New York, August 2001.

455 Water Street, Brooklyn.

Dan Humphrey pushed open the door of his house with a frustrated face.

Rufus Humphrey, who was sitting at the dining table reading a magazine, looked up and frowned when he saw his son as he walked in.

"Don't tell me that the other party has broken the appointment."

Rufus asked, standing up and looking concerned.

He knew that today Dan was going to meet the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his son, who dreamed of becoming a writer.

For this reason, Rufus also bought a copy of Publishers Weekly magazine to read back.

It was the one Dan was reading when he walked in the door.

Dan put down his shoulder bag, shrugged and said:

"No, we met, but it turned out worse than not seeing each other."

The meeting was more than an hour later than the appointment, and the length of the conversation was reduced from half an hour to ten minutes, but that wasn't a reason for Dan's frustration.

After all, with the identity of the other party, it is already very face-saving to be able to take ten minutes out of his busy schedule to see Dan.

This is thanks to the recommendation of Jamie Dutton, the best-selling novel author in the United States, thanks to his classmate and friend who stayed at Dan's house.

Otherwise, Dan wouldn't even have a chance to meet the other party.

"Is it because the other party is not optimistic about your work?"

Rufus, who cared about his son, continued to ask.

"The other party read the story I wrote and gave a good review, but he told me that if you want to be a best-selling author like Jamie, it's not just about writing well."

After speaking, Dantou went upstairs without looking back.

Back in the room, Dan lay on his back on the bed, and his mind was reminded of his previous meeting with Robert, the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly.

Under the leadership of the other party's secretary, Dan walked into the office very reservedly.

Robert, who is over fifty years old, took off his glasses and asked Dan as soon as he said the first thing he wanted to hear the truth or politeness.

Dan, despite his nervousness, wants to hear the truth.

Then Robert said the following thing to Dan.

"I've read some of your work, and it's honestly pretty good, but that's all."

"I'm not saying this perfunctory, in fact, I read Jamie Dutton's work half a year ago, when the novel had just been published, and my assessment of it was that the story was very original and imaginative."

"At this point, you must be asking, since I am not interested in Jamie Dutton's work, why did I recommend his novels in magazines some time ago."

"Actually, it's not just me, the New York Times, Clarion Magazine, Science Fiction Yearbook, Booklist, do you think they haven't paid attention to this book before?"

"It's clear that these peers, like me, are not optimistic about the novel's prospects."

"If you're smart enough, you'll understand that it's because someone did a lot of PR behind the scenes for Jamie Dutton's novel, and there was that wave of media promotion before the summer vacation began."

"It can only be said that Jamie Dutton was lucky that his novel managed to grab readers, so he became popular."

"But you can't, although it seems to me that your novels are on the same level as Jamie Dutton, but you don't have a father named John Dutton who is willing to spend millions of dollars in public relations to lobby the media and book critics to promote his son's novels."

Knock knock!

There was a knock on the door.

Rufus pushed the door open and stuck his head in.

"Can we talk?"

Dan reluctantly sat up from the bed.

Rufus walked into the room and sat down beside his son.

"Actually, you don't have to be too frustrated, many times success is not when you are ready, it will come, and it also needs a little bit of luck in this."

Rufus patted Dan on the shoulder.

"The songs I wrote back then also went through a stage where no one cared about them at the beginning, so don't give up, okay? Son, everything will be fine. ”

Dan nodded absentmindedly.

Rufus also saw that his comfort didn't seem to have much effect, so he changed his motivation.

"You see Jamie, his success didn't happen overnight, you know that better than anyone, and God knows how many publishers rejected Jamie went through in the beginning."

"In the end, it was a publishing house that was about to go out of business that fell in love with his work, and they didn't have the strength to help promote Jamie's book, but it turned out that they had a very good vision, and in less than half a year after its publication, Jamie's book finally became popular."

"This is the fifth week in a row that Jamie's new book has topped the New York Times bestseller list, and I read that the newspaper says that the book has sold more than 2 million copies in the United States."

"Trust me, what Jamie can do, so can you."

Looking at his father, who was full of confidence in himself, Dan's heart was full of helplessness.

Yes, of course, you can succeed yourself.

The premise is that Rufus can also spend millions of dollars on public relations for his son's book, just like Jimmy's father John.

Of course this is not possible.

Rufus's biggest possession is the Loft apartment where the family lives right now.

This kind of apartment, to put it mildly, is a fashionable lifestyle that is loved by young people and creatives in New York.

In fact, because I didn't have much money in my pocket, I had to buy this kind of empty house, which was previously used as a factory and warehouse, and simply renovated it into a two-in-one place for studio and residence.

The house is currently worth $500,000 in New York.

Rufus, on the other hand, is just a rock singer who has been out of fashion for more than a decade, running an art gallery two blocks from his home, and barely reaching the middle class in New York.

At the same time, he also has to support a pair of children to attend Constance, the best private high school in New York, and life is not too tight, but it is far from rich.

Otherwise, they would not have chosen to become a host family and rent the only empty bedroom in the family to Jamie Dutton, who came to New York from Montana to attend high school.

Coincidentally, Jamie Dutton is also in Constance, the same grade as Dan.

For this, Rufus also waived part of Jamie's rent.

Dan couldn't tell Rufus the truth.

In the eyes of their family, they come from a remote and backward rural place in Montana, and Jamie Dutton, a "cattle herding baby" who runs a ranch at home, is actually a hidden rich second generation.

The family's ranch is next to the picturesque Yellowstone National Park, an area the size of three New York cities, and is home to more than 20,000 cattle and thousands of horses.

The cattle and horses raised on the key Jamie's ranch are not the same as other ranches.

Any Angus cow in the ranch can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

It is dozens or hundreds of times more than the average Angus cattle.

The reason is that these cows produce the best beef in the world, and it is the top luxury ingredient that all luxury restaurants and five-star hotels compete for.

And horses are even more exaggerated.

More than a thousand horses, each worth millions of dollars on average.

Because these horses are all the best quality racehorses.

Among them, the stallions can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars per mating.

And you have to queue up to make an appointment.

These were all found by Dan on the way back.

But at the moment he wasn't going to tell Rufus.

Because that would be the equivalent of telling Rufus that my novels weren't being liked by publishers, not because I didn't work hard enough, not because I couldn't do it, but because I didn't have a rich father.

In fact, the reason why Dan is so depressed is not because Jamie has a rich dad and he doesn't.

Most of Constance's students come from New York's high society, and their families are either rich or wealthy.

If you really want to be jealous, Dan can't be jealous at all.

The real reason is that Dan and Jamie were labeled as "poor boys" and "small-town problem-solvers" in school before, and both of them were interested in writing, so they naturally became good friends.

When I watched Jamie's novel be rejected again and again, Dan, as a friend, felt very uncomfortable.

Now that Jamie's novel has suddenly exploded half a year after it was published, Dan, as a friend, is even more unhappy.

If Jamie had just been lucky, Dan still wouldn't have been so jealous.

However, today's meeting with Robert made Dan realize that the difference between himself and Jamie was not only luck, but also the gap in family wealth and wealth.

This gave Dan the feeling that he had been tricked by teasing.

Dan felt like a complete fool at the thought that Jamie had proposed to move out a few days earlier when school started, and that he and Rufus had been eager to help introduce the best and cheapest apartments nearby.

A hidden rich second generation like Jamie, before the novel is a big success, may still be able to get along with the Dan family as an ordinary person.

Now that you are famous, you don't need to pretend anymore.

said that he moved out, but in fact, he didn't want to continue to live with poor people like Dan's family.

Including Jamie's introduction to Robert, it has now become a high-minded charity in Dan's eyes.

This gave Dan a strong desire for revenge.

Just do it.

As soon as Rufus walked on his front foot, Dan immediately sat down in front of the computer and started to get busy.

Half an hour later, a small essay that hides the background of the rich second-generation Jamie Dutton was completed.

Dan polished the article and sent it to an anonymous email to an internet blogger called the Gossip Diva.

This "gossip diva" is the most mysterious figure in Constance High School, often breaking the news on the blog about the campus gossip of the school's upper-class sons and daughters, and also has a group of students who provide her with gossip news anytime and anywhere.

A few minutes later, all Constance students who followed the "Gossip Diva" blog received a text message on their phones.

This also includes the blonde girl standing in front of Dan's house, about to ring the doorbell.

Her name is Serena and she used to attend Constance High School.

Serena, who has top-level looks and family background, is a well-deserved figure in the school and even in the entire Upper East Side rich second-generation circle.

At that time, half of the campus gossip that the "gossip queen" broke was related to Serena.

Because of this, she also earned the title of Queen S.

The girls all compete to imitate Serena's dress, caring about what perfume she is wearing today and what lipstick color she is.

The boys are concerned about which lucky ones have been "favored" by the queen today - as long as they can say a few words to Serena, they will be used by these boys as the capital to brag about all day.

Such "self-brought traffic" shows how popular Serena was at school at the beginning.

However, just a year ago, Serena suddenly changed schools and left.

Even her best friend didn't know why, or where she went.

It's the same back in New York this time.

Serena didn't tell anyone, including her family.