Chapter 40

It was eight o'clock in the evening.

There were still four hours left until the end of the essay contest.

"The next day, Mother Rabbit went to the woods to pick mushrooms. The little rabbits closed the door and waited for their mother to come back. After a while, the big bad wolf came again. He knocked on the door and pinched his nose, singing: 'Little rabbits, open the door, open it quickly, I want to come in.'"

"That's not right, that's not right! That's not Mother's voice."

"That's not right, that's not right! It's not Mother, it's the big bad wolf!"

"I won't open, I won't open, I won't open! Mother hasn't come back, I won't open for anyone!"

The story was simple but terrifying. The big bad wolf tried to trick the little rabbits by imitating their mother's voice. The red eyes and short tail were deceived and wanted to open the door, but the long ears recognized the wolf. Through the crack in the door, they saw it wasn't their mother. Instead, they tricked the wolf into extending his tail through the door to verify if it was real. When the wolf really stuck his tail inside, the little rabbits closed the door together, trapping the wolf's big tail. Mother Rabbit came home and chased the wolf away, who slunk back to the mountain with his broken tail.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

The simpler, the more powerful.

After posting, Zhang Ye didn't pay attention to it anymore. He first went to the bathroom for a hot shower, dried himself, and blow-dried his hair. Then he went out to knock on the landlord's door. He pressed the doorbell for a long time, but no one answered, so Rao Aimin must not be home. After some thought, Zhang Ye took out his wallet, counted the overdue rent and utility bills from last month, plus this month's rent, and slipped the money into the door crack. He then wrote a note to explain.

At this moment, a couple from the opposite house came out, also tenants of the building.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Whatever, by the way, I just read a fairy tale, it was really good."

"Is that the one for the education department's children's essay contest?"

"Yes, it's called 'Little Rabbits, Open the Door.' It's written so well. In a short story, it thoroughly explains from multiple angles and perspectives why you shouldn't open the door to strangers. It looks like a bunch of nonsense, but there's not a single word of nonsense in the whole story, and it's also entertaining. The only downside is that the singing part doesn't have music, it's just written out. I really look forward to hearing how that song sounds."

"Is it that good?"

"Read it and you'll see. The story was only posted for over an hour, and it already has thousands of votes, more than many essays that were posted a week ago."

"Really? Which teacher wrote it?"

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention."

The speaker was casual, but the listener was intent. Zhang Ye stared at the couple's retreating backs, then hurried back to his room and quickly checked the rankings online!

Ninth place!

"Little Rabbits, Open the Door" had 7,861 votes!

The comments and netizens' messages below were also extremely active!

1st floor: Whose pen name is this? The story is amazing!

2nd floor: Zhang Ye? Never heard of him. Master, stop pretending, you must be a fairy tale writer, reveal yourself! You can't fool me!

3rd floor: Such a deep foundation!

75th floor: Almost 8,000 votes, how long did it take?

80th floor: Who is Zhang Ye? Is this vote-rigging?

81st floor: Still asking? Isn't it written in the verification?

82nd floor: The verification isn't reliable. A ghost story writer writing a fairy tale? And so well?

90th floor: From the perspective of a kindergarten teacher, this story is absolutely perfect! I've already recommended it to my colleagues and posted it on Weibo for the parents. Everyone, help vote for "Little Rabbits, Open the Door" and promote it. This is the first place in my heart!

99th floor: I told this story to my child, and he really liked it and understood it. He even said he won't open the door to the big bad wolf! I'm so grateful to Teacher Zhang Ye. After so many incidents this month, my husband and I were worried about how to teach our child not to open the door to strangers, but after hearing this story, he understood it without us saying much. Before, I didn't really believe in fairy tales or so-called children's literature, thinking it was just for entertainment, but today I know it's not that children's literature is unreliable, but that there are too few good stories in China! I've already mobilized other parents to vote, and we must support it to the end!

130th floor: Is it really that exaggerated? So many votes? Haha, but I also voted, the story is great, absolutely!

Zhang Ye watched the votes soar, and he was stunned. He thought the contest was over, and he couldn't compete with those who had been campaigning for a week, but he didn't expect everyone to recognize it so much!

At 10:30, the votes reached exactly 10,000!

At 11:00, the votes had already surpassed 20,000!

By 11:30, "Little Rabbits, Open the Door" had climbed to second place, just a few hundred votes behind the first place, Little Red Mushroom's story!

After four hours of posting, the votes reached 29,000!

This was almost a miracle! Many people were stunned!

As the saying goes, the more popular one is, the more trouble one gets. Zhang Ye, an outsider, was catching up with the top masters in the field, and with this almost decisive posture, some people couldn't stand it anymore. The fans of Little Red Mushroom quickly launched an attack!

The comments on "Little Rabbits, Open the Door" exploded!

"Absolutely vote-rigging!"

"Is there any conscience left? Such vote-rigging?"

"How can it have more votes than Teacher Tao Xueru?"

"Call to action! Fans of Little Red Mushroom, pay attention! Regardless of whether they are vote-rigging, we must support Little Red Mushroom. Each IP is limited to one vote, but I'll teach you a simple method: disconnect the internet and reconnect. The network will usually switch IP addresses automatically. If not, clear the cookies and you can vote again. Everyone, let's go!"

"Right! Everyone, help!"

"Can't let Little Red Mushroom be overshadowed!"

"We're determined to get first place! No matter who it is!"

"Haha, are we a bit too harsh? He's a newcomer, he's never seen such a large fan base, he might be scared!"

"Scare him to death!"

"Right, let him know who the real master is!"

"Ah, Little Red Mushroom posted on Weibo, asking everyone to vote for her!"

"Support Teacher Mushroom. How dare an outsider be so arrogant? We'll show him why the flowers are so red! But be gentle, don't scare the newcomer!"

With Little Red Mushroom's call, her massive fan base quickly gathered. Initially, they were a few hundred votes behind, but in just ten minutes, they pulled ahead by over 5,000 votes!

Her fans also went to Zhang Ye's story comment section to mock.

"Oh, you're down, aren't you?"

"Trying to catch up, huh? Underestimating our Mushroom fan base?"

"Be gentle, it looks like Zhang Ye is already scared stiff, hahaha!"

Many onlookers couldn't stand it anymore. What kind of people are these Mushroom fans? So arrogant? "Little Rabbits, Open the Door" is already very good, and you accuse them of vote-rigging? Then you start vote-rigging yourselves? And you mock them for being a newcomer without fans? This is very uncomfortable to watch. What's wrong with being a newcomer? What's wrong with not having fans? Who says newcomers can't write good stories? Many parents and kindergarten teachers who were watching wanted to help Zhang Ye, but their power was limited, only adding a little over a thousand votes.

Ten minutes left until the voting closes!

Ten minutes until midnight!

At this moment, everyone knew Zhang Ye had no chance of getting first place, suppressed by the unspoken rules of seniority in the industry. Zhang Ye felt the same way!

But there are always surprises!

An unexpected miracle happened!

...

On Weibo, a post suddenly appeared!

Zhang Ye's Fan 1 shouted: "Are there any brothers still awake? Come out quickly! Urgent! Teacher Zhang Ye has published a fairy tale in the 'Do Not Open the Door to Strangers' essay contest! A new work! He was almost first place, but was pushed down by the Mushroom fan base! They also insulted Teacher Zhang Ye, calling him a newcomer without fans or influence, and filled the screen with mocking words. I'll give you screenshots!"

He immediately posted the screenshots, which were full of mockery and insults from the Mushroom fan base, some of whom even cursed Zhang Ye with foul language!

"Damn!"

"Angry repost!"

"Another incident?"

"Dare to insult Teacher Zhang Ye? Haha! They're in for a tragedy!"

"They're too bold, really too bold. They clearly don't know the consequences of insulting a god. I'm worried about their intelligence!"

"I can only admire their courage!"

"Right, anyone who knows about the insult gate incident wouldn't dare to openly insult Teacher Zhang Ye. This is pure suicide!"

The water army who participated in or watched the insult gate incident all forwarded the Weibo post!

Zhang Ye's Fan 1 roared: "Can you stand it? I can't! Damn! Who told them Teacher Zhang Ye doesn't have a fan base? Who told them he's a newcomer? Blind as a bat! Don't they know who our great god is? Comrades! The time has come! We can't let Teacher Zhang fight alone! All those who participated in the insult gate, gather! All those who fought alongside Teacher Zhang Ye, gather! Go vote for Teacher Zhang Ye! Show the Mushroom fan base the power of our water army! Show them who knows why the flowers are so red!" He tagged a bunch of people!

...

Almost