Chapter 71

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After Tong Yan left, Dorm 121 became lively again.

"Hey, do you guys know what that kid Tong Yan went out to do?" Zheng Jing, who was extremely curious, asked.

"Don't know, not clear, not familiar," Qi Delong, who had just returned from the basketball court, said lazily.

Wang Ping, who was on the bed above Tong Yan, guessed, "I seem to have seen him go out with his schoolbag. Could he be going to the water room to study?"

"The water room is Lan Mingzhu's territory, he probably wouldn't go there. Besides, studying at night isn't his style," Zheng Jing negated.

"Have you guys noticed that Tong Yan has changed a lot this semester?" Luo Xiaoxu suddenly interjected.

Qi Delong agreed, "Didn't he publish a novel in a magazine and earn some royalties? It's probably related to that."

Luo Xiaoxu added, "I just feel he's gotten so busy. He doesn't play around with us after class anymore, and he rarely speaks during our late-night chats."

"Before, he even dared to climb over the wall to go to the internet cafe. I can't believe he would do that!" Zheng Jing exclaimed.

Wang Ping turned over, "He hasn't gone out for over a month now, but I still feel like he's hiding something from us. Zheng Jing, you're well-informed, do you have any inside information?"

Zheng Jing's eyes twinkled, "Hey, do you think it might be related to Song Rao? They've been getting pretty close lately."

After Zheng Jing brought up Song Rao, the topic of the late-night chat in Dorm 121 turned into a rumor-guessing session about Tong Yan and Song Rao. Because of the unavoidable presence of Song Xiancheng, this speculation became particularly exciting.

In Old Liu's room, Tong Yan sneezed twice, pinched his nose, and looked at Old Liu sincerely, "Grandpa Liu, please help me. Who doesn't have dreams when they're young? My dream is to become a writer. I've even bought a computer, but I don't have a power source or a place to write. Please let me write here."

Tong Yan got straight to the point as soon as he entered, and seeing that Old Liu didn't say anything, he pleaded again.

"Can this small bag hold a computer?" Old Liu glanced at Tong Yan's schoolbag.

"It's a laptop, also called a notebook. It's small and easy to carry," Tong Yan took out the computer and power cord from his bag, "From now on, I'll leave the computer here. You can use it to go online too."

The last sentence was said without much sincerity. A 60-70-year-old man, would he even use it?

"Write a novel without paper or pen, using this?" Old Liu asked again.

This was a good sign. He didn't outright refuse but was willing to understand. Tong Yan was happy to explain, "What I write is called a web novel. What you're talking about is a physical book. After writing a physical book, you still need to find a publisher. If they don't publish it, it's like writing for nothing. But web novels are different. After I write, I upload it online. As long as people like it, I can earn money. If it gets a lot of views, there's also a chance to publish a physical book."

Old Liu squinted his eyes, deep in thought.

Tong Yan took the opportunity to plug in the power cord and turn on the computer, connecting the wireless network card, "I'll show you a website. After you see it, you'll know I'm telling the truth."

"Why should I help you?" Old Liu finally spoke, "If the duty teacher finds out, I'll definitely be expelled from the school."

"Didn't I just say, this is my dream. My dream is to be a writer. I used all the royalties I earned to buy this computer, just to write novels. If you don't agree, I'll, I'll pester you every day, until you..."

Before Tong Yan could finish, Old Liu interrupted, "One bottle of Erguotou every week, plus one bottle of Laobai Gan every month. If you agree, I'll let you write here."

Four bottles of Erguotou and one bottle of Laobai Gan, at most 100 yuan a month. Tong Yan could afford this, "No problem, I'll take care of your alcohol from now on! When I make money from writing novels, I'll buy you Maotai and Wuliangye."

"Maotai and Wuliangye are just expensive, I might not even like them," the old man had some character, "Alright, start writing your novel now."

"Thank you so much! Thank you!" Tong Yan said sincerely. Winning over Old Liu was the first step to his success, and a crucial one.

It was a bit early to start writing now. Tong Yan wasn't very familiar with the laptop yet. The computer was already on, and Tong Yan followed what Zhang Xiao taught him, entered the password, connected to the internet, and logged into Qidian using the new account "Tong Yan Wu Ji."

Now that the computer and internet were his, Tong Yan no longer had to worry about time like he did at the internet cafe. He could do whatever he wanted without worrying about saving a few dollars.

Tong Yan quickly scanned the Qidian homepage and remembered "Star Peak Legend" by I Eat Tomatoes. He opened it and read the first two chapters. It was still very immature. The most striking impression Tong Yan had was the first-person narrative. Tong Yan didn't have a strong aversion to first-person narration; as long as it was well-written, he didn't care about the perspective. However, as a creator, especially for a long epic story, the first-person perspective was too restrictive and not conducive to a comprehensive and intricate plot.

Putting "Star Peak Legend" aside, Tong Yan looked at some of the more popular novels at the time. The hottest new books on Qidian last month were "A Big Star Falls in Love with Me" and "The Legend of the Evil God," one by a new author named Eko and the other by Yun Tiankong, one of the eight major authors, a fantasy novel. These two, along with Tang Jia San's newly released "Only I Am Immortal," dominated the top three spots on the weekly click chart.

It was truly an enviable achievement. Tong Yan's goal was to stay on the homepage click chart for a week. "The Little Soldier's Wild History" had its best performance by staying at the bottom of the chart for one day, and it never made it back. This was a long-standing regret for Tong Yan.

"Are you writing a novel?" Old Liu, holding a transistor radio and wearing headphones, walked behind Tong Yan and asked.

"Oh, not yet. I'm going to create a very grand work, so I need to do a lot of preparation. I can't start writing until the preparation is done." Tong Yan's words were true, but what he was doing now didn't seem to be much related to preparation. He awkwardly closed the webpage and created a new folder on the D drive, where he would store all the documents related to his new book.

After some thought, Tong Yan renamed the new folder to "Raging Thunder." He had already thought about the beginning of the novel. The protagonist, Han Ting, and the panda Qiu Dan, came to a different world because of lightning. The lightning was also his golden finger, and with his fiery temper, he temporarily named the novel "Raging Thunder."

Next, Tong Yan created a Word document and started writing the outline. After nearly a week of preparation, Tong Yan felt confident. He wrote for an hour straight...

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