It was just a love letter; I'm really no great writer!

Chapter 51 The Truth About Leaving the Literary Society

On a hot summer afternoon, in the activity room.

Zuo Hanzhi lifted the plastic lid of the ice cream, scooped up a spoonful, and let it melt in her mouth. The cold air filled her mouth, and her eyes narrowed into crescent moons.

"Xiao Di said Zhao Yishuang wants to come back. What do you guys think?" Xia Liang made the same gesture as Commander Ikari.

"Really?" Li Xingping was both surprised and delighted. "Why is she willing to come back? We just happened to run into some trouble."

Xia Liang pouted: "Di Lingyan betrayed us. We shouldn't have gone to her in the first place."

"Don't say that, Xiao Di meant well."

Seeing Zuo Hanzhi enjoying her ice cream, Li Xingping unwrapped the cone and said, "Haven't you gotten over that? Didn't you guess she had her reasons?"

"Her reasons? If she had reasons, why didn't she say so?" Xia Liang got angry just thinking about it. "What does she take us for?"

"Did Xiao Di say why?" Li Xingping asked. "Why did Yi Shuang leave the literary society?"

"I asked, and they said it has something to do with Lu Ran." Xia Liang looked at Zuo Hanzhi.

"Huh? What, what does it have to do with anything?" Li Xingping's palm was sticky with the syrup from the ice cream cone.

"Hmm." Xia Liang was also puzzled. "I'm not quite sure what happened between Zhao Yishuang and Lu Ran during that time—Hanzhi, do you have any clues?"

Zuo Hanzhi replied coldly, "I don't know."

……

"Oh, this."

Lu Ran picked up his bag, brushed his wet hair aside, and looked around.

Zheng Yue and her gang actually abandoned their leader and ran away.

Zheng Yue originally wanted to invite Lu Ran to a celebratory dinner, but she immediately backed down after seeing Zhao Yishuang.

He repeatedly warned, "Don't bother Brother Ran," "Brother Ran is on important business," and "It is strictly forbidden to criticize Brother Ran's private life." So the group left noisily.

"Xiao Di mentioned it to me." Lu Ran didn't care. "Anyway, I'm fine with it. It mainly depends on them. Your sudden withdrawal back then had a big impact on them."

Zhao Yishuang remained silent.

"I feel like they really want you to give an explanation," Lu Ran asked tentatively. "Can't you say? Is there something you can't say?"

"There's nothing I can't say."

Zhao Yishuang raised an eyebrow. "The literary society at that time was already on its last legs."

"Huh? That's not right. Back then, pictorials were really popular." Lu Ran said, puzzled.

"A big reputation does not guarantee profitability."

Zhao Yishuang said calmly, "You should know that public school magazines are not allowed to be commercialized for profit. They are funded by the school's finances and circulated within the school."

"Yes, it's basically a public welfare project," Lu Ran said.

"The advantage of this is that we don't need to consider operations, but our influence is limited to within the school," Zhao Yishuang said. "Huaizhong Pictorial is an exception. It has the qualifications for public distribution, but we need to be responsible for our own profits and losses."

"Back then, we lost money on every issue we released."

"To keep the magazine running, we need to fill the holes..."

Lu Ran was stunned: "They...didn't know anything about it?"

Zhao Yishuang sighed, her braided ponytail swaying slightly as she softly spoke:

"I didn't want them to know, so I forged a false account."

"As long as I only lose 500 copies per issue, my allowance can barely cover the losses."

"Unexpectedly, Zuo Hanzhi's poem won an award at the city's poetry lantern festival, making her famous. This certainly boosted the sales of the pictorial, but it also prompted Xia Liang to propose reprinting to expand and strengthen the business."

"At that time, disagreements arose within the literary society."

"I opposed reprinting. Xia Liang and Li Xingping wanted to make an impact in the city—this was the root of my trouble from the beginning, trying to make the school magazine a campus publication."

"With disagreements came conflicts... As sales increased, Xia Liang probably noticed something was wrong with the accounts. We argued constantly about the publication, and that period was probably the most agonizing and painful time for everyone."

"In the end, I compromised and agreed to print more copies, and went all out to increase the publicity, even sending GG to the provincial capital."

"That was the most glorious time for Huaizhong Pictorial, but it was also overdrawn to the limit, and I really couldn't maintain it."

"The bubble of imbalance between income and expenditure is getting bigger and bigger. If it continues, it will be discovered. I must pay the price for my initial arrogance. One lie requires countless lies to cover it up."

"I proposed to withdraw, disband the literary society, and took the account books with me."

After saying that, Zhao Yishuang pursed her lips and looked at Lu Ran. "I only told you these things."

Lu Ran was stunned.

He had seen Xia Liang's accounts; based on 500 issues, the loss was at least 10,000 yuan per issue, yet Zhao Yishuang managed to keep it going for a whole semester...

What Wallfacers? What Bright Version of Kyushu?

"Can't I just say it directly...?" Lu Ran thought to himself.

To put it bluntly, it means admitting defeat.

Given Zhao Yishuang's pride, this is probably the most unacceptable thing for her—she comes from a privileged family, has excellent grades, and is always number one in everything she does.

Even a single setback will not be tolerated.

Lu Ran was quite understanding of her.

When Xia Liang confessed that the new pictorial magazine was operating at a loss and could not continue, his first reaction was to generously provide financial subsidies.

Firstly, he had unparalleled confidence in the quality of "To Live" and the pictorial magazine.

Secondly, having suddenly become rich, he felt that the initial subsidy of a few thousand yuan was nothing...

These two points perfectly match Zhao Yishuang's state of mind.

Although her pictorial work encountered setbacks, her debut work, "Life is Bitter," was highly praised.

Things will get better. My writing is so good, but... no, I write well, but I just don't make money.

The proud and arrogant young lady was unwilling to accept this.

So the more subsidies are given, the less they can fill this bottomless pit—just like the allegory of the article "Feeding Out," the pit you dig will have to be repaid!

A terrible thought occurred to her...

Is my writing really good?

Or is it because I am Zhao Yishuang, and I have the halo of a good family background, good grades, and good looks?

The devil of internal strife, the conflicts within the literary society, the doubts of one's best friend...

As Zuo Hanzhi's poems became wildly popular, Xia Liang proposed reprinting them, and the account book's hole became increasingly unmanageable...

Therefore, a complete break became inevitable.

She would rather bear the pressure alone and swallow the bitter pill alone than tell the truth.

This is Zhao Yishuang, and her perseverance.

"Why are you telling me this?" Lu Ran took a deep breath and speculated, "Because you're worried we'll follow in your footsteps?"

"Yes, you guessed right... Xia Liang has already put in 5,000 yuan, stopped paying royalties, increased publicity, and is also preparing for the next issue."

"Hey, I mean, do all you rich heiresses go this far...?"

However, given Xia Liang's frank personality, she wouldn't lie. If the magazine couldn't continue, she would probably just smile brightly and say, "This is mine."

Zhao Yishuang said coldly, "As you can see, this model won't work."

"The only option now is to give up the qualification and change it to a public welfare nature."

"Furthermore, traditional offset printing should be replaced with digital printing to save costs..."

Lu Ran suddenly stared into her eyes: "In that case, we've lost, haven't we?"

Zhao Yishuang was taken aback.

Lu Ran continued to deliver his resounding message:

"You must have considered this plan as well, so why didn't you implement it?"

"Because you still believe in yourself, and you still believe in the future."

"You firmly believed that the magazine would get better. Zuo Hanzhi's poetry winning the award was the fuse that ignited the fire, and it was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Once you become famous, you can save the magazine... right?"

but……

A hint of sadness flashed in Zhao Yishuang's eyes: "It's hopeless."

"Do you trust me?" Lu Ran asked directly.

Zhao Yishuang bit her lip, staring blankly at Lu Ran. The burning sunset rose slowly in the boy's eyes, exuding youthful vigor.

How much like my former self.

She replayed the scenes she had witnessed in her mind:

"When You Are Old" was published in the World Poetry Collection, marking its first entry into the international poetry scene;

With "Feed Out" and "Parasite", they made it to the semi-finals and won full marks;

The Three-Line Love Letter Contest, which uses three styles to express three different emotions, has touched over a million netizens.

"Living" was serialized in the new pictorial magazine, using a cold and detached style to depict compassion...

Those touching moments, those moments of awe, those lingering warmth...