Chapter 13

Xu Ying doesn't read comments or browse forums. She logged out after finishing her extra chapter, so she was a little confused when she suddenly received a private message from the editor.

Moonlit: You know the gentle breeze, right? She wants to add you as a friend. Are you willing to give her your QQ number?

Under the expectant gaze of Lychee, Yueyin slowly typed out a line of text and sent it.

She also had her own unspeakable suffering.

Personally, she didn't want Eryuetian to contact Qingfeng Xulai, since her author had a grudge against him. However, she had a good relationship with Lizhi, and Lizhi was now pleading with her with her big eyes, so she had to ask her about it.

Should I add her to my list?

Xu Ying was completely confused.

It was only after Yueyin explained the whole story to her that she understood what had happened.

Hi, it turns out it was because she suddenly added extra chapters that caused the trouble.

February Sky: Add it if you want, it's no big deal.

Xu Ying readily agreed and added Qingfeng Xulai, so she could explain to the other party that she didn't mean it.

On the other side, Yueyin was speechless upon receiving the reply. She hadn't expected Eryuetian to be so easy to talk to, not even taking it seriously when someone came to her door.

Fine, if Eryuetian herself doesn't mind, why should she mind?

She then forwarded February Sky's account to Lizhi.

A short while later, a message popped up on Xu Ying's phone; someone had added her as a friend.

Xu Ying clicked "agree," and a message immediately came from the other end.

Gentle Breeze: Hello, I am Gentle Breeze.

Gentle Breeze: I'm sorry about what happened today. The book fans were rude to you because of me. I apologize. [bows][bows]

February Sky: Hello, hello, I am February Sky.

February Sky: Don't say that. I was just about to explain to you that my extra update today wasn't for celebration or showing off as some people online have said. It's because the novel's plot has just reached its climax, and I wanted the readers to finish it in one go.

A gentle breeze: I know.

Um?

Xu Ying was somewhat surprised.

February Sky: Do you know [doubt]?

Gentle Breeze: Yes, you didn't expect that, did you? I'm actually one of your readers. I really enjoyed reading the ten extra chapters today. I hope you can keep up this pace of extra chapters in the future.

Haha, they've actually read my own novels, and they even know my nickname among the readers.

Xu Ying couldn't help but chuckle.

No wonder Qingfeng Xulai wasn't swayed by those rumors online. She read the novel and knew she was telling the truth. If it were another author who hadn't read the book, they might have been suspicious even after she explained.

February Sky: Thank you. Actually, I've also read your book, it's very good [thumbs up].

"Huh?"

Upon seeing this message, Qingfeng Xulai was pleasantly surprised.

Gentle Breeze: Really? You've read my book, which one?

It's no wonder she was surprised; her writing style is quite different from Er Yuetian's, and she hadn't expected Er Yuetian to be interested in her book.

February Sky: This is the serialized book, and the emotional scenes in it are written very delicately and movingly.

......

The two chatted back and forth for a while, and the conversation ended when Grandma Wang called Xu Ying over for dinner.

During the meal, Xu Ying also received a message from Yue Yin.

She's the type to act like a mother hen, worried that the top two fans might start arguing, so she came over specifically to find out what was going on. After all, they're both the company's cash cows, and it wouldn't be good if either of them got hurt.

February Sky: You're overthinking it. We get along very well.

Yueyin didn't believe it.

Tsukikage: Really?

February Sky: If you don't believe me, ask the gentle breeze.

After replying to that sentence, Xu Ying put down her phone and focused on eating.

Grandpa Li is a retired teacher. When he was young, he couldn't stand children playing on their phones while eating. Now that he's older and more mild-tempered, although she doesn't say anything, she still wants to respect his table manners.

"So they started calling me Qingfeng," Yueyin thought to herself, but seeing this address eased her anxiety somewhat.

Just to be on the safe side, she asked Lizhi to inquire with Qingfeng Xulai. Lizhi quickly received a positive reply that they had gotten along well, and only then did Yueyin finally feel completely relieved.

Let the online commotion continue; there are all sorts of rumors, some true and some false, that's hard to tell. As long as the two authors don't have any disagreements, that's fine.

*

Mayfly: Faster and more.

Mayfly: When does the male lead appear? What does he do?

Mayfly: Will the female lead be able to have a romance during college? I want to see a sweet love story! [facepalm][spinning][looking forward]

Mayfly: Don't be like Qingfeng next door. Her romantic scenes are so mushy and unpleasant to read.

......

Early in the morning, Xu Ying received more than a dozen messages as soon as she opened her eyes. They were all sent to her by Fuyou, who stayed up late at night.

Xu Ying lay on the bed, feeling utterly hopeless.

Speaking of mayflies, she's quite a remarkable creature.

She was recommended by Qingfeng Xulai. I heard that the two of them are best buddies. Knowing that Qingfeng Xulai had added her as a friend, she insisted on adding him too.

She had seen the name "mayfly" on the forum before.

This person's name often appears in some retrospective posts by veteran authors. She hasn't written anything for several years, and now when readers mention her, they invariably express their nostalgia and sentimentality.

So when Qingfeng said he wanted to add her as a friend, she immediately agreed.

Then, she, Qingfeng, and Fuyou became online friends who chatted casually and were also good partners for writing together. Of course, the writing was only between her and Qingfeng; Fuyou had no right to speak on this matter.

February Sky: You're so annoying.

This mayfly, whose new book is still not published, is always nagging her and Qingfeng to urge them, and he also keeps eyeing their drafts.

Qingfeng is soft-hearted, and after being coaxed and pleaded with, she finally showed her the draft. But she wouldn't be soft-hearted, and no matter how much she tried to coax her, she wouldn't let her get away with it.

After sending the message, Ephemeral didn't reply for a long time.

Xu Ying was not surprised at all. Given the other party's uncanny schedule, she estimated that it would be afternoon before she could reply to his message.

Just as she expected.

The news about the mayfly finally arrived around 3 p.m.

Mayfly: Stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me already, what kind of male lead are you planning to create?

She also read "Back to High School Days." After Qingfeng mentioned that she had read it, she became interested in the novel.

After reading it, she was greatly shocked. What an incredible idea! The person who came up with such a thing is a genius. Yes, February Sky is that genius.

From then on, the mayfly was filled with curiosity about February.

So when she heard that her best friend had added someone's private account, she immediately couldn't sit still and wanted it too.

She hasn't written anything for several years. Although people say she's made money and started enjoying life, and that's true, she is indeed enjoying life, but it's not that she deliberately stopped writing novels.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.

She really didn't have any good ideas, and she didn't want to just grab something and write something to appease her readers, which is why she's been dragging her feet for so many years.

However, this situation has recently improved.

After reading "Back to High School," perhaps inspired by the novel's rebirth concept, she now has some vague ideas in her mind, but they haven't taken shape and she can't articulate them in detail.

It's so annoying.

When she was upset, she started browsing posts on the Taxue Forum.

There are many night owls on the Taxue Forum, and with "Back to High School" currently being serialized and the recent fan war with Qingfeng's fans, there are now many people discussing Eryuetian and her novel.

While browsing through the mayfly, before you know it, it's past midnight.

The last post she clicked on before going to sleep was a prediction post about the sequel to "Back to High School".

Since this is a prediction post, netizens inevitably mentioned the male lead, who hasn't appeared yet, when analyzing the plot.

It was at this point that many people suddenly realized that the book "Back to High School" had nearly 300,000 words, yet the male protagonist hadn't even appeared yet, and crucially, no one had noticed anything amiss before...

"Monthly is the coolest, no argument allowed!"

Nobody wants to argue with you.

'This month, you're still too authoritative. Which other author can do that?!'

"Please speak politely upstairs, don't cause trouble for the big boss."

'The big boss is already ruthless enough, he doesn't care about this little bit, hahaha'

'Hellish joke.'

'If everything you do is wrong, then it means you can do anything.'

'Damn, I never realized studying could be so enjoyable! Seeing the female lead become the top scorer in the college entrance exam made me incredibly proud!'

That's because you weren't the one studying so hard, right? [doge emoji]

'Haha, the male lead doesn't matter anymore, the female lead can carry the whole thing on her own.'

'The male lead hasn't even appeared yet, does that mean the author still has a lot to write? Looking forward to a long novel!!!'

'Isn't the main romance storyline supposed to revolve around the female lead's university years?'

I estimate so.

"I'm really looking forward to the male lead! I hope he's a tall, rich, and handsome guy! The female lead only focused on studying throughout high school and didn't encounter a single handsome guy. That really shocked me, even though it's still a very good show..."

'The female lead probably met a few of them during the competition; they seemed alright.'

"But they only admired the female lead; there was absolutely no romantic spark between them. Perhaps that's why she's such a top student—she spends all her time studying, haha."

......

It's simply bizarre.

When Ephemera saw this post, she suddenly realized that she hadn't even noticed the male lead's absence.

This is absolutely fantastic!

Fuyou feels that she likes the character Xu Jiayue even more now.

February Sky molded her into a completely independent and complete individual, an individual whose achievements are enough to make her shine, without needing to rely on the love of another, more powerful man to enhance her charm.

Completely different from traditional romance writing...

This excited Ephemeral, which is why she couldn't help but send so many messages to February Sky in one go.

In her opinion, since the female lead has such an independent character, just like the male lead in a romance novel, it would be somewhat cliché for the male lead to be portrayed as a domineering CEO in the traditional way.

There's no unexpected charm between the characters.

But how can we create a charming contrast? We can't just gender-swap the female lead in a traditional romance novel to become the male lead, can we?

The thought of the male lead's delicate and effeminate appearance sent chills down Ephemeral's spine. No, no, she couldn't accept a male lead who was too effeminate.

So how will you arrange things in February?

For some reason, the mayfly felt that this answer was very important to her.

A note from the author: