The soft sigh caused the young woman’s heartstrings to tighten further. She pursed her lips, her head shrinking into her neck as the sound of the laptop scrapped against the top of the table, finally interrupting the heavy silence. A light clearing of the throat followed the sound of someone uncapping their water bottle, taking a sip, and placing it down with a light thunk.

“It’s not bad.”

The young woman had known her editor for years. She smiled wryly. “Mr. Gui, you don’t have to lie.”

Guī Yīn (归音) looked at the nervous author in front of him and shook his head. “Miss Shen (沈), I’ve never lied to an author before. I believe you know my reputation in the office isn’t that great, don’t you?”

The author, surnamed Shen, glanced up at Gui Yin. She readjusted her glasses. “I wouldn’t say it’s not great…”

“Miss Shen, what you have here has great potential,” Gui Yin said. His slender fingers lightly tapped at the surface of his laptop. “It’s just…”

“…Just what?”

“Just that the plot is a bit one-dimensional,” Gui Yin said as he glanced at the character outline on the laptop. “Especially since you have such a full cast of characters. Or is it you’re not done with the plot yet?”

Miss Shen flushed in embarrassment. “I-I’m done with it.”

Gui Yin nodded curtly. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with a stallion novel. They’re still all the rage, after all. It’s just that I don’t think it fits your previous style of novels—this may lead to you losing some old fans. However, if this is truly the genre you would like to try, I will help you.”

Miss Shen met Gui Yin’s sincere gaze and felt her nose sour. She lowered her head again and squeezed her knees apprehensively.

“Could I talk about something a bit personal, Mr. Gui?”

Gui Yin leaned back in his chair. “Of course.”

“…I started writing on M Website in high school,” Miss Shen said. “My first series showed a bit of promise and I was able to sign a contract—that’s the reason my parents agreed to not make me go to university. But it’s been six years and my second series completely tanked. It didn’t reach numbers that I thought it would and I was even mocked by the netizens…”

Gui Yin leaned over to grab the box of tissues behind him. He placed it in front of Miss Shen and returned to his previous position.

“I’m not that young anymore—I’m turning twenty-five in the next few months. My parents have been bothering me about getting married and I,” Miss Shen pursed her lips. The tears she had been trying to keep in the past few weeks slowly surfaced. “It’s either college or marriage—they want me to choose one if my career doesn’t get any better by the time I turn twenty-six. I just…I’m sorry, Mr. Gui. I’ve talked too much about my personal life, but this is where I’m at. I really need this next story to take off.”

Gui Yin frowned.

The model of parenting has hardly changed from generation to generation.

From childhood till high school, you were supposed to study hard, earn good grades, and then get into a good university. If you didn’t know what you wanted to be by then, then you were a failure. If you weren’t preparing to get married by the time you graduated college, you were strange. If you didn’t have a stable job lined up, you were criticized. No matter how well everything was done, parents always found a way to belittle their children.

Even Gui Yin’s parents, who were long divorced and had their own families, still had time to badger him on holidays like New Year’s or Christmas to see whether he had gotten a girlfriend yet. Wasn’t it them who wanted him to focus on his studies and career at first? Where in the world would he find time to get a girlfriend?

Besides, he’s already told them time and time again that he was not interested in women. After nearly ten years, they were still stubbornly refusing to accept that fact.

Gui Yin’s brows pinched as he tried to suppress his growing irritation. He turned his attention back to Miss Shen. He patted the back of her tightly clasped hands.

“I understand, Miss Shen. I will try my best to help you,” Gui Yin said. He smiled when the young woman looked up with teary eyes. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re a talented writer. There’s no need for you to follow the trends just to get your work noticed. Just be true to yourself and true to your fans. As for your parents…I understand that it’s difficult to ignore their criticisms, but sometimes it’s better to distance yourself from the negativity, even if they are your family.”

Miss Shen sat a bit straighter. “How could I do that? They worked so hard to raise me and I know they’re already disappointed in me for choosing to be a web novelist. Not to mention, the things I write are a bit…”

“A bit what?”

Miss Shen bit her lower lip and averted her gaze.

“I think they’re fine,” Gui Yin said. He glanced at the plot outline again. “How about this? Instead of having it take place in a modern setting, we’ll move your fantasy worlds into ancient times. The outline you provided is already set in a world with cultivation. We can just lean into it. We’ll do away with the stallion protagonist. Create a new character with more depth and we can work from there.”

Miss Shen’s eyes widened. “Y-you think we can do that before the deadline?”

“Of course. I’ll send you all the research and reference material we have for this genre tonight,” Gui Yin closed his laptop with a smile. He looked Miss Shen in the eyes. “You’re a good writer, Miss Shen. People will notice you in the future, I promise.”

The tears that the young woman had been holding back finally fell out drop by drop. Gui Yin calmly handed her some tissues. He remained beside her as a silent comfort. It was as if all the stress in the world was lifted from her shoulders. She couldn’t stop crying for a long time.

As the two of them finished up their meeting, Miss Shen let out a soft giggle.

“My parents would definitely love to have you as their son-in-law. You’re quite the smooth talker.”

Gui Yin smiled. “Thank you for the compliment, Miss Shen. However, I’m afraid it would be impossible between you and me. I’m not interested in women.”

Miss Shen looked at him. The surprise in her eyes slowly turned to a type of understanding. Her dull gaze became a little brighter and her smile became a little more sincere.

“I agree to that, Mr. Gui,” Miss Shen said cheerfully. “I’m not quite interested in men either.”

Gui Yin chuckled.

He walked Miss Shen to the elevators and the two said their parting words there. Just as he turned around, he was met with a familiar coworker.

He gave the man a once over before heading back to his desk.

“Rejected another one, hm?”

“I didn’t reject her,” Gui Yin sat down and turned on his laptop. “She was only joking.”

“Only joking,” his coworker sat down at his own desk and wheeled his way over. He propped his head up and looked at Gui Yin. “What about the past couple? They weren’t exactly joking, were they?”

“I don’t like mixing my personal life and my work life,” Gui Yin said as he sorted through his reference folders to find the materials Miss Shen needed.

“Oh, but what about that one guy? The…uh…ah, man. His name is slipping my mind,” Gui Yin’s coworker clicked his tongue. He leaned back in his office chair and slapped his forehead. “What was it? He’s topping the charts right now! The guy that writes the tragic gay novels?”

Gui Yin suppressed a sigh. “He’s surnamed Zhen. His pseudonym is Chasing Fireflies.”

“Right! Him!” his coworker leaned in again. “You were interested in him, weren’t you?”

“I wasn’t.”

“You weren’t?” his worker slowly raised a brow. “But there are rumors around the office that you switched him to another editor because you two didn’t end up working out.”

Gui Yin glanced at his coworker.

A cold chill ran down his coworker’s back. The man sat upright and rolled back to his desk.

“Geez, you can never take a joke, huh?”

Gui Yin stood, closed his laptop, and slipped it into his bag. “I will be going home now.”