Chapter 77

"Still remember Editor Zhou?"

After Liu Jingtong returned to school, he invited Mi Hu to have lunch together that noon. Although neither of them explicitly mentioned it, both could vaguely sense their mutual concern over the past few days. After a brief awkward moment, Mi Hu asked Liu Jingtong.

"A very familiar name." Liu Jingtong frowned in thought. "Is he your teacher?"

Mi Hu nodded in satisfaction and said, "He's now the Text Director at *Elegance*. He called me yesterday, saying he wanted to do a character interview with you."

"What? An interview? Did you refuse?"

Mi Hu looked at him strangely and said, "I knew you would be like this, so I didn't promise anything. I can't make decisions for you. I told the editor I would pass the message along."

Liu Jingtong nodded and said, "That's good. You can tell him it's not convenient for me to do a character interview right now. I need to focus on my studies."

"Ha, you're focusing on your studies in the grasslands? Who are you trying to fool?"

"Anyway, I'm a high school student now, and it's not suitable for me to appear in a fashion magazine. Tell him I'll give my first interview to *Elegance* if they still want to interview me then."

Mi Hu didn't respond, implicitly agreeing. He casually asked, "Did Yi Shui'an tell you about her breakup herself?"

Liu Jingtong nodded.

"Really? An Da actually tells others about her personal matters? That doesn't seem like her style. Are you lying? When and where did she tell you?"

"The second day in the grasslands, we all stayed in tents. I happened to be her neighbor. We chatted at night, and she told me everything about her breakup. By the way, do you know what she used to do?"

"Advertising, and I think she wrote for a magazine. She mentioned it in her essay collection. That's a very basic question."

Liu Jingtong nodded and continued, "Do you know what her boyfriend did?"

"She's so low-key, and there are hardly any photos of her. How could I know who her boyfriend is?"

Liu Jingtong smiled smugly and said, "He was her former colleague, apparently her team leader."

"An Da had an office romance."

"Given her personality, she naturally wouldn't be friends with people she's not familiar with."

"Why do you suddenly seem to know her so well?"

"Well, we talked for a long time, and I've read some of her interviews before. Of course, mainly based on the views presented in her books."

"Talked for a long time?" Mi Hu敏锐地抓住关键词，问道。

"Um, yeah." Liu Jingtong seemed completely unaware of the changing atmosphere.

"What did you talk about?"

"Um, we started by looking at the stars and the moon, then we talked about poetry, songs, and philosophy."

With a "clank," Mi Hu accidentally knocked her chopsticks onto the plate, splashing sauce on Liu Jingtong.

Liu Jingtong was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "See, you asked me to find out about Yi Shui'an, and now that I have, you're jealous."

"Shut up." Mi Hu controlled her emotions and said, "—It was an accident. What we talked about has nothing to do with me."

Liu Jingtong smiled and looked at Mi Hu, saying, "You don't listen carefully to stories. I just said we were in a tent, where could we see stars and the moon? Such a logically flawed statement, and you still believe it. Didn't you used to be an editor?"

Mi Hu's face tensed, and she didn't respond.

"Besides, there were many people around when we were talking..."

"Why are you explaining so much? Do you think I believe you could do anything with An Da?"

"Then you..."

"Say it was an accident, and I still don't believe you. I'll have another 'accident' and aim for your face."

Mi Hu said this, handing Liu Jingtong two napkins. Although she was jealous, she tried to hide it. She wasn't particularly bothered by Liu Jingtong talking to Yi Shui'an, as Yi Shui'an was much older than them. What made her uncomfortable was why, in that setting, it wasn't her and him talking.

"The story will be finished the day after tomorrow," Liu Jingtong said, wiping his clothes with the napkins. "It's about 60,000 words, enough for you to read for a day. But we agreed you can't read it during class or self-study."

"You, who skipped class to travel, dare to lecture me?"

"Well, people are like that. They always want others to do what they can't. As the saying goes, 'Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.'"

"Shameless argument."

Liu Jingtong smiled and ate quietly.

"In the morning, Qian Qian texted me asking what your new book is about. I didn't tell her."

"Oh."

Mi Hu glanced at Liu Jingtong and continued eating, saying, "She probably wants to help Gong Cheng'en get the script."

Liu Jingtong shook his head and said, "They won't buy the adaptation rights until *Yue Nü Jiàn* and *Bái Fà Mó Nǚ Zhuàn* are published."

Mi Hu, having been an editor, understood the logic. A thought flashed through her mind, but she couldn't pinpoint it, so she ate in silence.

...

Since Mi Hu was about to have her monthly exam, they went back to their respective classrooms after lunch. Liu Jingtong had just returned to his seat when a girl with a ponytail jumped in front of him and said, "While you were on leave, I temporarily took over as the English class representative. Now that you're back, I'll give it back to you. I have some things to tell you."

"Or, you can continue being the class representative," Liu Jingtong suggested.

"You scored one point higher than me in the English mid-term exam, so you should be the English class representative. We'll see after the first semester's final exam."

"Oh, so you wrote that note?"

Liu Jingtong remembered the note he received on the day they elected class representatives, which said she would take back the position of English class representative within a semester.

The girl with the ponytail remained calm and said, "Yes, I did."

"Alright, then I can't give it to you. You'll have to take it back yourself. What work needs to be handed over?"

...

For Liu Jingtong, taking a few days off didn't really affect his studies. However, several teachers still reminded him to catch up on the lessons he missed and instructed the study committee to help him.

When Liu Jingtong was in high school in the other world, he was just an average student, a nameless figure that teachers often overlooked. Back then, he felt both disdain and a hint of jealousy when teachers showed concern for top students in class. Now that it was his turn, he didn't have any special feelings.

It seemed that in both worlds, some things that seemed essential turned out to be not so great once you had them. The best moments were always in the pursuit.

Sun Xinyang, who was also worried about Liu Jingtong's studies, handed him a black notebook after school and said seriously, "This is Nan Hong's notes, with some of my additions. It only includes physics, chemistry, and math. Your English is good, so we didn't include it."

Liu Jingtong understood the significance of the notebook and accepted it with a casual but serious demeanor, saying, "I'll study it carefully. Thanks."

"Hey, Sun, are you really going to do it?"

Sun Xinyang smiled and said, "If you want it, you can read it after Jingtong finishes."

"Why would I need it? I take notes seriously too, and we can't understand your rocket class notes anyway."

...

After a long journey, people often feel a sense of returning to the real world when they resume work. This is what it means to feel as if a long time has passed.

Liu Jingtong returned from the grasslands and began to re-engage in school life. The editors, including Qian Hong, also returned to their mundane work. They immediately faced two important events—the Singles' Day special issue and Liu Jingtong's new book!

"He said it's 60,000 words. If it's pure text, it will need at least 12 pages, meaning we need to reserve 20 blank pages, which is about a quarter of the content. Do you think we should add a special issue or increase the magazine's page count?"

At the editorial meeting, President Lu Yichou raised the issue of Gu Yusheng's new book first.

"Can't we serialize it?" an editor asked.

"Of course not. Gu Yusheng promised to publish the book in ten days. If we serialize it, readers will criticize us."

"*Ding Xiaoshuo* is doing a special issue, but we won't follow that. My suggestion is to directly increase the magazine's page count. Since it's a special issue, we should do something special. We won't cut other sections. Gu Yusheng's new story will be an additional part of the existing content. We'll increase the magazine's price by 7 to 8 yuan and create a truly 'substantial' issue. The advertising slogan could be, 'Have you ever seen a 10-pound magazine?'"

Wei Wuzhi proposed his idea, and the editors couldn't help but laugh at the end. Lu Yichou nodded and said, "Let's go with Wei's idea. With our peers working hard to advertise for us, I'm not worried about sales."

Everyone laughed in agreement after hearing President Lu's words.

...

Compared to the last time he wrote *Bái Fà Mó Nǚ Zhuàn* in three days, this time the workload was much lighter for Liu Jingtong. For one, *Shu Ke and Beta* and *Qī Jiàn Xià Tiān Shān* already had sufficient drafts, and *Bái Mǎ Xiào Xī Fēng* was much smaller in scale than *Bái Fà Mó Nǚ Zhuàn*.

He said it would take ten days, but he mentally prepared for seven days. In reality, it only took five days. Liu Jingtong finished the 67,000-word novel:

【That was all very good, but I just didn't like it.】

Liu Jingtong couldn't forget the shock he felt when he first read this ending. It was a brilliant climax after building up all the emotions in the story.

Just before this line, he had read the question that left countless readers mesmerized and unprepared. He thought that question was the most striking part of the book, but there was still this final line—like the finishing touch on a masterpiece.

After finishing the text, Liu Jingtong took a short break, then opened Mi Hu's email and sent the document.

(Almost starving while writing this. Hope for votes, recommendations, collections, and donations—no problem if you don't have them, I'll go find food.) (To be continued. Search for Piaowen for better and faster updates!)

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