Lin Yuan was also aware of the popularity of “Prince of Tennis” because recently Jian Yi and Xia Fan had been discussing the book. Especially Jian Yi. While discussing the novel with Xia Fan, he didn’t forget to take a jab at Lin Yuan: “Now you know how difficult it is to be a supernova, right? You should focus on your work instead of thinking about making money by writing novels, unless you can write something as good as ‘Prince of Tennis’ like Chu Kuang.”

It seemed that both Jian Yi and Xia Fan assumed Lin Yuan had failed at being a supernova. After all, Lin Yuan never mentioned that he was actually “Chu Kuang.”

Besides Jian Yi and Xia Fan, editor Yang Feng would also regularly update Lin Yuan on the performance of “Prince of Tennis” and even seriously discussed with Lin Yuan about expanding the novel’s outline.

“No.”

Lin Yuan refused decisively.

Yang Feng was a bit persistent, chattering about the benefits of expanding the word count: “The performance of ‘Prince of Tennis’ is excellent. A hundred thousand words are too few; it would be a pity to end it so early…”

“No way.”

Lin Yuan refused again. He certainly understood the logic that more words meant more money and agreed with some of Yang Feng’s points, but the system provided “Prince of Tennis” with only a hundred thousand words. According to the system’s explanation: A hundred thousand words are just right; writing more would dilute the quality.

Yang Feng couldn’t force Chu Kuang. With the success of “Prince of Tennis,” Chu Kuang was no longer an ordinary new novelist. So, regarding Chu Kuang’s refusal, Yang Feng could only sigh deeply and say, “Alright then.”

In Yang Feng’s eyes, Chu Kuang was very willful! Such a popular novel, and he insisted on writing only a hundred thousand words, unwilling to expand the content, even though Yang Feng had thoroughly analyzed the situation. As a newcomer, he still didn’t understand how rare it was to write a hit work.

Meanwhile, on campus, Lin Yuan was paying attention to the latest prompt from the system. The task of reaching ten thousand literary reputation points was finally completed today!

[Task Completed: Comprehensive Development]

[Task Content: Achieve ten thousand literary reputation points]

[Task Reward: Three Bronze Treasure Chests]

Lin Yuan thought for a moment and said, “Open one Bronze Treasure Chest.”

Let’s test my luck first.

The first Bronze Treasure Chest opened, and the system prompted in light blue text: [Congratulations, you have obtained the song ‘Balloon’]

Xu Zhepei’s “Balloon”? This result was neither good nor bad; overall, it was just average luck. So Lin Yuan decided to store the remaining two Bronze Treasure Chests in the warehouse and open them when he felt luckier.

Now he needed to go out for a meal. This time, the person who invited Lin Yuan was Jiang Kui. Jiang Kui had been promoting “Dance of Fish and Dragon” in Qizhou and had just returned to Qinzhou recently. It was Xian Yu’s song that transformed her from an unknown newcomer into a somewhat famous debut singer, so the first thing she did upon returning was to invite Xian Yu for a meal to express her gratitude.

Just like he didn’t refuse Sun Yaohuo, Lin Yuan also didn’t refuse Jiang Kui. He enjoyed being treated to meals. However, upon arriving at the agreed restaurant, Lin Yuan suddenly realized that this was the same restaurant where he had dined with Sun Yaohuo last time.

“Teacher Xian Yu.”

Jiang Kui was quite a pretty young girl, and she had even put on makeup before going out today. However, she was a bit short, and when speaking to someone like Lin Yuan, who was 1.8 meters tall, she had to look up.

Lin Yuan said, “Just call me Lin Yuan.”

Jiang Kui smiled and said, “Then I’ll call you Teacher Lin Yuan.”

Lin Yuan didn’t correct her again and chose a table to sit down. Before he could get comfortable, a surprised voice suddenly came from beside him:

“Junior?”

Lin Yuan turned around and found that the speaker was Sun Yaohuo, accompanied by a heavily made-up woman.

“You go back first,” Sun Yaohuo said to his companion. The woman was displeased, pouting and stomping her feet, but Sun Yaohuo remained unmoved. She had no choice but to leave.

Sun Yaohuo sat down on Lin Yuan’s right side, full of enthusiasm: “Since we ran into each other, let me treat you to this meal, Junior!”

“Sun Yaohuo, today I’m treating Teacher Lin Yuan to a meal,” Jiang Kui said. Both Jiang Kui and Sun Yaohuo were newcomers at Starlight Entertainment and knew each other, seemingly having a decent relationship.

But today, when they met at this restaurant, sitting on either side of Lin Yuan, sparks seemed to fly between their exchanged glances.

“Let Jiang Kui treat,” Lin Yuan didn’t notice anything unusual between them.

Jiang Kui smiled, glanced at Sun Yaohuo, and then ordered a table full of dishes, matching the quantity Sun Yaohuo had ordered last time: “Teacher Lin Yuan, is there anything else you’d like to add?”

“Sichuan River Fish, Braised Pork Knuckle, and two servings of rice,” Sun Yaohuo smiled and glanced at Jiang Kui.

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan nodded in agreement. It seemed Sun Yaohuo knew Teacher Lin Yuan’s preferences well, and Jiang Kui suddenly felt a sense of crisis: “Didn’t you just eat with your girlfriend?”

“We broke up,” Sun Yaohuo said matter-of-factly. “She wouldn’t let me eat with my junior. Why keep such a girlfriend?”

“…”

Jiang Kui almost suffered internal injuries. How could you be so sycophantic!?

Soon, the dishes and rice were served, and the three of them ate together. Although Sun Yaohuo had just eaten with his girlfr… ex-girlfriend, it didn’t affect his appetite.

After the meal, Jiang Kui quickly ran to pay the bill, afraid that Sun Yaohuo would beat her to it. Although it was just a meal, Jiang Kui had already witnessed Sun Yaohuo’s sycophantic skills.

During the meal, Teacher Lin Yuan only said a few words. Sun Yaohuo could respond with twenty sentences, accompanied by occasional laughter, as if what Teacher Lin Yuan said was incredibly humorous.

Originally, Jiang Kui invited Teacher Lin Yuan to express gratitude and also to curry favor with him. Who hasn’t been a sycophant at some point? Although the probability was small, what if Teacher Lin Yuan was in a good mood and gave her another good song? Wouldn’t that be a huge gain?

But after encountering Sun Yaohuo, Jiang Kui realized what true sycophancy was!

After the meal, as they left the restaurant, Sun Yaohuo suggested, “Let’s walk around to digest.”

Lin Yuan had no objections. Naturally, Jiang Kui wouldn’t object either.

After walking for fifteen minutes, Lin Yuan asked, “Where can I get some water?”

Swish. Sun Yaohuo and Jiang Kui simultaneously looked at Lin Yuan: “Junior Teacher Lin Yuan, how about milk tea?”

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan nodded, and then the two of them disappeared like the wind. Five minutes later, Sun Yaohuo returned with a cup of milk tea: “Junior, here’s your milk tea.”

“Phew.”

Jiang Kui, possibly due to her short stature and shorter legs, was a step slower than Sun Yaohuo.

“Competing with me? You’re still a bit inexperienced,” Sun Yaohuo looked at her smugly.

But soon, Sun Yaohuo was stunned, his mouth agape. Because Jiang Kui returned with six cups of milk tea, saying with a caring expression, “Teacher Lin Yuan, I wasn’t sure which flavor you liked, so I bought several flavors from the milk tea shop.”

Lin Yuan chose a lemon flavor and then said, “Isn’t this too much?”

Jiang Kui smiled slightly: “Not at all.”

With that, Jiang Kui distributed the extra milk tea to a few passing children in the mall, pointing to Lin Yuan: “This big brother is treating you to milk tea.”

“Thank you, brother!”

The children were accompanied by their parents, who weren’t worried about any issues with the milk tea and let the kids express their gratitude.

Isn’t it just sycophancy? Who can’t do it?

Jiang Kui glanced back at Sun Yaohuo, delivering a finishing blow.