I'm not a literary giant

Chapter 254 The Truest and Most Sincere Way of Loving Yourself (5k)

"What exactly is your relationship with the Little Prince?"

This problem is like worrying every time you leave home that you forgot to turn off the induction cooker, and then one day you come home to find that the house has actually burned down completely—what was bound to happen eventually did happen.

A thousand thoughts raced through Wang Zixu's mind. He forced himself to remain calm and resolutely kicked the ball back: "Why did you suddenly think of that?"

Ning Chunyan switched the position of her long legs and said with her hands behind her back, "I saw the interview with the Little Prince in the college. Lu Qingxuan told me that you gave them the Little Prince's contact information."

She paused, her gaze sharpening further: "Even I can't get in touch with the Little Prince, and I've never asked you to solicit articles from him. How did you get his contact information? Do you have some kind of personal relationship with him?"

It felt like investigating the cause of a fire after your house burned down, only to discover that it was caused by the neighbor's induction cooker being left on—Wang Zixu breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt another wave of relief wash over him.

"Oh, that's what it was," he chuckled, trying to sound casual. "No, you really believe that was an interview with The Little Prince?"

Even Wang Zixu himself was surprised that he could say those words so calmly, and Ning Chunyan was even more stunned: "Huh?"

“Don’t you remember? We were the ones who wanted to borrow the auditorium, and Zhang Xixi took the opportunity to ask for a price,” Wang Zixu said so naturally that he almost believed it himself. “Anyway, it’s an online interview. Does it matter whether he’s the Little Prince or not?”

Ning Chunyan's expression shifted from blank to enlightened, then to a knowing sly glint in her eyes as she pointed at him and said, "You little rascal! You didn't just take the interview for someone else, did you?"

"See through it but don't say it." Prince Xu had mastered the ultimate trick of lying—feigning profundity.

Ning Chunyan sat down on a chair nearby, shook her head and sighed, "You have quite the nerve! I thought you really had some kind of relationship with the Little Prince."

Wang Zixu sat down beside her, marveling at his own incredible cultivation and the power of his Purple Gold Hammer that could cause the sky to collapse and the earth to crumble. He admired himself for his quick thinking and the incredible performance he had just delivered, which had reached Oscar-level.

Ning Chunyan added, "Fortunately, that interview didn't spread widely. If the Little Prince himself had caught someone impersonating him like that, he would definitely be angry."

Wang Zixu said, "No, he doesn't want to reveal his identity. Even if he finds out, he won't come out to deny it. Besides, my interview is very much in line with his style; it's not fabricated."

Ning Chunyan rolled her eyes at him: "What do you mean by 'fitting his style'? Do you even know him that well?"

Before Wang Zixu could answer, she continued, "You're not allowed to do this kind of thing again. Luckily it was the Little Prince this time; he has a good personality and won't hold it against you. If it were any other writer, I don't know what kind of trouble they would have caused, enough to give you a hard time."

Wang Zixu explained that this was due to the circumstances, and that he had to act expediently in an emergency. Under Ning Chunyan's coercion, he repeatedly assured her that he would never do such a thing again.

Ning Chunyan noticed that her toenail appeared to be split and bent down to examine it with concern. Just when Wang Zixu thought the topic was over, she suddenly whispered:
"I like The Little Prince."

She spoke those words with deep affection, staring at her toenails. For a fleeting moment, Wang Zixu even suspected she was hinting that he should hurry up and claim her love. Unfortunately, he would never fall for that.

“I didn’t tell you why I like him, did I?” Ning Chunyan said, her voice softening. “Actually, before I met him, I was going through the most decadent period of my life.”

Prince Xu did not speak, but listened quietly.

"I had just published a short story in a top-tier literary journal before that, I don't want to say which journal. It wasn't my first published story, but I was incredibly excited, more excited than ever before."

“When I was in junior high school, I started publishing articles in some small magazines and newspapers, but those magazines and newspapers were too cheap, and you could even get published if you paid. I never thought that was anything special.”

"But that journal was a literary mecca that I had heard about and longed for since I was a child. I believed that publishing my novel in it would mean that I was completely recognized by the mainstream literary world, and I ambitiously planned a new stage in my literary career."

"Then I found out that I was able to publish my work there because of my dad's connections. Then I was devastated."

Prince Xu listened quietly, while Ning Chunyan took a deep breath and continued:
"As I just said, I started publishing my works in junior high school, even earlier than Chen Qingluo. It seems that I am a destined genius female writer."

"But I know in my heart that my ability to publish works when I was in my teens has nothing to do with talent. My father is a professor in the Faculty of Arts at Nanjing University. There is no reason for his daughter not to become a talented woman, and even less reason for her to be rejected by those obscure little magazines."

"That's why I made up my mind to submit my work to the literary institution I've long admired. I thought, no matter how famous my father is, he can't possibly influence this journal, can he? I want to prove myself with my own abilities."

The more Wang Zixu listened, the more uneasy he felt. When Ning Chunyan paused, he asked, "What was the result?"

Ning Chunyan gave a bitter smile.

"As it turns out, the editor-in-chief of that magazine was a very good friend of my dad, and I was completely unaware of it. After I submitted my manuscript, he called my dad immediately and then approved it without saying a word."

The prince remained silent.

Ning Chunyan said, "At first, my father praised me highly for getting my manuscript accepted, without mentioning the inside story at all. I was convinced that I had proven myself through my own abilities, and that I started writing because of myself, not because I was someone's daughter."

Wang Zixu said, "So after learning the truth, your self-perception became disordered."

“Yes,” Ning Chunyan nodded, “I not only started to doubt myself, but I also started to doubt my father, the entire literary world, and the whole world.”

She paused for a moment, then continued, "I always thought that with my father's high level of literary skill, he must also have a similar level of sense of justice in literature. But judging from this incident, he seems to have become numb to this kind of thing, and even thinks that getting a manuscript approved through connections is the new normal."

"Then I began to doubt the entire literary world. Who is truly unrelated? Even the literary journal I admire can squeeze in someone like me who is just filling a position. Does this mean that most of the other works are also products of inbreeding?"

"To go further, have we been wrong to regard the literary aesthetics of these magazines as the standard? Is it possible that there are far better works hidden among the people, but we have blocked all the channels for them to be discovered?"

Wang Zixu said, "So your faith has collapsed."

"You can say that."

"Then what does this have to do with the Little Prince?"

“He saved my ideals and beliefs,” Ning Chunyan turned to look at Wang Zixu. “The Little Prince showed me a completely new kind of literature: wild, vibrant, full of desire, flesh and blood, and lawless.”

She added, "He proved that literature doesn't have to be high and mighty; it can be vulgar and obscene, but it is extremely powerful and captivating."

"Do you know how I felt when the Little Prince was hailed as a literary figure? I felt pleasure, the pleasure of revenge."

The prince asked tentatively, "Avenge yourself against whom? Your father?"

“It’s revenge on the entire mainstream literary world,” Ning Chunyan said. “Because I know they will never award the Little Prince any honors, but the more famous the Little Prince becomes, the more it proves the closed-mindedness and hypocrisy of the literary circle.”

"When those so-called 'famous' people are scrambling to ride the coattails of The Little Prince, the irony reaches its peak, and the more I feel... incredibly satisfied."

Ning Chunyan's way of obtaining pleasure is somewhat distorted. From this perspective, she is definitely not the "literary charlatan" she claims to be. She does indeed possess the talent and sensitivity of a great writer.

Tragically, although Prince Xu could understand her, he was completely unable to empathize with her.

For her, the Little Prince's success validated her understanding and allowed her to rebuild her ideals and beliefs; but for him, it was the opposite. The more successful the "Little Prince" identity became, the more meaningless his persistence seemed.

Ning Chunyan patted him on the shoulder and said, "In a way, you are another hero in my revenge against that hypocritical literary world."

"I?"

“Yes, it’s you,” Ning Chunyan said. “You’ve been fighting that intellectual second-generation Shi Shuqiu for so long, it’s already amazing. So please, you have to beat him!”

Prince Xu asked quietly, "From a standpoint of opinion, shouldn't you support Shi Shuqiu's side?"

Ning Chunyan scoffed: "He's a second-generation intellectual, and so am I. Does that mean I'm automatically on the same side as him? How is that any different from that kind of low-IQ identity politics?"

Prince Xu apologized: "I'm sorry, I was narrow-minded."

“Besides, we shouldn’t always prioritize our own stance,” Ning Chunyan added softly. “Justice is also important… This world shouldn’t be like this.” “How wonderful,” Wang Zixu said.

"What did you say?" Ning Chunyan looked up at him.

“I say the Little Prince is truly blessed,” he said. “The greatest happiness in life is the certainty that you are loved, loved for who you truly are, even without asking what your true self is like… To love someone is like seeing the glory of God.”

Ning Chunyan blinked: "Let me guess whose writing this is...Hugo?"

"You're amazing, you're the author of 'Les Misérables'."

"You're awesome too."

Just as the air grew quiet, a rapid phone ring broke the silence between the two. Wang Zixu answered the phone, and An Younan's voice came from the other end.

"Hello? Where are you?"

As soon as I answered the phone, the other party bombarded me with questions in an urgent tone.

Wang Zixu said, "Ning Chunyan and I are in the billiards room."

“Come to the lounge,” An Younan said. “Be quick. Ning Chunyan can come too.”

"What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain, you'll understand when you get here."

……

When Wang Zixu and Ning Chunyan rushed into the main lounge, they saw An Younan gripping the TV remote, staring intently at the screen with a serious expression. Wang Zixu had barely opened his mouth when she immediately interrupted him:

"Don't speak yet, look at this first."

After she finished speaking, she pressed the play button.

On the television screen, the host of a news investigation program is broadcasting in an alarmist tone:
"Recently, a service called 'speech therapy' has quietly emerged on some online platforms. Under the guise of 'mental health' and 'emotional comfort,' it actually operates in a gray area between law and morality, and has even evolved into a shady gray industry. Our reporter conducted an investigation and exposed the chaotic state of this industry and its potential risks."

The scene shifted to a voice chat interface of a mobile app. Although the company logo was blurred out, the familiar interface made the three people present recognize it at a glance – it was the "Wen'ai" app.

"The investigation found that the so-called 'speech therapy' service is often unrelated to healthy and scientific psychological counseling. Some organizations and individuals set up so-called 'emotional companies' to plan and write a large number of so-called 'scripts' containing vulgar and ambiguous content, and hire a large number of 'speech therapists' to conduct 'one-on-one emotional communication' with clients through online platforms. In reality, this is the dissemination and trading of soft pornography in order to earn high commissions."

"This kind of deceptive behavior not only seriously misleads consumers, but also has an extremely negative impact on the online environment and social atmosphere, especially on the physical and mental health of teenagers."

The host cuts into the frame, his expression serious.

"It is worth noting that in this gray industry chain, in order to enhance the attractiveness of their 'services' and the average order value, some agencies pay special attention to the quality and literary quality of their sales pitches."

"For example, a scriptwriter using the pseudonym 'The Little Prince' was praised in a certain circle for his so-called speech therapy scripts as 'beautifully written' and 'emotionally delicate,' and was even regarded as a 'literary master' by some clients and practitioners who were addicted to this..."

An Younan pressed the pause button and turned to look at Ning Chunyan and Wang Zixu, who were dumbfounded.

After a long silence, Ning Chunyan seemed to finally digest this explosive news, her complex emotions ultimately turning into a terrified gasp:

"My goodness... the Little Prince! The Little Prince has been called out?!"

She instinctively clutched her head, her body swaying slightly, seemingly finding it hard to accept this reality.

An Younan then turned her gaze directly to Wang Zixu, her tone calm yet imposing: "What are your thoughts?"

The prince opened his mouth slightly, but his throat felt blocked by something, and he couldn't make a sound.

His first reaction was not fear or anger, but a very real and cold thought: something's wrong.

The scriptwriting work of "Wen Ai" has probably reached its end.

In fact, he himself is standing on the edge of extreme danger.

An Younan seemed to see through his shock and said, "Calm down first, the important part is yet to come."

She pressed play again.

The host, who had been frozen in the frame, began to move again:

"Regarding these so-called 'highly literary' rhetoric scripts, we interviewed Professor Gao, a scholar who has long focused on online subcultures and wished to remain anonymous. Professor Gao, hello."

Professor Gao, whose face is blurred in the video, says: "Hello!"

Host: "We've noticed that scripts written by authors like 'The Little Prince' are considered by some readers and even peers to be 'beautifully written' and 'emotionally nuanced.' What's your take on this assessment?"

Professor Gao: "From the perspective of textual analysis alone, the so-called script of The Little Prince pays great attention to the development of narrative structure, the creation of emotional tension, and the rhetorical charm of the language itself. Some of the writing is not only beautiful, but can be said to be poetic."

Host: "You mean, he does indeed possess literary skills?"

Professor Gao: "That's right. At the same time, he can accurately capture the loneliness, anxiety, and desire to be understood that modern people experience in emotional communication, and provide immediate virtual satisfaction through a highly literary approach. This is on a spiritual level."

Host: "You mean, precisely because it's cloaked in this 'literary' and 'empathetic' guise, it's easier for people to lower their guard and even create the illusion that they're encountering a 'high-end emotional product'?"

Professor Gao: "Uh...you could say that. What I mean is, this kind of writing, to some extent, blurs the line between pure sensory stimulation and emotional consumption with aesthetic implications. This precision and beauty are the reasons why it can be considered 'high-class'..."

Host: "Thank you, Professor Gao, for your analysis. As the experts have said, using literary techniques to package a vulgar core, this kind of 'refined filth' is more deceptive than straightforward crudeness; it gives harm a glamorous makeover..."

After the news segment ended, Ning Chunyan was both annoyed and amused: "Does this host even know how to listen to people? The professor clearly didn't mean that; the focus was on analyzing the phenomenon. How did it become a pure conviction in his mouth?"

She paused for a moment, then added with a strange sense of pride, "However... I'm quite curious which university this Professor Gao attends. His evaluation of The Little Prince's work is actually quite high. You see, even a program that's here to critique it has to admit his exceptional talent."

Unlike Ning Chunyan, who still had a touch of literary discussion in mind, An Younan's expression did not soften at all.

Compared to the real money she invested, Ning Chunyan's focus seemed overly "artistic".

An Younan spearheaded the "Light Talk Chat" project, which involved a large investment, but has yet to see any returns. Yet, the entire industry has been singled out by this bombshell news.

This kind of characterization from authoritative media is tantamount to a death knell for industries operating in a gray area, instantly squeezing out their space for survival.

Compared to the vast business empire of Xunyi Galaxy, calling the Qingyan Talk project "leftovers" would be an exaggeration. Whether to sacrifice a pawn to save the king or take a risk is no longer a question to consider.

An Younan remained silent for a moment, the air around her seemingly frozen. Finally, she turned her head, her gaze fixed on Wang Zixu, her tone calm yet carrying an undeniable resolve:
"I made a decision."

She paused, then said clearly:

“I plan to terminate the ‘Easy Chat’ project indefinitely and completely withdraw from the voice chat industry.”

After she finished speaking, she looked intently at Prince Xu.

(End of this chapter)