I am not a literary giant

Chapter 128 The Great Library of Alexandria

When Ning Chunyan first received Ye Lan's message, she didn't take it very seriously.

Because she was receiving another earth-shattering piece of news at the time: The Little Prince was going to do a live stream.

Earlier, Ning Chunyan said goodbye to Wang Zixu, spent the afternoon playing with Chen Qingluo, and went to her house with her in the evening.

The stated reason was that Chen Qingluo had been harassing her at home for the past few days, which annoyed her greatly, and she wanted to retaliate in kind. The deeper reason, however, was that she also wanted to spend more time with Chen Qingluo and didn't want to part ways so soon.

So much happened during her trip back to Xihe. Some things made her furious, while others filled her with joy. She met some friends she never imagined she would meet, made some decisions she would never have made before, and is now preparing to step into the next stage of her life.

However, the literary gathering ended, Chen Qingluo's novel was finished, and all the stories of Xihe were over. They were about to say goodbye to this place and return to the East Sea.

Actually, I still feel a little lonely inside.

So she went home with Chen Qingluo. But she immediately regretted it.

Chen Qingluo's family is incredibly boring.

Ever since Chen Qingluo earned her first 400 million, she moved her whole family to Donghai. The old house has been empty for many years, and they haven't sold it yet because they're waiting for demolition compensation. When they left, they took everything they could, leaving only a house that felt completely hollowed out.

As far as the eye could see, there were only snow-white walls. In the center of the living room stood a sofa and a coffee table. Chen Qingluo's bra and panties were draped over the back of the sofa, and socks were on the coffee table. A short, stocky refrigerator was tucked away in the corner.

There was nothing else. Not even a television.

After entering the house, Ning Chunyan remained silent for a long time before shouting into the living room, "Ah!"

Chen Qingluo turned to look at her while taking off her clothes: "What are you doing?"

Ning Chunyan said, "Let me see if there's an echo in your house, if there's an echo."

Chen Qingluo had already taken off all her clothes and turned on the large electric fan: "Don't make noise. If you're going to sleep at my house tonight, I suggest you take off your clothes with me and wash them quickly, because we don't have any clean clothes to change into."

"My God, your life is unbelievable. No wonder you want to stay at my house, stay at my house."

Chen Qingluo stood with her hands on her hips, facing the wind from the electric fan with great bravado, and turned to look at her: "Why are you repeating yourself?"

"I didn't repeat it, I didn't repeat it, it was an echo, it was an echo."

Chen Qingluo didn't want to talk to her, so Ning Chunyan said again, "Since you're going to stay here temporarily, at least make your place look presentable. Won't you get depressed living in this Syrian-style house for too long?"

Chen Qingluo said, "Who said my house is Syrian style? Let me tell you, our house used to be filled with books, here, here, and here, right where you're standing. It was in the style of the Library of Alexandria."

"The Great Library of Alexandria..."

Chen Qingluo seemed quite proud. Ning Chunyan repeated it, somewhat speechless, deliberately using a rather humorous way of punctuating the sentence.

Unfortunately, Chen Qingluo went to take a shower without any sense of humor. After showering, she went back to her bedroom and lay down, soon breathing evenly.

She's been writing intensively these past few days, producing 10,000 words a day, followed by intense revisions. After finishing the novel, she plans to sleep 12 hours a day to make up for the sleep she missed.

She also said that the excessive sleep was to clear her brain's memory. When she was writing her novels, she created so many characters and stories that they were still imprinted in her mind, and if she didn't manage them, they would become real.

"Clearing the memory is extremely important," Chen Qingluo said to her earnestly, word by word.

Ning Chunyan went to her bedroom and saw Chen Qingluo lying on the bed, her head turned to the side, her eyes trembling under her eyelids.

She was completely naked, with a voluptuous figure and skin as white as snow. At 30, she still looked incredibly youthful. Ning Chunyan felt somewhat discouraged. She wondered if she could maintain such a youthful appearance at 30.

Ning Chunyan covered her flat stomach with a small blanket, returned to the sofa, squatted down, and turned the electric fan to oscillate and blow it on herself. Suddenly, she shouted in her private group chat:

"Ladies, the Little Prince is going live today!"

Ning Chunyan felt a chill and quickly climbed the stairs. Just then, Ye Lan's message arrived.

She started by chatting casually with Ye Lan, until Ye Lan said:

Do you know what just happened to him?

Ning Chunyan frowned slightly. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she felt a slight sense of superiority in keeping him in suspense, and replied indifferently:

Oh. What's wrong?

After finishing her reply, Ning Chunyan continued climbing the stairs. Just as she was about to see the crucial information, Ye Lan called her from the other end, speaking extremely quickly:

"I just typed and then deleted it, typing is too much trouble, so I'm just calling you directly. You know what? Wang Zixu's wife is gone!"

"Gone? Where did they go?" Ning Chunyan's reaction was just as bewildered as Ye Lan's when she first heard the news.

"She just left! She abandoned him!" Ye Lan said.

"Huh?" Ning Chunyan covered her mouth. "Why?"

She instantly forgot about the Little Prince.

Ye Lan said, "I don't know why. I also feel that it shouldn't be like this. Anyway, she ran away from home and isn't coming back, so the two of them broke up."

Ning Chunyan bit her lip, thinking to herself: Could it be because of me?

She reached into her purse and grasped the bank card containing 80 yuan in cash. A wave of guilt washed over her.

"Then...how did his wife die? What did she say when she passed away?"

Ye Lan furtively hid in the stairwell, clutching her phone: "His wife only left a note when she left."

"Note".

"It says, 'Don't go looking for her.'"

"Don't go looking for her." Ning Chunyan was getting nervous. "And then?"

"That's all."

"this one?"

Ye Lan said, "That's why it's so strange. His wife is really weird. It's strange enough that she's with Wang Zixu, but she also ran away from home, and the way she left was very strange too."

Ning Chunyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So, it's not because of me, right?"

Ye Lan was stunned after hearing this: "Because of you? How could that be? Could it be that you and him...?"

She had some misunderstandings, which made her feel as uncomfortable as if she had swallowed a fly.

Ning Chunyan quickly waved her hand at the air: "It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. Didn't I stand up for him during the literary gathering? Later, I discussed the issue with him privately a few times. I was wondering if his wife would misunderstand and cause them to have family conflicts."

After saying that, she suddenly realized her words sounded a bit sleazy, and she had indeed downplayed the minor issue of the 80 yuan. She felt perfectly justified in accepting the 80 yuan; it was simply a business transaction, nothing to hide. But Wang Zixu had made her feel a little guilty. Now that his wife had run away, she felt utterly ashamed.

Prince Xu, you deserve to die!

Ye Lan breathed a sigh of relief, her face slightly flushed: "Oh, sorry, I just now, hehe... um, it shouldn't be because of that. Wang Zixu didn't say he had a fight with his wife; she left quietly."

Ye Lan wanted to slap herself twice. Her misunderstanding just now was incredibly rude. How could Ning Cai Nu possibly have an affair with Wang Zixu? What did that guy have that kind of reputation?!

"I'm sorry, I just misunderstood something. Don't mind it, just pretend I didn't say anything," Ye Lan apologized again.

Ning Chunyan waved her hand magnanimously, "It's alright, it's alright, I don't mind. I saw him this morning and he was perfectly fine, but I was a bit shocked to hear about this tonight. By the way, are they divorced?"

Ye Lan said, "Don't even mention they weren't divorced, they weren't even married."

"What?!"

She got up from the sofa and knelt on the sofa cushion.

"What's going on?"

Ye Lan whispered, "Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Uh-huh."

In fact, less than three minutes ago, Ye Lan had promised Zuo Ziliang that she would not tell anyone about this, but she turned around and told Ning Chunyan.

It wasn't because she forgot. She hadn't forgotten; it's just that her promise at the time naturally didn't include Ning Chunyan. She said she wouldn't tell anyone, but in her heart, she automatically excluded Ning Chunyan.

Please, that's our good friend Wang Zixu! His wife, whom no one has ever seen, has left! How can such a big thing only be known to Zuo Ziliang?

Given the personalities of those two grown men, it's likely that this matter won't come to light until 70 years later—70 years later, Prince Xu was lying in bed when his end-of-life caregiver came over. He suddenly had a change of heart, gently let go of his stubbornness, and whispered in someone's ear: "You know what? Actually, my wife ran away."

Based on Ye Lan's understanding of him, that's just the kind of person he is. If you don't ask, he won't say anything; he can keep it bottled up until he dies.

As friends, we should still try to help him after learning about this. We should show him care while he is still young, rather than waiting until he is on his deathbed.

She spilled everything she had heard from Zuo Ziliang to Ning Chunyan, and Ning Chunyan felt a pang of pity after listening.

"How is he doing now?"

Holding her phone, Ye Lan slowly walked to the office and peered through the glass at Wang Zixu's work.

"Not so good... No, I'm not saying he's crying, he's not depressed... Actually, our company has an event tonight, and he's preparing for it right now."

Ning Chunyan said, "He's still working? Aren't you guys being a bit too harsh on him?"

"No, he chose to work himself."

Ning Chunyan now believes that Wang Zixu has earned far more than 80 yuan. His wife ran away, yet he still managed to work overtime that very night—what kind of spirit is that? But what kind of company do Ye Lan and her team work for? Can they really work this hard even with part-time jobs?

Ye Lan looked through the glass into the office and saw Wang Zixu looking down at reports, his expression very serious. He was serious, solemn, and lonely, like a lean lion lying in the tall grass, seemingly quiet, but actually conserving his energy at all times.

Deep down, Ye Lan felt that this man was indeed quite handsome at times. A focused man is actually very attractive, especially one who had just experienced such a major upheaval. His composure in the face of adversity and his emotional stability were also appealing. However, she was unwilling to admit it outwardly.

She told Ning Chunyan, "He's using work to numb himself."

Ning Chunyan shook her head: "I'm going back to Donghai in a few days. Let's treat him to a meal tomorrow and comfort him."

Ye Lan said, "Sure, it's on me. Let's go together."

After hanging up the phone, Ning Chunyan was still somewhat worried. She still felt that Wang Zixu's family situation was caused by the 80 yuan. She decided to call Wang Zixu afterwards to offer her condolences, and if necessary, return the 80 yuan to him and try to raise the money herself.

Just then, a pale figure emerged from the bedroom, startling her.

Who are you talking to on the phone?

Chen Qingluo rubbed her eyes and yawned, then asked her.

Ning Chunyan blurted out, "Do you know...?"

She hesitated, her mouth agape, halfway through her sentence. She wanted to tell Chen Qingluo about Wang Zixu, but then she thought that she might be the culprit, and it would be too much for her to shamelessly tell others about it.

Chen Qingluo looked puzzled: "Know what?"

"Why are you awake?" Ning Chunyan changed her tone. "Weren't you supposed to sleep until dawn?"

Chen Qingluo turned and left: "I need to pee."

"Tch, like a child."

After saying that, she suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten something, so she quickly opened the group chat and found that there were already thousands of replies. She had never realized that these group members were so talkative.

Everyone is talking about the Little Prince live stream.

After searching through the records for a long time without finding the live stream link, she could only weakly plead for help in the group chat:

"Sisters, do you have an address? Please share one, please!"

……

"The equipment is all set up," Huang Da said to Wang Zixu. "Once you click this button, your words will be heard in the live stream."

Wang Zixu said, "The camera..."

"The camera won't turn on, so you can rest assured," Huang Da said. "If you're really worried, I'll unplug it. Okay, go ahead and unplug it."

Huang Da is very diligent and quick to help. This is the Little Prince's first live stream. Although he won't be showing his face, he is still the Little Prince! We must treat this with the utmost care.

Wang Zixu then pointed to a black screen in front of the table and said, "That screen is...."

"Oh, that's the bullet screen," Huang Da said. "It synchronizes with the audience's bullet comments in real time, and the scrolling speed can be adjusted."

"oh."

Wang Zixu stared at the screen; the scrolling comments were so fast that his eyes couldn't keep up.

Huang Da explained, "The scrolling speed has been set to the slowest, but because they know you're going to participate in the live stream, the speech therapists are very excited, and there are... a lot of people in the live stream room."

Prince asked tentatively, "Are there this many speech therapists now?"

Huang Da said somewhat embarrassedly, "Not all of them are speech therapists. Some users manage to bypass our live stream verification in various ways and get in."

Prince Xu nodded: "I understand, I understand, no need to explain further."

Before Huang Da told him, he had already seen some strongly worded and embarrassing comments on the screen. It was obvious that they were made by fervent fans.

Wang Zixu didn't know if Huang Da had seen it. He pretended to be calm. What would Huang Da think if he saw those embarrassing comments?

But then he thought again that Huang Da, as the operations manager, must have seen all sorts of comments. This matter could no longer be covered up, and it was no longer a time to be ashamed.

Before Huang Da left, he sincerely said to Wang Zixu, "Little Prince, we in the operations team, as well as all the speech therapists, really admire you."

"Worship me?" Prince Xu looked up.

"Yes, idol-level worship." Huang Da raised his fist. "Keep it up. Your decision will definitely succeed."

After he left, the prince opened his mouth slightly, staring blankly at the door frame.

Idol-level worship?

real or fake?

In the live stream, the "useless believer" is giving his final concluding remarks:

"That concludes today's open class. Please, all speech therapists, do not leave. Next, the Little Prince himself will announce an important decision. Believe me, it's really important, so please, please, please do not leave. Oh, those Little Prince fans can leave now, but your comments are too..."

He was speaking when the live stream was cut off. Huang Da waved to Wang Zi from outside the door, signaling him to reconnect the live stream.

(End of this chapter)