If after the book is released, something unexpected in life delays the writing, or if inspiration suddenly vanishes and I hit a writer’s block, and if Li Peifeng hasn’t accumulated enough drafts, he might have to resort to the unpopular choice of missing updates.

But the small issue is the unpopularity; the bigger issue is the impact on performance.

With 150,000 words in drafts, it’s like having multiple lives.

During the new book period, with 4,000 words a day for a month and a half, Li Peifeng thought that if he maintains his creative momentum, he could accumulate more than 200,000 words of drafts in that time. In that case, even after it goes on sale, releasing 10,000-word updates daily wouldn’t be a problem. Li Peifeng would have the confidence to have a strong surge and wouldn’t have to worry about writer’s block or missing updates due to unexpected events.

On the other hand, releasing the book ten days later is also a good timing, which was discussed with editor Xia Sheng.

At the end of December, it just avoids mid-December, allowing him to avoid competition with many top authors wanting to release new books during that period.

Indeed, for online literature top authors, the best time to release a new book is mid-month.

That way, they can have a month and a half of the new book period, complete a full round of recommendations, and then launch at the beginning of the month, which doesn’t interfere with the monthly ticket competition.

But if a newcomer chooses to release in mid-month, it’s very likely they’ll compete with those top authors for recommendation spots, which is self-inflicted hardship.

This was a lesson Li Peifeng learned from other colleagues, where many authors’ books were clearly excellent, but because they chose to release in the middle of the month, they were forced to compete with new books from those top authors. Their reading data naturally got trampled, and failing in competition, they didn’t get recommendation spots matching the book’s quality, thus impacting their performance...

"Be careful, be cautious. Although I’m at platinum level, returning to the male audience is like being a complete newcomer, so I must be humble!"

"Accumulate scripts, write more, and rise slowly!"

Li Peifeng became increasingly immersed in the creation of "Sword and Spell". Sometimes he didn’t even eat downstairs but instead took a bit upstairs to eat, almost in a closed-off state.

The three girls gently advised him to pay attention to his health, but Li Peifeng didn’t mind. He just reassured them and continued doing things his own way.

Several days passed like this, and before long it was December 22, the last day of the community lockdown, and at six o’clock the next morning, it would be lifted.

The night before, the community staff had already announced this good news in the Jade District WeChat resident group, leading to smiles on most residents’ faces when they went downstairs for nucleic acid tests the next morning on the 22nd. Even though it was snowing lightly, it didn’t affect everyone’s mood. They chatted while queuing, sharing plans about what to eat and play once the lockdown was lifted, carrying longing, and the nucleic acid progress was unexpectedly the fastest ever.

Before nine o’clock, the volunteers had completed their work, and Li Peifeng also shed his protective clothing, hurried home. He intended to return directly to the loft, but Wu Wenyue sent a message asking him to come to the living room downstairs, saying there was something to discuss.

"What’s up? Something life-threatening?"

Li Peifeng instinctively suspected that Wu Wenyue had found out about his relationship with He Yimeng, or that Huang Tianxuan had quarreled with Zhao Qingge again, wanting him to act as the mediator?

On the short walk, he quickly spun his brain thinking about responses to various scenarios, preparing to face a storm.

But upon entering the house, he found the three girls in the living room, Wu Wenyue and Huang Tianxuan on the sofa watching TV and snacking, while Zhao Qingge stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the snowy scene outside.

Li Peifeng used [Hearts Aligned] to gauge their emotions, finding them all calm, with a subtle hint of joy.

"Back?" Huang Tianxuan glanced at Li Peifeng and suddenly smiled, "Soon it’ll be unlocked. You’ve volunteered for so long, shouldn’t the community issue you a certificate?"

"Sister Zheng said it’ll be printed tomorrow and given to all volunteers."

Li Peifeng sat down beside, looking at Wu Wenyue, "Something up?"

"Have some fruit." Wu Wenyue handed over an apple, then said, "These days, Professor Zhao connected with a music academy’s teacher for me. We contacted her remotely, asked for help to produce the piece for ’Celestial Snowfield’, but both Professor Zhao and I felt something was missing after listening, so we wanted your input."

Saying that, she played a piece of music on her phone, humming along a few lines. Once finished, Li Peifeng was surprised, "Did you write these Chinese lyrics yourself?"

"Professor Zhao did." Wu Wenyue glanced at Zhao Qingge, her tone steady.

Indeed, during the last time Li Peifeng and Zhao Qingge Shared Dream, the latter also learned some music knowledge like Wu Wenyue. Although she couldn’t compose, she mastered rhyme, so writing lyrics wasn’t a problem.

"Great, these lyrics are well-written." Li Peifeng nodded repeatedly, "If I wrote, it wouldn’t be so beautiful and appropriate, it’s just the piece that needs more tweaking, trying more real-world instruments to see if it can achieve the same effect..."

Then he and Wu Wenyue began discussing, with Zhao Qingge occasionally chiming in, but still no good solution appearing, when Huang Tianxuan suddenly laughed, "Just dream a few more times."

"Dreaming isn’t something you can just do."

Wu Wenyue pondered, "We might have to trouble Teacher Gao to think more solutions. Professor Zhao, perhaps you need to discuss with her, I can provide a labor fee."