On Huashan Road in Mocheng, at Lin Zhe’s strong insistence, Lin Xi walked into a real estate agency.
“The apartment needs to be inside the inner ring, not too far from Donghai Daxue and the theater academy, forty to fifty square meters, two bedrooms…”
Lin Zhe rattled off a list of requirements, and the agent quickly scrolled through his database and pulled up two matching second-hand listings.
“Let’s go with this one!”
“Little brother, we don’t quite have enough money. Forty-five square meters at seven thousand per square meter—we’re short by tens of thousands!”
“Don’t worry. Take our clothing samples to Lidu Studio and we’ll have money right away. Besides, Mocheng housing prices are really about to skyrocket.”
Looking at her confident younger brother, Lin Xi fell silent in resignation. She suddenly had a feeling that these past few days, she hadn’t been taking care of her brother so much as being led around by the nose by him.
But the next day, when Lin Xi brought a complete set of clothing designs and several sample pieces to Lidu Studio, Lin Zhe’s prediction proved true.
Guo Yumin, the design director of Lidu Studio and a well-known fashion designer in Mocheng, gave extremely high praise after carefully examining Lin Xi’s designs.
“I’ve always believed you were talented, Lin Xi, but now I see I still underestimated your potential.”
Guo Yumin took off her glasses and asked Lin Xi kindly, “Would you be willing to license this clothing line to the company? We won’t steal your ideas or bury your name—we’d just need this high- series to be under the Lidu brand…”
“Of course, but I have two requests.”
“Go ahead!”
“Sucheng has very strong garment manufacturing capabilities, and my family is in the clothing business—it’s the enterprise my parents left behind. So I’d like the manufacturing order for this line to go to us. Also…”
Lin Xi said somewhat anxiously, “Also, my brother was injured in a car accident and can only get around in a wheelchair now. Could I bring him to the office to look after him? I won’t let it interfere with my work, and my brother is very well-behaved…”
Guo Yumin thought for a moment and said to Lin Xi, “The company has no precedent for that. But I think you could leave your brother at the second-floor café. If anything comes up, have him call you, and you can occasionally go down to check on him. Do you understand what I mean?”
Lin Xi was overjoyed. “I understand. Thank you so much.”
A top-tier company has strict discipline, and Guo Yumin couldn’t openly allow Lin Xi to bring her brother to work.
By suggesting that Lin Xi could “occasionally” go down to see Lin Zhe, Guo Yumin was already extending her the greatest possible accommodation.
Lin Xi took an advance of fifty thousand yuan in licensing fees, successfully bought Pu Ruosong’s apartment, and—despite Lin Zhe’s small tantrums of resistance—began the days of bringing him to work with her.
At first, Lin Zhe was unwilling to come along to the office, but after a few days in the café, he found a different kind of amusement.
Because Lidu Studio was located near Mocheng’s most famous pedestrian street, the café overlooked a park, and in that park was a matchmaking corner famous throughout the entire Daweichao.
So matchmakers would often bring men and women into the café for detailed discussions, giving Lin Zhe a front-row seat to all sorts of bizarre spectacles—hardly a way to be bored.
However, in order to quickly earn a dowry for his sister, Lin Zhe had Lin Xi buy him a laptop, and began his grand money-making plan.
………
Outside the window, a fine drizzle drifted down as pedestrians hurried to escape the damp chill of spring.
Inside the window, the soothing, leisurely sound of a piano floated through the air, and the aroma of coffee permeated the room. A single window seemed to separate two different worlds.
Lin Zhe sat by the window, his slender fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard with a clatter, lines of text quickly appearing on the laptop screen.
He had been coming to Lidu with his sister for work for many days now, and the staff of the café had grown used to the presence of this young man in a wheelchair.
Especially that lovesick girl at the front desk, who would say several times a day, “Good heavens, why would such a wonderful boy be so unfortunate? May heaven grant him a miracle and let him stand up so he can date me.”
After Lin Xi signed the guaranteed licensing agreement with Lidu Studio, she finally felt confident, and was no longer the girl who would try to stretch a single penny into two.
So Lin Zhe’s clothes, from outerwear to innerwear, were all replaced. Though nothing name-brand, with a designer’s eye, paired with Lin Zhe’s looks and bearing, he was undeniably the most dashing guy around.
At this time in Da Wei, laptops were still very expensive. A price of over ten thousand was not something people in Mocheng, where a monthly income of three to four thousand counted as high, could casually afford.
Of course, even a dozen or so years later, plenty of people in Mocheng would still be earning three to four thousand a month, with fewer than one in five making over ten thousand.
So in the eyes of these girls who had come to Mocheng to make their way, a handsome guy like Lin Zhe, with both money and looks, would be the perfect boyfriend choice—if only his legs weren’t crippled.
At noon, Lin Xi hurried into the café, set two lunch boxes on the table in front of Lin Zhe, and reached out to grab his laptop.
“Eat quickly. Let me see today’s latest chapter, you cliffhanger fi. You’re despicable.”
But Lin Zhe pressed down on the laptop and shook his head. “I didn’t write the novel today. I have an urgent manuscript to finish. You eat first, I’ll be a while longer……”
Lin Xi was furious. “What? You didn’t write it? I’ve been waiting to read about Li Xunhuan! How could you do this?”
“………”
That’s right—Lin Zhe was “creating” the full-length novel Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, the first step in his money-making plan.
The Daweichao timeline ran parallel to Zhonghuajia on Lanxing. Though, due to the inertia of civilizational continuity, many things were similar, some cultural works that appeared on Lanxing, some people, had never appeared in this timeline.
For instance, this world had Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng, but no Wen Rui’an or Gu Long.
For instance, this world had the Four Great Classical Novels and Sun Wukong, but no Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Nie Xiaoqian.
For instance, this world had Heavenly King Lau, but no Wong Ka Kui.
For instance, Liu Yufei resembled the Fairy Sister, but was ultimately not that person.
All in all, this world’s literary atmosphere leaned toward the serious, leaving enormous room for explosive growth.
In his previous life, Lin Zhe had transmigrated into this world. After a few years of feeling his way around, he believed he fully understood it, and engaged in cultural “importing” without restraint—only in the , a few seemingly minor, ambiguous slip-ups were caught, and people seized on them and hounded him relentlessly.
Normally, this kind of thing wouldn’t be a big deal in the literary world—didn’t Guo Xiaosi of Lanxing plagiarize too? What could anyone do about it?
But Lin Zhe had acted far too ostentatiously, far too brazenly. It’s lonely at the top, and when the conflicts finally reached their breaking point, he was besieged on all sides. Every tiny flaw was torn open into bloody, gaping wounds, and in the , he bled to death.
So in this cycle of rebirth, Lin Zhe decided to tread carefully, staying behind the scenes as much as possible. If he wasn’t absolutely certain of something, he wouldn’t do it.
When Lin Xi confirmed that Lin Zhe really hadn’t written Li Xunhuan, she deflated at once and opened the takeout boxes to eat. It was a nutritious meal she’d ordered from a nearby restaurant—one portion for losing weight, one for gaining it.
After she finished eating and saw that Lin Zhe still hadn’t stopped writing, Lin Xi couldn’t help asking curiously, “What are you working on today? You’re so focused.”
Lin Zhe replied, “I’m planning to submit to the New Concept Novel Competition. The deadline is midnight today. I didn’t know about it before, so I’m rushing.”
“The New Concept Novel Competition? I’ve heard of that! But why are you rushing to enter—are you planning to take the arts school entrance exam?”
“Mm. I want to apply to the Dramatic Literature program at Moxi. If I win first prize at New Concept, I can skip the first and second rounds of exams and go straight to the interview. It saves time and effort.”
Lin Xi froze for a moment, then said carefully, “Zhe, you really don’t need to compete with anyone. Just pick an easier school in Mocheng.”
“Compete? Who am I competing with?”
Lin Zhe was also taken aback for a moment before he understood.
“Sis, you’ve got it wrong. If I were competing with Liu Yufei, I’d just apply to Jingdian directly. Why would I apply to Moxi?”
“But Moxi’s academic score requirements are really high. Even if you pass the school’s exam, it’ll be hard to get admitted.”
Lin Zhe smiled confidently. “Exactly! That’s why I’m going to make them admit me as a special exception.”