201: Chapter 201 Yan Liang, Wen Chou

It was a little past one in the afternoon, and Chen Fan was sitting on the sofa playing on his phone.

The television in the living room was on, the volume turned down low.

His Aunt was in the kitchen helping Wang Mei clear the dishes, while the brothers Chen Jianjun and Chen Jianguo sat by the coffee table drinking tea and chatting, their low voices drifting over from time to time.

The fire in the hearth was burning brightly, and the heating made the entire house warm and cozy, making one feel drowsy.

Chen Fan was scrolling through industry news on his phone when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching.

Looking up, he saw his cousin, Chen Tong, holding a laptop in her arms.

"Xiao Fan," she called out.

"What's up?"

"Could you come over for a second?" Chen Tong asked, an embarrassed smile on her face as she tapped her fingers lightly on the laptop's casing.

Seeing her expression, Chen Fan's face tensed up. From

the time they were young, he had been all too familiar with this look of his cousin's; every time Chen Tong showed this kind of smile, it was never for anything good.

The last time he saw her smile like that was when she took their grandfather's tobacco pipe to poke a rat hole and then made him take the blame.

"What are you trying to do?" Chen Fan's tone was clearly wary.

"Oh, it's nothing bad," Chen Tong lowered her voice and gestured toward her room with her chin. "Help me take a look at something."

Chen Fan stared at her for two seconds but stood up anyway.

The two of them walked into Chen Tong's room one after the other, leaving the door ajar.

Chen Tong placed the laptop on the desk, the screen lit up, and pushed it toward Chen Fan.

"Help me look at this," she said, clicking the touchpad a few times. "How is... this?"

Chen Fan looked down—on the screen was a document titled "The CEO's Substitute Bride," followed by several thousand words spread out below.

He froze for a moment, then it clicked.

"You wrote a novel?"

Chen Tong nodded, a rare look of embarrassment crossing her face. "I saw how much money you made writing novels, so I thought... I'd give it a try."

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief. So that was it. It seemed that his making money from writing novels had given his cousin the idea to start writing as well.

It wasn't a bad thing; at least it was better than those other mess of ideas she usually had. He pulled up a chair, sat down, and began reading Chen Tong's story.

He read a few paragraphs. Then a few more.

Chen Fan's expression shifted from initial anticipation to complete blankness.

How should he put it—the dialogue was written like elementary schoolers bickering.

Character development was practically non-existent; the overbearing CEO had no traits other than a "cold face" and a "wicked smile," while the female lead had no descriptors beyond "stubborn" and "kind."

Worst of all was the pacing; one paragraph they were arguing, and the next they were inexplicably caring for each other, with zero transition or buildup in between, leaving the reader utterly confused.

Although Chen Fan's actual level of novel writing wasn't anything special and he had never written for the female-oriented genre,

he had at least spent over a decade reading novels in his past life. He knew what kind of stories were readable and what kind weren't.

What Chen Tong had written was essentially a lost cause.

Chen Fan scrolled through about a thousand words and stopped reading.

He looked up. Chen Tong was watching him expectantly.

"How is it?" she asked, her voice full of anticipation.

Looking at Chen Tong's bright, sparkling eyes, Chen Fan swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He had intended to tell her the truth, but decided to be a bit more tactful.

"Sis, your novel can be described using two of Yuan Shao's great generals."

Chen Tong's eyes lit up. "Does that mean it's written well? Like, its level is on par with Three Kingdoms generals?"

Chen Fan's lip twitched. "First, tell me who Yuan Shao's two great generals were."

"Yan Liang and Wen Chou," Chen Tong said without a second thought.

"Exactly," Chen Fan nodded, deliberately drawing out the two names and emphasizing each syllable. "Yan Liang, Wen Chou."

Chen Tong blinked. "Yan Liang? Wen Chou?" she repeated, as if mulling over the words.

Then her expression slowly changed—from blankness to confusion, from confusion to realization, and from realization to—

"Chen Fan!!!"

Chen Tong shot up from her chair and grabbed a book from the desk to throw at him. Chen Fan was prepared and dodged to the side with a laugh.

"Sis, calm down," Chen Fan quickly tried to soothe her.

"Hmph, I'll see what you have to say for yourself." Chen Tong crossed her arms, looking down at him.

Chen Fan glanced at her, dropped his joking expression, and his tone became serious.

"Sis, I really don't recommend you write novels."

"Why?" Her voice dropped, the anger from before replaced by a hint of earnestness.

"To make money writing novels, you need talent and hard work, and talent accounts for 99% of that. Don't just look at how much I made from one book; some people work themselves to the bone for a month and only earn a few dozen or a hundred yuan. A better one might make a thousand. Most don't even make that much—they're just doing it purely for the love of it."

He paused, looking into Chen Tong's eyes.

"Sis, do you think you're that one-in-ten-thousand genius?"

Chen Tong was stunned, her expression shifting through several emotions—unwillingness, disappointment, and a stifled frustration at not being able to say anything.

She opened her mouth to argue, but seeing the sincerity in Chen Fan's eyes, she swallowed her words.

She thought about the thousands of words she had stayed up several nights to type out, and how she had stared blankly at the screen at two in the morning.

Chen Fan was right.

She wasn't cut out for it.

Chen Tong leaned back in her chair, stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, and then gave a helpless smile.

"Fine, I give up." She spoke with a light, carefree tone...

That was just Chen Tong's personality; she was quick to take things up and just as quick to let them go.

Seeing her give up, Chen Fan felt relieved.

Whether in his past life or this one, he had written novels and knew firsthand how difficult the path was.

It wasn't as simple as anyone tapping on a keyboard and making ten thousand a month; more often than not, the work would sink without a trace, unnoticed by anyone.

With Chen Tong's level of writing, let alone making money, she probably couldn't even get a contract. Rather than letting her waste time and energy on web novels, it was better to persuade her to quit early on.

Chen Tong was his cousin; with him around, there would be plenty of opportunities for her to make money.

Even in the short term, he could easily arrange a job for her at the company with a monthly salary of over ten thousand, and one where she wouldn't even have to do much work.

So there really was no need for her to do something as time-consuming and labor-intensive as writing novels.