A Delated Little Loudspeaker, Plus a Small Featured Recommendation, Sanjiang Recommendation, and Author's Post-Publication Speech

Originally, the initial plan was to write a story combining a historical setting with painting, a genre I haven't seen around much yet.

However, upon closer reflection, since I had never written a period piece before and was worried about getting cut in the first round of reviews again, I decided to go with something easier—a conventional historical slice-of-life story instead.

Once the genre was set, I added a romantic subplot.

The choice of the female lead was actually decided first, because I had previously been completely mesmerized by a photograph of Liu Xiaoli wearing a black knit sweater.

Mind you, she was thirty-eight years old when that photo was taken.

Yes, you heard that right, thirty-eight.

Looks like twenty-eight, doesn't it?

With the genre and the female lead locked in, I hammered away at the keyboard and started writing.

I ended up writing about six different openings.

One version focused purely on dramatic conflict: the protagonist's parents both pass away, he returns to the city, his assigned housing unit is usurped, he goes to call off an engagement, and he faces all sorts of mistreatment and disdain from relatives and friends.

Another version had the protagonist returning to Harbin, living with the Liu family, and suffering a bitter rejection of marriage.

Yet another version featured the future mother-in-law worrying that her daughter would marry far away, coming over herself to force the two of them into an engagement.

Anyway, I wrote numerous versions over the span of more than a month, unable to settle on which one to use.

Filled with hesitation and second thoughts.

In the end, I went back to the very first version, which is the current one—devoid of major conflicts or intense drama, and exceptionally ordinary, with a shockingly slow pace.

After making my choice, I submitted the manuscript. The first submission went to the editor of my previous book. After waiting two days without even a glance, I withdrew it and resubmitted, only to wait for ages with still no review.

In a fit of righteous indignation, I threw a tiny tantrum.

I figured I might as well publish it directly, but direct publishing ran into trouble too—it failed the review due to sensitive words, and I tried several times.

My mentality collapsed, and I lay flat in resignation for a few days.

Then one day, it suddenly occurred to me to spend 666 points to exchange for a pre-serialization ticket, and that finally got it through the review.

As slow as the story's pacing was the signing process.

It took eight days and over thirty thousand words before I finally received the contract offer.

Following that, it entered the database, passing through the first, second, and third rounds of recommendation, even getting the little loudspeaker promotion and making it onto the Sanjiang list.

Getting stats like these was completely unexpected, seeing as I had never made it past the second round before and usually got eliminated in the very first round.

Initially, I just wanted to write at a leisurely pace and strive to reach a thousand subscriptions further down the road.

That was my genuine and honest wish.

Well, no more rambling...

The book will be officially released tomorrow at noon, with a guaranteed baseline update of ten thousand words.

I won't dare to ask for tips or monthly votes.

I only ask for initial subscriptions—using those chapter passes counts as an initial subscription too.

Tomorrow's first chapter will be two thousand words, costing ten point coins, or one chapter pass.

My psychological expectation is around one thousand subscriptions, which I would actually be quite content with.

After all, I've only ever had two books published before: one had an average subscription of 2, and the other had an average of 548.

Anyway, that's pretty much it!

A huge thank you in advance to all you handsome gentlemen and beautiful ladies!