Green plums cannot become lovers.

Wen Shuihe was stunned for a moment.

"Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for being willing to be with their friends, and thank you for taking care of them at school."

Wen Shuiheyan remained silent for a while, then gently shook his head.

“I didn’t take care of them,” he said in a low voice. “They took care of me.”

An and Asuka glanced at him but didn't reply.

The fireworks in the courtyard gradually ended, and the girls dusted themselves off and walked back. Bana saw Anja running ahead, a little dust on her nose, but she was smiling happily.

"Asuka! Did you see the one I released just now? It shot so high!"

"I saw it."

"Does it look good?"

"nice."

She nodded in satisfaction, ran to the grill, picked up a skewer of grilled chicken wings, took a bite, and gasped from the heat.

Himegami Karen walked back and sat down next to An and Asuka, taking out a few candies from her pocket and placing them beside him.

"For you."

Where did it come from?

"I saw it in the entrance hall of the guesthouse just now, and the landlady said I could take it as I pleased."

An and Asuka picked one up, unwrapped it, and put it in their mouths. It was strawberry flavored, and a little too sweet.

A night breeze blew in from outside the courtyard, carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees and the salty smell of the distant sea. There were even more stars than before, densely covering the entire sky, like someone had scattered a handful of diamonds.

The cicadas had stopped chirping, leaving only the occasional tinkling of wind chimes and the faint whisper of the distant waves.

"By the way, what were you guys talking about just now?"

The girl, munching on a chicken wing, asked curiously.

"without......"

Wen Shui was about to say it was nothing, but the next second An He Feibiao said, "We were talking about our past."

"Things from the past?" The girl blinked and asked again, "What things from the past?"

Suddenly, her expression became alert. "You won't bring up my embarrassing past stories again, will you?"

“You noticed that?” An and Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, you rascal!"

Upon hearing this, the girl glared at him angrily and said, "You're so mean!"

She punched An and Asuka's arms a few times, as if to punish them, but there was no anger on her face.

Seeing this, Wen Shuihe fell silent.

Volume 1: Chapter 261 Doing Nothing

They were playing and frolicking here, while fireworks were still blooming not far away.

Salted Lemon ran around waving her sparkler, leaving a thin trail of bright orange sparks behind her. The faster she ran, the longer the sparks trailed; when she stopped, the sparks stopped too, hissing and burning beside her hand.

Kokoro followed behind her, also holding a spark in her hand, but she didn't run away. She just stood quietly in place, watching the sparks gradually shorten, and the falling ashes were scattered by the night wind, landing on the moss in the cracks of the bluestone slabs.

The bright moon hangs high, and the Milky Way shines brilliantly. The weather is exceptionally fine tonight; the moon is as round as a piece of warm jade, hanging directly above the courtyard, illuminating the entire courtyard in a white glow.

There were more stars than last night, densely covering the night sky, like someone had scattered a handful of diamonds across the heavens. The distant mountain ridges were silhouetted against the moonlight, and the faint sound of the waves drifted in, like the breath of the earth after its slumber.

Slowly, the fireworks faded. The last sparkler burned out in Xiaoju Zhihua's hand, the spark leaping one last time before going out, leaving only a trace of warmth on the slender stick. She looked down at it, then placed it in the iron bucket beside her.

The laughter gradually faded away, and everything returned to calm.

The lights in the courtyard were still on, their warm yellow glow filtering through the eaves and casting long shadows on the wooden floor of the corridor. Everyone began tidying up the scattered sparklers and wrappers, moving the metal bucket to the corner and returning the chairs to their original positions. Banai saw Anzu yawn, leaning against a pillar, her eyes half-closed, like a sleepy cat.

"Alright, go to sleep early." Vice Minister Tsukinoki Koto clapped his hands, urging everyone to go back inside.

One by one, the sliding doors were pulled shut, and the lights went out one by one. The courtyard returned to darkness, with only the moonlight shining on the old locust tree and the empty wicker chair beneath it.

the next day.

After a day of fun, everyone finally remembered the real purpose of the trip.

Write novels.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the window paper, drawing thin, golden lines on the floor. Hanami Anzu rolled over on the bed, burying her face in the pillow, unwilling to get up.

Himegami Karen had finished washing up and was sitting by the window looking at the scenery, her long hair hanging over her shoulders, glistening in the morning light. Roasted Salt Lemon was running around in the corridor, his footsteps thumping loudly, only quieting down after the vice-minister called out to him.

After breakfast, everyone moved two long tables from inside the house and put them together under the old tree in the yard. The tree had a large canopy and dense foliage, filtering the sunlight into patches that fell on the tabletops, the manuscript papers, and on everyone's shoulders.

The sound of cicadas came from overhead, sometimes high, sometimes low, like background music for this creative process.

The official event has begun.

It was supposed to be formal, but it wasn't really that formal.

"Hanami, don't look at me!" Kazuhiko Nukumi hid the notebook in his arms and leaned back.

"It won't hurt you to take a look!" Banai saw Anja lean over, her arm stretched out so long it almost reached the edge of the notebook. "What kind of shady stuff are you writing?"

"It's not that I'm ashamed to show it to others, it's just that I haven't finished writing it yet

"Then you should definitely watch it! I'll give you some suggestions!"

"Will your opinion be of any use?"

"Of course it's useful! I'm from the Literature and Art Department, after all!"

The two women were tugging at each other across the table, the laptop swaying back and forth between them, its pages flipping in the wind. Salted Lemon, watching the spectacle, laughed so hard he almost spilled his barley tea.

Karen Himemiya, the vice-captain, and Shiozaki Lemon sat together, discussing the plot. Several sheets of paper were spread out in front of Karen, the handwriting neat and the lines left wide margins for revisions. Tsukinoki Koto circled a few places on her paper with a red pen, whispering something. Karen listened intently, nodding occasionally.

"The emotional shift here could be a bit more natural." Tsukinoki Koto tapped the manuscript paper with the tip of his pen. "If the buildup isn't enough, the sudden outburst at the end will feel abrupt to the reader."

"Shall I add another transition section?"

"You can try it. It doesn't need to be too long, just a few sentences will do. Write down the changes in your emotions."

Shao Yanmeng lay on the table, chin resting on the back of her hand, listening to their discussion, occasionally interjecting, "I think Hua Lian is already very well written. I almost cried when I read it yesterday."

"Which part of you didn't cry?" Tsuki no Mukodo smiled and glanced at her.

"No way! I only cried twice!" Salted Lemon held up two fingers. "Once was written by Hua Lian, and once by Xiao Ju."

When Komari Chika heard this, her face turned red.

Holding several sheets of paper in her hand, she walked up to Shintaro Tamaki, handed him the papers, and spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.

"President...this is what I wrote...please take a look..."

Shintaro Tamaki put down his coffee cup, took the manuscript, and began to read it intently. He was very focused as he read, his brows slightly furrowed, occasionally turning to the next page, and occasionally pausing to think.

Komari Chika stood to the side, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers, her eyes fixed on the president's face, afraid to blink. Her heart was pounding, like when she was waiting for her exam results to be announced.

"Oh, oh." Shintaro Tamaki suddenly spoke up, his tone clearly full of praise, "Kiri's writing is not bad."

Xiaoju Zhihua's face flushed instantly, from her neck all the way to her ears. She lowered her head, but the corners of her mouth curved into a small smile.

"The plot here is well-structured, and the emotions are spot-on," Shintaro Tamaki said, pointing to a passage on the manuscript. "However—"

He turned to the next page, read a few lines, looked up, and his expression became serious.

"I think the ending could be a bit more heart-wrenching. Look, after all that buildup, it would be a waste not to make the readers cry. How about we have the female lead suddenly discover something in the very last paragraph—"

"President." Tsukinoki Koto's voice came from the side, as calm as a stagnant pool.

Shintaro Tamaki ignored her and continued, "Let the female lead discover that the male lead has actually been lying to her all along, and that all his gentleness was fake—"

thump.

An elbow strike landed precisely on Shintaro Tamaki's side. He doubled over, his face slamming into the table with a dull thud. The coffee cup wobbled but didn't tip over.

"Ancient Capital...you went too far..."

"What kind of terrible idea did you come up with?" Yuezhimu Gudu withdrew his hand, his expression as calm as if nothing had happened. "Xiaoju finally wrote a heartwarming story, and you had to torture her to death."

"I did it to increase the depth of the work..."

“Increasing depth isn’t about torturing characters.” Tsukinoki Koto took Komari Chika’s manuscript, flipped through it, and nodded. “That’s good. Keep your style and don’t listen to him.”

Xiao Juzhihua blushed and nodded, put the manuscript back, and quickly walked back to her seat.

This scene made everyone burst into laughter. An and Asuka were also amused.

He sat at the other end of the table, with no paper or notebook in front of him, simply watching the group make a ruckus. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting small patches of light on the back of his hand. Cicadas chirped overhead, and the wind carried the scent of grass and earth.

This atmosphere is really great.

Hanami Anna and Himegami Karen will surely create many wonderful memories by spending time with this group of people.

As he thought about it, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved upwards.

"By the way, why did you two decide to write a novel together?"

Tsukinoki Koto looked up, tucked the red pen behind his ear, and explained, "Oh, it's the student council. They said that even though we're called the Literature and Art Department, we haven't produced any literary works, so they decided to use this summer to make those guys look at us in a new light."

“I see.” An and Asuka nodded. “Ishifu High School is really strict.”

“Right, right!” Tsukinoki Koto spread his hands. “Just like we use air conditioners every day, do we have to know how to make them?”

"Koto, don't say things like that." Shintaro Tamaki sat up straight, rubbing his back, picked up his now-cold coffee, took a sip, and smiled gently. "Let's just consider this a memory we leave behind together in our final moments."

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere was quiet for a moment.

The words "the last moment" were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating barely perceptible ripples. Roasted Lemon's smile faltered, Komari's fingers stopped on the manuscript, and even Tsukinoki Koto lowered his eyes, remaining silent.

But soon, Yana saw Anja say, "Don't make it sound like we're all about to part ways."

Her tone was light and cheerful, with a hint of reproach.

"Haha, yes, yes." Shintaro Tamaki quickly waved his hand, tactfully changing the subject. He looked at Anwa Asuka, his eyes lighting up.

"By the way, Anhe, have you ever written a novel?"

"Well..." An and Asuka shook their heads, "I don't know much about it."

He was telling the truth. He did write and submit articles a few times when he was in elementary school to make a living, but later he got busy and never did it again.

"However, I do know two rather famous writers."

"Who is it?" The group asked curiously, all turning their gazes toward them.

"Let me think... I think one is named Xia Shizi and the other is named Jingxia."

"Huh?!"

Apart from Anna Hachimi and Karen Himemiya, the rest of the group were stunned by what they heard. The barley tea cup in Shiozaki Lemon's hand stopped in mid-air, Chika Komari's eyes widened, Kazuhiko Onamizu's pen tip made a dot of ink on the paper, and even Shintaro Tamaki put down his coffee cup and leaned forward slightly.

"Really?" Tsuki no Mu was the first to react, her voice rising a little.

"Kasumi Utako, Shizuka?" Shintaro Tamaki pushed up his glasses. "These are both incredibly popular authors. Kasumi Utako's 'Love Metronome' has sold over a million copies, and Shizuka's series has been in the top ten of the bestseller list for three consecutive weeks—"

"President, calm down." Tsukinoki Koto patted him on the shoulder, but his tone couldn't hide his surprise. "Anwa-kun, do you really know them?"

“I’m not lying to you.” Anhe Asuka smiled, her tone calm. “I have some connection with Wolong (;二)兒一彡令0八貳.”

One was his senior from university, and the other was his childhood sweetheart. Both of them were in his team, from game planning to band rehearsals, and they saw each other every day.

"So amazing..." Xiaoju Zhihua whispered, her voice full of envy.

Salted Lemon lay on the table, his eyes sparkling: "Asuka-kun's friends are all important people!"

"It's alright." An and Asuka thought for a moment and chuckled, "Actually, they are just ordinary people. They stay up all night to finish their drafts, they agonize over a single line of dialogue for a long time, and they delete and start over when they are not satisfied with a paragraph."

"That's amazing!" Salted Lemon exclaimed in genuine admiration. "To write such a wonderful story, you must be a very hardworking person."

An and Asuka thought for a moment and nodded.

"They really worked very hard."

He recalled Kasumigaoka Utaha staring blankly at the screen in the activity room, and the silhouette of Kuze Shizuka revising her manuscript until dawn. Behind those glamorous pen names lay countless sleepless nights and the perseverance to overturn and start over time.

“By the way,” Tsukinoki Koto suddenly became interested, “Does Kasumi Shiko have any new book plans lately? I’ve been following her books for years.”

“Well…” An and Asuka thought for a moment, “It seems like they are indeed writing something new, but I’m not too sure about the specifics.”