Our generation was born through times of troubles, rushed by age as we step into society.
Dreams of greatness and talks of wonders, nothing compared to a drunken night!
That poem was advertised at full force by the website. They had to do it as that was the only poem that their online literature community had produced!
It was unavoidable for things to be exaggerated during the advertising, resulting in them bestowing Ye Lingchen the title of literary genius.
Below that was an endless stream of comments.
[I love Celestial Bane, I support Celestial Bane!]
[I see a lot of money. This author is getting rich!]
[F*ck! I lived to see the legendary feat of being inducted with a single novel. Is the author really a rookie?]
[So much money. Is the author planning to donate some for charity?]
The comments came from all sorts of readers. Nonetheless, Yuewen’s advertisement was not limited to its own website. That same article was similarly published on other websites, including literary blogs.
It was the rock that caused the tidal wave!
Online novels were looked down upon as uncultured and the article was naturally attacked by those blogs. Of course, it was mostly out of jealousy.
[F*ck! This world is going nuts. How can trash like this earn so much money?]
[I poured my heart and soul into my work and nobody would even read it for free. Why would idiots pay to read such uncultured work? This world is weird and beyond saving!]
[I strongly suggest we ban this! This is not worthy of being called literature. This is an insult to literature and must be banned!]
[This is some dirty money! I demand for them to be distributed. He must be a criminal!]
[Literary genius? Blech! Uncultured swine!]
[Just two lines of a crappy poem and they dare make such a big deal out of it. Does that mean that his pride will be off the charts if he wrote a few more lines?]
[It’s just a motivational poem. Moreover, the tone is unbearably insolent. Trash!]
[I strongly suggest that we ban this author. Better yet, ban the site altogether. This is an insult to literature. This is poison!]
…
Ye Lingchen read through each comment and could not help but shake his head before logging off.
As the ancient saying went, scholars would look down on each other.
Especially with the “online” label of online literature, it had always been looked down upon by others. The traditional literature community had always despised the online literature community, therefore, when they saw that online literature could earn such a big sum of money, they were naturally jealous. That was to be expected.
Furthermore, traditional literature was being ignored. Their writers had difficulty keeping food on the table. With such an extreme difference, it was only natural for online literature to be the target of envy.
However, such people would look to themselves for the reason. They thought highly of themselves and spewed criticism before even attempting to read Celestial Bane. It was truly disappointing.
No matter the work, it was only considered quality work when it received the recognition of the public. Self-evaluation meant nothing.
Ye Lingchen could not be bothered to compete with them, neither did he had the time to do so. He proceeded to continue his writing.
By the time he finished the 10 thousand words, it was already late in the evening. After uploading, Ye Lingchen stretched a little and went downstairs.
Just as he went down, his brows turned into a slight frown. Miyako was sitting comfortably on the sofa watching TV while clunking sounds came from the kitchen. It was Zhang Yunxi making dinner in the kitchen.
“Lingchen, there you are. It’s about time for dinner,” Zhang Yunxi shouted from the kitchen.
“Alright.” Ye Lingchen nodded, then turned to glare at Miyako. “Who let you on the sofa?”
A look of fear flitted across Miyako’s eyes, but she managed a huff, saying, “I’ve already cleaned the house. What else do you expect me to do?”
“What kind of maid lazes away as her master toils? You sure know how to enjoy yourself.” Ye Lingchen stared at Miyako. “From now on, work harder. If your master is working, you have to go help out. Go learn online on how to be a qualified maid, or I’ll discipline you again!”
“Maid?”
Zhang Yunxi was bringing out the dishes from the kitchen as she gave a weird look at Ye Lingchen, then looked towards Miyako in her maid uniform.
At first, she thought this was Ye Lingchen’s girlfriend that he brought home. She assumed that they were roleplaying and was even a little saddened.
She did not expect such a beautiful girl to be a maid.
“Yunxi, Miyako is a nanny that I’ve hired. If you’ve any laborious or dirty work, just have her do it. Don’t hold back,” Ye Lingchen informed her.
“That doesn’t seem to be so nice?” Zhang Yunxi was feeling a little embarrassed.
“Yunxi, you mustn’t be shy. I won this with my life on the line.” Ye Lingchen then retold the story of his bet with Miyako with embellishments. He left out some of the sensitive issues and focused mostly on his contract with Miyako.
“Who knows how many families she has destroyed. I keep her nearby to prevent her from hurting others. Furthermore, if not for me winning by chance, I’d be her slave instead, most likely scrubbing some toilets now!”
Ye Lingchen said it in all seriousness, causing Zhang Yunxi to feel her heart being gripped by fear.
After such an introduction, Zhang Yunxi’s gaze towards Miyako changed. The sympathy in her eyes slowly dissipated.
She did not care much about the other matters, but to have almost enslaved Ye Lingchen, she dared not imagine the consequences.
“Come here.” Ye Lingchen waved at Miyako.
Miyako gritted her teeth and glared at Ye Lingchen before she hesitantly approached.
“From now on, when we dine, you’ll stand there and serve us,” Ye Lingchen ordered calmly in a bossy manner.
“Are you kidding me?” Miyako was stunned, then shot a cold glare at Ye Lingchen. “How dare you! I’d rather die than suffer this kind of humiliation!”
“Hehe, that’s what you said earlier.” Ye Lingchen raised his palm and looked at Miyako teasingly, causing the color to drain from her face.
“You!” Miyako was trembling in fury, feeling angry and afraid at the same time.
At that moment, she wished to rewind time. If she had the choice, she would never agree to gamble against Ye Lingchen.
“Calm down,” Ye Lingchen said calmly with a smile on his face. “If your performance improves, I’ll consider raising your status slowly. Who knows, I might even let you free.”
“Are you serious?” Miyako’s beautiful eyes stared straight at Ye Lingchen.
“Of course!” Ye Lingchen nodded earnestly.
“Deal!” Miyako took a deep breath, then added, “I can keep you satisfied in terms of your daily lifestyle, but you better not have any dirty thoughts. I’ll rather die than submit!”
“That I can guarantee. Your appeal is insufficient to seduce me,” Ye Lingchen replied.
Miyako harrumphed, then picked up the chopsticks and stood beside him, asking softly, “What would you like to eat?”
“Go get me a bowl of rice first,” Ye Lingchen said. Although Miyako’s attitude was lacking, it can’t be rushed. It must be cultivated gradually.
Miyako delivered the rice to Ye Lingchen with a face devoid of expression.
Ye Lingchen nodded satisfactorily, then added, “Very good. Now go get me a bowl of soup.”
…
