Chapter 124: Flies

With glasses clinking and people mingling, Zhang Tan felt no interest in the company of strangers. He sat at the dining table, saying very little.

Director Wang and his entourage chatted with Zhang Tan for a while, reciting standard pleasantries such as, "Little Zhang is a calling card for Changfeng County," "This is a major achievement for our Education Bureau," "Your Shuangdun High School must strive to provide a good living and learning environment for Little Zhang," and "Student Zhang, keep up the good work and achieve even greater success."

Afterward, they cast the somewhat reserved Zhang Tan aside, focusing instead on flattering one another and boasting, turning the entire dinner into a boisterous, noisy affair.

Initially, Zhang Tan had looked forward to this dinner. He had felt that, as a celebrity, he might finally be stepping into the ranks of the gentry and local notables, capable of laughing and joking with people of status. But once he was actually there, he realized he didn't enjoy such occasions at all.

Everyone wore a hypocritical mask, feigning a boisterous, witty demeanor that actually masked an ugly reality. Moreover, that fat pig Director Wang was no intellectual at all; he didn't even care that a student like Zhang Tan was present, launching directly into crude jokes. He simply treated Zhang Tan as a pawn—a vanity project to boost the Education Bureau's performance metrics.

No other place had produced a high school student who could write like a prodigy. It was only the schools under his Changfeng County Education Bureau that could cultivate such a young writer. When it came to claiming credit, Director Wang certainly wanted his share; whenever Zhang Tan was mentioned in the newspapers, the teaching quality of Changfeng County would inevitably be brought up, allowing him to win both face and favor. Otherwise, a mere high school student would not have been worth the Director's notice.

Seeing through this, Zhang Tan lost the last shred of desire to play along. Ignoring the toasts and the clinking glasses, he focused on eating the good dishes, hurriedly finished two bowls of white rice, and then greeted the table: "Teachers, leaders, please enjoy your meal. I have something to attend to, so I'll be heading back."

"Finished so soon?" Director Wang asked offhandedly.

Zhang Tan nodded and left the table immediately.

Director Wang said to a pretty young woman in his entourage, "Xiao Juan, hurry and see Little Zhang off."

"No need for an escort."

Zhang Tan waved off the offer and closed the door to the private room behind him. Stepping out of the restaurant, he let out a long sigh of relief. Being alone was far more comfortable; the scene inside, crowded with people, was utterly foul.

"Why are you out already? Did you need something? You just had to call me," the owner of the Tianyuan Restaurant asked curiously while sweeping the floor outside.

"No, I've already eaten."

"That was a quick meal. Do you want some water? I'll brew a cup for you."

"No need to trouble yourself. I just had a bowl of chicken soup, so I'm not thirsty. I'm just going to walk it off a bit before heading home."

The owner was a bit puzzled: "That meal was specifically hosted for you by the leaders of the Education Bureau. How come you’re the one leaving first?"

Zhang Tan ate at the Tianyuan Restaurant every day and had become quite close with the owner, so he chatted freely: "Everyone in there is just a bunch of social climbers. I'm used to a simpler life, and I can't stand the stench of that kind of atmosphere. Besides, boss, don't you think it's bizarre to have a single student mixed in with a crowd like that?"

"Haha, that’s... what do they call it? The integrity of a scholar, right?"

"I wouldn't go that far. It's just a matter of following my own heart."

As they talked, the conversation drifted to Director Wang. Regarding this pot-bellied Education Bureau Director, Zhang Tan and the restaurant owner spent time uncharitably disparaging him behind his back. People say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but that depends on the situation; those in public relations shouldn't look ugly, and models should have good figures. As a government official who wasn't even elderly—just middle-aged—to have a physique that bloated was truly an eyesore.

Furthermore, his conduct was far from upright. Not to mention the pretty young secretary by his side, he even cracked lewd jokes in front of female teachers and students—his character was highly questionable. Zhang Tan labeled such officials as "flies" without exception; let alone laughing and chatting, he couldn't even bring himself to offer a polite expression. Most of the time, Zhang Tan was the type of person who wore his feelings on his face.

After chatting with the owner for a few minutes, Zhang Tan left the restaurant and returned to his rented room.

...

The writing had to continue.

*The Legend of the Condor Heroes* had reached six hundred thousand words; the content for the fourth volume was finished, and he was now starting on the fifth. Beyond that, Zhang Tan had written several original short stories—or, to be more precise, stories he had organized based on interesting fragments from his memories.

In his previous life, he had read many long-form martial arts novels and even more short stories. Now, he had forgotten most of the short stories, remembering only vague plot points. By organizing them and adding his own inspiration, he could produce quite decent short pieces. He could reasonably claim them as his own original work.

However, Zhang Tan didn't send them to *Legend of the Past and Present: Martial Arts Edition*. He planned to use a different pen name and submit them to another magazine, *Martial Arts Stories*, which had recently been rebranded from *Hot Wind*. *Martial Arts Stories* had contacted Zhang Tan back in September to request a submission.

Zhang Tan hadn't agreed immediately because he was busy with *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, which was already being published as physical books and serialized in *Legend of the Past and Present*. He couldn't spare the time for a new project. For these short stories, he didn't intend to use his established pen name; he wanted to use a new one to test his own level of skill.

In the *History of the Later Han*, Fan Ye recorded that Emperor Guangwu wrote a letter to Cen Peng, one of the Yuntai Twenty-Eight Generals, saying: "People suffer from lack of contentment; once the Long region is pacified, they look toward Shu."

He was telling Cen Peng that if they could capture the two cities in the Long region, they could then turn to attack the Shu region—people are never satisfied, even he himself, having obtained Long, was already eyeing Shu. Although Cen Peng later conquered Shu, he was assassinated there. Since then, "looking toward Shu after obtaining Long" has become a derogatory term for insatiable greed.

Zhang Tan’s mindset could be described by that very phrase. He was enjoying borrowing from the classics, yet he was also thinking of testing his true ability by creating original works. That was the reason for the short stories, the new pen name, and the plan to submit to *Martial Arts Stories*. Of course, this was just a small internal conflict for Zhang Tan; it didn't prevent him from continuing to borrow from the past in the future.

If there is source material to borrow, why insist on being original? Zhang Tan didn't consider himself that principled—or perhaps, that "chuunibyou."

"What pen name should I choose?"

In a flash of inspiration, he thought, "Why be modest? Let's just go with Jin Gu Huang Liang Wen."

And so, a submission letter signed "Jin Gu Huang Liang Wen" was sent to *Martial Arts Stories* in Zhengzhou.

...

Time flew by, and it was now November.

The weather had turned cold.

The leaves on the poplar trees by the roadside had turned yellow and mottled, and the few willow trees on campus had long since shed their green. The editorial department of *Martial Arts Stories* replied, agreeing to publish his work and offering a rate of eighty yuan per thousand words. Zhang Tan didn't care about the money; he only asked the editorial department to help collect feedback from the readers.

Shortly after, amidst the cheers of his classmates, Zhang Tan sprinted along the track of the sports field.

The sports meet was held as scheduled.

Over three days, Zhang Tan lived up to expectations by winning the 1,000-meter and 5,000-meter races, breaking the record for the 5,000-meter. However, he met his Waterloo in the 4x100-meter relay; his teammates were all useless, and one even tripped while running... The girls were very strong, placing in many events, but with the boys holding them back, the class failed to achieve a high overall ranking.

But who cared about the ranking?

The sky left no trace of wings.

But he had flown.

Youth is not about how much one gains, but how much one participates.

With his hands in his pockets, watching the vibrant high school students, Zhang Tan felt infected by their energy. The passion remained.

"It's good to be young."