I am not a literary giant

Chapter 177 A Certain Familiarity with Chen Qingluo

"6 to 60 words?" Xiao Mengyin's breathing became somewhat disordered, like a wild cat startled by a car horn while playing on the road.

Wang Zixu smiled and said, "It's a pity we didn't make the front page. I wish we could have."

Xiao Mengyin, holding her breath, said, "You still want to be on the front page?? Do you even know what the front page of 'Get' means?"

"Hey, isn't Gu Zao on the front page this issue?" Wang Zixu feigned surprise and looked completely innocent.

Xiao Mengyin's face flushed red: "That was Gu Zao's hard work, accumulating experience for years before finally getting on the front page! He even threw a party to celebrate a while ago! You've only been in the industry for less than a year and you're already on the front page of 'Get' magazine. You want to be on the front page? You should be content!"

Wang Zixu said, "I'm not being ungrateful. I'll be on the front page in the next issue. I wish I could be on the front page in the first issue too. That's what I mean."

"?!"

Xiao Mengyin finally broke down completely.

To some extent, she wasn't broken down by what Prince Xu said; she broke down by what she said herself.

"I get it, I get it, you did it on purpose. I thought you were a complete novice, but you were just showing off in front of me."

She clutched Wang Zixu's clothes, a perfectly ironed jacket that she had dragged until it was almost unwearable for the seminar.

"Hehe, you were secretly gloating when you said you were so excited and didn't warn me, right?"

Seeing her panting heavily, Wang Zixu realized this woman was a bit easily teased and didn't dare to tease her any further: "I'm fine, are you alright?"

Xiao Mengyin stared at him: "It's nothing, it's just that I was on 'The Winner' once, what could possibly happen to me? I'll get my comeuppance sooner or later..."

Although she said that, the resentment in her voice was almost overflowing.

Xiao Mengyin turned to look at him again: "I said before that you definitely wouldn't get the Jade Award, but now you're on the cover of 'Get,' how does it feel to be proven wrong right then and there? Isn't it great?"

"A little," Prince Xu nodded honestly.

"Want to have even more fun?" Xiao Mengyin asked.

"That depends on how you enjoy it."

"It's like me telling you that among the people attending this seminar are judges from the final stages of the Feiss competition."

Prince Xu blinked: "Really?"

Xiao Mengyin took two steps back and said, "Tell me first how you managed to get featured in 'Get,' and I'll tell you more information."

Prince Xu felt troubled and turned to leave, saying, "Never mind, I don't really want to know anyway."

Xiao Mengyin grew anxious, increasingly convinced he had used some underhanded tactics, and quickly followed, saying, "You! You didn't even listen to the end! Couldn't we just exchange information?"

Prince Xu said, "I have no information worth exchanging with you."

"How exactly did you manage to get featured in 'Get' magazine?"

Wang Zixu looked at her and said, "I wrote very carefully."

Xiao Mengyin waited for him to continue, but Wang Zixu remained silent. She asked, "That's it?"

"that's all."

Xiao Mengyin said, "Then I wrote very carefully too!"

Wang Zixu stared at her: "You're not serious enough. You need to be extremely serious."

For a fleeting moment, Xiao Mengyin felt an aura emanating from the man before her, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes. But the feeling vanished just as quickly.

"How do you know I'm not serious enough?" Xiao Mengyin asked, somewhat displeased.

Wang Zixu looked at her for a while and realized that he didn't understand Xiao Mengyin. His so-called seriousness meant absolute focus on writing, so focused that he had no time to think about anything else, but perhaps Xiao Mengyin thought differently.

He was being a bit too forward with someone he barely knew.

"If you're serious about this too, then I apologize, but this is all I can share."

"You don't know the editors of *Get*?"

"After I finished writing it, I submitted it directly. After they reviewed it, they met with me and told me that I had been accepted. We didn't know each other before."

"that's all?"

"That's it. I told you I have no information worth sharing with you."

Xiao Mengyin remained silent for a long time, her mindset mirroring that of Wang Zixu—she suddenly realized that she herself did not truly understand this person.

He was plain-looking, the kind of ordinary person who would easily disappear into a crowd. He was naive and taciturn, but his temper was comparable to that of an expert. She warned him not to rush forward, but he stubbornly charged forward with his worldly anger. At the time, she thought he was just being reckless.

It wasn't until he told her that she had to be very serious that she realized he had been serious from the very beginning.

"You're pretty good." After a long silence, Xiao Mengyin suddenly said.

Wang Zixu was a little surprised. He didn't understand what he had said that made Xiao Mengyin suddenly change her attitude. He had been fully prepared to let Xiao Mengyin interpret things as she pleased if she insisted on suspecting he had used some underhanded tactics. Hearing her say this, he still politely said, "Thank you."

"Your 'Fire in the Stone'," Xiao Mengyin said, "is too long. I wasn't interested in reading it at first, but now I suddenly want to."

"Thanks."

"What does it mainly cover?"

"A very long story."

As they approached the entrance to the mountain path, the atmosphere gradually improved, and Prince Xu suddenly heard Ning Chunyan's voice.

"Prince Xu?"

He turned his head and looked over there, and a scene that made his blood freeze appeared before his eyes: Ning Chunyan and Chen Qingluo were standing together in full dress, staring at him and Xiao Mengyin, while Shi Shuqiu followed behind the two, peeking out.

Ning Chunyan was wearing a white ink bamboo dress, a fitted style that accentuated her figure, reminding him of their first meeting—a surge of adrenaline rushed to his chest.

But what he couldn't take his eyes off was Chen Qingluo beside her.

He had never seen her expression before: an unexpected hurt shone in her dark eyes, like a screen accidentally scratched by a pebble, leaving a barely perceptible scratch that could only be detected upon close inspection. Her head was tilted slightly, and through her misty eyes, she seemed to be questioning him about something.

Seeing her eyes, Wang Zixu felt as if a butterfly was fluttering its wings in his heart. Some tiny disturbances disturbed his peace of mind, and his originally good mood suddenly turned gloomy.

"What are you doing?" Ning Chunyan asked, frowning.

Xiao Mengyin took two steps back from Prince Xu, her expression returning to its usual aloofness: "Nothing, can't we just chat?"

"What do you two have to talk about?"

"Our Prince Xu has made the headline of this issue of 'The Winner,' isn't that something to celebrate? Can't I chat with him about my work and learn from him?"

""get"?"

Chen Qingluo's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Then, a smile bloomed on her face, but it quickly disappeared as she frowned and glared at Wang Zixu, as if she wanted to ask him why he hadn't told her sooner.

Wang Zixu was very familiar with Chen Qingluo, who could change three expressions in a second; usually, his days would be very difficult afterward.

(End of this chapter)