Its 5:30am Monday.
Yichen's alarm starts to ring, he gets up frustrated and turns it off. He stares at the clock for a while, wondering if he should go back to sleep. He sighed and headed for the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and took a shower; he steps out and puts on the white long-sleeved shirt that he had specially taken to the dry cleaners for this big day. He wore it with a fitted black jean trousers, a pair of grey canvas flat loafers' shoes and a leather wristwatch. He sprayed his perfume 3 times on his shirt and twice on his trousers, on each leg. Yichen packed all the necessary stuff that he would need during the day into his laptop backpack. He carried it on his back, straightened his bed once more and headed out, he left his house and locked the door at 6:25am. The weekend is over, its Monday, and Shanghai city people are up and doing to start the day's work and kick start the new week. Shop owners are opening their stalls, students are heading to school and office workers are walking hastily with the same pace and rhythm, like soldiers marching to war and the sound of cars moving up and down the highway, like every other typical morning in Shanghai. Yichen is on a train, he has an appointment by 7:00am, at Zhuxin publishing house. It was a big day for him and an important one also, his book will be reviewed and signed today, at least that's how he expected things would go.
Yichen got off the train and came out of the subway, he walked for like 5 minutes and was in front of the publishing house, he got there by 6:55am. He walked in with a smile and went to the receptionist.
Yichen "Hi, good morning"
Receptionist [female] "good morning, how may I help you"
Yichen "I have a meeting with an editor here by 7am"
Receptionist checks the computer in front of her "Mr Yichen"
Yichen "Yes, that's me"
Receptionist "Okay, please have a seat, we'll be ready for you in a moment"
Yichen goes and sits down on a chair in the lobby, after like 7 minutes, the receptionists walked up to him.
Receptionist "he is ready to meet you, come with me" she leads him to the editor's office. "You can go in"
Yichen "Thank you" bends his head slightly.
Receptionist goes back to her working space.
Yichen breathes in and out, before knocking.
Zhuxin Editor " come in"
Yichen "good morning"
Zhuxin Editor "good morning, Mr Yichen" stands up and gives him a handshake "please, sit down. How are you this fine morning"
Yichen "I'm fine thank you, and you"
Zhuxin Editor "I'm great as always"
They both laugh hysterically and suddenly, everywhere is silent for 5 seconds and the mood completely changes. Zhuxin Editor takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes gently. Yichen notices this and asked if there was a problem.
Yichen "is there a problem sir, are you okay"
Zhuxin Editor "I'm fine, but I don't think you'll be"
Yichen "is it about my book review"
Zhuxin Editor "we are not reviewing your book Yichen, there's not much to say about it"
Yichen "what"
Zhuxin Editor " It pains me to say this, but your work...is not good."
Yichen "what"
Zhuxin Editor "I mean your grammar and writing skills are spot on, but your story telling skills are less than zero"
Yichen "what"
Zhuxin Editor "The book is boring, confusing and difficult to understand, I can't even count the number of times I got lost reading that"
Yichen "what"
Zhuxin Editor "and not just that, the books plot looked very similar or if not the same, as a lot of works out there. I mean how many books do you want to read about a guy going into his novel or being teleported into another world huh...it's everywhere already and it's getting kind of old"
Yichen "what" shock has made - what! to be the word leaving his mouth.
Zhuxin Editor "all this makes your work, unacceptable and we have no choice but to reject it"
Yichen "w...wh...wha...what...what are you saying" finally comes back to his senses "but it's what everyone's reading, it's what everyone's writing"
Zhuxin Editor "exactly, everyone...(pause) look Yichen, let me tell you something about the writer-reader relationship The beauty of a writer and his work is exceptionality, being exceptionally different, unique, special in an amazing way. And the thing about the readers, is that they are like the stock market, their preferences are always fluctuating. Today you might think that this asset is of huge value but by tomorrow, it's worth nothing. That's how these kinds of books are, yes, the readers might love the idea for some time, and it would do really well, however with the passing of time they get over it and such plots become old and are then regarded as cringy, you know. Such books do have their glory days, where they shine but with time, they'll be old news. That's why you have to be exceptional, write exceptional books that can survive no matter the era.
Yichen " so what do I do now"
Zhuxin Editor "normally, I would encourage you to keep trying. But based on my assessment I don't think that would be a good advice. I'm not trying to down your spirit or anything, but I don't feel writing is your calling, find something else to do with your life, okay. I hope you get message.
Yichen nods, with a sad face.
Zhuxin Editor "Have a nice day Mr Yichen"
Yichen "and you too" he stands up and leaves.
Yichen's workplace is not too far from the publishing house, as he walks there, he thinks and rethinks his life. He is sad, depressed and frustrated. Yichen works at Wang's Tea Shop, a cafe that sells tea (both local and foreign), coffee and all other sorts of beverages, fast foods and snacks. Yichen was done with his meeting by 7:15am and got to the cafe by 7:30am. He was reluctant to enter, because he had told his boss, Mrs Wang (a short chubby woman in her mid 40's) the previous day that he would not be able to make it by 8am, he would come by 9 instead. He was worried that the woman would be angry thinking he lied to her. Yichen went into the cafe and the bell rang "DING"
Mrs Wang as she is sweeping "sorry, we only open at 8"
Yichen "good morning, Mrs Wang"
Mrs Wang stops and turns around "Oh good morning, Chen"
Yichen bows his head slightly, nervous.
Mrs Wang "look at you all dressed up..." turns her head and looks at the clock "thought you weren't going to be here early, not until 9"
Yichen "well, things didn't go as planned"
Mrs Wang "are you ok"
Yichen no response
Mrs Wang "come sit, tell me what happened"
Yichen narrates the whole thing to her.
Mrs Wang smiled "don't worry, you'll be fine"
Yichen "thanks, Mrs Wang" he felt better now. He collected the broom from her, swept the cafe, cleaned the tables and chairs, flipped the sign to open and got ready to start taking customers.