I collapsed from the roof, the system came?

It took quite a while before Melvin came back to his senses.

He felt that he was still in a trance. He drank several sips of coffee again, took a piece of paper from the side and wiped the coffee stains on the computer and table. His heart finally calmed down.

Such an incredible ending!

Or.

Such a short story actually subverted his thinking three times in a row.

The first time: He didn’t expect his wife to sell her beautiful long hair to buy a gift for her husband.

The second time, he didn't expect that his husband would buy a set of hair combs to comb his wife's hair, but at this moment, his wife's long hair was no longer there.

The third and last time, she never expected that her husband would also sell his beloved watch.

In other words, this poor couple spontaneously gave up their most precious things to each other in exchange for the gift that the other party most desired.

However, when they were giving each other gifts, they discovered that the other party had lost their precious items, making the gifts meaningless.

This ending is so absurd and shocking to the soul.

Even in Melvin's opinion, it was so cruel to the couple to a certain extent.

But while feeling emotional.

The pure love between the two protagonists is vividly reflected on the page. Although they are poor, they have selfless devotion to love. Although they lost their beloved things, they gained something that is a hundred or a thousand times more precious than gifts in the world, that is, priceless love.

"This novel..."

"This story..."

Melvin took a deep breath and read the novel carefully from beginning to end.

This time, even though he knew the ending, he still felt trembling in his heart when he read the whole story.

"What a reversal of genius."

Melvin knew that what short story writers are best at is an unexpected twist at the end.

But he thought Xilou was not good at this.

Because the example of "A Bowl of Soba Soba" proves that Nishilou is good at taking the emotional route.

He thought that "The Gift of the Magi" was of the same type. In fact, the story was indeed a warm and touching plot, but he did not expect that this time Xilou not only managed to embed emotion in the story, but also added a twist.

This is equivalent to Xilou merging the two essences of the short story together this time.

The psychological impact caused by this is indeed huge enough.

It was so big that he, the editor-in-chief of "Book Pavilion", was almost dull.

Melvin shook his head: "Xilou, what a Xilou..."

He originally thought that he had overestimated Xilou before, but the other party's ability to write short stories was actually higher than his estimate.

Having just made waves in the short story world with "A Bowl of Soba Soba," here comes another one, "The Gift of the Magi."

"Editor-in-Chief, the meeting is about to begin."

An assistant came in to remind Melvin.

Melvin nodded, turned off the screen, and started to hold the meeting.

The meeting was mainly to determine the short stories for the June issue and plan the content of June activities.

This time, the editors-in-chief were all very excited.

Because compared to May, when no famous writers contributed, the short stories in June became more concentrated.

So they don't need to worry about not having a first-place work at all. They are now worried about which work will be the most convincing when placed first.

"I think Mr. Henry's work is the best."

“I maintain that David’s ‘Conditioner’ is best suited for the June top spot.”

"Where did you put Mars? He is a top short story writer who is as famous as Nolan."

"Ha! Who is not a famous person this time?"

"..."

The quarrel was fierce.

No one can convince anyone.

After all, they are all works by famous artists, and the quality is not much different. Therefore, every editor-in-chief will strive to let the celebrities he connects with sit in the first position.

Until one person stood up and said lightly: "I received a short story from Rick."

at once.

A bearded man sneered: "What about Rick? He..."

The bearded voice stopped suddenly, and his pupils showed shock.

But others exclaimed.

"Rick?"

"you sure?"

"Dalton, you can't tell lies!"

"..."

Rick!

One of the Troika!

A master of short stories in today’s literary world!

Many people believe that it is unlikely that the Troika will participate in this short competition, and even if they do, they will only participate in anonymous tracks. But now Dalton says he received Rick's submission.

Of course everyone was surprised.

Even Melvin was shocked: "Dalton, are you serious?"

Dalton smiled slightly: "Mr. Melvin, it is indeed true. It's just that I just received Mr. Rick's submission email fifteen minutes ago, and I received the meeting notice just after reading his work, so I haven’t had time to report it to you yet. Now, I will send his work to everyone.”

ding dong~~~

Soon, everyone received email reminders on their computers.

It's Rick's new work, called "A Piece of Cake."

The story is about a wife celebrating her birthday at home. The husband ordered a cake at a cake shop, but unexpectedly when he came back and cut the cake, he found a ring inside.

When the wife found out, she thought it was prepared for her and cried with joy.

But the husband knew that he was not the one who put the ring in. It was most likely that the cake shop made a mistake. But if he tells the truth, his wife will definitely be depressed and turn the originally happy birthday into a mess. But if you don't explain it clearly, your reputation will be ruined if the cake shop finds out.

After struggling for a long time, the husband secretly told the cake shop the truth and asked the cake shop not to take the cake back. He promised to buy another identical ring and return it tomorrow. The cake shop also thought he had made a mistake. But in the end, they discovered that their son had secretly stuffed the ring into the cake as a surprise for his mother.

So in the end, a piece of cake gained the son's love, the husband's character, and the wife's joy. Everyone is happy.

After reading the story, the conference room was full of exclamations.

“The great God takes action, it’s extraordinary!”

"As expected of the Troika, this story is really good."

"Wow, Rick still smells the same as always."

"After reading Mr. Rick's works, I am convinced and willing to give up the first position."

"..."

Everyone raved about it.

And it was unanimously approved: The first work of the June semi-annual issue will be given to "A Piece of Cake". Are you kidding? This is Rick's new work. Who else can snatch his first place?

Dalton also smiled and said: "Editor-in-Chief, no one should have any objections to whose work takes the first place now, right? It is a great honor for our bookstore that Mr. Rick can submit it to us, and this short story is enough Excellent, I think that when the semi-annual issue is released in June, it will definitely cause a big sensation in the short story world. There is a high probability that the winner of this short story competition will be Mr. Rick.”