Chapter 45

There was no teacher occupying the morning self-study today; after Lu Siwen returned to her seat, she almost couldn't wait to open the notebook.

On it was Zhai Da's fountain pen ink; the handwriting was very neat and fluent, with almost no traces of correction.

Lu Siwen knew this was written with her pen.

And as she read, she was quickly attracted into the story.

"My name is Lin Manman... since I was 18, I've been counting the seconds to live, and my life seems to be slowly disappearing."

"Three times a week, four hours of dialysis each time, it's like life's grand lottery, but unfortunately, I won the worst ticket."

"Every meal, the salt, phosphorus, and potassium must be precisely measured to the gram with an electronic scale and calculator; every bite of vegetables and meat must be blanched before it can be eaten."

"Drinking water and urination must be recorded with a measuring cup."

"I am a uremia patient; my life is like a pool of bitter water: edema, loss of appetite, anemia, heart failure, general fatigue, listlessness..."

"I am waiting for a kidney source at three hospitals, and so far there is no news; I am afraid that before I wait for a kidney source, I will die."

"I want to live, I'm only 23..."

"So I recorded this video to seek marriage... of course, you can also understand it as seeking a kidney."

"If there is someone in the tumor group who can match with me and is willing to leave a donation intent, designated for me, I can marry you and accompany you to... fight against the disease."

"If one day, you... leave, I will accept your kidney transplant as your wife and continue to live."

"Take care of your family, your parents, and never marry again for the rest of my life."

"I know this is very selfish and very immoral."

"But in order to live, please forgive my humbleness and filth."

"I want to live... I really want to live..."

————

The beginning in Lu Siwen's hands was written by Zhai Da in his spare time, without taking up too much time.

About one or two thousand words.

To emphasize again, the length of web novels is already approaching a pathological state; these days, a physical novel is considered passing if it has 100,000 words, for example, "To Live" is only 120,000.

Exceeding 300,000 words in the field of physical books already requires the addition of the word "masterpiece," and it has to be split into two volumes for publication.

Zhai Da planned for this story to be written to 150,000 words at most; of course, if there were any changes along the way, such as obtaining full ownership of the 【Literary Girl's Pen】 in advance, then he didn't intend to write anymore and would just end it poorly.

During the lunch break, Zhai Da found a corner seat as usual, but after only one bite, he had the desire to dream back to Zu'an.

Damn, how did this braised pork manage to make the lean meat hard as a rock, the fat melt into slag, and still carry a smell of a pig that had never taken a bath?

It's truly the price of a restaurant with the taste of a prison.

Those who didn't know would think Maofang Middle School was an accounting college.

The slogan "No food waste" on the wall felt particularly ironic.

If you make normal ingredients taste this bad, how do you have the face to tell students not to waste food? If braised pork is made like this, even the pig would feel it died in vain.

Zhai Da looked left and right, but didn't see Fan Junwei or Wu Yue, and no one was there to share this bowl of bitterness with him...

Just as he was worrying, a soft sound of "clatter" occurred, and an exquisite colored lunch box appeared in his line of sight; Zhai Da looked up.

Lu Siwen lowered her head and whispered:

"Classmate Zhai, can I sit with you?"

Zhai Da moved over a little.

In the cafeteria where everyone was holding stainless steel trays, only Lu Siwen was holding a colored lunch box, which was very conspicuous.

Of course, what was even more conspicuous was that the "Little Deer" who was somewhat famous in the school rarely came to the cafeteria and even found a boy to sit with.

On the other side, several girls from the Cricket Heavenly Group had already exploded: "Little Deer? Is she very familiar with that Zhai Da?"

"I don't know, they aren't even in the same class, and Little Deer never comes to the cafeteria..."

"Didn't they say Lin Shuyao liked him before? What is so outstanding about this Zhai Da... he looks ordinary..."

"Outstanding... it wouldn't be this, would it!"

A girl gestured the length of a pair of chopsticks, the others understood in a second, and then lowered their heads and giggled... like a little hen laying eggs, their iron bangs trembling constantly.

Zhai Da shoveled the food in his tray: "Brought your own food?"

Lu Siwen opened the lunch box, inside were four neatly arranged sandwiches.

High-end stuff!

In 2008, in Dongyang County, let alone eating them, he hadn't even seen a sandwich...

Breakfast at Tiffany's?

"Made it yourself?"

Lu Siwen shook her head honestly: "No, the auntie at home made it."

Her small hands held one piece and handed it to Zhai Da: "Does Classmate Zhai want to try it?"

Zhai Da had no reason to refuse, because the cafeteria food was indeed terrible.

The sandwich wasn't big; from the side, you could see lettuce, cheese, ham, tomato slices, and egg.

The egg was quite complex; it seemed to be boiled and then mashed, mixed with mayonnaise, and the yellow color looked very appetizing.

Zhai Da rubbed his fingertips symbolically, considering it cleaned, took it, and devoured half of it in one bite.

Don't say it, you really shouldn't say it...

Lu Siwen saw Zhai Da eating happily, and she was happy too.

Suddenly she said: "Classmate Zhai, have you ever thought about becoming a writer?"

Zhai Da stopped chewing: "Me? A writer? Why do you ask that?"

Such a distant word; even when he was a copywriter in his previous life, he never had such a thought.

Lu Siwen: "Because you have a great talent for writing! It would be strange if you didn't become a writer, right?"

Zhai Da smiled: "You are also very beautiful, have you ever thought about becoming a star?"

Lu Siwen's fair little face turned red instantly; being praised for her beauty to her face made the young girl a bit shy: "I... I'm not that beautiful, far worse than a star."

Zhai Da said realistically: "You are bare-faced, stars are all full makeup + filters + retouching + lighting; I think you look better."

Lu Siwen couldn't even lift her head.

"What I want to say is, for things like careers, you can't just consider what you have, you also have to consider what you like."

"Then what does Classmate Zhai like?"

"I like thin legs."

Lu Siwen:?

Zhai Da couldn't help but be cheeky again.

Lu Siwen couldn't help but look at her own legs... her little face turned red again.

She seemed to be the type of constitution that flushes easily; once her emotions were stirred, her whole body would turn red...

"... I read 'Long Journey of Lu Tu', it's written really well, it's a pity it's too short, the story hasn't fully unfolded yet."

To be precise, the male protagonist Lu Tu hadn't even appeared yet; what Lu Siwen had in her hands was only a thousand words or so, not much longer than a high school essay, mainly talking about the daily life of the female protagonist Lin Manman fighting uremia.

"Long stories have to be taken slowly; after writing, they have to be polished, and the possibility of revision cannot be ruled out."

The subtext is: So your pen still has to be pressed by me.

Lu Siwen agreed with this statement very much.

"What kind of story is this?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Zhai Da said seriously: "If you have a preset before opening a book, then every page of it will lose its meaning; the best way is for me to write every day and you to read every day."

"Chasing updates! Chasing updates is the best way to read! Accumulate blessings, gather wealth, accumulate merit, increase moral character, and store up hidden virtue."

Lu Siwen nodded without understanding.

"You're right... then I'll just... chase the updates."