Blue Skies in All Directions

I haven’t been here in years, because I was driven away. Ha. I ran into a bunch of malicious HUNHUN and LAJI (seriously, both words got garbled three times when I tried to post them).

Coming back, I cringed at myself a little.

Friends and coworkers have reminded me several times that they’ve apparently all read this. Good grief, I wrote it out of boredom while studying for graduate school exams. I’d read lots of web novels here and wanted to try writing one for fun.

Apparently, there are basically no serious readers. It’s strange: the people who show up are all people I know, friends, coworkers, and bosses. Even after I joined a new workplace, new coworkers hinted that they’d read it. Many of them never read web novels at all, including middle-aged and older men. Every one of them thinks I’m writing wish-fulfillment autobiography and taking potshots at them, at coworkers and bosses... Where? Where?

I honestly don’t know what to say...

If any of you who regularly read the web novels from a few years ago have stumbled across this, tell me: among the authors who write this kind of silly, cliched fluff, how many are writing about themselves and the people around them? (Wouldn’t those prolific authors have to be reincarnated over and over?)

I haven’t even written the modern-day parts yet. This is set in ancient times, and no modern person has transmigrated into the past. What exactly makes you think I’m writing wish fulfillment about myself? You make all sorts of tenuous connections to me and then insist it’s about me (and of course, it’s always a woman). Most of it has absolutely nothing to do with me, yet you decide I’m indulging in wishful thinking, daydreaming, and bragging about myself (well...). Then the people who know me a little decide that any character close to the protagonist must be based on them. Some even think I didn’t make them perfect enough. Apparently, they ought to be born geniuses, fabulously wealthy, and as beautiful as immortals: (

Protagonists are usually special, or at least not bad. Even if they start out with poor circumstances, they’ll surely have unbelievable luck. Otherwise, would you read a story about an ordinary person? Even if you would, I wouldn’t want to write one. How boring would that be?

I’ve been holding this in for a long time, thanks to all this ridiculous nonsense. I made the protagonist quite well-off in terms of looks, family, talent, and luck (at least she survived the battlefield), and the supporting characters are all pretty impressive too. I’ve never been so shameless as to think I’m the protagonist. Where do you get the nerve to see yourselves in the characters?

Could those of you who’ve read web novels take another look and tell me which characters don’t resemble the usual stock figures in this kind of silly story (though I’ve never written a novel before, my writing isn’t good, and I can’t be expected to handle the details just like everyone else), or which character seems specifically designed to represent someone?

I wrote this purely for fun, and didn’t write very much. I don’t know how those coworkers and friends found it. If you really want to read it, just ask me. I can talk about my ideas and let you read it and give me your opinion (if you can get through it). What’s with secretly reading it and smearing me?

I’m completely speechless.

I could have deleted it ages ago and avoided all these lingering consequences. But I don’t want to delete it. If you ask me directly, I’ll gladly admit that, bad as the writing is, I wrote it.

If you have any questions, please ask me directly from now on. You can spare me all the wild guesses and muddled, childish nonsense.

The plot hasn’t unfolded yet. Here’s an introduction to the characters in the order they appear on land:

Xiao Lu is an ordinary, unremarkable person. Through her simple perspective, we’ll see the tumultuous events about to unfold on this great stage. She admires the brave and the heroic, yet can’t escape the pitiful dependence and weakness in human nature. She has her fantasies, but also moments of stubborn courage. Her appearance is modeled on a woman widely considered beautiful.

Xiao Yu, Xiao Lu’s maid. She has a turbulent past.

Li Bin (Yelü Libing): national enmity or family vendetta, grudges pitted against love?

Yang Duan in green, a noble and unsullied swordsman. Is he a hero or not? We can’t pass judgment until the end.

Prince Yu, Zhao Yi: when a nation is about to fall, there are bound to be “scoundrels.”

Mr. Yin: seasons of life within a painting.

Wu Yan: Did I choose my own life, or did life choose me? If I’m destined to become a slaughtering blade, how can I avoid a bloodbath?

The physician has healing skills but no compassion. I won’t concern myself with this chaotic world, only with myself.