I am a turtle with pride!

Since the day Jie Jie signed the contract three weeks ago, she had not been slacking off, delivering daily updates non-stop. Angered by Yang Yun's words, she had even delivered two chapters a day during the first week to show him her worth, but he had not contacted her even once. When her anger dissipated as much as her energy, she reflected and delivered only a chapter a day henceforth. Though she was overpaid, she was being paid for a chapter a day in the end - no need to do more than what was expected of her. This is the privilege of being an employee.

Yang Yun had also kept his word and ordered Justin Wang, his new lackey and administrator of NovelsOnline, to payout Jie Jie in monthly instalments from the money he had sent. Thus Jie Jie had no more reason to question the authenticity of the contract when her bank account received the first payment through NovelsOnline the day after. The only thing she still questioned was the sanity of her new 'boss'.

Another thing disturbing her was the persistence and 'dedication' of a few of her new 'fans' - or let's truthfully call them anti-fans. She had always been someone who read all messages and took her reader's criticism with seriousness - even when she became a selling author, she read all comments and considered advice earnestly. But since her story got exposed on the bulletins and billboards, she became a 'black star' overnight. The sad thing is, most people who came were not bees attracted by flowers but more like flies attracted by dung. Jie Jie wasn't a person who get demoralised just because she received a few negative comments. She was slandered with obvious malicious intent in the past, so a few words on the internet weren't anything to her, but regarding this matter, she found it harder and harder to bear. While some were just dissatisfied and jealous of her getting so much exposure and blessings, most of the negative comments had nothing to do with her style as an author or the course of the story but were just about the gay theme. Jie Jie guessed that most of these people never even read past the current top comment, that was a downvote which read as follows: >>Nothing against it but yucks! I don't want to read about homos! Couldn't give fewer stars! Why was this on the main page?!<<

Others followed closely with similar posts. Everyone said they had nothing about gays, but that they just couldn't read it.

But if they didn't read, how dare they comment and vote? Why didn't she see those people going to other people's stories and comment on those they never read? This behaviour was outrageously two-faced! If they can't tolerate homosexuality, then can't they just put a blind eye to it and move on to another story? Why take the time and effort to leave insults?

Whenever Jie Jie took a look at the comment's section, she was about to spit blood. People, hiding behind the anonymity of the internet are vicious. They regard themselves as rightful and understanding, some even call themselves intellectuals, but once you turn your backs on them, they start to show their real face. They think they have the freedom of speech on the internet, what a bunch of cowards! What even is the so-called freedom of speech anyway? Does it allow you to say what you think regardless of the consequences? Can they force their stinking opinion on others without anyone being able to refute them - all because of the freedom of speech? Then, why can't Jie Jie use her fair share of freedom of speech? Wasn't she allowed to write a little fun and romantic story about a loving couple that happens to be both males? That's why, even though it's not a crime anymore to be gay, people doesn't dare to come out because they are still faced with countless discriminations. To the ignorant people, having a slightly different sexual orientation than the majority is considered as being sick.

There have always been homosexual content on NovelsOnline but they never left the basement, never gathered so much attention. Nowadays, Jie Jie found herself being the target to every possible insult one could think of. She didn't know how to describe that bitter feeling whenever she read those comments that had actually nothing to do with her or her story.

"Just a bunch of homophobe cretins." She gnashed her teeth and tried to distance herself as far from the warzone as possible. "It's best to put them out of sight for now."

She felt terrible for her actual readers and the small minority who tried to refute to the bad comments. But they were drowning in spit, constantly being wheathered down until they had no energy to spend. The few good reviews got buried under all the hate and dissatisfaction. Jie Jie didn't have the heart nor the energy to dig for gold; she can't answer to some while ignoring the others. This wasn't her style at all. So Jie Jie stopped reading the comments altogether.

When she stopped reading the comments, she missed the interactions with her small community, but instead, she swore to give those who stayed loyal to her the best experience, the sweetest love. Regardless of being paid or not, she must put all her effort into this story, making the coupple so happy and sweet that even those who hate them would get a toothache. The more she wrote and the further her story progresses while the happier her couple become - the more those haters will feel the burn. Jie Jie decided that she must write this story! At all costs! And it must be a happy ending for all to see! The more they don't want her to write, the more she would write for all to see.

"Then, why are you crying again?" It was Mari's annoyed voice that came through the phone. They had been cussing and cursing those haters for an hour now, trying to harden Jie Jie's resolve once and for all. Mari was also angered at people's cowardice and felt bad for her friend who seemed firm but was in reality much like a turtle. With her appearance, she looked strong and willful, but actually, she was easy to withdraw into her shell, seeking comfort in her own created space and hiding from the world. Jie Jie was the kind of person that would rather step aside than taking on a confrontation head-on. Although she doesn't look like it, she was a bluffer. She wasn't a coward nor would Mari describe her as timid but one could say that Jie Jie was very much a person who lived carefully on eggshells. Thus Mari, who had much thicker face than Jie Jie, only wished to protect her good friend from all those vicious people and told her just to stop reading the comments and treat them as stinkin' farts. She thought that she had finally gotten Jie Jie to gather the resolve after weeks of persuasion, but her friend just sighed and sounded so pitifully just now that made Mari's heart contracting into a ball.

Jie Jie, with red eyes, finally confessed: "My story, which was a 4.8 until now, has dropped down to 1.5 thanks to all the negative comments! I have the lowest ratings of all the stories on the billboard!" This was such a heartache to her. As a new and young bestselling author, who would believe that her net rating was so pitifully low? Who wouldn't be affected by that? Even a person with a face as thick as a tree trunk would feel ashamed, no? Even if she was a turtle, she was still a turtle with pride, okay?

"You.... you!" Mari roared, feeling as if an hour worth of her running her mouth has been spent in vain. "Go and pack your things! Go to bed early! Tomorrow is your first visit to the entertainment company!"