Chapter 27

When he got off the game, it was 4pm.

It was just halfway through the day.

I still have half a day to write.

But I always want to loaf around and play before writing…

Li Shuoxing reckoned the new chapters and compensation update posted today must’ve been seen by everyone, so he boldly refreshed the page and looked at the novel discussion forum. He saw many more comments in the discussion forum, and this time, the comments were very different from two hours ago.

“Nothing has happened. Nine votes are here, you’re welcome.”

“Nothing has happened. Ximu is two metres eighty today.”

“Nothing has happened. It’d be better to come again tomorrow.”

“Flowers cascading from the sky, shedding tears of gratitude. Although a million is a lot, it’s just a small token of appreciation.”

The neat and tidy formation of the comment area was destroyed by a red 10,000 yuan reward system default alone.

Li Shuoxing clicked in and found that in addition to the system topic, there was a message.

“Nothing has happened. A small silver token. PS: Are there any extra updates? Is there a fourth update today? By: Mixed Touch King ¹ 混世摸王 [hùn shì mō wáng] is a play on 混世魔王 [hùn shì mó wáng], which means devil incarnate. “

There were no extra updates.

None for the ordinary alliance masters, none for the silver alliance masters, and none for the gold alliance masters.

In this lifetime… well, it was still possible to add extra updates in this lifetime.

Now that he’d seen it, Li Shuoxing pinned it and then closed the page.

After that, he opened the document.

However, Li Shuoxing still didn’t start writing immediately. Instead, he went on QQ and yelled in the Terminal Food Group, “Is there any writer’s scramble ² 拼文 [pīn wén] is when several authors get together to see who can write more words within a unit of time. Sometimes, the slowest writer is punished as an incentive. ?”

Calm Egg was always the first to show up. “No. Writer’s block.”

Li Shuoxing: “Stuck on what?”

Calm Egg: “How to flirt with men.”

Li Shuoxing: “…”

Six Flavour Monk: “…”

Soren: “This group is getting more and more abnormal.”

Ten Zero Ling: “Eggy, have you got the wrong word.”

Calm Egg sighed deeply. “I haven’t got the wrong word! I’m really writing about men! Do you remember my last book that was censored? The reason I was blocked was that I described too many negative social habits, which caused bad copycat behaviour. But I really didn’t write any underworld politics in that book. After I analysed it with my editor for a long time, we think it may be that I wrote that the male lead rescued a kidnapped married woman, took in a college girl on the street, had a big-breasted colleague doing his laundry and cooking for him, and a clean and pure fiancee on his body…”

Interfinger Storm: “Actually, I didn’t think much of it when reading your main story. But reading this summary, somehow all of a sudden I feel that you really deserve to be blocked.”

Calm Egg: “[crying][crying] There’s just men and women in the world. If I can’t write women, I can only write men!”

Everyone in the group had no sympathy and laughed collectively.

Amid the laughter, Li Shuoxing spoke, “Actually, I just flirted with a man.”

Silence.

Soren coldly said, “This group is over.”

16:15 Soren has left the group

No one cared.

Anyway, this guy left the group at least two or three times a month. This was just the beginning.

Calm Egg quickly said, “What man did you flirt with? How did you flirt? Tell me, I’ll see if I can use it in my novel.”

Li Shuoxing felt that he’d just flirted quite well. After briefly explaining the background, he very generously posted the four lines of dialogue between him and the cub.

Still silence.

Silence was today’s chat group.

Calm Egg: “…Although it does feel pretty good, did you flirt too much, Eunuch?”

Six Flavour Monk: “The dialogue is okay, but the monk also feels it’s a little beyond pure male to male friendship.”

Without Soren blindly telling the truth, the burden of telling the truth fell on Interfinger Storm. “Damned gay.”

Li Shuoxing didn’t care. Who cared about the gender of the game character? He said, “You don’t know how cute he is.”

Before anyone could make any comment on this statement, a remark was interjected.

Sang Wugui, who usually didn’t show up, finally burst out into the lively group.

Sang Wugui couldn’t stand it at all. “What is this straight man’s aesthetic cheesy pick-up lines? Do you guys seriously think the dialogue above is well written? What’s more, magnificent is used to describe buildings, not people.”

Li Shuoxing: “I know that, but I thought this word’s meaning has been adapted by now, has it not?”

Sang Wugui said earnestly, “When it comes to writing emotional drama, you all have to learn from Brother Deer.”

Deer Over Fragrant Grass: “Someone looking for me?”

The sudden appearance of the ID took everyone in the group by surprise.

Calm Egg: “Here comes Brother Deer!”

Ten Zero Ling: “Brother Deer’s here too?”

Interfinger Storm: “Brother Deer, after your last book was over you said you were going on a blind date. Have you met them yet?”

16:20 Soren has joined the group

Soren, who’d left the group, seemed to have clairvoyance, automatically returning as soon as Deer Over Fragrant Grass appeared.

Soren: “What brings Brother Deer here today?”

Among everyone who called Brother Deer, only Six Flavour Monk’s address was different. “Benefactress Fragrant Grass, long time no see.”

Seeing the contrast between the two terms of address, Li Shuoxing revealed an indescribable expression behind the computer screen.

Because this author Deer Over Fragrant Grass… was indeed rather indescribable.

Deer Over Fragrant Grass was an author of Terminal, this was nonsense.

Deer Over Fragrant Grass was a great god author who wrote urban harems, worshipped by numerous male readers as “My God Brother Deer” and having the nickname of “a deer crossing in fragrant grass”, which wasn’t surprising.

However, Deer Over Fragrant Grass’s real gender was female, and she was a complete great beauty author who wrote urban harems… This had taken the limelight of Terminal’s annual meeting.

The situation was like this. When this tall and long-legged beauty walked onto the stage, the male authors in the audience all thought she was a great god of the female channel site next door, but she gave a smile and said to the audience:

“Hello everyone, I’m Deer Over Fragrant Grass.”

What… the… fuck…?!

That was the only thought all the male authors had at that moment.

Why did Li Shuoxing know so clearly?

Because he was also one of the male authors who thought of Brother Deer as a brother and ended up breaking down at the scene…

The memory ended here.

A faint shadow rose in Li Shuoxing’s heart. Even though it’d been two or three years, whenever he thought about it, he could still recall the bolt out of the blue at the time…

Li Shuoxing looked at the screen again and found that Deer Over Fragrant Grass was already evaluating his four sentences.

Deer Over Fragrant Grass: “This…”

She said earnestly, “Brothers, you can’t mess around with girls. If they see these words and haven’t blacklisted you, then marry. It’s true love.”

A word from the great god of harems determined the world.

The rest of the straight men defected one after another, critising Li Shuoxing for writing poorly, blindly flirting for nothing, surely losing favourability.

Li Shuoxing: “…”

He suddenly remembered the 5 favourability points that’d dropped.

A shadow called Deer Over Fragrant Grass was once again cast over his heart

A bunch of fence-sitters with no views of their own!

Deer Over Fragrant Grass added, “Ximuzi, this blindly flirting tone seems familiar. You didn’t get it from our female channel, did you? If you want to develop emotional flow, you can’t just look at our female channel. Our female channel is brainless and not literary enough. You’ve got to go next door to next door to see how many tearjerking romances are…”

Li Shuoxing didn’t finish reading it.

The shadow in his heart was too heavy. He silently closed the group, hid it away, and decided to write his novel and let the people in the group go.

After closing the group, a new conversation popped up before he could cut out of the software.

Panda was looking for him.

Panda: “Are you free? Ximu.”

Li Shuoxing: “?”

Panda: “Volumes 1-3 of Great Dispute will be printed soon. I’d like to arrange with you a book signing time.”

Li Shuoxing wasn’t interested in book signing. “I have to write.”

Panda explained, “You don’t have to travel all over the country. We’ll get a book signing in your city first. You just need to spare an afternoon to come in person. There’s an appearance fee.”

Li Shuoxing was still not interested. “Readers can just read the book. Why look at the face.”

Panda: “Readers want to see your face. What can I do about it?”

Li Shuoxing: “…”

Li Shuoxing resisted. “I won’t show it.”

Panda: “…”

Panda took a step back. “Alright then. We won’t hold a book signing session for the time being, but you have to come to the printing press to sign some names for me, right now. I just happen to be at the printing press looking at samples. It won’t take much time.”

Li Shuoxing still wouldn’t relent. “The pen name Caramel Ximu is too long. My hand will break from writing.”

Panda was shocked. He thought, How fragile is your hand that it can break just from writing this?

But the author was God.

He gave an idea: “Then let’s simplify it. I’ll print the word Caramel directly on the title page and you’ll just sign Ximu. The Caramel in your pen name doesn’t have any presence anyway.”

It could be like this?

Li Shuoxing was also shocked, but he soon had a new idea: “But it’s too tiring and heavy to flip through the books and sign them.”

Panda immediately shot it down. “How could I labour your honourable hands to flip through the books? We haven’t bound the books yet and the unbound title pages are stacked together. And, you don’t need to pull the paper. I’ll be beside to help! You! Pull!”

Li Shuoxing: “…”

The conversation had come to this. He gave in. “As much as that?”

Panda: “Haha.”

Panda: “I called a cab for you.”

Three minutes later.

A car sped to Li Shuoxing’s building, picked him up and left.

40 minutes later.

Li Shuoxing met with Panda at a printing press full of noise and dust.

45 minutes later.

Li Shuoxing sat in an office and began to sign a stack of title pages printed with the word “Caramel”.

He signed the word Ximu very seriously at the beginning.

After about 50 pages, he got listless and the regular script became cursive.

After about 100 more pages of cursive, his hand hurt.

So Li Shuoxing stopped to ponder over the many, many remaining title pages for a moment, and then he had an idea.

The cursive then became four strokes.

One stroke for the left side of Lizi ³ 栗子 [lì zi] has the Li (栗) in Li Shuoxing’s name and is where the name Ximu (西木) came from. , one stroke for the right side of Lizi, and two remaining strokes to give the Lizi two little eyes.

Don’t say it, it looked quite cute.

With these simple strokes, Li Shuoxing finished all the signatures.

He put down the pen and relaxed all over. As soon as he looked up, he met Panda’s awkward eyes.

The two look at each other for a moment.

Panda: “What’s this?”

Li Shuoxing: “Lizi.”

“I know it’s Lizi.” Panda paused. “But shouldn’t you sign your pen name?”

Li Shuoxing was calm. “What does it matter? I’m sure intelligent readers will understand. And you can say…”

Panda: “Say what?”

Li Shuoxing: “It’s a special signature. It’s the banner of Eunuch Ximu’s soul painting.”

Panda was speechless for a long while. He finally commented, “Ximu, you really are an author full of spirituality.”

Li Shuoxing: “Thank you for the compliment. Now that I’m done signing, I’ll…”

Panda hurriedly pulled the person who was about to leave. “Great God, did you really come out just to sign your name? It’s about time now. I’ll treat you to dinner and we can discuss the promotion plan for the physical book in the meanwhile.”

Li Shuoxing habitually wanted to refuse, but on second thought, he’d have to take time to deal with this matter sooner or later, and he was going to eat anyway. He might as well settle it in one go during the meal so that he could start writing directly when he got home.

So, he nodded. “Okay, let’s talk.”

The two reached an agreement and Panda chose a nearby Haidilao ⁴ 海底捞 [hǎi dǐ lāo] is a hot pot restaurant chain founded in Sichuan. .

Something like hotpot was most suitable for talking about things that needed to be communicated but weren’t particularly important.

When they arrived at Haidilao, it was a little earlier than the normal dinner time and there weren’t many people. The two sat down at a spacious booth by the window. Panda handed the menu to Li Shuoxing and said with a big wave of his hand, “Order whatever you want. No need to save money for me. The meal will be reimbursed by the company anyway.”

Then there was indeed nothing to be polite about.

Li Shuoxing picked up the menu and looked at it. After ordering the dishes he was used to eating plus two new seasonal dishes, he returned the menu to Panda.

Panda took the menu, scanned it, added two more meat dishes, and beckoned the waiter to place an order.

He began to speak, “Since you don’t want to attend the book signing, our book signing event can’t be carried out, so we’ll have to come up with a new publicity idea. The company still attaches great importance to your book and has determined an A-class publicity channel with special publicity funds, which we better put to good use. What we now have to consider is how to maximise the publicity effect with the limited funds. On this point, I have some immature ideas…”

At this point, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

Panda looked down at his phone and got up from his seat. “Excuse me, I’m going out to take a call.”

Li Shuoxing: “It’s alright, feel free.”

Panda took his phone and went out.

Li Shuoxing waited in place, and waited for a long time. It wasn’t until the pot was put on the table that Panda rushed back with a stream of apologies: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, my child is sick. I have to rush to the hospital now. Ximu, you’ll have to eat by yourself tonight. I’ve already paid the bill. We’ll make an appointment next time.”

With that, he rushed out like a whirlwood without even waiting for Li Shuoxing’s reply.

Li Shuoxing: “…”

The food was served, and the bill was paid.

What else could Li Shuoxing do? Stay and eat the hotpot of course.

He continued to sit alone, waiting for the food to be served.

The pot had been placed on the table and the dishes were soon served. When they were almost completely served, the waiter serving the dishes suddenly asked, “Sir, I see that you’ve been sitting alone. Are you here alone for hotpot today?”

Li Shuoxing casually replied, “Yes.”

Waiter: “Wait a moment.”

He turned to leave and returned shortly with a big cat doll in his hand.

He placed the big cat doll opposite Li Shuoxing’s seat and carefully arranged the doll’s small clothes. Then, he looked up and said thoughtfully to Li Shuoxing, “It’s a bit lonely to eat hotpot alone, so I’ll let Cady accompany you to dinner today.”

The thoughtful waiter left the doll and walked away.

Li Shuoxing, sitting in his seat, began to be confused.

Was it lonely eating hotpot alone? Actually, he didn’t feel that lonely.

Was it lonely eating hotpot alone sitting opposite a doll? He felt really lonely…

After he and the smiling doll sitting opposite had a long stare-down, he couldn’t bear it and lowered his eyes. He took out his phone, opened the Love Bar app, and went on the game to suck the cub. “Cub, are you ready to eat?”

Su Mingqian was a little surprised. “Why’d you suddenly come? I haven’t eaten yet.”

Li Shuoxing took a photo of the dishes on the table with his phone and sent it to Su Mingqian. Then he complained, “I’ve been ditched, and now I’m eating hotpot alone. Eating hotpot alone isn’t enough, the waiter here even brought me a doll called Cady and said it would accompany me to eat…”

What level is this loneliness?

Level 10 can’t be beaten!

Su Mingqian chuckled. “Ignore the doll. I’ll accompany you to eat.”

Li Shuoxing: “Okay, okay! I came to find you to eat together with you too. What do you want to eat for dinner? If you have hotpot there that can be purchased, we can eat the same…”

As he typed this, he suddenly froze. On second thought, he felt that this was actually completely achievable.

After all, the game could conjure up anything the cub wanted. If he made the cub wish for a Haidilao set meal, wouldn’t they be able to eat the same meal at the same table?

He immediately instructed, “Cub, make a wish for a Haidilao set meal.”

Su Mingqian made a wish.

A Haidilao set meal was instantly available in the store, not expensive at all, just 99 contributions.

In reality, others pay for me.

In the game, I pay for the cub.

One payment, two meals, perfect.

Li Shuoxing calmly bought it and used it straight away. When he saw a full set of hotpot dishes on Su Mingqian’s table, his heart was suddenly satisfied.

Somehow, he suddenly felt a sense of being truly accompanied.

So, when the waiter came over again and prepared to scald black beef slices for Li Shuoxing, Li Shuoxing said, “Please take that Cady away. I have company.”

With that, he placed his phone in the opposite position and propped it up so that it was facing him. Then, he put a bowl in front of the phone and spoke again.

“When you scald the meat later, split it into two parts, half for me and half for him.”

Waiter: “…”

He looked at the phone that was displaying a game screen for a moment and asked with an open mind, “Excuse me, this is?”

Li Shuoxing: “My lover, my cub. I’m eating hotpot with him.”

Waiter: “…”

Stiff smile.jpg

1

混世摸王 [hùn shì mō wáng] is a play on 混世魔王 [hùn shì mó wáng], which means devil incarnate. 2

拼文 [pīn wén] is when several authors get together to see who can write more words within a unit of time. Sometimes, the slowest writer is punished as an incentive. 3

栗子 [lì zi] has the Li (栗) in Li Shuoxing’s name and is where the name Ximu (西木) came from. 4

海底捞 [hǎi dǐ lāo] is a hot pot restaurant chain founded in Sichuan.