It All Came Together

"Good morning."

Xia Ping greeted her. He found it a little strange that Jiang Yaru was so furious. Was it that time of the month? He'd heard women's moods could be unpredictable then, so it was best not to provoke them.

"Good my ass!"

Jiang Yaru was in a terrible mood, just as he'd expected. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked as if she hadn't slept all night. Her face flushed with indignation. "You—you jerk! What exactly did you make me read? How could you write such a shameless novel?!"

She was about to lose her mind. The night before, she'd searched for the novel on Penguin and spent twenty-five Federal Coins to buy it. She wanted to read the whole thing and see what this guy had written that made him so smug, and why he'd looked down on her that morning.

She hadn't expected it to get weird from the very first chapter. It wasn't a school novel, a workplace novel, or a literary novel. It was a shameless erotic novel!

As a top student with excellent grades and conduct who had read countless books, she naturally knew what erotic novels were.

To be honest, Jiang Yaru had no prejudice against that kind of novel. She believed that if something existed, there was a reason for it. Although she didn't like reading such novels, she didn't mind other people reading them.

The problem was that reading one was one thing. Writing one was another.

Could anyone imagine it? Xia Ping was only a high school student, just eighteen years old—the age of an innocent young man, as pure as a blank sheet of paper. And yet he'd actually written such a shameless novel! What on earth was going through his head? Were these the filthy, despicable thoughts men harbored inside?

She knew men had filthy, despicable thoughts, but most of them only entertained them privately; they didn't act on them. That shameless Xia Ping was different. He was a beast who'd turned his thoughts into action, written them down, and even published them online for countless readers to see.

His behavior was terrifying. When had Xia Ping become so shameless and depraved? If he kept going like this for a few more years, he might end up a criminal.

"You read the novel I wrote?"

Xia Ping was taken aback. He hadn't expected Jiang Yaru to actually go and read it. From the look of her, she hadn't just glanced at it—she seemed to have read every word from beginning to end.

"That's right. I read the whole thing." Jiang Yaru's pretty face flushed as she glared at Xia Ping, feeling deeply guilty. She'd initially refused to read such a shameless novel and had judged it harshly. What was so great about that kind of story? If she wanted to read something like that, she might as well watch a movie.

But she'd never imagined the novel would be so well written. It had captured her attention at once, leaving her unable to put it down until she was completely absorbed. It was as if the heroine, Bai Rong's, joys and sorrows, inner struggles, helplessness, and strength were all laid bare before her. On the surface, she was being toyed with by different men, but wasn't she also stringing them along and playing them against one another? And the writing was vivid and compelling.

"So, what did you think?"

Xia Ping was genuinely curious. He'd assumed men were the main audience for this kind of novel, but it turned out plenty of women liked them too. In fact, women seemed even more into that sort of thing than men.

"It was terrible. Absolutely awful! The novel reveals the filthy thoughts in your head. If you take it any further, you'll be a criminal. The police will definitely arrest you!"

Jiang Yaru glared at Xia Ping, her pretty face flushed. In fact, she'd stayed up all night reading the novel, which was why she had dark circles under her eyes.

The contents had been too stimulating for a pure girl like her. It was like being asked to take a college exam before even graduating from elementary school—far too difficult. She'd been overwhelmed immediately.

It was hard to imagine how that jerk had come up with such realistic scenes. You'd have to experience those things to write about them. Could it be that, despite seeming like he had no luck with women, he was actually an experienced womanizer? Had he been juggling several girls since he was twelve, taking women to hotels by fifteen, and by eighteen become the sort of man who'd passed through a garden of flowers without a single petal clinging to him?

Jiang Yaru couldn't help thinking this as she studied Xia Ping with suspicion. Even though they'd grown up together, there were plenty of things she didn't know about him.

For instance, she hadn't known when Xia Ping had advanced to the Martial Apprentice Fourth Heaven.

"Terrible?"

Xia Ping raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you still don't understand it. I guess only men can."

"Who says I don't understand?"

Jiang Yaru immediately bristled. "I'm telling you, there's nothing special about it. Art comes from life and rises above life..."

Wait, comes from life?!

Jiang Yaru suddenly froze. She seemed to have realized something horrifying. The story's protagonist was apparently a teacher, and their homeroom teacher, Qiu Xue, was a beautiful woman.

As a woman, she hated to admit it, but Teacher Qiu Xue was gorgeous, with a stunning figure and the air of a mature woman. She had plenty of admirers at school, including countless students. Even Jiang Yaru herself, despite being a woman, admired her greatly.

And it was only natural that Xia Ping would like Teacher Qiu Xue. Could it be that he liked her so much that his feelings had become twisted? Unable to vent them in real life, he'd written this novel instead?

The protagonist's name seemed to have a lot to do with it too. Bai meant "snow," and Rong was another word for the hibiscus flower, which bloomed in autumn. Put the two characters together, and didn't they point to Qiu Xue?!

My God, what a beast!

He actually had those kinds of indecent thoughts about a teacher. No wonder the beautiful teacher in the novel remarried one of her students at the end. That had to be the reason.

If Teacher Qiu Xue found out about this—if she learned that one of her students had written a whole novel because he liked her—she would probably freak out.

Jiang Yaru had checked the novel's number of clicks too. It had apparently surpassed a hundred million, and it was wildly popular. There were probably countless people online who'd read it.

"You beast! I never knew you were this kind of person. I was wrong about you. What'll happen if the teacher finds out? Will you take responsibility?"

Jiang Yaru glared furiously at Xia Ping.

"Take responsibility?" Xia Ping blinked. He didn't understand what Jiang Yaru meant. He'd just wanted to write a novel and make some money. What did he have to take responsibility for?

But when he saw the fury on Jiang Yaru's face, he felt as if he'd committed some terrible crime, like a scumbag who'd pulled up his pants and walked away.