I am not a literary giant

Chapter 103 Qin Xianglian (Thanks to Alliance Leader Huiyu Linxi)

"Zhang Qian" is a very versatile name. If you stand on the streets of Xihe and shout "Zhang Qian," at least three people will turn around to look at you.

In most people's lives, there will be one or two "Zhang Qians" to some extent. But the Zhang Qian that Wang Zixu had was quite a sensation. So sensational that even Ning Chunyan had heard the story.

Their story began with a single rose and ended with 999 roses. Zhang Qian represented the rich fragrance, the wealthy second-generation heir represented the vibrant abundance of flowers, and Wang Zixu was the thorns scattered on the ground like broken rose petals.

Unlike the prince and princess in fairy tales, Zhang Qian in the story did not disappear without a trace. She works in the publicity department and holds an important position, and still lives openly in the same city as Prince Xu.

Yesterday, Wang Zixu's manuscript passed through her hands, but strangely, it wasn't shortlisted. Ning Chunyan had every reason to believe that this woman was very likely behind it.

If Zhang Qian, after achieving great success, were to turn around and repeatedly ruthlessly trample on her ex-boyfriend, ensuring he could never recover, that would be utterly disgusting; she would be a modern-day Chen Shimei (a notorious figure in Chinese folklore known for abandoning his lover).

Wang Zixu's manuscript is fully qualified to enter the third round. It would be utterly unconvincing to reject it due to personal feelings. Ning Chunyan must intervene in this matter, both personally and professionally.

She had expected that the name would be a wake-up call for Wang Zixu, but Wang Zixu did not show the surprise she expected. He did not even show much emotion, as if he had just heard the name of an old friend he had not seen for a long time.

Finally, he opened his drunken eyes and asked, "Where did you learn the name Zhang Qian?"

Ning Chunyan grabbed Wang Zixu's arm like a rickshaw puller lifting a handlebar: "Come out with me for a bit, let's talk in the car."

Prince Xu drank a pound of mixed liquor and beer, his steps were unsteady and his limbs were weak, his mind was enveloped in a vivid daze, and Ning Chunyan pulled him away.

Cheng Xing and Ying Jiang leaned over the door and watched as Ning Chunyan shoved Wang Zixu into the Porsche.

Sakura-chan sighed softly, "At least in terms of cars, President Ye has lost out."

"Huh?" Cheng Xing turned to look at him. He didn't understand his own thought process.

The poet huddled in a corner and whispered, "But President Ye is already far ahead."

"what?"

The car smelled sweet of citrus. Wang Zixu was shoved into the back seat, while Ning Chunyan squeezed next to him and whispered:

"Although I did not participate in the preliminary selection, I know about the situation. Your manuscripts were divided into three categories. The first category has beautiful writing and complete structure. The second category has incomplete structure but is fluent. The third category has many spelling and grammatical errors and lacks aesthetic appeal."

"Did you hear that? The preliminary selection doesn't actually examine the works' intellectual depth or profound meaning; it's just a simple, general categorization. The third tier is eliminated directly. There are about a hundred or so works left in the remaining two tiers, so we'll select the better ones from the second tier to make it into a final selection of about a hundred works."

Wang Zixu's head was throbbing: "So, in other words, my work can't even be written in a coherent and fluent style?"

Ning Chunyan punched him in the shoulder: "Are you stupid! Anyone who reads your article will definitely consider it top-tier; there's no way they'd eliminate you!"

Wang Zixu regained some composure and said, "So, you think Zhang Qian was behind it? But she has no reason to do that?"

Ning Chunyan said, "I advise you not to be love-struck. Don't feel guilty just because someone has wronged you. Some people are very malicious. The more they wrong you, the more they will try to suppress you and prevent you from ever getting ahead, fearing that you will retaliate against them after you become famous..."

Wang Zixu interrupted her with a wry smile, saying, "Are you misunderstanding something? Zhang Qian hasn't done anything to wrong me."

"Huh?" Ning Chunyan's brain didn't process it for a moment.

Wang Zixu patted his face to clear his head, sat up straight and said, "Zhang Qian and I were introduced by a friend of my parents. We dated for less than a year before we found that we were incompatible and broke up peacefully."

Ning Chunyan raised her eyebrows: "But the florist said that you've been sending her a rose every day for over a year..."

Wang Zixu smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's less like I'm giving her flowers and more like I'm giving them to my dad."

"Your dad?"

"My dad, to put it nicely, is a chauvinist; to put it bluntly, he's very domineering. He always felt that only jobs within the system counted as jobs, so he made me promise to win Zhang Qian over."

"This..." Ning Chunyan felt it was difficult to comment.

Wang Zixu laughed and said, "If he knew that I broke up with Zhang Qian and married a female employee from a flower shop, he could come straight to my workplace the next day, overturn my desk, pull out my tendons and make them into a whip to whip me into a spinning top."

Ning Chunyan felt her worldview had been turned upside down, and asked blankly, "So what are you doing now...?"

"So I kept my marriage a secret. I didn't dare tell him at all. He still thinks I'm still dating Zhang Qian."

Ning Chunyan thumped his head: "No...no, no."

"What's wrong?"

Ning Chunyan looked up: "What you said has confused me. No matter what your relationship with Zhang Qian is, she has to give an explanation. Call Zhang Qian and ask her to meet up."

Prince hesitated, "But my wife would probably be unhappy if she knew I met with my ex-girlfriend..."

"Then why don't you just keep it from her?"

The two stared at each other for a long time before Wang Zixu finally gave in and pulled out his phone: "Fine, I'll call her, and you'll know whether I'm telling the truth or not."

Ning Chunyan crossed her arms and listened intently as Wang Zixu made a phone call to Zhang Qian.

The call connected, and a gentle, soft voice came from the phone:

"Huh? Prince Xu, it's rare for you to call me."

Ning Chunyan's brow twitched.

The voice was natural and calm, not at all like a broken-up ex, but more like an ordinary friend.

She was starting to believe that they had truly broken up amicably.

Wang Zi hesitated for a moment. He had drunk too much earlier, and only after the call connected did he realize how embarrassing it was to talk about. Discussing the manuscript with Zhang Qian had a hint of using connections, which Ning Chunyan might not think much of, but he himself particularly despised such behavior. It would also make him look bad in front of his ex-girlfriend.

"What's wrong? Say something."

Ning Chunyan stared intently at him. Wang Zixu knew that if he hung up now, he would lose face in front of Ning Chunyan. In short, he was bound to lose face in front of a woman today, so in the end, he chose to leave the past behind.

"Zhang Qian, long time no see. Actually, I hesitated for a long time before calling, unsure whether I should bring this up. But since I've already called, I'll get straight to the point. My submission to the Xihe Literary Festival wasn't shortlisted. Do you know why?"

Zhang Qian's voice became weak: "Huh? After all these years, you're still writing?"

Wang Zixu found this question difficult to answer. He didn't know how to express the price he had paid for those 50 opportunities.

Fortunately, all of this will soon be over.

"Yes, I'm still writing."

"You even submitted an article to the essay contest, right?"

"right."

"Sigh, you're always writing, you're always writing when you're with me, I can't get you to stop. Wait a minute, let me look it up for you!"

"it is good."

Wang Zixu held the phone without hanging up. A muffled voice came from the other end of the line. After a few minutes, Zhang Qian spoke again:

"Your manuscript was reviewed by our graduate students, and they said it was in the second category and was rejected. Sorry!"

Wang Zixu deflated like a punctured balloon, losing both confidence and becoming listless. Ning Chunyan, however, frowned.

Ning Chunyan felt that Zhang Qian's voice wasn't as reassuring as before; there was a hint of pretense in it. If asked how she judged this, she could only answer that it was a woman's intuition.

She mouthed to the prince, "She's lying."

Wang Zixu couldn't read lips; he only understood that his draft hadn't been approved. His voice trembled slightly as he repeated over the phone, "That means it's just that it wasn't well-written and got rejected..."

"Yeah, what else? You think I screened them? Haha, I did talk to you, but I didn't hold a grudge until now."

Wang Zixu gave a pale laugh: "I didn't mean that, really, I was just curious. Actually, I've been writing pretty well lately, and I've achieved some success. It would be normal if I didn't win a prize, but not even making the shortlist is..."

He spoke with a hint of bravado, as if trying to maintain the last vestiges of his dignity in front of his ex-girlfriend. For a fleeting moment, he really wanted to talk about what he had done as the Little Prince, but ultimately, he couldn't bring himself to speak. He was qualified to prove himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Zhang Qian seemed to have lost patience with his self-expression and interrupted him, asking:

"Wang Zixu, in your opinion, who is more shameful: being shortlisted but not placing, or not being shortlisted at all?"

Wang Zixu was taken aback and said, "It's not about being ashamed or not. I really don't care about the ranking. I just want to know where I fell short..."

She sighed on the phone. Zhang Qian laughed twice, perhaps a bitter laugh, perhaps a mocking laugh. It was hard to judge her emotions through the phone line, as her voice was generally gentle.

"Prince Xu, do you know that right now, there are more than 50 people gathered outside the government office building, waiting to demand an explanation? Do you know why they're here?"

After a pause, Zhang Qian revealed the answer: "Just like you, they all came to ask why their submissions weren't shortlisted. Every time there's a writing contest, this is always the same thing. Anyone who didn't know better would think it was a group interview."

Prince Xu remained silent.

Zhang Qian said, "There are too many people who think they are underappreciated. They have a little talent and think they can shine brightly. It's just a collective illusion. You may be talented, but others are even more talented. Your problem is that you lack self-awareness."

Wang Zixu's hand slowly fell to his sides, a forced smile appearing on his face. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "I don't really think I have any talent. I just wanted to ask you, purely out of curiosity..."

"Let's put it this way, Wang Zixu," Zhang Qian said on the other end of the phone, "you're no different from those people. If you didn't focus on your little talents and instead did something practical, you would be much more successful than you are now."

Wang Zixu said, "Never mind, just pretend I didn't ask."

Just as he was about to hang up, Ning Chunyan snatched the phone away and said into it:

"Zhang Qian, I've read Wang Zixu's novels, but you haven't. Whether he's talented or not isn't for you to decide."

Zhang Qian asked in bewilderment, "Who are you?"

"I am Ning Chunyan."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. After a long while, Zhang Qian finally spoke, "Wang Zixu, you're amazing! You even managed to invite the talented Ning?"

Ning Chunyan said into the phone, "I wasn't invited by him. I've read Wang Zixu's manuscript, and it absolutely shouldn't have been rejected after being shortlisted. I need you to give me a reason."

Zhang Qian remained silent for a long time, as time ticked by. Finally, she spoke:

"After get off work, we met up at the Deer Antler Coffee Shop on Daxing Street."

(End of this chapter)