Chapter 62: Britney’s Power

"BOSS!" 

Suddenly, another department head rushed in, shouting, "BOSS, fifteen bookstores in Brooklyn are requesting an additional 1,000 copies of *Twilight*. They've completely sold out, and there are long lines of people waiting to order!"

"Fifteen more?" 

Felix and old Schwartz were stunned. With 22 bookstores in Manhattan and 15 in Brooklyn, that made a total of 37 stores, each needing 1,000 copies—that's over 30,000 books.

"BOSS!" 

Before the two of them could finish calculating how many books were needed, someone else burst in. Every bookstore across the city had sent in restock requests, totaling more than 50,000 books.

"How is this happening?" 

Felix, old Schwartz, and everyone in the office were baffled. *Twilight* had always been selling steadily but never explosively. What caused this sudden surge? It didn't make sense.

"Felix, good news!" 

While everyone was still in shock, Emily rushed into the office, her face flushed with excitement. She stopped at the door, suddenly noticing that the office was filled with people standing around in stunned silence. The atmosphere was odd.

"What's going on?" 

Emily asked, puzzled.

Felix shook his head, "Emily, do you have good news too?"

"Good news too?" 

Emily asked, confused.

Felix nodded and explained the strange situation unfolding at bookstores all over New York.

"Wow, wow! What exactly is happening?" 

Emily was astonished and, holding back her excitement, said, "Felix, do you know how many orders we just received on Amazon?"

"How many?"

"In less than half an hour, we received over 13,000 orders—all for *Twilight*!"

"13,000?" 

Even Felix was starting to feel numb.

Old Schwartz stood frozen at the door, his mouth slightly open, breathing heavily.

"Felix, what's going on? Why is *Twilight* suddenly blowing up?" 

Emily asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Hmph!" 

Old Schwartz suddenly snapped back to reality, sweeping his gaze across the room angrily. "You all didn't hear that I was planning to fire Felix and decided to stage this whole act, did you? I have to admit, your acting is amazing. I think you'd have a better future in Hollywood."

Felix rubbed his slightly numb face and laughed helplessly, "Old Schwartz, do you really think I'd do something that ridiculous?"

Old Schwartz furrowed his graying eyebrows slightly. In his impression, Felix was inept and always causing trouble, but he wasn't the kind to pull such a brainless stunt.

"Boss, I've found out what's happening!" 

Ned, who had gone to investigate, walked in with a laptop. "I just got some important information from the bookstores."

"What is it?" 

Everyone turned to look curiously.

Ned opened his laptop and navigated to MSN's website. "Around noon, pop star Britney Spears posted an update on her MSN personal homepage and blog. She strongly recommended the novel *Twilight*, saying it was really cool and that she stayed up all night reading it. She even posted a picture of herself with dark circles under her eyes."

Ned clicked on Britney's homepage, and sure enough, there was a photo of her lounging on a couch in casual clothes, reading *Twilight*, with noticeable dark circles under her eyes.

"Oh, so that's what happened!"

"Britney recommended the book—that explains it!"

"Haha, *Twilight* is going to be a bestseller! We're getting bonuses this year for sure!"

Everyone excitedly discussed the news.

Felix leaned against his desk, clenching his fists tightly, trying to suppress his excitement.

Emily gently patted his shoulder, repeatedly saying, "This is amazing, this is amazing."

Old Schwartz looked at the computer, then at the excited crowd. He pulled aside a young man and asked softly, "Is this Britney really that powerful? Why is her recommendation so effective?"

The young man, still buzzing with excitement, glanced at the old chairman and said, "Britney's not just any celebrity—she's a superstar, a global icon. She has over eight million fans on her personal website, and worldwide, her fan base exceeds 500 million. Last year alone, her third album sold 12 million copies."

"She has huge influence among young people, even more than Michael Jackson or The Beatles. She rarely recommends anything other than albums, and this is the first time she's recommended a book. Everyone's curious, so of course they want to check it out."

"Is she really that powerful?" 

Old Schwartz muttered to himself. He couldn't quite comprehend how a celebrity could spark such a massive reaction just by recommending a book online.

"Wow! Britney's book recommendation just made it to CBS News!" 

Someone suddenly pointed at the TV.

Everyone turned to look. On the screen, the CBS news anchor was joking about how it was hard to imagine Britney suddenly becoming a book-loving student.

The whole room erupted in laughter.

Clap, clap, clap~ 

Felix took a deep breath, trying to contain his excitement. "Everyone, the miracle has arrived. What are we waiting for?"

"BOSS!" 

Everyone stood up, now serious.

"Ned, contact the printing plant. We need to print another 100,000—no, 200,000 copies."

"Got it, BOSS!"

"Bob, start organizing shipments. We've only got around 30,000 copies in the warehouse, which won't be enough. Tell the bookstores to wait two more days. We won't run out after that."

"Got it, BOSS!"

"Emily, your team will continue managing the online store and report any updates."

"Got it, Felix!"

With Felix's orders, the department heads quickly got to work.

Old Schwartz stood quietly to the side, watching this energetic group of young people. He suddenly felt that Felix's previous methods had been right, and perhaps he himself was getting too old and out of touch.

"Felix, the company is yours now. I'm going home to fish."

"Oh, alright, old Schwartz."

Felix looked up from behind his computer, watching the old man's aging back as he walked away. He sighed softly.

As annoying as old Schwartz could be, he had always supported Felix since he took over. Without the backing of the Schwartz family, Felix wouldn't have had any room to grow within the company.

"Carl, take care of yourself. How about I join you for fishing this weekend?"

"Sounds good, Felix. I just hope you have the time."

Old Schwartz waved his hand and laughed heartily as he left.

Felix chuckled to himself as he browsed the online news about Britney's book recommendation.

Ever since Britney changed her image, she had shed her "good girl" persona, so it was a real surprise that she was now out here recommending books.

Felix couldn't help but think back to the phone call he'd received the day before. Luca had sounded so confident on the phone—it must have been because he'd convinced Britney.

But how could someone like Luca, a small-time model, have convinced Britney to recommend the book? 

"Hey, Luca, I've got great news for you," Felix said after dialing Luca's number. "Yes, today *Twilight* sold over 50,000 copies both online and offline. Your prediction came true, Mr. Big, haha!"

Felix joked, then asked, "Mr. Big, can you tell me how you convinced Britney? It's a secret? Okay, okay, but no matter what, you pulled it off. Congratulations! And congratulations to Kate too—yes, yes, and congratulations to me!"

Felix laughed. His collaboration with Luca had turned out to be quite successful.

"What? Keep it a surprise from Kate for now? Oh, alright, alright—this is going to be a huge, huge surprise!"

(End of chapter)