1 End of Book Acknowledgements

This book officially concludes here.

There are no extras.

I have finished three books, and this one has perhaps received the worst criticism of the three.

First of all, my writing isn't very good, and I know I need to read more books to improve myself, but this isn't something that can change overnight. I'm grateful to everyone for bearing with this and continuing to read my book.

Another point of contention was the female lead's background.

The background of the female protagonist has been criticized from the very beginning to the end. Many people said that the background (her family being forced by relatives to surrender their house) was unrealistic, disgusting, and painted the protagonist as too repressed and weak. I have been reading all the comments but never changed the character setting or made alterations. This is because the background is based on the real-life background of a friend of mine, and I even used her real name, Mei Mengzhen, after consulting her for permission.

So it's not just a novel; it's semi-autobiographical, inspired by her real life. Of course, the parts about the space are my own creations.

Since it's based on a real person, it's only natural that I didn't change the character design too much. The novel's plot, from start to finish, mirrors my friend's entire journey—starting from selling fresh vegetables downstairs to opening her small restaurant, then her own shop, and finally making short videos. Every step I wrote closely followed her experiences.

Of course, I've compressed the timeline quite a bit. After all, our eras are different. So even a small change might have completely altered the feel of the story, which is why I remained firm in my original setup and wrote it to the end despite all the negative feedback.

Speaking of which, I'd like to clarify some real events depicted in the story.

Firstly, there's the female lead's background. In real life, Mei Mengzhen has living parents, a younger brother but no grandfather, yet her family indeed lost their home to relatives. Emphasizing here, under the circumstance that her parents were still alive, they lost not one but two houses, given away by her father without informing the family.

According to her, she has many relatives, but all her relatives have sons, and she was the only daughter (before her brother was born), which made them dislike her.

Her family was into business, and after purchasing a private property that was subsequently demolished, they were compensated with six apartments. Two of the largest apartments were transferred to other relatives without the family's consent.

Her mother made a scene at the relatives' place, and there she was told a line that resonated strongly—it suggested that because they were relatives and her family was wealthy, they shouldn't make a fuss about giving an apartment; implying that the more money they had, the stingier they were. The two relatives I depicted in the novel are represented by Mei Yifan and Mei Yongfu.

The dispute ended up quite significant, but the house wasn't reclaimed. Afterwards, there was no more contact between the relatives, and she only occasionally heard about them from her father's updates.

Then there's the second incident involving Mei Mengzhen's relative, Mei Mengcheng. Of course, that's not his real name, but the lottery win followed by financial ruin echoes my plot. He first kept the win a secret, and shortly after, his family of three had squandered most of the money. His parents assumed that Mengcheng still had quite some money left, but the last blow came when all of Mengcheng's money was swindled by a friend. In real life, he was defrauded by a friend and ended up signing for a high-interest loan that resulted in selling the house to pay off debts.

This happened a few years back, and from what she knows, his family still owes tens of thousands. His mother works as a cleaner, his father is a security guard, and he delivers food. Both parents are retired, but their son, in his late thirties, with no money, no house, and still in debt, has no choice but to work alongside them.

Before it became known to the relatives that he had won the lottery, he had begun to act differently, as if he was suddenly above everyone else (you know, that sort of hoity-toity attitude—I'm sure you understand). We, his relatives, discussed this in private and even guessed that he might have won something (knowing his habit of buying lottery tickets), only to find out later that he went from a lottery winner to deeply in debt.

I personally think that a poor person who suddenly comes into wealth can be quite terrifying if their mentality doesn't adjust properly.

The third story is about Liang Xiao and Liang Qianjin, two characters based on my elementary school classmate. She and her sister are twins, looking exactly alike except for a mole on their faces, one on the left and the other on the right, just as I portrayed them. Their family dynamic is similar to that in my story; her family favored her sister and often scolded her. When we were young, I frequently saw her hiding and crying in a corner, silent for fear of being discovered and beaten. It made me feel very sorry for her. Since the main character in the novel needed a similarly pitiable companion, I chose to use this background for the story.

The fourth relates to Luo Yingying and Chen Zhi. If you've followed the updates, you might remember that initially, these two were written as a couple—Jiang Cheng's girlfriend and ex-girlfriend together. However, after running afoul of the regulations, that plotline was banned in three or four days, and I had to redesign their relationship as just friends. Having to change the setup, I couldn't use the planned plot, leaving their storylines concluding abruptly.

But in fact, this too was adapted from a real event. The young man was a former colleague of mine who was only about 22 years old. His ex-girlfriend had ended up with her ex-girlfriend. He was heartbroken when he found out, and after getting consent, I included his story, only to have it banned eventually.

The last story is about me—just as Liang Xiao turned Mei Mengzhen's story into a novel as a childhood friend, I, too, as a friend, have turned her story into this novel. We were so excited when I devised this plot. I don't even know why; we just were. Especially when I wrote about Liang Xiao's novel being adapted into a TV show. For someone like me who's had setbacks, this was a distant yet beautiful wish—an unreachable dream in real life, but in my own novel, it surely could be realized. Hence, this plot creation.

The initial thought with this book was to fill in the story based on her life experiences. Its framework was fixed, and she herself wasn't keen on making too many changes. Otherwise, it wouldn't have felt like her story anymore. I felt the same, starting off with this approach and realizing changing it later wouldn't make much sense. So in the end, the book turned out like this. However, it did bring out the feeling she wanted, which is gratifying for me.

Lastly, regarding the ending where Mei Mengzhen reconnects with her relatives—in reality, those families haven't made peace either, but somehow they naturally forgot about the incident and naturally came back into each other's lives.

How should I put it? Sometimes the power of kinship and the bonds among the elders leave us younger ones with little power to resist.

Though I find it very frustrating too.

...

I've rambled on quite a bit and worry this might be the longest concluding remarks in history.

But I'm still very grateful to all of you who have stuck with me to the end, (bows).

We'll meet again in the next book if fate allows.

My new book, "The Pampered Farm Girl: Taking Space to Escape the Famine" is being updated. Click on the author's name to find it, and I hope friends who like it will add it to their favorites.

It is definitely a completely different style from the last book, (emphasizes).

Thanks again.