Chapter 72

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

An hour later, Tongyan turned back to look at Old Liu on the bed, who was still wearing headphones and listening to the radio. "Am I disturbing your sleep with my typing?" Tongyan asked awkwardly.

"Huh? What did you say?" Old Liu took off his headphones and asked.

"I said, is my typing too loud and keeping you awake?" Tongyan repeated.

"Oh, it's fine. I usually don't sleep until two in the morning. When you get old, you need less sleep," Old Liu said as he walked behind Tongyan. "Are you starting to write a novel?"

"This is the background outline, a summary of the world I'm writing about," Tongyan explained briefly, guessing that Old Liu wouldn't understand. "Grandpa Liu, it's late, I need to go back. Do you want to use this computer?"

Old Liu waved his hand and raised the radio he was holding. "I'm fine with this."

"Then I'll pack it up," Tongyan shut down the computer and tidied up. "Where should I put this bag?"

Sometimes the duty teacher would come to Old Liu's room, so it couldn't be left out in the open.

"I have an empty box under my bed. You can put it there," Old Liu suggested.

Before leaving, Tongyan thanked Old Liu again and praised him as the best dorm manager in China.

"What were you up to?" After returning to the dorm, 121 had already settled down, and most people were asleep. Feeling Tongyan's movements, Wang Ping, who was in the top bunk, asked groggily.

"I went to the bathroom."

"You can squat for over two hours, and your legs still work!"

"I'm just that amazing! Go to sleep." Tongyan replied, lying down and quickly falling asleep. It was already 1:30 AM, and he had to get up at 6:30 AM for morning exercises, leaving him little time to sleep.

The next day, Tongyan was in high spirits. When he saw Old Liu, his face was full of a knowing smile. Everything had gone unexpectedly smoothly, and now he just needed to focus on his studies and writing.

During the morning exercises, Old Song stood outside the playground, able to see their class formation from a distance. Before they started running, while other students were reviewing their Chinese and English with small notebooks, only Tongyan was looking around and smiling foolishly, which made Old Song furious.

After returning home yesterday, he had a serious talk with his daughter, hoping she would understand the dangers of early romance. However, she turned around and talked about the drawbacks of late-life romance, and then brought up the old topic of trying to get him and her mother back together, which made Old Song very angry. In the end, the issue of early romance was glossed over by Song Rao.

The more she avoided a direct response, the more worried Old Song became. For the past 18 years, his daughter had been quite easy to manage. He thought he could smoothly guide her through adolescence and send her to college without much interference. But unexpectedly, in her senior year of high school, with only half a year left until the college entrance exam, she caused such a fuss. Her academic performance was already average, and if she got distracted by romance, it was uncertain whether she could even get into a bachelor's program.

During the morning study session, Tongyan was reading the latest issue of "Youth Digest" when Old Song suddenly appeared and called him outside.

Because he had started a new novel, Tongyan felt a bit guilty when facing Old Song, which was evident in his inability to look Old Song in the eye.

This behavior further confirmed Old Song's suspicion: He must feel guilty about something he did!

"Tongyan, the midterm exams are coming up soon. The results of this exam will determine the tuition reduction for the senior year..."

Old Song decided to use a softer approach. He really liked Tongyan. If it were another student, he might have scolded them harshly. Or, if he were just Song Rao's father and not a teacher, he wouldn't have spoken to Tongyan so gently. But because he was Teacher Song and Tongyan was his student, the situation was complicated.

"...Your mother just had surgery, and the expenses were high. You must want to help reduce their burden, right? So, focus on your exams and don't let anything else distract you, okay?"

"Okay," Tongyan replied straightforwardly, but he was inwardly wondering, "Don't let anything distract me? Does he know I'm writing a novel?"

With this suspicion, Tongyan became even more cautious. When writing the novel's outline and character settings in the classroom, he always kept his notebook tightly covered. After writing, he would hide it deep in his drawer, and even he had to spend some time to find it.

Time passed quietly, and Tongyan's campus life was very fulfilling. Every night, he would spend one to two hours in Old Liu's room, gradually enriching the world and characters of his novel. Occasionally, he would chat with Zhang Xiao, Huabiao, and even Tian Xiaoni.

He learned from the mistake of not knowing what to write in the middle of his previous book. Tongyan divided the world's power levels in detail, which added conflict and suspense. When he didn't know what to write, he would just have the protagonist level up. As the protagonist's power increased, the people and events he encountered became more advanced, opening up the story and making it easier for him to create conflicts and dramatic moments.

Tongyan felt that if he were good at games, he could better describe the pleasure of power advancement. Unfortunately, he wasn't good at games, and his computer couldn't run any large-scale games. However, he had Dong Mian, a natural game enthusiast, who played almost every popular game on the market. Previously, Tongyan didn't like listening to him talk about games, but now he actively listened to the stories in the games, which was another source of inspiration for him.

Another important source of inspiration was reading novels on Qidian. The more he read, the broader his ideas became. It must be said that the writers on Qidian at this time were very imaginative. Each novel was unique, with a variety of styles. Every author was creating a legend for their own world, and Tongyan couldn't wait to join them. However, he couldn't do it yet; he had just finished the first chapter of the main text.

Learning from the awkwardness of his first book, Tongyan placed more emphasis on stockpiling chapters. With stockpiled chapters, he could write calmly without worrying about losing readers due to a break in updates or forcing himself to create plots for continuous updates. The midterm exams were coming up, and he needed to focus on getting through this hurdle.

During the exam days, Tongyan didn't go to Old Liu's place, ensuring he was well-rested to perform well.

When the results came out, Tongyan wasn't surprised. He was fifth in the class, behind Dong Mian, Cheng Xianru, Dang Han, and Tang Xiang. He was 26th in the grade, barely maintaining his position in the top tier.

The amount of effort put in determines the amount of reward, and Tongyan always believed this to be true. He had divided his time and energy between writing web novels. If he could still rank second in the grade like last month, that would be a miracle.

Fortunately, Tongyan's Chinese score remained the top in the class. As long as he didn't make mistakes and kept his essays conservative, a score of over 130 in Chinese was easily achievable.

With the midterm exams over, Tongyan finally decided to launch his novel "Raging Thunder," which he had been preparing for a month. The release date was set for after the exams! (The novel "Born to Write" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, along with 100% chance to win a prize! Open WeChat now, click the "+" in the top right corner to "Add Friends," search for the public account "qdread" and follow it. Hurry up and do it now!)

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