ROBEPTQ chapter 40

In the years since joining Hongtu, Bai Sijun had occasionally felt discontent with his work, but he had never felt as disheartened about Hongtu as he did now.

Fortunately, this sense of disillusionment did not take root and grow, because Mei Yuchen was right by his side. The steady and powerful sound of his heartbeat, transmitted through the thin T-shirt, gradually calmed the weary and restless Bai Sijun.

“What happened?” Mei Yuchen asked, embracing Bai Sijun’s back.

“Mei, I made a mistake,” Bai Sijun couldn’t hide his dejection.

Mei Yuchen lowered his head, looking at his eyes with a smile. “Can Editor Bai make a mistake?”

Bai Sijun detected the teasing tone in Mei Yuchen’s words and said seriously, “I’m telling you the truth.”

Mei Yuchen ruffled Bai Sijun’s hair at the back of his head and asked, “Is it serious?”

“Yeah,” Bai Sijun replied, “There are too many schemers in the workplace, and it’s hard to guard against them.”

“Tell me about it,” Mei Yuchen said.

Bai Sijun took a deep breath and said, “I reported the content of your new book to the chief editor, and coincidentally, Qi Jun came to see the chief editor. He overheard the conversation and turned it into a short story that he published in advance. Now your new book…”

Bai Sijun pursed his lips, not sure how to continue.

Mei Yuchen’s hand, which was stroking the hair at the back of Bai Sijun’s neck, paused, but his expression remained unchanged. “Is that all?”

“Isn’t this serious?” Bai Sijun sat up cross-legged beside Mei Yuchen, saying angrily, “I talked to Qi Jun today, and he didn’t admit it. I talked to the chief editor, and he told me not to worry about it. I just can’t do anything about it.”

Mei Yuchen contemplated for a moment and said, “Let me read the short story written by Qi Jun.”

Bai Sijun picked up his computer from the side and handed it to Mei Yuchen after opening the novel website.

Mei Yuchen read quickly, his eyes moving left and right without stopping, and in a few minutes, he had roughly browsed through the less than twenty thousand words of the short story.

After closing the computer, he didn’t express his opinion immediately. Instead, he asked, “You said you made a mistake, but I didn’t hear where you went wrong.”

Bai Sijun furrowed his brows. “I should have told the chief editor that you didn’t inform me about the content.”

“It doesn’t matter if you had said it,” Mei Yuchen smiled. “Tell me, what do you think of this short story?”

“Uh—aside from subjective emotions?” Bai Sijun asked.

“Yes.”

Bai Sijun thought for a moment and replied, “Quite ordinary.”

Mei Yuchen lowered his eyes without saying anything, seemingly seriously contemplating while waiting for Bai Sijun to continue.

“His writing style and narrative pace are fine, but…” Bai Sijun paused, determined, and said, “the plot is too cliché.”

Qi Jun’s short story, derived from the core plot of Mei Yuchen’s new book, was, in essence, him saying that Mei Yuchen’s original idea wasn’t good.

From the initial glimpse of Mei Yuchen’s unfinished work, Bai Sijun had this feeling—the story wasn’t working. The trope of the victim’s reincarnation had been overused, making it challenging to bring in freshness. Even though Qi Jun combined the victim’s reincarnation with artificial intelligence, the final result was still unsatisfactory.

Bai Sijun believed that other readers, while reading Qi Jun’s short story, could probably guess the ending. Therefore, such a suspenseful work was challenging to define as outstanding; it could only be described as mediocre.

Bai Sijun hadn’t mentioned this to Mei Yuchen before, firstly because Mei Yuchen hadn’t finished the story, leaving room for potential twists, and secondly, because Mei Yuchen had worked hard to produce a semi-finished piece. Bai Sijun didn’t want his pessimistic attitude to affect Mei Yuchen’s rare recovery of writing enthusiasm, so he only mentioned the issue of the romance plot being too lengthy.

Now, in a sense, Qi Jun had completed Mei Yuchen’s work, giving Bai Sijun an opportunity to reevaluate the story. The conclusion he reached was that if the goal was to top the bestseller list, the core content of this story was simply not good enough.

Mei Yuchen nodded and said lightly, “If I finish writing this book, the result will still be the same—ordinary.”

Bai Sijun suddenly felt strange and asked, “Since you know the result, why continue writing?”

“I haven’t continued writing,” Mei Yuchen said with a playful smile. “Since you said last time that this is a brainless romance novel, I’ve completely given up on this story.”

Bai Sijun was taken aback. “Then what were you writing just now?”

“Random stuff,” Mei Yuchen chuckled. “It’s not something indecent.”

Bai Sijun breathed a sigh of relief. “Is it inspiration for a new book?”

“Not entirely,” Mei Yuchen shook his head. “Sometimes, ideas or scenes suddenly burst into my mind, and I’m used to recording them anytime. But in the last two or three years, ideas have become fewer, and even if I occasionally get a couple of ideas, it’s challenging to develop them.”

Bai Sijun knew this was the feeling of creative drought. With some concern, he asked, “And now?”

“Now?” Mei Yuchen hooked the corner of his mouth. “It’s okay.”

Mei Yuchen’s tone was casual, as if he didn’t care much about such an important matter. Although he said “it’s okay,” the steady aura emanating from his whole body didn’t match the nonchalant words.

Bai Sijun seemed to see Mei Yuchen from three years ago—the unruly and confident one. He knew that only a person filled with confidence would show such a state.

Why did Mei Yuchen completely disregard Qi Jun’s plagiarism and the chief editor’s cover-up?

Bai Sijun now understood; it was because he didn’t even consider them as worthy opponents.

So what if Qi Jun won the short story competition? Mei Yuchen was the first suspense writer under thirty to win the Xingmu Award. This was a height that Qi Jun could never reach.

One was a chicken competition where popularity was more important than skill, and the other was a heavyweight award selected by industry professionals. Who was superior and inferior could be easily judged.

Moreover, Qi Jun relied on borrowing Mei Yuchen’s discarded plot to participate. Even if he won an award, it would be meaningless. He originally didn’t need to do such a thing, but due to guilt, he cleverly played this act. Now, he must be self-satisfied, but he never thought that his despicable methods wouldn’t affect Mei Yuchen in any way.

Such an author was not qualified to be Mei Yuchen’s opponent. Thinking of this, Bai Sijun suddenly felt relieved.

Although most of the time he appeared more mature than Mei Yuchen, when it came to facing real problems, Mei Yuchen was always much more steady.

“Why are you silent?” Mei Yuchen asked.

“I’m thinking about the past you,” Bai Sijun smiled and said, “You seem to be as sharp as ever.”

Mei Yuchen raised an eyebrow, displeased, and said, “What do you mean by ‘seem’? I was never not sharp in the first place.”

Bai Sijun perked up again and asked, “Can I take a look at your random inspirations?”

“Of course,” Mei Yuchen said, “But it’s messy, never shown to anyone, and you probably won’t understand.”

Mei Yuchen’s inspirations were written in a mind organizing software. At first glance, Bai Sijun thought it looked like an essay written by an elementary school student. Some entries had titles with forty to fifty words, interspersed with a lot of nonsense. Some entries, when opened, were long paragraphs with no punctuation.

Mei Yuchen was really casual when writing, and some sentences didn’t make sense at all. Some were even left unfinished. Besides some plot fragments, Bai Sijun also saw complaints about the weather, critiques of movies, and more.

After a short while, Bai Sijun shook his head with a headache. “I really can’t understand.”

Mei Yuchen sat next to him, rested his chin on his shoulder, and lazily said, “So it doesn’t matter if these things fall into someone else’s hands; my legend can’t be easily replicated.”

Mei Yuchen spoke like a cat seeking praise. Bai Sijun playfully touched his face and said, “Yes, my great writer Mei is truly amazing.”

Mei Yuchen chuckled satisfactorily and encircled Bai Sijun’s waist, pecking him on the face.

Although Bai Sijun couldn’t understand, he continued to look casually. His hand slid down the touchpad, and soon, an entry titled “Scarves” caught his eye.

Perhaps, among a pile of incomprehensible titles, this one seemed particularly fresh to Bai Sijun. He subconsciously wanted to click on this title. However, Mei Yuchen suddenly held his hand.

“That one can’t be seen,” Mei Yuchen said.

Bai Sijun felt strange. “Why?”

“Just don’t open it.”

After all, these things belonged to Mei Yuchen’s privacy, and Bai Sijun didn’t insist. He continued to scroll down and, after a few lines, saw another similarly concise title—”Underwear.”

He wanted to click again, but Mei Yuchen, who saw through his intention, directly took the computer from him.

“Don’t look. Anyway, you won’t understand,” Mei Yuchen said somewhat unnaturally.

Bai Sijun suddenly noticed that he was acting a bit off. Curiously, he asked, “I didn’t open it, how do you know I won’t understand?”

Mei Yuchen didn’t reply. He threw the computer aside, playfully embraced Bai Sijun, and lay down on the bed, deliberately changing the subject, “Bai, I’ve been typing words all afternoon, and I’m tired. I need a massage.”

Bai Sijun took Mei Yuchen’s hand amusingly and massaged his wrist but didn’t let him off, “What’s written in there anyway?”

Still not answering, Mei Yuchen asked casually, “This place is too crowded, Bai. Let’s buy another house near your company.”

Bai Sijun was startled. He thought, “I’m almost unemployed. Why buy a house nearby? Besides, I don’t have the money.” He replied, “No need, I’ll come to your place often.”

“Isn’t it troublesome for you to commute to work?” Mei Yuchen asked.

Bai Sijun didn’t say; he no longer had a job to commute to.

After arguing with the chief editor, he was told not to come to work immediately. It was just that, nominally, he hadn’t been dismissed yet.

“Since you insist, then I’ll give you one more month. During this month, don’t take on other jobs. At least hand in Mei Yuchen’s first draft. Otherwise, pack up and leave,” the chief editor had said.

Bai Sijun knew the chief editor was serious this time. According to this bald man’s sarcastic and cynical personality, he would have fired him directly. But doing so would lack a legitimate reason, making it unseemly. Therefore, he found a decent excuse and waited to see Bai Sijun’s embarrassment.

Not wanting to pressure Mei Yuchen, Bai Sijun didn’t tell him that this time he was really in danger of losing his job. After thinking about it, he said, “I’ve used up all my annual leave. With weekends, I have half a month off, and for the next period, I can be with you.”

Mei Yuchen, still not entirely satisfied, asked, “What about when your leave is used up?”

“We’ll see after that.”

What would happen later, Bai Sijun himself didn’t know.

Mei Yuchen fell silent for a moment and said, “Okay, I’ll listen to the wife.”

Hearing this, Bai Sijun, the formerly straight guy, immediately frowned. “I’m a man; how can I be a wife?”

Mei Yuchen said quite sincerely, “There’s an unwritten rule in the gay community that the one with a bigger ‘ding ding’ is the husband, and the one with a smaller ‘ding ding’ is the wife.”

Bai Sijun narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously, “There’s such a rule?”

“Yeah,” Mei Yuchen nodded candidly, unable to hold his laughter.

Bai Sijun still found these terms uncomfortable. He noticed Mei Yuchen was teasing him again and said, “Our sizes are quite similar; there’s no difference between a husband and a wife.”

Mei Yuchen raised an eyebrow, coldly smiling, and asked, “Bai, do you have a soft ruler? The kind that can measure length and thickness.”

Mei Yuchen’s smile sent shivers down Bai Sijun’s spine. Suddenly, he remembered the previous size comparison that Mei Yuchen had interrupted, and he felt like there was a hint of “waited for a long time and finally got to today” in Mei Yuchen’s expression.

Feeling a bit uneasy, he stammered, “Um, I don’t have a soft ruler, or a ruler at all. Let’s not compare… Mei… Mei Yuchen! Don’t pull down my pants…!”

…

An hour later, Bai Sijun lay on the bed, basking in the afterglow of pleasure, while Mei Yuchen continued diligently planting kisses on him.

“Stop it, Mei,” Bai Sijun’s voice was a bit hoarse. He gently pushed Mei Yuchen’s shoulder.

Mei Yuchen raised his head, looking at him with a smile. “Wife?”

“…” Bai Sijun’s face showed an awkward blush. He turned away and looked out the window, “Uh-huh.”