Chu Li is not the eunuch of Zhuo Chuan, so of course it is impossible for her to take a leave to buy him some rice noodles. She gave him a look that said "it's good for your health to go out and buy it yourself", put away her phone, pushed open the door of the editorial department, and walked straight to Ah Xiang's seat.
I sat down, opened Photoshop, and pretended to be an artist...while taking a peek.
Suo Heng's mental state looked terrible. Her face was pale and almost transparent, with dark circles under her eyes. Only her lips were red from biting herself. Her hair was a little messy, and her long hair was like a curtain blocking her face. It was so hot, and it looked like she hadn't washed it for a few days. It was hard to imagine how she could create in such a tense state.
She accidentally thought of Zhuo Chuan a few days ago. Apart from knowing to take a shower, he didn't seem to be much better than her. Fortunately, Chu Li dragged him out of the door forcefully at that time... Thinking of this, Chu Li retracted her gaze and sighed in her heart: It's a pity that the actor Si didn't appreciate it at all.
——Looking at Q again, he is still full of energy and saying "What's the use of you if I can't even buy rice noodles?"
I casually replied, "Go to sleep, you won't be hungry when you sleep" and closed QQ. After a while, Ah Xiang came in on his way to work... Looking at Chu Li who was sitting in his seat fiddling with drawing software, and then looking at the girl who was sitting in Chu Li's seat wiping her tears, the art editor girl was confused.
Chuli gave up half of his chair and motioned Ah Xiang to come over and squeeze in.
Ah Xiang put down his breakfast and came over to squeeze in with her. The two of them squeezed into one chair, and took out their cell phones on the left and right.
【Flying Elephant: What's going on?】
[The water army hired by Monkey: ...Lao Miao was causing trouble yesterday. The boss just told us to find someone to write the sequel secretly and not to make it public. Lao Miao turned around and said to Suo Heng: No one wrote the sequel to your original work. Now there are two options. Either you write the sequel yourself, or the January issue front matter plan is cancelled. You can choose.]
【Flying elephant: ……】
[The Monkey’s hired trolls: What the hell are these two options? They really poke at the author’s heartstrings and dance on his dignity? Why not just tell the author: Choose between going through a mountain of knives and going through a boiling frying pan? ]
The two people who were squeezed on a chair raised their heads and looked at each other. At this moment, Suo Heng suddenly stood up and said in a voice that could be heard by the entire editorial department: "I know that my popularity is not good now, and my writing is not good either. Readers send me private messages every day, asking why your writing is getting worse and worse; I miss you so much when your words were full of spirit... Look, don't I understand? I really don't need anyone to sympathize with me. It doesn't matter if you want to withdraw my manuscripts or remove me!"
Chu Li grabbed Ah Xiang's sleeve, and Ah Xiang immediately shook her off with an expression that said "Don't grab me, I'm scared too" -
The room was silent.
Suo Heng sobbed, "I don't want to write anymore. I've been through so many ups and downs over the years. I've had enough... But if you don't want me to write anymore, just tell me yourself. Why bother finding an editor to insult me and send me away?"
The atmosphere suddenly became a little tense. Yu Yao, who was originally standing, sat back on the chair, turned her back to everyone, lowered her head for a long time, and sighed in a slightly hoarse voice: "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
Chu Li and A Xiang instantly trembled and huddled together.
[Flying Elephant: ……… Damn, what kind of weird art film did I travel to? What happened to the boss? 】
[The navy hired by the monkey: …]
The story of Yu Yao is a long one.
Chu Li sat here for twenty minutes. On the surface, he was staring at Photoshop for twenty minutes, but in fact, he pricked up his ears and listened attentively to gossip for twenty minutes.
It turned out that just as Zhuochuan and Lao Miao had hinted before, Yu Yao and Suo Heng knew each other a long time ago... Seven or eight years ago, Suo Heng had just become famous at a young age, and Yu Yao was also still young, a new editor who had just stepped into the editorial department and was full of enthusiasm.
When the two newcomers met, a wonderful chemical reaction took place. After Suo Heng gave his first bookmark to Yu Yao, Yu Yao, who was fearless and brave, shamelessly used all possible means of requesting and consulting to pave the way for Suo Heng's book and promote it... In the end, as a newcomer, Suo Heng's first book had a print run that was incredible for a publishing house at that time!
At that time, Yu Yao had gained a firm foothold in the editorial department, and Suo Heng was also faced with all kinds of honors that followed...
Super newcomer;
The most promising beauty writer;
A best-selling female writer born in the 1990s;
A new best-selling star...
or something like that.
At that time, Suo Heng was also very grateful to Yao. The two hit it off and became close friends. Even after Yao moved to G City for work, Suo Heng also followed him to G City. The two of them were editor and author, and at the same time, they rented a house together as close friends...
Every day after get off work, Suo Heng would cook dinner and wait for Yao at home. Yao and Suo Heng would discuss the plot and outline of Suo Heng's new book while eating. After the discussion, Suo Heng would throw away his bowl and chopsticks and start the day's creation...
Soon, during their discussion, Suo Heng's second book was born, and it was still a big seller. It was originally a happy thing for everyone, but at this time, something unexpected happened -
Once people reach a certain height, they begin to fantasize about a higher and broader realm. Suo Heng and Yu Yao are no longer satisfied with being "bestsellers" with "prints of 30,000 to 50,000 copies". They want to expand the scope of their creations and promote their works to more readers.
Suo Heng began to seriously consider the skills and methods of "writing" for the first time; at the same time, Yu Yao also brought home a lot of creative guidance books, such as "Developing Story Ideas", "Basics of Film Script Writing", "Story"... everything.
【Expressing the characters’ emotions and personalities through events makes them more three-dimensional.】
【You wrote it wrong. 】
[The character's personality must be rich. A good person cannot be completely good. His personality must have some flaws that are not related to the three views - for example, if the protagonist is a teenager, then it is reasonable for him to have a chuunibyou. ]
[The characters are too monotonous. You should think about the stories behind them and treat them as living people with pasts. Write them and show them to me, and we can discuss them together...]
Such discussions began to appear. At the beginning, Suo Heng followed this routine to revise the book. When he wrote the third book, some readers praised him for his "more mature writing style"...
But starting from the fourth book, for some reason, sales began to decline.
Comments like "It feels too bookish", "It's a textbook-like writing, it looks good, but I don't really resonate with it", "This author is becoming more and more commercialized, and has lost his inspiration", and "He's run out of ideas" have appeared one after another.
To use Chu Li's words, you can say that an author's writing is terrible and ugly, but you cannot say that she has run out of ideas and has no inspiration... This is definitely a stab in the author's heart.
Suo Heng thought that this was his bottleneck period, and he tried hard to read more writing books, hoping to get out of the bottleneck period.
This process has continued to this day, and Suo Heng is still publishing books at Yuanyue Publishing House. However, when people mention "talented" authors now, they have almost forgotten the existence of Suo Heng.
Yu Yao no longer took her with him. The two of them seemed to be escaping from something. Yu Yao moved out of their shared apartment and came to the editorial department of Moonlight Magazine.
Suo Heng followed, but it was Lao Miao who met her directly...
above.
Chu Li didn't know what exactly happened. But looking at the current situation, Yu Yao regretted showing Suo Heng those messy writings and thought that he had harmed Suo Heng...
mard.
So melodramatic.
It is not easy for the editor and the author to come up with such an unconventional and tragic ending.
At this point, Chu Li finally understood what the sense of disharmony she had felt since entering Moonlight was all about.
Why did General Yu Yao speak for her? It was probably because she saw her own shadow in her. When she described the first ceremony, she used the words "passion" and "hot blood" one after another.
Why did Yu Yao always have an ambiguous attitude towards Yu Chuli's deletion and revision of the Luohe Divine Book, and always acted in accordance with the author's opinion?
Why is it that when facing the matter of "Suo Heng", Yu Yao would seem to back down whenever Lao Miao mentions it?
Why did Yu Yao rarely intervene in what the author wrote and how he wrote it? Chu Li even thought that Yu Yao did not have his own judgment in this regard...
——It turned out that Yu Yao was just an experienced person who was afraid of the rope for ten years after being bitten by a snake once.
Chu Li and Ah Xiang squeezed together on a chair and watched the whole show. Yu Yao and Suo Heng left. Before leaving, she glanced at Lao Miao. It seemed that this was the first time she had openly expressed her dissatisfaction with him...
After the air pressure in the editorial department returned to normal, Chu Li sat back in his seat, opened Q, and discussed the matter of Yu Yao and Suo Heng with Zhu Chuan.
[Zhu Chuan: You know that too? So what did I say the other day? In today’s environment, authors don’t really need editors anymore, because there are too few editors who can really play a positive role.]
【晝川: An editor who doesn't even know what he wants blindly pushes the author forward, this is harming people.】
[Zhu Chuan: You glared at me the other day, as if I were some ungrateful, evil-minded ungrateful person.]
[The water army hired by Monkey: Teacher, I am commenting on this matter with you just to express my feeling that Suo Heng and Yu Yao's cohabitation routine is a bit similar to ours. ]
【Cheongchuan: How are they similar?】
[Zhu Chuan: I didn’t sit with you at the dining table to discuss the book I’m writing; nor did we sit in front of the dressing mirror in our pajamas after dinner, combing each other’s hair while discussing who the next villain in my new book should be killed…]
[Zhu Chuan: I may be out of fashion in a dozen years, but I won’t sit in front of you and cry and tell you: I can stop writing, but if you want to give up, please tell me in person.]
Chu Li: "..."
Zhuochuan types very fast, so fast that before Chuli can figure out how to refute his previous statement, his next two or three sentences have already appeared -
[Zhuochuan: If you hurry up and bring the writing books home and say "Teacher asks you to take a look", I will fight with you at the door of your house, and then tear up those books and set them on fire to add bricks and tiles to your cremation ceremony.]
【Zhuchuan: I really can do it. If you don’t believe me, just try it. 】
[Zhuochuan: I will complete my last masterpiece, "Killing Editor", in prison. 】
First Li: “…………………………………………”
Mom's mentally retarded.
[The water army hired by the monkey: I just have a lot of girlish sorrow in my heart, and I want to chat with you, but you killed the conversation. 】
【Zhu Chuan: What the hell are you talking about? Do you think I have nothing to do?】
…
In the afternoon, Yu Yao came back after being out for the whole day. She looked very tired and told everyone that the plan for the January issue's frontispiece would not be cancelled, and everyone should continue to find someone to write for them and finish the follow-up for the three authors.
Everyone gets the order.
That day, Yu Yao never spoke another word to Lao Miao.
…
In the evening, Chu Li returned home.
As usual, she cooked for the author who had announced a few hours ago that he would write an article titled "Killing the Editor". The two of them sat at the dining table and ate in silence, maintaining basic etiquette. Chu Li put down his bowl and chopsticks.
Chu Li: "I'll wash the pot today. Teacher, how about you spend 20 minutes writing a sequel to Suo Heng?"
Zhuo Chuan crossed his legs and wiped his mouth with a tissue, with a slit in the corner of his eye. He looked like an abnormal old bitch: "Did Yu Yao ask you to find me?"
Chu Li was silent for a moment: "No, it's just that since you already know about this, I don't want to ask other authors for help. The fewer people in the industry know about this, the better..."
"Oh." Zhuo Chuan looked Chu Li up and down without saying anything, with a half-smile on his face, as if he was mocking her for being too kind after having eaten her fill. It wasn't her who was taking care of Suo Heng, so why was she worrying about nothing?
As the man looked at her teasingly, Chu Li bit her lower lip, carried the dishes into the kitchen, threw them into the sink, turned on her phone, and looked for the only person outside the circle who she thought could help.
Mr. L.
After briefly explaining the cause and effect of the incident, Mr. L quickly responded to Chu Li:
[The missing Mr. L: It would be more appropriate for you to find a serious writer to help with this matter. Have you looked for Zhuchuan? Isn’t your relationship with him pretty good recently? ]
[The army hired by Monkey: ??? He threatened to fight me this morning and write a book called "Killing Editor" to record his own killing process... Mad, this big fool, he thinks he is Keigo Higashino! ! ! ! ! ! ]
[The water army hired by the monkey: I just begged him in front of him, but he was unwilling and looked at me with a look that said, "Are you sick or do you think I am sick?"]
[The monkey’s hired navy: I get angry just talking about it.]
[The water army hired by the monkey: It is better to write it yourself than to hire him. 】
Chu Li threw the phone away and started washing dishes.
At this moment, she heard the sound of Zhaochuan opening the door and taking Ergouzi out for a walk. She stretched her head to take a look and saw that this guy didn't even bring his cell phone when he went out.
Chu Li made a face at the man's back, retracted her head and continued to wash the dishes... Twenty minutes later, when the sound of a door opening and the clatter of dog's paws on the ground were heard again outside, Chu Li had just stuffed the last dried pot back into the cupboard.
Chu Li wiped her hands on her apron, untied it and rolled it into a ball. She walked out of the kitchen holding her apron in one hand and her phone in the other. At this moment, her phone vibrated. She lowered her head and saw Mr. L, after being silent for a while and not knowing what he was doing, finally replied to her.
[The disappeared Mr. L: Are you so angry? ]
[The missing Mr. L: You didn’t tell him you were anxious, right? ]
【Disappeared Mr. L: Hey, okay, okay, I’ll help you. Why are you in such a hurry? I’m still here for you.】
[The disappeared Mr. L: I will send it to you before dawn tomorrow morning. ]
Chu Li took a long breath.
Just when I wanted to show off to Zhuchuan that I found someone to help me and I don’t need you anymore, I could go wherever you want, but when I looked up, I saw the man who just came home leaning on the sofa, holding his phone in one hand. I don’t know who he was chatting with at the moment. Amid the ding-dong sound of new message notifications, his eyes were rarely gentle, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised...
He lowered his head, looking focused and patient, chatting with someone he didn't know.
——Chu Li stood in front of him for a long time, but he didn't raise his head to look at her, not even once.
The boasting and showing off that was about to come to my lips was swallowed back into my stomach in an instant... The backs of my hands that had just washed the dishes were still a little wet, and the fingers that were holding the apron tightened slightly, and the round fingertips turned slightly white because of this movement...
Chu Li suddenly thought of the way this guy looked at her in an inhuman way before she went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.
...Isn't the difference in treatment too big?
When has he ever spoken to me with this expression?!
Suddenly feeling annoyed and jealous, Chu Li frowned, threw the apron in her hand onto the sofa, and went upstairs without looking back.
The little girl's slippers made a loud "pa pa" sound as they stepped on the attic stairs.
The man sitting downstairs raised his head and looked at the wrinkled apron thrown on the sofa with a blank look, then looked at the attic stairs behind him——
Even though it was in the capacity of Ms. L, didn’t I condescend to agree to write for her?
What else are you dissatisfied with?
So what?
ah?