Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 8: Mr. Fei, the Ice Skating Instructor

The girl stepped back with her right foot, the outer edge of her skate drawing a white arc on the ice.

Immediately, she leaped into the air like a starling in the forest, the silver bracelet on her wrist drawing a smooth silver light in four perfect rotations.

When it lands smoothly on the ice, the ice blade creates ice flowers that resemble shattered jade.

The girl took two steps forward, facing the dumbfounded Luo Jinnian, drew a semi-circle with one hand, placed her palm on her abdomen, and gracefully bowed.

As always, Fei Yuxi kept her word and promised to teach Luo Jinnian to skate, so she waited for him at the skating rink early in the morning.

"Teacher Xiao Fei is amazing."

Fei Yuxi took the boy's hand and chuckled, "Come on, follow your instincts." The boy got up and, as expected, fell down.

Do you understand? Roller skating and ice skating are completely different.

Luo Jinnian tried again and again in a corner of the ice rink, jumping, falling, jumping again, falling again.

Children's bodies are flexible and light, so they are not as easily injured when they fall.

But every time Luo Jinnian came into contact with the hard ice surface and was surrounded by the smell of ice pellets, he felt an urge to cry.

His body was too weak; when he crashed into the ice, it was like a lump of soft flesh being slapped to the ground.

"Let's take a break."

Luo Jinnian shook his head.

He wasn't working so hard just to get roles; he refused to become a child star. But learning a special skill was something he truly dreamed of.

Jump, land on the ice, and once again ice flowers splash everywhere.

The boy's figure under the lamplight resembled an extremely beautiful butterfly, and the silhouette cast under the translucent ice was supple and moving.

"It's done."

The girl took his hand again, and the two glided side by side on the ice. Like lotuses emerging from clear water, the two beautiful children did not perform any difficult spins or jumps; they simply attracted the attention of everyone on the ice rink with their faces alone.

Training completed today.

Upon entering the warm changing room, the temperature difference between inside and outside caused wisps of white steam to rise from Luo Jinnian's head, which was quite magical.

Almost every child in the locker room had this ethereal, otherworldly appearance.

"You win." The famous director, who had just skied a bit, had a towel around his neck and a glass of goji berry tea brewed by his assistant in his hand.

My eye bags are so swollen, it looks like I've been punched.

"Name your terms." His eye bags weren't actually from being punched; the broken part of "Summer, Fireworks, My Corpse" was something no human could do.

Luo Jinnian smiled and shook his head.

"Thank you for respecting me, Uncle. My sister Fei Yuxi has already told me that you compiled statistics on all the best-selling magazines on the market for my article."

"I really don't know how to write the ending of 'The Little Prince.' But I do have some ideas. Give me a week to come up with an ending, and I'll show it to you. A bad ending is worse than not writing it at all, right?"

Assistant: This is boring. Is it possible that all the hard work is done by us subordinates?

Patting the boy's thin shoulder, the famous director coughed, saying nothing more.

"In the future, when I make a movie, you can have priority to audition for a role you like."

No, only this "no".

Luo Jinnian aspires to be a great writer; being a child star was completely outside his plans.

An ungrateful person has arrived.

"Yeah...sigh, what a pity."

An opportunity that others in the industry would beg for no reason was handed to the young man, only to be rejected with a wave of his hand.

In the end, it was the director himself who regretted it; who would believe it if the news got out?

Fei Yuxi came out of the dressing room, changed into a neatly tailored, soft, light lilac dress, tilted her head, smiled, and waved goodbye to the boy.

Goodbye, Teacher Fei.

Luo Jinnian also waved.

As the director was leaving, he clicked his tongue. Wait a minute, if that's the case, he won't be able to see the sequel to "Summer, Fireworks, My Corpse."

It's painful, but we still have to thank them for this.

The boy carried his schoolbag and hurried home. The middle-aged woman who was learning to ice skate had only taken him to the ice rink on his first day, and it was clear that she hadn't made any plans to pick him up afterward.

Walking can make your mind wander.

Luo Jinnian thought carefully about the works that were plagiarized.

The Little Prince remains unfinished, so we won't discuss that.

Secondly, both "Grandma" and "Summer, Fireworks, My Corpse" which were not published are short horror stories. If you start with these titles in the early stages, will it limit your own image?

Should I copy another heartwarming story, or go for something more specialized like science fiction or history? Or should I first establish my comfort zone?

I don't know where my submission is now, or how much the payment will be.

Once home, Luo Jinnian was so hungry that she didn't have time to think about anything else.

The scallions were fried in oil until the edges curled up slightly, and a few bits of chili pepper were sprinkled on the thick, golden-yellow potato shreds. Two sets of bowls and chopsticks were neatly arranged, with a large blue-and-white porcelain bowl filled with rice porridge, the rice grains almost melting from the cooking.

"There are dumplings I made in the fridge for dinner. You can heat them up yourself."

"I have other things to do at work, I'll check your work after I get off work."

It was the stepfather giving instructions to his daughter.

The elevator made a sound, and then it became quiet outside.

When Chu Qingning returned home, the boy was enjoying a pancake.

"Want one?"

Luo Jinnian naturally wouldn't let the girl heat up the buns again; the meal he prepared was meant to be eaten together.

Before the girl could react, Luo Jinnian, with his own pancake in his mouth, used chopsticks in one hand to pick up vegetables and used the other hand to roll up the freshly cooked hot vegetables for his step-sister.

One bite, and the oil sizzled and burst forth; the girl was mesmerized by the aroma.

It was a little spicy, she thought, when her younger brother brought her a bowl of mung bean soup. Mmm, it was very sweet, with a lot of sugar added.

These mung beans weren't from home; Luo Jinnian asked Teacher Xiao Fei to bring them to him. He had to pay a price: he had to tell the girl a "very beautiful" fairy tale.

Beauty is a very general concept, but Luo Jinnian has already decided what story to tell.

"The stories you told your uncle, your uncle doesn't want to tell me."

Every day at this time, Fei Yuxi would call Luo Jinnian, and Luo Jinnian would help the girl solve her problems like a kindergarten teacher.

"It's not that your uncle is unwilling to share, it's just that the stories I write aren't really suitable for children. But I know a fairy tale that you'll definitely love to hear. Just like you said, this fairy tale is very beautiful."

"Okay, I love listening to stories."

Chu Qingning was also pulled together by Luo Jinnian to listen.

"This story is called 'The Cat Who Lived a Million Times'."

A beautiful tabby cat died a million times and lived a million times. It was the cat of kings, sailors, magicians, thieves, old ladies, little girls, and all sorts of other people. Everyone wept when it died, but the cat never cried, because it loved no one and felt life was meaningless. It hated everyone who had ever owned it.

The story unfolds slowly under Luo Jinnian's methodical pace. Across the telephone line, Chu Qingning and Fei Yuxi, two girls, are both engrossed in the fairy tale.

Later, the cat was no longer someone else's cat; it became a stray cat of its own. It met and fell in love with a beautiful, quiet white cat. They lived together and had many kittens. The cat loved the white cat and the kittens more than it loved itself. It had finally found meaning in its life.

"That's great."

The girls sighed, thinking the story was over.

However, Luo Jinnian was clearly determined to tell the story to the end.

Many years later, the white cat quietly grew old and died. This time, the tabby cat held the white cat and wept bitterly, crying a million times. Finally, it lay quietly beside the white cat and never woke up again. It was truly dead; this cat that had lived a million times never came back to life.

The girls on both ends of the phone fell silent. They were both emotional people, and even though the story was actually quite happy, why did they feel so heavy-hearted at the end?

"Are people who love each other destined to break up?" Fei Yuxi asked, her voice trembling with tears in her eyes, revealing the question that had been bothering her.

Luo Jinnian did not answer the question directly:

"A life without love and being loved, a life lived only for others, is empty even if repeated a million times; but once you have true love and know how to love others, even if you only live it once, such a life is complete and eternal. Life is about breadth, not length."

Fei Yuxi nodded thoughtfully.

Luo Jinnian turned around and noticed that her sister's eyes were red, as if she had been bullied. She wiped her eyes with a tissue and patiently spoke to her and the person on the other end of the phone:

"Actually, although the last two kittens never returned to Earth, they lived happily ever after on Meow Planet."

"Really?"

"Yes, so you cried too soon."

"Brother Luo is so mean."

"Yes, I'm so bad."

I forgive Luo Jinnian for altering the original ending and adding unnecessary details to the original work, but he truly cannot bear to see children cry in front of him.

Fei Yuxi had already believed everything, while Chu Qingning was skeptical, but she was willing to believe.

Both girls reached the same conclusion:

Luo Jinnian is such a good storyteller.