When he opened his eyes, it was already morning.
The sky was still dark outside, as it was just past six in the morning.
Outside the window, he could see a few old men and women doing their morning exercises. Other than them, there wasn't anyone else. This was an upscale estate, and there were not that many residents.
Zhang Ye crawled out of the guest bed in Old Wu's house. He yawned and stretched since he was unable to go back to sleep. He still felt a little uncomfortable spending the night at someone else's place since he wasn’t used to the bed and couldn’t get comfortable.
He went to the bathroom to do his business and then washed up. When he left his room, he moved around with light footsteps and took a look around. There wasn't anything going on upstairs or downstairs. Old Wu was clearly still in bed and if he judged by the standard seven or eight hours of sleep, Sis Wu would probably only be up around 8AM. Zhang Ye quietly made some tea on the first floor and brought it back into the room. He wasn't going back to sleep anymore, so he turned on the computer on the table.
He continued with his novel.
......
"Legend of Wukong".
Chapter 7:
Tang Xuanzang went back to the small room.
The fish was still swimming in the tank.
"Why is the ground so wet? You must have been naughty again!" Xuanzang smiled and said to Little White Dragon.
Little White Dragon swung her tail about and smiled. She found out that she was even willing to become a fish if it meant that she could stay by his side.
......
When he was writing this novel yesterday, Zhang Ye had some hope of things turning out better. He had earlier felt that his future was uncertain as everything he did was only bogged down by the ban. He was also no longer a small time celebrity, but a well known celebrity who was now ranked in the middle of the C-list rankings. A star of his caliber would require a lot of fame and popularity just to maintain this level, because his competitors in the rankings were not dead people. It wasn't only his popularity which would grow, but all of the others would grow as well. They were all running the rat race together and that was the reason why Zhang Ye couldn't just stay where he was. The rankings would change and he might drop greatly in ranking if he did not do something. Zhang Ye was now trying to think of a way to maintain his spot and was given a glimmer of hope by the novel 'Legend of Wukong'. He did not ask for it to be able to push him further up the rankings, but just to allow him to maintain his visibility and reputation so that his ranking would not drop.
From what he could see right now, his goals had already been reached. In fact, it even exceeded his expectations. The epic scolding war last night helped push "Legend of Wukong" into a prominent view and popular position. If he needed to come up with a reason for writing this novel yesterday, it was because of Wu Zeqing, but today, he, Zhang Ye, was writing this for himself.
Tap Tap Tap!
The clicking sound of the keyboard kept sounding out wave after wave.
His writing form was just normal since he had only just woken up. This chapter was written at a slower pace than yesterday, but he still managed to stumble through and complete the chapter. Zhang Ye checked for any typos before publishing it on his blog immediately.
Some netizens, who were up early, were already waiting.
"Ah!
It's released, it's released!"
"I've refreshed so many times!”
“It's finally here!"
"Haha, the wait is killing me!”
“I better read it first!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I've just finished reading it!"
“It was great!"
"Really good!"
"Is there anymore, Teacher Zhang!?”
“Please release it all at once!”
“I'm so anxious to find out what's going to happen next!"
The scolding war had already died down and the comment section on Zhang Ye's blog was in a mess. It could still be seen how fierce the battle had been the night before with some people still randomly continuing to scold, but since it was just scattered scoldings, it could be said that the scolding war had already ended.
The only people left were the ones who were standing by at his blog waiting for the updates to "Legend of Wukong".
Some even said, "Damn, I won't even bother celebrating Valentine's Day today. I will just wait at home for your updates!"
Oh?
Valentine's Day?
When he saw that comment, Zhang Ye was a little stunned. He took out his cellphone and checked the calendar to confirm. Well, isn't this so. Lunar New Year had just passed and it was already February 14th today. Spring was already coming.
But after knowing, he did not have much of a reaction anymore and just continued to power through writing the eighth chapter. To a very nationalistic youth amongst nationalistic youths, Zhang Ye wouldn't possibly want to celebrate this foreign festival. It would have been better to just celebrate their own traditional Chinese Valentine's Day.
A thousand characters.
2000 characters.
The eighth chapter was also completed. Zhang Ye had found his form and momentum by now, so the speed of his typing gradually increased. After he published it, he was preparing to get some rest, as his wrist was getting a little achy. Having typed out so many characters last night, he did not feel the effects immediately after, but when he woke up from his sleep, he did not feel too well in his head and hands. Together with helping Wu Zeqing take so many pictures of herself, coupled with those postures and angles, as well as pressing the shutter so many times, all of these were enough to cause him to feel tired.
He opened the windows and took a deep breath.
It was already past 7AM now. The sky was gradually becoming brighter, but the sun was still not up yet. The land was recovering and the little trees were sprouting buds. It was a vibrant and lively scene from the window.
There was a sound outside the door along the corridor.
It was the voice of a woman, "Little Zhang?"
Zhang Ye turned back to face the door and said, "Sis Wu, I'm in here." He closed the windows and quickly went over to open the door, but when he was just a meter away from the door, the door had already opened.
Wu Zeqing appeared in front of him. He could see that Wu Zeqing had only just woken up as her hair was still a little messy.
Zhang Ye smiled, "You're awake?"
"I just opened my eyes a while ago. I said I wanted to prepare breakfast for you, but then I couldn't find you in the bedroom. Hur hur, why did you come to the study?" She asked.
Zhang Ye said, "I just finished writing two more chapters of the novel."
Wu Zeqing said, "You are working on it so early in the morning?"
Zhang Ye nodded, "I woke up early today and couldn't go back to sleep."
"Alright then. You can continue to write while I prepare breakfast. You must be hungry?" Wu Zeqing laughed a little, "It will take about 10 minutes and breakfast will be served."
"I won't be writing anymore for now. Let's go downstairs together." Zhang Ye followed behind her and out of the study room.
When he passed by the room that he had slept in, Zhang Ye was stunned, "Aiyo, why did you fix the bed for me? Sigh, I forgot to make my own bed after waking up." The blankets and pillows were all stacked nicely on the bed, and even the coffee cup and ashtray, that he had been using last night, were taken away and cleaned up by Old Wu. Zhang Ye felt quite embarrassed about it as he was already troubling someone by staying over, and now Old Wu even had to clean up after him!
Wu Zeqing ignored him and just walked down the stairs.
Zhang Ye looked at her from behind and was feeling her gentleness and warmth. He mustered up a few words and the courage to say it, but always faltered just before the words could come out from his mouth. Instead, his face turned red from this. Just because he dared to scold at anyone didn't mean that he could say what he wanted to say to a woman, especially when it was such a beautiful woman. He tended to speak more formally with her.
He had a lot of words that he had wanted to say last night when he had been photographing Old Wu, but now, he could not even open his mouth.
There weren't too many days left of the reduced difficulty period. Only three days of the total duration of slightly more than six days were left now, and he had to make use of this time to confess to Old Wu. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a chance in the future!
How big of a gulf was between the two of them?
It wouldn't be too exaggerated to say that a day and a continent separated the two of them!
Old Wu was successful in her career and already at a high place at 30 something, but him?
He may look like he was doing well on the outside, but actually his career had only just started.
Old Wu was blessed with good looks and was beautiful from head to toe and from inside out, but him?
He was just ordinary, and you couldn't even consider him to be a little bit handsome.
Old Wu's personality was good as well. She knew how to take care of others, respect others, and was basically very considerate in all aspects, but him?
He would create trouble everyday, offending people everywhere. He could not cook or take care of people and was lazy.
Sigh, let's just stop here. The more reasons he brought up, the more likely he would burst into tears!
"Shall I make some eggs?"
"Anything is fine."
"OK, I will heat up some milk too."
Downstairs, Wu Zeqing was beginning to busy herself with chores.
Zhang Ye could not help in anyway, so he just stood by her side and looked on. He had been thinking over and over again on how to confess. Should he do it gracefully?
Boldly?
Frankly?
A cellphone rang.
It was Old Wu's cellphone.
She checked the CallerID and smiled as she picked up, "Director Wang."
Zhang Ye leaned in closer and managed to overhear a bit of the conversation. It was a man, who sounded like he was in his thirties, not too young or old, "President Wu, I heard that you were promoted?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe answered, "It's just a lateral promotion."
The other party said, "Where will you be headed?"
She replied, "To the South, I guess. It still hasn’t been confirmed yet."
The other party paused for a moment before saying, "It's Valentine's Day today, are you free? Let me give you a treat."
Zhang Ye's ears perked up up immediately. Damn you, who the hell does this Wang guy think he is?
How dare you try to cut this bro's corner?!
But he heard Wu Zeqing laughing and reply, "Next time, I have something going on today."
That person said, "You have a date?"
She replied, "Hur hur, it's not really a date, but I won't be able to go for sure. We can always have the farewell dinner another day. It would be the same anyway. We can also call a few of our old friends along for the gathering before I leave."
That person could only reply, "Alright then."
After hanging up, the doorbell rang.
A man's voice shouted out from the outside, "Courier."
Wu Zeqing went to open the door.
When the courier saw Wu Zeqing, he gave a look of amazement and was stunned for a moment. Then he said, "Are you Madam Wu? I have a parcel for you, please sign here."
"Oh, thank you." Wu Zeqing signed off on the acknowledgment slip and opened up the parcel. It was a big box of chocolates from abroad in the shape of hearts. One could tell that it was expensive just from the look of it alone.
When the courier left, someone from the florist arrived with two big bouquets of flowers. One of it was red, while the other one was blue in color. The florist delivery person asked Wu Zeqing to sign for the delivery.
Wu Zeqing's expression did not change and she asked, "They're both for me?"
The female florist delivery person replied, "Yes, they're both for you. We received these two orders yesterday and only noticed it today when we were preparing to send out the flowers. The addresses were the same, so we brought them over together. Ahemm, this one is is from Mr. Zhang and this one is from Mr. Liu. Can you sign both acknowledgment slips?"
It wasn't really that coincidental, since the florist was one of the bigger shops in the vicinity of Taoran Pavilion. It was also more popular and so the two orders were made at this shop via a website.
The florist delivery person was still wondering earlier about this. It was a rare occurrence even to them, but when she saw Wu Zeqing, she seemed to have realized that it wasn't that much of a surprise at all. For such a beautiful woman, if she wasn't married yet, it wouldn't even be surprising if she received more than a dozen flowers, let alone just two bouquets.
After Wu Zeqing signed it, she said, "Thank you."
Zhang Ye, who had been observing this from the side, was now feeling hatred for those gift senders. He had wanted to scold all of them harshly! This was really pushing it too far!
You people have pushed it too far!
The confession has to be today!
It had to be!!
If he didn't, then Old Wu might be snatched away by someone else instead!
Translator Notes: Like Zhang Ye pushing through the chapters, I've been translating these chapters with much vigor. My wrists are hurting these days, I better get them rested for a short while.
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