Chapter 120: The War Between Two Worlds

After a full day of playing and having dinner with Yang Feifei and the others, the three Su siblings finally returned home.

As Su Tong stepped out of the shower, little Yu ran over holding his phone. "Big brother, you had a call earlier. It hung up, so I told them you were showering," she said, handing the phone to him.

"Who was it?" Su Tong checked the call log and was surprised to see it was Principal Song.

Thinking it might be something important, Su Tong hurried to the study and called him back.

"Student Su, you, oh you... what am I supposed to say to you?" As soon as the call connected, Principal Song began to reprimand him.

Su Tong was completely baffled. "Principal Song, what's wrong? I haven't violated any school rules, have I?"

Principal Song sounded as though he couldn't bring himself to hit or scold him. "If you had only broken school rules, I could cover for you. Do you have any idea that you have now incited public outrage?"

Su Tong was even more confused. "Principal Song, how did I incite public outrage again?" *Damn, being a celebrity—especially a sunny, handsome, and infinitely charming one—is truly difficult. Who did I offend now?*

"Don't you remember what you posted on Weibo last night?" Principal Song reminded him.

Su Tong blinked. "I posted a lot of things, I don't really remember. I didn't leak any state secrets, did I?"

"Go on Weibo and apologize to Poet Fan. He is a senior, almost fifty years old; how could you scold him like that? While it is common for scholars to disparage one another, and it would be fine if you had just openly criticized him, writing a poem to mock, ridicule, and attack him is practically the same as digging up his ancestors' graves. I heard that when he woke up this morning and saw it, he was trembling with rage and almost had to be hospitalized," Principal Song said, his tone turning serious at first before carrying a hint of schadenfreude at the end.

Fan Jian was an extreme member of the National Writers Association who had vehemently opposed Su Tong's admission. He was arrogant and aloof, yet possessed enough talent to have earned his place in the association.

"Haha, well, the old man is quite sharp. He realized it immediately. I thought he would just think I was foolish or generous and that I actually wanted to discuss heroism over wine with him," Su Tong laughed, finally recalling the incident.

Principal Song was speechless. Su Tong was truly too bold; he really was a newborn calf that wasn't afraid of the tiger.

"Many members of the Writers Association are denouncing you now—at the national, provincial, and city levels. Tone it down. Don't make things too tense; I still want to introduce you to the association in the future. The honorary status of being in the association might seem useless, but the real benefits are significant, even if they are intangible," Principal Song said, knowing that if Su Tong saw so many people attacking him, he wouldn't stay silent, let alone apologize, so he could only urge him to be tactful.

"Yes, yes, thank you for the reminder, Principal Song. I'll go take a look." After hanging up, Su Tong opened his computer.

Oh my, he hadn't checked Weibo in a day, and it was already in an uproar. The momentum was massive—the previous fuss caused by the fans of "Nian Nu Jiao" was nothing compared to this. This time, it felt as though the sky had been torn open.

The Weibo headlines were dominated by him and Fan Jian. Furthermore, their clash had ignited a war between the traditional literary world and the online literary world.

Su Tong looked at the posts and comments from traditional writers and couldn't help but laugh out loud. They acted like moral crusaders, shouldering a historical mission to touch the beauty of the human soul, believing they were the only saviors capable of rescuing the people from their suffering.

"Look at the kind of people the online literary world has produced. Just because they wrote two good poems, they think they are the best in the world, mocking an old senior of the literary scene."

"These scribblers, isn't poisoning the youth enough? Now they want to take over the nest and drive us out of the literary world?"

"After writing a few songs and a few nutritional-less novels, they think they are great writers and poets, capable of looking down on real poets and writers. So ill-bred."

"The online literary world is a malignant tumor. I suggest the state launch a crackdown on pornography and illegal publications. Look at what you are writing—'lewd' stories everywhere. Human hearts are not what they used to be; morality has been lost."

"It's terrifying. These writers who started online actually have the audacity to provoke our great Qin's veteran writers."

"Not even eighteen yet, totally ignorant of the height of the sky and the depth of the earth. When Old Fan was writing poetry, you weren't even a glimmer in your mother's eyes."

The traditional literary figures weren't just attacking Su Tong; they were attacking the entire online literature community. There were far more online writers than traditional ones. While 99.9% of them were struggling, the sheer base was huge, and many were no longer sitting idly by. Even the struggling writers had rights.

"Screw your sister! I don't deny there are scumbags in the online literary world writing smut, but you're casting such a wide net—be careful you don't kill your own mother in the process."

"What the hell? What did the online literary world ever do to you? Did we steal your rice bowl? We each run our own shop; if your shop has no customers, is that my fault?"

"If we're talking about character, yours isn't necessarily any better, launching attacks like this."

"I could find a few 'lewd' books from your traditional literary circle that would keep you entertained all night."

"Can't pass a stool and blame the toilet for being too hard, huh?"

"We all make a living by writing. Do you feel superior and fulfilled just because you think you're high and mighty?"

Many writers, including minor, mid-tier, and even top-tier authors, jumped out to fight back. Of course, those with questionable backgrounds kept their heads down, afraid that if things escalated, their own skeletons would be dragged out, leading to lost livelihoods or even prison.

Shen Long also jumped into the fray: "Brothers and sisters of the Dragon Alliance, someone said my books are trash and that our alliance is a group of ignorant, idle people who are addicted to the internet and lack ambition. What do you say we do?"

"What else can we do? Let's destroy those self-righteous hypocrites."

"Crush those who act like whores but demand to have a memorial arch built for their chastity."

"What kind of crap are they writing? I can't even understand it, yet they force me to read it. Are they trying to ban me from the internet?"

"You are the ones who are truly arrogant. We don't have the luxury of eating your delicacies, but we enjoy our simple tea and rice."

"A bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites, I don't even want to talk to you."

"Goodbye, 'literary giants'."

As the online writers battled, their fans naturally didn't stand by, turning everything upside down. A war spanning both worlds had slowly begun.

Su Tong saw a few Writers Association members on Weibo who had been particularly malicious toward him, and he smiled.

"A writer from the Xijiang Provincial Writers Association, and from Jiujiang City too. Haha, her pen name is Incense Burner." The first writer he wanted to strike back at was a woman in her thirties with the surname Zhao, a rare surname.

He took a quick look at her profile and noticed she had a daughter named Ziyan.

*Holy cow, it can't be that coincidental, can it?*

Su Tong worried that his counter-attack might actually kill her. However, he chuckled to himself, *If you knew I almost sent Fan Jian to the hospital and still dared to provoke me, I suppose you must be prepared for a hospital stay yourself.*

"Uncultured, a shut-in loser, you'll never be more than these two poems in your entire life," was the content of Incense Burner's Weibo post directed at Su Tong.

After a moment of hesitation, Su Tong began to draft his reply.