Chapter 56 Spending a Huge Sum of Money to Buy Novels

Before Shen Xuewei even needed to come up with a solution, Wu Yuhong became addicted to novels, but after less than half a month, she quit because she ran out of money.

Wu Yuhong's father had appendicitis and the surgery cost more than two thousand yuan.

Not only did they use up all their family savings, they even borrowed several hundred yuan from the Chen family.

Shen Xuewei had long forgotten whether Wu Yuhong's father had appendicitis in her previous life.

After all, so many years have passed, and then nearly ten years of fast-paced work and life followed. How could I possibly remember things from elementary school so clearly?

She has almost forgotten everything that happened in college, let alone elementary school.

What she can always remember are the things that left a deep impression on her and had a significant impact on her.

In her past life, she and Wu Yuhong were not in the same grade, and their relationship was not as close as it is in this life.

The events that happened to the Wu family were not something she would remember for long in her past life, so it's normal that she doesn't remember them.

Wu Yuhong has always been sensible and has always been very frugal with her living expenses. Now that her family is in debt, she will no longer buy novels to read.

She gave up reading novels, which did not affect her grades. In fact, she studied even harder because of it. Shen Xuewei was both gratified and sympathetic.

However, as the novel gradually became popular in schools, Shen Xuewei felt that she had found another way to make money besides helping elementary school students with their homework.

In her previous life, she had read so many novels, including stories of domineering CEOs falling in love with her, palace intrigue, and battles against wicked mothers-in-law—all kinds of genres were available.

Even if you've never eaten pork, haven't you at least seen a pig run?

Having read so many novels, writing one shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Without hesitation, she used her spare time to conceive a short campus novel and revised it in her notebook.

When school was over, I would run to the internet cafe in town and type out the text word by word.

Illegal internet cafes are called such not only because of their poor environment and unlicensed operation, but also because they allow minors to enter.

Internet cafe owners don't care how old you are; as long as you pay, they'll let you in.

It costs two yuan to use the internet at an internet cafe for an hour.

Just as Shen Xuewei helped Wu Yuhong keep her secret, Wu Yuhong also helped her keep her secret about going to internet cafes.

She had no money and couldn't get into the internet cafe, so she waited for Shen Xuewei outside.

Because of time constraints, Shen Xuewei only paid for one hour of internet access to avoid her grandparents noticing when she returned too late.

He typed furiously on the keyboard, transferring one-fifth of what he had written in the notebook to the computer.

With only a few minutes left in the hour, she quickly saved the file and sent it to her email address to keep it there. She would continue writing when she returned to town on Sunday.

Fortunately, she had registered an email address in advance during her computer class at school.

Not only that, I also registered two QQ accounts, which I'll need later.

Wu Yuhong waited outside for a full hour until she finally came out, then pulled her towards the van by the roadside.

"Weiwei, what are you doing at the internet cafe? My mom said that internet cafes are harmful places and that we should avoid them."

Shen Xuewei shushed her. "Oh dear, I need to use the computer for something. Don't worry, I won't go astray, and it won't affect my grades. You promised me you wouldn't tell the adults when you get back, so you have to keep this a secret for me."

"I know, I won't tell them. Anyway... just be careful yourself."

Wu Yuhong is only twelve years old, but she is sensible for a long time. At such a young age, she is already worried about her mother, fearing that Shen Xuewei will go astray.

Shen Xuewei glanced at Wu Yuhong, whose face was filled with worry and unease, and reached out to take her arm, saying:

"Yu Hong, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

With Wu Yuhong covering for her, she said that she had done some homework assigned by the teacher at school in advance.

Although Shen Xuewei returned later than usual, Grandpa Chen and the others did not notice anything unusual and even felt that she was studying harder.

After staying at home for two days, on Sunday, after having lunch and taking a shower at home, she called Wu Yuhong and couldn't wait to take a car to town.

This time she booked several hours at the internet cafe.

Since it had been a while, Wu Yuhong was told to go back to school by herself first.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing incessantly.

Hearing the noise, the blond-haired boy next to her craned his neck to look at her, thinking she was playing some new game.

He peeked over and saw that she had written dense text, which made his head spin, so he pulled his head back.

Thanks to the two years Shen Xuewei spent working as a customer service representative, she successfully honed her typing speed to the extreme. It took her a total of three hours to input the entire 30,000-word novel into a document.

She checked it again, corrected a few typos, found the submission email address she had previously seen in a novel magazine, and sent the completed novel there.

Next, all you have to do is wait quietly for the magazine editor's reply.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Shen Xuewei spent several days at school before finally waiting for Friday to end.

She grabbed Wu Yuhong and rushed out of the school gate, eagerly heading into an internet cafe.

Turn on the computer, log in to your email—all in one smooth motion.

She excitedly opened the reply in her inbox...

Upon seeing the content, her smile froze on her face.

...The plot is bland, the characters are poorly developed, and the story lacks completeness and appeal... We suggest you revise and improve your work further, and we look forward to your next submission.

Upon seeing the rejection notice, Shen Xuewei was somewhat disappointed, but it was also within expectations.

Driven by passion, she wrote this short campus novel of about 30,000 words, only to receive such a result, which left her somewhat discouraged.

But after a brief period of discouragement, she quickly rallied.

This is only the first time that my manuscript has been rejected. If I give up so easily after just one rejection, I'm destined to never make a living in this field.

If it doesn't work the first time, try the second time; if it doesn't work the second time, try the third time. As long as you keep at it, you'll definitely make progress, and who knows, you might even get picked up by a magazine!

Based on the shortcomings mentioned in the rejection email, she revised some parts of the novel and then submitted it to another magazine.

After leaving the internet cafe, she didn't go straight back. Instead, she took Wu Yuhong to a bookstore where they could buy novels and magazines, and bought several different ones.

To make a living in this industry, you need to at least understand the current market.

See what everyone is writing, see what kind of novels readers like, and then practice your own writing skills.

Although she had never written a novel before, she was quite good at writing essays and had read so many novels, so she should have some talent.

Fueled by this inexplicable confidence, she spent a fortune buying novels and magazines for two consecutive weeks.

After in-depth research, I revised the manuscript, which was rejected again, and submitted it to a smaller magazine.

And then... it was rejected again.

She was not satisfied, so she revised it again and then chose a smaller magazine to submit it to.

Hard work pays off, and this time, her manuscript was finally accepted by the magazine.

She did not leave her phone number with the magazine, so the two parties could only communicate about the contract via email and QQ.

As a newcomer, the editor didn't pay her much, only 30 yuan per thousand words.