Chapter 37: Hiding is Confessing
“How much did they ask you to change?” Ye Ran asked.
Ye Muqing: “Everything except the protagonists’ names, including their genders.”
Ye Ran: “…”
What was the difference between that and a rewrite?
Furthermore, asking an author to change even the genders of the protagonists was something no one could take, even if the content truly wasn’t great.
Ye Ran couldn’t quite watch this. “Why don’t you try a different publisher?”
Ye Muqing: “Only this one was willing.”
Ye Ran: “…”
They were likely only willing for the sake of him being the Second Young Master of the Ye family and paying out of his own pocket; otherwise, with that level of writing, no one would buy it even if it were published.
Ye Ran thought for a moment and suggested a way. “Maybe you could post it online. Relying solely on publishing is an old model. Web novels are more popular now; for example, on the ‘Tomato Novel’ app, there are a lot of readers. Posting it there would be better than stubbornly trying to publish it.”
Ye Muqing didn’t usually read web novels, so he naturally hadn’t thought of this layer.
With Ye Ran saying it like this, he felt as if his path to glory was right in front of him.
Ye Muqing instantly regained hope. “You’re right. I’ll research it when I get back.”
“Xiao Ran, have you read that book? What do you think?”
Ye Muqing now looked like someone who had just seen the sun after a thick smog, and Ye Ran didn’t want to make him turn back.
“I haven’t written books, so I can’t give you experience from an author’s perspective, but from a reader’s perspective, the beginning is too slow. After three chapters, I still didn’t know who the protagonist was, and the pace afterward is too slow…”
The points Ye Ran pointed out were spot-on.
Ye Muqing nearly took out a small notebook to record them, nodding like a chick pecking at grain. “Mn, mn, keep going…”
By the time Ye Ran was mostly finished, Qiao Yubai happened to come downstairs. He had never seen such a scene before; the two Ye brothers were talking like a teacher lecturing a primary student, and the “teacher” was actually Ye Ran.
Before departing, Ye Muqing didn’t forget to tell Ye Ran, “Xiao Ran, once I’ve revised it, I’ll bring it for you to see again, okay?”
Ye Ran: “…”
Everyone else was an author’s first loyal reader, but in his case, it was the opposite.
After finally sending those two away, Ye Ran ran upstairs like a gust of wind.
Having settled on going out to play with Xu Huiyang for a few days, they were about to depart in a few hours, and he hadn’t even packed his luggage yet.
Back in his room, just as he took out his suitcase, Xu Huiyang’s call came in. “I say, have you finished packing?”
Ye Ran: “I just finished wiping the dust off the suitcase.”
Xu Huiyang: “…Do you dare to be any slower? We’re going to miss the boat to the island.”
Ye Ran opened the closet and didn’t even look at what clothes they were, grabbing a few at random and tossing them into the suitcase.
“Your family opened the hotel; don’t you have the final say on the boat?”
Xu Huiyang said seriously, “My brother said he’s covering everything on the island, but he can’t manage anything off the island. The boat doesn’t belong to our family.”
“Then whose is it?”
“He said it’s a partner who invested in the hotel together. The boat is that person’s exclusive vessel, and there are only two trips to the island every day, so my brother said he doesn’t have the final say.”
Ye Ran didn’t know that the resort hotel built by the Xu family had a partner.
Xu Huiyang urged him again, “Hurry up. I’m downstairs at your house.”
Ye Ran snapped the suitcase shut, put on his sunglasses, and set off.
Xu Huiyang had been waiting outside for a long time. As soon as Ye Ran came out, he immediately stepped forward to take his suitcase and put it in the trunk.
Ye Ran pulled down his sunglasses slightly and took a careful look, confirming it was his best friend whom he hadn’t seen for a while, before teasing, “Oh? Found a girlfriend? I haven’t seen you for a few days and you’ve become so good at taking care of people.”
Xu Huiyang didn’t even raise his eyes. “I’m not looking for a girlfriend; I’m looking for a boyfriend.”
The word “boyfriend” hit Ye Ran like a bombshell.
No way. He had known Xu Huiyang for so long, and even he didn’t know his sexual orientation was toward men!
Could it be that not a single “fish” escaped the author’s net—are they truly all gay?!
Xu Huiyang finished putting the suitcase away and saw Ye Ran still standing there. “What are you dazing out for? Get in the car!”
Only then did Ye Ran switch from his paused state, opening the passenger door to get in.
As Xu Huiyang drove, Ye Ran couldn’t help but ask him, “You found a boyfriend?”
Hearing him ask so suddenly, Xu Huiyang’s brain stalled like a machine that couldn’t turn, and it took a while for him to react.
“I was just teasing you. Who asked you to be so slow?”
Even if Xu Huiyang said that, Ye Ran still wanted to confirm. “Are you sure you don’t like men?”
“Certain and positive. As fixed as can be.” Xu Huiyang felt something was wrong with Ye Ran. “No, Young Master Ye, what’s with you? Is it because after a few days of not seeing each other, your sexual orientation turned toward men, so you’re asking me to find a fellow ‘comrade’?”
In the past, Ye Ran would definitely have exploded first, then given Xu Huiyang’s butt a kick and shouted, “If I liked men, then there definitely wouldn’t be any women left in this world!”
But today, Ye Ran didn’t reply to him that quickly, nor did he explode. Just this moment of delay was enough for Xu Huiyang to want to investigate further if Ye Ran truly liked men.
A few seconds later, Ye Ran replied flatly, “How could that be possible…”
There was no excessive rebuttal, nor was there a definitive statement; it was just a vague answer.
Xu Huiyang peeked at Ye Ran from the corner of his eye. “You’re not right…”
“You hesitated.”
Ye Ran: “…”
He silently withdrew his gaze and then, taking advantage of the red light ahead, raised his hand and gave Xu Huiyang a “chestnut” on the head. While the other was grimacing in pain, he asked, “Is it right now?”
Hiding is confessing, and confessing is the truth.
The words reached Xu Huiyang’s lips but were suppressed back down. He didn’t have the advantage while driving, and speaking at this time was clearly asking for a beating.
So he could only toss out one verbal line: “You wait. I’ll pay you back sooner or later.”
Ye Ran wasn’t afraid at all. In terms of their combat power, even one and a half Xu Huiyangs wouldn’t be his match.
“I’ll spar with you after we get out of the car. It just so happens I’ve gotten used to working out these past few days, and my legs feel uncomfortable if they don’t kick something every day.”
Xu Huiyang looked at him with a face full of wariness. “Don’t even think about attacking my ‘butt’!”
If he had known Ye Ran had developed a habit of kicking people, he should have brought a sandbag to tie to his backside.
By the time the car reached the pier, it was exactly ten minutes before the boat to the island was scheduled to depart.
Xu Huiyang had already booked two seats in advance. The two of them took their luggage onto the boat. Although it was only ten minutes, waiting was still a bit boring, so Ye Ran took out his phone to take a photo of the sea and posted it to his WeChat moments.
He even added a very abstract caption to the photo.
[Today, I am the Sea King.]
Translator’s Note:
Hiding is confessing, and confessing is the truth is a popular Chinese saying that means when you try too hard to deny or hide something, you’re actually confirming it.
And Ye Ran calling himself a “Sea King”? In Chinese internet slang, a “Sea King” (海王) refers to a player or someone who has many romantic “fish” in their “pond.”
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