Chapter 141 A sunny and cheerful boy

Chapter 141 A sunny and cheerful boy

Chapter 141 A sunny and cheerful boy
Lu Qingxuan pulled the sleeve of the girl next to Wang Zixu: "Sister, why are you here? Do you know them?"

The lolita girl slowly placed her cards face down on the table and placed her hands on her knees: "I don't know him. We were playing mahjong. We just happened to get together and play cards together."

Lu Qingxuan glanced at Wang Zixu and said, "I thought you two knew each other!"

The Lolita girl looked up at her: "Do you know her?"

Zhao Peilin finally reacted and glared, "Lu Qingxuan, you have a sister?"

Lu Qingxuan said: "Well, this is my cousin."

Zhao Peilin quickly moved his seat: "Come, sit down. What a fate! I just randomly picked a partner for Wang Zixu, but I didn't expect it to be your cousin. The end of the universe is really small."

Lu Qingxuan sat down face to face with Wang Zixu across the table and stared at him seriously.

Wang Zixu felt a little nervous when being stared at, so he turned around and said, "Miss Lu, can you play throwing eggs? How about I give up my seat and let you play with your cousin? I'm not particularly good at it, so I can watch from the side."

Unexpectedly, the girl next to him refused firmly: "How can this be? It's already match point, and we have finally developed a little tacit understanding. If we switch hands at this time, won't we be overturned by the opponent?"

Wang Zixu said: "The tacit understanding between you and me is not necessarily better than that between your sister and me."

The girl next to him smiled deeply: "Be more confident. Even though you are a bit of a rookie, at least in this game, you are gradually beginning to have a sense of the overall situation. You have to believe in yourself."

Wang Zixu felt that there was something else she said. After thinking about it for a moment, he understood what she meant. He immediately blew up the opponent and then passed a card to her. The girl next to him saw the opportunity and played several cards.

Zhao Peilin was anxious: "Hey, hey, hey, hey! This is not the strategic stage! What you are discussing is against the rules!"

The Lolita girl said: "How is this a foul? I think it is a tacit understanding."

Lu Qingxuan said quietly, "As expected of Sister Mengmeng, you have developed a tacit understanding with a stranger so quickly. I can't even get her WeChat account."

Continuing the conversation on this topic would make him very passive. Wang Zixu looked at Zhao Peilin for help. Zhao Peilin tactfully helped him to cover up: "Lu Qingxuan, what does your cousin do? We just chatted for a while, and she seemed to know a lot about the Feishi Literature Award."

Lu Qingxuan looked a little speechless: "Of course she knows a lot, don't you know who she is?"

Zhao Peilin was stunned, then he asked with a folded hand, "May I ask your name?"

The Lolita girl covered her mouth and laughed: "I am a veteran in the Chinese department, my name is not worth mentioning."

Zhao Peilin shook his head: "No, no, no, based on your understanding of Fei Shi, his origins are definitely not simple. My junior brother and I both want to challenge Fei Shi this time, and we also want to learn from you."

The Lolita girl smiled and said, "You guys can't win the award this time! If you are good enough, you still have a chance to get nominated. But if you are nominated this time, there will be a debuff in the next award."

Zhao Peilin and Wang Zixu were both stunned after hearing this. They both appeared easy-going but were secretly proud in their hearts, and they were dissatisfied with her assertion that she would not win the first prize.

Zhao Peilin said: "You haven't seen our work yet, how can you be sure that we won't win the award?"

The Lolita girl snickered, "It's not that you're not good enough. This time, there's a very powerful guy who has already taken the first prize. You can't possibly surpass him! I came here just to meet him."

"Who?"

"Shi Shuqiu, do you know him?"

Zhao Peilin and Wang Zixu looked at each other.

"It's not a question of knowing him or not. We were still talking about him before coming here."

Lu Qingxuan rolled up her temples and said, "I just got rid of him. He kept pestering me to chat."

The girl said, "Okay, now my cousin is on my mind."

Xu Rongrong slammed the table and said, "See, I said before that he would definitely win Fei Shi this time. This junior has extraordinary talent."

Zhao Peilin puffed out his chest and said proudly, "Who is the one who is determined to win? We have to take out the works to see."

The girl lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes: "My professional eyes tell me that there is no need to look. This time, you are destined not to win the first prize of Feishi."

Zhao Peilin asked: "Are you a staff member of Feishi?"

Hearing this, Lu Qingxuan finally couldn't help it, cleared her throat, and whispered:
"My cousin has a pen name, Xiao Mengyin."

The three of them turned to look at her.

Xiao Mengyin curled her lips: "Why are you talking so early? I want to play for a while longer."

She stretched out her hand and placed the cards in her hand on the table. It was a straight.

"I ran away. Hurry up, do you still have bombs?"

Wang Zixu silently threw a bomb, then placed the last card on the table.

The rules of the game require that teammates from the same team rank first and second in the match point round, otherwise they cannot be considered to have won. Xiao Mengyin stood up, raised his face and announced: "I won. No, we won."

Zhao Peilin put down his cards dejectedly, feeling as if he had lost something, as if he had lost more than just one round.

Xiao Mengyin tilted her head to look at her cousin: "What are your plans next? I'm going to go play with Shi Shuqiu, do you want to come with me?"

Lu Qingxuan shook his head.

"Xiao Mengyin." Wang Zixu said suddenly.

"what happened?"

"I think nothing is predetermined in this world. Just like playing mahjong, having good cards doesn't mean you will get to go first."

Xiao Mengyin shrugged: "Maybe, but I have to go first. I have to go see my junior brother."

"And one more thing."

A trace of impatience flashed across Xiao Mengyin's face. Wang Zixu said, "Do you think your despair is really greater than the little prince's despair?"

Xiao Mengyin widened her eyes, looking a little surprised: Wang Zixu's question was the title of the previous promotional article published by the publishing house, and it was also the first time that Wang Zixu heard her name.

"Have you read that report? I don't like it. I don't think I should be compared with the little prince."

After that, she added: "That's all I can say about this. If we meet again in the future, we can talk more."

……

The girl in the black skirt walked into the sunlight, holding up an umbrella, her figure lengthened in the sunlight, her shadow like a strange-looking butterfly. She walked for a long time and met Shi Shuqiu who was standing like a tree.

The boy put his hands in his pockets and just smiled at her, a very warm and gentle smile.

What a sunny and cheerful boy.

"Sister Mengmeng, long time no see."

Xiao Mengyin stretched out her hand, measured his forehead, then measured it on her own head, and exclaimed, "You've grown a lot taller!"

Shi Shuqiu put his hands in his pockets: "How can I pursue you if I don't grow taller?"

Xiao Mengyin curled her lips: "Forget it, you don't want to pursue my cousin anymore?"

"Chase and chase."

"Is that how you chase girls? Anyone who gets chased by a scumbag like you will have a brain problem."

Shi Shuqiu laughed: "There are quite a lot of girls with brain bags."

Xiao Mengyin said seriously, "The deadline for Feishi's essay contest is approaching. Have you found a platform to publish your work?"

Shi Shuqiu said: "I want to publish in Obtain, but I think it's too long."

Xiao Mengyin scolded, "Are you crazy? What level of magazine is "Get"? If you can publish more than 100,000 words there, you don't even need to compete for the Feishi Literature Award."

Shi Shuqiu said: "So I plan to publish New Wind. My father has a good relationship with the editor-in-chief there, and he has agreed."

Xiao Mengyin nodded: "New Wind" is also good."

Shi Shuqiu said proudly: "If I publish 200,000 words in New Wind, wouldn't that be enough to establish my position in the literary world?"

Xiao Mengyin sneered: "Don't think too much."

Then she asked, "Have you shown your manuscript to your father? Did he say anything?"

Shi Shuqiu said: "He was busy and didn't read it. I didn't want to show it to him. I showed him everything and he said "good, good, good" but couldn't give any useful advice. I showed it to Uncle Weng and Uncle Liu."

He didn't mention any specific names, but Xiao Mengyin's eyes brightened up. She knew that he was talking about famous people in the literary world.

"What did they say?"

"They commented: Perfect." Xiao Mengyin saw his smug smile and suppressed his expectations:
"Don't think you've won it now. You don't know how fierce the competition is. I walked around Nanyang Technological University and found that at least eight out of ten people wanted to compete for this award."

Shi Shuqiu laughed disdainfully: "You are all students from the Department of Literature, right? Don't worry, I have looked around the Chinese Department at present, but unfortunately I don't see anyone who is better than me."

Xiao Mengyin felt that his words sounded too much like a villain, but she knew that he had a reason to be confident. Besides, his confidence was also quite likable: "I'll polish it when I have time."

Shi Shuqiu said: "How should we polish an already perfect work?"

Xiao Mengyin turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Shi Shuqiu followed.

"Sister Mengmeng, where are you going?"

"Let's go," Xiao Mengyin said, "I came to see you, and it's time to leave after seeing you."

Shi Shuqiu said, "It's so hard to meet each other, why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea and chat?"

Xiao Mengyin said: "I only do one thing at a time. I don't like to drag things out. If you want to have tea with me, make an appointment with me earlier next time."

……

After Xiao Mengyin left, the atmosphere at the table inexplicably became somewhat sad.

Eighty percent of this sadness was brought up by Xu Rongrong. Because this woman thought they should feel sad. After all, both of them were ambitious to win the Feishi Literature Award, but their fate was so decisively determined by the first prize of the previous session. They should not be sad.

Wang Zixu actually felt that it was okay. He really didn't expect that the opponent he once regarded as a strong rival for the Nobel Prize would actually be a lolita in black lace.

As for the Feishi Literature Award, Xiao Mengyin's words were not enough to shake off his self-confidence. At least in his opinion, his work was better than the winning works of the previous session.

But the most unexpected thing in the world is that people with no emotional intelligence pretend to be gentle. Zhao Peilin was fine at first, but after being comforted by Xu Rongrong, he became sick. He ordered two bottles of beer, his eyes began to redden, and he said to them, let's go out for a walk.

So everyone went outside to a sunny place, and Zhao Peilin began to talk about how he once had a girlfriend.

"I'm so stupid, really," Zhao Peilin blushed, "your ardent perseverance is just a manifestation of lack of sexual attraction to her. You foolishly hope that your tireless care and concern every day can make her feel safe, but in fact it is a drop in the bucket. On a cold night, there is a warm embrace for her to lean on. Women are best at finding excuses for their infidelity, but you tried so hard to convince yourself to stick to it, you deserve to lose miserably."

Xu Rongrong was anxious: "What do you mean women are the best at finding excuses for falling in love with someone else? Are there not many men who cheat? Are there more men who keep mistresses or mistresses in the world? How can you generalize and slander all women when you meet a bad woman?"

Zhao Peilin said: "Then I can only blame the women in general for not being strong enough! Why do I only meet women who cheat and never meet women who are faithful?"

Xu Rongrong asked: "How many times have you been in love?"

"once."

Xu Rongrong said: "Isn't it your own fault that you don't know how to judge people? Who told you to like to find bad women? I am also a woman, how come I didn't cheat?"

Zhao Peilin sneered and took a sip of beer: "I never treated you as a woman."

Xu Rongrong was anxious and pinched his arm hard: "Who did you say doesn't look like a woman? Say it again?!"

The two chatted excitedly, and Wang Zixu and Lu Qingxuan both fell behind. Lu Qingxuan tugged at Wang Zixu's sleeve and whispered:
"Do you think there's something wrong between them?"

Wang Zixu said: "Yes, it is a bit like that."

"Aren't we like two light bulbs?"

"Kind of."

"Then let's go?"

"it is good."

The two of them sneaked away.

Then the situation took a sudden turn for the worse, and inexplicably Wang Zixu and Lu Qingxuan were taking a walk alone.

The girl who had just reached adulthood had a soft waist and delicate skin, and her gait was like a willow swaying in the wind. Wang Zixu felt like a goose as he walked beside her. He was not used to it anyway and wanted to find another excuse to slip away.

But Lu Qingxuan spoke first, her voice was small: "My cousin is a very confident person, or too confident, and sometimes a little conceited. You don't have to be too superstitious about her judgment. She may not always be right."

Wang Zixu didn't know what she was talking about for a moment and said "Oh".

Lu Qingxuan turned to look at him: "Are you planning to participate in the Feishi Literature Award?"

Wang Zixu said "Oh" again, he knew what topic he was talking about. Then he said, "Yes, I have finished writing the manuscript of 500,000 words."

Lu Qingxuan asked: "Have you read a lot of books?"

Wang Zixu said: "Compared to most people, it is quite a lot."

Lu Qingxuan frowned and repeated his words: "'Compared to most people, it's quite a lot'. You know, you and my cousin are the same kind of people. We both speak very conceitedly."

Wang Zixu said: "Ah?"

Wang Zixu finds himself in this situation frequently: he thinks he is a certain character, but bystanders often think he is the opposite.

For example, he thinks he is modest and prudent, but people who listen to him will say that he is really arrogant; he used to think he was diligent and down-to-earth at work, but his leader thought he had evil intentions.

Later on, he felt that he was infatuated and loyal, but several women said that he was a playboy.

Wang Zixu's philosophy of reading books has the characteristics of an infinite series: it is both divergent and convergent. Divergent means reading books in an infinite divergent way, as long as he sees the name of a book, he will read it; convergent means that he always keeps his reading scope in the "large category of books with humanistic connotations", such as "48 Little Dirty Tricks for Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace" and "28 Good Ways to Control Your Boss", which are obviously rubbish at first glance, so he will not read them.

But even so, the books he had read filled his house and electronic tablet, and selling them several times still couldn't solve the problem. So it was an impersonal fact that he read more books than most people. But from Lu Qingxuan's perspective, she just thought he was conceited.

Wang Zixu said, "Let me put it another way. I don't know who has read more books than me."

Lu Qingxuan curled her lips and said, "You haven't seen those professors and seniors in the Chinese Department. They read books by the shelf, sweeping through them."

Wang Zixu said: "That's probably because I read a lot. Of course, reading a lot is nothing to be proud of. I'm just stating this objective fact."

This statement sounded equally arrogant to other people, but Lu Qingxuan did not continue to dwell on it.

"Someone told me that true geniuses don't read much. Reading other people's books will only restrict your own thinking. Do you think that's right?"

Wang Zixu said: "According to my experience, most people's minds are inherently barren and do not need to be restricted. Reading can expose you to new ideas and make your mind broader rather than the opposite. As for whether geniuses need to read, I don't know, after all, I am not a genius."

Lu Qingxuan said: "Why are you suddenly so humble?"

Wang Zixu said: "I have always been very modest. I am indeed not a genius. That is why I keep studying."

Lu Qingxuan raised his head and looked at him with interest: "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Wang Zixu smiled bitterly: "For me, this is the case. My submissions were always rejected in the past. I don't know if it's because I don't write well, or because I don't understand the rules of the literary world, or because I don't have connections.

“It’s a terrible thing: to fail and not know why you failed, so you have to keep trying and failing until you get it right, and before that, you’ll waste a lot of time and hit countless walls.

"At that time, the only thing I knew was that as long as I wrote well enough, other problems would not be a problem. And the way to improve writing is to read more and write more, so my goal is: to read more than everyone else, and write more than everyone else."

After listening to this, Lu Qingxuan seemed to be thinking about something and said, "You are not a genius. In fact, I have been wondering whether I should review my professional knowledge or improve my reading. So I want to find someone who reads a lot to learn from. Do you think that your reading is very useful for improving your writing?"

Wang Zixu looked forward: "I don't know. I feel like a basket, and those books are water. After I finish reading them, the water flows through the basket and away."

Lu Qingxuan raised her eyebrows: "Nothing left?"

"No," Wang Zixu said, "only one thing is left, and that is cleanliness. The dust has been washed away."

Lu Qingxuan was silent.

Wang Zixu said: "From my experience, this is probably the only benefit of reading."

The two were silent for a while, and applause broke out not far away.

"How can you say that it is useless to swim in the world's finest flowing water and cleanse your heart?"

The two turned their heads and looked. Under the shade of the tree, the white pleated skirt was like a lotus, and the white long legs under the skirt were like jade lotus roots. The girl stood there, her eyebrows and eyes were like paintings, but her lively face was full of mockery.

"But you're pretty amazing, socially awkward Prince Xu. How come every time I see you, there's a different pretty girl by your side?"

Wang Zixu smiled when he saw her, walked up to her quickly and waved: "Ning Chunyan, long time no see."

"Haha, it's been quite a long time."

When Wang Zixu approached, Ning Chunyan quietly rolled her eyes at him and whispered, "My magazine office is almost finished with decoration. Come with me later to take a look and have an interview."

Wang Zixu pointed at himself and asked: "Do I still need an interview?"

"It wasn't used originally, but it's used now." Ning Chunyan glanced at Lu Qingxuan.

(End of this chapter)