I am not a literary giant

The bald man handed over his phone and said, "Take a look first. This is the chat history between our top speech therapist and a client."

Wang Zixu took the phone and looked at it, then was immediately shocked.

The content of the chat history was completely different from what he had imagined. He only saw a man and a woman entangled in a vulgar and greasy conversation, which was not only lowbrow but also a little obscene.

These chat logs reminded him of the old bachelor who lived next door to him when he was a child. Every day, that old bachelor would lift up his undershirt, revealing his round belly, and wander around the streets. When he encountered an old lady passing by, he would make a lewd joke. His language was vulgar and obscene, and the old ladies would usually laugh and curse as they left.

The chat logs in front of us show that the "top-notch speech therapist" is just like the old bachelor, harassing female users, only not as directly or blatantly as the old bachelor, but the essence is the same.

He lost his way amidst the repeated calls of "brother" and "sister".

After reading it, he looked up and asked, "Is this what you mean by healing the soul?"

The bald man said, "Yeah."

"Do you think this is therapeutic?" Wang Zixu asked. "Isn't this just flirting?"

The bald man smiled.

"Everything in life is about sex, except for sex itself; sex is about power." That's a famous quote by Oscar Wilde. You know that quote, right?

Wang Zixu knew Oscar Wilde. He was a dashing writer and homosexual whose fate was tragic, and whose fairy tales were also very well written. Whether he actually said that line is unknown, but he felt that Wilde was the kind of person who could say such a thing.

The bald man said, "Everything in life is related to sex. Why do modern people feel empty, lonely, and face all sorts of psychological problems? We believe the root cause lies in sex, which is Freud's psychological theory: insufficient libido leads to various psychological problems. You know what libido is, right?"

Prince Xu knew. "Libido" is "sexual energy," the intrinsic, spontaneous, primal kinetic energy of biological instinct. After he explained the meaning of this term, the bald man's expression turned solemn with respect, and he said, "You explained it better than I could."

The bald man continued, "The reason these users feel lonely is mostly because they have a severe deficiency of libido. Our speech therapy aims to stimulate their libido and make it overflow, so that they will naturally be energetic the next day."

Prince Xu didn't quite understand, but he was greatly shocked.

He asked, "Freud lived a long time ago, does this theory really work?"

"It works," the bald man said decisively. "Whether it's effective or not isn't based on hype or wishful thinking, but on data. Our user base is currently around 3. Because we haven't invested in marketing or expanding our reach, this growth is entirely due to word-of-mouth. Moreover, our user base is exceptionally stable. Once a user pays, they become a loyal user and will continue to use our app."

"What does this prove? It proves that our service is effective! If it weren't effective, how could we achieve this level of user engagement? I can proudly tell you that at least each of our 3 users has plenty of libido to face tomorrow."

Prince Xu remained silent.

He then thought of that old bachelor—logically, such a guy should be universally condemned, but his verbal harassment had persisted for many years, becoming part of street culture. When people talked about the old bachelor, they often described him as an interesting fellow.

Looking back, Wang Zixu realized that perhaps the old bachelor's behavior was tolerated by everyone. The evidence was that the elderly women who were harassed were not angry, and when the harassment occurred, the onlookers on the roadside burst into laughter and applause. Encouraged by the enthusiastic atmosphere of the audience, the old bachelor often performed even more energetically.

Perhaps for the old bachelor, the daily harassment on the street is actually a planned stage performance, and he willingly plays the clown; from the perspective of the harassed, perhaps the old bachelor is not the perpetrator, and the old lady is the one being pleased.

On this street stage, the old bachelor had to flirt skillfully, the old woman's reactions had to be appropriate yet assertive, and both had to maintain the upper hand throughout, in order to truly fulfill their respective roles. This was a performative portrayal of a relationship between the sexes, a short and concise ethical drama. In an era of limited cultural life, it was one of the few forms of cultural activity available to everyone. While everyone watched, a great deal of libido was secretly generated.

Wang Zixu began to understand the famous quote by Oscar Wilde that the bald man relayed: "Everything in life is related to sex."

He understood, but he still found it hard to accept.

His goal was the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he studied the works of renowned literary figures, even though many of those works contained erotic elements. For example, in *Love in the Time of Cholera*, Florentino Ariza had relationships with over a thousand women; the first night between Dr. Urbino and Fermina is also described in considerable detail and is quite memorable.

He also recalled the scene in the book about Fermina's first night: the newlyweds were studying physiology in bed, and the innocent Fermina commented on the stupid thing, "I have never understood what this thing is all about." Her husband said, "It is like a person's firstborn son. You work your whole life for it, sacrifice everything for it, but in the end, it still only does what it wants to do."

Yes, that's right. "Everything is about sex, except sex itself. Sex is about power." Oscar Wilde's famous quote and Dr. Urbino's words are strikingly similar.

Moreover, in the book, Dr. Urbino and Fermina are on their honeymoon in Europe, where they happen to meet Oscar Wilde. This coincidence is so exquisite, it's as if the bullet fired by Gabriel García Márquez 50 years ago struck Prince Xu right between the eyebrows.

However, Wang Zixu still found it hard to accept the bald man's expectations of him. He always believed that he should be a writer, a literary giant who would proudly represent his country in winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, rather than using his talent to enlighten lonely and empty strangers on a tiny app, and having them enlighten him.

Wang Zixu said, "I'm just a novelist. I'm not good at flirting. I've only ever been in one relationship. I might not meet your requirements."

The bald man held up a finger and shook it firmly at him, saying:

"No, you underestimate yourself. Our speech therapists have a very superficial understanding of libido. They think that crude and explicit language can stimulate the user's libido. But you are clearly different. There is a kind of spirituality and inner meaning in your writing. This is what can truly heal the wounds of the modern soul."

The prince straightened his chest. As an author aiming for the Nobel Prize in Literature, his depth of knowledge is beyond question. His target audience is the general public worldwide; if he doesn't even have the capacity to encompass 3 lonely users, how can he speak of facing the vast world?

"Don't worry, what you need to do is actually very simple."

The bald man took out his phone and showed it to Wang Zixu. On the phone was the interface of another app.

"These are our competitors. They share the same philosophy as us, but their strategies are more advanced. Each of their speech therapists plays a specific persona; some are domineering CEOs, others are loyal and devoted dogs. Although it's still cliché, it's more charismatic than our speech therapists' simple flirting."

Wang Zixu asked, "Do you want me to provide you with this kind of character design and script?"

The bald man shook his head: "No, following their model will lead to direct competition, and we don't have enough resources to fight them head-on. We need to compete in a different area."

He reached out and patted Wang Zixu on the shoulder, saying, "I need you to use your inner qualities and your spirituality to revamp our script. Don't make it so vulgar; make it more sophisticated and upscale."

Wang Zixu asked, "How high a level do you want to raise it to?"

The bald man said, "Raise it as high as it can go."

Wang Zixu asked, "Is something as prestigious as the Nobel Prize in Literature acceptable?"

The bald man threw his head back and laughed heartily, "I couldn't be happier!"

The prince thought for a moment, then cautiously asked, "One last question, is this illegal?"

The bald man said, "It's absolutely illegal. We chose to build a text-based speech therapy platform out of respect for language and trust in its profoundness. Otherwise, why not just do live-streaming? Don't worry, if you feel it involves illegal activities, you can leave at any time."

After listening, Wang Zixu nodded slightly and said, "Then I'll do it. 200 per piece."

The bald man smiled, extended his hand, and said, "Welcome to the team. My name is Zuo Ziliang."

"My name is Wang Zixu."

After a gentle handshake, Wang Zixu took a sip of water: "So, what exactly do I need to do?"

……

Wang Zixu took a sip of water and typed on the keyboard: Our lower limbs are intertwined.

He believed he used the word "stir" very well. First, "entanglement" was too cliché and overly formal. In the speech therapy he conceived, the two people in the conversation were colleagues who were under a lot of work pressure during the day and usually kept a reserved and repressed attitude. When they chatted privately, they went in the opposite direction of repression, and the word "stir" perfectly captured this rough, vibrant sense of power.

It's not "绞" (jiǎo). While "绞" is powerful enough, it's a bit too tight, lacking the relaxed feel of "搅" (jiǎo). In his vision, the state of these two people should be one of both tension and indulgence, both seriousness and liveliness. Of all the words he considered, "搅" is the most suitable.

For him, whose goal is the Nobel Prize in Literature, word refinement is merely a basic skill. Delving into the subtle depths of emotion through language, each word becomes a microcosm, each with its own unique landscape. His predecessors, such as Wang Daoqian and Zha Liangzheng, have all found treasures in the rich tapestry of language, and by following in their footsteps and gathering fragments of insight, he has already benefited immensely.

However, he didn't learn the word "stir" from his own countrymen. He learned it from Junichi Watanabe.