The red double-decker bus drove past Kelly, and she looked across the street through the glass.

A long queue has gathered in front of the Waterstone Bookstore with a white English letter W sign on the black façade.

"There are so many people, how can this signing party gather so many readers?"

Even the blonde girl, who had long been full of expectations for "The Little Prince", was taken aback by the bustling scene in front of her.

There is an English proverb that says.

The life of a traditional upper-class gentleman could never be avoided without three Oxfords – Oxford University, Oxford Leather Shoes, and Oxford Street.

They studied at Oxford University, the oldest university in the world, wore the most decent Oxford shoes with carved toe toe and delicate wing design to formal banquets, and accompanied their wives to shop on Oxford Street, the busiest shopping street, on weekends.

The shopping street in front of Kelly is one of the most iconic shopping streets in the UK.

The sun never sets, the empire has long since fallen apart.

But pedestrians standing on this commercial street can still feel the afterimage of George Eliot and Conan Doyle's pen that belongs to the Boss Empire.

Statues of gods come to life on the façade of the building, the ceiling is carved with delicate ornamentation, the huge columns are surrounded by various beautiful reliefs, and outside the large lattice window booths, visitors from different countries and skin tones are talking to each other in a variety of languages.

The architectural and artistic styles of neoclassicism and romanticism complement each other.

Twenty metres diagonally opposite the head office of luxury brand Burberry is the branch of Waterstone's, the largest bookstore chain in the UK.

Oxford Street is the top shopping street on par with Paris's Fifth Avenue and Beijing's Wangfujing, and the annual rent for a store of this size is conservatively estimated to be more than £8 million.

It is used to open a bookstore.

It's not so much to make money, but to show the strength of the Waterstone Bookstore to create a piece of physical signboard for visitors to see.

Even celebrities such as King Charles III, David Beckham, and David Bowie before his accession to the throne were photographed by the media as ordinary readers, walking into the door of this bookstore under the black signboard.

Traditionally,

It has always been the heaviest and most anticipated book work in the United Kingdom and even in the English-speaking region of the world, so that the book signing will be held in this Waterstone bookstore.

On rank.

The last fairy tale writer to hold a book signing here was Alan Garner, author of the 2022 Booker Prize nominee Syrup Walker, one of the most important fairy tale writers in British history, who has just broken the world record for the highest nomination in English-language literature at the age of 87.

The reprint of "The Little Prince" is not a new book in the true sense of the word, and it is still a bit unqualified.

Fortunately, Osborne is really powerful.

He managed to rely on the group's network channels to arrange the first important commemorative signing meeting of the "The Little Prince" project team on Oxford Street.

Whether it is a success or a failure, the results of this signing will be magnified exponentially.

It is within his authority, and he gives a small gift to Anna, who is under pressure at this time.

Inside the closed dark glass door.

Staff dressed in bookstore uniforms hung streamers and prepared small souvenirs and posters for the readers attending the book signings.

In the afternoon, a readers' meeting and signing ceremony were held for the famous British scholar and translator Dean Hawke.

Early in the middle of the day,

The Waterstone Bookstore on Oxford Street briefly closed its doors and began to set up the venue.

Wait until 5 minutes before the start of the book signing to reschedule outside readers.

When Kelly and her girlfriend arrived, the line in front of the store was conservatively estimated to be hundreds of people.

The line had been lined up from under the black sign of the Waterstone bookstore to the Hermès store next door.

Everyone talked about it as if they were having a party.

"What am I talking about! It's not even ten o'clock, and so many people have gathered. If it's late, I really won't be able to attend the Detective Cat's new book launch. ”

Kelly exhaled happily and hurriedly pulled her best friend to line up at the end of the crowd.

"It's Saint-Exupéry's book, signed by the translator Charlie Hawke. In terms of the importance of this book, the author of illustrations like Detective Cat can only be ranked third. She alone is not qualified to hold a readers' meeting on Oxford Street. ”

Girlfriends on the side to correct.

"It's different, other books are just that, "The Little Prince" is a fairy tale full of pictures and texts from the moment it was born. Even Saint-Exupéry himself said that illustrations and words are equally important in the book's content. ”

The girlfriend pouted, but this time she didn't find the words to refute.

She looked at the crowd around her in confusion.

Even in the top shopping streets, there were more than twice as many people here as she expected.

It's not uncommon to see queues in Oxford Street shops to snap up your purchases, and they happen every day.

When Takashi Murakami and LV's co-branded bag was released, the team alone was lined up to 200 meters long by various scalpers who stayed up all night.

The strange thing is that this is a bookstore!

Not a place to sell bags, shoes, cosmetics, perfumes.

When did people become so enthusiastic about knowledge?

My girlfriend saw not only professional reporters taking pictures of the crowd in line.

There are even two female policemen in the front who wear a green reflective background and a tall helmet with a silver police badge on their heads, which are very common in British dramas, get out of the patrol special vehicle and stand next to the Waterstone Bookstore.

After the rise of the Black live matters protest, the London Police introduced new rules in 2021 to prevent the spread of $0 shopping or robbery to the normal operation of Oxford Street.

As soon as the traffic camera detects that there is a crowd gathering on the street that exceeds a certain limit, the patrol police on the street will rush to help maintain order.

The police force is limited, and this is the treatment only available in the most popular stores!

"The police officers in these police stations are all brainless in carrying out orders. Is there really someone who comes to buy zero yuan, and puts Hermes and Burberry next door without grabbing it, and comes to grab the fairy tale books in the bookstore? Why grab it back, see for yourself and cultivate literary accomplishment? ”

My best friend imagined the scene of a group of thieves ransacking the bookstore and going back to watch it one by one, and couldn't help but laugh at herself.

She muttered a few sentences: "If you want me to say, don't look at the large number of people here, it's not sure that they are all hired by the publishing house to support the scene." It would be embarrassing if the signing sessions on Oxford Street were unattended. Those publishing groups do everything for marketing! ”

Maybe because of anger, the opportunity to drink a good beer and watch a handsome guy was disturbed by Kelly.

It may also be the deepest part of my heart, for my roommate's inexplicable big advertisement, and the unspeakable complex jealousy.

The round-faced girlfriend is a little unhappy and prejudiced against the detective cat.

Kelly smiled.

"Hey, sister, you're here to buy The Little Prince, too?" She patted the girl in front of her who was wearing a plaid petticoat and pink earrings, and looked like a literary young man.

The girl nodded.

"I am a loyal reader of Mr. Charlie Hawke. He was a great translator, and Hawke translated the two previous French books, Notre-Dame de Paris and The Three Musketeers. This time he was going to hold a book signing, so I came running. ”

"So this is the signing of "The Little Prince"?"

The black guy next to him, who was holding a Starbucks in his hand, carrying a schoolbag and dressed as a programmer, raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard Kelly's inquiry.

"Don't you know? Why don't you buy books? The girlfriend asked suspiciously.

"I'm an international student at Royal Holloway University who came to London Oxford Street with my friends for the first time today, and the train back to the suburban campus departs in the evening, and I can't afford luxury goods, and I see everyone queuing up in front of a bookstore, so I have nothing to do anyway. That's why we're lining up here. ”

The guy was very familiar and said with a smile, "The new version of "The Little Prince", I seem to have seen this news on the Internet in the past two days. ”

"But just buy the book. Probably I'm just looking at it and won't pay for it. I'm not a lover of literature and art. Your British books are so expensive, and the cost of textbooks alone is almost impossible for me to eat. ”

Kelly stretched out her hand to her best friend and smiled "Look".

The number of visitors to Oxford Street in a year is close to half a billion, and anyone can meet it.

However, this kind of true answer certainly does not sound like a hired childcare.

"One won't buy books, and the other reader who came for Dean Hawke, has nothing to do with the detective cat you've had in mind."

The girlfriend "cut".

She couldn't get used to Kylie's idiot expression of "my detective cat is amazing".

What to be proud of,

You chick can't get a penny.

"I participated in the market research meeting of the new version of "The Little Prince", and I can only say that the illustrations and illustrations this time are fantastic. That detective cat drew one of the best illustrations I've seen so far, and you're going to love it. ”

Detective Cat seems to have a tendency to become a new idol idol in the heart of ill lover Kelly.

"The paperback version costs only the price of a fish and chips, and the hardcover version costs the price of a 12-inch pizza, and trust me, it's definitely worth your money." She tirelessly advertised for other readers in line for her big African sister.

"I actually wish I could buy the handwritten version of Dean Hawke and Saint-Exupéry, which is the most original picture that fits the sense of the story, and no matter how good the painting is, the artistic conception is missing. Not to mention, Detective Cat is just a criticised Internet celebrity illustrator. ”

The literary young woman shook her head assertively: "It's a pity that the copyright of the illustration of the original book is from the main competitor of the Scholastic Group, Townesman Press, and they can't get it." ”

The black guy just grinned and bared his white shiny teeth: "I don't know how to illustrate, but I once snapped up a creative painting T-shirt from the trendy brand Amida." It seems that the painter is also a very famous artist. But it's no different from AJ or coconut. If I had a choice, I would definitely pick a 12-inch pizza. Fairy tale books are for children to read, but pizza can keep me happy all day long. ”

"That's because you haven't seen the work of Detective Cat with your own eyes, and the style of Detective Cat and Van Doorne's work is completely different."

Kelly shook her head stubbornly: "As long as you are not too sluggish, you will be infected by that good feeling. ”

The blonde girl looked at the best friend next to her who wanted to talk and stopped, and seemed to be unable to help but complain about something.

"The same goes for you. Maca, when you walk into the bookstore and see the little prince of the detective cat on the shelves, you can't help but have it. ”

Kelly's tone was like that of a prophet giving a prophecy.

"It's conclusive, it's not a hemp leaf, and you can't forget it when you look at it?"

My best friend Maca doesn't believe it!

She sniffled, "If I hadn't had the urge to buy a book." This semester, we have done the manual work of clothing making and cutting in our group homework, Kelly, do you dare to do it? ”

The Fashion Design Department is also an art student.

However, in addition to art design and drawing skills, coursework often requires you to thread a needle in front of a sewing machine.

These hard jobs were also dubbed "seamstress" by the people of the Royal College of Art.

"What if you want to buy it? It's up to you. ”

Maca is half angry, half funny.

"Want to buy? If that detective cat really had such a big temptation, sister, not only did I do it all, but well-"

She whispered casually beside Kelly, "Hmph, and my mother won't sleep with her boyfriend until the end of next month." ”

When the girls' girlfriends are together, the boys can't stand the dirt.

Making a meat joke is also a matter of handy.

Maca can say this kind of assurance, which shows that she is also serious.

"You said it yourself."

Kelly pinched Maca's round face and smiled a mysterious smile that was narrow and sympathetic.

Maca puffed out her cheeks and was about to fight back.

At this time, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Hey?

She turned her head sideways and stood on tiptoe to look ahead.

Maca vaguely felt that the atmosphere in front of the crowd suddenly began to become strange, and it seemed to be ...... Suddenly it became quiet.

After a few seconds, she realized that it was not her delusion.

The queue in front of the bookstore was formed spontaneously, and it was already a bit chaotic.

Everyone was waiting for boring chatter, eating hot dogs sold at street stalls, and making a lot of noise.

All of a sudden, it was like being pressed the mute button.

The boisterous voices just disappeared.

Maca could listen to the DJ in front of a department store in the distance, and she could see people still bustling and laughing in other parts of Oxford Street not far away.

There are couples arguing, children holding hydrogen balloons running and laughing, and there are three little brothers in the farthest square shouting and performing Indian flying cakes to onlookers.

Everything is normal on Oxford Street.

Only around the Waterstone Bookstore, suddenly an inexplicable force cut it from the entire bustling commercial street.

From the very front of the line, the feeling of silence continued to spread backwards.

"Amazing ......"

Halfway through her words, Maca paused.

The garden-faced girl saw that there were staff members in the Shuishi Bookstore, holding scaffold-style posters, and walked out of the door of the bookstore.

It was a piece of work that she couldn't describe for a while.

I know that everyone is not happy to read it here, sorry.

But today is really the speed of life and death.

After simply correcting the typo, there are now more than 100 seconds left before 12 o'clock.

(End of chapter)