The Way of Heaven Rewards Diligence in Film and Television

Chapter 72 Lin Yang's Novel

Xu Hongdou shook her head and said, "She never sleeps before 1 a.m., not because of work. She just plays on her phone for two hours before bed, as a form of revenge entertainment."

"So, your sister has quite a personality," Lin Yang said with a smile.

"Personality?" Xu Hongdou chuckled. "She is indeed quite individualistic. If she knew you were praising her for being interesting and having a unique personality, she would definitely be very happy."

Lin Yang was also somewhat speechless: "What, are you jealous of your sister? Although you said you've never gotten along, and it seems like you're living in your sister's shadow, I think the relationship between you sisters is actually quite good, you might not realize it yourself. Such sisterly affection is actually quite enviable."

"And what about you and your sister?" Xu Hongdou asked noncommittally. "Now, you two should be each other's closest people, right?"

"After all, we're not related by blood, and we don't live together," Lin Yang shook his head. "Besides, if I get too close to her, you might get jealous."

"Why would I be jealous?" Xu Hongdou found it amusing, then couldn't help but ask, "Is your sister pretty?"

"No one is as pretty as you," Lin Yang said.

Xu Hongdou laughed: "I also think that my sister isn't as pretty as me. But in almost every other aspect, she's better than me."

"Then you'll soon have something even better than her," Lin Yang said with a smile.

"What?" Xu Hongdou asked subconsciously.

"My future husband is amazing!" Lin Yang said.

Xu Hongdou, looking utterly defeated, said, "Lin Yang, don't be so confident. My brother-in-law and sister started their company from scratch in Shanghai. My brother-in-law is outstanding in both education and ability."

"I'm not bad either! My brother-in-law is probably not as rich as me right now! And I'm younger, with unlimited potential for the future," Lin Yang said confidently.

"What you said does make some sense. My sister's company isn't small, but it's already hit a bottleneck in its development, and it won't be easy for it to continue to grow and expand." Xu Hongdou nodded slightly, then frowned: "He's my brother-in-law, not your brother-in-law."

"It's only a matter of time," Lin Yang said with a smile.

Xu Hongdou rolled her eyes at Lin Yang and continued eating her noodles with soybean paste.

In the afternoon, Lin Yang and Xu Hongdou spent their time writing and reading leisurely, respectively.

Feeling a bit bored, Xu Hongdou couldn't resist taking a look at Lin Yang's writings out of curiosity. However, she didn't quite get the appeal of male-oriented online novels.

Xu Hongdou wasn't very hungry that night, so Lin Yang made a late-night snack later, and made extra so that Nana could call Da Mai to eat together.

When Lin Yang brought the late-night snack to Xu Hongdou's room, Xu Hongdou, who was on a WeChat voice call with her mother and sister, quickly said, "Mom, I need to prepare dinner, I can't chat with you anymore!"

"You'd better watch out for getting so fat!" Xu Hongmi, the older sister, couldn't help but say.

"It's okay, sister. I like Hongdou a little chubby. It's healthier if she's a little chubby," Lin Yang said as he walked over and put down the midnight snack.

Xu Hongmi fell silent instantly, and Xu Hongdou quickly hung up the phone, looking helplessly at Lin Yang: "What did you say?"

"To be honest!" Lin Yang said with a smile.

"So you're making me eat delicious food every day on purpose to fatten me up, right?" Xu Hongdou was speechless.

Lin Yang smiled noncommittally: "My cooking is just that delicious, it's inevitable that you'll gain weight in the future."

"Lin Yang..." Xu Hongdou was both amused and exasperated.

"Then eat less tonight, and leave the rest for me!" Lin Yang said with a smile.

Xu Hongdou rolled her eyes at him, then went straight to the table, sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating heartily.

Not long after finishing her meal, Xu Hongdou burped and frowned, saying, "Next time, make less. I'm a little full!"

""

"Who told you to eat so much?" Lin Yang said with amusement, "It's like you're afraid I'll steal your leftovers."

"You've eaten it before," Xu Hongdou said irritably.

"Okay, okay, I'll go downstairs first. Nana and Da Mai will finish my portion soon," Lin Yang said, hurriedly packing his things to leave.

"Is it really that exaggerated? What kind of delicacies did you make?" Xu Hongdou asked with amusement.

Lin Yang laughed and said, "I'm confident in my cooking skills. If I don't go now, I really won't be able to eat anything."

"Alright, alright, you should go now!" Xu Hongdou urged.

When Lin Yang returned to the kitchen downstairs, he was surprised to find that Nana hadn't eaten yet and was comforting the somewhat sad-looking Da Mai.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yang asked, somewhat puzzled, after putting down his things.

"She's lost inspiration and can't write anymore," Nana explained.

"Hey, what's the big deal! If you don't have inspiration, just rely on technique to write! These days, who writes based solely on inspiration?" Lin Yang said.

Upon hearing this, Da Mai looked at Lin Yang with an even more hurt expression: "You've already started writing? Is it going smoothly?"

"It runs pretty smoothly!" Lin Yang nodded.

"Anyone watching?" Barley then asked.

"Yes! Quite a few!" Lin Yang nodded again.

Seeing Lin Yang's matter-of-fact attitude, Da Mai was speechless. This wasn't normal! Could Lin Yang be one of those geniuses who becomes a god with just one book?

"Cough... Da Mai just said that she needs to rely on perseverance, which sounds quite inspiring," Nana said.

"But it's also very painful," Da Mai said. "There's a movie that said pain is the soil for creation..."

"I disagree," Lin Yang said. "I think happiness and enjoyment are the fertile ground for creation. You will only get readers to pay if you enjoy writing enough. Nowadays, people like enjoyable stories, not painful or melodramatic ones."

"Refreshing?" Da Mai was taken aback for a moment, then subconsciously nodded and said, "That makes sense!"

"So just enjoy it, why are you suffering? If you're suffering while writing, how can you possibly write something enjoyable?" Lin Yang said.

Da Mai said thoughtfully, "Maybe... the subject matter I wrote about is a bit obscure, and not exciting enough."

"Write according to your own interests?" Lin Yang suddenly realized, "No wonder it was so painful to write. Online novels are fast-food literature. Interest is important, but you can't have too much subjective will. What you like is just what you like, which is a different concept from what readers like to read."

"So if you want to make money, you have to write what readers like to read. Of course, you can still write about the topics you like, but the content has to be biased, and you can't just write whatever you want. Otherwise, if you enjoy writing it, but the readers don't, and they give it bad reviews, then the conflict between them will naturally make writing painful."

Da Mai was quite surprised: "You've just started writing, how do you know so much about online novels?"

"To do something, you definitely need to prepare first. Before entering an industry, you also need to understand the situation of that industry," Lin Yang said. "Although I have never written anything, I have read a lot of online novels and have some insights."

Nana couldn't help but say, "Although I'm an outsider, Da Mai, I think Lin Yang makes a lot of sense. I can't help you with writing either, but Lin Yang and you are now colleagues, so you two can exchange ideas more often."

"Lin Yang, may I take a look at your novel?" Da Mai asked.

"Sure!" Lin Yang said, directly telling Damai the book title, author's name, and the website where it was published.

Nana was stunned and instinctively asked, "Aren't you afraid of being exposed?"

"What's there to be afraid of? I think my writing is pretty good! It's not like it's anything shameful," Lin Yang said with a smile.

After finding Lin Yang's novel on her phone, Da Mai looked at Lin Yang in surprise, then said to Nana, "Indeed, there's nothing that can't be known..."

"Number one on the new book chart?" Nana was surprised after glancing at Da Mai's phone: "Lin Yang, how did you do that?"

""

Damai couldn't help but look at Lin Yang with curiosity, she was just as curious.