Chapter 96: Hello, My Name is Zhao Yuyan
Chen Xi and Yu Linna sat and talked for a long time. Even Chen Xi herself didn’t expect she could talk for so long, mainly because she found Yu Linna’s many viewpoints aligned with hers. Regarding the understanding of stories, regarding the current problems in the novel industry, she had her own set of insights. Gradually, Chen Xi couldn’t stop.
“The current novel industry seems very developed, but it’s actually just a false prosperity. You can see there haven’t been many decent works in recent years. Even the older generation of authors are resting on their laurels, while innovative works are often buried in the market.”
“That’s true. As a reader, I still hope to see interesting stories. Many stories now are copied from a template; the beginnings are too similar. But doing so is indeed very stable.”
“In the years I’ve worked, I haven’t found many truly outstanding authors. Although there are excellent ones, compared to the past, they are somewhat lacking.”
Chen Xi felt her mouth dry from talking, picked up her teacup, and drank. Since she started talking, the tea in the teapot was almost finished by her.
When talking about problems in her profession, she just couldn’t stop. Perhaps she herself didn’t expect that Yu Linna could actually talk with her for so long.
Indeed, Yu Linna only had a beautiful appearance. Putting her on stage yielded no outstanding performance, and her acting lacked any spark. But… regarding stories, characters, novels, she seemed to have unique insights.
Although she herself said she was just a reader, it could be seen that the logic in her mind was very clear. She had clear ideas about commercialized stories and could predict the direction of the story. She also had her own thoughts on how to create conflict, clashes, and climaxes in a story.
She also pointed out a problem: the current homogenization of stories was too severe. Many things were clichés, yet people still used them. Because only routines were the most stable and least likely to fail, but this also resulted in the loss of a large number of innovative talents.
She hadn’t expected this little kid to understand this. Who knew she could actually express her own views?
It seemed Yu Linna wasn’t really useless after all.
Even… she might have her own talents in other areas.
Just that she herself hadn’t discovered them.
But Chen Xi couldn’t judge for sure either. After all, Yu Linna had never been involved in the novel industry. Her insights just now were only from a reader’s perspective.
She couldn’t possibly become a second Teacher Kongqi.
But based on Chen Xi’s experience in scouting authors, she felt there might really be such luck this time.
“Miss Yu, are you free?”
“Nothing much to do for now. What’s up?”
“I’m going to visit Teacher Kongqi’s home later. Can you accompany me?”
“Why me?”
“I happen to need someone to help me. If you help me, I’ll treat you to a meal.”
“…Okay.”
Putting on warm clothes and tying her scarf, Yu Linna went out with Chen Xi. She would never admit she was swayed by that meal.
But it was really cold outside, cold enough to make her tremble. This weather was actually most suitable for snuggling in bed for warmth, but for that free meal, she endured it. Just one day is fine. One day could exchange for delicious white cut chicken and braised pork.
Chen Xi had a private car; she drove her there. Chen Xi had been an editor for several years, scouting many talents. This time, her intuition told her she might have a harvest. Although not very certain, and it might just be drawing water with a bamboo basket (futile effort), one had to try everything. Maybe there really would be a harvest.
Yu Linna, this girl whom she considered malleable talent from their first meeting. Although later Chen Xi thought this person wasn’t talented, once regarding her as just a pretty face, today, she seemed to discover this pretty face possessed something others didn’t.
Indeed, in terms of stage experience, she was inferior to Nangong Ying. In terms of video interestingness, she was inferior to Fang Jianing. In terms of business means, she was even more inferior to Ye Zhiyun.
But it didn’t mean she was truly useless.
She just hadn’t shown it in certain aspects.
Perhaps she just hadn’t been placed in the right place.
Chen Xi drove to a studio apartment building. The apartment looked ordinary from the outside, not luxurious at all, far worse than where Ye Zhiyun lived.
“We’re here.”
Teacher Kongqi’s real name was Zhao Yuyan, a 19-year-old girl. When she heard the doorbell, she had to quit her game and opened the door with a helpless expression. She guessed who came to visit her.
“Hello, Sister Chen… Eh? This child is?”
Zhao Yuyan looked at the short, blonde girl appearing at the door and asked puzzledly.
She remembered the blonde girl she met when she went out for food that day, the girl who left a deep impression. The figure in her memory overlapped with the person in front of her. So it was that cute girl she met that day. What a small world.
“Her name is Yu Linna. She’s my… um, cousin.”
Why do you lie without drafting? Your eyes look so strange too. It’s obviously fake, okay? You’re still pretending, keep pretending!
Yu Linna had a pile of complaints in her heart but held them back.
Zhao Yuyan wasn’t stupid. How could this blonde girl possibly be related to Chen Xi? After all, Yu Linna’s appearance was clearly mixed-race, completely different from Chen Xi, who was 100% Asian. How could there be a blood relationship?
“Please come in. Hello, my name is Zhao Yuyan, pen name Kongqi. I’m the author edited by Sister Chen.”
Zhao Yuyan smiled slightly and opened the door for them to enter. From the first glance at this blonde girl, she had a good impression of her. Girls all like cute things. A species as small and kawaii as Yu Linna, who wouldn’t like?
The place Zhao Yuyan lived wasn’t very large, nor luxurious, just right. Furniture and everything were complete, cabinets, desks, all there, just not that pretty.
“My humble abode has nothing much to offer. Please sit down.”
Zhao Yuyan went to make tea, preparing to serve the guests. It seemed her home hadn’t had guests for a long time. Chen Xi often came to her place; she habitually classified her outside the category of guests. And Yu Linna was the first guest to her home in these few months.
Yu Linna was indeed very beautiful. Soft facial lines, exquisite features, especially those beautiful big eyes, captivating like they could speak. Those long eyelashes added a trace of charm.
The people who gave birth to this child must also be incredibly handsome men and beautiful women.
“Teacher Kongqi, I came looking for you this time to tell you, I got you a slot for publishing a short story. Regarding the manuscript, do you have any ideas?”
Chen Xi sat down and directly talked about work matters, not beating around the bush at all. And Yu Linna just sat on the sofa, doing nothing.
“Well, I thought of a story last night. It’s about a girl who picks up trash. What do you think?”
“You want to write a shojo theme?”
“No, I want to write about a boy who accidentally picks up a trash-picking girl, takes her in to live at his place, leading to a series of interesting stories.”
“Teacher Kongqi, writing like this is equivalent to writing a long novel. Your beginning, it’s hard to expand your content in just one short book.”
Zhao Yuyan fell silent for a moment, scratched her head, seemingly pondering something.
“Got it! I’ll write it into a heartwarming story. Just write about the daily life of the boy and girl living together. The girl gradually develops feelings for the boy during their time together. This should be good.”
“Changing it like this is quite good. With fewer characters, the length should be sufficient. By the way, what kind of female protagonist do you plan to write?”
“The female protagonist’s final identity is actually a young lady who ran away from home. Because she wanted to escape the family’s arranged marriage, she left home, met the male protagonist, and the two fell in love.”
“Ojou-sama again…”
Even Chen Xi couldn’t help but complain.
Zhao Yuyan had written so many books, several short stories, one long novel, all featuring an ojou-sama as the female lead, just different types. Like a venomous ojou-sama, a well-mannered ojou-sama, a tsundere ojou-sama. She really liked ojou-samas.
No wonder fans jokingly called her Ojou-sama Kongqi.
“This story is quite good.”
Yu Linna, silent for a long time, finally spoke up.
“Although the story is a bit cliché, who doesn’t like heartwarming stories? Healing stories often easily attract people. If such a story can attract more people, it might even become a long serial.”
Zhao Yuyan just looked at her, seemingly wanting to see through her.
“Oh, sorry, this is your work time…”
Realizing she had spoken too much, Yu Linna quickly shut her mouth, saying no more.
“It’s okay, you can continue talking. Tell me, if it were you, how would you create conflict in this story?”
Chen Xi grabbed her shoulder, hoping she could express her views.
Although puzzled, Yu Linna still thought seriously for a moment.
“If it were me, I’d probably shape the female protagonist into a tennen (naturally clumsy/airheaded) girl. If the male protagonist is a boy with high emotional intelligence, the story would be very interesting. After all, a young lady running away from home to pick up trash feels too cliché. If the young lady is actually a very clumsy girl, a very natural girl, encountering a boy with high emotional intelligence, maybe it could produce a very interesting chemical reaction.”
“Hey, writing like this, wouldn’t it become a story about a scumbag and a pure girl…”
Zhao Yuyan complained speechlessly. She would never write such a messy story; it would attract too much hatred.
But in Chen Xi’s view, this was a very good proposal. At least, she successfully attracted others.
There were so many routines in the market. Suddenly coming up with an anti-routine, catching people off guard, was indeed a very good idea.
At first, she was still skeptical. Now, she could be sure.
Yu Linna, her body contained energy she herself didn’t know.
Her talent was far stronger than she appeared. Her thinking was very clear, she had ideas on how to create interesting conflicts, and even, she could immediately create likable characters.
Yu Linna might be a natural novelist.
She could create many worlds others couldn’t imagine.
“Miss Yu, could you tell me more about your thoughts? I really want to know how you would create conflict and suspense, how you would attract me.”
Chen Xi had a premonition: a new era was coming.
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