Chapter 93

As the cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother. The shy ketchup hesitated.

Seeing that Xiaoming didn't speak, Tongyan happily continued to chat with Songrao.

Songrao: "Do you miss me?"

Tongyan: "Yes."

Songrao: "How much?"

Tongyan: "A lot, a lot."

Songrao: "You're such a sweet talker."

Tongyan: "Where are you online? Girls shouldn't go to internet cafes at night, you know?"

Songrao: "I know, I'm at my aunt's place. Where are you? Boys shouldn't go to internet cafes at night either."

Tongyan: "I'm at my cousin's place; he has a computer."

They chatted about trivial topics but enjoyed it immensely. These back-and-forth conversations were an important part of their relationship, a way to get to know each other deeply.

Although they had impulsively decided to be together, their understanding of each other was still quite limited. They had only truly started to get to know each other in the past six months. In their first year of high school, Tongyan's impression of Songrao was limited to "Old Song's daughter is really beautiful, but she's not very good at studying." Songrao's impression of Tongyan was "He's handsome and smart, how can you let me live, little boy?" At that time, Old Song often used Tongyan as an example to scold Songrao, so Songrao was a bit annoyed with her junior.

Love is really a strange thing. Neither of them could have imagined that two people who were not very familiar with each other and only connected through Old Song would now be in such an intimate relationship, no longer needing anyone to be their link.

Thinking of Songrao's every smile and frown, Tongyan's heart burned with passion. At this age, teenagers without lovers would have many romantic fantasies, let alone someone like Tongyan, who had a beautiful girlfriend. His fantasies were more vivid and concrete, and sometimes he wished he could immediately return to Yangping and hold Songrao tightly in his arms.

"Ding ding ding!"

After Songrao logged off, the icon of "I Eat Tomatoes" finally started flashing. He had played in the internet cafe for a while and finally mustered the courage to greet "Tongyan Wujin" with a "hello" QQ emoticon.

Tongyan Wujin: "Hello, Tomatoes. Why did you stop writing 'Xingfeng'?"

Tongyan Wujin got straight to the point, asking "I Eat Tomatoes" about his work. The shy Tomatoes finally knew what to say, and their conversation began.

I Eat Tomatoes: "I'm still writing. I'm at home now, and it's not convenient to go online, so I update once a week at the internet cafe. I'm at the internet cafe right now."

Tongyan Wujin: "Are you a student?"

I Eat Tomatoes: "Yes, I just started college. What about you?"

Tongyan Wujin: "I'm also a student, we're about the same."

Of course, they were quite different, one a high school student and the other a college student, but Tongyan didn't want to reveal this to avoid making a fuss.

I Eat Tomatoes: "There's a big difference. You've already achieved success, while I'm still struggling."

In Tomatoes' eyes, Tongyan's novel ranking in the top twenty on the monthly ticket list was definitely a sign of success.

Tongyan Wujin: "Why not write anymore?"

I Eat Tomatoes: "No, I love writing novels. I don't know what to do after class without writing. It's just that the performance of this book is too poor. I might start a new one. In fact, I'm already preparing for it. 'Xingfeng' is like a prequel, and the story I'm planning will be the main plot, which I think will be more exciting."

Tongyan Wujin: "Aren't you attached to this story?"

Asking this question, Tongyan's position was not strong, as he himself had once ruthlessly abandoned a novel, and that book's performance was much better than the current "Xingfeng Legend."

I Eat Tomatoes: "I thought of the story of 'Xingfeng Legend' in my senior year of high school. I didn't have the time or energy then, so I recorded it in a notebook. I only had the opportunity to publish it online in college. I've been updating it daily for more than two months, and I have deep feelings for it. But if it continues like this, it really feels like a waste of life."

Tongyan Wujin: "Have you thought about changing the first-person narrative to a third-person narrative? The first-person narrative has too many limitations, especially for grand narratives. A single perspective is hard to create excitement."

I Eat Tomatoes: "How can I change it? I've already written three volumes."

In fact, I Eat Tomatoes had received this advice before, but he didn't listen. At the beginning of his writing, he pursued immersion, thinking that the first-person narrative would give him and the readers a sense of being the protagonist. However, after writing, he realized that the first-person narrative had too many constraints, severely limiting his creativity. Later, he realized that the poor performance of the novel was largely due to the first-person narrative, which deterred many readers. But by then, it was too late to make changes.

Tongyan Wujin: "Don't change the previous parts. Start from the fourth volume. Tell the readers, I think they will understand. I suspect your readers also find the first-person narrative awkward. If you change it, they might feel more comfortable."

I Eat Tomatoes: "But I've already written so much. Suddenly changing the perspective would be too strange."

Tongyan Wujin: "In the age of online reading, no one will care that much. Of course, this is just my suggestion. I think changing to a third-person narrative might be better. You decide."

I Eat Tomatoes: "Regardless, thank you for your advice. No other writer has ever told me this."

Tongyan Wujin: "Don't you know any other writers?"

I Eat Tomatoes: "I only know you."

Tongyan Wujin: "Meeting is a kind of fate. When your novel is signed, I'll recommend it to my readers. I have more than twenty thousand readers now."

I Eat Tomatoes: "Twenty thousand? That's amazing! Your novel is really good, especially the level-up system. It's well-designed, with layers of excitement."

At that time, there was no concept of "level-up" novels. Tongyan's design in "Furious Thunder" was just a reference to the cultivation and level-up concepts in novels like "Voyage of the Immortal," which divided the characters' strength into levels that readers could easily understand. However, he hadn't realized that the excitement of leveling up would be so highly praised by I Eat Tomatoes.

Tongyan Wujin: "Is it really that exciting?"

I Eat Tomatoes: "It can be even more exciting."

Tongyan Wujin: "Oh? Tell me more."

I Eat Tomatoes then briefly explained his views on the level-up system. At that time, his ideas were not yet mature. He simply thought that using the level-up system as the main driving force of the plot, combined with other love, hate, and emotional conflicts, might make the novel more interesting.

Tongyan didn't fully agree with this idea: "Brother I Eat Tomatoes."

I Eat Tomatoes: "Just call me Tomato."

Tongyan Wujin: "Tomato, novels are ultimately an art of storytelling. Making the plot a subordinate to a series of numerical strength levels, would that be interesting? Wouldn't it be too boring?"

In front of Tongyan Wujin, I Eat Tomatoes was just a small, struggling writer. Tongyan Wujin's lack of approval didn't make him argue, but he was a person with strong opinions, much like Tongyan. He wouldn't easily change his mind just because someone said a few words. He decided to try his ideas in the future.

After that, Tongyan Wujin and I Eat Tomatoes chatted for a while longer. Apart from not seeing eye to eye on the level-up system, Tongyan Wujin was a nice person. Tomatoes had already started calling him "Brother Wujin." In his view, Tongyan Wujin's first novel was so mature and successful that he must be older and more experienced than a freshman like himself.

And the shameless Tongyan also shamelessly accepted a chubby 1987-born boy as his "Tomato brother"...

[PS: Thank you to Fengduo Yongheng, Xiaoxiao Shu Tong, Yexiang Danbo, Shuyou 150327054917891, Zifeng Jushi, 18991899, Lonely Wildman, KaZe, Reader Tianhuang, and Nianyin for your donations. Also, please give me some recommendation votes~~]

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