Refusal

Han Leng retrieved his cellphone from his drawer. Obviously, the cost of his cellphone was not as much as Zhao Youyue’s eighth-generation Fruit Phone. However, Han Leng found this phone model most suitable for him as its battery capacity was substantially ample. Even if he used it continuously without charging, it would last more than thirty hours.

But he was merely a student, and was definitely the type that daringly uses his cellphone in the dormitory. Apparently, it seems like he will not be able to use his phone continuously. Apart from needing to spend two hours daily on his phone writing a chapter, he tended not to utilize his phone excessively. Well, he made sure his phone was utilized in a very conservative way, just to make sure he only needed to charge the phone once a week.

In fact, the school has perversely left the wall sockets in the students’ dormitory without electricity, so as to ensure that students do not over-utilize their phones. It was also served as a purpose to minimize the time-spent on their phones. But, it was completely useless for those students with quick wits. In this world, there is a device called the "battery charger", where one only needed to insert batteries into the device in order to charge a phone. Alternatively, one could carry a few power banks as backups, and rotate its usage when the battery has fully drained. During weekends when the students return home, power banks and cellphones can be fully charged once again.

Han Leng merely wanted to save the hassle and at the same time to restrain his phone usage, so he did not bother much about the use of "battery charger", "power banks" or whatnots. Although he was obsessed with writing, he still placed great emphasis on his academic achievements under this school’s environment. Besides, if he were to score bad grades, his teachers will definitely fix their eyes on him, and his parents will also cease to give him so much freedom. That will be very troublesome indeed.

Han Leng tapped on the "Wechat" app, followed by "Contacts" to arrive at the "Add Contacts" section. He wanted to add Zhao Youyue as a friend. But for some unknown reasons, though he has memorized Zhao Youyue’s Wechat ID clearly in his head, his fingers seemed to freeze and was having a hard time keying in the row of numbers. His face had heated up slightly. Then he remembered – she seemed to be the first girl to give him her Wechat ID on her own initiative, yet she was absolutely stunning…

Though many people may have realized that they are in a state of wishful thinkings, still there are times that an indescribable feeling would pop up in mind – perhaps was this not a wishful thinking after all?

Han Leng knew for sure that Zhao Youyue and himself was just an ordinary deal which did not involve any other activities. But why did Zhao Youyue approach him in the first place? He can indeed write well, but he believed that for a payment of RMB 300, there will surely be others who were willing to write the remorse letter for her, as to high school students, this is already quite a significant sum of money.

Is she having a crush on me? Do I seem unique to her? Did my arrogant and artsy demeanor impress her?

Han Leng clearly knew he was overthinking, like how he always had the "I-can-comeback" thoughts while playing "League of Legends". Right now he seemed to have the "she-likes-me" illusion. Well, he could not help but fantasize about it even though he knew it was just a delusion.

Bloody youth, bloody hormones, I will not let my soul be tainted by the foul smell of love! This is clearly the fault of my weak-willed body!

"Hmm, Ah Leng[1], playing Wechat I see, with your girlfriend?" Dorm mate Zhang Xin casually commented while laughing cheekily. He had just returned from his exercises and was extremely sweaty. He then peered at Han Leng’s cellphone screen while sipping through his cold cola.

Han Leng denied outright, "You’re being funny. How will I ever have a girlfriend? No girls can understand me. Hmph, women are all shallow-minded creatures!"

As he was saying this, he inadvertently thought about Zhao Youyue again, but well, she was not shallow-minded at all. In fact, she seemed very subtle even though it was not really obvious from her appearance.

"Tsk, at this rate Ah leng, you’re destined to remain single forever. These three years of senior high serves as your golden hour to chase after girls, not to mention that you’re a gifted scholar and an artsy teenager. It’ll be such a waste if you don’t utilize these advantages you have." Zhang Xin sincerely suggested.

Zhang Xin came from a well-to-do family, as apparent from the way he dressed. Well, too bad this damned school required them to put on school uniforms every single day, such that he only wore his branded goods from head to toe during the weekends. Luckily there was no standard requirement for shoes, otherwise he would not be able to wear his basketball sneakers worth more than 2,000 RMB.

No matter what, Zhang Xin has decided that he must find a girlfriend during these three years of senior high, or else his youth days would probably be filled with regrets.

Han Leng curled his lips, seemingly showing disdain for using his talents to go after girls. Deep down, he was probably quite narcissistic. He always had this thought that the only girls worthy of his attention should be those that were able to discover his characters and depth. Too bad most girls in the world are rather foolish.

After being interrupted by his dorm mate, he lost track of the little inner struggle that came across just now. Strangely though, he felt that his spirit had dampened. Well, he has to admit that the sensation he felt earlier on was pretty intriguing.

He sent a friend request to Zhao Youyue, with a remark saying "Well-to-do girl, can we be friends?" This should be enough to confirm his identity.

After sending out the friend request, he could not help but started thinking about how girls tended to be very modest of themselves. He predicted that even after seeing the friend request, she will delay the approval for a bit…

"I have approved your friend verification request, we can start chatting now."

To Han Leng’s surprise, Zhao Youyue actually approved his friend request within seconds, following which he immediately saw two Wechat red packets with the writing "Wish you prosperity and luck". He opened up the red packets – one contained 200 RMB, another one contained 100 RMB. Just like that, a total sum of RMB 300 was credited into his Wechat Wallet.

"Big author, this is your remuneration. Good luck! (*≧▽≦)" As a serious cellphone addict, she has an astounding APM [2].

Now Han Leng had this strong feeling that Zhao Youyue is different from the other girls. Based on her straightforwardness in sending out the red packets, he has decided to finish writing the remorse letter as soon as possible. This is an act of returning a favor with a favor while showing mutual respect.

"Very generous indeed! I will complete the task as quickly as possible. As for now, you can be at ease for the time being."

"Oh yeah, big author, what is the name of your web novel on Qidian novel website? (??ω??)?"

Han Leng did not reply right away. He felt that if he gave her the name of the book, it would threaten his position on the high horse. Though his image was already utterly crushed in front of Zhao Youyue, he did not wish for a recurrence of that. Moreover, Zhao Youyue is indeed a girl who left him a very special impression.

He pondered for a while, and replied, "I don’t think there’s a need to know about that. The novel I’m writing is generally for male readers. You girls won’t fancy reading it anyway."

Seeing this reply, Zhao Youyue gave a sly smile. She proceeded to open up her Qidian novel website account page where her ID was displayed as "Youyue". She then took a screenshot showing her account balance of three hundred-plus thousand Qidian coins and sent the screenshot to Han Leng. The screenshot was followed immediately by a message, "Come on, hesitate no more, just give me the name of your book. I’ll immediately tip you a sect master _(:з」∠)_"

Han Leng rolled his eyes after seeing Zhao Youyue’s Qidian coin balance. It is really dirt cheap to read a novel on Qidian – with only five cents per thousand words. He puts up two thousand words daily, which means that readers only need to spend ten cents per day, and 3 RMB per month to fully subscribe to his book. In spite of that, there will still be readers who chose to read pirated copies instead. That’s right, the China of this world is also plagued by serious piracy issues, especially internet content piracy.

Therefore, ordinary readers only needed to reload tens of RMB at one time. Well, that would surely be enough to allow them to read genuine copies of the web novels for a very long time. Nonetheless, Zhao Youyue seemed to have reload her coins in multiple thousands of RMB. One really has to hand it to her for that.

This time, however, Han Leng was determined to not be swayed by the monetary temptation. He eventually refused to tell her the book’s name.

Zhao Youyue shook her head in frustration. She could not comprehend why Han Leng had a change in his demeanor. But, she did not take it to heart anyway.

Translation note:

[1] Ah Leng is just a more informal, intimate way of addressing Han Leng. Among Chinese speakers, especially when addressing someone you know well, it is common to couple "Ah (阿)" with the identifying portion of that person’s name. E.g. Ah Leng, Ah Yue, Ah Chen, etc.

[2] APM = actions per minute, a common term in gaming scene used to measure a player’s reflex and efficiency in either mouse clicks or keyboard presses.