Qidian's backend posted an announcement: July, a master author from the historical fiction section, had sadly passed away from illness. Having just finished a round of hospital visits as a patient myself, I felt not only mourning, but endless emotion.
It was not merely sorrow over a fellow writer's ill-fated life; what baffled me even more was the direction discussions took in various author groups and reader groups after the incident...
It was not that I expected everyone to weep bitterly or grieve over July's death day and night. After all, we were neither family nor friends; there was no need to become hypocrites gathered around Xianglin's Wife.
Yet the many remarks, even the jokes, left me feeling deeply displeased...
Thinking of the series of experiences and comments surrounding the writing of this book, I sometimes could not help but sigh at how far the world around us had changed.
Individuality is emphasized, freedom is emphasized, expression is emphasized, and nothing is considered off-limits—yet so often, even the most basic capacity for empathy is cast completely aside.
In many people's eyes, there is no boundary between flattery and comfort, no difference between worldly wisdom and cunning vulgarity... This survival-of-the-fittest reality was enough to make one recoil in fear.
Sigh. The moment I thought of it, I lost even the desire to pick up my pen.
Perhaps it truly was as that joking remark went: "unwilling to take off the long gown." If I still wanted to make a living in the webnovel world of serving the masses and entertaining oneself to death, then certain notions would have to change as well.