Senior Sister, Shut Up!

At tonight’s debate team meeting, Jiang Miao’s mind was a complete mess.

In a daze, he had joined the debate team’s Team 8’s WeChat group and watched helplessly as Senior Sister changed the name of the group to ‘The Uninformed Team’. When he looked at her, he immediately felt a deep sense of teasing from her smiling eyes.

After all, in his novel, the male lead’s nickname was ‘The Uninformed Listener’.

This sense of humor…

After brief self-introductions, Jiang Miao got to know the other four teammates.

What surprised him was that he had an acquaintance among the four girls.

Well, acquaintance might be an overstatement. They had only met twice before. It was the particularly shy girl suspected to be the girlfriend of his roommate Chen Haoshang.

Jiang Miao glanced at everyone’s name in the WeChat group, and his gaze landed on the avatar of a cute anime girl with short blonde hair. Beside it was the girl’s name:

Ding Ning.

“Today is just for everyone to get to know each other and go over the basic rules and etiquette of debate,” Su Huaizhou said after clapping her hands. “If there are no issues, we’ll wrap up early. The topic for the first debate will be announced after the draw.”

As Senior Sister explained the debate rules, Jiang Miao sized up the other three girls but quickly lost interest and returned his gaze to Su Huaizhou.

Sure enough, Senior Sister’s looks and figure are an anomaly in the School of Business, not the norm.

Just a week ago, when he first arrived at school, he was still naive enough to think that the School of Business was full of elegant, gentle, and beautiful girls like Senior Sister.

In hindsight, he realized he had been overly optimistic.

But other than Chen Haoshang’s girlfriend, the girls who wanted to join the debate team were generally quite confident in their abilities.

In contrast, while boys might enjoy reasoning and arguing, very few were willing to spend their free time engaging in verbal sparring.

When he was bored earlier, he had specially counted. Among the forty participants, there seemed to be only six guys.

It was a pitifully small number.

“The rules are more or less like that. Let’s talk about etiquette now.” Su Huaizhou paused and deliberated over her words.

“In fact, since this is the first-year competition, everyone here is a beginner, and your argumentation and logical reasoning are relatively immature. Unless you’re particularly talented, there’s actually very little difference between everyone.

“Therefore, during the competition, in addition to the on-the-spot performance, the most important scoring criteria is actually the debaters’ etiquette and demeanor.

“Many people misunderstand debate and think it’s just about arguing—whoever can convince or verbally overpower the other side wins.

“But the core of debate isn’t the opponent. It’s about the judges and the audience.

“As debaters, you’re arguing from your team’s standpoint. No matter how brilliant your arguments are or how solid your evidence is, it’s impossible for the other side to change their position in a competition.

“Therefore, the real target of persuasion is the audience and the judges. And in the context of competition, the focus is on the judges.

“That’s why, when debating, you must pay attention to your tone and attitude. Avoid being aggressive, sarcastic, passive-aggressive, or even outright rude. These will all result in point deductions.

“Always remember that your arguments are for the judges to hear. When refuting the other side’s points, it’s also for the judges to see. Don’t be too hostile towards your opponents.”

…

Su Huaizhou’s advice was very pertinent, but it was unknown how much of it her teammates would take to heart.

Jiang Miao wasn’t the type who bothered to argue with others, especially in his daily life.

Everyone cared about their dignity. When arguing, no judges would declare a winner, so most arguments just ended inconclusively.

It was simply a waste of writing time.

Unless readers left bad comments, Jiang Miao was seldom interested in discussing the story with them.

The truth was, readers were often subjective and emotional, with narrow perspectives.

It was often a thankless task for authors to get involved in these discussions. Experienced authors tried their best to avoid such situations, and with practice, they had become adept at deleting comments and banning users.

In reality, most readers were silent. There were only a few who were willing to post comments or reviews.

Even those who rated the story might not make up one-tenth of the total readership.

This was why some authors, after listening to the opinions of a few readers, ended up derailing their stories.

It was because the opinions of a few couldn’t fully represent the majority.

Therefore, experienced authors only focused on subscriptions and follow-up reads. If they noticed a drop in subscriptions after a particular chapter, it meant there was a problem with the content.

True readers voted with their money. If your writing wasn’t engaging, the readers would leave silently without bothering to say a word.

However, Jiang Miao’s situation was different now.

Watching Su Huaizhou speak confidently on stage, Jiang Miao sighed faintly.

In his case, he had a real-life reader to deal with—the kind who would throw him into a small dark room at the slightest disagreement.

As he thought about it, his days ahead were really bleak.

“Alright, that’s all I have to say. If no one has any questions, let’s call it a day,” Su Huaizhou announced, signaling the end of the meeting.

Two teammates still had questions, so they walked to the podium to ask Su Huaizhou for clarification.

Seeing that Senior Sister was occupied, Jiang Miao hurriedly got up, wanting to escape, but Ding Ning stopped him.

“Um… Classmate… I’ve added you as a friend. Could you accept it?” Ding Ning asked cautiously with her little fists clenched nervously against her chest.

Jiang Miao looked at his phone and found a pending friend request.

“Sorry!” Ding Ning suddenly bowed ninety degrees. “I left too quickly before and forgot to add you as a friend. I’m so sorry!”

“… It’s fine.” Jiang Miao was startled by her. After accepting the friend request, he asked, “Anything else?”

“Uh… well… um…” Ding Ning stammered. “I want to ask, how is Haoshang’s daily routine? Is he getting enough sleep?”

“He plays games until one or two in the morning every day. I wouldn’t say it’s a healthy routine.”

“Huh?! Playing games?” Ding Ning was clearly stunned, and her expression seemed to be confused. “I-I see… Thank you!”

“No problem…” Jiang Miao barely finished speaking before seeing her running away as though she had used up all her courage.

Sister, can you really go on stage and debate with this kind of anxiety?

He was still hoping that his four teammates could carry him through the competition.

Just as Jiang Miao was feeling helpless, a hand suddenly patted his shoulder.

He turned his head and saw Senior Sister’s exquisite, smiling face.

“Junior Brother, looks like your luck with women has come.”

“Senior Sister, you’re overthinking. That’s my roommate’s luck.” Jiang Miao quipped, “My luck with women probably ended up with you.”

“Isn’t that good?” Su Huaizhou didn’t ask about Ding Ning and instead asked, “Do you dislike me?”

“Oh, right. I want to ask you something.” Jiang Miao glanced at Su Huaizhou and sighed. “Why didn’t you say that you were a vice-captain of the debate team?”

“Huh? I didn’t?” Su Huaizhou tilted her head and blinked her eyes cutely, pretending to forget.

Jiang Miao, who had long seen through Senior Sister’s devilish true form, didn’t buy it. He rolled his eyes and said, “Senior Sister, be serious. I’m not a fool.”

“Alright.” Su Huaizhou giggled with her hand covering her mouth. Acting like she had done it for his own good, she said, “Didn’t you say you didn’t like getting in through the back door? So I didn’t tell you.”

Jiang Miao: “…”

You might as well have told me directly, he grumbled inwardly.

If he had known about this beforehand, he wouldn’t have even stepped out of the door, not caring whether it was the front door or back door.

But now, he was like a sheep entering a tiger’s den and being eaten alive by Senior Sister.

The thought of the upcoming first-year debate competition and how he’d have to live under the shadow of Senior Sister for over a month filled Jiang Miao with despair.

This is too miserable…

My college life can’t be this bad!

He could even imagine the title of the novel.

“Speaking of which, Senior Sister, did you really not secretly manipulate the teams?” Jiang Miao looked doubtful. “Don’t tell me you specially assigned me to your team? After all, my classmates are on another team.”

“I didn’t participate in the team assignments. I just saw which team you were in and chose that one to lead. Vice-captains have this privilege.”

Su Huaizhou smiled sweetly. “Besides, boys are quite precious in the debate team, so the six boys were split into different teams. It’s a long-standing rule.”

“…” Jiang Miao was speechless. His eyes darted around as he thought of something else. “Senior Sister, how about we discuss something?”

“Hmm?”

“Look, I still have to write regularly, and debate competitions are a huge time sink, right?” Jiang Miao said sincerely. “Anyway, there are already four people on the team, so I might as well let them get more practice. I can just sit back and be responsible for cheering them on.”

“So, you just want to slack off, right?”

“I’m trying to make time for writing.”

“Actually, it’s not impossible~”

“Then it’s settled!”

“I’m not done yet.” Su Huaizhou rolled her eyes at him. “It’s possible, but if one of them has to miss a match, you’ll have to step in.”

“Uh… of course,” Jiang Miao agreed reluctantly. If it came to that, substituting for a debate match wouldn’t hurt. In the meantime, he could take it easy.

“Okay, that’s it for today.” Su Huaizhou came up behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders, and steered him out of the classroom. “Hurry back to your dorm to write. You still owe a chapter today!”

“There’s no rush.” Jiang Miao glanced at the time. It was only 7:30 p.m. Too early, and he had no motivation to write. “Senior Sister, how about I treat you to boba?”

“Huh?” Su Huaizhou looked surprised. “Did the sun rise from the west? Since when did you become so sensible?”

Jiang Miao sighed. “Just treat it as a bribe for you.”

…

The night was hazy, and the School of Business’s asphalt paths were illuminated by the soft yellow glow of the light posts.

Two figures walked side by side, their shadows stretching out and overlapping on the path.

“I feel like the recent plot is starting to get a bit dull,” Su Huaizhou remarked while sipping her bubble tea on the way back to the dormitories. “Did something happen?”

“It’s the usual problem with slice-of-life stories.” Jiang Miao shrugged. “After all, the main storyline is actually pretty thin. It’s a love line and a career line. I can’t set up villains and major conflicts in the traditional sense, so it’s difficult to keep things consistently interesting.”

“Then, what are you going to do?” Su Huaizhou was curious. When it came to the behind-the-scenes of web novel writing, she became especially enthusiastic.

“One way is to quickly advance the main plot and push the story to the next turning point,” Jiang Miao said. “For example, in the upcoming storyline, the male and female leads return home for summer vacation, and the female lead plans to film her parents’ reactions after revealing her relationship with the male lead.

“But in reality, both their moms already know they’re dating. It’s just that the male and female leads are unaware of this.

“This kind of information difference is pretty interesting, and it serves as a turning point in the main plot. If I push the story to this point sooner, it will have some tension again.”

“Oh, I see~” Su Huaizhou nodded in understanding. “But Peach Jam doesn’t seem to have any intention of quickly advancing the plot, right?”

“…” Jiang Miao was in the middle of explaining when the words ‘Peach Jam’ slapped him back to reality. His face darkened, and he turned his head away, unwilling to continue speaking.

“I was wrong~ Junior Brother, be good~ I won’t say the pen name anymore, okay?” Su Huaizhou giggled, clearly teasing him on purpose.

Jiang Miao couldn’t do anything about Senior Sister, so he simply pretended he didn’t hear her and continued with his insights. “If you rapidly advance the main plot every time, the readers’ expectations for such twists and turns will quickly increase.

“Then, when you hit another slow stretch, you’ll have to advance to the next plot point even faster to meet the heightened expectations of the readers.

“It’s very easy to fall into a vicious cycle with this approach, causing the main storyline to be burned through too quickly, and you can run out of material before the story should naturally conclude.

“If it’s a progression fantasy novel, you can still continue writing by changing the settings and characters, essentially repeating the same formula with a fresh coat of paint. But you basically can’t do anything about slice-of-life stories. Those usually end after a few hundred thousand words.”

Su Huaizhou clapped her hands in realization. “So it’s just padding word count!”

Jiang Miao: “…”

“How can writing slice-of-life be called padding word count?!”

“Ah, you’re getting defensive~”

“Actually, it still depends on the writing method. This is the level I’m pursuing now,” Jiang Miao said helplessly. “For example, My Wife Comes From Eight Hundred Years Ago, the main storyline is actually pretty thin.

“But the way it portrays everyday life has this unique, authentic vibe. With just a slight outline, the author can paint the little details of daily living so vividly that people can almost believe there’s really such a couple living like that in a corner of the world.

“This attention to small details is much more difficult than simply moving the plot forward. It really tests the author’s observation and accumulation of everyday life.

“The key is that my experience with relationships is basically zero. I can only gather material through reading other novels or watching anime, so I lack that firsthand accumulation of details.”

At this point, Jiang Miao sighed.

This was why he had developed a habit of observing the people around him and recording the distinctive traits or events he came across.

It couldn’t be helped. A young single person didn’t have rich experience, so he could only rely on hard work to make up for what he lacked.

“Junior Brother.” Su Huaizhou suddenly smiled after listening to Jiang Miao’s explanation with interest. “Those who don’t know might think you’re confessing to me.”

“???” Jiang Miao was baffled. “Are all girls’ brains so magical?”

“You said you lack relationship experience. Doesn’t that mean you want to be in a relationship?”

“… Senior Sister, don’t slander me.”