I'm not a literary giant

Chapter 258 is like a cute little puppy going out to play.

As soon as Sakura-chan finished speaking, the believer was the first to bristle. He took a sudden half-step forward, his voice unconsciously rising:

"What do you mean you can't continue doing literary flirting? Now that Teacher Ying has become successful and been promoted, does she look down on this little bit of money?"

Sakura shook her head with a wry smile, a hint of helplessness in her expression: "How could that be? I have my reasons. Before coming, I spoke with Sister Lan and Teacher Little Prince, and they both agreed."

The believer stood with his hands on his hips, his tone still aggressive: "What's your problem? Is it because the Little Prince was singled out, and you think we're tainted and don't want to play with us anymore?"

Seeing this, Xiao Ba quickly reached out and pressed down on Xin Zhe's shoulder, whispering, "Calm down, don't be so aggressive, okay? If Sakura-chan looked down on us, she definitely wouldn't have come all this way."

Sakura sighed deeply, her gaze sweeping across everyone's faces: "If I said that my decision had nothing to do with that report, I would be lying. But I don't agree with that report. If I have the chance to meet the reporter who wrote that report, I will tell him why I made my arms so big."

"Then why did you quit?" the believer pressed, his tone softening slightly.

“People in this system are not free to do what they want.” Sakura rubbed her temples. “We have to declare our personal assets every year. My workplace knows I have income as a speech therapist. Before, I only told them it was royalties. Now they all know about Wen Ai Company, and I can’t fool them anymore.”

The believer tilted his head, looking puzzled: "Are people within the system really this rigid?"

“It’s not a matter of being old-fashioned…” Sakura carefully considered her words, but ultimately gave up on precise expression. “Let’s put it this way: if my work as a speech therapist is exposed, I might lose my job, my wife and children might break up, and there’s no limit to the consequences.”

The believer couldn't help but shudder, his voice dropping several decibels: "Is the system really that terrifying? I'll definitely never take the civil service exam in the future."

Cheng Xing, who had been silent all along, spoke up at this moment, his tone calm: "I can understand Ying-chan's decision. When I first saw that news, I was also very angry and hot-blooded. But after calming down and thinking about it, even if I went and confronted them, it wouldn't make a difference. After all, it's very difficult to change deep-rooted prejudices and conservative ideas."

Sakura looked at Cheng Xing gratefully: "Yes, so I've decided, just like Mr. Lu Xun said, to fight a trench war and protect myself first. If I climb to a high position in the future, I'll slowly change the status quo."

Xiao Ba nodded thoughtfully: "The hardest struggle in this world is the struggle against an ideology."

The believer suddenly turned around and glared at him: "Where did you learn that from?"

Xiao Ba shrugged: "I came up with it myself."

The believer exaggeratedly clutched his chest: "Damn, how come you guys can all say such philosophical things? Am I the only one who looks like a country bumpkin?"

Xiao Ba chuckled: "Who told you not to be from a 985 university?"

The believer immediately bristled: "Could it be you...?"

“It doesn’t stop me from laughing at you.”

Just then, there was a gentle knock on the door, interrupting everyone's conversation.

Ye Lan strode over and opened the door. There stood two men, one tall and one short. The tall one was fair-skinned and wore thin-rimmed glasses, while the short one was dark-skinned and thin, with a slightly gloomy expression.

Ye Lan smiled and looked at the two of them: "You must be Xing Sheng and Black Dog, right?"

The tall man bowed slightly and said politely, "I am Xing Sheng, and I am honored to be invited here."

The short man simply uttered four words: "I am Black Dog." His voice was deep and muffled.

"Please come in." Ye Lan stepped aside to make way.

After Black Dog and Star Sound walked in, they naturally kept their distance from the old members of Wen'ai Base. The two groups stood clearly separated, each secretly sizing up the other.

Xing Sheng looked around, her tone filled with anticipation: "May I ask which one of you is the Little Prince? To be honest, eighty percent of my motivation for coming here is to see the Little Prince in person."

Ye Lan pointed to Prince Xu on the sofa in the distance: "The little prince is over there, but he's reading a book. It's best not to disturb him now."

The black dog snorted softly from its nose: "Such a big shot?"

Cheng Xing immediately retorted, his tone serious: "This isn't about being arrogant. Creators need very concentrated reading time. The Little Prince might be brewing an inspiration, and to disrupt his immersion at this time would be practically a crime."

The black dog was taken aback by the retort, and its tone softened a bit, but it still muttered under its breath, "First time meeting you, and you don't even give me a welcome? I thought you were going to put me in a tough spot."

Ye Lan smiled and smoothed things over: "Don't worry, the Little Prince never needs to put on a show of force. He's a very easy-going person, but he can become very extreme when it comes to things related to literature. You'll have to get used to it as soon as possible."

The black dog's expression still held a hint of confusion, but he was clearly stunned by their respectful attitude towards the little prince. He lowered his head and remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

The believer leaned close to Xiao Ba's ear and whispered, "I feel like this new guy is really arrogant, I'm a little annoyed, what's wrong?"

Xiao Ba also leaned over and lowered his voice, saying, "Don't doubt yourself, I feel really uncomfortable too."

Although Sakura-chan, who was standing to the side, did not hear their conversation clearly, she took in their expressions.

With his extensive social experience, he immediately sensed the inevitable friction between the new and old groups of speech therapists. As someone about to retire, he didn't want to say much; moreover, he thought that such competition might not be a bad thing.

He smiled with relief and said to everyone, "I originally wanted to say goodbye to Teacher Little Prince before leaving, but I couldn't bear to disturb him, so I'll take my leave now."

Ye Lan quickly urged her to stay: "You've come all this way, have a meal before you go!"

Sakura shook her head: "No. I have to work this afternoon and have to go back right away."

Ye Lan blinked, somewhat incredulous: "So, you came all this way just to say a few words to us?"

“Yes.” Sakura nodded firmly.

The believer patted him on the shoulder: "Now I believe you truly had no choice in the matter."

Sakura-chan turned and left, but returned a moment later. She hugged the doorframe, her eyes darting around, and asked mysteriously, "Were you guys just talking about loli girls?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" the believer asked curiously.

Sakura lowered her voice: "There's a very pretty loli standing outside."

Upon hearing this, the believer was the first to rush out, and the others followed curiously behind him. Once outside, they indeed saw a girl dressed in black standing in front of a Jaguar F-TYPE.

She wore a small hat decorated with raven feathers, her face half-veiled, and the black lace wrapping around her neck accentuated her slender figure. She stood gracefully by the car door, as if waiting for everyone to finish their tour.

The believer felt as if he had been struck on the head, involuntarily clutching his chest, his breathing becoming rapid: "Holy crap, so there really are such creatures as beautiful loli girls in this world!"

Xiao Ba rolled her eyes: "Didn't you just say she was ugly?"

"I was so wrong!" the believer confessed shamelessly. Ye Lan stepped forward, smiling as she asked, "Excuse me, are you 'Miss 'Wearing Lolita and Typing'?"

“It’s me,” the girl’s voice carried a hint of detachment. “You can also call me ‘Sugar and Rivet’.”

"Your clothes are so beautiful," Ye Lan exclaimed sincerely, "and you're so pretty too."

The girl didn't seem to care about Ye Lan's compliment and said bluntly, "I need a room with a big wardrobe. I have a lot of luggage."

"Yes, you have a single room, there's definitely enough room for your luggage."

The girl added coldly, "Let me make this clear from the start: if I find anything I'm not satisfied with, I might just turn around and leave."

Ye Lan was left speechless, both amused and exasperated by her blunt words.

Xiao Ba whispered to the believer, "This girl doesn't seem easy to get along with."

The believer immediately retorted, "You're already so good-looking, and you still want a good personality? You're too greedy!"

Sakura couldn't help but interject, "In fact, this kind of condescending and arrogant personality is the most perfect..."

The two looked at him at the same time. Sakura blushed and explained, "You'll understand later."

The girl looked around at the boys present and asked, "Do you guys need to help me move my things?"

The believer usually curses anyone who offers to help a girl carry her things at school, but this time he didn't say a word, rolled up his sleeves, pretended to be a super strongman, picked up two bags of luggage and left.

Although the girl had a lot of luggage, there were also many boys present, so each person only needed to carry one bag. Xiao Ba deliberately dawdled behind, and by the time it was his turn, all the luggage had been distributed. He was happy to have some free time and followed the girl upstairs.

"Why do you call yourself 'Wearing Lolita and Typing'? Are you an online novelist?" Xiao Ba tentatively struck up a conversation.

"I'm not," the girl answered quickly, her brows furrowing slightly, as if offended by the question.

Undeterred, Xiao Ba continued, "Both Xinzhe and I write online novels. How should I put it? I feel there's a familiar quality about you. Even if you don't write online novels, you must have worked in writing."

The girl didn't answer immediately, but the black dog walking in front turned around, gave Hachi a meaningful look, hesitated, and had a strange expression.

The girl looked around, then turned and asked, "Which of these people is the Little Prince?"

Xiao Ba was taken aback: "Huh? The Little Prince isn't here. He's inside reading a book."

After saying this, he thought to himself: If the Little Prince were here, who would ask him to carry your luggage?

The girl explained, "I haven't actually been doing voice chat for very long. I came to participate in this event purely out of curiosity, wanting to meet the Little Prince."

Xiao Ba was taken aback again: "Huh? I thought those who were qualified to participate were all elites. Last year, those who came were all among the top ranks."

Ye Lan interjected at the opportune moment: "It's true that she didn't work for long, and it's also true that she's among the top few on the list. She only worked for half a month and climbed into the top 10. She is the speech therapist with the fastest performance growth in Wen'ai's history."

Xiao Ba stuck out his tongue in surprise: "That's amazing?"

The girl said, "I wanted to see the Little Prince, and I thought that if I was ranked higher, I would have a chance to see him, so I climbed to the top 10."

Xiao Ba pondered the cause-and-effect relationship between the two sentences for a long time before realizing that he had been flattered to his face.

As they spoke, everyone entered the house one after another. Before entering, Ye Lan specifically reminded the girl, "The little prince is very focused when he's reading, so try not to disturb him later."

The girl nodded casually. But the moment she stepped into the room and her gaze fell on the sofa, she froze.

Prince Xu was sitting there alone, reading a book. People were carrying their luggage around him, and the sounds of people were rising and falling, but he seemed to be in another world, remaining motionless.

In an instant, countless images flashed through her mind—fish leaping in the Arctic Ocean, birds soaring over the Alps, dandelion seeds arriving with the monsoon…

Everything, all the clues and fragments, suddenly came together at this moment.

"Prince Xu?!"

The exclamation broke the noise in the room, and the bustling room fell silent as everyone turned to look at her.

Prince Xu's mind was still wandering in the colonial-style streets of Cartagena when, three seconds later, that familiar voice pulled him back to reality. He looked up blankly at the source of the voice.

"Xiao Mengyin?"

……

Inside the room, Xiao Mengyin was sitting opposite Wang Zixu.

She lowered her head slightly, the small hat adorned with raven feathers casting a faint shadow on her pale cheeks. She stared intently at Prince Xu, her gaze complex and unreadable.

Hidden within the layers of lace skirt, slender fingers nervously intertwined.

"Do you know how I feel right now?" Xiao Mengyin's voice was filled with suppressed emotion. "It's like my own cute little dog happily ran out the door, only to turn around and find it messing around with several female dogs on the street."

Prince Xu looked puzzled: "Sorry, I don't quite understand..."

The metaphor is a bit too abstract—who is the puppy and who is the mother dog?
"I really didn't expect this..." Xiao Mengyin suddenly bit her lower lip, her previously maintained indifferent expression instantly collapsing. "How could you be the Little Prince? How could someone as rigid and boring as you be the Little Prince that young people revere as a love guru? The contrast is too great!"

Xiao Mengyin's words were somewhat offensive, but Wang Zixu was used to being offended and didn't care much. He just said sullenly, "I'm sorry, but I'm really sorry to disappoint you."

As Xiao Mengyin pondered this, she suddenly shivered:

"It's not disappointment, it's horror. It's like a middle-aged, balding man covered in sweat suddenly running up to you and saying sweet nothings. Ugh, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps."

Prince Xu subconsciously touched his back to make sure he wasn't sweating.

"Wait a minute," Xiao Mengyin suddenly remembered something, "Does Ning Chunyan know you're the Little Prince?"

“She doesn’t know.” Wang Zixu said solemnly, “This is also what I want to ask of you. My identity is currently known only to a few people. Please keep it a secret, including those people in the Wen’ai base.”

After listening, Xiao Mengyin glanced at him lightly, her fingers unconsciously twirling the lace ribbon: "What good would that do me?"

(End of this chapter)