Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Chapter 360

Blazing Female Scholar

Zhao Youyue managed to surpass the limits of an author’s ability to string words together by interacting with other characters. To become Wen Qingyu, all she had to do was to read books.

It was really simple. She only had to eat the book to describe the flavor of the masterpiece.

Individuals who ate books were considered to be suffering from a habitual disorder. People, in general, presumed that books were not clean. They were not meant to be eaten, and so, there were concerns that such actions will bring harm to human body.

However, Wen Qingyu ate books differently. She would elegantly tear a page from the book, tearing an even smaller piece off it, and slowly put into her mouth. Fragments of the page would break up in her mouth, transforming into conceptual ideas, which was further translated as flavor within her taste buds.

Besides, it was quite something to watch a cute girl eating books, compared to ordinary folk. To the fans, MAC characters did not even have to go toilet. Somehow, book-eating was cute in its own way!

It was a similar phenomenon akin to that of the “Zhou Chun Card.” Whenever the “Zhou Chun card was activated, Zhao Youyue would be able to refill her energy bar by consuming food and drinks. The moment food entered her mouth; they became raw energy, which refilled her energy bar.

“Bakuman” and “The 4WD GOD” were formulated at levels that were on par with each other. When unique abilities appeared in these slice-of-life stories, there would be no contradiction or anomalies in the world.

Such abilities did not just deal minor damage, but gave the story a lot more life and identity.

Shi Jingnian was a talented author. He was the best author that Zhao Youyue had ever encountered. His subtle methods of throwing in plot twists that no one notices yet were simply ingenious. He was also familiar with traditional and internet literature, although he was deeply hated for his control over the internet literature.

There had to be something wrong in the brains of those who pursue the dream of having a group of women, only to love and care for them selflessly. Women may also surround wealthy men, but those ladies would only be attracted to his money.

Shin Jingnian had composed Wen Qingyu character in such a delicate manner, that Zhao Youyue was able to act out her role with ease.

Readers were far more satisfied and entertained after Zhao Youyue requested that Shi Jingnian add more Wen Qingyu scenes in the story.

Shi Jingnian was indeed a gifted author. Under the massive influx of inspiration, he sent the characters and stories dancing in the minds of the readers. He brought Wen Qingyu, the book eater to life!

Soon, Wen Qingyu made more than just sporadic appearances. One month later, the popularity of this female character had surpassed other archetype writers. She became the readers’ favorite character!

Nevertheless, Wen Qingyu existed only as a reader of books. Readers who were familiar with plagiarism would know that this was a role who did not accomplish much, but interpret novels.

These roles were meant to pale in comparison to protagonists and demonstrate just how godly they were.

Although “Bakuman” initially had a distinctive story of its own, it could now be considered as an original masterpiece that took a few bits and pieces of other novels’ sceneries and style.

Every author had their own writing style, and so did Shi Jingnian. His style was concise, and straight to the point. He always used as little words as possible to describe as much as possible, but he would sometimes mimic the style of other authors to write a dialogue.

Not even Han Leng, or rather, “Leng Zi” got away from this mimicry. Han Leng had this characteristic habit of leaving blanks between words while throwing in a dash of convoluted sweet nothings. Shi Jingnian threw in a few “Han Leng” style paragraphs, created an odd, yet wondrous feeling among the readers.

Throwing in cameos and references of characters from other works, while imitating the writing style of their respective authors without their consent, could easily upset a lot of people. Apparently, he did not have any bad intentions, and he did praise Han Leng’s fine choice of words. When Han Leng was tagged in Weibo, he clarified that he did not know anything about the “Bakuman” character Liang Liang, nor had he heard of a Ya Jing.

Han Leng could not deny that the writing within certain “Bakuman” novel lines, gave him an uncanny sense of familiarity and intimacy. It had to be written by someone he knew.

He had no hard feelings for this Ya Jing. Ya Jing had to be rather young and inexperienced. They were polar opposites as writers, so it was normal to feel indifferent to each other.

Yet, Han Leng was fond of the character, Wen Qingyu. He was impressed by the creativity placed in such an interesting character.

Apparently, Qingyu was a plagiarised character, created solely to brag about the novel itself. While others needed to read the same book a few times to be able to interpret the conveyed meaning behind story, she only needed to swallow the entire book, literally. After eating it whole, she would have a complete recollection of the contents of the book, a grasp of its flavor, and an accurate, objective judgment of the novel’s quality.

Most interestingly was Wen Qingyu’s choice of words when giving the verdict. Han Leng noticed that Wen Qingyu had described his novel as a delicate cake. It was stunning and sweet from the outside, but beneath it lay a sour fruit. Those who ate it would cry, yet the more they cried, the tastier it got, just like eating spicy food.

Wasn’t that a dig at his “Beautiful April”?

Wen Qingyu commented on a few famous classic novels as well. For “First Love” by Ivan Turgenev, she had pictured it as a caramelized baked apple, hot and sweet, yet leaving behind a bitter aftertaste. One bite on it, that sweet and sour fruit juice would get mixed up with the aroma of cream and rum.

Stealing the spotlight?

Forget it; this was a staged heist!

Initially, readers were reading about how the writers in “Bakuman” were striving to achieve their dreams, winning scholarly awards or moving their novels into the top-selling section. At the same time, readers gained an insight as to how messy and dark things were in the writing industry.

Wen Qingyu was supposed to be a nobody who bragged about authors. However, at that moment, everybody only wanted to see how she described novels in the language of aromas and flavors.

Some readers even wanted Wen Qingyu to be real. Famous novels that have been subjected to her critiques would surely experience great sales!

Wen Qingyu soon became widely known as a book eating, young girl. It was at that moment, when Su Li, the famous comic artist, announced that she would illustrate Wen Qingyu!

Are you ready for this, teacher Ya Jing?