Chapter 66: Author

After typing those four words, I sat in front of the monitor and thought for a long time.

No feelings?

No.

I’ve been writing for over a decade, and this book has been the most turbulent and the most emotionally stirring I’ve ever started.

Brothers who’ve followed me for a while might know that after my last novel ended, I launched three new books—all of them died in the womb.

I swear to heaven, I prepared each one thoroughly—conceiving ideas, designing plots; none were like anything on the market, and I poured my full sincerity into each.

One of them, I spent years just brainstorming, and even wrote tens of thousands of words in reserve.

Yet every time, I began with full confidence, only to be denied even a chance to try—repeatedly crushed, utterly defeated.

For a while, I even doubted myself, thinking I had no talent for writing novels, that I wasn’t suited for this web literature business.

To be honest, if I weren’t over forty and had no other skills or alternative paths, those consecutive blows would’ve already driven me to switch careers.

By the way, I really did consider delivering food.

It sounds ridiculous, but after writing for so many years, I’ve never truly succeeded—I’ve always hovered on the edge of poverty.

Previously, when reading comments, someone called me the “King of Flops.”

I didn’t argue—I only reflected.

Flop? Fine, I’ve lived in debt from writing, owing over a hundred thousand in online loans, every month worrying about household expenses and my child’s tuition—utterly failed.

King? Not unfair—I once seriously considered going into the sex trade, even nearly took the first step, but after checking the laws, I realized I couldn’t bear the consequences and quickly pulled my foot back.

In short, these years have been brutal; before starting this book, I was truly at my wit’s end.

My family, too, had grown deeply disappointed by my repeated failures, unsure what kind of life they’d face next.

Real-life hardship forced me to try once more.

That’s how this book came to be.

Before writing it, I lay awake all night, utterly unsure what else I could write.

But I had to write.

So I thought constantly—while eating, while using the toilet, connecting everything I saw to ideas.

One day, I went to bed early, but tossed and turned until past three in the morning, half-asleep, half-awake.

It was in that state that the idea of “Five Beautiful Women” came to me.

Without hesitation, I immediately opened my eyes, got up, turned on the computer, and wrote this opening.

Later, over ten days, I gradually wrote five chapters and sent them to my editor, Qilin.

After reading them, my editor felt it wasn’t strong enough—he thought the selling points weren’t clear.

Fortunately, my editor is experienced—he asked for an outline. I explained my concept: the protagonist pretending to be a native before five women who’d crossed over together. He immediately said, “That’s a selling point—give it a shot.”

That day happened to be Little New Year.

If my life had been stable, I’d have waited until after the New Year to publish this book.

But at the time, I didn’t even have money for the New Year, let alone my child’s tuition next month—I had to gamble everything.

I spent the entire holiday writing—on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the Lantern Festival, I refused all invitations from old classmates and focused entirely on this book.

Because I had to survive.

Thank heaven!!

You didn’t let me lose.

To be honest, before launching this book, I never imagined it would be this popular—you pushed it all the way into the top ranks of the new book chart, peaking at second place, holding it for many days; if not for two platinum-level masters surrounding us, we could’ve reached number one for a couple of days.

Thank you sincerely—you’ve given me hope to keep writing novels, even hope to survive.

I have nothing to offer in return but to write this book as well as I can, to bring you some joy.

Hmm… I have many more feelings, but you probably don’t want to hear me whine.

I’ll just focus on writing.

Here I must mention: I’m deeply grateful to everyone who commented on this book—whether praising or criticizing me, your feedback truly guides my writing direction.

I won’t hide from your sharp eyes—many of my writing ideas came from you.

I can responsibly say I’ve read every single comment and searched them for inspiration, trying my best to avoid the pitfalls you dislike.

I hope you’ll keep going.

Of course, I’m even more grateful to those who tipped and voted for me—your support is what brought me within inches of the top.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart—I wish you good health, lifelong peace, and great wealth!!

Hmm… I have one more piece of bad news to share.

I’ll probably write this book slowly.

It’s a new type of brain-bending novel no one has written before—too many characters, tangled relationships, no references at all—I designed everything myself, and it’s extremely hard to write.

I truly want to give you more original content, less of the tired tropes everyone’s sick of in web novels.

That means this book takes me longer to write than others’—yet I’m still far slower than them.

To be frank, I want to update more, earn more, change my impoverished life—I want it desperately—but I don’t know how much potential I truly have.

In short, I’ll do my absolute best!!!

Enough rambling.

Now, onto the main point:

Please subscribe, tip, vote for monthly tickets, support in any way you can!!!

Your support is my greatest motivation to update more!!!

Finally, confirm this: at 11:59 PM tonight, possibly a few minutes later, this book goes live—please come support me.

Also, from now on, the update time will be after 0:05 AM daily.

Unless there are special circumstances, the two base updates will be posted together instead of separately, to spare you the trouble of chasing chapters; additional updates will depend on the situation.

That’s it—I’ll be waiting for you at midnight on Qidian. Let’s meet there.

(End of chapter)