They Were Right After All

Looking at the pink progress bar Su Yan pursed his lips and grumbled some curses. This thing was indeed bullying him! Why did it seem as if the progress hadn't changed at all?! Could it really be that he wouldn't get experience points for these writing style practice tasks? But that was also practicing, ah!

Su Yan squinted his eyes and tried to see any difference between the progress shown now and the one before but he really wasn't sure.

"Hmph. Then I'll try another task! Sooner or later it should be enough to be seen."

Thus, a certain aspiring bl author went on to upload his scene to all the other practice tasks concerning the writing style. Each time, he uploaded the scene unedited first before revising it two times with the system's help. Only when he had tried every of the small practice tasks did he go back to have a look at his progress bar.

Seeing the pink part of the bar Su Yan's eyes immediately lit up. This time there finally was a notable increase. If he had to estimate it, then he had progressed by about ten percent.

Alright, he had hoped it would be more but ten percent was better than nothing. Especially if he considered that each task was actually really small. After all, it didn't take long to read a scene of not even a thousand words and delete the things the system didn't like.

Only an hour had gone by since he started working on the first task and not counting the comprehensive style check he had finished all of them. And that already included the time needed for reading the short theoretical introduction and perusing the example the system gave. If he did all these tasks again for a different scene, half the time might be enough for him.

Well, actually, even if Su Yan hadn't gotten the ten percent he would have been happy with it. After all, reading the first version of the scene and comparing it with the version he had now … He really couldn't deny that there had been a massive improvement.

"Uh, I guess they were right after all when they said I couldn't write."

Su Yan pursed his lips. Argh, this first version was really too embarrassing! Thankfully, this was just a scene he had written for the system and not something he had uploaded. Ah, at least he had been spared that embarrassment!

Su Yan froze. Wait! He might not have uploaded the scene but what about his first story? What about the first chapter of his new story?! Who was to say that they weren't as bad as this scene?!

"Ugh!" Su Yan ruffled his hair and put his head onto the table.

What should he do now? He really wanted to look but if he did and saw that the story he had already uploaded was indeed bad, then wouldn't he feel even worse?

Su Yan slightly lifted his head and reproachfully glared at his notebook. Why hadn't the system introduced these practice tasks to him earlier? That was something he should have had from the beginning! Now people had already read this embarrassing thing! Ah, it absolutely wasn't fair to only unlock the practice tasks after he reached the third level! That was as if the system wanted him to embarrass himself!

Just when Su Yan pondered if it might be better to not bother with this system at all from now on a warm hand fell on his head and gently ruffled his hair.

Su Yan turned his head and found the smiling face of his boyfriend in front of him. Su Yan stared at him. Why was he bothering him while he was wallowing in his self-pity? Couldn't Nie Chang see that he was incredibly busy?!

Nie Chang didn't take the dark look he got to heart. His little darling was obviously a very sad little darling right now. Instead of backpedaling and leaving him alone he pushed his chair closer and hugged Su Yan. "Alright, you're looking as if you've got it really tough right now. How about telling your boyfriend about it? Maybe I'm able to help?"

"No!" Su Yan sniffled. "Nobody can help me right now. It's all that stupid system's fault!"

"That sounds really bad." Nie Chang brushed Su Yan's hair back and pulled him onto his lap. "So, what did it do?"

"It bullied me!"

"Oh." Nie Chang nodded like a good boyfriend and stroked Su Yan's back.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be the wrong move. A certain person got even moodier with someone to care for him around. Tears actually welled up in his eyes and he clung to Nie Chang's neck. "Ah Chang, what am I going to do now? It's all over! Who is even going to read anything I write in the future? Uwuwu, I'm such a bad author …"

Nie Chang froze. Alright? This wasn't what he had expected. He hurriedly tried to placate his boyfriend. "Aiya, don't say something like that! Even if nobody else would want to read it, there's still me. I'd always want to read what you write."

"You're biased!"

"Mn." Nie Chang unabashedly acknowledged it. "That's true. But I even read your stories before I was your boyfriend and I already liked them back then. So, I wasn't biased at that time, right?" He leaned back to take a look at Su Yan's face.

Thankfully, his little darling had never been a logical person so he actually believed him instantly. Su Yan still had another concern though.

"Then maybe you just lack in taste?"

Nie Chang coughed. "Uh … How could that be? Just look at yourself! You're so cute and lovable. And didn't I go after you from the very beginning? I obviously have very great taste!"

Su Yan pondered the issue and nodded, his tears slowly coming to a halt. He still sniffled though. "You forgot to mention that I'm handsome."

"Oh, you're very handsome. Although … I'd say you're more cute than handsome."

"Hah?"

Nie Chang chuckled and bent down, wiping away those tears and kissing him before Su Yan could start arguing. "Alright, and now tell your equally handsome boyfriend just how that stupid system bullied you."