I can't find any inspiration

Little panda: Whyyyy?

I'm an immortal fairy: What happened suddenly? Why this sudden break?

Little plum sapling: Ah! Ah! Ah! Little roll, you can't do this! I was waiting for another overbearing president or school grass to fall domineeringly in love!!! *cries*

I'm dirt poor: Didn't banana roll says she needs to focus on her studies, so she needs to go on hiatus? Maybe she'll come back later?

Little plum sapling: Upstairs person, what do you know? Usually, when an author announces something like this, they don't return!! *cry cry*

Little panda: Wah! Wah! Wah!

Curiously watching as wails and complaints filled the comment area of the web page, Xu Jiao felt a hard-to-describe feeling take shape in her heart; slight amusement mixed with an indescribable sour feeling tinged with this tiniest bit of disappointment. It left her feeling drained, finally prompting her to exit the account under the name 'Sweetest banana roll' displayed on the web page titled "Caihong online novel platform" in bold lettering.

[Anyway, I don't want to go down the same path as last time.] she thought rather despondently, her eyes looking blank when staring at the screen of the old laptop.

Caihong had been the web novel platform to which she had been contracted in her last life. Sometimes, Xu Jiao honestly doesn't know what to think, when thinking back about her time there. After all, it had been Caihong that allowed her to gain a firm foothold in the web novel writing industry as a somewhat well-known author, but it also had played a huge part in her ultimate downfall and ensuing death.

[Anyway, their pay isn't much, especially for a beginner. And I need more money.]

She knew she was trying to alleviate the slight feeling of guilt inside her heart by thinking like this, but who told her to be a writer on this platform for nearly two decades. Old sentiments tend to die a slow death, and she had always been a sentimental person.

[Anyway, I also brought them a lot of revenue during all that time… So, so there probably isn't any debt between us, right? So, this fate between Caihong and myself… let it end here. That's for the best.]

Interrupted from her train of thoughts by the ringing of her phone, Xu Jiao picked up the phone to take a look and saw the caller's name displayed on the screen, her lips curling up into a slight sneer.

"Hello brother Liu"

"Xu Jiao, for god's sake, what do you think you are doing? How can you suddenly decide something like that without telling me first?" Listening to the complaints of the man on the other end of the phone, her face turned increasingly blank, resembling that of a beautiful porcelain doll.

"Do you know how troublesome it is? Can you just up and leave like that? And…what's with this shitty excuse of needing to focus on your studies?"

"..."

"Hey, say something!" Feeling the other party nearing the end of his patient, Xu Jiao finally opened her mouth to speak in an ever so polite tone, while her face still displayed that peculiar blank expression.

"But my contract expired last month."

"..."

"And I didn't lie… I really can't find any inspiration to write. So, I better just focus on my studies."

Editor Liu aka brother Liu -as the authors under his management liked to address him- or simply Liu Dong as his colleague would address him, stared at the statistics displayed on his laptop screen, a feeling of exasperation filling his heart. This kid has quite some potential in writing, although her story ideas are not much to talk about; they just follow the popular trend after all. What was good about her was her writing style.

Yet, unfortunately, she pocessed a cowardly disposition, always shrinking back and acting timid, unwilling to even meet her fans; truly unpleasant. If not for her talent in writing, he wouldn't have bothered too much about her anyway.

"Brother Liu.."

"Ah…" Hearing the hesitant voice of the other party, Liu Dong could sense a weird feeling overtaking his heart. Was he just imagining it or had this brat sounded authoritative when talking earlier?

[Probably just my imagination!] He cleared his throat, ignoring that feeling which seemed to scream that something was wrong.

"Well… If it's like this, I suppose what you did was… right?"

[Why did I sound so weak and unsure?]

"Yes" Xu Jiao replied and after a little pause, continued speaking. "Maybe I can start writing later once I get more ideas… Also, about the platform's side…"

"It's fine… I'll take care of it all"

After finishing the call, Liu Dong stared at the darkened screen of his phone in bewilderment. This wasn't what he was going to talk about with this girl, right? He was going to reprimand her harshly at first and after that coax her into signing the contract with Caihong again; the usual carrot and stick ploy. So, how did he end up promising to settle the matters with the platform on her behalf?

[Well… it's not too bad, right? Anyway, if she can't write well, it'll only be bad for me after all.]

Consoling himself with this kind of thoughts, he pushed this matter to the back of his mind. There are more important things for him to do than worry about a single author under him.

***

[That went easier than I thought.]

Xu Jiao threw her phone onto the bed and quickly opened a new tab on her web interface, and patiently waited for the page to finish loading. The coverage in her rural home village is quite pathetic, especially during a time period where internet usage was still on the low side, not to mention her laptop is nearly a relic; the combination of these two factors can drive someone particularly nuts.

Finally seeing the web page titled Xuri has finished loading, her expression visibly brightened, and quickly went on to create an account under the name "Sticky osmanthus cake". After all, Xu Jiao had long since realized that she isn't that fond of banana rolls anymore.

Regardless of everything, Xuri would give her what she wanted; both in terms of money and exposure. It's especially so since Xuri had always tried hard to focus more on developing their novel section -without much success at that though-, not to mention the fact that it would reach a bigger height than Caihong in the future.

Considering her situation and everything else, it's after all the best choice for her at this moment. Not only would it allow her to develop her work in a totally different direction, but it'll end up providing everything else she needs in the future as well. After all, she had quite the confidence in her writing abilities.

So… Xuri it is then!

#####

A/N:

This is an edited chapter.