So what if A Yu was his hallucination?
The man thought resentfully.
A Yu had indeed inspired him.
The A Yu he had drawn had indeed won Editor Zhang's approval.
That was all that mattered... wasn't it?
Right, that was all that mattered, wasn't it?
The man lifted his head, a faint light shining in his eyes.
Why obsess over whether A Yu was real?
Even if A Yu was fake... that was fine, too.
Then A Yu would belong to him alone.
Maybe A Yu was his own personal muse, sent to help him realize his dream.
Wouldn't that be fine?
What had he been worrying about this whole time?
The man's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
He turned to look at A Yu by the window.
"Knock, knock~"
Someone knocked at the door.
The man jumped slightly in surprise and instinctively turned around.
Then he saw Editor Zhang come in through the door.
"Sorry, I figured you probably wouldn't get up to open the door for me."
Editor Zhang explained his earlier actions. "So when I left earlier, I didn't shut the door all the way."
"It was only pulled mostly closed."
"I live pretty close by."
Editor Zhang walked up to the man and held out his hand. A jade pendant lay in his palm, its surface a vibrant green.
"This is the jade pendant I told you about."
The man glanced at it. It had a nice color, but that was all.
It wasn't much different from the ones he'd seen in the shop.
He didn't know anything about jade, so he couldn't tell what was special about it.
But that didn't matter anymore.
He looked up at Editor Zhang and gave him a faint smile. "Editor Zhang, thanks for thinking of me."
"But