Chapter 54

The afternoon hours are always hard to endure.

The temperature of a summer day peaks at this time. The sun's rays fiercely illuminate the earth, spreading boundless love upon all things. That love is so scorching that it almost melts everything under the sky.

Around 4 PM, the family had all gone out.

Xiaofei was the only one left at home.

He moved the table to the cool shade in the courtyard and spread out his manuscript paper to write.

He was bare-chested, revealing a body of white flesh. His figure was well-proportioned, and his physique was quite athletic, thanks to the continuous morning martial arts exercises he had been doing for nearly a month.

The weather was really too hot. Sweat trickled down his body.

His hands were drenched in sweat.

Therefore, while writing rapidly on the table, he tried to be as careful as possible to avoid wetting the manuscript paper with his sweat.

Since the day he decided to go to the capital to rescue Dai Houying and see if he could get a recommendation to directly connect with the editorial department of the Harvest magazine, he felt that bringing just one essay, "Literature is Dead, Please Burn Paper for Any Matters," was a bit too thin. He needed to write a long novel to take with him. In the modern era, novels have truly become the king of literature. Without a well-known long novel, it would be very difficult to make a name in the literary world. Therefore, he decided to write a long novel, one that could attract attention in the literary world.

The contemplation of this long novel had spanned a long period of time.

In his previous life, he had seriously considered it and several times wanted to start writing, but he gave up due to his restless mind and hesitation.

In this life, he was determined to write it in the shortest time possible.

Moreover, he wanted to write a classic, a great work that could be passed down to future generations. Perhaps this sounded a bit arrogant.

But at this moment, Xiaofei was indeed ambitious.

The story he wanted to write was about the college entrance examination, focusing on the protagonist Li Xianwei and the ups and downs of several generations in a small village called Gucang.

He wanted to write a novel that was both literary and engaging, one that would provoke deep thought and withstand the test of time.

Writing a long novel tests not only one's writing skills.

It also tests one's life experience.

Most importantly, it tests the way of telling a story and whether the narrative language has the power to captivate the reader. A good novelist can make an ordinary event seem thrilling.

Xiaofei felt that there were very few domestic literary writers who could tell a story well.

And Yu Hua was one of the best.

Yu Hua was originally a writer of avant-garde fiction.

When people mention avant-garde writers, they immediately think of stream of consciousness, impressionism, black humor, postmodern deconstruction, and so on.

In short, avant-garde fiction is like playing a guessing game, making things complicated. If you can't understand the works of these writers, that's right.

The writers themselves might not even understand!

Yu Hua was originally a practitioner of avant-garde literature.

But Yu Hua had a natural talent for storytelling, and his narrative skills were among the best in the country.

By the late 1990s, Yu Hua realized that pure avant-garde literature was no longer popular with readers. Being an extremely smart person, he quickly changed his style.

This change in style was significant. His subsequent works, "To Live" and "The Chronicles of Blood and Iron," caused a sensation nationwide and were wildly popular among domestic readers.

As a result, Yu Hua became one of the most outstanding writers in the country.

Of course, many traditional literary critics did not acknowledge this "most outstanding" status, arguing that Yu Hua's works lacked profound social significance and were just tragic stories.

Xiaofei, in writing his current novel, drew inspiration from Yu Hua's narrative style.

In fact, Xiaofei found that as long as a writer's work was engaging, their narrative style was generally similar.

The novel Xiaofei was writing was called "The Fish Walking on Land."

The title metaphorically suggests that those who cannot jump over the college entrance examination, the dragon gate, and transform into dragons must leave the water they depend on and find another path to success.

Xiaofei had been writing this book for several days.

He wrote for about 6 hours each day, producing around 15,000 words. He planned to write the book to about 300,000 words, so he should be able to finish it by around August 20th. Then, he would take the manuscript directly to Shanghai.

Xiaofei was so engrossed in his writing that he suddenly felt someone beside him.

A fragrant scent filled the air around him.

He looked up and saw Liu Xinmei standing beside him, smiling at him.

When did she come? Xiaofei frowned, realizing he had been so absorbed that he didn't even notice someone had come in.

She was wearing a silk tank top, with a slight bulge on her chest and a low neckline that revealed a hint of cleavage.

This attire was quite bold for the village.

"What are you writing? A novel?" Liu Xinmei bent down, squinting to read the words on the manuscript. Her gaze, however, was on his bare chest. She was surprised; she didn't expect Xiaofei to look so thin but have such a solid and well-built body.

Xiaofei covered the manuscript he was writing and smiled, "Just writing casually. When I write, I can't have too much noise around me, or I can't continue."

He was hinting that she was disturbing him.

"Oh, then stop writing. Let's sit down and chat, okay?" Liu Xinmei plopped down on the table where he was writing, which was also their family's dining table.

Her long, white legs were more glaring than the sunlight.

What did she want today? Xiaofei guessed her intentions, but regardless of what she thought, he didn't want to get too close to her.

"But, I have something to do..." he said tactfully.

"Hehe! No, you don't. You have to talk to me." Liu Xinmei laughed lightly, her curved eyes fixed on his face. She wanted to see something in his eyes.

Wasn't he affected by her bold attire?

But she saw nothing in his eyes, only a hint of calmness, a faint indifference, and a deep-seated aversion.

What was going on?

Liu Xinmei was confused.

She thought she had made her intentions clear to Xiaofei, telling him that she had always had his shadow in her heart and that she would wait for him at H University.

Could it be that he didn't like her, that he had no feelings for her?

Liu Xinmei felt extremely disappointed and even more determined to spark his interest and capture him.

Xiaofei was helpless, "If you want to say something, just say it. I'm listening."

Liu Xinmei looked around and felt that Xiaofei's home was not very private. Even if she wanted to say something, it was hard to do so in such an open courtyard.

"Then, come with me to the hill. Let's find a place where no one can disturb us and talk about our feelings, okay?" She reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, hey! Liu Xinmei, can we not be so touchy? People might misunderstand if they see us." Xiaofei said.

He didn't expect her to actually grab him.

From his understanding of Liu Xinmei, this girl was always very proud and arrogant, with a strong sense of ambition. She shouldn't be so passionate and affectionate towards him.

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