What does it have to do with me if they hate vests?

Having already enjoyed special treatment, the girl naturally would not ask for anything else. Rather, if she is treated too favorably, then when it comes time for other light novel authors to publish their works, and the publicity and promotion efforts are less than half of this time, it would be strange if they do not rebel.

Suddenly, the girl's cell phone rang. She picked it up and saw that the person calling was Chris Yamada.

"Hello, what's going on?" she asked when she answered the phone.

[Turn on the TV, Tokyo Channel...]

"television?"

Yamada Fairy turned on the TV in confusion, and the first thing she saw was the fiery red hair and the classic rebellious expression.

"It's this guy again!" The girl immediately complained, "What is he going to do this time?"

The last time I saw Natsume Makuryu on TV, she was still grabbing her books and using them to approve large quantities of them in the light novel industry.

This time, the other party seemed to be criticizing the young authors in modern literary world, saying that they can only write boring texts and that the most exciting part of a detective novel is only the first half, because the revelations in the second half can be contrasted into funny jokes that make people laugh out loud, and can provide the fun of double reading, which is really weird.

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, as if he was going to take out a typical book and criticize it harshly.

The girl, keeping calm as she had been scolded by the other party, began to feel curious about who the guy was going to scold this time. She was planning to just be a spectator, but for some reason she felt an uneasy feeling in her heart.

The next moment, her premonition came true. The cover of the book the other party took out was so familiar to her. Wasn't it the latest volume she had just published...

Chapter 67: Sharp Criticism

[For example, the author of this book "The Exploding Dark Fairy" has not made any improvement since I mentioned it last time. Except for the interesting story, everything else is a mess.]

On TV, Natsume Makuryu shook the paperback in his hand.

Compared with normal hardcover novels, paperback editions are smaller and the quality of the paper is slightly inferior, but in return the price is so low that even children can buy them with their pocket money.

[The wording and sentence structure are so shallow and straightforward that it is ridiculous. Is this author a child? He can't even do the most basic things as an author. Many scenes that need to be described in detail are replaced by onomatopoeia. Is he planning to leave all the scenes to the readers' imagination? ]

[I won’t talk about the connotation of the work, after all, no one who reads light novels pursues this. But even if you can’t put your spiritual core in the work, can’t explore some slightly deeper issues, and can’t simply reflect the beauty of the text, then at least there should be positive values ​​to guide it, right? ]

[Unfortunately, this novel does not have such a thing. Like I said, apart from the plot that is as wild and imaginative as that of elementary school students and is interesting to adults, the rest is just superficial and extremely vulgar... In the words of those who stay at home and rely on their parents... it is a "welfare". ]

[They even hired a pornographic comics author to draw illustrations for the novel, trying their best to flatter those confused teenagers who are already lost in lust. And this thing is actually suitable for all ages, can you believe it? ]

Finally, this famous radical new legendary writer concluded with a shocking voice: [How can we create good literature with this group of insect authors! ]

"Ahhh! This bastard!"

Yamada the Fairy listened to the other party's sharp comments on TV, which were almost scolding her, and she became completely furious. She stomped her feet in frustration and rage in the Four Seasons' rental house.

"If you keep stepping like this, the tatami will be broken." Si Ji said calmly as he sat next to the low table.

Today, the Yamada Fairy is no longer barefoot, but wearing white stockings - or maybe leggings, unfortunately Shiki is not very clear about the difference between the two - which makes her little feet more conspicuous and agile, matched with the gorgeous tassels unique to the hem of the Lolita skirt, and the thighs that are looming in the dance, all attract others' attention.

I always feel like I want to eat cream ice cream suddenly.

Four Seasons thought to himself.

"Is this the time to worry about the tatami?"

The girl, completely unaware of Shiki's thoughts, stared at him angrily.

"If you keep stepping on it like this, there's going to be an earthquake in the Lighthouse Country?" Si Ji, whose thoughts had finally returned from the drifting ice cream, corrected tentatively with an innocent look on his face.

"What the hell is an earthquake!" The girl stared at him intently, as if she was suspecting that this guy was making fun of her weight.

In a sense, as the instigator, Si Ji, who felt a little guilty, moved his hips quietly, as if trying to keep a safe distance from the girl.

"Isn't there a saying that the air stirred by the wings of a butterfly in Asia will eventually cause a storm on the other side of the ocean? I think your stomping is more powerful than the flapping of a butterfly's wings, so it's normal that it will cause an earthquake in the Lighthouse Country. I name it the Yamada Fairy Effect..."

Shiki said seriously.

"That's the butterfly effect! If you keep giving me the cold shoulder, I'll bite you!"

The girl gritted her teeth, opened her cherry lips cutely to reveal her white teeth, and her eyes lingered on Siji's neck and other vital parts, as if she was really considering where to bite.

Si Ji didn't respond at all, just raised his hands to pretend to be on board.

After all, this topic is a bit sensitive and it is not easy to talk about it with girls. Although he has been able to move freely in high society, his original intention has not changed, and he is still as vulgar as he was when he was a simple young man.

Seeing that Shiki didn't say anything, the Yamada fairy, who was originally aggressive, calmed down after a while and lost all his momentum.

"I'm sorry, it looks like I'm really going to lose this time."

She apologized frustratedly.

If she originally had a little hope of surpassing Kasumigaoka Utaha, hoping for a miracle to happen - maybe the joining of teacher Eri Kashiwagi could bring about a comeback?

As a result, now he was once again criticized by the only living national treasure-level legendary writer in modern times. Naturally, he had lost all his ambitions, and only despair and grievance were left in his heart - he had obviously not done anything against the law, so why did Natsume Makuryu target him like this?

"I don't really care about it, compared to this," Shiki said generously, and then he pointed at the phone on the tatami that was stepped on by the girl twice: "Is it really okay for your brother's phone to be thrown aside like this?"

"what……"

The girl looked like she was wondering what was going on and quickly picked up her phone, but the call status on it had changed to "ended" without her noticing.

"Brother, he's dead." Yamada Fairy said pitifully.

Si Ji's face twitched, and he almost uttered "You talk as if Chris is already dead."

“He must be disappointed in me now,” Yamada Fairy didn’t notice Shiki’s strange expression. He just stared at the black screen of his phone and said dejectedly, “My family didn’t particularly support me writing light novels… The promotion this time was all thanks to my brother. He helped me get a lot of the shares because he owed favors to people in the library. He believed in me so much, but something like this happened. Everything is in vain. How upset will my brother be…”

Shiki sighed, the guilt in his heart flashing away, he reached out and rubbed the girl's head, normally the fairy didn't like to be patted on the head, but today she was particularly fragile and was touched obediently without resistance.

"That's not the case!"

At the entrance, Chris Yamada rushed in breathlessly.

"Emily, you are indeed willful, immature, a procrastinator, and your mood fluctuates. You can say that you have a lot of shortcomings," he said loudly, looking at his sister's shocked expression, "but even so, I will not hate you! There is no brother in this world who hates his sister! Rather, I have always been proud of being your brother."

"Brother? The distance between this place and the library is more than 30 kilometers... How did you get here?" Yamada Fairy was confused by his brother's sudden appearance. After a while, he muttered: "And, and didn't my novel die suddenly..."

"Regarding this point," Chris Yamada took a sip of the lemonade handed to him by Shiki, took a breath, and then smiled slightly, "When did you develop the illusion that sales would definitely plummet if people scolded you?"

Chapter 68 There is a traitor!

"If you think about it, you've been getting scolded for a long time. You even went to the comments section and scolded the other party," Chris Yamada consoled him. "Now you're just getting criticized by more famous people. Don't worry about it."

"But……"

Yamada Fairy still felt an indescribable discomfort.

“Although you may not believe it, the sales of the latest volume of Exploding Dark Fairy actually skyrocketed after the show aired,” Chris Yamada continued. “Although the specific statistics are not available so soon, several large bookstores that cooperate with our library have urged us to reprint it as soon as possible. It seems that the inventory is running out.”

"Eh?"

The Yamada fairy showed a surprised expression.

His own light novel was criticized by the legendary writer Natsume Makuru, and it was fine if it wasn't banned, but its sales actually skyrocketed?

"This is not something difficult to understand," Chris Yamada said with a smile, "Although your novel did not receive a good review from Natsume Makuryu, he is well-known for his bold comments on everything. He has criticized many literary works in the past, and the review you received is not the worst."

"That's true..."

The Yamada Fairy still grumbled in disbelief.

"And don't forget, his previous reviews were all pure literature or at least mainstream literature like mystery novels. Light novels are a level lower than those. But this way, the audience will be more tolerant of your light novels than those works that were also criticized by Natsume Makuryu, not to mention that those works did not receive the evaluation of 'interesting'."

Chris Yamada smiled encouragingly and said, "I guess there are many fans of that teacher who want to read your novel, which he said is 'useless except for being interesting.'"

Yes.

Yamada Fairy then remembered that although Natsume Makuru on TV had just said that her book was worthless, he did not deny that it was interesting.

After realizing this, the girl suddenly had a strange feeling in her heart.

Should it be said that she was recognized by others, or that her hard work of squeezing her brain cells for three days to finish the manuscript was not in vain? In short, the girl suddenly wanted to shout excitedly, and also wanted to cry and make a fuss to vent the grievances and resentment in her heart.

But in the end, she did nothing but smiled happily, rubbing her face to prevent the smile from becoming strange, and kept repeating: "It's very interesting... That's great..."

Looking at his sister's relieved smile, Chris Yamada finally let go of the heavy stone in his heart.

He then looked at the four seasons who were standing aside and saying nothing but watching this place with a smile.

"Excuse me, Washimiya-kun, could you please come out for a moment? I have something I want to talk to you alone."

"Brother...what are you going to say to Assistant-kun? Can't I listen?"

Fairy Yamada came to her senses and asked. She had originally wanted to share her joy with Shiki, but before she could talk to him, she was interrupted by her own brother. Naturally, there was a bit of dissatisfaction in her tone.

"It's just a small matter. It has nothing to do with you." Yamada Chris shook his head and didn't give Yamada Fairy a chance to continue pestering him. He walked out of the room directly.

"Just have fun here first, I'll be back soon," Si Ji said to her nonchalantly, "Maybe we can even stop by the convenience store to buy some oranges on the way."

The girl, who was about to say something, was interrupted and asked in a silly way, "Why oranges?"

"My back will look better that way."

Si Ji said this casually and walked out of the room.

Chris Yamada followed him to the corner of the Washimiya-ryo building. This place was inside the courtyard, with pedestrians outside blocked by a wall. There were also courtyards of other small buildings next to it, so it was relatively secluded and would not be disturbed by anyone.

"My work does occasionally intersect with television stations, after all, a lot of promotion and publicity cannot avoid that."

Chris Yamada, who was already waiting there, said calmly, "So I can roughly estimate how long it will take for a program to be recorded and broadcast based on my experience and hearsay."

"What does Mr. Chris want to say?" Shiki's face had the same innocent expression of an asshole-like introverted boy as always in his original mode, and he seemed really confused as to why the other party was talking about such a strange topic.

"Then let me be frank. The program that Natsume Makuryu participated in took at least a week from recording to broadcasting, but the latest volume of the fairy novel has only been on the shelves for five days. So, how did Natsume-sensei get the fairy novel at that time, and even had time to read it all?"

Chris Yamada stared at the silent Washimiya Shiki, trying to read something from his face, but the latter's expression did not change at all.

It's so standard that it's like wearing a mask.

"I followed the entire process of Fairy's books, from printing to putting them on the shelves. I remember where almost every sample book went before they went on sale, so I can be sure that the sample books in the normal process would not have flowed into the hands of that teacher... However, there was an exception."

Chris Yamada finally revealed his true intentions: "You are the one who asked me to pre-order a sample book a few days ago (in Chapter 65)... Washimiya-kun, where is the sample book I gave you before the book went on sale?"

Si Ji was silent for a while, and finally he started to applaud.

"As expected of the goblin's editor. No, should I say, worthy of the goblin's brother?"

"Aren't you going to make an excuse?" Chris Yamada raised his eyebrows, and this expression made him look more like the heroic elf prince in "The Lord of the Rings".

"Even if I say 'the sample book in Natsume Makuryu's hand is not mine', you must have other evidence, right?" Shiki guessed.

"The first batch of novels had some problems with the printing machine. In fact, the color of the cover was slightly out of shape, and there was a subtle color difference. All the books in that batch were recycled. Because you were always there to help the fairy when she was writing, I kept two copies, one for the fairy and one for you."

Chris Yamada nodded and said.

"First shoot the arrows and then draw the target..." Si Ji complained.

Chris Yamada must have first noticed that the cover of the novel in Natsume Makuryu's hand on TV had a color difference, and then he deduced that the book was from Shiki. However, he deliberately did not say it when he pointed out Shiki just now, but found another reason, so that when Shiki argued, he could use this indisputable blow to crush his sophistry.

Unfortunately, Si Ji didn't fall into the trap and had no intention of arguing about this matter.

He spread his hands and said very straightforwardly, "Yes, I sent the sample book to Maple Leaf Library and marked it as addressed to Mr. Natsume."

Chapter 69: Compensate Her with My Life

In fact, when the other party pointed out that the book in Natsume Makuryu's hand was his, Shiki was shocked and thought his identity was going to fall off.

But then he immediately realized that Yamada Chris had not discovered this. He was just simply angry about the fact that he gave the sample book to an outsider, 'Natsume Makuryu', which directly led to Yamada Fairy being scolded.

Since he has not been exposed, everything will be fine - otherwise, who knows whether the leased system will disappear out of thin air. In that case, without the protection of the system, Si Ji, who has fewer and fewer cards in his hand, will have to flee immediately, hiding his identity in a place where no one can find him, and living a hard life relying on the tens of billions of US dollars secretly reserved in hundreds of bearer accounts.

"Why did you do this?" When Chris Yamada saw that he had confessed everything, his expression suddenly turned unfriendly.

"Because if you don't do this, you will lose the bet." Si Ji replied: "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat. Isn't this an obvious truth?"

"Then do you know that if Mr. Natsume really doesn't like fairy novels, he is fully capable of pushing the parliament to ask the Ministry of Education to remove her novels directly from the shelves!"

Yamada Chris said coldly.

"That won't happen."

Shiki said firmly, "Natsume Makuryu would never do that."

Although Natsume Makuru's alias always fires everywhere like a small cannon that can be ignited at any time in order to influence the points, he is quite popular among the people because of his status as a national treasure and the fact that he always speaks with substance instead of just spraying nonsense.

Moreover, unlike Qiu Ling and Wen Ping who must uproot the grass, the literary and art circles still need to be more particular and leave a way out for others so that they can meet again in the future. Therefore, although Natsume Makuryu seems to be the most impulsive and irritable among all the vests of the four seasons, he is actually the most stable.

"If he really did that, what would you do? Don't you know how sad the fairy would be?"

Chris Yamada found it hard to understand Shiki's calmness: "Don't put your hopes on the kindness of others!"

"Betting is only about not knowing the outcome. If I just go to 800-yen-ya, pick out a potato from the many potatoes, and go home to make French fries, can it be considered a bet just because I don't know whether the potato is good or not?"