Chapter 2

"Lin Mu, let's break up!"

Under the bright moonlight, Shen Bingjiao, suppressing her inner sorrow, said to Lin Mu.

If it were the original Lin Mu, he would probably be emotionally agitated, trying his best to win her back.

Lin Mu looked at the gentle girl in front of him, and the love in his memory almost made him feel as if he had truly experienced it. He realized he had wronged this girl greatly.

"Why?" Lin Mu asked, his tone tinged with curiosity.

Shen Bingjiao looked at Lin Mu with some surprise, finding his calm tone extremely unsettling.

She knew how much Lin Mu loved her and had expected to be entangled.

"Since we met, both of our academic performances have been affected. My grades have dropped to below the top hundred, and yours are even worse. I think our current task is to get into college first. If we both get in, and you still love me, then we can be together again, okay?"

Shen Bingjiao tried to choose her words carefully, fearing that she might upset Lin Mu and hurt his pride.

Suddenly, Lin Mu felt a liking for this girl and smiled, "Sure, with your grades, you'll get into the capital's university and set a good example for your little brother!"

Shen Bingjiao felt a sense of relief, but then said nervously, "I mean... after this, don't come looking for me. Let's not see each other until after the college entrance exam..."

The love in his memory almost became the strongest persistence of this body. Lin Mu pressed his temples, which were throbbing painfully, and almost spoke each word with difficulty.

"Alright! I'll... listen to you! You... study well, I'll... go first!"

After saying that, Lin Mu turned and left, the pain in his head almost making him cry out. He stumbled away, heading into the distance.

Shen Bingjiao, who had been somewhat concerned about Lin Mu's calm demeanor, felt as if a piece of her heart had been cut away when she saw his pained expression, leaving her feeling hollow.

She wanted to go forward to comfort him, but her rationality held her back.

"Let it be... get into college, and then we can love each other..."

...

Stumbling back to the single room he rented outside, the memory in his mind dissipated after extreme agitation, leaving him no different from the original Lin Mu, as if he had lived a second life.

After washing his face and calming down, Lin Mu put this relationship aside.

Currently, his career was the priority.

What is a student's career? Studying!

What is Lin Mu's career? Making money!

From his desk, he took out two thin books. One had two large characters: "Wuxia!"

The other had four characters: "Wuxia Stories!"

These were the two most popular martial arts short story magazines in the country, published nationwide.

The martial arts stories Lin Mu had in his mind, although sharing the same name, had different content, so there was no need to worry about plagiarism.

He noted down the submission methods for the two magazines and then picked up a sheet of paper and a pen.

According to Lin Mu's understanding, the long serials in the two magazines were mostly controlled by veteran writers, leaving no chance for newcomers.

Therefore, he decided to write short martial arts stories.

"Phoenix Hairpin!"

"The sky suddenly darkened, thick and heavy clouds like leaden iron pressed down on the heads of the people. A fierce wind blew, and the clouds, unwilling to be torn apart by the wind, devoured each other, entangled, but ultimately could not resist the wind, scattering like defeated soldiers in the vast sky..."

The main content of this short story is about how, after Yue Fei was summoned to the capital by twelve gold plaques, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Zhou Sanwei, refused to handle Yue Fei's case and resigned.

Qin Hui then appointed his subordinate, Wang Zhongliang, as the chief judge. Wang Zhongliang was in the government of Linyang County at the time. Yue Fei's secret organization, the "Feilong Camp," planned to capture Wang Zhongliang to devise a rescue plan.

The protagonist is the first swordsman of the Feilong Camp, Gu Niefeng, along with a group of brothers, including the camp's leader, Meng Liuchuan, who is also his sworn brother, who came to Linyang City.

Before the operation, his sworn brother saw a phoenix-headed silver hairpin and wanted to give it to his fiancée, Xiaofeng.

Gu Niefeng bought it for him, considering his brother's carelessness, and kept it on himself, planning to give it to him after the mission.

This is the origin of the book's title, "Phoenix Hairpin," or "Hairpin Phoenix" read backward.

However, the traitor Wang Zhongliang set a trap, deliberately luring them out to obtain evidence of Yue Fei's unauthorized establishment of a private guard, plotting a rebellion.

In Linyang City, not only were there thousands of troops surrounding the area, but also the martial arts underworld's top expert, nicknamed "Divine Blade," the knife expert Ping Baiquan, and two of the "Three Scholars of the Chancellor's Mansion," Ge Qianli and Du Wangjiang.

The other experts were not a big concern, but "Divine Blade" Ping Baiquan, known as "One Blade to Level the River," was considered the top expert in the novel. Once he used his ultimate move, "Divine Blade," it was almost invincible, with no one able to resist!

With the traitor Zuo Tongtian from the Feilong Camp also joining in, the group was in a dire situation.

In the fierce battle, the entire Feilong Camp was wiped out, and Meng Liuchuan, to avoid falling into enemy hands, asked Gu Niefeng to kill him.

Gu Niefeng escaped the trap, found his sworn brother's fiancée, Xiaofeng, and killed the pursuing experts.

Over time, he developed feelings for Xiaofeng.

Gu Niefeng struck again, killing the traitor Zuo Tongtian. "Divine Blade" Ping Baiquan, who never left his opponents alive, was moved by Gu Niefeng's disregard for life and death and let him go.

But the traitor Zuo Tongtian had already confessed, leaving Gu Niefeng in despair.

In the midst of despair, Xiaofeng said she had a way to resolve the situation.

The plan was: Xiaofeng would turn Gu Niefeng over to the authorities, claiming he had killed her fiancé, and then destroy the traitor's confession and use her beauty to distract the enemy, using the poisoned phoenix-headed silver hairpin to assassinate the traitor.

Before the operation, Xiaofeng wanted to give her virginity to Gu Niefeng, but because he was her fiancé's sworn brother, she could only turn away.

Following the plan, Xiaofeng destroyed all the case files and assassinated the traitor, dying in the process.

Gu Niefeng, refusing to be coerced into falsely accusing Yue Fei, mocked Qin Hui harshly before being sent to the afterlife by "Divine Blade."

The story, 28,000 words long, was divided into nine chapters, and Lin Mu's hand ached from writing.

Looking at the two magazines in front of him, Lin Mu thought for a moment and put "Wuxia" back in the desk.

"Although 'Wuxia' magazine is the leader in the industry, it has been around the longest and already has many famous authors and countless new writers contributing.

Lin Mu was confident in the story "Phoenix Hairpin," but not in his status as a newcomer.

On the contrary, "Wuxia Stories," which was founded later and ranked second in the industry, did not have those top-tier writers "lowering themselves" to submit.

Therefore, the editors of "Wuxia Stories" placed more emphasis on the quality of the stories, striving for quality.

...