Wen Ziyin: Provocation

After a moment of darkness, Xia Yu saw the still somewhat unfamiliar desk.

Wen Ziying was still in her rural hometown.

On the desk lay a stack of manuscript paper, on which only the four characters "Lost Road" were written.

This should be the title.

"What kind of story are you preparing to write?" Xia Yu asked.

He had thought that Wen Ziying was preparing to write another romance story that she was good at, but her answer surprised him.

Wen Ziying said, "A story of five people who took a shortcut and found that they couldn't get out no matter how they walked. They entered the woods next to them intending to pass through directly, but were attacked by monsters."

"Horror?" Xia Yu was amazed.

"Yep." Wen Ziying spoke calmly, not seeming to be joking.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Yu asked, "Is it a story of a male and female lead who were originally on the verge of breaking up, but deepened their feelings through numerous crises, and eventually escaped and reconciled?"

This was a very clichéd plot, but most best-selling novels and movies follow such a pattern.

"The first part is correct, but not the latter." Wen Ziying laughed a little, "The two couples slowly reconcile, but they all die."

Wen Ziying continued with excitement in her words: "I will write more subtly, about a couple who only care about each other and a couple with a spirit of universal love, as well as another ordinary single man."

Xia Yu pondered for a moment, guessing some of Wen Ziying's intentions.

Indeed, what Wen Ziying said was similar to what he had thought.

Wen Ziying said: "At the beginning of the story, readers will think that I am writing about mutual understanding, and the two couples will definitely survive. In the middle of the story, the couple who only loved each other dies. Readers will think that I am writing about the theme of universal love and that the couple with universal love will definitely survive. But in the end, the couple with universal love dies out of pity for the monster, and only the ordinary single man survives!"

"Although it feels great from the author's perspective, it seems a bit abusive to the reader." Xia Yu gently reminded Wen Ziying that writing like this might lead to failure.

"It doesn't matter, as long as I'm happy." Wen Ziying's words seemed to not care at all, but Xia Yu sensed some panic from the young girl.

It seemed that she still cared about the sales of her book. After all, last time she was so hurt just by being slightly criticized by a reader.

With nothing else to do, Xia Yu stood up, strolling around and admiring the scenery.

It was already close to four in the afternoon, and the sun had long lost its warmth at noon. The countryside was even colder.

As Xia Yu was thinking about whether he could start a fire in the woods behind him to play, Wen Ziying said to him, "Can you go to the city and get something for me?"

"Sure." Xia Yu quickly agreed, as he was just worrying about what he should do.

After taking the bus to the city and then a taxi, Xia Yu arrived at Wen Ziying's former residence when it was already completely dark.

Taking money from Wen Ziying's pocket to pay, Xia Yu got out of the car and walked into the building.

Upon opening the door, Xia Yu, under Wen Ziying's instructions, took a stack of manuscript paper from the drawer.

Xia Yu glanced at the paper, which was the script of the love story that Wen Ziying had prepared despite her stubbornness. It was the story of the previous thug and the prison warden's wife. Xia Yu flipped through the pages, noticing that there were many more plots written down.

"When did you write this?" Xia Yu asked in surprise, unable to think of when Wen Ziying could have had the time to write this unless she had been working on it prior to rushing her other deadline.

Wen Ziying's voice didn't come for a while. Xia Yu shifted his focus from the paper, sensing her emotions. At this moment, Wen Ziying seemed… a bit scared?

Everything had been fine when she mentioned the script earlier, so why was she suddenly scared now? Xia Yu glanced at the blue envelope on the desk, which was most likely the letter from the pen pal that caused her to hide in the countryside out of frustration.

Before Xia Yu could ask, Wen Ziying's emotions returned to normal.

"What's wrong?" Xia Yu didn't directly ask, as Wen Ziying didn't know that he could sense her emotions.

"Nothing," Wen Ziying's voice was a bit low.

There must be some issues. Xia Yu had felt before that Wen Ziying hiding in the countryside was a bit of an overreaction, considering that writers having stress was normal, but her ability to handle pressure was usually much stronger.

He remembered the information Yu Mengyao had obtained from Wen Ziying's former neighbor. The neighbor said that he sometimes heard faint crying. The clue about crying could point to various problems, such as poverty, weakness, or stupidity, and Xia Yu couldn't determine anything valuable from it.

Could it be that Wen Ziying was a perfectionist, and her mentality would collapse even if one of her books was slightly criticized? While Xia Yu was guessing, he put the script in the folder and left the room.

When he arrived at the entrance, he was about to raise his hand to flag down a taxi when he suddenly heard Wen Ziying say, "Be careful, the person coming from your right is the one who sent me that letter blaming me for the failure of 'White Swan'."

After the failure of "White Swan" TV series, Bao Huijia had blamed Wen Ziying. Xia Yu had helped her clarify the situation later. Before the clarification, Wen Ziying had received a letter of accusation. Xia Yu had guessed at the time that the letter was written by Wen Ziying's neighbor, and it seemed he was correct.

Seeing the man with a tall and sturdy stature approaching quickly, Xia Yu asked Wen Ziying, "What's the situation with him?"

"Later, he sent me another letter, and I caught him," Wen Ziying explained, "He didn't apologize, but he felt that I had used my influence in the industry to blame Bao Huijia, and that what Bao Huijia said was true."

Hearing this, Xia Yu took another closer look at the man. The man had thick eyebrows and large eyes, but he turned out to be a brainless fan. The man soon reached Xia Yu and stood in front of him, glaring at Xia Yu.

Wen Ziying was shorter than the man, so Xia Yu had to look up to meet the man's gaze without appearing weak, which was quite troublesome.

"What do you want?" Xia Yu asked impatiently.

"Do you have anything to say to Bao Huijia?" The man asked confidently.

"I don't have much to say to Bao Huijia, but I do have something for you." Xia Yu replied.

The man was a bit surprised, and also curious, but he quickly adjusted his mentality.

He crossed his arms, straightened his back, and looked down at Xia Yu: "What?"

"Sand sculpture." Xia Yu answered with a smile.

"What?" The man couldn't believe his ears.

"A sand sculpture without ears." Xia Yu provoked again.

The man's face flushed red.