Chapter 465

Four-Year Summary: Readers of "Gentleman" and "Sword Lady," come in and chat.

In this single chapter, I am not asking for monthly votes.

To hell with monthly votes. I am not a beggar on the internet, licking my face everywhere to beg for monthly votes.

Just finished the daily ten-thousand-word update, preparing to take a shower and then catch up on some sleep.

Halfway through scrubbing, I suddenly remembered: today is June 1st!

June 1st.

Four years ago today, June 1st, 2020,

Because of Ouyang Rong's hobby, I uploaded the first chapter of "I Have a Sword Immortal Lady" on Qidian, "This Person is Like a Rainbow."

At that time, I never imagined that on June 1st four years later, I would be sitting in front of a computer writing this single chapter.

It feels like a lifetime ago.

From sophomore year to now, 18,

Four whole years, one "Sword Lady," one "Gentleman," 4.7 million words, typed out word by word.

I dare say, perhaps it is filled with curses, but every single word is the best level I could achieve at the moment I typed it.

Many brothers say I like to pad, like to write details, and that is because I feel with obsessive-compulsive disorder that every word in the book must reach my personal satisfaction standard, so it naturally becomes very "heavy" and dragging when written out, and I even go back and obsessively polish and modify it.

Often when I'm taking a shower, I will suddenly bolt out of the bathroom, pick up my phone, open the backend, and modify a single word that I felt was not smooth when reviewing it in my mind just now.

Saying this is not self-praise, but helplessness.

So Ouyang Rong is actually a person who consumes himself internally a lot.

I said this in the final chapter of "Sword Lady."

A work is always influenced by the creator's personality.

This point is especially obvious in "Sword Lady," which is also the work Ouyang Rong feels most guilty about. I implicated it. In my heart, it is absolutely the best in the world, although many people curse it, it is just the best in Ouyang Rong's heart. (Writing to here, my eyes are a bit sore)

Back to the point.

"Gentleman" is slightly better, less influenced by the creator.

Ouyang Rong summarized one painful problem after another encountered in "Sword Lady" and every wall I hit, and only after reflecting as much as possible did I start writing "Gentleman," which is why it is called a practice work.

So compared to "Sword Lady," a story where I never thought about the ending, the ending of "Gentleman" was conceived by Ouyang Rong when I opened the book.

I also chose the temple theme of the fictional Great Tang and Wu Zhou, a "small and beautiful" worldview.

Those who have read "Sword Lady" know that a low-martial small world like "Gentleman," if placed in the immortal-cultivation-oriented "Sword Lady," would just be a secular dynasty in a certain continent, or a blessed land of caves raised in the treasures of a certain mountain sect.

The protagonist of "Gentleman," compared to the protagonist of "Sword Lady," is also the least like Ouyang Rong personally.

Except for the XP, I tried my best to avoid the influence of personal style on him,

Unless it was the narrowness of the conceived plot caused by Ouyang Rong's personal experience, which limited the protagonist's performance that should have been more brilliant and in line with the character setting at the plot development level. Outside of this force majeure.

He has his own personality!

Regarding the protagonist's character setting, there is one point that Ouyang Rong seems to have never mentioned in the book.

The prototype of the protagonist of "Gentleman" is a combination of Zhang Mazi and Faust.

So his temperament is both rational and romantic, both pessimistic and optimistic, both painful and firm.

Zhang Mazi and Faust are very similar.

Both embrace personal dreams and private desires with collective interests and careers.

Thus, the process of them completing their careers is not about abandoning private desires, but actively embracing them while carrying firewood for the people.

This is the realization of a common value.

So Ouyang Rong subconsciously and tirelessly babbles in some plots:

Is it the heart of one person being the heart of ten million people, or is it the heart of ten million people being the heart of one person?

Ouyang Rong really doesn't want to mention such grand and boring propositions in the novel stories where everyone is looking for fun,

Or teach any private values,

But the occasional desire to express cannot help but babble. I hope everyone will forgive me; just treat it as unavoidable padding.

I really like a term mentioned in a comment by a reader of "Gentleman."

Humanistic care.

The protagonist has humanistic care!

For the weak and the strong, he will definitely support the weak!

For the many and the few, he will always stand with the many!

Isn't this what the Zhang Mazis and Fausts in human history have been doing?

Being able to let some readers feel this slightly after they are tired of reading and pause while turning off the screen.

As a writer, I am already very satisfied.

Actually, compared to Zhang Mazi, the protagonist of "Gentleman," who is serious about big things and unserious about small things, is more inclined toward Faust.

Zhang Mazi is too "high." If he were the standard, "Gentleman" would not be able to be written. The simplest problem placed in front of us is the love between children, which would not be able to unfold.

So I use "Faust" to reconcile it.

Faust was originally an old scholar full of knowledge, who had studied for a lifetime and longed to enjoy the wonderful life outside.

He made a deal with the devil with his soul, obtained a young body, as if living another life, to embrace life.

Faust did not seek the afterlife, only the present world.

After loving, missing, and being betrayed in the mortal world, he chose to bind his personal private desires with the collective career and worked hard to do things beneficial to the people.

But with the "help" of the devil, Faust failed, and even wrongly killed a farming family. He was so guilty that he went blind.

Finally, he was old and decrepit, and was buried by the devil shoveling earth and digging a hole.

The sound of the shovel colliding with the stones made him, blind and nervous in the grave, mistake it for the sound of free people working diligently on the earth and building homes to live and work in peace.

So Faust said something like "this life is enough" with satisfaction, triggering the initial contract and losing his soul to the devil.

But just as the devil was excited and about to take his soul, an angel descended, saved his soul, and took it to heaven.

This is a very interesting story.

Ouyang Rong has actually quoted it. In the first volume, the protagonist said to someone that what he likes most is the sound of everyone working together on the Zhe Yiqu construction site during the day to control the flood.

"Hmm, the weather today is indeed going to rain."

It is also a subconscious tribute to Faust.

In addition to the protagonist's character setting,

There are actually main lines, perspectives, rhythm, techniques, etc.,

"Gentleman," relative to "Sword Lady," has made significant improvements in writing methodology.

But there are also unsatisfactory places, which many readers have pointed out.

Let's take the latest climax as an example,

The section where the Great Buddha of Xingzi Ward collapsed and Lin Cheng and others were beheaded.

Many people feel that Lin Cheng, Wei Shaoqi, Wang Lengran, and others died too easily, too quickly, and not refreshingly enough.

Summarizing afterwards, this is the expectation deviation produced by the author's perspective and the reader's perspective.

In Ouyang Rong's author perspective, I felt that within one chapter, a few lines of text, resolving all conflicts and contradictions, and then smoothing out all information gaps, could obtain a fast and intense sense of refreshment.

But I slightly ignored one point: from the reader's perspective, the emotions of this section were not fully in place, or rather, not fully released.

There are two reasons.

First, Lin Cheng, Wang Lengran, and Wei Shaoqi died too quickly. They guessed it, but were not sure it was the protagonist who did it.

Imagine if in this chapter, the protagonist appeared brilliantly, and the reader followed his first-person perspective, substituted into it, and solved the enemies who were remorseful and fearful under his powerful strength move by move, wouldn't it be more refreshing?

Because there is the protagonist's first-person perspective, the reader will subconsciously substitute, supplement, and mobilize emotions.

Instead of the protagonist not being present, and before the emotions could be mobilized, the enemies were already finished.

Second, the protagonist's move was hidden from the reader from beginning to end.

Including the scene where the protagonist looked up at the old stone bricks of the bridge arch when returning to the city from the front line, then to the later repair of the West City Gate, and then to hiding the Xin Dingjian in the Great Buddha.

These were all carried out in secret, with foreshadowing and paving, but no thorough clarification.

Using the words of a friend after listening, Ouyang Rong deceived the readers too. Not only did I deceive the villains, but I also deceived the reader's perspective. The information gap was not done well.

So this section, except for individual readers who noticed the foreshadowing and the protagonist's intention in advance, many brothers were confused while reading, and had all kinds of guesses about the protagonist's move, preparing to look at the next few chapters for an explanation.

But standing in Ouyang Rong's author perspective, I even felt that it was written clearly enough, and initially I was prepared not to explain it, and directly start the victory settlement... but I was awakened by a friend.

Writing it this way is not refreshing enough.

So I have to change my thinking and consider problems from the reader's perspective more, instead of self-indulgence from the author's perspective.

But Ouyang Rong is really quite satisfied with this section. Excluding the padding part, its conception is exquisite and interesting.

It even carries a bit of an allegorical flavor. (Laughs)

Ouyang Rong borrowed the climax technique of the newly released movie "The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon," yes, that famous "auditorium headshot" scene.

There is such a film review on the internet:

Why is the protagonist's shooting always a refreshing headshot, and even lived like a superman after being buried alive, escaped from the coffin, and went to the auditorium to headshot the villain?

Because the "gun" in the movie is not just a gun, but also an elegant ritual vessel.

When the protagonist in the plot breaks the "greed, hatred, and ignorance" that are the main contradictions of the whole film one by one, the "gun" as a ritual vessel is used for judgment and ending! So it is a hundred-percent headshot! So the protagonist lives like a superman!

If the "greed, hatred, and ignorance" in the plot are not broken, the "gun" will never hit anyone, will always miss, and will never end the contradiction.

It follows not the logic of reality, but the logic of film art.

The Xin Dingjian is the same!

In this climax plot of the Great Buddha collapsing and Lin Cheng being executed, it is not just a divine weapon with great power, but also a "ritual vessel," just like the hundred-percent gun mentioned above.

It is even the highest ritual vessel in the whole book.

Its appearance represents judgment.

As a spokesperson for feudal imperial power, the Empress who seizes the hearts of ten million people with the heart of one person, as long as the golden body is not broken, the Xin Dingjian can do nothing to her, and even nothing to Lin Cheng and others who represent her will!

So, when was the Empress's golden body broken in this plot?

From the moment the protagonist said in public, "Subject, I disobey the edict to the death!"

To the tragic death of the Wang mother and son because of the forced statue construction.

Then to the Xunyang Wang Fu, Yuan, Yan, Chen, and other ministers who originally obeyed imperial power withdrawing from the statue construction out of guilt and not being accomplices.

Finally, to Rong Zhen, the most loyal female official of the Empress, doubting herself and hesitating to turn around to find the protagonist just as the Xingzi Ward Great Buddha was about to be completed.

Step by step, the Empress's golden body was peeled off like an onion.

Therefore, in the climax chapter where the Great Buddha collapsed just mentioned, the Xin Dingjian appeared as a "ritual vessel."

Lin, Wei, Wang, and others who promoted the labor-and-money-wasting Xingzi Ward statue construction and the crowd protected by the Empress's majesty and golden body were doomed to die!

So I only needed to write a few short lines of clearing away, and at that time, writing one more second, Ouyang Rong felt it was a waste of the previous foreshadowing.

The plot progression of this section, as well as the hidden artistic logic, made Ouyang Rong write very refreshingly, passionately, and dancing with joy.

But, what about the effect?

I mentioned it earlier.

Not refreshing enough. Those who read fast and have no sense of substitution feel confused, or just give a light "oh."

Only a few readers nodded, feeling it was okay.

So... it's just self-indulgence.

The ideal is plump, but the reality is bony.

Thinking carefully, this plot, apart from the "artistic logic," borrowed from the movie.

In the "deceiving the reader's perspective" foreshadowing writing method, it borrowed from the famous climax scene of Zhui Xu killing the emperor,

But Ouyang Rong is not mature enough in mobilizing reader emotions other than LSP.

Speaking of which, this plot is also a bit similar to the plot in A Song of Ice and Fire where Cersei, after the humiliation of her walk of shame, uses wildfire to blow up the church and wipe out her opponents.

It is also a climax, also unexpected, and also clears all contradictions and conflicts in an instant.

But this "deceiving the audience" technique is only suitable for film and television works to be presented, allowing the audience to call it wonderful directly.

It is not very suitable for novels as a text carrier.

Because it requires readers to supplement it in their brains.

And film and television works can directly present pictures, saving the audience the need to supplement it, not to mention means like BGM to fully mobilize emotions... anyway, it is definitely more convenient than text works.

So this plot, if presented with pictures, would definitely be harder and more powerful than text.

The sense of picture and atmosphere is up to standard.

Suitable as a script for film and television adaptation, it would definitely be wonderful.

However, a defect is a defect. As a novel, if the climax is not refreshing enough, it is a defect. I won't look for excuses afterwards.

Summarizing the reason, it is caused by the writing method.

So for "Gentleman," what needs the most attention next is the progress in writing method.

Writing method, writing method, writing method!

There is no problem with the plot. As a "ritual vessel," the Xin Dingjian will definitely have its gorgeous judgment later.

But how to write a sense of refreshment is the only standard to test the writing method.

Recently, there has actually been a similar correction and progress.

That is the harvest settlement content after the climax currently being written.

Ouyang Rong did not throw it out all at once, but melted it into the interesting plot, which not only extended the sense of refreshment of the harvest settlement but also paved the way for the next plot.

Currently, it looks okay.

Actually, these shortcomings are not all discovered by Ouyang Rong himself. I must thank two good friends.

One is Mizhijie, and one is "Nuclear Peace Watcher." Both are authors, so I won't reveal the pen name of the latter.

Ouyang Rong is currently renting with them. We are roommates, cough cough, no fencing.

Let's talk about life.

Looking back on the four years, the first two years were spent burying my head in writing "Sword Lady," without a circle, and without any changes, and what left the deepest impression was last year.

Last year, 2023, Ouyang Rong had three biggest gains.

One was at the beginning of January, when I started writing "Gentleman." The results were okay, writing part-time, and at the same time, I had the best group of book friends like you.

One was walking out of a failed online romance.

The last one was getting to know my peers Mizhijie and "Nuclear Peace Watcher."

This year was truly full of gains.

As I said earlier, because I was introverted, autistic, and read novels since I was a child, and buried my head in writing books in college, Ouyang Rong is a small-town youth who is easily self-consuming.

But these two good friends are not self-consuming at all. Being with them always gives me upward positive energy.

Yes, always!

They also corrected many of my paranoid and self-consuming concepts.

Instead, it might be me consuming them.

However, as buddies, sometimes I also give them full emotional value, hehe.

Ouyang Rong is from Jiujiang, Jiangxi. Mizhijie is from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Nuclear Peace is from Daqing, Northeast.

Three people who grew up in different environments are truly different, yet strangely harmonious and complementary.

We often go out for skewers on the street, chat about writing books, or get stuck in the middle of the night, and go out together to collect material.

From Mizhijie, I learned that one should not be constrained by small details, be generous, and not remember small gains and losses.

I suddenly remembered that last time he saw me secretly using his small stool for padding when live-streaming and typing, a few days later, he came upstairs early in the morning with a package, laughing and saying it was my package, asking me to guess what it was. Hehe, good buddy.

Nuclear Peace has read a lot of books and is nicknamed "Wang Yuyan of Online Literature." Communicating with him, I learned a lot of insider knowledge.

At the same time, I also learned from him the openness and straightforwardness of a Northeast man.

"When?"

However, these two kids have good family backgrounds. If they don't write books, they can only go back and inherit "hundreds of millions of family properties."

Damn it, this small-town youth's teeth almost shattered, fortunately they didn't, otherwise I would have to swallow them obediently...

Back to the point.

On the 4th of last month, during the double monthly vote period, Mizhijie took the lead and voted with everyone, pushing "Gentleman" up.

Looking back now, the effect was excellent. The data was more than four times higher than in normal months. Peer editors were very surprised, saying that my book was starving and had too little exposure before.

This month, Mizhijie and Nuclear Peace voted again. Ouyang Rong was actually a bit panicked, feeling the wind was urgent and the waves were high. However, Nuclear Peace said to me in his unique Northeast man's tone:

Ouyang Rong, you have to know that only when you stand in that position and experience massive exposure and data fluctuations will you grow! Which great author is not trained in the exposure of stormy waves?

Brilliant!

After listening, there was a breath in my chest, changing from subtle to surging.

Damn it, I'm going to code words, only then will I be embarrassed to ask you for monthly votes!

Didn't I promise three updates last night at midnight? But I accidentally fell asleep and only made up for it at noon. At that time, when "Nuclear Peace" saw it when he went out in the morning, he patted my shoulder with a sigh and said: "Ouyang Rong, your second godfather is very disappointed in you."

Damn it.

Truly not acting like a human.

Let me state again, although they are loyal, I am still their godfather. Hope everyone knows!

Because the brothers of "Gentleman" and "Sword Lady" are my godfathers. (Confirmed)

"Gentleman" and "Sword Lady" have a batch of the best book friends.

Often brothers say that "Gentleman" and "Sword Lady" are not suitable for chasing updates.

Yes, because Ouyang Rong himself was a left-behind child who used to hide in the quilt all night reading "pirated" finished online literature, immersed in dreams all day long.

Now that I have grown up and started writing, I have subconsciously focused on the experience of reading the finished book in one breath from beginning to end, and I am even reluctant to go to the end too early and end this fantasy journey.

"Gentleman" and "Sword Lady" are love letters written to every lonely reader similar to myself.

On the day it is finished, I will personally hand it to you.

Finally, looking back on the four years again.

I didn't do anything,

Left two books, met three or two friends, and met you.

Happy June 1st, forever eighteen.

Let's end with a sentence from Lu You's "Jiannan Poetry Manuscript":

In the autumn of the Jia-Chen year of Chunxi; watching the sea tide; occasionally mooring the boat at its gate; dragging the staff to travel again; it feels like a lifetime ago.