Chapter 131 I'm Not a Writer
Chapter 131 I'm Not a Writer
After hanging up the phone with Ye Lan, Wang Zixu was still thinking, book signing event?
Of all the things that writers do, book signings are one of the things he dislikes the most. It's not because he doesn't want to expose his identity as a little prince, but because when he was in high school, a writer came to his school to hold a book signing, which left an indelible impression on him.
The writer is Xie Dongyu, a children's book author. His stories are traditional and conservative, with animals as the main characters. They are somewhat allegorical and highly readable. They are more popular with teachers and parents than readers.
In fact, students prefer to read other children's book writers with better market performance. Some of those writers are too bold in their descriptions, which are more entertaining than educational in the eyes of parents. After all, Xie Dongyu's works are much better than those old-fashioned things. Therefore, in the children's book world, he, a moderate choice, has become the most famous one.
At that time, Wang Zixu was just in the first year of high school, and the book signing event was held in the playground. It was more like a book sale than a book signing event. As long as the students did not sit in the classroom, they were willing to bask in the sun under the playground. Wang Zixu followed his classmates to the playground, laughing and joking. At that time, Xie Dongyu was giving a speech, but Wang Zixu's attention gradually shifted to the girl next to him.
"The vocal cords should be the appendix of a writer. Instead of wasting time on talking nonsense and cheating students out of their money, it would be better for you to go home and polish your writing skills and stop plagiarizing..."
Prince Xu looked over with interest and saw that the girl had a ponytail and placed her palms on her forehead to create a canopy. Her eyelashes were as dense as curtains, and her skin on her arms and slender neck was as white as snow, which was particularly dazzling in the sun.
He thought to himself, no wonder she looked so unhappy. If her fair skin got tanned, even he would feel sorry for her.
"Hey, hey." Wang Zixu said to the girl, "You said he plagiarized?"
The girl turned around and gave him a sharp look: "What's wrong? He is your idol, do you want to defend your idol? He just plagiarized, so what?"
Wang Zixu said: "No, I'm just more interested in the fact that he plagiarized. Who did he plagiarize?"
"'The Golden Mouse' by Dittloff Lacy. His 'The Clever Mouse' almost copied the structure of that book." said the girl.
Wang Zixu said: "I have never heard of it."
"Hehe." The girl laughed twice, then turned her head and stopped talking to him, probably because she thought he was too ignorant.
Wang Zixu was also upset. He felt that this girl was a little cold and a little aggressive.
After a while, he heard the girl whisper, "Many writers of the older generation, relying on their wide readership and taking advantage of the closed domestic market, plagiarize works that have become famous in mature foreign markets and make a lot of money in China. I just can't stand this kind of behavior."
She seemed to be talking to herself, or to Wang Zixu. He was not sure. Although he was sure that this girl was very cold and was going to treat her coldly and let her have a taste of rejection, he couldn't help himself in the end and turned around and said, "You look like you have read a lot, you can also copy."
The girl rolled her eyes at him: "Who do you think I am?"
The prince remained silent. I'm sorry, I don't know you.
After a while, Wang Zixu said, "I think we should show some respect to the senior writers. It's not easy for them to come all the way here to give us a speech."
The girl sneered, "What speech? You thought he was doing charity? He came here to sell books!"
She added, "Look, how many students are there on the playground? There must be 5000, right? Do you see that truck next to the playground? He will be carrying his old books there to sell. 39 per book, can you calculate how much it will sell for?"
Wang Zixu asked: "How do you know so clearly?"
"Isn't this the unspoken rule of the industry?"
Wang Zixu calculated in his mind that if every student had a copy of the book, the income would be close to 20 yuan. He secretly exclaimed. At his age, 20 yuan was a huge sum of money for him.
The girl said, "If we are asked to go upstairs to buy books later, just say you don't have any money."
Wang Zixu said, "What about you?"
"I don't have any money either."
Wang Zixu was silent for a while and said, "Ditlov Lacey, right? I'll go and see him some other day."
The girl raised her face and looked at him with the lower half of her eyes, her eyes full of disbelief.
Later, Wang Zixu realized her intention. It turned out that she was not just trying to help him save money because they hit it off right away. She encouraged Wang Zixu not to buy the book mainly because she was afraid that she would be scolded by the teacher if she was the only one who didn't buy it.
Sure enough, they were the only two in the class who didn't buy books. The teacher's criticism was focused on Wang Zixu alone, while she was safe and sound.
Of course, she honestly admitted this afterwards, and Wang Zixu forgave her. However, Wang Zixu still preferred to believe that she encouraged him not to buy the book because they hit it off at first sight.
That was the first time Wang Zixu spoke to Chen Qingluo.
……
He wiped his face, jumped out of bed, fumbled for his slippers on the floor, opened the music app on his phone, played a random song, and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
The song "The Fold" by the American rock band Ivan & Alyosha played on his phone. Wang Zixu tapped the beat with his feet until his mouth was full of toothpaste foam.
The name of this band, translated into Chinese as "Ivan and Alyosha", is undoubtedly from "The Brothers Karamazov". The milk of that Russian writer is still feeding the world, whether it is Americans on the other side of the ocean or Wang Zixu here.
Americans sing "Don't You Fold" on their phones. That's slang, which roughly means "Don't give up, don't give up, don't back down." Fold means to fold. So a more down-to-earth translation should be: You have to stand up.
"You have to stand up."
The blond-haired, blue-eyed American suddenly turned into Ma Dashuai speaking with a Northeastern accent. The localization work was done perfectly. Wang Zixu smiled slyly when he thought of this, feeling proud of his amazing talent.
If his English was better, he could write and translate at the same time, just like Haruki Murakami. Unfortunately, his foreign language skills were frustratingly poor. Chen Qingluo's English was very good, and her scores in every exam were around 140. The two teachers almost had a fight over whether she was the English class representative or the Chinese class representative.
After brushing his teeth, he stared at the calls from Ning Chunyan and Zuo Ziliang on his phone, hesitating about who to call first.
In the end, he chose Zuo Ziliang. It was not because he had any special preference for bald men, but if he called Ning Chunyan first, he would feel guilty for choosing women over friends.
"Hey, you just woke up now?"
Wang Zixu said: "My average sleep time this month is only 4 hours. I can't make up for it even if I sleep 24 hours a day."
The other side laughed: "That's true. By the way, do you know the ego, the id and the superego?"
"what?"
Wang Zixu had just woken up and was about to go to the kitchen to crack an egg and make himself an omelet. Talking about the self, the id, and the superego at this time was really beyond his expectations.
"It's a concept of psychoanalysis, right? The id is the individual's most primitive animal impulse, the superego is the pursuit of lofty morality and ideals, and the ego is the self-consciousness formed between the two."
Zuo Ziliang sighed, "You've read so many books. They explain things better than I thought."
Wang Zixu cracked an egg and was a little flattered: "Thank you. But why are you asking this?"
Zuo Ziliang said: "Nothing, I just suddenly thought of this."
baffling.
Zuo Ziliang added: "You should find a woman to hug."
Wang Zixu said, "Hey, what are you talking about? This is even more confusing. My wife just ran away from home yesterday, and you're telling me this. What on earth are you thinking about? I'm not the kind of person who can forget all my troubles by hugging a woman."
"I know, I know. Your superego is unusually strong. But that's not what I meant."
"what does that mean?"
Zuo Ziliang on the other end of the phone seemed to be troubled by something difficult to talk about. After a long while, he said, "I've read your book Wild Grass."
Wang Zixu felt that the topic was now back on track: "Let's start with 'Wild Grass'. Don't jump out of the topic so much. Talk about something I can understand."
"I don't know if you've noticed," Zuo Ziliang said, "In this story, your protagonist has never hugged his wife. When facing the pressure in his marriage, he always handles it alone."
Speaking of novels, Wang Zixu's tone was a little weaker: "Novels are just artistic sections of life. They don't necessarily reflect the whole truth of life, nor do they necessarily reflect all the truths of all people." Zuo Ziliang said: "Yes, but it can reflect your subconscious to a certain extent."
Wang Zixu stopped talking.
Zuo Ziliang said: "I am a real married person. Although the kind of marriage you describe does make people feel airtight and suffocating, and in some aspects it is so real that it makes people shudder, there are occasionally some bright spots in marriage. For example, some problems can be solved with a hug."
The prince replied absentmindedly, "Yes, a warm harbor."
"So, try to hug." Zuo Ziliang said, "You are the best speech therapist I have ever seen. You understand loneliness more deeply than anyone else, so you can heal many people. But you also need to heal your own hidden wounds, so you must pay attention to this aspect."
Wang Zixu fell silent. He always felt that Zuo Ziliang had some hidden intentions, but he didn't say anything. He seemed to be hiding something.
Rather than a hidden injury, it is better to say that he is hinting at a blind spot in Wang Zixu's vision, a blind spot that he himself cannot discover. That blind spot is hidden under the dazzling light of the fifty Nobel Prizes in Literature.
Zuo Ziliang added: "Oh, right. There is one more thing I want to tell you. The editor at the publishing house is looking for you."
"Ye Lan told me about this. She said, what kind of book signing event is she going to hold?"
Zuo Ziliang said: "She doesn't know how to talk nonsense."
Prince heaved a sigh of relief: "I was wondering, how could I possibly go to such a book signing event?"
"The point is not about the book signing event. The point is that you are being put on the spot. It is difficult for you to go or not to go. In short, this is what a literary giant should bear."
Wang Zixu looked confused: "What literary giant am I? What are you talking about?"
"You do not know?"
Zuo Ziliang's tone sounded like he was ignorant. Prince Xu said with a bit of temper: "What should I know? I just got up this morning and brushed my teeth. Now I'm making pancakes, and I heard you talking to me about the id and the superego. What should I know?"
Zuo Ziliang said with some regret: "You should still read the news, especially those related to you."
Zuo Ziliang hung up the phone after he finished speaking. Because of the call, the music also stopped. The prince was dazed and stayed in the silence.
News related to you?
Wang Zixu made himself an omelet as quickly as possible, then ran to the dining table and picked up his phone to browse the news.
Soon he found the news that Zuo Ziliang was referring to - he didn't have to search carefully, it was in the circle of friends, and it was very popular, even pushed to the front row of the portal website.
"Desperate Literary Master: The Lament of the Fate of the Intersection of the Mysterious Erotic Writer and the New and Beautiful Author".
The article was called this. Wang Zixu seemed to have guessed why it became popular.
What is the mysterious porn writer? Is it me?
Who is the new and beautiful author?
Wang Zixu's heart beat a little faster. He clicked on the article and scanned it quickly.
The article begins with Wang Zixu confessing his “very desperate” feeling during a live broadcast yesterday, which leads to the story of the little prince’s rise to fame, and then goes on to write about Nakajima Atsushi himself.
Further down, the second protagonist of the article is introduced: Xiao Mengyin.
The article said that this is a newly famous young and emerging writer who recently won the Fei Shi Sui Han Literature Award.
Wang Zixu also saw some familiar names, "...Yan Zishan commented: She is the author who surprised me the most this year..." and "Dai Jinhua: Like seeing a flame in the ice..." "Su Fei: The first on my reading list this year..."
Most of these names are well-known, and they all praised this "new young female writer" with lavish words of encouragement. When Wang Zixu saw this, he immediately quit reading mode and ordered her award-winning work on Dangdang.com, buying it at the original price of 39, without even getting the discount.
He opened the page and continued reading. The article compared the little prince and Xiao Mengyin. Both of them talked about their "despair". Their despair had differences and similarities. The "despair" Wang Zixu talked about yesterday was more specific, while Xiao Mengyin's "despair" was more grand and at a higher level.
Although the article was written as objectively as possible and every sentence was based on evidence, Wang Zixu still felt uncomfortable reading it. The article did not praise or criticize the two people, but in comparison, Wang Zixu seemed a little mean. He earned too much.
After reading it, Wang Zixu looked at the time the article was published. It was 12 o'clock in the morning, less than 4 hours after his live broadcast. Wang Zixu suspected that this article was written long ago to praise the emerging female writer Xiao Mengyin, and he was just pulled here to be a target to gain popularity.
Wang Zixu finally understood why he felt so uncomfortable reading just now - he felt like he was being scammed.
Just as he was in a daze, the news page showed "There is new development in this topic". He clicked it and saw a screenshot of Xiao Mengyin's new Weibo post.
“Xiao Mengyin: I feel like I’ve been scammed… [eating melon.jpg]”
Wang Zixu opened his mouth slightly.
Isn’t this the first time the evil person files a complaint?
The key is that he can't get angry. The other person's Weibo post didn't mention anyone by name or point fingers at anyone, but it just posted such a meaningful Weibo post at this time, alluding to something that everyone knows.
And from her perspective, it seems that she really was being scammed. After all, the little prince was just an "erotic writer."
He downloaded Weibo specifically, searched, clicked on Xiao Mengyin's Weibo, and saw several of her photos at a glance.
From the writer's point of view, it is impeccable. Wang Zixu's personal opinion is that it is not as good as Chen Qingluo.
Then he clicked into the comment section of that Weibo post and found that the number of views had reached over 10.
There were all kinds of comments below, some comforted her, some praised her, some scolded the little prince, and some scolded back at those who scolded the little prince... In short, it was very lively, and everyone seemed to have their own opinions on this matter, as if everyone was an insider who knew the inside story of the circle.
Wang Zixu felt a little dizzy.
The author of the article is the editor of Jieshi Publishing House. This publishing house published "The Little Prince's Love Letters". Xiao Mengyin's award-winning work was also produced by them (after reading this, Wang Zixu realized why there was such an article).
He opened Ye Lan’s WeChat, accepted the contact information of the publishing house editor she sent him, and added the other party.
He was originally furious and was going to ask for culpability, but he didn't expect the other party to be so enthusiastic right from the start, and messages popped up one after another:
【Little Prince Teacher! 】
【Finally added you! 】
【I am very honored! 】
[Your book has sold more than half of its copies. Have you read the article that went viral today? Maybe it’s not far from reprinting! ]
Wang Zixu rubbed his head and sent a message:
【Did you write that article? 】
The reply was: [Yes, our editor-in-chief wrote it himself. I didn’t expect it to be so good. After reading it, I felt that you are really amazing! ]
Am I good?
The prince typed blankly: [But, this doesn't quite match the actual situation. ]
The other side said: [Are you dissatisfied? What is inconsistent with the actual situation? ]
The prince thought for a long time and said: [First of all, I am not a literary giant. ]
He typed for a long time over there.
【You are too modest. 】
[Who dares to call themselves a literary giant these days? In this era of bad things, everyone is holding back bad intentions and wants to curse others, and whoever dares to stand out will be cursed. ]
【But what others say is another matter. 】
[In my heart, you are a literary giant! ]
(End of this chapter)