Writer 1984: Starting from the Literary Editorial Department

Transmigrating into the body of a notorious nepotism hire at a literary editorial department in the 1980s, Lu Youjia suffers two crushing setbacks in a single day. First, his blind date ends in a polite but firm rejection—though the girl kindly buys him a bottle of Arctic Ocean soda. That very night, at the department social, he musters his courage to ask a beautiful young woman for her contact information, only to fail once again. Hit by this double blow, he suddenly realizes the truth: in this golden era where literature flourishes and writers are revered, the ultimate status symbol is being a true "man of culture." Determined never to be friend-zoned again, to secure his editorial job, and to afford a decent living with meat on the table every day, he decides to drape himself in the most splendid cloak of culture he can weave. Poetry? Novels? Literary criticism? No problem—he has a bottomless stockpile ready to draw from. Before long, his "original" poems appear in Youth Literature, drawing fan mail from across the nation; his "critical" essays ignite fierce debates in the literary world, leaving veteran editors astonished; and the new movement he "founds" earns him the worship of countless young aspiring writers. He builds his tower, feasts his guests, and his reputation swells by the day. But as the applause grows deafening, Lu Youjia begins to panic—how long can he keep all his borrowed personas from unraveling?