The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal Assistant

24

Chapter Twenty-four

After enduring a short period of ringing, Su Yuyang felt his ears return to normal. He touched the shell of his ear and said with disdain: “It isn’t my civic duty to tell you this. I read your novel to help me fall asleep when I can’t.”

“You’re really a lot.” Ling Miao lowered his register. His voice rumbled like the thunder before a summer storm.

Ling Miao slumped against the wall and sat, limply, on the cold stone floor. He took a deep breath and said self-deprecatingly: “Yeah, my novel isn’t as popular with readers as yours, but you don’t have to talk about it like it’s worthless, right? You shot to fame with your first book, but god only knows how many times you failed before you got famous. Maybe you were in a worse state than me before you made a name for yourself!

So what if you’re a god among novelists now? If you’re so great, then break out of Asia and get famous worldwide! You’re laughing at me, a no-name writer, but what ground do you even have to stand on?”

Ling Miao could not bear to lift his head and see Su Yuyang’s expression, so he fled into the bathroom without waiting for Su Yuyang’s response.

Click—Ling Miao softly closed the bathroom door. Su Yuyang watched Ling Miao’s blurred shadow behind the door.

Su Yuyang couldn’t see his own expression, but he did know his own feelings—an inexplicable pain was roiling in his heart.

While Ling Miao had been speaking, Su Yuyang had tried many times to interrupt, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to say anything, comforting or chiding. Su Yuyang had quietly listened to Ling Miao denounce him, and only when Ling Miao had closed the bathroom door behind him did he thoroughly understand how much his words had hurt Ling Miao.

Ling Miao was easily provoked, and sometimes Su Yuyang would intentionally press Ling Miao’s buttons. Ling Miao would usually fall for it then yell and scream at Su Yuyang. Su Yuyang would speak to him gently, half chiding, half consoling, and when Ling Miao quieted down, the matter would be over.

Today was the first time Su Yuyang had encountered Ling Miao’s quiet accusations. The result of his unexpected behavior was mostly extreme fear. Su Yuyang was suddenly not sure if he could make Ling Miao’s state of mind return to normal.

Ling Miao looked at himself in the mirror. Frustration and fear were written all over his face.

A drop of water slid down his cheek and landed on the back of his hand, still warm from the heat of his body.

Su Yuyang’s heart was in disarray. Ling Miao’s heart was similarly uneasy.

More than one person had called Ling Miao’s books bad, but the words seemed to gain additional flavor when they came out of Su Yuyang’s mouth. Maybe Ling Miao had already subconsciously rejected the notion that his books ‘sucked,’ in addition to not caring about other people’s opinions. So when Su Yuyang with his successful author’s halo had mercilessly revealed the truth in front of Ling Miao, it had completely destroyed his confidence.

“But since I don’t care about other people’s opinions, why do I care about Su Yuyang’s opinion? Because he’s a successful novelist?” Ling Miao splashed cold water on his face in an attempt to calm himself down, but it was mostly ineffective and only worsened his panic.

A lot of questions didn’t have answers, like how even Su Yuyang didn’t know why he had pushed out an additional update for Ling Miao, or why he liked poking at Ling Miao’s sore spots.

The last rays of the sun vanished in the west, and the city was draped in a cloak of the cold, sparkling lights that streamed in with the night.

In the time between sundown and moonrise, Su Yuyang maintained the same position he had been  in since Ling Miao had entered the bathroom. Ling Miao’s silhouette still lay unmoving against the frosted glass of the bathroom door. It hadn’t moved a fraction.