Chapter 98

Home.

In the morning, after returning from the landlady's house, Zhang Ye once again fell onto the bed for a nap. There was no way he could help it; being thrown by Rao Aimin had left him disoriented, and he hadn't fully recovered yet. Indeed, it wasn't easy to take advantage of the landlady, and this time he had learned a lesson, a bloody one at that, to warn his comrades.

Ding, a text message.

Zhang Ye, in pain, twisted his arm, picked up his phone, and tapped it. Instantly, he couldn't remain calm anymore; his back wasn't sore, and his legs didn't hurt.

It was a bank deposit notification.

The manuscript fee had reached over five million.

After deducting the relevant taxes, this was the income from selling "Ghost Blows the Lamp" and a few fairy tales.

The phone vibrated, and a call came in. It was the small boss from the Beijing Education Publishing House whom Zhang Ye had contacted before. "Hello, Teacher Xiao Zhang, hahaha, did you receive the manuscript fee? Congratulations first, 'Ghost Blows the Lamp' had a huge success in sales yesterday, no, it was unprecedented. Our publishing house has been in business for many years, and apart from some non-commercial publications, we've never had a record of selling 90,000 copies on the first day." He sounded very excited, "It's an honor to work with you. Your journey has been one of creating miracles."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You flatter me, I'm not that capable. It's your sales and promotion that did the job."

"But the sales will definitely decrease gradually and won't remain high forever. Our most conservative estimate is that 'Ghost Blows the Lamp' will sell at least 700,000 copies this year. Next year, the growth might be minimal, but we will still reprint. I think, given time, breaking the one million copy sales record might not be a problem," the middle-aged man said excitedly.

This sales projection was within Zhang Ye's expectations, and he wasn't surprised. "How about the fairy tales?"

The middle-aged man continued to report good news, "We've already started the promotion. When some bookstores and online distributors learned that we were publishing books like 'Snow White' and 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' over a dozen bookstores have already called to pre-order. The total pre-order quantity has exceeded 30,000 copies. We are also very excited, and the leadership has decided to accelerate the publication of your fairy tales, which will be on the market soon."

He hung up.

Zhang Ye, still uneasy, opened his computer to check his online banking. Sure enough, there was over five million more. This huge amount made Zhang Ye dizzy. When had he ever seen so much money?

Now he had money.

He could buy a house and a car.

The first thing Zhang Ye thought of was buying a three-bedroom apartment within the second ring of Beijing. Then what? What else to buy? Cough, what else? Of course, he would slowly pay off the mortgage. Buying a large three-bedroom apartment within the second ring of Beijing with five million in cash? That was something that only appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

At the first opportunity, Zhang Ye opened Weibo to interact with his fans, something he had recently become very fond of. His number of followers had grown to over 89,000, and he even found that this could increase his reputation points. Posting interesting things and impressive statements, Zhang Ye would receive varying amounts of reputation points. After all, this was a small media platform, not much different from radio or television.

Weibo post: "Received the manuscript fee, but after calculating, buying a good house is still a long way off. Forget it, I won't buy one."

Zhang Ye's fan No. 1, who might have been watching Zhang Ye all day, was the first to repost and comment, "No way? Teacher Zhang can't afford a house?"

"How much is the manuscript fee? Need a leak."

"It must be in the millions, 'Ghost Blows the Lamp' is too popular."

"Not just millions, at least a few million to match this groundbreaking work."

"Haha, saw Teacher Zhang being cute again, but the house prices are really expensive. I can't afford one in my lifetime, I can only rent."

As everyone was discussing, a very disharmonious voice suddenly joined in, "Is Zhang Ye brain-dead? Are house prices still high? They are quite cheap. If you can't afford one, it's because you're not capable. Don't blame the world. I can't afford one either, but many people around me have bought houses in full, and they are all in first-tier cities."

This person's nickname was "I Am the Greatest."

Someone replied, "Really? Full payment? First-tier cities?"

I Am the Greatest said, "Of course, and they are all in the city center, no problem at all."

"Ridiculous," someone countered, "Do you know how expensive house prices are now? Don't you watch the news?"

Zhang Ye's fan No. 1 said helplessly, "This person doesn't watch the news, probably grew up watching the news broadcast."

Most of the people who followed Zhang Ye's Weibo were "fighters," and this sparked a war. Everyone immediately started arguing.

All this was posted under Zhang Ye's Weibo, and he was naturally helpless. Insulting him? Saying house prices are cheap? He then posted, "Everyone, stop arguing. What 'I Am the Greatest' said makes sense. I know a friend who also bought a house in the city center of a first-tier city with full payment. It's not impossible. You can also buy so-called luxury houses by working hard. It's not an unachievable dream."

"Can you buy a luxury house by working hard?"

"How is that possible?"

"Hey, why is Teacher Zhang defending that person?"

"Does this make sense? Even a fool knows how high house prices are."

"Is Teacher Zhang's brain waterlogged today?"

Everyone began to question Zhang Ye, and some people were quite rude.

Zhang Ye didn't mind and typed, "Listen to my friend's story." He also remembered a very popular joke from his world.

"Tell us."

"Is this a joke?"

"I want to see how he bought it."

Many people started to cheer him on.

Zhang Ye posted, "Five years ago, my friend Xiao Ke faced numerous rejections while job hunting and finally worked as a junior programmer at a small IT company in Beijing. After half a year, Xiao Ke realized this wasn't the way to go and decided to set a five-year plan to buy a house, meticulously planning and executing it. 'At the beginning, it was really painful. I couldn't do any socializing or entertainment,' Xiao Ke recalled. 'I started taking financial planning and programming courses after work to improve myself.' Through this, Xiao Ke used various IT skill certification exams to get annual raises. 'I also enrolled in many management courses and met many outstanding people in the industry.' Through these interactions, Xiao Ke gradually built his network. Finally, with the 50,000 he saved over five years and 7.96 million from his parents, Xiao Ke bought his first house, and it was in the second ring of Beijing. 'Dreams are beautiful, and achieving them is solid,' Xiao Ke said with a determined look."

At first, everyone was reading seriously, trying to understand how Zhang Ye's friend achieved the miracle of buying a luxury house through hard work. But when the story ended, everyone was stunned.

"Ha!"

"Hahaha!"

"Amazing twist!"

"Typical Zhang Ye style."

"Teacher Zhang is so cute and funny."

"Such a master, even a small story can be so satirical and profound."

"Turns out it was satire. I thought Teacher Zhang's brain was waterlogged. I apologize, I feel ashamed."

"Will definitely support you from now on."

"This story expresses our hearts and voices."

"That's what a literary master is, at least in my heart. Look at Teacher Zhang, he can write modern poetry, ancient poetry, novels, fairy tales, and thought-provoking yet humorous short stories. The Beijing Writers Association is blind. Are you sure you won't let Teacher Zhang join?"

Actually, this joke was already well-known in Zhang Ye's world. Most people who often used the internet had heard it. But in this world, it had never appeared, so everyone was very curious and amused. Many people started to share and spread it wildly.

In a short time, the small story was pushed to the ninth spot on the Weibo homepage.

This made Zhang Ye secretly marvel. The power of the masses was indeed great. His Weibo followers and game reputation points were rising rapidly. It seemed he should do more of this in the future. He shouldn't miss any opportunity to become famous. His goal was to be the world's top star, so he had to seize every chance. Even a small mosquito is meat. If he could get on the Weibo homepage or the top news more often, it would greatly help his popularity. The poems, novels, short stories, and articles in Zhang Ye's mind were his greatest assets. He didn't lack knowledge.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends