Haters

A/N:

This is an edited chapter

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After forcing herself to sit through a two-hour lecture about 'writing', Xu Jiao slowly walked out along with the throng of students rushing to lunch at the cafeteria. She had gone to sleep past midnight yesterday, so it had taken a herculean effort on her part to keep her eyes open throughout the somewhat boring session— the hassle of relearning subjects you have studied before.

[Not that I worked too hard on them in my past life.] The boredom is more probably a psychological reaction since she doesn't even remember much of what she learned during those years.成

Just when Xu Jiao raised a hand to cover another yawn that threatened to escape, she heard the all too well-known voice calling out her name. Grimacing, she blinked back the tears and turned around with a distant smile gracing her lips; to her credit, Yu Min continued marching forward after faltering for a mere second or two.

"I tried to catch up with you at the hall but you already walked away– good thing you didn't walk that fast." Yu Min stuffed the file in her hand into her bag and looked up and smiled at her. "Do you have a lecture this evening?"

"... No" Xu Jiao didn't let her guardedness show in her voice; why is this person suddenly acting familiar after keeping her distance for weeks?

"Let's go to the library then! I'm going to do some research to find a project topic. You didn't find one yet, right? Jiao'er, we can brainstorm together to find good topics ne!"

Watching the way Yu Min twittered in her tender voice while looking sunny and joyful, she lowered her lashes and took two steps back.

"I already have a topic for the project." and greatly enjoyed the way the expression on the other girl's face changed while feeling outright vindictive. "And I already have something important to do this evening." She needs to catch up on last night's lost sleep.

"Ah, is-is that so?"

"Sorry." Xu Jiao smiled apologetically and turned back to walk away, aware of the other person following her after a slight pause.

[Tsk… what a bother!] This woman had first tried the ploy of distancing herself– she was more than welcoming of this, to be honest; it spared a lot of trouble on her part. The funniest thing had been the fact that Yu Min was probably expecting her to chase after her and apologize for a transgression she didn't even commit; like she always used to do in the past. When that didn't have the expected result, she had gone crying to Yang Jian to force her hand through him.

Now that she had realized none of it is working, she had gone back to pretending none of it ever happened and everything is alright between the two of them.

[You gave me this kind of wonderful opportunity to break myself off from you… Sis hasn't turned that stupid yet not to make use of this type of once-in-a-lifetime chance!] Or knowing Yu Min, she'd be like a leech that's difficult to pull off and would hang onto her for dear life once she realizes that Xu Jiao is trying to distance herself from her.

"Then… let's go have lunch together in the cafeteria? It's been quite some time since the two of us could have a good chat ne."

[This girl can be so shamelessly tenacious!]

"I promised a friend that I'd have lunch with her. Sorry, little Min– I can't go with you today."

"Friend?" If Xu Jiao hadn't been observing the other from the corner of her eyes all this while, she wouldn't have picked up on the disbelief that appeared on her face before it reverted back to the earlier cheerful expression. "That's good ah! Then you go quickly or you'll be late."

Long after Xu Jiao had disappeared from her view, Yu Min slowly blinked when she finally succeeded in extricating herself from the shocked surprise she had barely managed to conceal earlier. Hearing a light crackling noise she absentmindedly looked down to realize that she had squeezed the purse in her hand and quickly loosened her grip on it. This thing is too costly and she can't buy something of this caliber by saving and scrimping her own money– not yet anyway.

[Friend?]

"Min Min, what's wrong?" Tang Xuan's slightly loud voice drew her attention away from the article in her hand and looking up to see the other's worried eyes, Yu Min felt the irritation in her heart lessen a lot. She smiled at the other girl and pushed the purse into her bag.

"It's nothing… Let's go to the library after lunch then?"

***

It was late night and Xu Jiao was sitting at the large table in the small front room of their place with her eyes glued to the laptop screen when Wu Man suddenly placed the mug in her hand on the table with a bang. Startled out of her internal musings on how to best create the scene of her novel's MC putting the cocky and successful local bakery owner in his place, Xu Jiao looked at her friend questioningly.

"They are too much ah!" Wu Man was pointing at her laptop screen with not a little bit of irritation on her face. "They are saying it's lacking in romance and the story is not exciting and… look, someone is even saying that Su Wan is too cocky and self-assured for a female lead! I- I mean, are they for real!?"

[...]

"Ignore them." Xu Jiao sounded nonchalant while she started tapping on the keyboard; she got a good idea of how to write this conflict– it might come out excellently.

"Hey! You- you aren't even worried? They're discriminating! Imma rip them off real good!!"

Xu Jiao paused what she was doing to focus on her fuming roommate. "Are you fighting with them online?" Wu Man had the grace to blush, but then the embarrassed expression on her face turned defiant.

"But they're being unreasonable– I don't think they even read your book properly."

Xu Jiao sighed and shook her head and turned back to do the task at hand. "It's no use. You can't get rid of this type of people by fighting, they'll only come back with a vengeance."

Seeing how the other girl was looking crestfallen, she gentled her tone and explained further. "Haters are everywhere… and they would hate you no matter how well you write. Also, criticism is not bad… it can help me to improve my writing ne."

"Really?" Wu Man looked like someone kicked her puppy and Xu Jiao honestly didn't have the heart to enlighten her too much on the cruel ways of the world; she's still a bit too young and bit too innocent for that and anyway, mingling in this circle, she'll learn this harsh truth sooner or later. Understanding things little by little in this manner is also good.

"Look… because of the cover you made, it attracted a lot of fans and even the click-through rate also increased. So it's not a big deal if it manages to get the attention of one or two black fans along with a bunch of potential fans. There's no loss–" Seeing the other was still looking unconvinced, she pressed on without a pause.

"Everyone is praising the cover art and wondering who you are… it won't be long before my book gets more fans because of this and even you'd also become famous."

"Wha-what famous? Your book has lots of fans because of how well you write– if your fans are only attracted by my cover art, then what's the use in them?" Wu Man looked unconcerned, but the tell-tale blush on her ears betrayed her inner turmoil. Xu Jiao bit back a smile and focused on her writing; young people have such thin skin {1}.

But, what she said before was not a lie and the excellent novel cover that Wu Man made for her definitely attracted a lot of readers. Besides, it's not like she had never had any experience with black fans and criticism; the former– she doesn't have much care about it and as for the latter… she's more than willing to welcome those with open arms. And, she also had this vague hunch that it won't be long before she gets a contract from Xuri.

"Wu Man… thank you."

"It- it's not… I– It's nothing"

Xu Jiao couldn't finally contain the chuckle that escaped her mouth once she saw how the young girl's face turned a shade of red akin to that of a ripe tomato within seconds while she tried to stammer out at least one coherent sentence. "You should say, you're welcome."

"... Oh, shut up!"

What she didn't tell Wu Man was that an artwork receiving more criticism and haters means that it's on its way to reaching popularity– unless, of course, it's a hopelessly shoddy piece of work that even the most powerful and revered expert doesn't have any hope of recovering it to a somewhat presentable shape.

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Glossary:

01) Thin skin - Having a thin skin means that the person concerned is easily embarrassed