"Woof woof!"
Xiao La's barks were almost inaudible.
The Amazing Fate Pet Shop had considered soundproofing when it was renovated. The walls were thick, and the doors were thick. Even if Xiao La barked in the storage room, it wouldn't affect the other pets.
Zhang Zian put the rice cake Xie Tao gave him in the fridge, wondering how to cook it. Should he boil it, fry it, or stir-fry it? The problem was that he didn't know how to cook it!
Coming out of the kitchen, he glanced at the living room. He thought he could see Pi typing in front of the computer, but the chair was empty.
That was strange. Pi didn't need him to remind it to get up and move around.
Zhang Zian was happy that Pi finally learned to take care of its body. He turned around and was about to go downstairs, when he suddenly heard a very light typing sound coming from the desk.
What's going on?
He stopped, confused. Pi wasn't sitting in front of the computer. How could there be typing sound? Was it haunted? He had never heard of a ghost that liked typing.
“π？ Are you there? "
He asked, looking in from the door.
"Eeek?"
Pi was sitting on the chair, with a standard typing posture. It turned its head to him, confused.
Zhang Zian frowned. He felt that something was wrong. Did he see it wrong?
In the morning, he didn't open the curtains to take care of the elfins who were still sleeping. The light in the living room was a little dim. Even so, he shouldn't have seen it wrong.
He walked into the living room and opened the curtains, letting the bright light fill the whole room.
Pi's eyes followed him, and the doubt in its eyes did not diminish.
"Pi, have you been sitting here typing?" Zhang Zian tried to maintain a calm smile.
"Eeek!" Pi nodded.
"You didn't leave the chair?" he asked again.
"Eeek." Pi shook its head.
That was strange. Did he see it wrong?
The knot in Zhang Zian's heart grew deeper. He thought about what he had seen just now. He had seen everything in the room clearly, except for Pi.
"Eeek?" Pi blinked and asked him what was wrong.
"Nothing. My eyes were playing tricks on me." In order to avoid further questions from Pi, he changed the topic. "Pi, how's your novel going? After signing the contract, did your collection speed up? "
Pi was silent and did not answer. Its eyes fell on the keyboard, and its expression was gloomy. Its fingers subconsciously drew circles on the table.
Zhang Zian sighed silently. It had already given him the answer by looking at it.
Zhang Zian moved the mouse and clicked on "Work Management." He saw that Pi had written more than 40 chapters of nearly 90,000 words, but there were only 50 collections.
50 collections.
He clicked to return to the homepage of Qidian website. He clicked on a random novel on the homepage and saw that it had more than 20,000, 30,000, or even 10,000 bookmarks. Novels with the same word count often had hundreds of bookmarks. There are a lot of readers on Qidian, but why is no one reading this novel? Is it because it's too niche?
Ta ta!
Pi's fingers moved on the keyboard. It was already very skilled at typing, but at that moment, its fingers felt like they were tied to something heavy, and moving them was extremely difficult.
After a while, it slowly typed, "I may not be suitable for writing novels."
Seeing this line of words, Zhang Zian felt unspeakably sad. No one knew better than him how hard Pi worked, but its efforts were never rewarded. This reminded him of the time when he first took over the pet shop. He sat alone in the shop every day, watching the light and shadow of the sun crisscrossing in front of the shop, watching the passers-by outside the door, and seeing his former colleagues in high spirits in WeChat Moments. He could not help but question his choice. Was it a mistake to inherit the pet shop? Am I not suitable for this industry? Why should I sit here alone and waste my youth?
Now, Pi was facing the same dilemma.
"Should I talk to the editor?" He tried to think of a solution.
Pi opened QQ, clicked on the bald monk's profile picture, and showed him the chat history between it and the editor.
The chat history was created yesterday, which meant that Pi had been depressed for at least a day. Zhang Zian secretly blamed himself. Why didn't he find out earlier?
Pi asked, "No one is reading my novel. Should I continue to write it?"
The editor's reply was simple. "Keep updating."
Zhang Zian chewed the short four words over and over again. He had been browsing the online literature exchange area of the Wang Haige Forum for a few days. He knew a few inspirational stories that were unknown at first, but kept on being written until they were recommended by the website and suddenly became popular. Although these stories were extremely rare, they were often talked about.
So, he comforted it, "Pi, I don't think you should give up so early. Even if you give up, at least wait until you are recommended by the website once. Isn't it written in the contract that after signing the contract, you will get at least one chance to be recommended by the website, and then see if there are more recommendations in the future?"
Pi was silent for a moment, and then typed again, "I'm tired. I don't want to write anymore."
After typing these three words, it pushed the keyboard away, took off the pince-nez, and looked out of the window blankly.
Pi's maturity often made Zhang Zian forget the fact that it was still a young monkey. Other monkeys of this age were playing carefreely, but it was the only one sitting alone in front of the computer.
It was not its body that was tired, but its heart.
Zhang Zian felt suffocated, as if there was something stuck in his chest, and he was upset.
Then stop writing. Delete the Word document, turn off the computer, and I'll call Xinghai and Famous up. Let's play hide-and-seek together. This sentence came to his throat several times, but he swallowed it back down several times.
It was easy to give up, but it was hard to keep going.
Studying was too hard. I gave up.
Losing weight was too tiring. I gave up.
Work was too much. I gave up.
Office politics was too dark. I gave up.
Business was too frustrating. I had to pretend to be weak everywhere. I gave up.
Life was too rough. I gave up.
If you gave up again and again because of setbacks, there would be nothing left in the end.
He took a few deep breaths to let out the frustration in his chest. He reached out to the keyboard and typed, "Only a few people in the world can finally achieve their dreams. Our life is very simple and simple. We are not ambitious, and if we have pride, it is pride in thinking of the fruits of our labour which we have acquired by our hands.
"Pi, do you know where this sentence came from?" he asked.
Pi glanced at the screen, put on the pince-nez again, opened the untitled book, and typed, "The Moon and Sixpence."
"That's right." Zhang Zian forced a smile. "Pi, have you read this novel?"
Pi shook its head.
"This novel is about an ordinary office worker. He had a beautiful wife and healthy children, and lived a happy life in the eyes of others. One day, such a person abandoned his wife and son to paint on a deserted island. If this was a novel that the people loved to read, the ending should be that he became successful and famous, made a lot of money, married a fair, rich, and beautiful woman, and reached the peak of his life. Unfortunately, at the end of the novel, the protagonist's' genius' name spread to the outside world, and he himself died miserably. "
Zhang Zian told the outline of The Moon and Sixpence. This was a book he had read a long time ago. He only had a vague impression of it in his mind, but he firmly remembered the famous quote and often encouraged himself with it.
Whether it was in school or at work, he was just an ordinary person, inconspicuous, and blended into the crowd. He also envied and even envied those top students and successful people, but he knew that he could not be like them, because there were very few geniuses. Only a few people in the world could finally achieve their dreams, while the others were destined to do their best and still live an ordinary life. He was just an ordinary person, without God-given talent. There was no need to be ashamed of being ordinary and accept it.
When he was reading this novel, he did not understand the choice of the protagonist, why he would rather give up a happy family to pursue art and painting. But since he met Lu Yiyun and Pi, he gradually understood. Lu Yiyun wanted to paint even if she cut ties with her family, and Pi wanted to write novels even if it had no time to play, because they liked it. It was incomprehensible to others to spend their lives for what they liked, but it was their happiness.
The world was so big that it should be able to accommodate all kinds of values.
Ordinary people like him could accept being ordinary, but he should also understand people like Lu Yiyun, Pi, and the protagonist of The Moon and Sixpence, who could not accept being ordinary. They jumped out of the tower because they longed for the moon, and they either soared into the sky or fell into the mud.
If the protagonist of The Moon and Sixpence could be described in the shortest sentence, it would be: My life has a limit, but my painting has no limit.
Pi listened carefully, as if attracted by the story, and resonated with the fate of the protagonist.
Zhang Zian said slowly, "Hard work should be rewarded, but in reality, hard work may not necessarily be rewarded accordingly. Even so, did the protagonist regret it? I think the sentence just now was the protagonist's realization. I don't want to lie to you and tell you that your novel will definitely be successful. No, it's not like this. Your novel is very likely to fail, because most novels will fail. Only a very few novels will be successful, and only a very few authors will be able to achieve their dreams. But Pi, think about it. Why did you write this novel? Are you trying to be successful? What was your original intention in writing the novel? "
Pi's mouth was half open, and it was deep in thought. After a while, it typed: I like this story, and I want everyone to see this story.
Zhang Zian nodded happily. "That's right, Pi. You've done it!"
"Eeek?" Pi blinked in confusion, and pointed at the number 50 on the screen, which probably meant that only 50 people were reading it.
"No, you shouldn't think that. You should think that 50 people already know this story through you. Can't 50 people be called 'everyone'? " Zhang Zian laughed. "I never thought that my experience could be known and liked by 50 people. This is already a great success. If you continue, your novel will be liked by more people. "
Pi stared at the number 50 on the screen, as if the two Arabic numbers contained some kind of magic.
Zhang Zian took out his phone, opened the Qidian app, searched for Pi's novel, and added it to the bookshelf.
The number of people who liked it backstage became 51.
"Pi, I'm also your reader," he said seriously. "I want to see the ending of this novel, because the protagonist is not exactly like me. At least, he is not as handsome as me, so I want to know his fate. Pi, look me in the eyes, and I want to tell you that I like this novel. "
Pi's eyes moved from the screen to Zhang Zian's face, and it saw sincerity and trust in his eyes.
"Quack! In fact, I like this novel very much, but Pi, you write too slowly. Every chapter is short and weak. I've waited for so long, but I still haven't shown up! If I could type, I would teach you what it means to be thick and long! "
Richard, who was doing nothing on the first floor, suddenly flapped its wings and flew into the living room, squawking.
"Meow! Xinghai likes your novel too!" Xinghai followed closely, and there were other elfins following it.
"I heard that you don't want to write anymore? I just appeared, and you don't want to write anymore? What do you mean? Are you dissatisfied with me? If you want to challenge me, come at me! "Fina raised its head and said arrogantly.
Pi was scared by Fina's imposing manner.
So, did Richard hear the news and tell everyone? The big-mouthed grey parrot often made trouble, but this time it did a good thing.
"Hehe, Pi, Zian is right. Don't forget your original intention, and you will be successful. In addition, I also want to know how I will appear. Recently, I have been worried about this problem, and I can't even watch TV. "Old Time Tea laughed.
"Meow, if the ending is not a happy ending between me and His Majesty, I will castrate the man next to you!" Snowy Lionet licked its paws, and its sharp claws shone coldly.
Zhang Zian wanted to complain. Why did you castrate me when Pi's ending was not satisfactory?
"Pi, be sure to write my real name!" Famous repeatedly exhorted. "I don't want to appear in the name of another dog."
Pi's eyes flashed, and it looked at everyone.
Zhang Zian put the keyboard in front of it again. "Pi, do you know why the novel is called The Moon and Sixpence? Because someone joked with the author that when people look up at the moon, they often forget the sixpence under their feet. We, the 57 readers, are the sixpence under your feet. Although it is small, although it is cheap, we still exist. When you feel powerless because the moon is too far away, don't think that we are small, don't think that we are insignificant, because at least you still have us. Even if it is for the 57 readers, can you hold on a little longer? "
Under everyone's gaze, Pi hesitated a little, and then nodded.
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