Chapter 27: Brother, I’m Kneeling Before You
Over at Lin Xuan’s place, an editor from Feiyue Station added Lin Xuan as a friend.
All the male frequency editors on their site were named after plants. The editor Lin Xuan submitted his work to was a female editor called Lābāhuā.
[Lābāhuā: I’ve read your novel, the pacing is great, the writing style is good, and the satisfying points are there; we can sign you.]
[But when will the other women for the male lead appear?]
Lin Xuan replied: [There’s only one female lead.]
Lābāhuā frowned: [This won’t work. A single female lead won’t cut it in the male frequency section. The male lead should gather all the attractive and talented ones.]
[Lābāhuā: Also! The male lead needs to be more assertive in front of the female lead. Your male lead seems like he’s living off the female lead! A male lead like that won’t survive in novels!]
Lin Xuan couldn’t help but respond furiously after reading this last part.
What’s wrong with living off the female lead?
Being able to live off the female lead is a kind of blessing!
Lin Xuan typed furiously: [My novel is like this, and it can’t be changed!]
Lābāhuā’s face darkened: [The market is like this. If you don’t change, your novel is doomed to fail!]
Lin Xuan: [Not a single word will be changed!]
Lābāhuā: [Fine, fine, fine! So you’re being stubborn, huh! I won’t accept your novel, and I don’t have time to deal with a novel destined to flop big time!]
Lābāhuā deleted and blocked Lin Xuan.
“Lābāhuā, what’s wrong? Who upset you?” Xiūnyīcǎo in the same office saw Lābāhuā’s gloomy expression and couldn’t help but wonder who had angered her so much.
“There’s an author whose writing style and feel are both pretty good, but insists on having just one female lead. Not only that, the male lead lives off the female lead. I told him, but he refused to change, completely obstinate!”
In order to find agreement, Lābāhuā also sent the novel to the editor group chat.
After those editors read the novel, they all shook their heads. This novel could have been a hit, but the male lead being a soft male lead became such a huge flaw.
When readers see such flaws, they basically run away.
“Alas, it’s truly a pity.” Xiūnyīcǎo sighed.
Lābāhuā snorted coldly: “Even if this novel gets signed, it won’t become popular. He’ll come around once he hits a wall.”
Gǒu Wěibācǎo also saw the novel posted in the group chat.
Out of curiosity, he clicked into it and immediately got hooked.
The handling of the relationship between the male and female leads in this novel was excellent. Although the female lead was a yandere, she still respected the male lead, and the two leads could be considered mutual lovers.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo added Lin Xuan on QQ.
[Gǒu Wěibācǎo: Hello, I am Gǒu Wěibācǎo, responsible for the male frequency section of Feiyue Novels. I’ve read your novel, and it’s very well-written. I want to sign your novel.]
Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow: [Don’t you think my novel doesn’t fit the current market?]
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [It doesn’t fit the market. Nowadays, the lists are full of multiple female leads or the male lead playing ambiguous with several girls. Most authors will cater to the market for money.]
[But! Novels need a hundred flowers to bloom; we can’t always stick to one formula.]
[I always feel that your novel is special! I want to try it out. If your subsequent drafts can maintain this level, I will strongly promote you.]
He was an old editor at Feiyue Station, and almost all the good authors under him had been poached by Lābāhuā.
Now there were few popular novels under him.
He hoped Lin Xuan’s novel would become a hit!
Lin Xuan: [Alright!]
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [Then update four thousand words a day until twelve ten-thousand characters, and I’ll arrange for it to go up!]
Lin Xuan: [I’m short on money, I need to go up quickly. I already have fifteen ten-thousand characters saved up, and I expect to write forty ten-thousand characters tomorrow!]
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [!!! How many? Can you write twenty-five ten-thousand characters in a day?]
Lin Xuan: [Yeah.]
He had a space, writing twenty ten-thousand characters was just a matter of dozens of minutes in reality.
Lin Xuan: [Isn’t it a bit too little? If not enough, I can write another few ten-thousand characters.]
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: “……”
He suspected he was bluffing.
His novel was well-written, but he was too boastful.
Normally, some authors struggle to write four thousand words a day, not because they’re busy, but because some authors get stuck, while most type a couple of words then stare at their phones for ten minutes.
Type a few more words, pet their cats, continue typing a few more words, play with their nails.
In short, they do everything except type, squeezing out four thousand words like toothpaste.
Sometimes, if they can’t make it in time, they’ll make up excuses like feeling unwell or having things to do, and ask for leave.
For ordinary authors, updating ten-thousand words is like hitting the jackpot.
And he could write hundreds of thousands of words in a day?
Absolutely impossible!
Not even Chùshǒu guài could write that fast!
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [Then send me the rest of the manuscript you have first.]
Lin Xuan: [Alright!]
Lin Xuan sent over the manuscript.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo got hooked, damn it, the more he read, the more exciting it got. The flirtatious scenes between the male lead and the yandere female lead had him almost nosebleeding, and the male lead’s slapstick revenge was satisfying!
Gǒu Wěibācǎo contacted Lin Xuan after reading for two whole hours.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [Send! Send ten ten-thousand characters first! I’ll give you a major recommendation! Go up in three days!]
Lin Xuan: [Okay.]
The day after tomorrow was also the start of classes at Shangqing University. Before that, he finished writing the novel.
In two days, Lin Xuan wrote a million characters and prepared to write another few ten-thousand characters to be published on another paid website.
Charging started at midnight, Lin Xuan uploaded twenty ten-thousand characters at once, adding up to thirty ten-thousand characters with the previous ones.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo was dumbfounded.
He had never seen an author update so aggressively!
Other authors would be heartbroken if they accidentally uploaded two thousand extra characters, but here he was, uploading twenty ten-thousand characters straight!
Brother, you’re awesome.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [Brother, Brother, take it easy, save some for next time.]
Lin Xuan sent a screenshot of his typing interface to Gǒu Wěibācǎo, [No problem, I wrote eighty ten-thousand characters yesterday, plenty to spare!]
Besides needing money, Lin Xuan also understood the readers’ feelings. In the past, chasing updates every day was absolutely excruciating!
So he uploaded more so the readers could read their fill.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [……Brother, I’m bowing down to you!]
In just one day, he managed to type eighty ten-thousand characters! Even the working mule wouldn’t work this hard!
Damn, what kind of hellish speed is this!
Gǒu Wěibācǎo: [Brother, how about you send me the manuscript, I’ll help you fix any typos or whatever.]
He wanted to use his position for personal gain, yeah, to read his novel ahead of time.
Lin Xuan: [Sure.]
Lin Xuan sent over the entire novel. This novel wasn’t long, only a total of one hundred and twenty ten-thousand characters.
Writing another thirty ten-thousand characters would bring it to a grand finale.
Gǒu Wěibācǎo started reading Lin Xuan’s novel, originally planning to read for an hour before sleeping. Unexpectedly, once he started, he stayed up all night reading.
The next day, Gǒu Wěibācǎo went to work with heavy dark circles under his eyes.
