My wife?
I really do wish so.
But I can’t afford to have such a ‘wife’.
Zhang Ye gave a perfunctory smile to the visitors standing outside, “Oh no, I’m not married yet. That’s a friend of mine. She came to visit and to borrow some books.”
The Heavenly Queen continued sitting with her back facing them. She did not make a sound.
The female editor felt that it was a little strange. Even if they were just friends, how could she not stand up to welcome them when there visitors were about to enter the house? She did not even turn her head? What kind of situation was this? Why was it so bizarre? The female editor courteously greeted the woman whose face could not be seen, “h.e.l.lo, elder sister.” She could see that she was older just by the way she dressed up and her hairstyle. And Zhang Ye’s reputation was not small either, so being his friend, calling her elder sister would not be wrong.
The woman who was reading the books acknowledged softly and then continued doing her thing.
The female editor awkwardly scratched her hair and said to Zhang Ye, “Uh, did we…..come at the wrong time?”
Zhang Ye could only make up something saying, “No, she….she just had an argument with me. Her mood’s not that good. Don’t mind her. I’m sorry about it.”
Argument?
Weren’t you just friends? What argument?
The female editor thought to herself that this must definitely be your girlfriend!
Zhang Lu and the other editor also thought it was strange. They blinked and looked at Zhang Ye, “Teacher Zhang, we brought the books over. Where do you want to put it?”
A thick pile of books in a box.
Zhang Ye was surprised, “So many books? There must be 20 in there?”
Zhang Lu laughed, “30 books, and they are all first prints. There’s no bulk print yet.”
The editor holding the box looked inside the apartment, “Where do you want to place these? Look through them first. If they’re okay, then we will do the bulk printing.”
Zhang Ye immediately blocked the door, “There’s no need. I trust you all. There won’t be any problems.”
“It’s better to look at it first. If by any chance there’s a wrong word, it would affect the quality and sales.” Zhang Lu suggested.
The male editor had already entered the apartment, “I will put it here on the floor then. Hu, it’s rather heavy.”
Seeing the situation, Zhang Ye turned back to check on Zhang Yuanqi’s position frequently, “This….”
But Zhang Lu and the female editor also followed in and even closed the door. Zhang Ye could not even make them leave now. There was no reason to!
This was bad!
The cat’s going to be out of the bag soon!
“Let’s…. Where should we sit and discuss?” Zhang Lu asked.
Zhang Ye wiped his sweat, “On the bed. Feel free to take a seat.”
The Heavenly Queen, who was reading, was facing the corner. If they sat on the bed, they would not be able to see her face. At most, they would be able to see her side partially.
The female editor squatted down to open the box and took out a few books. She gave one to Zhang Ye first, “Take a look.” and then turned around and politely said to the woman with an extremely beautiful back view, “Sis, for you…..”
Before she could finish saying, the beautiful woman said coldly, “No need.”
The female editor choked and coughed, “Okay then.” The two of them really argued? From the looks of it, it was a very big argument. She didn’t give any face at all?
Zhang Ye suddenly felt a loss of face, too, “Hey you, she was pa.s.sing you a book.” He knew that was the Heavenly Queen’s att.i.tude, but even so, even if you did not want to turn around, you can’t say that. Where would this bro put his face now! So Zhang Ye took the book from the female editor’s hands and walked over. He put it into Zhang Yuanqi’s hands, “Help me take a look, too, to see whether there are any typos.”
The Heavenly Queen did not reply.
Zhang Ye tried to smooth things over, “Take a seat. I will get some tea for you.”
“There’s no need, Teacher Zhang. We won’t be staying long. Take a look at the compilation first. If it’s okay, then it’s set. We will not bother you two from resting.” The male editor also smiled ambiguously.
Our rest?
Rest, my a.s.s!
Zhang Ye could not argue. He flipped open “Zhang Ye’s Compilation”. The cover was simple. It looked elegant in a conventional way. Upon opening it, Zhang Ye’s age and resume was written on the first page on the left. The first page on the right was the preface — “Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.”
Flipping to the next pages.
A page of poetry, a page of ill.u.s.tration, followed by a page or two of notes.
After reading it all, Zhang Ye nodded in satisfaction, “Okay, I’m done reading it. It’s all good.”
Usually when a book was published, the author would be the one begging the publis.h.i.+ng house to quickly release the book. But for a person of Zhang Ye’s level, it had become the publis.h.i.+ng house who had to beg him. Otherwise, for normal authors, which chief editor of a publis.h.i.+ng house would bring his team to send the first print to the doorstep? There was no need to mention how widespread Zhang Ye’s poems were on the internet. Each one of them was a miracle. Any one of his works would easily gain at least a million clicks. On Weibo, it would have thousands of forwards and a few thousand comments. In addition, Zhang Ye’s “Ghost Blows Out the Light” and his fairy tales had all acc.u.mulated several millions of Yuan in sales, so he was already a well-established author in this field. He had even been a radio host and television host before, so he already had a level of fame in Beijing. Although his number of fans was not extremely high, the number of hardcore fans was enough. If each bought a book, they would not have to incur any losses. So on the matter of publication, the publication house was very polite to Zhang Ye.
Zhang Lu stood up and smiled while shaking Zhang Ye’s hands, “Okay then. The first edition is settled. I will rush the printing press tomorrow.”
Zhang Ye said, “Let’s work together happily.”
“To good cooperation.” Zhang Lu said.
The female editor said, “Teacher Zhang, then we will be leaving now.”
“Let me see you out,” Zhang Ye took a coat to wear.
“There’s no need.” said the male editor, “You must be tired from rus.h.i.+ng out the notes these few days. You must not have slept much. Editor Zhang’s car is just downstairs. There’s no need to come out.”
The female editor giggled, “Right, you should keep sister-in-law company.”
Sister-in-law?
What sister-in-law!
Zhang Ye nearly fainted and said, “She’s really my friend, just ordinary friends. You’ve misunderstood.”
The female editor just smiled. The three of them then opened the door and left.
Zhang Ye walked them to the corridor as a gesture.
At this moment, Zhang Lu also laughed. He patted Zhang Ye on the shoulder, “Alright, go in and coax your partner. Your partner must really have a temper, just like my wife. My wife is the same; she won’t care at all when she’s angry. Doesn’t even leave any face for me. Being experienced in this, let me give you a few pointers. You know women; they all need to be coaxed. Give in when you need to give in. When she is over it, you can go back to being the man.”
Zhang Ye, “…”
He wanted to explain, but they had already taken the lift down.
Turning around, he saw that Zhang Yuanqi was still in the same position, reading the book and not looking behind.
Zhang Ye looked at her for a while, and then puckered his mouth. Hng, this Zhang Yuanqi has too many shortcomings.
1st, she puts on a false front!
2nd, her att.i.tude was really poor!
3rd, her survival skills were low!
4th, she doesn’t take into consideration how others feel!
And so on and so forth. It numbered so much that it was uncountable!
As for her strong points, she had one — She was pretty.
And then, is there any need to go on? No, there’s nothing more to say. Then….. All the shortcomings from before no longer mattered!