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Chapter 73




Edited by: kapekopicoffee
Li Shuoxing finally understood.
Cub is jealous.
Cub’s jealousy is so unique that he even thought of writing a small paper to express his feelings to me like Calm Egg, but…
Li Shuoxing looked at the two titles Su Mingqian had come up with. Although he was 100% willing to stand by his family, he couldn’t help but silently say,
Cub, don’t worry about the main content, you should first come up with the right title. When you use this kind of scientific paper title, you’ve already lost.
However, it was normal for professors who specialised in writing rigorous academic papers to not know what clickbait was.
Li Shuoxing stayed in the game for a while, and without disturbing the seriously studying Su Mingqian, he retreated silently, just as he’d come.
Cub can write whatever he wants.
He can use whatever title he likes.
Anyway, I’m the author. I have many ways to draw everyone’s eyes to it.
Li Shuoxing had a new plan.
He returned to the Terminal Food Group, first @All members, then called the role one by one.
Li Shuoxing: “@Soren, @Interfinger Storm, @Ten Zero Ling, @Six Flavour Monk, @Deer Over Fragrant Grass, @Si Buqu. Everyone, don’t lurk. Come out and write a couple of lines expressing your feelings to Eggy to divert the readers’ attention and stop my ship with Eggy from locking! I’d rather be in a ship with Soren than with Eggy!”
The crowd came out.
Laughter spammed the screen and hit Li Shuoxing.
Only Soren, amid a bunch of laughing freaks, came out with three question marks.
Soren: “???”
The next second, Li Shuoxing found himself blacklisted by Soren again.
He didn’t care.
He continued to coax and pester the group, threatening and bribing, and finally got everyone to relent and send a declaration to express their feelings to Eggy, muddying the waters.
Everything was ready, missing just one key thing.
Li Shuoxing finished the rest of his words and began to wait for Su Mingqian to finish writing.
Li Shuoxing didn’t wait long.
Not long after, he saw the little heart on the screen open. Su Mingqian appeared inside the screen, carrying his little backpack and riding his little blanket, and flew straight to the Terminal app.
Obviously, Su Mingqian was going to publish his finished work.
But when he arrived at the discussion forum location, filled in the topic, copied the content, and organised the format… when he was about to finish after all that hard work, he suddenly froze.
A mobile phone number was required to register an account.
But he didn’t have a mobile phone number…
Su Mingqian didn’t stay in a daze for long. He quickly exited the app, returned to the phone screen, and tapped it.
“Ximu, Ximu, are you there?”
Li Shuoxing moved quickly. He also exited the app, sat back down in front of his laptop, and placed his hands on the keyboard, pretending that he was working hard, before answering as if he’d been disturbed, “Ah… yes. Cub, what’s up? “
Su Mingqian: “Ximu, can you do me a favour? I want to register a Terminal account called ‘Su Mingqian’, but I don’t have a mobile phone number, so I can’t…”
It really was a bit of a hassle to register a new account nowadays.
Either use a mobile phone number or use an existing account from another software.
But accounts on other software also required a mobile phone number to register.
Li Shuoxing didn’t see much need to register a new account. He suggested, “You can use my Superstar account.”
Su Mingqian shook his head. “No, I want an account called ‘Su Mingqian’.”
Li Shuoxing wondered, “Why?”
Su Mingqian replied seriously, “Because what I want to publish is my attitude, not joking comments under a random account.”
Li Shuoxing: “Your attitude?”
“Yep.” Su Mingqian domineeringly defended his feelings. “I’ve successfully argued that the relationship between Su Mingqian and Ximu is true, reliable and scientific, and the relationship between Calm Egg and Ximu is untrue, unreliable and unscientific!”
Li Shuoxing was stunned by Su Mingqian.
Inexplicably, he felt that such a cub was reliable and serious, very much like a king…
Following Su Mingqian’s request, he quickly got an ID and helped Su Mingqian log in with it.
Su Mingqian was very satisfied with the account. He finally published the long piece he’d written.
Three minutes later, the thread was flourishing.
“Reminds me of the fear of being dominated by my graduation thesis.”
“It turns out that besides Cunxing × Su Mingqian, there’s also the cross-dimensional ship of Author × Su Mingqian? I’ve learned something!”
“Can arguing that Su Mingqian loves Eunuch make Eunuch update 15 chapters a day? It doesn’t seem so, so what’s the point of arguing that?”
“The key point: OP used 3000 words to argue that Ximu really is gay.”
…
The title of this topic was indeed too much of a stunner.
It led to an influx of readers and an endless stream of various replies.
Since posting the piece, Su Mingqian had stayed in the discussion forum, seriously reading each reply.
When he saw a supportive one, his expression relaxed.
When he saw an opposing one, his brow furrowed.
The looks on his face were so rich.
It’s finally my turn to make an appearance!
Li Shuoxing had finished all the preparations.
He opened the backend, edited the sub-volume, opened another work-related volume before the official volume, and put in the long piece he had written and the long piece Su Mingqian had written.
Five minutes after he updated.
The discussion forum was in shock, and new topics were coming out one after another. Everyone couldn’t believe it.
“What’s going on? Didn’t he already update two chapters today? Why’d he update another two?”
“Could it be the return of the king from that last once-in-a-century mass update?”
“Tell us who you’re battling today. As long as there are updates, it’s all good!”
Then…
“????”
“?!?!”
“!!!!”
The book friends who finally clearly saw what Li Shuoxing had published roared from their souls.
“Caramel Ximu, are you crazy!”
“Caramel Ximu, the ‘Su Mingqian’ in the discussion forum really is your alt, right!”
“Caramel Ximu, just bragging about your feelings for the protagonist isn’t enough, you’ve even switched to the protagonist’s perspective to brag about his feelings for you!”
“Caramel Ximu, where’s your shame!!!”
At that moment, however, Li Shuoxing had closed the page.
A true werewolf never looks at the explosion behind him.
***
The heated discussion forum not only fermented in the book friend circle, but also affected other places.
In the backyard of online authors, the Paper View World forum, a post quietly appeared, talking about this incident.
Of course, the poster wasn’t concerned about the relationship between Calm Egg and Li Shuoxing, or between Li Shuoxing and Su Mingqian.
He circled Li Shuoxing’s words in his earliest chapter and summarised, “My heart aches for our brother’s hospitalisation. The great god said that he also doesn’t have social insurance and struggles to get by on commercial insurance.”
The people that entered the thread were speechless.
“He’s already reached the position of a great god, what does he need social insurance for…”
“I’m afraid OP isn’t wise.”
“The Empress of the Eastern Palace makes pancakes and the Empress of the Western Palace peels onions. The Emperor’s life really is wonderful, huh.”
After a dozen mocking replies, a comment with a new perspective appeared.
The poster was very speechless.
“I’m afraid the wise one isn’t OP, but all of you above. Doesn’t anyone realise that the great god is calling out to Terminal for welfare? Forget it, let me translate it bluntly: ‘I, Caramel Ximu, have reached the position I have now, and you still don’t give me social insurance and medical insurance. Do you want me jump ship to a new employer? Hmm?'”
After this was posted, the original poster quickly replied, “Brother, you’re a sensible one.”
With this reply in place, the direction of public opinion completely changed.
Many writers who’d come in were suddenly enlightened, finally understanding the great god’s profound meaning.
Almost instantly, their comments changed.
“Keep it simple, keep your words simple~”
“I always thought that only poor guys like us cared about insurance. I didn’t expect that a great god did too.”
“The point isn’t the insurance, the point is the face. It doesn’t matter what is there or isn’t. What matters is what I have and what you don’t.”
“So the question arises, will Terminal agree?”
“It’s not explicitly stated anyway. Maybe Terminal will play dumb.”
“I think Terminal will agree. It’s just social insurance, a drop in the bucket compared to the value created by the great god.”
Amidst the various discussions, the poster who’d just picked out the original poster’s true meaning came out to speak again.
“What are you all thinking? Things are very clear. The great god doesn’t easily speak up, but when he does Terminal must carefully consider it. There’s no way they’d give up a head author for social insurance. So this time, not only will the great god’s request be met, but insurance for the entire platinum author class will follow. This is the power of a great god. But as some comments above have said, the fact that the great god made this request doesn’t mean he really needs it; the ones who really need it are the vast number of middle and lower level authors who work tirelessly full time for two or three thousand yuan a month. But the authors at that level never had the right to negotiate with the top.”
When the poster sent out this comment, the whole thread was mourning.
Reality was always depressing.
But it wasn’t long before another long comment was sent out.
“We are used to companies paying insurance for their workers, but we see it as a pipe dream for websites to pay insurance for their contracted authors. In fact, in the long run, an industry can only truly thrive and develop rapidly with more inclination and security of social resources. So my point is, there’s no need to be depressed because security will eventually come. Now the question is, which site will face up to this earliest and have the courage to take the first step towards change.”
With two paragraphs, the post became popular.
First, the post was repeatedly bumped up. Then, it gave rise to all kinds of comments on Paper Forum, making almost all of Paper Forum discuss the matter. Finally, the post spread to Weibo, QQ groups, Douban and other places…
Within a day, the entire online writing circle knew about it and were discussing it.
Then, Li Shuoxing was approached by Night Tour.
Night Tour: “[middle-aged bald man].jpg”
Li Shuoxing: “…”
Night Tour spoke earnestly, “Ximu, have I ever wronged you? Has Terminal ever wronged you?”
Li Shuoxing: “…”
Night Tour cried accusations, “If you aren’t satisfied with the treatment that Terminal has given you, you can say so directly. Do you have to put us on the spot like this? You see, because of your insinuating words, we’ve now all become the evil capitalists of the past on the internet, only exploiting their workers, beyond ugly and brutal!”
Li Shuoxing: “…”
Li Shuoxing was really at a loss for words.
But he was really innocent, so he still had to give a fight.
Li Shuoxing: “Old Night, to tell you the truth, I really didn’t mean to do this. You tell me what social insurance I need when I’ve reached this position? It doesn’t make sense.”
Night Tour sighed. “Ah… Ximu, Ximu, you’ve been writing on Terminal for ten years. Wasn’t everything all right in the past? How come this year, you can make a big deal out of whatever you do?”
Li Shuoxing was also puzzled. He reiterated his innocence again and again, and after reiterating, he suddenly added, “But Old Night…”
Night Tour was instantly alert. “What do you want to say?”
Li Shuoxing was simple and direct. “Nothing, I didn’t want to say anything. I was just going to say, although I don’t need this, I think other authors need it. Should Terminal consider giving some kind of security?”
Night Tour: “…”
He roared, “And you said the words under your novel weren’t an insinuation!!!”
It’s been misinterpreted like this anyway, what can I do.
Li Shuoxing was unafraid and cheeky. “It really wasn’t then, but it is now.” He added, “By the way, I’m not the only one who thinks this. Interfinger Storm does too.”
Night Tour: “Shit…”
Li Shuoxing hinted, “Please ask the management to consider it.”
Night Tour was angry for a long time, but he still had to explain to Li Shuoxing, “Ximu, the contract for platinum authors is very simple. There are only a dozen or so on one website. If you really want these, the website will start giving you the highest level next month. But besides you guys, there are over ten thousand contracted authors on Terminal’s main site. There are some things we’d like to do too, but they really aren’t so easy to do.”
Li Shuoxing stated, “I understand, but difficulties have to be conquered. I have difficulties writing, but I blaze through every day, trying to conquer my difficulties.”
Night Tour was also convinced. He spammed the middle finger and bald emoticon for three minutes straight to Li Shuoxing. Finally, he had no choice but to reveal the truth.
Night Tour: “Fine, fine, this matter did attract the attention of the higher-ups. Social insurance really isn’t possible for the time being, but the issue of medical insurance, which everyone needs the most, is being discussed internally.”
After saying that, Night Tour didn’t bother to drivel on to Li Shuoxing any longer, so he left.
Li Shuoxing didn’t go offline right away. He went to find Interfinger Storm.
Li Shuoxing: “Interfinger.”
Interfinger Storm replied in a second, “Ximu.”
Li Shuoxing quietly said, “Sorry, when Night Tour came to ask my thoughts just now, I used you as a cushion and said we both think that Terminal should give some security to ordinary authors.”
Interfinger Storm: “Coincidentally, me too.”
Li Shuoxing was very moved. “Good brother.”
Interfinger Storm was equally moved. “Good brother.”
Then they politely blacklisted each other for three minutes.
Shit.
He dragged me down without saying a word!
The author has something to say:
Currently in online writing, authors seem to have medical insurance.
The novel doesn’t exactly correspond with reality, so take note of that~