Publication

An Shui stood sideways, her right hand held in Qin An's. Her left hand, still holding the book, reached behind her to gather her hip-length black hair and drape it over her chest, tracing its alluring curves...

Her lips were neither too full nor too thin. Just right for taking easily between his own, perhaps? Qin An considered it. He discovered that a thirteen-year-old really could do many things without restraint. Before, never mind daring to look at An Shui this way, he would have consciously avoided judging whether her lips were the right size for the gentlest of kisses...

"Still savoring it?" An Shui's beautiful eyes shifted as she noticed Qin An's gaze resting on her lips, and she chided him shyly. Her first kiss really was gone, just like that. She had never looked forward to it, yet once it was gone, she felt no regret either. He did seem to have gotten a taste for it, though. She wanted to ask him what his first kiss had felt like, but ultimately felt it would not be quite appropriate...

"Yes... I think I'd only have experienced how intoxicating it was if the kiss had lasted a little longer. After all, a beauty like you, An Shui, whose every smile or frown could cause a traffic accident on the street, whose beauty could bring nations to ruin-not everyone gets a chance to savor your kiss... let alone your first kiss. I'll never forget it as long as I live..." Qin An grinned. "There wasn't much of a physical sensation, but mentally, it was infinitely satisfying, like eating honey..."

"You're the one with honey on your lips... It looks like plenty of girls will suffer at your hands..." An Shui shook her head and sighed, yet a brilliant smile blossomed across her face. If someone her own age had said these things with such a cheeky grin, she would have found him frivolous and repulsive. With Qin An, however, she felt not the slightest aversion...

Having a little brother who knew how to sweet-talk her like this seemed rather nice...

"An Shui, what are you thinking about?" Qin An asked when he saw a trace of puzzlement gathering between her brows...

"I was thinking about what to give a little brother I'm meeting for the first time. I originally prepared lots of presents, but none of them seem suitable now... A big bag of chocolates and candy-you're the boy I shared my first kiss with, after all. I can't cheapen you too much..." An Shui could not help laughing at her own words again, her full breasts rising and falling and setting the black hair over her chest swaying...

"Help me with something, An Shui, and we can count that as your first-meeting gift..." Qin An took a small notebook out of his bag. "I wrote a novella, and I'd like you to help me find a publisher..."

"A novella? My little boyfriend-slash-brother really is impressive..." An Shui gave Qin An a surprised look, then took the notebook and began leafing through it...

An Shui's fingers were fair and slender, particularly striking against the plain pages. Her head was lowered, her hair falling over her shoulders, and the delicate collarbones beside her long neck trembled slightly with her restrained breathing. Her expression gradually grew serious, with a hint of heartfelt delight. "This is a very good story, a very captivating fantasy. I think it won't just appeal to children. Even someone my age wouldn't be able to stop reading... But it's in English..."

Among all the world's publications, the Bible ranked first, Quotations from Chairman Mao second, and the Harry Potter series third. Its success was certainly no fluke, so there was nothing strange about its captivating An Shui...

"Yes. I remember a publisher called Bloomsbury Publishing that's very interested in this sort of work... I can handle the Chinese edition myself, but I'll need your help with the English edition..." Qin An had no plans to publish a Chinese edition for the time being. A thirteen-year-old child producing a work like this would attract far too much attention. Besides, Qin An worried that the Harry Potter series might not sell particularly well if it entered the domestic market before becoming a hit abroad...

"If it really can be published, there'll be plenty of issues, including signing the contract and royalties... If sales are good, that could be a huge amount of money. Aren't you afraid I'll take the opportunity to claim your work as my own? After all, this is your original manuscript. Why don't you give me a photocopy instead?" An Shui looked at Qin An with a half-smile. She had never imagined that this little brother could surprise her over and over again, each time more astonishing than the last. Those fluent sentences, his effortless command of grammar and proverbs, and the obscure words he used so readily already surpassed the language skills of children his age in English-speaking countries...

"Of course the copyright belongs to you, and all the royalties and income are yours too. I don't care whether it makes tens of thousands of pounds, millions, or tens of millions... As long as you're willing to toss me a little whenever I need spending money..." How could Qin An not trust An Shui? This was their first meeting, but years of affection had long since taken root in his heart...

"All right. Even if no publisher wants it, I'll pay to have it published for you myself. How could I do otherwise when your trust has moved me so deeply?" An Shui did not particularly care how much income the work might bring. What mattered most was how happy Qin An's trust made her...

Qin An, however, was pondering how to bring up the woman named Joanne Kathleen Rowling. At this point, she should have only just divorced and been living with her daughter Jessica, not yet three years old, in a small, unheated flat in Edinburgh, supporting herself and her daughter through work and meager unemployment benefits...

He would wait until after publication to find her. As for how to help this beautiful woman achieve the career she deserved, that could come later...

There was no denying that children had the richest imaginations, and Qin An was at just the age to construct the most astonishing fantasy worlds. An Shui felt that, as she grew older, she no longer had as many fairy-tale dreams as she had as a girl...

Yet even so, Qin An's work still drew her deeply into its world, full of things beyond imagining. After exchanging a few words with Qin Jude and Qin Xiangshan, she went into the rear courtyard, determined to read it through properly...

The old residence was a typical courtyard home of a wealthy southern family, laid out with four buildings and five courtyards. The four buildings enclosed a quadrangle, with a large courtyard at its center containing a clump of green bamboo and piled bluestone. At the four corners of the four buildings, small courtyards formed naturally, where all sorts of goldfish had supposedly once been kept...

The so-called four buildings were actually four two-story structures on the four sides of the courtyard. Walking through the gatetower, which had no projecting canopy, Qin An saw his grandfather and his father's cousin Qin Xiangshan sitting in rocking chairs, drinking tea and talking...

This should have been Qin An's first meeting with his father's cousin Qin Xiangshan, who had returned to the mainland from Taiwan. Unlike the chubby Qin Xiaotian, Qin Xiangshan was tall and thin, with the typical Qin Family build. His features bore quite a resemblance to those of Qin An's father, Qin Huai, and his uncle Qin Youliang...

Qin Jude was already over ninety. Although he could hardly be called hale and hearty or brisk on his feet, he was reasonably healthy, able to look after himself and go out for walks without anyone supporting him. His favorite grandson was Qin An, not because Qin An was particularly adept at pleasing the elderly, but simply because Qin Jude was an old-fashioned man who strongly favored boys over girls. Qin An's older male cousin was frequently scolded for dropping out of school by Qin Jude, who considered his family one that "passed down learning and propriety." By comparison, Qin An, who apparently intended to attend senior high school and go all the way to university, was more to Qin Jude's liking...

"Grandpa, Second Uncle..." Qin An greeted them respectfully. Qin Xiangshan was a little younger than Qin Youliang, and to show closeness, there was no need to address him specifically as his father's cousin...

"The boy's grown up nicely..." Qin Xiangshan offered a casual compliment, then smilingly took out a red envelope and pressed it into Qin An's hand as a first-meeting gift...

Qin An did not stand on ceremony, accepting it with thanks...

"What an easygoing boy. Where's Qin Xiaotian? We ought to have him come meet his cousin..." Qin Xiangshan looked around and called a few times, but there was no sign of Qin Xiaotian...

"Xiaotian's playing outside. We already met just now, and he even let me play on his game console..." Qin An answered politely, casually feeling the red envelope between his fingers. It was quite a lot, probably a thousand. At this time, even the New Year's money from his maternal uncles and paternal aunts was only a hundred, while more distant relatives gave ten or twenty...