For the three words ‘novelist,’ he gave up so much. With his stubbornness and tenacity, Yu Qiu insisted on confronting the world.
His development was like a slow stream, and he wasn’t in a hurry. As long as he could write, as long as people were still reading, everything seemed worthwhile.
Until last year, a headline article was quietly published on a marketing account, with the introductory sentence saying, ‘Exposing the truth behind the so-called genius.’
A stone caused three waves.
‘Contemporary renowned novelist Yu Qiu plagiarizes Shui Qing. What kind of path is this high-level plagiarism taking?’
Yu Qiu’s Weibo was rarely updated, and the most recent post was a sentence he wrote casually.
‘I want to be with you, secretly love in spring, betray the world in summer, and elope to the universe.’
Originally, there were only around nine hundred comments. However, after that ‘truth’ was published, the comments flooded in, reaching over fifty thousand. A quick glance revealed that they were all defending the one who was allegedly plagiarized.”
“I knew his writing was too good to be true. So it turns out he was just plagiarizing?”
“Oh my god, I hate plagiarism the most in my entire life. If you don’t have any original ideas, then don’t write.”
“This is disgusting. Apologize!”
“Apologize!”
“Come out and speak up! Stop pretending to be dead.”
“Can I get a refund for the books I bought? I don’t want to read them anymore; they make me want to vomit.”
Yu Qiu scrolled through the comments on Weibo one by one, took a deep breath, and posted a Weibo.
“I did not plagiarize.”
Five words.
“Then show us solid evidence!”
“Shui Qing’s work was published earlier than yours. The world-building and structure are original. You published three months later, and not only are the character names the same, but the plot also matches. What’s your excuse?”
“BG turning into BL, it’s the first time I’ve seen this!”
“Seriously, are you writing BL or romance? Stop plagiarizing everywhere.”
“Plagiarizing scum, apologize.”
“Disgusting.”
“…”
He tried to defend himself, replying to each comment one by one, but in the end, he realized that he couldn’t keep up with the flood of messages from the crowd. No one believed him.
Yu Qiu knew that most people didn’t actually know the truth. They simply followed the trend and released their malicious intent. After all, there was no collective responsibility for their actions. They claimed to uphold “justice,” thinking they were extremely noble, as if they were heroes punishing evil.
They didn’t care about the truth.
They just wanted to be part of it.
The person involved, Shui Qing, hadn’t said anything. Remaining silent and enduring the humiliation, he garnered sympathy from many.
Yu Qiu closed his mouth and let them curse him. He uninstalled Weibo.
But even after uninstalling Weibo, suspicion still seeped in through the cracks.
The manuscripts he wrote were rejected time and time again, and when he asked for the reasons, they were always the same.
“Yu Qiu, no one will read something written by a plagiarist.”
“But I didn’t plagiarize.”
“They don’t care about that.”
As a result, he didn’t even have enough money to order takeout now.
Yu Qiu took a bite of the wood ear fungus and almost choked. He had followed the instructions on the cooking app and cut the red chili peppers accordingly, but he wasn’t sure if they were spicy or not. They just made him choke.
The bamboo shoots were tender, filled with water when bitten, and the bacon rolled around them was quite good.
As for the tomato and egg stir-fry—no one knows why it tastes so awful.
The house was empty and quiet. He had been living alone for so many years, but for the first time, he felt lonely. With nothing else to do, he had more opportunities to overthink.
After washing the dishes, Yu Qiu was about to go to the study when he suddenly remembered that his novel was already finished. He hadn’t thought about the next piece yet, but he had plenty of time to take a few days off.
He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and went to the living room.
In the corner of the living room, there was a piano covered with a red velvet cloth.
He had started practicing calligraphy and playing the piano when he was very young. Although he wasn’t an expert, he was good enough to enjoy it. With the first decent sum of money he earned from writing, he bought a computer to escape the life of typing in internet cafes. Then, he bought a piano. The rest of the money, he sent half of it to his family. Naturally, there was no response from them.
When he often lacked inspiration, he would sit here and play the piano. The sunlight would shine on him just right, and he wouldn’t feel so lonely. Even at night, if he opened the curtains and looked up, he could see the moon.
He lifted the velvet cloth gently, his hand resting tenderly on the black and white keys of the piano.
He pressed a key lightly.
A familiar tune.
“Kiss the Rain.”
Yu Qiu suddenly remembered the man he had encountered today.
In this world, perhaps—
It wasn’t all that bad.
As he played the song for the second time, the door was suddenly knocked.
He didn’t have many friends in this city and avoided getting involved in social matters. When he heard the knocking on the door, he hesitated for a moment. It was only after the second knock that he realized and got up to open the door.
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