The next day, morning.
Liyue Harbor, having been silent for a full night, had returned to its bustling state, with sunlight spilling over the earth.
The sounds of peddling on the streets rose and fell.
Liyue Publishing House, editor's office.
Bai Qing sat at her desk, organizing documents.
Her eyes were slightly red, and her exquisite, pretty face held a trace of fatigue.
Clearly, she hadn't slept well last night.
The seniors around her, seeing Bai Qing in this state, didn't know for a moment whether to envy or pity her.
Under Bai Qing's management, there were a total of two famous authors.
One was Xingqiu.
Although the response in Liyue was mediocre, he was a bona fide hit in Inazuma; it was said his book had firmly taken the top spot in Inazuma's literary circles.
However, for an editor, trying to review his book was simply torture.
Although it was a book already popular in Inazuma and primarily exported there—meaning she didn't need to alter the setting or correct the plot—she still had to check for typos, grammatical errors, or redundancies to guarantee publication quality...
After all, it was a legitimate publication.
Thus, reading through it once was unavoidable...
But the problem lay in the fact that Xingqiu's book was not only obscure in content but his handwriting was also incredibly obscure.
It could be described as an ordeal.
As for Fang Qiu...
Fang Qiu's books were different from the mainstream novels of Liyue; both her content and writing style catered more to young people.
Although the protagonist was male, the novels were particularly popular among women.
Especially after Keqing of the Liyue Qixing and the Qixing's secretary, Miss Ganyu, bought Fang Qiu's book, it set off a romance novel craze among the younger generation.
According to their market research, after many girls bought it, the boys close to them would also buy a copy.
With a unique writing style and a niche romance genre, it had forcefully risen as a new force.
Not only that, but in recent days, they had also received many books in the same genre as Fang Qiu's.
However, due to insufficient writing skill and storytelling ability, combined with a style vastly different from Fang Qiu's, the reading experience could not be compared to Fang Qiu's Your Lie in April at all.
Many stories even forced characters to die just for the sake of angst.
For example, the male and female leads finally confess their feelings, the male lead runs toward the female lead on the official road, and then he gets hit by a speeding carriage and dies...
And what else... in the grand finale, the male lead finally defeats the villain, but the female lead is about to fall off a cliff. To save her, the male lead decisively rushes up to grab her hand, and then both fall off the cliff and die.
There were even the clumsiest imitations.
After the male and female leads go through untold hardships to be together, on the day of their wedding, the male lead suddenly vomits blood and collapses. Sent to Bubu Pharmacy for a check-up, he is terminally ill and beyond saving, and then, just like that, they are inexplicably separated by death.
When reading these plots, they could feel their brains screaming.
So, they rejected the manuscripts one after another.
Of course, there were also some novels that only imitated Fang Qiu's genre but had perfect endings.
Perhaps because the audience for this genre consisted of victims of Fang Qiu's books who urgently needed a book to heal their inner trauma, sales were quite decent; the best one barely reached one-tenth of Fang Qiu's sales.
It wasn't that the author wasn't good, but rather that the sales of Fang Qiu's Your Lie in April were too astounding.
For ordinary books, the first month is the peak of sales, after which it slowly declines.
But not Fang Qiu's book. Perhaps due to the reputation of Keqing, one of the Liyue Qixing, and Secretary Ganyu.
After so much time, sales of Fang Qiu's book had not only failed to drop but actually increased instead of decreasing.
However, although the content of Fang Qiu's novels was excellent and sales were amazing, the flaws were also obvious.
First, like Xingqiu, her handwriting was very poor; the first book was about the same as Xingqiu's, though the second book was much better than his.
Second, the content was too tragic.
Leaving aside the first book, Your Lie in April—after reading which they collectively went to a tavern to drown their sorrows—
Just looking at Bai Qing's state today, it was obvious she had cried again while trying to sleep last night.
Her eyes were bright red.
Fortunately, they hadn't read it.
"Ah Qing, are you done with work? Do you want to go have afternoon tea together later?"
Li Ling, the twenty-five-year-old big sister of the editorial department, asked.
"I'm sorry, Senior, I still have to rush to sign the contract with that girl Fang Qiu, so I can't join you."
Bai Qing shook her head apologetically and said.
"Is that so? Then you go ahead. Our work is finished too; how about we gather tonight?"
Li Ling asked.
"No problem, I'll definitely be there."
Bai Qing nodded and said, "It's been truly exhausting these past few days. I hope sales for this batch of books will be good over in Inazuma."
"Let's hope so. If that happens, we'll get a bit more Mora each month."
Li Ling smiled faintly: "When the time comes, I must go buy a set of Mondstadt clothes to try on."
"Eh? I think Inazuma's clothes are quite nice. Didn't the Sakoku Decree in Inazuma relax a lot a while ago? We should be establishing trade relations with Inazuma soon. By then, we'll be able to buy Inazuma clothes in Liyue too. I heard that underneath Inazuma kimonos, they don't wear anything."
"Eh? Not even underwear? Wouldn't that feel really weird?"
"You lot, stop spreading hearsay."
Li Ling rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. These juniors of hers, every single one of them...
"Eh, by the way? Senior, why do you suddenly want to buy new clothes? Could it be you have someone you like?"
"Ooh? It's possible! Senior is at just the right age for marriage."
"You little girls, dare to make fun of me! I'm busy with work every day; where would I find the leisure for romance?"
"Hmm... true."
"You can't say that. Just because you're busy with work doesn't mean you can't date the authors under you, right? Speaking of which, last time you went to discuss the plot with an author, your face was full of spring fever, and you couldn't even hide the smile on your lips."
"Yes, yes! I saw it too. I just don't know which author managed to pluck this delicate flower of our Senior."
The female editors chimed in to tease her.
"Eh? Senior has someone she likes? Male or female?"
At this moment, Bai Qing, who had finished organizing her documents, suddenly asked.
Immediately, the lively office instantly turned cold.
"Uh... Ah Qing, are you too tired from not sleeping well? Senior is a woman; do you even need to ask who she likes?"
One of the female editors reached out and touched Bai Qing's forehead.
"Uh, I guess so, haha. I've been tortured pretty badly these past few days. I need to rest well during the holiday tomorrow."
Bai Qing immediately realized her slip of the tongue, covered her forehead, and said, "Ahem, I'll go sign the contract first."
After saying that, Bai Qing bid farewell to the seniors and turned to leave the office.
Seeing Bai Qing leave, everyone looked at each other.
"Do you guys feel that Ah Qing's state just now was very similar to Senior Li Ling's before?"
"Now that you mention it, it really is!"
"But, it's worth mentioning, I wasn't going to see an author I liked, I was looking for a female author."
"Uh, Ah Qing should be going to see Fang Qiu, right?"
"Seems like it."
"Then it's nothing. If an author under me was about to become the Rookie King of our Liyue authors, I'd be this excited too."
"It's a pity, Senior Li Ling, you're so beautiful, why don't the authors under you pursue you?"
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