TGBOG Chapter 25

The chat in the Meteor Garden group fell into an eerie silence.

Zhao Yijia remained unusually calm: “It’s just about me coming over to hang out with Ye Luan.”

Somnolent Fox: “Oh~”

Qin Hai: “Who made the congee?”

Zhao Yijia looked up at Ye Luan and replied: “It was made by Twelve Ye.”

Qin Hai: “As a straight man, I’m detecting something off.”

Tian Gai: [Facepalm]

Somnolent Fox: “…”

Qin Hai: “I think Zhao Zhao and Twelve Ye are getting way too close.”

Seeing this, Zhao Yijia felt a wave of guilt. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind in an instant. Ye Luan reassured him, “It’s okay, Fox and Qin Hai aren’t outsiders. If they find out, they find out.”

Zhao Yijia: “So you’re saying Tian Gai already knew?”

Ye Luan smiled at him, “Tian Gai was actually there when I confessed to you.”

Zhao Yijia blushed. He had thought that day Ye Luan was just telling Tian Gai about their past, but it turned out he had confessed everything. And here he was, still acting like a fool, trying to keep it under wraps around Tian Gai.

But Ye Luan was right—if Fox and Qin Hai had already noticed something, there was no point in hiding it any longer. Coming to this realization, Zhao Yijia began typing in the chat: “Yes, actually, I’m with Ye—”

He hadn’t even finished typing when Qin Hai sent another message:

Qin Hai: “You two are definitely related, aren’t you?”

Qin Hai: [Whose little eyes haven’t figured it out yet.jpg]

Tian Gai: “…”

Tian Gai: “Hai Ge, can you please leave the group?”

Qin Hai: “??????”

Tian Gai: “I want to kick you out of Meteor Garden.”

Somnolent Fox: “Hahaha, I think it’s more like Twelve Ye and Zhao Zhao are dating.”

Fox was at least a bit more subtle, using the word “like” to cushion the blow, but even so, Qin Hai was hit with a wave of shock—

Qin Hai: “????????????”

Qin Hai: “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Twelve Ye: “Yep. I’ll treat everyone to a meal soon.”

Somnolent Fox: “Great! We want the most expensive meal.”

Tian Gai: “I remember there’s a famous lakeside restaurant in N City that’s super pricey.”

Somnolent Fox: “Let’s go there!”

Zhao Yijia: “We went there yesterday, the view was amazing!”

As the group chat turned to talk about food, Qin Hai finally snapped out of it:

Qin Hai: “I just have one question: Did you two get together because of writing The Villain’s Guide to Conquest?”

Tian Gai: “…”

Tian Gai: “Yes, Hai Ge, be careful. The world is not as straight as you think.”

Qin Hai: “…”

Zhao Yijia couldn’t help but laugh: “No, Hai Ge, I just fell for Twelve Ye, and Twelve Ye likes me too, so we’re dating now!”

Tian Gai couldn’t resist a jab: “I swear this isn’t The Villain’s Guide to Conquest, this is The Twelve Ye and Zhao Zhao Love Story!”

Twelve Ye: [Congratulations, may you be prosperous and blessed]

And just like that, Zhao Yijia and Ye Luan successfully came out in Meteor Garden. As the saying goes, “It’s all in the family,” and everyone began congratulating “Daoming Luan and Zhao Shancai,” even arguing over how much to chip in for the wedding gift. After chatting for a while, Tian Gai brought up work—

Tian Gai: “Zhao’er, I have to head out this afternoon. Send me the ‘Dazzling’ account and password so you can post the update yourself after you’re done writing.”

The Villain’s Guide to Conquest had been running smoothly for a while now, and the five authors were getting into a good groove: Tian Gai and Fox were constantly opening new plot threads, both being of the fantasy genre, and their imaginative exploits perfectly complemented the cultivation world setting; Qin Hai was channeling his inner Empress with all the political schemes and melodrama; Ye Luan and Zhao Yijia, probably due to their romance, were relentlessly dishing out sweet moments between Shen An and Duan Ruxing. No wonder Tian Gai couldn’t handle it anymore and called it a love guide. All in all, the readers were loving it, getting a mix of intense plot and heartwarming romance, to the point where the discussion threads in the comments section had already reached their fourth page.

Zhao Yijia: “Got it. By the way, the story is getting close to wrapping up, isn’t it?”

Qin Hai: “One more big climax, then we should be about done. I’ve already got a juicy plot twist in mind.”

Tian Gai: “Scared. Is your next political novel even going to be readable?”

Somnolent Fox: “Haha, I think we should all sync up our plot points for the final stretch.”

Twelve Ye: “Agreed.”

Qin Hai: “How about Shen An loses his memory again?”

Tian Gai: “Come on, Hai Ge, that’s too cliché. He just got his memory back, and you want him to lose it again?”

A light bulb went off in Zhao Yijia’s mind: “I think it could work. Song Ye realizes he can alter the story under certain conditions, but it’s limited—he can’t directly kill anyone. So he makes Shen An lose his memory again.”

Song Ye was the “plagiarist” in the story. At this point, the plot had divided into two camps: the original author Qu Shuangning and the plagiarist Song Ye were now fully at odds, each determined to destroy the other.

Tian Gai: “Does that mean Qu Shuangning can alter the plot too?”

Zhao Yijia: “Nope. Only Song Ye can, because they’re living in a story plagiarized by Song Ye.”

Somnolent Fox: “When do Duan Ruxing and Shen An find out they’re characters in a book?”

Twelve Ye: “After Shen An loses his memory and returns to the side of the cannon fodder. Qu Shuangning is devastated; he’s just an ordinary person, full of guilt for not being able to protect the characters he created. So he confesses everything to Duan Ruxing.”

Somnolent Fox: “You have to capture Ruxing’s confusion.”

Tian Gai: “Give Qu Shuangning a cool moment. He suddenly remembers that he gave Shen An a hidden trait, which will be key to solving everything.”

Zhao Yijia: “The trait is his sensitivity to names. I’ve got an idea for how to write it!”

And with that, the brainstorming session ended.

Bursting with inspiration, Zhao Yijia eagerly headed back to his room to write. Ye Luan, a little helpless, pulled him in for a kiss on the forehead, “How about keeping me company at work?”

Zhao Yijia shook his head, “No, I’d feel too awkward. I’ll stay home and cook for you.”

Ye Luan sighed, “You just want to stay home and write, don’t you?”

Zhao Yijia laughed, “Not really, you’re all busy working, and I’d just be a distraction. How about I bring you lunch instead?”

Ye Luan reluctantly agreed.

As soon as Ye Luan left, the house became quiet. Zhao Yijia opened the fridge and found that Ye Luan had thoughtfully stocked up on groceries. He picked out a few items, prepped the ingredients, and then went to his room to start writing. Ye Luan wasn’t wrong—one reason he didn’t want to go to the office was that he wanted to write: today, he had two chapters to update, one for The Villain’s Guide to Conquest and one for The Sands of Wind finale. Balancing cooking and writing, Zhao Yijia managed to finish both updates around the same time the meal was ready. He opened two separate tabs, logged into identical author dashboards, copied and pasted the new chapters into each, fixed a few typos, and hit “send” before closing the pages. Then, he packed up the food and took it to Ye Luan.

The morning flew by in a rush, and with his head still a bit foggy from a poor night’s sleep, Zhao Yijia didn’t notice anything wrong with the updates. So when readers eagerly clicked on the notifications for their favorite stories’ updates—

The Villain’s Guide to Conquest readers found out the ending of The Sands of Wind, while The Sands of Wind readers got a face full of Shen An and Duan Ruxing’s sweet moments.

Little Prince Zhao Zhao, your cover has been blown.

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