"Good morning." Chu Ge brushed his teeth, peeking into his room from the doorway. "Why are you sitting in front of the computer so early?"
Qiu Wuji hurriedly closed the document. "I'm worried about the comic project and want to finish it as soon as possible."
"There's no need to rush. The initial phase is just for character designs; there's no client reviewing them. Just draw as we like, so be spontaneous." Chu Ge swiped away. "Today is the Winter Solstice. I think we should think about how to celebrate."
"Winter...Winter Solstice?" Qiu Wuji was taken aback.
The world's climate is warm; winter hasn't really felt like much.
He hadn't felt the late autumn vibe at all the past few days; it felt like Mid-Autumn Festival hadn't been long ago.
Qiu Wuji's season had quietly passed, without him even realizing it.
Qiu Wuji scratched his head.
Chu Ge swiped away.
Qiu Wuji's season had passed so quietly, without him even noticing.
Qiu Wuji scratched his head.
Chu Ge swiped away.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Qiu Wuji grinned, "What are you doing? It's all your fault! Fighting in the last days of autumn, all the romance is ruined." Chu Ge chuckled, "In the last moments, we'd be reminiscing about the past on the Huangpu River." Qiu Wuji felt much better thinking about it. Looking out over the river, watching the wild geese fly home—the atmosphere was still nice, it was just a pity there wasn't anything more poetic to commemorate it. Oh well, it's really nothing. Autumn in the world of the book had long since quietly passed, and the snow had been falling for ages without any impact. Why am I so annoyed here?
It's all because he's around! It wears you down, making you always want someone to celebrate holidays and birthdays with…
Qiu Wuji, Qiu Wuji, you can't keep… uh…
Chu Ge went back to the bathroom, quickly finished washing up, and came out rubbing his face: "Winter Solstice is a festival here. In Nanjiang, we traditionally eat tangyuan (sweet rice balls), while in the north we eat dumplings. We can eat either, which do you prefer?"
Qiu Wuji said with a straight face: "What kind of festival is this?"
Chu Ge was taken aback: "Huh?"
"Autumn turns to winter solstice, clearly an ominous sign, yet you celebrate. Do you want to find a woman with the character for winter in your name?"
"I…" Chu Ge was both amused and exasperated: "My fear of marriage increases by 1 today."
Qiu Wuji was just joking. What ominous sign? There are four seasons every year, don't we also have to experience winter? But he really didn't want to celebrate this kind of festival, so he said, "If you have any customs, I'll just buy some glutinous rice balls and cook them today. There's no need to celebrate it specially."
"Okay... how long until your comic class finishes?"
"It'll take about eight or nine months to graduate, but we're not doing it for a certificate. We just need to learn the routines. I often ask the teacher privately; we've already skipped the drawing and drafting process."
"Then give the teacher a big red envelope."
"I know, go, go, while I still have some drafts left, quickly work on the comic script... I'll go make some breakfast first, then go buy groceries." So domestic! Chu Ge returned to his room with tears streaming down his face, opened his character design document, and happily looked at Qiu Wuji's section for a long time, unable to type a single word.
"I'm such a genius, to be able to write such a good woman!" He opened the group chat and saw that everyone was excitedly discussing the photos they posted on Weibo yesterday. In the photos, he was standing by the river with his arm around Qiu Wuji's shoulder, his smile a little silly; Qiu Wuji was nestled against his shoulder, one hand holding a milk tea, the other taking a selfie, her smile sweet.
The river and the Oriental Pearl Tower behind them witnessed this sweet smile on the last day of autumn.
"Oh no, these two look more and more like a perfect match. Qiu Qiu isn't mine anymore..."
"You've just gotten used to it. You've been looking at them from early autumn to the beginning of winter, for three whole months. Even if a pig stood next to Qiu Qiu, you'd probably think they were a good match." Chu Ge: "..." These people are so biased! "Three months! Do you know how I've spent these past three months?! These two are just feeding me dog food all day long, doing absolutely nothing else! Duanxiaoge is inhuman!"
"Yeah, I thought you were at home writing, but you quietly went to Shanghai for photoshoots! You have time for that and you're not even updating!"
"Damn it." Chu Ge couldn't hold back anymore: "You guys are even more ruthless than capitalists!"
"Hey, look who's here?"
"Oh, isn't this Duanxiaoge? Where's today's update?"
"Damn it..." Chu Ge was in tears.
This is what it's like to be at the bottom of the group rankings. Popping in only results in being scolded for being short and demanding more updates.
The chat group for this book is also a peculiar sight... While it's generally the norm for most book groups not to discuss the book itself, it's practically unheard of for an author and their spouse to chat about it all the time.
And both groups are like this, the chat "Pillow and Spear Await the Dawn" is full, what to do?
"There are already five thousand people..." Chu Ge pondered. The previous group had virtually no limit on fan value, and it filled up too quickly. He considered creating a separate group for members to distribute the members... What should he name the new group? How about having them wield spears? Let's see if they dare to be short-tempered after wielding them! Even Qiu Qiu wouldn't dare do that, hmph.
Just as he was thinking this, his private chat buzzed. It was an unfamiliar profile picture. He clicked on it and saw: "Master Chu, this is Long Sijia."
Chu Ge was stunned for a moment before realizing it was the kid from the Black Room who played with the wind. This kid seemed very shy, with a very low profile; he hadn't exchanged more than a few words with him.
"How did you end up in my book group?"
"Panda and the others keep recommending it, so I read some and became a bookworm too."
"But shouldn't you be traveling in Shanghai with Panda and the others right now?"
Long Sijia paused for a moment before saying, "They're traveling, and I came out for job interviews, and they told me to wait for a call. Judging from their tone, it's basically hopeless."
Chu Ge then remembered that this girl seemed to be a recent graduate, and had even failed her postgraduate entrance exam. So it seems she's been out of school for a while and still hasn't found a job?
Long Sijia knew what Chu Ge was thinking and said helplessly, "Am I a failure, Chu Ge? I came to Shanghai thinking I could help Brother Zhong, but I didn't do anything, just watched. Then I sent out job applications... It feels like I'm useless."
Chu Ge said, "This kind of mentality isn't good for someone so young. Take Zhong Yi's situation, for example. You should look at me from the opposite perspective; I'm a lucky charm. Just by standing there, I win without even having to make a move."
Long Sijia was in a flowerbed in front of a building in Shanghai. Sitting there, initially looking listless, she couldn't help but laugh after reading this: "Isn't this just like Ah Q?"
"A little bit of Ah Q is good, it's adorable," Chu Ge said. "Life is full of disappointments; without a little Ah Q, life wouldn't be easy."
"Hmm... I heard that Chu Ge used to be quite unsuccessful. Is this how you got through it?"
Chu Ge stared blankly at the screen for a long time before smiling slightly and typing: "Yes. I thought if I couldn't have her in real life, I had to write the most perfect woman in my book, and then I did it."
And then she appeared.
Although she never expected it while writing.
"Actually…" Long Sijia hesitated, "I've been trying to write a book these days, but I can't get a contract. A few days ago I joined a training course, paid over a thousand yuan, the teacher guaranteed a contract, and promised to help me out, Chu Da…"
Chu Ge: "?"
"What's wrong, Chu Da?"
"If you want to write a book, just ask me. We're family, I'd teach you for free! Why are you paying a scammer!"
"A scammer?"
Chu Ge sighed, and asked him seriously, "Does the instructor have the necessary qualifications? Not just anything, but what has he written?" "Did you guys know about his work?"
"No, no... he's just close to so-and-so, and they've even posted photos of them together."
"What's the use of photos? I have a photo with Director Xie too. Can I start a celebrity training course then? Famous writers never charge for classes, do you know why?"
"I don't know... teachers don't easily share their skills; you have to pay to learn. I think that makes sense."
"Wrong. It's because advanced knowledge is mostly based on personal experience and doesn't have universal applicability. Listening to how a master writes doesn't necessarily mean..." "The application of the method is personal. Even teaching Qiuqiu one-on-one is difficult, let alone summarizing it in a class. That's why experts share their insights on websites. How much you can use depends on you; no one charges for it, it would damage their reputation."
"But...but what the teacher said seems very sophisticated..."
"Those basic knowledge points, you can find summaries by enthusiastic writers on forums or websites, including the insights shared by the experts I just mentioned. Anyone who steals other people's insights and embellishes them is basically a scammer. If you're truly capable of teaching,..." "He's become a legend himself, how could I not have heard of his name?"
"But...but he guarantees a contract, and if you don't pass, he refunds you...I checked, and he does refund, that's why I trust him..."
"He's like a fish out of water; someone will always pass and get a contract on their own. He takes money from a hundred people, fifty fail and he refunds them, so he still makes a profit on fifty. A thousand each, fifty thousand in his pocket, how sweet!" Long Sijia was dumbfounded, and after a long while, she managed to utter two words: "Holy crap!" Chu Ge's thoughts also drifted away from the supernatural world and high-society parties he had returned from Shanghai, returning to reality.
Real life was the main topic...Even supernatural beings like Long Sijia needed to struggle to find work and earn money.
It wasn't that the people who were fooled were stupid; it's just that every profession is like a mountain, and young people who blindly enter the field naturally wouldn't know the ins and outs, unlike seasoned veterans who had seen too much over the years...When people are desperate and see a straw, they'll grab it without hesitation.
He couldn't help but think of Zhang Qiren again. Zhang Qiren is smart enough; he almost fell for these kinds of classes back then, but the reason he didn't is quite simple: he couldn't bear to spend over a thousand yuan.
As if telepathically connected, Long Sijia, having just thought of Zhang Qiren, immediately said, "Chu Da, you and Zhang Qiren are quite close, aren't you?"
"Uh?" Chu Ge snapped out of his reverie. "Ah...yes."
"Zhang Qiren and I became friends when we collaborated with Black House. He also knew I hadn't found a job in a long time and asked if I wanted to go to Japan to help him. Chu Da, I'm hesitant. I feel like what he did wasn't good, but...I was thinking that if I could make money writing books..."
Chu Ge remained silent for a long time, then slowly said, "Writing is a dead end. If it's not out of passion, but just to make a living, then don't go into this industry."
"Then Zhang Qiren..."
"Honestly, I don't recommend it."
"Ah...isn't Zhang Qiren your good brother?"
"Precisely because my brother went down a bad path, I don't want another friend to follow in his footsteps."
Long Sijia was silent for a moment, then replied, "I understand, thank you, Chu Da."
He put away his phone, let out a long sigh, and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Long Sijia pulled it out and saw it was a call from the VR interview team: "Mr. Long, if it's convenient, please come for the second round of interviews at 3 PM today." Long Sijia gripped his phone tightly, almost letting out a shout of "Yay!"
"I'm clearly not some lucky charm, but why does it seem like Chu Da is?"
He turned to look at the LG building—an international music company!