All the people who like me are other people’s girlfriends! ?

When I walked out of the library, the setting sun had already dyed the streets red.

"Ah, I feel so tired for no reason..." Ba Naijian sighed, Hey, don't act like you're tired from studying too much, you haven't even read a page of the book!

Qingye behind him complained silently.

As the automatic glass door closed softly, Burnt Salt Lemon killed her gloomy self and turned to show the style of a sporty girl. She skipped down the stairs and turned around to give them a mischievous smile.

In Qingye's sight, the blue-haired girl walking in front suddenly stopped on the third step. She raised her slender arms, pulling the hem of her skirt, showing her beautiful figure.

The girl's posture, somewhere between lazy and relaxed, lasted for several seconds - long enough for him to see the strands of hair behind her ears stuck to her by sweat, and the pale setting sun made her skin look even whiter.

"Ah - much more comfortable." The girl sighed with satisfaction. Under the sunset glow, one could clearly see the fine hairs on the girl's pretty face when she looked back.

Brother, you...

Qingye was forced to look away.

"Aqing, what are you doing? Hurry up!" Shaoyan Lemon and Banaijian urged from the bottom of the stairs.

Only then did Qingye walk down.

"Come to think of it, why did you look so serious just now?" Banaijian looked sideways at him and said nonchalantly.

“…Do I have it?”

"Yeah, you make that expression sometimes."

"Maybe it's because I'm thinking about some serious issues."

Qingye chose to skip the topic.

Shaoyan Lemon walked in front, stepping on the sunset and looking at them with a smile.

She spoke during the brief pause between their conversation.

"Ah Qing, I'm sorry for what I said just now! Don't take those words seriously. I just wanted to see how it would feel to say what was hidden in my heart..."

"So it feels a lot fresher now?" Qingye asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Absolutely not……"

Burnt Salt Lemon looked depressed.

"besides……"

At this time, Lemon stopped and turned around with her hair bouncing gently on her shoulders. The girl's smile looked unusually bright and enthusiastic in the sunset.

She looked directly into Kiyono's eyes.

"A-Qing, Hanano, thank you. I feel like I can muster up the courage to move forward again! Next time, I will definitely take the initiative to speak up and take a step forward! Wait for my good news!"

The girl's lemon hair accessories sparkled in the sunset, her teeth were white, and her voice was firm.

Ah, this is the athletic girl.

Qingye narrowed his eyes and had this intuitive feeling in his heart.

Passionate, brave, fiery.

They are as positive as the sport itself.

"So, you guys should all work hard together!"

The lines from the passionate comics echoed in the wind. Shaoyan Lemon waved vigorously at the two of them, making a running gesture like in Japanese dramas - and soon disappeared from sight.

"What kind of oil do you want to add..."

Yanaijian muttered to her back, "Did I see something I shouldn't have? Is this just the fake friendship between high school girls?"

Banaijian turned her head and showed him her side profile. She was silent for a moment, and then she took a step forward.

The High Priest of Gluttony is going to enjoy a delicious meal!

*

As the dusk deepens, the solitary figure looks somewhat lonely.

Without the lively voices of the two girls, the world seemed to become a lot quieter.

Qingye walked silently to the side of the bicycle, and suddenly felt like returning to reality - he remembered that he did not deliver newspapers tonight. Although everything he had experienced in the library before was wonderful, snacks, reading, the company of beautiful girls, and discussing the troubles of love with them, it seemed as if he had also integrated into this youth group portrait drama.

—But it wasn’t him who embellished this page.

Qingye got on the bicycle and pedaled.

The evening breeze blew up the corners of his clothes.

The girls are thinking about their love affairs.

He is wondering what to have for dinner tonight?

How late should you work at night?

How to make up for the missing day’s part-time job money?

The wind cannot blow away worries.

"But... it's not bad to have a youthful afternoon like this once in a while."

...

ps: Four thousand words update tomorrow!

...

024. The determined gaze of Ba Nai Jian

Eleven o'clock in the evening, at Sanriku Internet Cafe.

Qingye pushed open the door of compartment 208 and pressed the touch switch on the wall in the dark. A pale LED light lit up above his head, illuminating the three-story space in front of him. He arrived a little late today, and the room he usually stayed in was occupied by someone else in advance, so he had to make do with the room next door.

The environment of this single room was obviously much worse. The base of the monitor was raised with an old "Weekly Shonen Jump" magazine, the seat had a hole in it that revealed the sponge, and the most conspicuous thing was the crooked charcoal graffiti above the partition board - it read "Nishimura Group Die".

Qingye, who was not surprised, glanced at it and then looked away. He calmly took out a water bottle and a tissue, wiped the computer and mouse briefly, and sat down.

The computer screen lit up, and the moment Qingye's hands placed on the keyboard, his entire temperament suddenly changed, becoming confident and elegant, as if he was no longer a down-and-out person whose bedding was the sky and the earth and whose hometown was the Internet cafe, but a god who created the world, an emperor who could confiscate the nine clans of others with a single word, and a keyboard immortal who could open the gate of heaven with a single click.

“The Internet is truly the greatest invention of mankind.”

Qingye sighed like this and logged into the novel website to check readers' comments.

His light novel is currently doing very well. It has risen to the top ten on the new book list on the free website, and the number of readers is increasing day by day. But unfortunately, no editor from a publishing house has contacted him, and making money from publishing is even more out of reach.

He clicked on the new comments one after another. This was actually his daily routine. He would write down those he thought were useful and think about how to improve them.

At this time, a long review article on the web page caught his attention.

He clicked on it subconsciously.

"The writing is brilliant. Some passages feel like prose. The metaphors and emotional expressions are very clever. However, some of the deliberately intimate encounters with the heroine are a bit disappointing, including the connection between the two fragments on page 3 of chapter 2. Is this an attempt to please the reader? I personally think it would be better to focus on the story itself. Also, the image of this heroine seems... familiar?"

I'm sweating, brother.

I think there is no spring material in this world.

He had thought seriously about the heroine, Xue Zhi... The current heroine is indeed the most suitable character - he would only secretly add some personal feelings if it did not affect the article.

But now someone seems to have discovered something? That shouldn't be the case, he did make some minor changes...

Qingye carefully searched the other party's account information - his avatar was the cat avatar that came with the platform, and his name was even simpler, with only one word "snow". There was almost no other record. It was obviously a new account that had been registered not long ago.

Could it be Yukinoshita herself?

The radar in Qingye's heart suddenly sounded, but after thinking for a while, he still felt that he was overthinking.

Because Yukinoshita doesn't read light novels, and she certainly doesn't read books on such niche otaku websites.

——In any case, his suggestions are very valuable for reference. Ask him if he is interested in continuing to discuss the content of the novel.

Qingye edited a private message and sent it over: "The heroine wasn't specifically based on anyone; she's simply the beautiful person I long for. If you don't mind, could you help me point out some more issues with the article?"

Well, very writer-like.

send.

After pressing the confirm button, Qingye didn't care about it anymore, nor did he expect the other party to reply now. After all, it was already late at night.

"Document, start!"

Qingye began today's practice.

Through the cheap soundproofing panels came the vibrations of the game next door, as well as the swear words that erupted every three minutes, with a thick Kansai accent lingering on the end, like a broken clock that struck on time.

The smell of cup noodles, cigarette smoke, and takoyaki sauce mixed together and hovered above the space.

Qingye pretended not to hear, his eyes fixed on the black words on the white document, immersed in his own world, tempering his blade.

The night was deeper.

The remaining smell in the air was exhaled into the night city through the air purifier, and the vibration and cursing of the game turned into thunderous snoring.

"There are about four things to revise in Chapter Two. Once I've finished those and written an ending, the first volume will be almost done."

Qingye sat cross-legged in a chair, took a big sip of sports drink, frowned and talked to himself.

The requirement for submitting a light novel for publication is a complete volume of writing.

In other words, it was time to officially decide life or death.

Is the hard work of these two or three months worth it?

Can I escape from my current life?

His, hard work.

Everything is condensed in these 100,000 words.

Facing the upcoming final exam, he suddenly felt confident and uneasy, worried and expectant. The two completely opposite emotions collided with each other and then twisted into a unique mood.

Can he really succeed?

Will hard work and dedication be rewarded?

It is now before dawn. He has seen a ray of light, but he himself is still in darkness. He can only stand at the intersection of light and darkness and continue to move forward.

His will to persevere was unwavering, but he could not control his emotions.

"Burning salt... Have you ever felt this way?"

The smiling figure in the sunset suddenly flashed through Qingye's mind. He knew that the two people were facing different things and it was difficult to compare them, but they should be able to experience the same state of mind to a greater or lesser extent.

“Let’s see which library to submit to next.”

He now had no desire to sleep, nor the energy to continue writing, so he simply opened the website and started his fantasy time.

After this period of investigation, he was already familiar with the information in all the major libraries. After screening them, he had two choices in his mind.

First, there is the "Dengeki Novel Award" of the Kadokawa Group.

Second, Shogakukan’s “GAGAGA Bunko Newcomer Award”.

Kadokawa is undoubtedly the leader in the industry, having produced many phenomenal works, such as "Sword Art Online", "Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World", and "A Certain Magical Index" - Kadokawa Group has two branches, one is Kadokawa Bunko and the other is Dengeki Bunko. The former is aimed at office workers over the age of 25, and the latter is aimed at the most energetic young people, which is equivalent to a competitive and cooperative relationship.

So Qingye is targeting the Electric Shock Newcomer Award.

After all, what he wrote was a daily campus light novel.

There's nothing much to say about this choice. If you stand out in the biggest company, you'll really soar to fame. However, the number of competitors you face will also increase exponentially. In the past two years, the Dengeki Awards has been hailed as the most difficult way for newcomers to win an award.

The GAGAGA Bunko is relatively more relaxed and focuses on daily life. The classic "Oregairu" from another timeline comes from Shogakukan. If you submit your work here, the chances of success will increase a lot.

"Which one should I choose..." Qingye hesitated for a while, then smiled again, "Does this count as worrying about whether to go to Peking University or Tsinghua University?"

He glanced at the date for the Newcomer Award on the official website. It happened to be a week before the editorial review meeting. So, he decided to submit it to Dengeki Bunko first! If he failed, he could think of other options later!

Qingye turned off the computer.

Start preparing for war.

*

There's something wrong with Qingye-kun.

This was the seventeenth time that Yanaijian Xingcai observed Qingye, and after the eighteenth sneak peek, she finally confirmed it.

Because it seemed like there were exclamation points popping up on his head!