suzuki Tomoko rested her head on his lap, inhaling the strong masculine scent, her almond-shaped eyes slightly narrowed, looking quite content.

She liked this posture very much, as it freed her from having to put on airs or act.

At this moment, she was just a little woman who felt scared watching a horror movie and was trembling in the arms of the person she liked. What business queen, what capital boss, she threw them all out the window.

The plot is still unfolding. Lin Ran watched with a puzzled expression. This director has a knack for filming; the tension is very well created. But why hadn't she heard of the other person's name in her past life?

But he was puzzled for only three minutes.

Three minutes later, Lin Ran understood why.

No way, you're hacking at someone with a chainsaw, and suddenly you're taking your pants down? What's the meaning of this? Isn't this ridiculous?

The little man slapped his head.

He already knew that the nighttime shows in Europe and America were quite explicit, and tonight he witnessed it firsthand; they were indeed quite explicit.

One second the chainsaw maniac was chasing the female protagonist all over the house, and the next second, because the female protagonist fell to the ground and her skirt flipped up, revealing something she shouldn't have, the whole plot went wild in a direction unsuitable for children.

The blood and screams are still there, but they've changed from a horror movie to screams in a different sense.

The female lead's acting was quite remarkable; she transitioned from fear to coy reluctance in just three seconds, a textbook example of a successful transformation.

"What kind of garbage is this?" Lin Ran grabbed the remote control to change the channel.

"Don't change it." Tomoko Suzuki pressed his hand down.

"Stop kidding, this isn't a horror movie anymore."

"Why doesn't that count?" Tomoko Suzuki lay on her lap, looking up at him with a mischievous smile on her lips. "The chainsaw maniac isn't dead yet; he could be back at any moment."

"Why did he come back? To join them?"

Suzuki Tomoko finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Her laughter made Lin Ran unable to hold back either, and the two of them burst into laughter on the sofa.