The book goes behind the paywall today.
I started writing novels in 2018, when I was at university.
I still remember the first book I wrote very clearly. It was an urban novel called Four Characters. I wrote 320,000 Chinese characters, but it never got a contract. Back then, I knew nothing about writing novels. It was just a hobby, something I tapped away at in my spare time.
In May 2018, I started my second book. I remember applying for a contract when it reached 100,000 characters. In the end, an editor named Pointer, who has since left the company, picked it up.
I still remember the joy I felt. It was evening when I saw the contract offer in my site inbox, and I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night.
But that book barely made a ripple. My writing was too bland, and I didn't understand how to write webnovels. In the end, I wrapped it up hastily.
Then, in 2019, I wrote a gaming novel. Pointer signed that one too, but the results were hard to put into words.
In 2020, during my final year at university, I ended it early because I needed to prepare my graduation thesis and study for the provincial civil service exam.
Not long after I finished it, Pointer left Qidian. (I wonder if I jinxed him...)
After that, my writing career went on pause.
After graduating in July 2020, I spent three months studying at home and passed the recruitment exam for a subordinate institution under a county Party standing committee department in my hometown-the kind of workplace commonly known as a public institution.
I started work in December 2020, and from then until September 2023, I didn't pick up my pen again. Though I considered writing a