I am not a literary giant

Chapter 150 Black Myth: Tang Sanzang

Diao Yiwen added, "Think about it, The Little Prince is one of our magazine's main authors, but he has never been recognized by the traditional literary world. If Shi Shuqiu could speak out in support, wouldn't Shi Tonghe's attitude soften a bit? If Shi Tonghe changes his attitude, wouldn't the traditional literary world then accept The Little Prince?"

That's why they say women are inherently political creatures. Even if Wang Zixu had ten or eight more years, he wouldn't have imagined what Diao Yiwen was talking about. Or even if he could, he wouldn't believe that Shi Tonghe's son should have the right to declare himself a woman.

When Wang Zixu first entered junior high school, he enthusiastically carried the homework to the teacher's office for the class representative, which resulted in the class representative becoming furious. This left Wang Zixu completely bewildered. Later, he learned that the class representative felt he had stolen his opportunity to shine.

He once scoffed at these childish tricks, but after starting work, he discovered that everyone around him was a class representative. Everyone did the work together, but the boss only recognized the person who reported to him last. The tricks he used in his student days proved highly effective in management, demonstrating the advanced nature of the school's management philosophy.

The same logic applies to the Shi Shuqiu case. If the school insists on choosing a representative to inherit the popularity and reputation of The Little Prince, then that person should be Shi Shuqiu. What he said is not important; what matters is that he stands in the public eye.

In Shi Shuqiu's eyes, the title "Little Prince" was probably synonymous with Sun Wukong (the Monkey King). Even if the Great Sage Equaling Heaven possessed 72 transformations, an iron head, and fiery eyes, and was incredibly powerful, he wasn't one of their own. Jin Chanzi, on the other hand, was one of their own from birth; therefore, the leader of the pilgrimage team could only be Jin Chanzi.

After Sun Wukong escorted Jin Chanzi to the Western Paradise, Wukong might receive a second-class share of the benefits, such as being given a Buddha position to whitewash his early unofficial experience; while Jin Chanzi could be rightfully escorted to his rightful place, even if he did nothing, since he was the leader of the pilgrimage team.

The Monkey King doesn't need to wallow in self-pity and complain about the injustice of the world. Without Jin Chanzi, this scheme might not have even been able to be carried out. If Jin Chanzi hadn't happened to need a monkey, he might never have had the chance to escape from under the Five Fingers Mountain.

Now that Jin Chanzi has delivered himself to our doorstep, why don't you quickly accept his pledge of loyalty and express your gratitude? What are you waiting for?

This is what Diao Yiwen meant.

After saying that, Diao Yiwen took a deep breath: "The bigger picture is what matters!"

Prince Xu was silent for a moment, then said, "Okay."

Diao Yiwen gave her a look that suggested she was easy to teach: "That's right. I know you're proud and have the pride of a scholar, but in this matter, you just need to turn a blind eye. If Young Master Shi is happy, we'll be happy too."

Wang Zixu was a little annoyed, but he still honestly said, "Okay."

Diao Yiwen said, "When you go back later, just maintain this attitude. Be neither humble nor arrogant, and act as if nothing happened. You agreed to his request, so it was just a favor you were doing, don't mess it up."

Wang Zixu smiled wryly: "I've worked for so many years, do you think I don't understand these basic rules of the game?"

Diao Yiwen rolled her eyes and stared at him: "Really? I'm afraid you wouldn't understand."

As she said this, all she could think about was the scene of Wang Zixu causing a scene in Gou Yingbiao's office.

She found it difficult to gauge Wang Zixu's emotional intelligence at times. Sometimes he was very stubborn, and other times he was very tactful and adaptable.

The two returned to the office. Wang Zixu sat down upright, his expression stern, and said to Shi Shuqiu:

"If your speaking time is kept under 15 minutes, we can add a separate speaking session."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingxuan stood up, quickly walked to his side, and whispered:

"Are you alright? We only have a maximum of 3 hours to rent the auditorium, and the schedule is already full. Where are we going to find another 15 minutes for him?"

Prince Xu said in a low voice, "I'll think of another way."

Shi Shuqiu said confidently, "Okay, 15 minutes is a bit difficult for me, but I can manage it a little."

"Hmm." The prince nodded in a perfunctory manner, then continued, "Then there's the issue of content. I think it's best not to make the topic of 'the Little Prince being a woman' the core of the story."

Shi Shuqiu frowned slightly. Before he could say anything, Diao Yiwen became anxious and secretly stomped her foot, her face beaming as she hinted to Wang Zixu not to say anything more.

Wang Zixu continued calmly, "It's not that we can't talk about this. We can talk about it as an interesting point of view to start a conversation. But since I have 15 minutes to speak, if I only have this one point of view, it might be too thin."

Shi Shuqiu suddenly understood and said, "You mean, 'The Little Prince is a girl' is just a gimmick, and once everyone understands it, we can talk about something more profound?"

"That's right." Prince Xu felt inexplicably humiliated.

"Brilliant!" Shi Shuqiu thought about it more and more and found it reasonable. "Actually, that was what I thought at first too. But Lu Qingxuan kept telling me not to speak, so I was prepared to only speak for 5 minutes. I never thought I would speak for so long."

Wang Zixu nodded: "Go into more detail, and prepare more carefully. I heard that the number of people who have made reservations for the live stream has reached 10."

"It's already 12," Lu Qingxuan added irritably from the side, "and it's still rising."

Wang Zixu returned the USB drive to him, and Shi Shuqiu took it seriously, saying solemnly, "Thank you, I will definitely prepare well when I get back."

After saying that, he turned to leave, giving Ye Lan a strange look before he did.

The beautiful woman was sitting elegantly in a corner chair, her long, white legs crossed, a charming smile on her face as she stared at him with amusement. He couldn't help but touch his nose, wondering if there was something wrong with his hairstyle today.

As she reached the door, she answered the phone and said, "Hello, Dad..."

Then, his voice and his figure disappeared through the doorway.

Wang Zixu and Diao Yiwen exchanged a knowing glance.

Sure enough, not long after, Ning Chunyan called.

"I have good news and bad news for you."

Lu Qingxuan said, "Please tell me the bad news first, so I can at least be mentally prepared."

"We need to adjust the venue rental arrangements again; some seats in the first row need to be cleared out."

Lu Qingxuan said, "That's alright, it was going to be adjusted anyway."

Ning Chunyan said excitedly, "That's not important. The good news is that a very important person will also be attending the meeting."

Lu Qingxuan put the landline on speakerphone, and Wang Zixu raised his voice beside her: "It's not Shi Tonghe, is it?"

"Hey? You're here?" Ning Chunyan's voice came from the other end of the phone. "How did you know? It's because Shi Tonghe is coming."

Wang Zixu and Diao Yiwen both shuddered.

Ning Chunyan was completely unaware and said with a smug look, "Because Shi Tonghe is coming, the dean personally called to inquire about us, saying that our magazine has just been founded and we already have a master writer coming to support us. What a great honor."

"I said it's not that I have a lot of influence, it's that the Little Prince has a lot of influence. Only a writer with such popularity, depth, writing style, and connotation can attract so much attention and generate such a lot of discussion. As for me, I just had a discerning eye and kept pestering him to extort a not-so-bad novel from him. That's all I made, such a tiny and insignificant contribution."

"Hey, I think we can be more ambitious. If the inaugural issue is a hit, let's print another 20,000 copies. If we manage it properly, our magazine could definitely become one of the top three best-selling magazines in the country."

Wang Zixu didn't disturb her dream, but listened with a smile, like an old father listening to his child talk about their dreams. Suddenly, a voice that appeared out of nowhere beside him startled him:

"Hmph, so what if you're a 'master writer'? I'm a master writer too."

Wang Zixu turned his head and saw Sartre, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, standing between Ye Lan and Lu Qingxuan with a glass of red wine in his hand in his pocket as if nothing had happened.

Prince Xu knew that Sartre was just a figment of his imagination, and said calmly, "You are not a master of Chinese art, you are a master of French art, and there are plenty of masters in France, so you are not rare anymore."

Sartre laughed and said, "I wasn't talking about myself, I was speaking for you."

Prince Xu didn't want to talk to him.

Sartre, taking advantage of the situation, said, "You Chinese have a myth called 'Journey to the West,' in which every monster wants to eat Tang Sanzang. Now, the title of 'Little Prince' is like Tang Sanzang; eating him grants immortality, and even the 'Master Craftsman' wants a taste."

Prince Xu laughed and said, "I thought I was Sun Wukong, but you think I'm Tang Sanzang."

Sartre raised his eyebrows: "Sun Wukong has Flower Fruit Mountain to return to, but where can you go back to if you're unhappy?"

Prince Xu was stumped by the question and muttered to himself, "You seem to know quite a bit about Chinese mythology."

Sartre placed his wine glass on the table: "I'm asking you seriously, what do you think is the difference between serious literature and popular literature?"

Wang Zixu said, "Serious literature only tells the truth, while popular literature uses embellished and polished language."

Do you think you were being sincere just now?

Wang Zixu was a little annoyed: "Literature is about telling the truth, but that doesn't mean writers have to always tell the truth. Writers also have to pay social security, and their children have to go to school. To make a living, you have to do things you don't want to do. If writers can only tell the truth, how tiring is it to be a writer? Who can afford to be a writer?"

"Even someone as cold and insightful as Lu Xun had to keep his darkest thoughts hidden deep in his heart so as not to chill people's hearts. This prevented him from producing his greatest works, despite his ability. Lu Xun was not a pure writer, but he was a good person."

"If Shi Tonghe's son wants to make a name for himself, then let him. Even if he speaks up, I won't become a woman; even if he doesn't, he's still Shi Tonghe's son. What's the use of my objection? Does my objection mean he's no longer Shi Tonghe's son? Everyone else can choose not to be a pure writer, so why do I have to be a pure writer when it comes to me?"

Sartre chuckled: "Look at you, getting impatient again. Did I say you were wrong? Did I say you weren't fit to be a writer? No, right? It's alright, it's alright, as long as you're happy. Nobody can be a saint."

After he said that, Prince Xu calmed down a bit, but Sartre muttered in an almost imperceptible voice:

"But are you happy?"

"Is this the office of *New Appreciation* magazine?"

A woman's voice came from the doorway. Wang Zixu looked up and saw a young woman standing there wearing a high-slit denim skirt. Her face looked very familiar.

Her knocking was urgent, and her tone was irritable, as if she had come to confront someone.

The prince thought for a moment before remembering who she was:

"Zhang Xixi?"

The woman's eyes lit up when she saw Wang Zixu, and she exclaimed, "Hey! What a coincidence, what are you doing here?"

Her tone was very excited.

Wang Zixu's father used to live in a basement. He had a neighbor named Lao Zhang, who had a son and a daughter. His daughter, Zhang Xixi, worked in administration at Nanjing University. Wang Zixu had met her once when he went home last time and they even added each other on WeChat, but they hadn't chatted much.

Zhang Xixi walked over with a smile and said, "I was just thinking of giving your magazine a good interrogation, but since I have someone I know here, I guess I can't do that. What are you doing here?"

Wang Zixu said, "I'm the editor here, of course I'm here. And you? Why are you here?"

Zhang Xixi flashed her name tag: "You know what? I'm in charge of the school auditorium. I heard you're extending your rental period for the auditorium again, to the whole day? We have other activities this afternoon, how am I supposed to accept this?"

Wang Zixu, who had just been worrying about this, quickly used his emotional intelligence honed over years of work to smile apologetically: "Isn't this a special case? The famous Shi Tonghe is suddenly coming to participate, so the program has to be made more grand. If it's not grand enough, wouldn't we be embarrassing ourselves in front of outsiders?"

Zhang Xixi raised her face: "What's wrong with Shi Tonghe? Even Shi Tonghe needs to follow the order of arrival! Just because you, Shi Tonghe, are here doesn't mean our Industrial Management Department's Youth League meeting is canceled! There are hundreds of students here!"

Sartre cheered and applauded for her from behind: "Well said!"

Hearing that it was a group activity meeting, Wang Zixu felt more confident and said, "Oh dear, this is indeed a bit troublesome. How about I talk to their department's student union and discuss whether it can be postponed for a day or two?"

Zhang Xixi waved her hand: "If it were anyone else, I would let him go, but given our relationship, I'm embarrassed to say that. I can help you talk to them, but you have to agree to one condition?"

The prince humbly replied, "You've been waiting right here." He then asked, "What are the conditions?"

"Could you arrange an interview with The Little Prince for me?"

Upon hearing this request, an awkward silence fell over the magazine office, and both Diao Yiwen and Lu Qingxuan, who had been busy, looked up.

Prince Xu said, "You know, nobody knows the Little Prince's identity, and he doesn't see anyone."

Zhang Xixi said with a grin, "I know, but you guys must have his contact information, right? If it were easy, you wouldn't have asked me!"

Lu Qingxuan put down her manuscript, scratched her ear, wanting to say something, but her expression was inscrutable, and she couldn't speak. Just as she was hesitating, she heard Wang Zixu say:

"Sure, I can arrange that."

(End of this chapter)