[Contact when you’re online!]
Louis Cox—
[Where have you been these past few days?]
Ga Autumn Wind—
[Why have you been missing for so long? Your apprentice is going crazy looking for you!]
...
She hadn’t been online for over a month; there were more than a dozen chat windows flashing open, making her dizzy.
Mia Ginger closed so ssages from ga friends, leaving three chat windows open.
Zoey Leaf is a classmate and friend. Those days when she had a falling out with Camilia Davis, she asked her to help rent a room outside.
Upon arriving at the Ginger Family in a rush, she completely forgot about it.
Drunk is an apprentice she took under her wing in the ga six months ago, who particularly likes sticking to her.
Editor Crescent Moon is a magazine editor for "New Moon," who contacted her last month wanting to select so of her short stories for a collection to be her first physical book.
Mia Ginger dragged the mouse back and forth across the chat windows, first replying to Crescent Moon.
Wine—
[Sorry, there were so issues at ho recently, that’s why I’m only online now. Apologies.]
Then imdiately replied to Drunk—
[Had so issues at ho, haven’t been online these days.]
Her online na is the sa as her pen na—Wine.
She began publishing short stories five years ago in two youth magazines, "Martial Arts" and "New Moon," becoming famous for her concise writing and varied, quirky style, amassing quite a following.
Initially, she published on "Martial Arts," a magazine primarily for male readers, leading many online to speculate she was an older male; later on, as she shifted to "New Moon," for female readers, the speculation beca even more absurd.
Most believed she was an effeminate "pseudo-girl"—a leftover man, but she still had plenty of fans.
Mia Ginger has always been poor these past years; Camilia Davis supported her, yet life was still quite tight. Even before attending school, she was often left at the neighbors’ house.
Their second neighbor was a young man who ran a book rental shop.
In the small city, such rental bookshops were prevalent, mostly near schools, full of novels and magazines, where you could rent for free with a book rental card costing a dozen or twenty bucks.
With no one to watch her, Mia Ginger would sit on a little stool at the shop’s entrance, beginning to grab and read the low-shelf books despite barely knowing any words.
Mostly yellowed martial arts novels from the corners.
Her interest in reading sparked at age four, spanning widely and oddly, leading her to write a short story at fourteen, attempting to submit it to "Martial Arts" magazine.
That was the start of a five-year journey.
Through the magazines’ popularity, she accumulated quite the readership.
Yet she remained poor.
She needed inspiration and a very quiet environnt to write her stories, always handwriting, initially submitting them, and these past two years, typing them to email editors, a very ti-consuming process.
And she didn’t have that much ti.
She had to go to school, and afterward, help Camilia Davis with her stall, squeezing out ti for howork, making reading and writing ever more luxurious.
Writing a five thousand to ten thousand word short story took a few months, with the best manuscript fee around two thousand bucks, mostly given to Camilia Davis.
Currently, aside from the two thousand bucks she’s kept, she couldn’t even afford a phone.
This two thousand bucks was her last manuscript fee, before giving it to Camilia Davis, they’d argued over her background.
She’d originally planned to use it for renting a place.
Mia Ginger saved Zoey Leaf’s number, stored it in her phone, intending to call her, when another chat window flashed on the screen.
It’s Drunk.
She t Drunk in the martial arts online ga, coincidentally a martial arts novel enthusiast who likes Wine, hence registering Drunk as his na.
Combined, it becos "Wine, Drunk."
Both chose male avatars; Drunk had top-tier gear but was diocre in skill, seeing her avatar na, declared her a soulmate, pestering her into becoming his ntor.
Mia Ginger, feeling annoyed but intrigued that he was a reader of hers, finally agreed, making him her only apprentice in the ga.
Only, this apprentice never knew she was female.
At the Ginger Family, she was constantly lectured, lacking ti to be online, hence not playing the ga.
In the chat window.
Drunk began whining—
[Aaaah! Master, you’re finally here, I missed you to death!]
While she was in a daze, another ssage popped up—
[Master, what happened? You vanished for over a month. Humph, you must’ve completely forgotten .]
Mia Ginger couldn’t help but laugh, replying.
[Personal matters.]
Drunk—
[Ugh, too. I’m so annoyed lately, a pesky person showed up at our ho! I’m just furious!]
Wine—
[Hm?]
Drunk—
[Rember I told you about my sister, right?]
Wine—
[Yeah. She’s a novelist.]
Drunk—
[It’s really frustrating. Suddenly, another elder sister appeared out of nowhere. It’s so annoying, she ca and caused chaos at our ho, stole my sister’s crush, pushing her to attempt suicide by cutting her wrist!]
Mia Ginger stared at the chat window, stunned.
After a while, hesitantly typed—
[Did she succeed?]
Drunk—
[You an my sister? No, I found out just in ti. But now that pesky person has t the guy’s family, claiming she wants to live together for mutual understanding.]
[It’s basically a trial marriage; I’m just livid!]
[Master, what should I do? I want to help my sister; what if she tries to kill herself again?]
[Master?]
[Where are you?!]
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