CH 1

In a coffee shop, Gu Ruoyan put down her coffee cup and hesitated a bit. “Are you a writer?” she asked the man in front of her.

The saxophone in the coffee shop played gently, and the afternoon sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the table. The rose in the center of the table sparkled with dew, looking fragrant and beautiful.

The environment was beautiful, and Gu Ruoyan was also beautiful. She had specially changed into a long dress that she rarely wore and let down her usually tidy high ponytail. Her long black hair was like a waterfall, which added to her elegance.

She had expectations for this blind date, but the man in front of her was a bit disappointing…

Although he was tall and handsome, he was casually dressed and hadn’t even shaved properly. It at least showed that he didn’t take this blind date seriously. That was not the only problem; he seemed lacking in spirit, and he looked nervous when he saw her, like a stay-at-home gamer who had never seen people.

Hmm… a writer, maybe? Tattered clothes, unkempt appearance, not good at socializing?

A writer, it seems very interesting… this is also the reason why Gu Ruoyan is willing to seriously go on this blind date, although she, who considers herself an avid reader, has never heard of the name of this so-called writer.

Chu Ge sat across from her, with his hands propping up his chin, and his heart beating fast. He had already been arranged on blind dates by his mother many times, and they were all perfunctory. Neither he nor his partner took it seriously, and they all went their separate ways after dinner, without even exchanging WeChat.

He didn’t expect the person he was set up with this time to be such an elegant and beautiful woman. Why would such a beautiful woman come to a blind date instead of going somewhere to film for a movie?!

He was completely unprepared!

“I asked you a question…” Gu Ruoyan sighed. “Aunt Wu said you are a writer. Can you tell me about your work so that I can read it?”

“Uh, yes,” Chu Ge coughed. “I have written many novels, but I feel that they have not fully displayed my true level. As the ancients said, ‘writing is the carrier of the Tao.’ Currently, I am conceiving a grand narrative set against a special historical background, focusing on the vast universe and the vast nature, expressing the fighting spirit of the bottom-level characters in adversity, pondering the deep-level issues of Chinese and even human destiny, and taking on the social responsibility that a writer should have! So, I have been looking for my muse of inspiration…”

“Can you speak human language?” Gu Ruoyan crossed her hands on the table, looking down.

Chu Ge sheepishly withdrew his waving hands. “Uh, I am currently writing a novel about immortals, a loser-type protagonist.”

Gu Ruoyan’s eyes lit up with understanding.

He is a… web writer.

Does a web writer count as a writer?

She didn’t know whether it counted or not, but it was certainly a field that Gu Ruoyan was not familiar with, and it differed greatly from her usual understanding of writers.

“What is your monthly salary? Is it stable? What about social insurance and housing fund?”

“Rousseau once said: Writing for bread will soon suffocate my genius and destroy my talent. Anything strong and great cannot be produced from a pen that is only motivated by profit. Demand and greed may make me write faster, but it cannot make me write better…”

“In plain language!”

“It’s not very stable, sometimes it’s less, but this month it’s over ten thousand… ” Chu Ge’s eyes flickered slightly, “As for the social insurance and housing fund…actually, we can pay for social security ourselves now…”

“This is just being unemployed…” Gu Ruoyan blurted out, but she quickly stopped herself.

Chu Ge smiled slightly and didn’t say anything.

Gu Ruoyan regretted her slip of tongue. Her words were hurtful…but she felt that being in his late twenties and still unemployed was a waste, and it would be a waste of time for there to be further entanglement.

She smiled apologetically and got up to leave. “I have something else to do…”

Chu Ge sighed, “Please go ahead.”

…

Many people have said that Chu Ge’s parents gave him an unlucky name. With such a bad omen, it’s destined that it will be difficult for him to succeed in anything.

Other things aside, if he can’t find a girlfriend, he’ll just be a lonely person.

Chu Ge has gone on a total of eleven blind dates, none of which have been successful. Of course, he never wanted to find someone in the first place. Women are not a fun game to play, and if it weren’t for his mother’s urging, these eleven dates would never have happened.

It’s a shame… this time the woman was really beautiful, so beautiful that Chu Ge still feels a bit unreal, and he hasn’t been able to calm down since that sudden heart-pounding moment when he first saw her.

Chu Ge sat quietly in his seat, looking at the dew on the flower petals, not even looking back at Gu Ruoyan’s departing figure. After two or three seconds, he seemed to relax completely, lazily leaning back against the soft backrest, lightly sipping the coffee.

It was as if what had just happened had never occurred.

The coffee cost 121 yuan, and Chu Ge didn’t know if this bitter thing that matched his current mood could prolong his life. Why was it so expensive?

He lazily took out his phone and opened the QQ app, clicking on a group chat named “Fighting with Roommates”.

This was a small group chat with only a little over three hundred people, including Chu Ge himself. Compared to some groups that claimed to have two thousand people but were actually inactive, this group may not have many members, but it was quite lively, with everyone talking nonstop like Gatling guns. After going to the bathroom and coming back, there would be 99+ messages waiting.

Chu Ge played an important role in making this small group so active.

Someone had summarized the twenty elements that an active group needed, with the most important being “a foolish group leader”… This summary was spot-on, and Chu Ge was the group leader.

This was his reader’s group, and he was the author, using his real name as his pen name.

At this moment, the group seemed to have reached a consensus on a certain screenshot, and everyone was forwarding it.

“+1 fear of marriage today “

“+1 fear of marriage today “

Chu Ge habitually clicked on the “+1” button.

Chu Ge: “+1 fear of marriage today “

“…”

The group was silent for a moment, then someone asked, “Brother Chu? Didn’t you say you were going on a blind date? How did you pop up so quickly?”

“How long does a blind date take? It failed.” Chu Ge tried to sound calm.

The group became lively again: “Good that you failed, women don’t have fun reading books, you haven’t updated today!”

Chu Ge’s finger paused on the keyboard for a few seconds, but he didn’t reply.

Most people don’t care about his mood on the other side of the internet, they only care that he hadn’t updated today. So on regular days when Chu Ge was a little sick, he didn’t want to take a break because the feedback he received when taking a break was often “just looking for a excuse again” instead of “get well soon”.

Unless he had built a relationship with his readers, unfortunately, Chu Ge hadn’t accumulated such a following yet.

In the end, he was still in a state where blind dates saw him as an unemployed person…

He put away his phone and finished the lukewarm coffee in one gulp.

“Bill, please.”

The waiter came over, “One hundred and twenty-one yuan.”

Chu Ge was taken aback. What about the two cups of coffee? “Are you guys having a half-price promotion today?”

“The lady who was here earlier already paid for her own order.”

Chu Ge instinctively turned his head to look out the window, only to realize that Gu Ruoyan had left at least five minutes ago.

Although Gu Ruoyan’s careless words had hurt Chu Ge, he did not hate her for it, as most people already had this kind of view towards this profession, and he had long been used to it.

Besides, his behavior was too exaggerated when he was nervous…what nonsense was he even talking about…

Chu Ge couldn’t understand why someone with Gu Ruoyan’s looks and temperament needed to go on blind dates. If he were to guess maliciously…

But why bother? A passing guest’s past was none of his business.

For him, the reality he needed to face was the comment in the group that made him uncomfortable: he hadn’t finished writing today’s update, and if he procrastinated any longer, he would have to go on hiatus.