Drunk on Beauty

Li Ye ultimately chose "Latent" as his trial work to enter the 1980s novel circle.

After all, "Battle Through the Heavens" was truly too avant-garde. If it were submitted to a Hong Kong publisher back then, it might have been "received as a treasure," but in the Great Heavenly Dynasty, which had just begun to feel the spring breeze, it was still a bit too unconventional.

One must remember that even a classic work like "The Ordinary World" faced significant opposition during its award evaluations because it was deemed to have the suspicion of being an "Addictive Novel."

"Addictive Novels" were truly not well-received in the cultural sphere at this moment.

If Li Ye were an established author, it might have been a different story, but as a complete newcomer without any reputation, they might have just returned his manuscript directly.

After Li Ye decided on his target, he began to outline and draft on paper, then activated his memories from his previous life, and started writing a detailed outline based on the content of the TV series.

The original novel of "Latent" was a short story, only about ten to twenty thousand characters long, with only five main characters. In terms of excitement, it was not as good as the adapted TV drama version.

Therefore, Li Ye needed to transform the content of the TV series into chapter-by-chapter text plots, which was considered "somewhat difficult."

At this moment, Li Ye was very fortunate. He had read extensively in his previous life and had even tried writing web novels, so he didn't encounter any major obstacles during the process of transformation and replication. Instead, he felt the exhilaration of writing as if divinely inspired.

[Yu Zecheng gifts Station Chief Wu, designs to frame Li Ya, and Left Blue sacrifices]

As Li Ye was fluently writing his outline, he vaguely felt a sense of being "watched."

He turned his head and met the eyes of Wen Leyu, who had stretched out her neck and was cautiously peeking at his writing.

Seeing that Li Ye had noticed her, Wen Leyu did not retract as quickly as lightning like last time. Instead, she smiled brightly, with a hint of shyness.

After helping each other during this period, the two were no longer strangers. They were developing a trend towards becoming like best friends or close buddies, so they naturally weren't as embarrassed.

Wen Leyu looked at Li Ye's densely written outline and asked, "What are you writing?"

Li Ye thought for a moment and wrote on a piece of paper, "I'm writing a novel."

"."

Wen Leyu, who had been a curious baby just moments ago, instantly turned into a bewildered cat.

Her large eyes stared at Li Ye without blinking, her small mouth forming an 'O' shape that didn't close for a long time.

She had lived in a complex environment for eighteen years, and she considered herself to have seen countless people and events. She had never seen someone so... confident.

Wen Leyu thought for a moment, took out a piece of paper, and wrote a passage very seriously.

[Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Don't be inferior because of the flashes of brilliance in others. Look more at yourself, and you will discover many, many stars that they do not possess.]

After finishing writing, Wen Leyu nudged Li Ye's arm with her elbow, signaling him to look at her note.

Li Ye, who had been writing furiously, turned his head and looked at the short message with surprise. Unconsciously, a warm sense of contentment flowed through his heart.

Li Ye took the note and wrote his reply below Wen Leyu's words.

[I have no connection with Lu Jingyao, and I will never have any connection with her in this life, so please don't misunderstand me anymore.]

Wen Leyu stretched her small head and watched Li Ye finish writing his answer. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she casually picked up Li Ye's pen.

She wrote on the paper: [What if Lu Jingyao comes back to look for you?]

Li Ye replied instantly: [Tell her to get lost.]

"."

Wen Leyu looked at Li Ye calmly. After a long while, a smile slowly appeared on her palm-sized face, gradually blooming.

Li Ye was actually mesmerized.

There are always some people who hide an intoxicating beauty. Wen Leyu's smile was like a blooming peony.

You thought the outer petals were already beautiful enough, but in the next moment, the even more stunning pistils and stamens were just revealing their true appearance.

Hao Jian's efficiency was very high. Four days after Li Ye gave him five yuan, he found Li Ye at County Second High School.

"I spent two days in the provincial capital and found some... partners as you said.

Some of them are very willing to wholesale malt candy from us, but the quantities aren't large. Others are difficult to deal with, requiring consignment sales on credit."

"We don't do credit sales," Li Ye waved his hand. "Don't think that small quantities aren't worth anything.

Start small, get to know these people's backgrounds, and determine who you can cooperate with long-term and who you must guard against and stay away from."

"I understand that,"

Hao Jian nodded. "I'm quite good at judging people. I knew you were a good person from the start."

Li Ye: "."

[You probably thought I was a gullible fool back then, didn't you?]

Li Ye didn't expose Hao Jian's flattery and took out fifty yuan from his pocket.

Hao Jian's eyes lit up, comparable to a hundred-watt light bulb.

In Qingshui County at this time, the betrothal gift for marrying a young lady started at forty yuan, with at most two sets of clothes made from fabric, which were still bought and made by oneself. Fifty yuan was truly a "large sum of money."

Li Ye gave the money to Hao Jian and said, "Keep the money safe, I'll take you to meet someone."

Hao Jian carefully took the money and put it into the inner pocket of his vest. He asked casually, "Meet whom? Your director's relative?"

"No, a brother who practices martial arts. He'll help you out from now on."

"A brother who practices martial arts?"

Hao Jian's brisk footsteps clearly paused, then he whispered, "With our small operation, adding another person won't be very profitable."

"You don't need to worry about that. Just do as I say."

Li Ye glanced back at Hao Jian, a half-smile on his face, and said, "What, you think I'm just taking a share without doing any work?"

Hao Jian immediately shook his head and said firmly, "How could that be! You're providing the capital, so you get to call the shots. You're the boss, and I'm just the manager."

It had to be said, Hao Jian was a smart man of this era, immediately finding his correct position.

Li Ye provided the capital, and Li Ye covered the connections in town. Even if you were Sun Wukong, you'd have to obediently wear the Golden Fillet and lead the horse to work for your master.

Li Ye brought Hao Jian to a slum area in the north of the city. Following his vague memories, they wound their way through several turns before finding a dilapidated small courtyard.

In his memory, this courtyard was home to one of Li Ye's "senior brothers." He had practiced martial arts with his grandfather for a few days when he was fifteen.

Later, he went to the countryside and then returned to the city, but he never broke contact. He would visit the Li family during holidays to pay his respects to the elder Mr. Li.

However, this kid wasn't very obedient. After returning to the city, he was assigned to a construction company, but within a month, he had beaten up the team leader.

After leaving the construction company, this senior brother drifted around society, either staying at home playing cards or loitering outside the cinema watching girls.

His mother was extremely anxious, but he was her own son, what could she do, chop him up?

As Li Ye approached the courtyard gate, he heard shouts from inside: "Two Ks!" "A pair of twos!"

"Jin Peng, Jin Peng, come out for a moment."

Li Ye didn't want to deal with the people inside, so he stood at the courtyard gate and called out to Jin Peng.

"Huh? Who is it?"

A window in the courtyard opened, and a man with a buzz cut sitting on the kàng saw Li Ye. He quickly got off the kàng, put on his shoes, and came out.

"Xiao Ye, why are you here?"

"I need to discuss something with you."

Li Ye pulled Jin Peng a few steps away and pointed at Hao Jian, saying, "A relative of my classmate wants to do some business in the provincial capital recently. It's not our territory there, so we need someone bold, careful, and reliable to help out. What do you think?"

"Doing business in the provincial capital?" Jin Peng was stunned and asked, "What kind of business? Does it involve bloodshed?"

"..."

Hao Jian was speechless. Why were all these people so clueless? They were going to make money, not roam the jianghu and fight for territory!

Li Ye said, "We're just selling malt candy. We won't be selling it retail; there are local vendors there who will take it. If you encounter any trouble, just scare them off first. If you can't scare them, then safety first, and run away."

"Then I understand. Just let me know when we're leaving."

Jin Peng readily agreed and was about to go back to playing cards, as he still had a pair of Kings that he hadn't played yet!

But Li Ye stopped him: "You might not have understood. If this business goes well, it's a long-term venture. I'm not asking you to help for free. For every pound of candy sold, you'll get a two-cent escort fee."

"..."

Jin Peng blinked, as if he had finally understood. He looked at Li Ye and smiled, "Xiao Ye, do you have a stake in this business?"

Li Ye didn't answer directly. "Just tell me if you're in or not! If you're not, I'll find someone else."

"I'm in, I'm in," Jin Peng quickly grabbed Li Ye, grinning, "I'm almost driven crazy by my mother staying at home all day. Xiao Ye, you're helping your senior brother out!"

Watching Li Ye and Jin Peng get along so well, Hao Jian felt both admiration and a sense of loss.

So that's it! You've planted an informant for me!

Hao Jian could guess with his toes that the "commission" of two cents per pound that Li Ye had come up with was a "poisonous scheme." Seeing how sharp and capable Jin Peng looked, he would definitely keep a close eye on everything, not even allowing an ounce of error in the malt candy.

Please give some tickets, big shots. It's the recommendation period, I'm facing tribulation!