Chapter 2
Can Li Ye and Zhou Yuan be considered childhood sweethearts?
We live so close to each other, grew up together, were in the same class in kindergarten, went to the same school in elementary and middle school, and even enrolled in the same training institution for extracurricular classes. How can that not count?
However, they were only in the same class in kindergarten. After that, although they went to the same school, one of them progressed step by step from the first grade of elementary school, while the other was admitted to the gifted youth class. If he was not eliminated, he would take the college entrance examination at the age of fourteen. They were not even in the same school building. They only went to and from school together.
As for extracurricular classes, the boys learned to play the violin at home, while the girls learned Sanda (Chinese kickboxing). Even when the girls later switched to painting, they never stayed on the same floor.
Then there's doing homework together after school, secretly playing computer games in the study, and eating at roadside stalls near the school gate after school. In short, Li Ye and Zhou Yuan are childhood sweethearts. You wouldn't want that, would you?
Hmm... So just now, the childhood friend confessed to his childhood sweetheart?
As soon as she got home, she took a nice shower and lay down on the bed, ready to go to sleep early. But when Li Ye wrapped herself in the macaron four-piece bedding set, she tossed and turned in bed, her mind filled with images of Zhou Yuan confessing his love to her, with the words "I like you" playing in the background.
Seeing that he couldn't fall asleep, Li Ye resignedly reached for his Apple loungewear, put it on, turned on the light, got out of bed, and went to his desk. Looking at the messy trolley next to him and the whiteboard that was completely covered with pens and notes, he decided to start tidying up. It was said that this could soothe his mood.
The work I just finished this afternoon was a set of settings for a long novel that started serialization during my graduate studies. The novel itself was successfully completed before my thesis defense. Li Ye very immorally vented all the pressures of graduate studies through writing. When the novel's ending coincided with the difficulty of producing her thesis, her mental state at the time seemed quite normal.
Li Ye's graduation gift to herself was a newly published sample of her novel. Because she liked to draw some of the plots of her novels and post them on her social media account, in addition to seeing the wails of despair and endless comments of "Author, you have no heart at all!" from readers, she also received collaboration invitations for animation, film and television, games and publishing art books.
This is a work with a meticulously designed plot, intricate details and foreshadowing, and subtle points that correspond to certain historical events. It is a work that, if not a labor of love, is certainly the result of painstaking effort.
Li Ye's first agreement was to publish the art book, and she had been in a lot of negotiations with the publisher recently. Regarding the remaining collaboration requests, she expressed concerns about adapting the work and said she could wait until the art book was published before considering them.
The completed works were organized very quickly. Soon, a separate folder was stuffed into the neat bookshelf. It was the fourth folder in this row, and right next to it were the corresponding physical novels.
This row displays all of Li Ye's literary works since she was fourteen years old. Her physical paintings are rarely large-scale, and her art books are mostly stacked on the top shelf of the bookcase. Now, most of her works are created using software.
The tidy desktop reminded Li Ye of the income breakdown Zhou Yuan had shown her, and also reminded her that she had told both Ms. Li and Zhou Yuan that she wanted to buy a house in Shanghai with cash. So she quickly turned on her computer and phone to review and organize her income details.
She has a habit of keeping accounts and knows that the amount she has saved is 10% more than what Zhou Yuan showed her. She came here just to take the opportunity to reminisce about her youthful days.
She entered university four years earlier than the average person. Before that, she couldn't afford to be eliminated, and after that, she didn't want to be eliminated. Upon closer examination, it seems that she not only relieved her stress through writing and painting during her postgraduate studies, but making money was also an unexpected gain.
My first novel, and also the first time I've written more than 10,000 words—a full 50,000 words in total—was a perfect start.
Later, I gradually loosened up the pace, from 200,000 words, 1 million words, to the most recent book of 2 million words. I went from scheduled updates when I had a stockpile of manuscripts to daily races, and then to every other day. I'm just grateful if I'm still writing. Finally, it's been almost half a year since my last book ended, and I still have no intention of starting a new one.
When Li Ye first received a private message from the platform commissioning her to create artwork, she realized that this account would become her main account. However, no one stopped her from posting character illustrations and artwork from her own novels, so she could do both without any problems.
The only unique work was a small single-player game that I collaborated on with a few friends. It was created before the start of my second novel, and I later signed a contract with a novel platform.
At that time, Li Ye had just entered university and was unfamiliar with everyone. He was still a minor and couldn't help but think about actively looking for people to hang out with.
Games are one of the most common topics in college, so Li Ye immediately decided to turn his novel inspiration into a game script. The character designs he drew for the novel characters could be directly transferred to the game character concept art. Except for not knowing how to make games, everything else was perfect.
So Li Ye started learning how to make games on various platforms and successfully hooked up with Yao Yao, a programmer who hadn't graduated yet. The older sister mainly wanted her resume to look better after the game was made, making it easier for her to find a job.
While browsing the art exhibition, I met Zeng Yuan, a well-known alumnus from my hometown school. I say well-known because when Li Ye was still in high school, this prominent figure in the high school was already considered a painter.
The art exhibition at the time happened to feature her paintings. Zeng Yuan later told Li Ye that it was an exhibition of competition entries, and she won first place.
It was a portrait of a girl in love. Li Ye really liked the emotions expressed in the painting and directly asked if she would be willing to draw illustrations for a game. Unexpectedly, the senior student agreed immediately after hearing the question, but only in digital form, which she considered a friend's fee; the handwritten manuscript would be priced separately.
With a big shot involved, the project seemed more reliable, and Yao Yao's daily work here became more efficient. Li Ye relaxed a lot and gradually shifted his focus in learning game production to animation and game voice acting.
Normally, Li Ye wouldn't actively seek out fields like radio dramas that are so closely related to voice. Just like she wouldn't visit a dance studio for no reason, since she doesn't usually exercise, and then discover that the new dance teacher's voice sounds quite familiar, exactly like the voice of the female lead in a radio drama.
It's hard to say Ye Tinglan wasn't devastated when her identity was ruthlessly exposed by an underage brat right after class. This was her first day at work, and she should be thankful that it wasn't exposed in public. They were clearly using different voices; was her skill level really that bad?
When she received the voice acting and action direction offers, she was still in a daze. Of course, when Li Ye mentioned the salary, Ye Tinglan realized that this was a job that had fallen from the sky.
At this point, the four members of the game "Flower Tears" project team were assembled. On the production staff list, Zeng Yuan and Yao Yao used their real names, Ye Tinglan used her real name as the action director, and the voice actor list used her nickname in the industry, Anzhi.
As for Li Ye, he can still use the same account name across all platforms as his pen name, which is acceptable.
How did the four of them manage to keep the game from dying in the early stages of the project, and how did they eventually achieve a small success with "Flower Tears"? How did they forge a deep friendship that has lasted to this day amidst constant chaos? Li Ye himself doesn't want to recall the hardships involved.
After that, no, strictly speaking, there was never a time when all four of them were together. After all, everyone was very busy and they weren't in the same social circle, so there were few opportunities for them to meet in real life.
I really want to get together with everyone and have a great time. First, we need a place to meet, everyone needs to have free time, and we also need a reason for everyone to meet.
The house I plan to buy in Shanghai... can be used as a gathering place, I guess. I need to buy a house first.
First, buy a house and become Zhou Yuan's neighbor...
Why am I thinking about him again!
Never mind, I need to sleep now, otherwise I won't be able to get up tomorrow.
At seven o'clock the next morning, Li Ye appeared at the restaurant on time and happily ate the breakfast made by Ms. Li.
Teacher Li had arranged to go to the flower and bird market with someone. After quickly finishing her wontons and meat pies, she asked Ms. Li for her allowance for the day and happily went out.
"Xiao Ye, Mom is asking you, are you in a relationship?"
Only Li Ye was left in the restaurant, leisurely eating breakfast. Ms. Li was preparing tea for herself to chat with her girlfriends later when she suddenly asked a question.
Li Ye subconsciously thought of the confession he received yesterday, but he still naturally told the truth.
"No. Why are you suddenly asking this? I'm not at the age where I need to go on blind dates yet."
"It's a bit early for you to talk about marriage now, but you can still have several boyfriends. Don't look at me like that. I'm not telling you to date at the same time or to do anything immoral."
"I'm just telling you that girls can try different dating experiences. Don't be as shy as Zhou Yuan next door. This is the age to date, so go out and try different people."
The commander-in-chief of the household had spoken, and Li Ye couldn't pretend he hadn't heard, so he randomly picked a part to reply: "What does Zhou Yuan have to do with this?"
Ms. Li stood at the restaurant entrance with her small bag in hand, staring at Li Ye, and said, word by word, "Last night, your Aunt Zhou and I stood in the corner for quite a while and saw you two talking together. Talking is fine, but why were you being so handsy?"
Skipping over the parts that were difficult to tell her parents, Li Ye felt she still needed to clarify, "That was when I was telling someone that we could buy a house together in Shanghai and continue to be neighbors. That's all, it's just that Zhou Yuan seemed a little excited."
Seeing this, Ms. Li simply shook her head, offered no further comment, and turned to leave, leaving Li Ye, still dazed, to clean up the table alone.
“I’m not good at handling these kinds of emotional issues at all. Should I ask someone for advice? But I used to talk to Zhou Yuan whenever I had problems. It seems like I can’t do that now.”
Picking up the sketchbook from the small coffee table in the living room, I turned to the latest page, where a bouquet of roses was half-finished. Thinking of the heart pounding in my chest when I was startled, I finally decided on the person I needed emotional counseling from.
The only friend among my friends with a serious romantic relationship is the great painter Zeng Yuan. We had a mutual crush that started in our student days, and continued from campus to the workplace, from first love to marriage.
Li Ye attended the couple's wedding three months ago. Without any prior notice, he was hit by the bouquet without any warning. It's hard to say whether it was good luck or bad luck.
After securing his paintbrush and sketchbook, Li Ye took them back to his bedroom. He planned to call Zeng Yuan to ask where she was; their three-month round-the-world honeymoon was coming to an end.
Back in the bedroom, as soon as Li Ye touched his phone, a video call appeared on the screen; it was from Zhou Yuan.
Answer or not answer?
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