You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"What did we do wrong?" The little bear's eyes widened. "We upheld justice! We even rescued Zhou Qi!"

“Actually, Teacher Yao didn’t do anything, did he? Whether it was Yu Luying’s…” Xiao Yao glanced at her, “or Zhou Qi’s matter, Teacher Yao himself didn’t do anything out of line. Those were all his shadows… He himself was unaware of it.”

“Oh dear, whether he’s guilty or not is a matter for the law and the police to decide,” Little Bear shook his head. “The law is just the lower limit of morality. The important thing is that someone like him, full of immoral thoughts, is not fit to be a teacher. Even if he doesn’t commit a crime now, he will one day…”

"Presumption of guilt, is that it?" Xiao Yao's temper flared up again: "Thought crime, is that it?"

"Keep your voices down, you two!" Yu Luying, who hadn't spoken until now, snapped. "Do you want the whole school to know our secret?"

"Let's eat, let's eat," the little bear said sheepishly.

“Things have already come to this point. Instead of arguing about whether Teacher Yao is a good person or not, we should think about this,” Yu Luying said worriedly, “If this wasn’t Teacher Yao’s intention, then who did all this, and what was their purpose?”

Chapter 72 Remarks on the launch

2023-01-07

Finally, it's time for my second favorite part: the product launch announcement.

Someone taught me that the core of a book launch message is actually just one sentence: please subscribe, preferably with auto-subscription enabled. Anything unrelated to this is just nonsense.

But for me, this is a legitimate opportunity to talk nonsense, no, to chat with everyone for a while.

So, the first thing I want to talk about is "the birth of a story".

In 2017, one of my distant cousins ​​got married.

He and my cousin's wife hit it off immediately, feeling like they had known each other for a long time, and each believed that the other was their soulmate.

My older brother and sister-in-law lamented to me that their biggest regret was that fate had played a cruel trick on them, making them wait until they were middle-aged to meet each other.

In the long first half of their lives, through countless days and nights, the two of them either tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, or searched and searched, trying to get along with one wrong person after another, wasting their time, youth, years, patience and love by the side of strangers.

Finally, turning around, they found him there, in the dim light, though both of them were weathered and scarred.

If they had the chance to travel through time, I have no doubt what they would choose—to let their acquaintance begin on a sunny afternoon in their youth, and rewrite their story.

This is beautiful and romantic, I love it so much, but I still asked that question in a very tactless way: If you two had met in high school, are you sure you would still have fallen in love?

The eldest brother and sister-in-law thought about it very seriously, and then gave a negative answer.

Deep down, we all know that meeting the right person at the wrong time usually ends without a trace.

The reason why two people fall in love is that the traumas of growing up and what they taught us are an inseparable part of our lives.

"Perhaps that has been the story of life."

In 2017, I was working as a screenwriter at a small, struggling company.

My boss told me that the company had taken on a project from iQiyi, a series of suspenseful short dramas, each episode 20 minutes long, and asked me to write one episode as well.

The script outline I submitted was titled: "It's a Pity We Met Too Late".

In the story I envisioned, Lao Xiaoyao and Lao Shenjie (of course, they weren't called by those names back then) traveled back to their middle school days in a time machine, went their separate ways to find their younger selves, and forcibly persuaded the two teenagers to be together.

But the two children were completely incompatible—girls tend to mature earlier than boys. At that age, while little "Shen Jie" was already beautiful, generous, proper, and had clear goals, little "Xiao Yao" was still muddled, unkempt, playful, restless, and running around recklessly, a typical straight man with zero emotional intelligence.

Perhaps in the future, this boy will also become a remarkable adult, but at this age...

Please allow me to quote a comment from a reader whose ID number ends in 6475: "The male protagonist's witty remarks, glib tongue, and inexplicable antics perfectly remind me of myself in junior and senior high school. Every time I think of myself back then, I wish I could go back and strangle myself."

That's so true, bro. If I met my middle or high school self, I could only promise not to kill him.

People always say the male lead isn't good enough for the female lead—does he even have a key? How many keys does he need? He's not good enough.

They don't deserve it, they really don't deserve it.

In the original script that was revised more than 10 times, many conflicts and contradictions arose between the "asymmetrical" lovers, and many hilarious things happened. Then, the four of them, the two old protagonists and the two young protagonists, became entangled, with twists and turns creating a strong story tension.

However, due to various subjective and objective reasons, the project was ultimately abandoned, which remains a regret for me.

I always wanted to tell this story to more people, and that's how this book came about.

Of course, online novels and short dramas are completely different things, and this story must be deconstructed again.

Firstly, in shaping the male protagonist, I deliberately gave him many extreme opening debuffs: abandoned by his parents, stranded in a "foreign land", self-destructive, uninterested in studying, addicted to online games, out of place with his classmates and therefore ostracized, yearning for love and friendship, and regarding it as a kind of redemption worth longing for.

In short, he's a good-for-nothing.

Unfortunately, how can someone who can't even make a few friends have a girlfriend?

But fortunately, this is a novel. Let's give him a cheat code and begin our journey of salvation step by step.

The "golden finger" is firstly the information gap brought about by time travel, and then our female protagonist herself.

The younger version of the female lead is not only "beautiful and kind-hearted", but more importantly, she tends to respect and accept the arrangements of fate.

She didn't deny the undeniable facts before her, nor did she selfishly cover her ears and say, "I don't want to listen, it's just nonsense. What does the future have to do with me?"

While she could hardly fall in love at first sight with such a useless male lead, she did give him a chance, with her patience and love.

In the near future, she will guide this male protagonist to grow up ahead of time, to become a proud tree, to rewrite his own life, and many other people and things.

Some people say this book is like a physical youth melodrama, but I don't completely agree—this pain? You might be lucky enough not to have experienced much pain, so please allow me to make an envious face.

Some people will say that we read novels to relax, to enjoy the sweetness, to have fun, not to make ourselves uncomfortable, not to read your old literary youth reminiscing about the past and appreciating the present.

That makes sense.

However, I personally still believe that "The Young Lady" is essentially a novel that provides a sense of satisfaction (of course, it is definitely not a mindless, simplistic novel). In terms of its overall tone, it is actually a "love myth".

Its most exhilarating aspect, I'd like to describe with my absolute favorite quote from the Bible: "For the people who sat in darkness saw a great light; for those who sat in the shadow of death, a light appeared for them" (Matthew 4:16).

I would also like to quote a passage from the immortal classic of Chinese serious literature, "The Love Lock Curse": "Zhao Tao finally realized that he had always been lingering in a sense of helplessness and loneliness. That sadness had actually enveloped him ever since his grandmother passed away, but he had forced himself to adapt. He was like someone trapped in a stinking mud pit, unable to extricate himself, unable to struggle, only able to stay in it, forcing himself to believe that this was his life. And now, Fang Tongtong reached out her hand, pulled him out without warning, and threw him directly into a meadow full of flowers, hugging him and rolling around on it together."

Many people don't understand why the male protagonist is so eager to have a girlfriend, simply attributing it to being a "lazybones," which is incorrect. Having lost both parents, living far from home, and being ostracized by his class, what he really needs is love and to be loved, just a warm hug.

I know very well that many readers are not as "unlucky" as Xiao Yao and Zhao Tao, which may affect their ability to empathize with the characters. However, I also believe that everyone has their own low points and darkest moments. The desire for a guiding light and for something to pull them out of their shells should be the same and universal.

All of the above is to explain why the male protagonist was written to be so useless at the beginning (after all, this is the point that people complain about the most) - because if it weren't so, the foundation of the story would be destroyed.

Of course, even in male-oriented novels, this is too unfair to the female lead. Therefore, after the male lead grows up, he will definitely turn around and "redeem" the female lead, because even such a female lead has something in her heart that shines like sunspots inside the sun.

Mutual redemption, mutual fulfillment, mutual devotion—it's a cliché, but it's beautiful.

I really like it, and I hope more people will like it too.

Here is a brief Q&A session:

Q1: I think your male lead is very well written and very realistic, but the female lead is too idealized and too much of a "fantasy element." The male lead is a realistic guy, while the female lead is a goddess who exists in dreams, which creates a sense of disconnect. (From a reader with the last four digits of their ID being 4556, and the book list creator "赢幸赢运昌," etc.)

A1: If you want to see what happens when both the male and female leads are "realistically portrayed," you can check out my previous book. Although I still really like it, let's make it clear first: if you unfortunately get hooked on that book, please continue to support and subscribe to *The Young Lady*...

Q2: What you said is quite good, about mutual redemption and all that, but if that's the case, why insert Yu? Having multiple female leads feels like a flaw in this book. (From readers "Too lazy to come up with a name, so I'll just leave it at that," "I'm not that great," etc.)

A2: In addition to increasing the conflict, interest, and scope of the story, the addition of other female protagonists also aims to explore another topic: Are the scenery along the way really meaningless? If we can "foresee" that the relationship will not end well, should we still let those beautiful experiences continue to happen and exist?

Is it really fair to let two people who are destined to be together get married early, thus erasing the existence of "other people" who should have belonged to her/them in history?

And our story has only just begun; it's a long one, and who knows what new twists and turns might occur in the future? (winks)

In short, please rest assured that this article is not related to stock speculation, and I believe it will ultimately provide everyone with a satisfactory and heartwarming ending.

A reader wrote in the book club: "In this fast-paced era, not everyone who reads a novel will think about the historical background and character settings. Most people just want to see people showing off and getting their faces slapped, just like why system novels, behind-the-scenes novels, and Dihua novels are so popular."

I know my book is unlikely to be a hit, and I know that my meticulous polishing of the text and careful character development is a thankless task, but I can't shake the creative habits I developed from reading physical books. If I could tolerate those formulaic stories, I wouldn't need to write them myself. I don't write to make a living, so I won't follow the crowd—but that doesn't mean I don't care about success, because finding kindred spirits is the greatest joy I seek.

So thank you for reading this far! Please support the original work, preferably by subscribing on the Qidian main site, to support your favorite niche books with your actions! Don't let me wither away. For the future of this book, please let me continue to see your hands, let me know how many audience members are still there, and give me the strength to persevere.

Please give me your monthly votes, please write more chapter comments, so that I can understand your feelings and thoughts at all times, and let me know that I am not alone.

For this release, I initially plan to update 7 chapters, totaling around 30000 words. If the initial subscriptions exceed my expectations or there are large donations, I will add more.

Finally, I would like to thank the editor of this book, "Orange".

So, we'll be releasing it on Friday, see you there!

--split line--

The following paragraph is not my original work; it comes from the NGA forum and is a classic passage.

And this feeling, for some reason, feels very fitting.

Although I've already quoted this from the launch message of my previous book, I'd like to share it again.

This is just for personal sharing↓↓↓

One day you'll have to make peace with all those memories, memories that contain both her and you, her youth and your prime. That person lives on forever in time; you can't pull her out, and you can't go back. So be it, let her remain quietly there. She won't gain weight, won't grow old, won't wear a business suit and high heels, won't carry the air of everyday life. She'll always be young, always beautiful, standing in your memories in a vibrant dress, smiling radiantly at you.

I often think of the girls who have appeared in my life.

They were incredibly beautiful, both then and in our memories, and so outstanding that they were dazzling.

Now, they must be more beautiful, more composed, and more fulfilled. They must have met more interesting people and created more wonderful stories.

A girl who briefly appeared in my life got engaged.

My brother loved a girl for two and a half years, only to receive the "good news" that she got engaged to someone else.

I often tell him that that person lives in time forever; you can't pull her out, and you can't go back yourself. So let it be, let her stay there quietly.

She will never gain weight, never grow old, never wear a business suit and high heels, and will never carry the air of mundane family matters. She will always be young and beautiful, standing in your memories in a bright long dress, smiling radiantly at you.

Isn't this better?

One day you will have to make peace with all your memories, including hers and yours, her youth and your prime.