Huang Yifan's essay 'Random Thoughts No. 1: A Classroom Anecdote' had successfully drawn quite a bit of attention.
That same day, Youth Daily received hundreds of phone calls from students and their parents.
At the same time, because of the hot-button issue of "cram-style education," Youth Daily saw a modest boost in sales, over 50.000 additional copies sold.
For a relatively large publication like Youth Daily, an increase of 50.000 wasn't an earth-shattering spike. But the fact that a single article could generate such a noticeable boost said a lot about the power behind that piece.
The ever-sharp Sun Zai'an quickly sensed a business opportunity and immediately called a meeting to get the ball rolling.
Education is the foundation of a century-long undertaking. It has always been a top priority, not just in Huaguo, but globally.
As a topic, education touches everyone: students, parents, even people seemingly unrelated to schooling. It's always under scrutiny.
…
"'Random Thoughts'? It's not that great."
Teen author "Maple Leaf" stared at the second column of Youth Daily and scoffed.
He had just gotten a call from Editor-in-Chief Sun Zai'an, who told him to pay attention to an author named "Qiushui" and the essay he had written. Sun also said the next issue of Youth Daily would run an education special, inviting ten teen authors to contribute to the discussion. Maple Leaf, however, was unimpressed.
Who was this "Qiushui" anyway? Never heard of him before. And what kind of nonsense was he writing?
"Life is finite, knowledge is infinite", what a load of rubbish.
No way am I going to let that guy keep misleading people. I'm going to write an article and tear him apart.
…
"Looks like Chief Editor Sun is trying to promote this Qiushui guy. Well, sorry, not good enough."
Columnist "Chong Yu" furrowed his brow and sneered.
He used to be Youth Daily's star teen writer. But recently, after signing with New Moon Publishing, he'd been working on a coming-of-age novel called 'Blossom Youth'. For the past few issues, he had declined assignments from Youth Daily, citing his busy schedule.
But this time, Chong Yu decided to take a break from his new book and write a rebuttal piece aimed at Qiushui.
He wanted to remind Sun Zai'an who the real genius of Youth Daily was.
…
"Qiushui?"
Isn't that Huang Yifan's pen name?
Li Luozhi stared at the essay printed in Youth Daily, a bit surprised.
Still, despite her surprise, she didn't entirely agree with the content of the piece.
"Life is finite, but knowledge is infinite…" Sure, it sounded reasonable and even philosophical. But it struck her as too pessimistic. When it comes to learning, our attitude should be to study for life; as long as we're alive, we keep learning. How can you use the excuse of limited time to give up on gaining knowledge?
And the criticism of cram-style education? She found that unfair. Personally, she thought the current system worked fine; she had learned a lot in school. Those who struggled in class simply didn't want to learn. If they put in the effort, they'd improve. Just because Huang Yifan was a genius who didn't need to study much doesn't mean others could get away with that. If everyone stopped studying and reading, how would the world progress?
Li Luozhi had originally planned to spend her summer vacation studying, but after reading Huang Yifan's essay, she felt compelled to write her own response: "Learn As Long As You Live." She hoped her piece might serve as a gentle warning to him. More than anything, she didn't want him to waste his talent; he should be working harder.
…
Over the course of an entire day, Huang Yifan finished writing the first 20.000 characters of 'I'm Just a Scoundrel'.
He also roughly outlined the rest of the story. The next day, he logged back onto Feilong.
Just like yesterday, Feilong was buzzing with activity. Thanks to the public feud between Huang Yifan and Bird of Paradise, the platform had been consumed by their duel.
Some supported Bird of Paradise.
Others sided with The Number One White Under Heaven.
And of course, plenty didn't care either way; they were just here for the drama.
When he logged into TT, Huang Yifan already had over a dozen friend requests from other authors.
He accepted them all, and soon enough, his TT messenger was constantly pinging.
"Brother White, I want to take on your continuation task!"
"Brother White, let me do it! Let me write it!"
"Brother White, I even picked a pen name already. I can launch on Huanyue today and crush Bird of Paradise!"
Several authors messaged him privately, and Huang Yifan started to feel a headache coming on.
He only had one story opening, but so many people wanted to continue it, who should he pick?
With no better solution, he created a TT group chat called "Cabbage Group" and invited all the interested authors to join.
"Everyone, sorry, but there's only one story beginning, and only one continuation slot. Too many people want it, and I honestly don't know who to give it to."
In the group chat, Huang Yifan explained.
"Pick me, Brother White! I'm your biggest fan!"
"Screw off, I'm the real die-hard. Give it to me."
"Get out of here. Real fans call him White Boss. You guys don't even know the difference between Brother White and Da Bai."
"Damn it, stop fighting. Let's hear what Brother White has to say."
As soon as he spoke, the group chat exploded. It took a while for things to calm down.
"Alright, let me talk."
Seeing everyone finally settle down, Huang Yifan continued, "As I said in the forum post, I have no special requirements for whoever takes over. As long as you can express yourself clearly or know how to tell a good story, you can do it. But, as you can see, there are too many interested people, and I don't know who's the best fit. So let's get to know each other a bit. After all, if the writing style doesn't match, it'll just be awkward. Everyone, tell me a little about your writing style, and I'll decide after considering everything."
Liuxing: "Good point, Brother White. I'll go first. I'm a failed author, wrote all sorts of genres, but every book flopped. I don't know why, but I just love writing novels. My style is mostly comedic. That's it."
Peach: "Brother White, I'll go next. I specialize in school life stories."
Jiangshan: "Brother White, I'm next. I like writing urban fantasy. My writing style is very noob-style; lots of people have told me my writing is too simple. I used to feel discouraged and thought I wasn't cut out to be an author. But after reading 'Bad Guy', I realized that even my writing could work. I even entered the noob-style writing contest on Lingdian. Sadly, no one really read my submission."
After over a dozen authors introduced themselves, Huang Yifan more or less had a clear picture.
In the end, he chose the author who wrote urban fantasy, Jiangshan.
"Everyone, after hearing your intros, I feel Jiangshan is the best fit for this continuation project. But don't feel discouraged. The reason I created this group wasn't just to recruit a co-author; I wanted to build a space where we could all share ideas and grow together. I hope this becomes a place where we can all support each other and, someday, become top-tier authors."
"That's awesome! Brother White, will you stop by and share writing tips?"
"Of course."
"Yesss! Brother White, I love you. Jiangshan, we won't fight you for it anymore, but you better not mess this up. If you do, we'll come for you."
"Thanks, everyone. I'll do my best to make this story great!"
…
After settling on Jiangshan, Huang Yifan messaged him privately.
"Jiangshan, here's the opening 20.000 words I wrote, plus a 1.000-word outline. I've also included some thoughts on writing noob-style fiction; it might be a little rough, but take a look. If you run into any issues, feel free to ask. One more thing, this story might have started as part of my feud with Bird of Paradise, but don't take it too seriously. Don't rush it. I'm not expecting a blockbuster; if we can just get it published, that's enough."
"Brother White… but what if I lose? I'm scared I'll embarrass you."
"So what if you lose? If you learn something from writing this book, that's enough. Win or lose, it doesn't matter. Victory and defeat are part of the game; nothing is embarrassing about it."
"Thank you, Brother White. I finally understand how you could write something like 'The world slanders me.' With your attitude, it's no wonder your stories succeed."
"You're welcome. I believe you'll succeed too."
"Thanks, Brother White. I'm heading to Huanyue to launch the novel now."
"Go for it. Good luck."
And with that, their conversation ended. A new novel called 'I'm Just a Scoundrel' officially launched on Huanyue.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Bird of Paradise's new book 'Urban Super God' had also just crossed 20.000 characters.
Two novels.
A head-on collision was just around the corner.
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