I am not a literary giant

Chapter 100 The Void Split in Two

Ning Chunyan asked Wang Zixu if he had read "The Insect World". Wang Zixu blurted out that the book was required reading for primary and secondary school students and that it was very expensive.

Ning Chunyan thought the book wasn't expensive and just listened to it without further ado. What she didn't know was that Wang Zixu was so impressed by the book because he also had a story about it.

When Wang Zixu was still a primary or secondary school student, one day he suddenly approached his father, Wang Jianguo, and said, "Dad, I want to read." He then showed him the required reading list at the back of his Chinese textbook. Besides *The Insect World*, there were also *Stars*, *Spring Water*, *Stray Birds*, and so on.

Comrade Wang Jianguo was very happy because he felt that his son's willingness to ask for books meant that he would definitely be successful when he grew up.

He lifted him high, letting him ride on his shoulders, and said, "Come on, Daddy will take you to the bookstore."

Comrade Wang Jianguo didn't like studying when he was a child, and he always believed that he suffered because he didn't like studying. If he had loved studying, he would have been able to get into a junior college, and he wouldn't have been laid off during the later enterprise restructuring, and Wang Zixu's mother wouldn't have divorced him.

In short, the root of his failed life lay in his dislike of reading. Wang Zixu's love of reading showed he wouldn't follow in his father's footsteps, which made Wang Jianguo very happy.

Comrade Wang Jianguo has a flaw: he gets easily carried away when he's happy, and once he gets carried away, he becomes complacent. On the way to the bookstore with Wang Zixu, he said a lot of nice things to his son, something he had never done before: "You like reading storybooks, right? Buy them! Buy you those with lots of pictures too! Buy the newest ones!"

Wang Zixu remembered being incredibly excited about those promises when he was young; it was one of the happiest memories of his childhood. He also remembered that it was summer, a beautiful day like today, with a bright sun and cicadas chirping incessantly in the lush green roadside trees…

When they arrived at the bookstore, Comrade Wang Jianguo picked out the book with the most pictures—this is "The Insect World"—and asked the clerk how much it cost. After the clerk quoted the price, he was so surprised that he dropped the book on the ground.

Wang Zixu didn't remember the exact price. He only remembered that they didn't buy anything that day. Comrade Wang Jianguo pulled him out of the bookstore without saying a word, and he followed silently, his heart heavy with gloom. The sun in the sky was blinding, so blinding it was almost black.

Many years later, when Wang Zixu picked up "The Insect World" for the second time, he was already 30 years old. The first thing he did after getting the book was to turn it over and look at the recommended price on the back cover.

79 yuan.

It is indeed very expensive.

At this moment, he finally reconciled with Comrade Wang Jianguo from many years ago. Comrade Wang Jianguo hadn't bought books for his son back then, and Comrade Wang Zixu hadn't become a successful person either. Neither of them had lived up to the other's expectations.

As Prince Xu stared blankly at "The Insect World" in a daze, the two women beside his bed were subtly observing each other.

Ye Lan and Ning Chunyan are two very different women, and they don't have much in common. If they do have anything in common, it's that they both said to Wang Zixu, "How can someone like you have a wife?"

Besides, they all felt a bit sorry for Wang Zixu. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to the hospital to visit him.

Ye Lan is a typical career woman, with heavy lipstick, exquisite stockings, sharp eyes, and thin lips that seem ready to utter a reprimand at any moment; while Ning Chunyan is an atypical literary girl, with star-like eyes, fair skin, an expression devoid of worldly concerns, and two long, shapely legs without a single flaw.

The two men sized each other up, finding each other increasingly strange. Both women possessed such outstanding looks; they could easily have been models or celebrities. How did Wang Zixu, an honest, unromantic man, manage to win over such women?

So they felt no sympathy for Prince Xu at all, and thought he deserved all the bad luck he had. Who told him to marry such a beautiful wife?

Ye Lan had been spending a lot of time with Wang Zixu these past two days, and there had even been some minor flirtation. Before meeting his "wife," she didn't feel much guilt, since they hadn't met yet. But now that they had, she suddenly felt guilty.

Ning Chunyan was the same. She usually liked to tease Wang Zixu, always calling him "married Wang Zixu". Now that she had "really" met his wife, she suddenly felt guilty and regretted teasing him before.

Both of them unconsciously moved a few inches away from Prince Xu.

Ye Lan bit her lip and bowed slightly to Ning Chunyan, asking, "Why did you come here?"

She meant that the Little Prince wanted to hide his identity and hadn't revealed his whereabouts to his wife, so she shouldn't have been there in the first place.

But after asking the question, Ye Lan felt something was amiss. It sounded like she was being interrogated, as if Ye Lan was the one who should be there. How offensive! She wanted to slap herself. Ye Lan, you've overstepped your bounds!

Ning Chunyan, however, felt that her question was reasonable.

"I mainly came out to stroll around and didn't originally plan to visit him. But then I felt he was working so hard, so I thought I'd come anyway. If I had known you were here, I wouldn't have come."

Ning Chunyan's intention was to distance herself from the prince, so as to avoid any misunderstanding from Ye Lan. However, Ye Lan didn't feel good about it at all—

What do you mean by "knowing I'm here, she won't come"? Is this a show of defiance or sarcasm? She's acting like this right from the start. Did Wang Zixu tell her about my little trick from yesterday?

Ye Lan quickly began to praise their deep affection for each other, to show that she had no intention of having any designs on them: "I didn't originally plan to come either. I only came to see him today because I thought you wouldn't come, haha. Actually, I think you two are a really good match. You even know books he hasn't read before. I thought he had read every kind of book."

Ning Chunyan, upon hearing this, assumed Ye Lan was angry and her face paled instantly. She quickly waved her hands and said, "No, no, I just brought a book with me. You two get along very well. When I came in, I saw you sitting by his bedside, and the atmosphere between you two seemed quite warm, very warm indeed."

Ye Lan felt like she'd been struck by lightning after hearing this, and quickly said, "No way! You must have misunderstood. He and I are completely different kinds of people. But your demeanor is immediately recognizable; you and he are both very cultured."

"Haha, you're joking. He's already 30, and I'm so young. There's a generation gap between us. How could we be on the same wavelength..."

"Hmm...actually, as long as you share common interests, age isn't a problem..."

"..."

Ye Lan and Ning Chunyan stared at each other, unsure how to continue their conversation.

The two women curled up in their chairs, feeling isolated. They both felt that the other's words were sarcastic and veiled. Neither of them had experienced any complex emotional entanglements and didn't know how to deal with the situation.

Ye Lan thought to herself: Wang Zixu is strange enough, but I didn't expect his wife to be even stranger. The way she gets jealous is so weird!

Ning Chunyan pressed her head and muttered to herself: I really shouldn't have come to the hospital to see Wang Zixu. It's like he's so popular. Honestly, I inexplicably got involved in someone else's marital relationship.

Wang Zixu observed a moment of silence for his childhood for ten minutes, missing the first few interesting parts of the conversation. He only caught the end of it, and the more he listened, the stranger it seemed. So he looked up at the two of them blankly and asked in confusion, "What are you two talking about?"

Ye Lan and Ning Chunyan both stared at him with slightly resentful eyes. Wang Zixu finally reacted and said:

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Ye Lan. I've recently been trying to start a company and do some part-time work. She's my partner. This is Ning Chunyan, a talented woman from Xihe, and a friend of mine."

The two women glanced at each other, then looked at Prince Xu.

Ye Lan asked, "And what about your wife?"

"What wife?" Wang Zixu said, then realized what he meant. "Oh, my wife didn't come? Why are you asking about her?"

"It's nothing."

Ye Lan appeared nonchalant, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that her toes were clenching violently, as if she wanted to pierce through her high heels; the tips of her black stockings were even torn white.

Ning Chunyan's expression remained completely detached from worldly affairs, but if you looked at her from behind, you would see that her delicate hands were forcefully tearing at her belt, the poor cloth belt making a faint "crackling" sound, the sound of the stitches coming undone.

I'm going out for a bit.

"I'll go out for a bit too."

The two women went out together, and after a while, they came back in hand in hand, both smiling sweetly.

"Let me tell you, he's hilarious. All he does is write novels, he's such a dullard. I said, 'How can someone so dull have a wife?' He said, 'But I do!' Can't you believe it?"

"Yeah, he acts all high and mighty just because he has a wife. Let me tell you, the first time I met him, I asked for his WeChat, and he immediately said, 'I'm married.' I said, 'I'm adding you on WeChat, not because I'm interested in you.' Can you believe how narcissistic he is?"

Ye Lan looked at Wang Zixu and said, "Hey, Wang Zixu, why didn't you tell me you had a wife when I added you on WeChat?"

The prince, looking bewildered, said, "Didn't you always know that?"

Ning Chunyan pulled Ye Lan aside and said, "He's narcissistic! He thinks I must be interested in him to want to add him as a friend, so he used being married as a warning. Since it's impossible for President Ye to be interested in him, he stopped talking. That guy is really awful."

Ye Lan pouted and said, "No, he's clearly fallen head over heels for Ning Cai Nu, that's why he deliberately emphasized that he's married. He wasn't talking to you, he was talking to himself. What a coward."

Ning Chunyan pointed at Wang Zixu and said, "Wang Zixu, you're being a bit dishonest! Now that you're married, you should behave yourself."

"Yes, you need to behave yourself."

Prince Xu asked dejectedly, "What did I do wrong?"

Ning Chunyan said, "If you were honest, why didn't you emphasize to President Ye that you were married?"

Ye Lan said, "If you were honest, why did you emphasize to Ning Cai Nu that you were married?"

Wang Zixu felt like he was about to burst. Seeing his expression, the two girls burst into laughter. Their behavior reminded Wang Zixu of the group of girls who used to tease him in middle school.

Then, somewhat aggrieved, he asked, "Weren't you being a little impolite?"

After he finished speaking, the two women laughed even louder.

……

Ning Chunyan left the hospital with Ye Lan. One of them drove an Audi and the other a Porsche. After seeing each other's cars, Ning Chunyan mentally assessed the value of Wang Zixu's social circle and became even less sympathetic towards him.

Ning Chunyan was driving home. At first, she was in a good mood, but after a while, her mood turned sour.

Although she was happy to tease Wang Zixu today, Wang Zixu does have a wife, and she would definitely be a little sad if she found out that her husband was being tricked.

She got home, and as soon as she opened the door, Chen Qingluo appeared on top of her like a ghost, startling her.

"What's wrong? Weren't you writing a novel?"

"It's almost finished. Just need to wrap it up," Chen Qingluo said.

"Thank goodness," Ning Chunyan said, "how many more words are left to finish? Can you go home now that you're done?"

"Hmm, still 10 words short."

"Is this what you call finishing up?"

"The first half is the beginning, and the second half is the ending."

Chen Qingluo took an apple and put it in her mouth to eat.

Ning Chunyan wiped the sweat from her brow: "And what about your back?"

Chen Qingluo lifted her shirt: "Here it is."

Ning Chunyan reached out and tickled her: "Let you show off. So what if you have a slim waist?"

Chen Qingluo dodged left and right with a radiant smile.

"By the way, I almost ran into Prince Xu's wife today."

The apple in Chen Qingluo's hand fell to the ground.

Ning Chunyan looked up at her: "What's wrong?"

Chen Qingluo picked up the apple and asked, "What does his wife look like?"

Seeing her about to put the apple in her mouth, Ning Chunyan quickly snatched it away and scolded, "Are you stupid? Don't eat it if you've dropped it!"

Chen Qingluo then asked, "Do you look like me?"

Ning Chunyan rolled her eyes: "I didn't see her. When I went there, a female friend of his was with him at the hospital, and I thought she was his wife. But she wasn't."

Chen Qingluo said, "So, you didn't see his wife at all."

"Yes. That's why I said 'almost saw'."

Chen Qingluo showed a knowing expression, then seemed to relax for a moment, stretched, and asked with squinted eyes:

"What position is meant for someone to accompany you in bed, and how exactly should it be done?"

Ning Chunyan left speechlessly: "I don't want to talk to someone like you whose head is full of lewd nonsense."

"He has female friends?"

Ning Chunyan put on a headband in front of the mirror: "Yeah. Aren't I also his female friend? That guy looks a bit dull, but he's actually quite interesting and has his own attractive qualities."

Suddenly, there was a loud "thump" behind her. Ning Chunyan was startled and turned around to see that Chen Qingluo had punched the dining table.

What are you doing?

"I'm going to write my novel. Don't talk to me today."

Watching her storm into the house, Ning Chunyan was baffled: "What's wrong with that crazy woman now?!"

Ning Chunyan suddenly thought about it and slapped her forehead in annoyance:

"I should ask the prince if he knows this crazy woman..."

The weather was so hot that it was easy to get confused. Ning Chunyan's slap brought her back to her senses, and she took out her phone.

You can ask now.

She sent a message to Wang Zixu: "Do you know Chen Qingluo?"

A long time passed, roughly an hour, and Ning Chunyan had almost forgotten about it when the other party finally replied:

"I don't know him."

Ning Chunyan had just finished yoga when she saw the message. She felt the two of them were strikingly similar, and sent a voice message with a hint of anger:

"You don't recognize the most talented woman in Xihe? She's also an invited guest at this literary gathering!"

A while later, Wang Zixu sent another message.

Ning Chunyan clicked on it and saw that it still had three large characters on it:

"I don't know him."

(End of this chapter)