Dear readers, the key moment that decides life and death has arrived!
At midnight tonight, Small Shop will go on sale.
I ask for your first subscriptions tonight~!!
The last time I wrote an on-sale message was in 2018 for Daddy's Restaurant. In a flash, seven years have passed.
Times have changed, and gourmet fiction has become a niche genre.
Thanks to all of you, this kind of niche theme and niche writing like Small Shop has been able to make it this far. Qing Yu offers sincere thanks.
After wandering around these past years, I have finally come back to write this gourmet fiction.
When I started this book, my friends were very surprised. They said you can't even see gourmet fiction on the rankings anymore, it is long outdated, and now almost no readers want to read gourmet fiction.
I did not accept that. I wanted to add some liveliness to gourmet fiction, some warmth and healing.
In period fiction, instead of writing about vicious relatives and all kinds of disgusting villains, I wanted to write about everyday family life, about mutual help, about Zhou Yan focusing on operating a restaurant and fighting for his small business.
It is very hard to write. One chapter takes two or three hours, and then I keep staying up late and staying up late...
But after finishing certain plots, when an interesting scene pops up, I get so excited that I cannot help sharing the joy of breaking through myself with my wife.
Seeing the chapter comments, I know you also felt this happiness.
Words creating resonance between author and readers is probably the creative drive for every creator, more stimulating than strong tea at night.
You really are the best.
...
Let's talk about why I write about Sichuan and Leshan.
Because Qing Yu has already been in Sichuan for eight years, married a Sichuan and Chongqing thunder dragon (laugh), and now settled down here.
I find the mental state of Sichuanese people very special. People online usually call it "divine," but I think it should be called a relaxed feeling.
Their attitude toward life makes you feel that living well in the present is more important than anything. The collective optimism makes life feel very comfortable.
Including Sichuan dialect, which is full of humor and everyday wisdom everywhere, so I used a lot of Sichuan dialect and sayings in the book.
As for why I chose Leshan as the starting point, last year I went to Leshan four times. There are very few cities that make me go back again and again just for the food, and every time there were new surprises.
Su Ji Qiao Jiao Beef, Linjiang Eel Shreds, Bobo Chicken, sweet-skinned duck, Niu Hua skewers, freshly cooked beef, braised pork intestines, malatang, spicy hotpot dishes, shaved ice...
Too many to count.
The spiciness of Leshan is gentle. Every kind of gourmet food has distinct characteristics, mainly spicy and fragrant, and quite a few are slightly sweet, which makes it easier on my fragile stomach.
So when I decided to write gourmet fiction, Leshan just lingered in my mind and would not go away, and I finally chose Su Ji as the entry point.
As for starting with a bankrupt restaurant, it is because Qing Yu and my wife really did open a small restaurant two years ago, and in the end we went bankrupt and fled.
No system came to us, we could not become Zhou Yan, we were more like Xiao Zhou and his wife. When the pandemic arrived, we closed immediately and slipped away with our tails between our legs.
Truly miserable!
This is my first time writing period fiction. I kept a stack of local chronicles and price records by my side, and I also consulted many elders.
There will definitely still be mistakes and omissions. I will first apologize here.
But Qing Yu is not a data fanatic or a research perfectionist. I care more about how to make the story interesting. Please be tolerant of the minor errors.
——
Now for the thank-you segment:
Thank you to my universe's best readers!
Thank you to my editor-in-chief Green Bean and my responsible editor Good Luck!
Thank you to my wife Fishing Fire, who during this time helped me correct typos, stayed up late discussing plot with me, constantly eased my anxiety, and even took care of all the housework.
She is actually an author too. We met in an authors' sprint-writing group. I came from Zhejiang to find her, and in the end we settled in Sichuan.
Friends, a journey of four thousand miles proves anything is possible.
Why can't Xiao Zhou and Xiao Xia do the same?
They are better than us, and braver too, right!
I hope you also have the courage to smile at life!
Do not worry, there are always little good things in life.
If there are not, then go online and look for them—
You know how to use a smartphone!
...
Emmm
I did not expect writing this message to be so fun. It suddenly became more than one thousand words, even faster than writing the main text!
(`Д)!!
...
Next comes the most important part, the update preview:
During the one month and seven days of the new book period, Qing Yu has written two hundred and thirty thousand words!
I write slowly but update a lot, and it has completely drained my manuscript draft. Now I am going to bet everything.
At 12:00 tonight, I will update four chapters, more than ten thousand words first!
There will be at least two more chapters tomorrow during the day!
A total of six chapters!
After going on sale, I will keep two chapters per day, with six thousand words guaranteed.
As for the bonus update rules:
Every 500 monthly votes will add one extra chapter!
Every alliance leader will add two extra chapters!
Every silver alliance will add twenty extra chapters! (Even if there is none, I still have to write it down!)
I still owe six chapters from this month's monthly votes, and I will make them up after we go on sale!
In short:
Dear readers, please support Qing Yu!
After twelve o'clock.
I ask for your first subscriptions!
I ask for your monthly votes!
I ask for your rewards!
Small Shop, charge for me!!!
For the new book monthly vote ranking, I want to try once!
Charge charge charge!