Chapter 249: One Word, Brilliant
In the end, she couldn’t say anything. After finishing her milk tea, Xiao Yanhan fell silent again. She wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to start. For her, comforting others was still a bit difficult. After all, she had no experience comforting others, especially girls.
“Let me buy you some water,” Yu Linna said.
“I just drank milk tea. I don’t want anything to drink.”
“Then, let’s go for a walk on the sports field.”
“Okay.”
Xiao Yanhan agreed.
Actually, Yu Linna didn’t know what they could do at the sports field either, but besides going there, she didn’t know where else to go.
Actually, it was just a matter of opening her mouth, but Yu Linna always made it complicated. If she had just admitted it frankly, it wouldn’t have been so troublesome.
What on earth is she afraid of…
On the sports field, many people were running and practicing on the horizontal bar. Some were also playing badminton, the shuttlecock darting through the air as sweat splashed onto the ground. Xiao Yanhan and Yu Linna stood there, feeling out of place with the surrounding world.
Xiao Yanhan was thinking that she had taken leave for a while, which meant she hadn’t attended any of her classes since the beginning of school. She had basically learned nothing. If she had gotten the autograph, it would have been fine, but she had gotten nothing.
To be so persistent about an autograph, it’s really not like me, she thought with a bitter smile.
“Yanhan, do you have a dream?” Yu Linna asked faintly, her hands in her jacket pockets.
“Didn’t I tell you already?”
“Then, are you willing to persist in your dream?”
“…What’s wrong, Linna? So serious.”
“Just tell me your answer.”
“…I, I don’t know.”
To be honest, Xiao Yanhan still felt very lost, extremely lost.
She had no idea about her future, about what she would do later. In the past, her goal was very clear: to become a professional manga artist, to draw interesting manga that readers would like and buy. She had always thought so. However, she had spent a long time on this goal, and she hadn’t even completed half of it.
It was too difficult to achieve this step.
She was very confused now, not knowing whether to continue to persist.
“Do you still remember the content of the third volume of Ballad of the Enchantress? Even though Ye Han had to face the government, the entire army, and even the entire counter-revolutionary army, she still wanted to see Xu Anqi once. Once discovered, she would be branded as a collaborator with the enemy and would not be accepted by her companions. Do you know why he still did it?”
Xiao Yanhan’s eyes lit up.
As a die-hard fan, she was of course very clear about the content of the book Ballad of the Enchantress. She knew all the characters and the story inside out. The chapter Yu Linna was talking about, she of course knew. In the third volume, the male and female protagonists, who had become members of opposing camps, were forced to face each other with blades, loving and killing each other. One was looking for a way home, the other was protecting her family. They chose different paths. The two who had developed feelings for each other while hiding from pursuit could not be together and could only be enemies.
Amidst the condemnation of the readers, the story entered its third volume. Even though Ye Han knew that her private meeting with Xu Anqi might be discovered by her companions, that she might be branded a criminal and even kicked out of the counter-revolutionary army, and that she would never find her way back to the past, she still went to see her.
This was a climactic plot in the third volume.
“Because of love?”
“Because of persistence.”
“Persistence?”
“In his heart, going home was certainly important, but Xu Anqi was also very important. When Xu Anqi said they could no longer meet, he still went to see her. This was his persistence in love, his persistence in feelings.”
For some reason, Xiao Yanhan felt that her understanding of the story was not as good as Yu Linna’s. She was clearly a high-level fan, but in front of Yu Linna, she felt that she was more than a little lacking.
“Similarly, you are the same, Yanhan. The reason you are lost is because you don’t know whether to persist.”
For someone who had walked this path, and even reached the end, she understood it all too well.
Hard work will not be rewarded. Hard work is just a basic requirement.
But if you don’t persist, you will have nothing.
Persistence, this thing, many people understand it, but how many people can accomplish it? How many people have failed to persist?
After all, this thing is not something everyone can do.
“I know it’s hard, very hard, but I think you should give it a try. Because you are like me, we both have dreams, and you, you have plenty of opportunities.”
She was also someone who had walked this path. No one knew better than her how difficult the road to success was.
To find the right direction, she had taken many detours. To find her own position, she had suffered a lot. But in the end, she had reached the end.
“I understand you very well. I understand you completely. I’m the same, I am too… I also know how difficult this is.”
Xiao Yanhan’s pupils gradually lit up. Her cooled heart slowly began to warm up.
She is too…?
Just like her.
“Linna…”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to hide it from you, but I never dared to say it in person. I’ve actually been looking for an opportunity.”
She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and wanted to say it. Although her identity had never been made public, she had never thought of hiding it from her roommates. She had wanted to say it a long time ago, but she just didn’t dare. She was always afraid of what would happen after she said it, especially after she knew that Xiao Yanhan was her fan, she became even more uneasy. She had never replied to any fan on Weibo, nor had she ever shown her face on QQ or Tieba. She knew that her fans had set up a fan club for her, but she never appeared.
Other authors would do everything they could to please their reader daddies. She always went in the opposite direction, willful as can be. She wrote what she wanted to write, healed when she wanted to heal, gave out candy when she wanted to, and didn’t even show her face, never paying attention to the readers’ complaints.
“I understand.”
Xiao Yanhan nodded.
“You know?”
“Yeah, I can see it.”
Yu Linna’s hands clenched. She became even more uneasy.
And Xiao Yanhan, on the other hand, slowly opened her heart. In her heart, Yu Linna had become her companion. She was like her, a child searching for a way to climb to the top of the mountain.
“I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”
“I know now. Linna, I never thought that you would have such an experience. But, if that’s the case, I can indeed understand you.”
“Yanhan, I just want to tell you, persist. This is the path I have walked.”
“It’s not easy. I think I can try to work hard again. Although I didn’t get the sensei’s autograph, I won’t give up next time. I also want to become more amazing sooner, so I can be closer to him.”
“Right… huh?”
“I think I can continue. Linna, you’ll support me, right?”
“…Wait, did you know what I was talking about just now?”
“Didn’t you mean to say that you, like me, are troubled by your dream? Since both of our goals are to become a manga artist, let’s work hard together. I think two people are always stronger than one.”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
“No, I will work hard.”
Yu Linna could only answer this way.
After all this, the two of them were not on the same wavelength at all. They were talking about different topics, not on the same page at all. To put it bluntly, they were just hyping themselves up.
She had originally wanted to confess her identity to her, but after all this, she had failed. It was a pity she had gathered the courage to say it, but she still couldn’t. The current atmosphere was really not suitable for telling her in person, “I am Shion.” That would probably confuse her, and she herself would definitely not be able to accept confessing in such an atmosphere.
There was no choice. Next time then.
But the good thing was that Xiao Yanhan was willing to smile. Her worried face finally relaxed. Looking at her, she would slowly get over the regret of not getting the autograph. Anyway, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. It wasn’t like one autograph mattered. If she wanted one, she could give it to her anytime.
…
“So you just came back without saying anything?”
Lan Ranyan was quite helpless about this, even wanting to cover her face. My god, she had already said she would confess, the autograph was all ready, and at this time, she pulled such a stunt. Was this Yu Linna toxic?
Couldn’t she just tell her clearly in person? If it was too late, who knew when the next time would be?
“The autograph is right here, and you didn’t even give it to her personally. If you keep dragging this on, I don’t know how long you’re going to drag it out.”
Lan Ranyan really wanted to hit her with a hammer and wake her up. This little girl was good at everything except being too cowardly.
If she were a little braver, where would there be so many troublesome things?
“Well, I can only wait until next time. Besides, there will always be a chance. It’s not like that little while matters.”
Yu Linna opened her computer, locked herself in the small black room software, and planned to focus on writing. Her workload was still quite large. She had to work overtime these days to catch up. She was now working at her computer desk under her bed. When Xiao Yanhan was there before, she was still writing on her bed. Ever since Xiao Yanhan went to Shanghai, she had returned to working under her bed.
She was typing on the keyboard, yawned, and stood up to make herself some coffee. Working for a long time was quite tiring. She wanted to refresh herself. Perhaps she should find some time to get a good night’s sleep.
“Hmph hmph~”
While Yu Linna was out getting hot water, Xiao Yanhan happened to come back from visiting the dorm next door. She had brought back local specialties from Shanghai. She took them to share with her classmates, and then she returned to the dorm to share with her roommates. Fang Jiangning was not in the dorm at this time. Lan Ranyan was on her bed, chasing a drama on her phone. Only the computer on Yu Linna’s desk was on.
Looking at her seat, Xiao Yanhan smiled. This girl was really nice. She would have to repay her properly some other day.
Suddenly, she saw something on Yu Linna’s desk. Out of curiosity, she walked over and took a closer look. The next second, she showed a shocked expression. She rubbed her eyes, picked up the autograph, and looked at it. She confirmed that the handwriting was exactly the same as the official autograph photo online, and there was even a dedication. Her mouth opened in surprise.
Then came something even more terrifying. She shifted her gaze to the computer screen. When she saw the text on the screen clearly, she was stunned, her mouth wide open, almost big enough to fit an apple.
She felt that her life had been turned upside down.
At this time, Yu Linna came back with hot water, holding a thermos. She saw Xiao Yanhan looking at her document content. The two of them stared at each other, and for a moment, it was extremely awkward.
