Chapter 6 – Dreams & Reality

Chasing dreams comes at a cost.

No one can keep going on forever by just relying on a few hundred or a few thousand yuan every month to get by for a lifetime.

For almost two years now, Zhang Qiren has been struggling at the bottom of the online writing world, publishing one book a year with double-digit subscriptions. This is already his third published work.

But the third strike means you’re out.

No matter the if it is the pressure of daily life or the disapproving looks from family, no one can hold out forever.

For the past two years, Zhang Qiren has been delivering food for a living while pursuing his dream of writing. A few months ago, he had a big fight with his family and even quit his delivery job. He left his home to come to Chu Ge’s place, where he rented a room and focused his efforts on writing a new book.

But now he has no source of income.

After a few months, he has nearly depleted his savings from delivering food, and this time around, Zhang Qiren can no longer afford to chase his dream. He’ll have to listen to his family and find a job at a factory.

This isn’t about the genre he writes in. Zhang Qiren isn’t good at writing about emotions but is skilled at brainstorming and satire. He’s better suited for stories without a female lead. Whether or not his book will be successful depends on factors such as skill and opportunity.

Chu Ge has been in this industry for a long time and has witnessed many young people full of confidence come and go, either disappearing into obscurity or becoming critics and nitpickers under every platform. Behind them are the voices of those unwilling to let go of their dreams.

To outsiders, they are simply “unemployed vagrants,” but who knows how many have been brutally weeded out?

Chu Ge’s situation is similar to Zhang Qiren’s. He used to be a 9-to-5 office worker, feeling like life was dull and tasteless, so he began pursuing his literary dreams. His luck was decent; the income from his first book was just enough to live on. When he had a disagreement with his boss, he decided to quit and focus on writing. He’s now published two or three novels but has already used up most of his savings, so the success of this book is very important to him.

The only slight advantage he has over Zhang Qiren is that his family supports him, or rather, they don’t have enough time to worry about him. Chu Ge’s parents supposedly work for a secretive organization; he doesn’t even know what they do. He rarely sees them and only occasionally talks to his mother. He hasn’t heard his father’s voice in a year. It wasn’t always like this, but something changed in the past few years…

The only thing the two old folks are anxious about is his marriage, and they rarely comment on anything else. His mother is proud that her son can write books, and she brags about him everywhere, making Chu Ge want to cover his face in embarrassment.

Yes, when Gu Ruoyan mentioned “Aunt Wu said you are a writer” during their blind date, that Aunt Wu is Chu Ge’s biological mother. He doesn’t know how she knows Gu Ruoyan…

The reason why he moved out to rent a place even though no one was at home was that he was tired of the scrutiny from people around him. Whenever he goes out, he encounters neighbors and elders who smile and say, “Little Chu, I know the manager of XX Leather Factory, do you want me to introduce you…?”

Chu Ge also smiles and replies, “No need, let brother-in-law have it.”

When he turns around, he can feel people whispering behind his back, “That Chu family’s son is useless, he’s in his late twenties and still idle at home.”

Out of sight, out of mind. He decided to move out to avoid all of that. This is the awkwardness of his profession, and Chu Ge is used to Gu Ruoyan’s behavior during their blind date.

Anyway, regardless of whether his family supports him or not, as a man in his late twenties, Chu Ge naturally doesn’t want to ask his family for money. He insists that his income is quite good… If he fails now, he doesn’t know how he’ll live in the future.

Two men who share the same problem are eating skewers and drinking beer, and Zhang Qiren gives some suggestions for the following revisions: “Your writing has a bit of a harem tendency at the beginning, but there are no established relationships, and it gradually develops. This may be related to your personality… It leaves room for the future, and you can turn it into a stock market plot. Finally, you can give it an open ending, and no one knows which girl the protagonist chose…”

Chu Ge is silent for a moment, “I’ll be beaten by the members of my group for this.”

Zhang Qiren laughs, “I don’t believe you haven’t thought of this yourself. Why else would you be organizing the outline and taking leave?”

Chu Ge really hadn’t thought of it before. It wasn’t something that he was used to thinking about, so it was difficult for him to consider it at the moment. But now that Zhang Qiren had reminded him, it was like sudden enlightenment.

Zhang Qiren’s proposal not only solved the problem of missing women in the harem, but also no one would care about Qiu Wuji once all the women had been exposed. The process could please both the supporters of the harem and the supporters of single female leads. The results might even be better. The only downside would be receiving criticism after the novel was finished. But by that time, when all the money has been earned, why be afraid of criticism?

There was also another advantage. Previously, Chu Ge was worried about the role of Qiu Wuji, but now she could be written according to the original plot, with her relationship with the protagonist changed to that of a normal sect master and disciple. Anything related to ambiguity could be left out, and it didn’t matter whether readers guessed or not.

This is simply a win-win solution.

Chu Ge raised his glass and sincerely said, “Zhang Qiren, it’s just not fair that you’re not popular. Your research and understanding of these things are deeper than many others.”

 Zhang Qiren’s eyes were bright. “I also think it’s not fair that I’m not popular.”

He paused, and his gaze began to wander, his expression becoming a bit complicated.

Following his gaze, Chu Ge saw a black-clad girl in her late teens walking past a barbecue stand and into their neighborhood. As she passed by, the smell of alcohol wafted over.

Chu Ge recognized the girl because she lived in the same building, across from their apartment on the same floor.

In this day and age, neighborly relations are distant, and although they have lived on the same floor for so long, they have never spoken to each other. Even when they occasionally met in the elevator, they would each lower their heads and look at their phones without even saying hello, so they naturally did not know each other’s names.

As a writer, Chu Ge’s daily schedule is upside down, and the same is true for this girl. They often meet in the middle of the night, and every time he sees her, she is intoxicated with alcohol.

Sometimes there are small wounds on her forehead…

The first assumption of most people towards her would be a woman who accompanies men to drink, or perhaps a young mistress, but it’s more or less the same.

“She was a game anchor, and I stumbled upon her once,” Zhang Qiren whispered. “But she doesn’t talk much and just does her own thing, so she’s not very popular. She’s probably not even making enough to support herself.”

“Just like us, in the industry, we’re all failures, right?” Chu Ge said.

Zhang Qiren sipped his drink without saying a word.

Live broadcasting and online writing are actually very similar and easy to empathize with.

Everyone is a failure, so who looks down on whom?

Suddenly, Chu Ge said, “Do you like her?”

Zhang Qiren’s hand holding the glass tightened slightly, and he casually said, “She looks pretty, so I’m a little tempted. Isn’t that normal? Haven’t you been tempted before?”

To be honest, Chu Ge has also been tempted, even imagining on which occasion she would be the perfect companion. It’s just a man’s thing, more of a whim than anything else. In high school, he even fantasized about the Chinese teacher in the next class.

In reality, no one has the money to go to those places anyway!

Soon, Zhang Qiren continued, “I don’t like her that much. It’s impossible to like someone in that line of work… Even we can’t support ourselves, so even if we knew which venue she was working at, we wouldn’t have the money to go and support her. What’s the point of talking about liking her or not?”

Chu Ge finished his drink in one gulp. “Come on, you’ll be popular someday.”