I am not a literary giant

Chapter 82 Fight Club (Thanks to lonely_silver_alliance)

Besides reading, watching movies is another of Wang Zixu's greatest hobbies. Just as he has read almost all the works of Nobel laureates in literature, he has watched nearly all the Oscar-nominated films with great fervor.

Among so many excellent films, if you asked him to recommend the "best" one, he would probably have a hard time choosing; if you asked him to recommend his "favorite" film, many options would come to mind.

But if you asked him, assuming the Earth is about to explode, and you could only keep one movie to put in a rocket and send it into space to drift, which movie would you choose?

He would say without hesitation, "I choose Fight Club." Rockets, get on fire already, it's too late!

There wasn't any particularly complex psychological activity involved. For example, he could say without hesitation that his wife was the person he loved most; he could also honestly and frankly answer that Ning Chunyan was the most wonderful, moving, and attractive woman he had ever met.

But if an ice age were to return, freezing humanity into ice sculptures, and he happened to have the only one person who could survive, he would choose to give that person to Chen Qingluo, even if Chen Qingluo might not remember who he was.

He didn't care whether Chen Qingluo remembered him or how she felt. He could die with anyone he knew. But he couldn't accept a world without Chen Qingluo.

Occasionally, when he was so sad he wanted to die, he would think, "Ah, there's Fight Club in this world. I can watch it whenever I want. That's wonderful." And then he wouldn't want to die anymore. It's like whenever he thought that Chen Qingluo was also living somewhere in this little world, he felt that there was still a trace of warmth in this world. That's how he loved Fight Club. This is human emotion, unrelated to literature or the eighth art; it's always hard to explain why.

He followed closely behind the Little Prince. The Little Prince wore a black trench coat and dark brown suede boots, the hem of which fluttered in the air. He had a cigar—or perhaps a lollipop—in his mouth, and his face was deep and serious, just as cool as Brad Pitt.

The protagonist of *Fight Club* (played by Edward Norton) also fantasizes about his alter ego, named Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). He collects fat extracted from women at plastic surgery clinics to make soap, which he then sells back to the women, making him a lawless character. All of this is actually done by the protagonist himself, but he's unaware of it and believes he could never be as cool as Tyler Durden.

The difference between Prince Xu and him is that Edward Norton did not know that Tyler Durden was himself, but Prince Xu knew that the Little Prince was himself.

The Little Prince is him, and he is the Little Prince; they are one in spirit. The Little Prince is entirely fictional, so he is exactly as he is. However, the Little Prince can help him with things he is not good at.

In his vision, the Little Prince is a very aggressive character. If he weren't aggressive, he wouldn't have captivated so many women. Therefore, the Little Prince's modus operandi is to always be in control of the situation.

Wang Zixu could never control a situation in real life; the only character he could create in his novels was someone who could control everything. But then again, what if we brought that person into reality?

Thus, the real world became Wang Zixu's novel. Wang Zixu's spiritual world and the real world merged, and the Little Prince came to life. He now stood imposingly in the living room, hands behind his back, surveying the oddly shaped scriptwriter trainees lying prone, and said:

"Listen up, all of you."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was steady, firm, and powerful, drawing the attention of everyone, regardless of height, weight, age, or gender.

"When you hear me speak, stand in front of me in a line," said the little prince. "Creating is no joke, and what I am about to say is of great importance to your future."

Everyone sensed that his aura was different, but they couldn't quite put their finger on what it was. People obediently walked up to him, and whether they were men, women, or even mechanical fire-breathing Godzilla, they all stood obediently in a row, imitating him by standing with their hands behind their backs.

"We have a place here called the 'Warmth Club'," said the little prince. "The first rule of the Warmth Club is: No talking about the Warmth Club."

After he finished speaking, people gave him various looks. He then immediately added, "The second rule of the Wen'ai Club is: discussion of the Wen'ai Club is not allowed."

Sakura-chan stirred slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but didn't.

"The third rule of the Wen'ai Club is: Wen'ai Club has no names, only code names. I don't care if you are from Nanjing University or Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, men or women, fire-breathing mechanical Godzilla or not, it doesn't matter here."

"In the Wen'ai Club, you will all become people without identities, because a scriptwriter should be a person without identities. Because you have no identities, you can become anyone. You must be inclusive of all kinds of people in this world, embracing all rivers."

"The fourth rule of the Wen'ai Club: If you come here, you must read. Reading is the most important thing in life. You must read at least 100,000 words from the bookshelves every day, and they must be books you haven't read before."

"The fifth rule of the Wen'ai Club: If you come here, you must create. You must create at least four thousand words of qualified script every day. You are not allowed to be sloppy or perfunctory. You must pour out your soul and create the most satisfying crystallization at this moment."

"The sixth rule of the Wen'ai Club: Everything I say is a rule. I will not allow any questioning on matters of creation. Everything you create must first satisfy me, and then satisfy the users."

Prince Xu stood aside, looking at the little prince with admiration in his eyes.

In reality, it wasn't the Little Prince standing there, it was himself. Those words were spoken with his own mouth. It's just that the words he spoke weren't his own. They merely borrowed his mouth, coming out of it.

Everyone possesses an ego, an id, and a superego. Right now, his ego is the Little Prince, and his superego is Prince Void. He observes his ego from the perspective of the superego, watching with great interest, as if he were watching a movie.

The little prince glanced at his watch and said, "We have 20 days. From now on, you must strictly adhere to this schedule every day. I don't care about your previous lifestyles. Starting tomorrow, get up at 6:30 every morning, go for a 5-kilometer run, then come back and read for an hour before starting class. In the afternoon, start writing your scripts, and in the evening, I will review everyone's scripts. At 10:30, we will collect your phones and go to sleep."

No one dared to protest. The little prince continued, "It's class time now, let's meet at the restaurant."

Cheng Xing's eyes lit up with excitement. He was the first to follow, followed by the others. After everyone was seated at the table, Wang Zixu pushed over a whiteboard, on which some words had already been written.

Before starting class, Prince Xu extended his hand to the poet and said, "Quiet is required during class. Chewing gum is not allowed. Spit it out."

The poet lowered her head, and her pink tongue pushed the chewing gum out, which fell into the prince's palm.

This wasn't Wang Zixu's intention, but he didn't mind. After throwing away the chewing gum and drying his hands, he continued:

"Our lesson mainly focuses on poetic language, aiming to teach you how to make every sentence poetic."

Cheng Xing took out his notebook, and Xiao Ba took out his tablet from his backpack. The poet looked left and right and realized that he was empty-handed.

Wang Zixu said, "Understanding is more important than taking notes in this lesson. First and foremost, you must remember that there should be no boring nonsense. In other words, boring, meaningless, and emotionless words should not come out of your mouths."

The poet raised her hand. The prince nudged her and said, "What do you do with those transitional words? For example, when you first connect, if a user greets you and asks if you've eaten, you can't just start with a cheesy 'I want to eat you,' can you? Sometimes you just need to say some meaningless things."

Prince Xu held up a finger: "Good question. The purpose of not letting you talk nonsense is not to 'not let you talk,' but to teach you how to make nonsense not boring. This requires you to make your sentences poetic."

Can every sentence be poetic?

"Any sentence is fine."

"I can't do it."

"That's why I'm teaching you," Prince Xu said. "Let me give you an example. What's your favorite fruit?"

The poet thought for a moment and said, "Banana."

Wang Zixu said, "Try using your first words to organize your thoughts and express the message that 'you like bananas the most'."

The poet said, "My favorite fruit is banana."

"Yes." Prince Xu was very satisfied. "The first principle of poetics is conflict. Why do you like to eat bananas but not apples? There must be conflict in the sentence. It's a contrast, and in the process of contrast, the original sentence is torn apart and sublimated."

"For example, you could say, 'Of all the fruits, my favorite is the banana.'"

The poet nodded. This sentence is clearly more interesting than the previous simple, straightforward statement.

"The second principle of poetics is defamiliarization," Wang Zixu said. "In a sentence, avoid using common collocations whenever possible. For example, 'all fruits' is very common. Replace it with a synonym."

"Therefore, this sentence should be changed to, 'Of all fruits, my favorite is the banana.'"

Cheng Xing and Xiao Ba both gaped, feeling that something amazing was happening.

"The third principle of poetics is transcendence. First, think of a reason why you love eating bananas the most."

The poet tilted his head: "Because...its skin is easier to peel?"

Wang Zixu said, "This is based on the inherent properties of the object itself. The reason that you like to eat it because the skin is easy to peel is no different from the boring statement that you like to eat it because it tastes good. You must go beyond the original properties of the object and give an unexpected reason."

The poet said, "Of all fruits, my favorite is banana. Because the night I broke up with my first love, my mother bought a bunch of bananas." Is that true?

Wang Zixu nodded: "Correct. Then we can talk about the fourth principle of poetics: return to reality. We can't just transcend; we must ultimately return to reality so as not to drift too high. We need to create a contrast between down-to-earth reality and transcendent emotions."

「那幺，这句话就变成了，『在一切水果中，我最喜欢吃的是香蕉。因为我和初恋分手的那个黄昏，我妈买了一挂香蕉。当她回到家发现一整挂香蕉皮时，我理所当然地被揍了一顿。从那之后，我便报复性地爱上了香蕉。因为它们的皮实在太好剥了』……」

The poet sat expressionless and composed, his hands placed neatly between his legs. He seemed unresponsive, but his eyes clearly shone brighter.

Sakura and the believer exchanged a glance. They both saw the shock in each other's eyes. Suddenly, it dawned on them that perhaps choosing to come here would be the best decision of their lives.

Ye Lan leaned against the restaurant entrance, arms crossed, a mysterious smile on her face, listening quietly to Wang Zixu's lecture.

She quietly freed her feet from her high heels, curling her toes to relieve the pressure on her arches after a long day. Her snow-white toes wriggled within her black stockings, looking quite mysterious.

Wang Zixu had a unique charm when he lectured, and you couldn't tell at all that he was a timid, married 30-year-old man. So she couldn't bear to interrupt him.

However, she had to remind him after class that the data on the Wen'ai app hadn't increased at all that day; in fact, it had even dropped slightly. He was getting further and further away from his goal.

On a personal level, she may have changed her opinion of him, but on a business level, she will not change.

(End of this chapter)