I Became an All-round Artist

The so-called "unveiling of the kings" was, of course, just a playful expression.

The real reason was that Tribe Literature had kept the identities of the authors hidden so well. Thirty short stories competed against each other, but until the last day, no one knew who wrote them. The only thing revealed was that all the authors were well-known in the literary world. Tribe Literature's competition format stirred everyone's curiosity to the max!

As the saying goes, "Curiosity killed the cat."

While the readers and participants in the short story community weren't cats, their curiosity was just as intense. This tactic played on a basic psychological principle. It’s like when someone starts saying something intriguing and suddenly stops. Whether what they were going to say is important or not, the listener can’t help but care because they only got half the story!

This sparked a frenzy in Tribe’s discussion boards, with readers analyzing every detail, posting predictions about the authors, and even making highly technical deductions from the stories.

Naturally, everyone was most curious about who wrote the first-place story!

After a month of competition, the winner of the short story contest had become clear. The story titled The Death of a Small Official was the undisputed champion! Consequently, discussions about its author were the most intense.

Readers had already speculated about nearly every famous short story author in the field, but no one had yet claimed ownership of this masterpiece.

Lin Yuan had also seen his ranking. To be honest, he was surprised that The Death of a Small Official had won first place. He had only expected it to rank around third. The story was excellent, but its satirical edge wasn’t as sharp as he had intended. That was inevitable, though.

If Lin Yuan lived in an oppressive, feudal society, the novel might have been imbued with deeper meaning. But in today’s peaceful world, it felt more like a clever use of “borrowing the past to critique the present.”

Still, Lin Yuan wasn’t too hung up on this. Since his story had won, all he had to do was sit back and wait for the prize money to come in.

And he didn’t have to wait long.

On the last day of April, Tribe Literature finally revealed the author list. With everyone watching closely, the writers of all the stories were finally exposed!

“What the heck!”

“So Missed Connections was written by Teacher Ping? I knew the writing style seemed familiar, but he denied it earlier!”

“The second-place mystery story was written by Old Wang? He must have deliberately changed his style—no one saw that coming.”

“Wait, Echo in fifth place is by Qi Tong? He rarely writes short stories. I didn’t expect him to participate in this contest!”

“I can't believe the eighth-place story was written by Ye Ye!”

“Haha, I guessed the authors of three of the stories!”

“I got two right.”

“There was a prediction post earlier, and the author guessed eight correctly—must be the highest success rate among the participants!”

The guessing game was over, and readers were having a blast.

But most people, especially those in the short story scene, immediately checked to see who had written The Death of a Small Official.

And when they saw the name, they were stunned. This was a name that 99% of people had not predicted.

“Chu Kuang?”

“It’s Chu Kuang?!”

“The author of The Artificial Beauty?”

“The same guy who wrote The Gift of the Magi last month?”

“I know him from Prince of Tennis. I had no idea he wrote short stories too!”

“Seems like you haven’t been following the short story scene lately. The Gift of the Magi was last month’s biggest hit, and Chu Kuang was the author!”

“I really enjoyed The Artificial Beauty when it came out around New Year’s. It was incredibly fun to read.”

“This is the rise of a new star in the short story world!”

“I thought The Death of a Small Official was written by an established author. I didn’t expect it to be from a newcomer!”

The surprise wasn’t unwarranted.

No one had guessed Chu Kuang because, firstly, he was a newcomer to the short story scene. Secondly, this story was drastically different from his previous works!

In literature, even without an author’s name, you can often spot their unique creative habits. For example, O. Henry was famous for writing stories with an unexpected twist at the end. His signature move of “surprising yet logical” endings became known as the “O. Henry twist,” though some criticized his work for being formulaic after a while.

But Chu Kuang broke this mold. His first two short stories didn’t vary much in style, but with The Death of a Small Official, he ventured into the realm of satire! He even abandoned the twist endings seen in The Gift of the Magi for something much deeper.

Is satire more “highbrow”?

That’s debatable, but for many, satire certainly carries a certain prestige. The Death of a Small Official became the champion because readers found its social critique to be deeply relatable—many real-life issues were mocked and laid bare through the story’s biting satire.

At this moment, Wang Guojian, the author of the second-place story, posted on Tribe: “Chu Kuang winning the championship is as unexpected as The Gift of the Magi. The ending has a dramatic twist. I’m excited to see what other surprises Chu Kuang will bring to the short story world in the future.”

Shortly after, Ping An, the third-place author, commented: “Chu Kuang is a rising star in the short story scene!”

He wasn’t alone.

One after another, over ten of the thirty participating authors posted on Tribe:

“The difference in style between his works is huge. No one could have guessed a newcomer like Chu Kuang wrote this, but The Death of a Small Official is undeniably an outstanding piece.”

“I’m thrilled to see such a talented new writer entering the short story field!”

“I’ve read all three of Chu Kuang’s short stories. For someone so new to this genre, he’s incredibly talented.”

“My son loves Prince of Tennis, so I’ve known about Chu Kuang for a while. I didn’t expect to lose to him in a short story contest though. I wonder if my son will be sad or happy about this. ”

Meanwhile, at Silver Blue Magazine, the editor-in-chief of Fun Reads, You Rong, was furious, slamming his desk in frustration:

“Tribe Literature is stealing our writers!”

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