Female fans

Chu Ge couldn't wrap his head around a story that only belonged in jokes-some flop of a writer going home to inherit a million-dollar fortune. You heard it, laughed, and moved on. How the hell could it actually happen?

He didn't even know whether he should go talk to Zhang Qiren, satisfy his curiosity as a writer and his concern as a friend. With that entourage, the guy was clearly rich now. Would approaching him seem weird? Would the people around him think Chu Ge wanted something?

Chu Ge sighed to himself.

Once money and power got mixed into a friendship, they really could give it a strange flavor-for both sides.

By comparison, the class reunion he'd initially resisted was actually much more straightforward.

Take Lin Wuyang, standing right in front of him. Laughing, he punched Chu Ge on the shoulder. "Well, look at you! I thought hiding at home writing would turn you into a fat shut-in. Didn't expect you to look so lively. You weren't this energetic last time I saw you. Been taking Viagra lately?"

Although he was a cop, and something of an official, neither of them overthought things much as old classmates. Chu Ge laughed too. "It was midday, and so hot I was dying. How was I supposed to look lively? You think everyone's trained like you cops?"

Lin Wuyang laughed. "Funny you should say that. I'm actually one of the ones who barely trained."

As if casually, Chu Ge asked, "That guy just now..."

"Oh, him. You know him better than I do." Lin Wuyang smiled faintly. "He rented a place for six months once. I looked at his roommate's name and thought, well, well, isn't that our great author Chu?"

Chu Ge: "..."

Lin Wuyang didn't elaborate. He pulled Chu Ge over to sit down with him. "It has nothing to do with you. Don't worry about it."

Why did everything he said make Zhang Qiren sound even more suspicious?

Chu Ge was about to probe a little further, but their classmates began arriving one after another. With all the commotion, it wasn't the place for a conversation. He could only set his thoughts aside and cheerfully welcome the newcomers to their seats.

Overall, the atmosphere at the reunion was very pleasant.

Showing off, comparing fortunes, putting on airs, humiliating others-those things weren't unheard of, but they happened relatively rarely. Even when they did happen, they weren't usually blatant.

After years of making their way in society, few people wore their thoughts on their sleeves. Even someone who wanted to show off would only drop a subtle hint. Old Hong, for instance, said, "When I went to Switzerland last year, someone took me to look at watches. I didn't know anything about them, so I just bought one at random."

The others offered a couple of admiring remarks about the watch he'd exposed, and that was that.

If he wanted to show off, let him. Anyone who felt jealous wouldn't show it, and anyone doing better than him certainly wouldn't embarrass him over it.

There was no need.

And no one would openly look down on classmates who weren't doing well. That wouldn't embarrass the other person-it would embarrass you.

Instead, they would be even more likely to sling an arm around their shoulders and reminisce about the old days, showing that they valued friendship and weren't snobs.

Everyone treated people in potentially "useful" professions, like Lin Wuyang, with a little more respect, making them the center of attention at the table. But nobody went so far as to fawn or flatter. Lin Wuyang wasn't the show-off type himself, and his encounter with Zhang Qiren had left something weighing on his mind. He didn't say much, merely smiling and returning a few toasts, and his prominence soon faded.

After a few more drinks, they mostly traded embarrassing stories about one another from back in school, laughing together in cheerful harmony.

The most important thing was not to have any teachers there.

Otherwise, it would become another teacher-appreciation banquet after all these years, and the carefree, lively atmosphere among classmates would disappear.

The only real exception was someone like Chu Ge. It wasn't that people looked down on him; they genuinely knew nothing about his work and didn't understand it. So once Lin Wuyang stopped being the center of attention, Chu Ge took his place. Half of every ten remarks were questions directed at him:

"Hey, where can we buy your books? Does the Xinhua Bookstore carry them?"

"Ummm, no."

"Then how do you make money from this? Through clicks?"

"Well... over the past few years, a model has developed where advertising revenue is calculated based on clicks. But mine's still more traditional: paid reading. My income depends on how many people pay."

"Clicks only started in the past few years? That can't be right. I heard people talking about so many million clicks ages ago."

"...Back then, they were just a measure of popularity, something you could advertise. It's only in today's traffic-driven era that they can be monetized. But I'm not optimistic about that model, mainly... uh, so I chose... ah, why are we talking about this? Let's drink."

Chu Ge felt he didn't even know where to begin explaining. It was a long story, and it wasn't important. Drinking was better.

But the others were still curious. "Sometimes I see an ad on WeChat and click it. I've only read a few chapters and gotten hooked when it tells me I have to pay to keep reading. I always thought that was a scam."

"Uh, it's not a scam. They get you hooked first, then charge you to read more. Standard practice."

"So if you pay, you get to read the dirty stuff? I saw something called Lonely Country Auntie..." "?" Chu Ge pressed a hand to his forehead. "No. The crackdown's strict now; you can't write that. Don't be fooled by the title and blurb trying to lure you in. At most, the actual content's a little suggestive." "If there's no porn, why does it cost money?"

Chu Ge: "..."

Wait, what direct connection was there between porn and charging money?

You were just asking how I made money. If I didn't charge, was I supposed to live on air...?

Seeing him at a loss for words, everyone thought they understood. "So you write that kind of thing?"

"Mine's a little different. It's on a website. But if you want to think of it that way, that's fine. Fundamentally, it's pretty similar."

His classmates' expressions shifted slightly. They seemed to think he wrote stories about mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.

Chu Ge didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and explaining wasn't easy. Anyway, his own writing was pretty... well, whatever. "Come on, drink. Why the hell are you all interrogating me? I'm just writing smut to make a living. Want Wuyang to arrest me?"

Lin Wuyang, who'd been enjoying the show for a while, said with a smile, "I don't work for the internet regulator. Don't worry, though. I know some prison guards too. If you really get locked up, I'll put in a word so at least you won't get bullied."

Chu Ge: "...Thanks so much."

Once Chu Ge admitted to writing smut, his classmates' curiosity temporarily died down. The questions about how he made money stopped, though one female classmate sighed. "What a shame. Chu Ge used to write so well."

She looked so disappointed in his wasted potential that he wondered whether she'd once had a crush on him. Chu Ge smiled faintly and said nothing.

Her remark did spark a new topic for the others. Old Hong's wife, Yu Xiaomei, asked, "Hey, Chu Ge, have you found a girlfriend?"

Chu Ge joked, "No. The girl I liked back then married Old Hong. All I can do now is grow old alone."

Yu Xiaomei spat out a playful "Pah!" and the whole table burst into laughter.

Old Hong pointed at Chu Ge, laughing. "Are you asking for a duel?"

Lin Wuyang said, "You like your wife, and Chu Ge likes your wife. You're on the same side. Why would you duel?"

"Pfft..." Even Chu Ge sputtered at that. The table dissolved into laughter, and everyone pointed at Lin Wuyang, scolding him. "How can someone this unserious be a cop?"

Zhang Manli, who worked at the Civil Affairs Bureau, laughed. "But seriously, someone like Chu Ge spends all day at home writing and barely socializes. Finding a girlfriend might really be difficult. Staying single at your age isn't great either. Want us to introduce you to someone?"

Old Hong laughed. "What do you know? Writers have female fans. I saw a video on Kuaiyin the other day saying some author married a fan, and another hooked up with his editor. Seriously impressive. Chu Ge, do you know them?"

Before Chu Ge could answer, someone said, "They'd have to be famous authors, wouldn't they? Chu Ge writes smu... uh."

Realizing he'd put his foot in his mouth, the speaker hurriedly downed a drink as an apology, and the table grew briefly awkward. Deep down, none of his classmates really thought his work amounted to much. They didn't show it openly, but it inevitably slipped out in unguarded moments. It wasn't intentional, and Chu Ge didn't take it to heart.

In fact, not only did Chu Ge not mind, he felt a secret pride that none of them knew about.

Hooking up with fans?

My female lead came right out of my book...

Just then, a young woman in a white shirt and blue jeans, her hair in a high ponytail, came pattering over from the side. She held her hands in little fists, looking delighted. "Are you the author Chu Ge? I love your books so much! Could you give me your autograph?"

Everyone at the table was stunned.

He actually had a goddamn female fan, and she was this pretty? Wasn't she ridiculously pretty?

Wait, was Chu Ge really that famous? Fans recognized him just from eating in the main dining area? They really hadn't known who they were dealing with...

Uh, no, hold on. Why would someone writing rural mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law stories have female fans?

Little did they know that Chu Ge was far more shocked than any of them. He stared at the "female fan" who'd suddenly appeared, utterly dumbfounded.

Qiu Wuji, what are you doing? I never said I wanted to show off like this!

Upstairs in the VIP seating area, Zhang Qiren suddenly laughed and instructed a subordinate beside him, "Go settle the bill for Section Chief Lin's two tables. Tell them your boss is a great admirer of Mr. Chu Ge's work. It's just a small token of appreciation, and he hopes to see more outstanding work from him in the future."

After all, showing what a profession was like and watching an author complain about his own experiences were two different experiences. Chu Ge really wasn't Laser Bottle. Laser Bottle was much better-looking than him, and... had never flopped.

(End of chapter)

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