YM778.TV Chapter 35: Being Friends Is Boring
Jiang Miao accepted the bubble tea and began sipping it, but he noticed Su Huaizhou hadn’t left yet and asked, “Senior Sister, don’t you have more boba to deliver? Shouldn’t you get going?”
“I’m waiting for you.” Su Huaizhou squatted on the ground, rested her delicate chin on her knees, and smiled at him quietly.
Jiang Miao: “???”
“Look at the blazing sun and these heavy bags.” Su Huaizhou pointed at the scorching sun outside the tree shade and then at the two large bags of bubble tea on the ground. “Can you bear to see me working so hard?”
Jiang Miao said, “… Senior Sister, stop messing around. I still have military training.”
“You’ve already drunk the boba for recruiting you back into the Political Work Group, so you can skip the training.”
“I think I have to finish what I started. At least wait until tomorrow—”
“Peach~~”“Ahhh!” Jiang Miao stood up, his face flushed with embarrassment and frustration. He strode over to Senior Sister’s side and grabbed the two bags of bubble tea. “Senior Sister, let’s go. If we don’t deliver the boba to the students soon, it won’t be cold anymore.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to finish what you started?” Su Huaizhou was still squatting on the ground, tilting her head and smiling playfully at him.
“You must have misheard,” Jiang Miao replied with a straight face. “Since I’ve drunk your boba, I won’t hesitate to go through fire and water for you!”
“Thank you, Junior Brother.” Su Huaizhou stood up and dusted off her pants. “Let’s go.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” The confused Xun Liang finally caught on and quickly went forward with a fawning expression. “Senior Sister, I can help deliver the boba too.”
Su Huaizhou gave Xun Liang a warm smile and said gently, “Junior Brother, slacking off is not allowed. You should focus on your military training.”
“Then why is Brother Jiang allowed?!”
“Take a guess.” Su Huaizhou held down her sun hat, turned around, walked towards another military training formation, and waved at Jiang Miao. “Junior Brother, let’s go. It’s time to work.”
And just like that, Jiang Miao slipped away under Xun Liang’s envious gaze.
“There’s a problem! There’s definitely a problem!” Xun Liang muttered under the tree.
Wang Xin opened his eyes and glanced at him, then at the backs of Su Huaizhou and Jiang Miao. He raised his hand to adjust his glasses, not surprised at all.
…
Delivering bubble tea was tough work, but compared to the military training, it was a breeze.
Since the break had already ended, and the Youth Association had recruited new students from more than just the Department of Accounting, some of the bubble tea had to be delivered to the east sports field.
Thus, Jiang Miao followed Senior Sister around and spent almost the entire afternoon delivering bubble tea.
“Senior Sister, is there no one else in the department?” Jiang Miao shook his left hand to ease the soreness after delivering an entire bag of bubble tea.
If there were others, how else could I drag you around? Su Huaizhou thought, but she kept a gentle smile on her face. “We second-years start school tomorrow. Everyone’s pretty busy.”
“Oh.” Jiang Miao nodded. Then something suddenly occurred to him, and he asked, “So, are you starting classes tomorrow?”
“Yes, second-years have the most classes.” Su Huaizhou looked helpless. “Basically, I’ll only be free Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during the public breaks.”
“That’s not too bad.” Jiang Miao immediately became happy when he heard this. Since Senior Sister has classes, maybe I won’t run into her so often.
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”
“Uh… I mean it’s good to be busy. It’s better to have a fulfilling college life!”
“Yeah, like writing diligently every day. It must be very fulfilling.”
Jiang Miao: “…”
“Before, I was only your reader, so I couldn’t do much about it.” Su Huaizhou grinned wickedly. “Now, I’m your senior sister. If you don’t write well, you know the consequences, right?”
Hearing her threat, Jiang Miao only felt drenched in sweat, and his future college life seemed bleak.
Is this what it feels like to be at the mercy of a senior sister who’s also my reader?
It’s too despairing…
But at least she isn’t sending me razor blades.
Otherwise, Jiang Miao felt that his personal safety might actually be in danger.
“What’s it like to write a novel every day?” Su Huaizhou asked curiously as they sat on the steps at the edge of the east sports field and chatted while waiting for the military training break.
“It’s probably a mix of pain and pleasure.”
“Writing novels should be a hobby, right? How could it be painful?” Su Huaizhou laughed.
“Senior Sister, you wouldn’t understand.” Jiang Miao spread his hands helplessly. “Actually, the greatest joy in writing novels comes from planning the outline and plot.
“But once you’ve finished planning everything, you’ll know how every plot point will unfold like the back of your hand. As an author, it’s like being a reader who’s seen all the spoilers. There won’t be any excitement left.
“It’s only when I have a sudden flash of inspiration that I can still feel the joy of the novel.”
“Really?” Su Huaizhou looked doubtful. “If that’s really the case, why bother writing it at all? You might as well just keep writing outlines.”
“That’s where another type of pleasure comes in.” Jiang Miao became more talkative when it came to discussing web novels. “It’s the feedback from the readers.
“When an author is writing, it’s tough to find enjoyment from the plot alone. But when the readers give feedback after reading the story, the author will also feel genuinely happy.
“Sometimes, just imagining what kind of feedback you’ll get and having an imaginary debate with your readers is very enjoyable.
“However, if no one reads a novel, the author will be very disheartened. They might even start doubting their writing skills and lose the joy from drafting outlines.”
Su Huaizhou understood this sentiment well. She would feel similarly if no one appreciated her artwork.
“Then, Peach Jam, you should be very happy now, right? Your new novel seems to be doing really well.”
Jiang Miao lowered his head and covered his face, feeling too ashamed to face anyone. “… Senior Sister, we agreed not to mention this pen name.”
“Hahaha~” Su Huaizhou enjoyed seeing his reaction. It was quite amusing. “There’s no one else now, Peach Jam~ Peach Jam~ Peach~ Jam~”
“Stop!” Stop talking!” Jiang Miao fell to the ground while covering his head, looking like the Monkey King suffering under the headband spell and begging Monk Tang for mercy. “Senior Sister, please spare me. I’ll leave if you continue like this.”
“Okay, I won’t tease you anymore.” Su Huaizhou patted his shoulder with a smile. “But I do enjoy talking to you about these things. I usually don’t have anyone to discuss this with.”
“Don’t your roommates read novels?”
“Shen Yu does, but she only reads female-oriented romance novels. We don’t have anything in common in this regard.” Su Huaizhou spread her hands helplessly.
“Do you only read male-oriented novels then?”
“I used to read female ones, but I got tired of them later, so I gradually shifted to male ones,” Su Huaizhou said while supporting her chin with her hand. “Especially the slice-of-life novels that have become popular recently, they’re light and cheerful, without much negativity. They’re quite relaxing to read.
“Especially Peach Jam’s new novel~ Qiuqiu is so cute~!”
Of course, being praised in person was pleasant, but Jiang Miao could only hold his head and groan in pain. “Senior Sister, if you don’t mention this pen name anymore, we can still be friends.”
“Being friends is boring.” Su Huaizhou smiled at him. “In the future, I’ll be your motivator. If you don’t write properly, I’ll capture you and throw you into a small dark room.”