Chapter 63

PS: I want to hear more from you, and I want to receive more of your suggestions. Now, search for the WeChat public account “qdread” and follow it to give more support to "Born to Write"!

[PS: A bit late, sorry. Thank you, MIAOYUYOUREN, for the green rice ball. Also, thanks to the brothers who can't tell each other apart for their laughter and the year of nostalgia. One more thing, while being first is good, the chrysanthemum is more important!!]

Just as Mr. Song finished speaking, someone called out, "Teacher, this doesn't seem to be good news for Dongmian, does it?"

"Exactly, Dongmian should be crying," someone else chimed in.

Dongmian immediately nodded bitterly. Yes, not being first is not a happy feeling.

Mr. Song smiled and said, "I don't think this is necessarily bad news for Dongmian. If I remember correctly, since Dongmian entered school, he has always been the top of the class. He was only not the top of the grade twice, once second and once third. Am I right?"

All the students below nodded. Dongmian's grades were too amazing, he was simply a born test-taker!

"Now you're like Dongfang Bubai in a martial arts novel," Mr. Song said. The students below burst into laughter. Dongfang Bubai had no good reputation, and Dongmian mumbled, "Teacher, you shouldn't talk about people like that."

Mr. Song pressed his hand down and continued, "Stop laughing, be serious. This is a metaphor. But I think even Dongfang Bubai isn't as great as Dugu Qiubai. That's the highest realm of a master. Always being undefeated can make you complacent, underestimate the heroes of the world, and become arrogant. Perhaps one day, while you're still immersed in the dream of being undefeated, you might not realize that you've fallen behind the times. Only by daring to face failure, bravely challenging, and not fearing defeat can you learn from failure, recognize your weaknesses, and gradually improve to defeat your opponents next time."

Mr. Song's speech about Dongfang Bubai and Dugu Qiubai captivated the high school students below. They all nodded vigorously. Although the words were meant for Dongmian, the familiar martial arts characters made them feel a strong sense of connection, and they all heard beneficial wisdom for their future paths.

"Alright, that's enough. Dongmian, what do you think about this time being second?" Mr. Song asked Xiao Dong.

Dongmian understood Mr. Song's good intentions and said thoughtfully, "I should work harder on my Chinese."

Mr. Song shook his head and said, "Your Chinese score was pretty good. The reason Cheng Xianru's total score is higher is because of her significantly better English score. You should focus on that. In the future, you should learn more from our class monitor Cheng."

Hearing Mr. Song's praise, Cheng Xianru still had her expressionless face, showing no surprise or pride at surpassing Dongmian.

Tong Yan, who had been smiling all along, suddenly looked dejected. What? The first place is Cheng Xianru! What about me?

Seeing the complex expression on Tong Yan's face, Mr. Song was quite pleased. He then announced the results in order, "Cheng Xianru, first in the class and first in the grade. Dongmian, second in the class and second in the grade. This time, our class has two seconds. Tong Yan's total score is the same as Dongmian's, just two points less than Cheng Xianru, so he is also second in the class and second in the grade!"

Tong Yan's face finally showed some color. With this result, he could definitely explain to his mother. This was his best result since entering school. She would definitely be very happy. Feeling good, his illness would recover faster. He was really worried that his all-out effort in the exam would be in vain.

Class 2 performed very well this time, taking all the top three spots in the grade. This was the first time for the 04 class. Although Tang Xiang, who was fourth in the class, only ranked tenth in the grade, whether it was the number of students in the top ten, top fifty, or top hundred, and of course the overall average score, Class 2 was first!

In a very good mood, Song Xiancheng kindly left only a little homework as a reward for the students' hard work. Everyone was very satisfied, except for Dongmian, who was given the nickname "Dongfang Mian" and felt a bit depressed.

Logically, Tong Yan should have been happy with his good results, but apart from the comfort of his mother's joy, he didn't feel much excitement or shock. In the past, he was very enthusiastic about exams and rankings, always hoping to surpass Dongmian, even if it was just to narrow the gap. But now, even though they scored the same, what he thought about after his mind cleared was not how to completely surpass Dongmian next time, but...

"How nice it would be to have a computer right now."

Two months of effort, 230,000 words, although he had decided not to continue writing "The Little Soldier's Wild History," Tong Yan still wanted to see how it was doing. Was anyone still missing it? Understanding it? Cursing it?

On the bus ride home, Tong Yan's mind was already back at the Five Flavors Bookshop. He hoped the young lady wasn't there, otherwise, he would definitely be ridiculed by her.

Next to Tong Yan was a middle-aged man with glasses, who looked quite friendly. Tong Yan smiled back, and when the man asked to sit by the window, Tong Yan agreed without hesitation.

The middle-aged man soon took out a newspaper to read. Tong Yan had seen it before; it was the local "Curious News" newspaper, which only circulated locally and had no original content, mostly excerpts from other newspapers. It published whatever the readers liked, usually strange and unusual stories.

The man was reading one side, and Tong Yan casually glanced at the other side, then his eyes couldn't move.

He saw a small block of text, occupying an inconspicuous spot on the newspaper. The title was "They Use the Internet for Hype, We Use the Internet for Writing!" It was an article reprinted from the "Southern Weekend."

Tong Yan twisted his head to read the article with difficulty. The first paragraph read, "The literary world has intentionally or unintentionally ignored 'fantasy novels.' However, 'fantasy novels' have nearly ten million fans, and the authors of 'fantasy novels' have enviable incomes."

Here, "fantasy novels" should specifically refer to "web novels," as fantasy is the largest category of web novels, and most classic web novels are fantasy.

Continuing to read, the editor gave an example.

On a small road on the west side of BJ City, there was a store selling car parts. A 24-year-old named Zhang Wei was in charge of the store, which was owned by his mother. There weren't many customers, and Zhang Wei often stayed in the back room, sitting in front of the computer for half a day. Occasionally, when he heard the guard dog bark, he would go out to greet the customers. His mother didn't blame him for not being diligent. The 1.90-meter-tall Zhang Wei pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and said, "This is a legitimate job, and I'm making money."

The legitimate job Zhang Wei referred to was not watching the store, but writing fantasy novels on the computer. As for what "fantasy novels" are, there is no widely accepted definition. Roughly speaking, "fantasy novels" blend Western mythology with Chinese legends, emphasizing boundless imagination.

Zhang Wei had been in the "industry" for six years. He graduated from a vocational high school at 18 with a computer science degree and had held four jobs related to website construction, but he became increasingly dissatisfied. He resigned and returned home to help his mother run the store, earning a base salary of 1,000 yuan per month plus a commission of about 500 yuan. In his spare time, he started writing the fantasy novel "Son of Light" online under the name "Tang Jia San Shao" in February last year.

Tang Jia San Shao? It was an old acquaintance. Tong Yan's interest grew even more, but at that moment, the middle-aged man next to him disappointingly folded the newspaper, covering the article... (My novel "Born to Write" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will be 100% lottery gifts for everyone! Now, open WeChat, click the "+" sign in the top right corner, search for the public account "qdread" and follow it. Hurry up!)

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