Chapter 22

After "Back to High School" ended, Xu Ying was finally able to withdraw half of the manuscript fees that had been piling up in the back office, which was indeed a considerable sum.

According to Xu Ying's initial forecast of the novel's revenue trend, the royalties should not have been this high.

But she was just too lucky!

Who would have thought that the story of Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er, historical figures mentioned only briefly in one chapter of the book, would suddenly become a hit on the internet, attracting a lot of external traffic to the novel?

When she first started writing, she didn't have such high expectations. Her original intention was simply to subtly include some Chinese history.

All I can say is that our ancestors were truly amazing.

In short, thanks to this influx of external traffic, "Back to High School" has truly broken through its niche audience and become a huge hit. Now, even people outside the circle have heard of this novel to some extent.

Such a favorable situation naturally attracted many envious young authors.

On the day "Back to High School" ended, someone anonymously started a thread on the Taxue Forum to discuss and speculate on how much money Eryuetian made from the book.

The post received countless comments.

The more people guessed, the more outrageous it became, with the number soaring to a million at one point.

Of course, there was no million, but there was more than 500,000. At this moment, Xu Ying's bank card had 340,000 yuan that had just been deposited, plus the money she had withdrawn earlier, totaling about 530,000 yuan.

Fate is unpredictable.

Two months ago, she was still worried about living expenses, but now she has a huge sum of money.

This amount of money could even buy a fairly large house in their small county town, like the two-bedroom apartment in the old neighborhood where she lives now, for just over 200,000 yuan, at most no more than 300,000 yuan.

However, Xu Ying never considered buying a house in her hometown.

Life here is comfortable, but it's still a small place. She's a girl here and doesn't have any relatives. Of course, it would be safer and more convenient to go to a big city.

She thought Kangcheng was pretty good.

The original owner of this body studied at university there for five years, and she lived there for more than a month after she transmigrated, and even made a friend named Jie Lin.

However, buying a house is not in a hurry for now.

With the little money Xu Ying had, it was simply not enough to compete in the Kangcheng real estate market.

She has other uses for the money now.

She first needs to take out a portion to pay off the original owner's student loans. The five years of student loans totaled less than 100,000 yuan, which Xu Ying can pay off in one go now.

I'll pay it back right away.

The next day, Xu Ying put on a helmet and rode her electric scooter out.

At the end of August, the sun was still scorching. Xu Ying's hair would stick to her face in no time while wearing a helmet. At times like this, she would especially miss her car with air conditioning.

She now has the money to buy a car, but unfortunately, she doesn't have a driver's license.

The original owner of this body was in financial difficulty; she had borrowed money from the bank to pay her tuition. How could she bear to spend several thousand yuan to take a driving test, which would mean she couldn't eat or drink? So, Xu Ying had to handle this herself.

Even if she knew how to drive in her past life, she still has to go through the procedures in this life.

Although she was taking the driving test, Xu Ying wasn't in a hurry to register for the test right now.

Doesn't she realize that it's 37 or 38 degrees Celsius? If she were to crack an egg on the street, it would probably get scalded. How could she be so foolish as to go to the driving school every day?

She doesn't need those few pennies, and she doesn't need any summer driving school discounts.

She'll wait until the temperature drops in October before considering registering.

The small county town wasn't very big. Xu Ying rode her bike for about ten minutes to the bank where she had applied for the loan. There weren't many people in the lobby at the moment, and the bank staff were very welcoming to her.

After she explained her purpose, the staff became even more enthusiastic.

Xu Ying paid back the money smoothly, and after paying it back, she went home and devoted herself to writing a new article.

In the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Yan Huaijin traveled back in time to the Tang Dynasty.

He was thirteen years old at the time.

At this age, she still considers herself a complete child, but nowadays she has reached the age where she can discuss marriage.

In the early Tang Dynasty, women could generally get married at the age of fifteen. Therefore, in the eyes of elders, it was quite common for women to start looking for husbands at the age of thirteen.

Yan Huaijin was somewhat unable to accept it after learning about it.

She looked down at her still-developing, flat-chested figure, and the thought of getting married in two years, followed by pregnancy and childbirth, sent shivers down her spine.

It's even scarier than a ghost story.

In order to prevent her parents from arranging a marriage for her, Yan Huaijin thought long and hard and decided to take drastic measures.

However, this needs to be done at the right time.

Soon, the opportunity arrived.

In the third month of spring, the snow melts and the ice disappears, and tender buds sprout from the branches.

A young lady from a noble family held a flower-viewing banquet, and Yan Huaijin was invited to attend.

Peonies of various colors were in full bloom at the banquet.

The young ladies gathered together, chattering away. At first, they were admiring the peonies, but later they started talking about everything from the latest fabrics, foods, jade, and rouge in the capital. Some even mentioned a young man who had recently become quite famous in the capital.

"That second son of the Du family is indeed outstanding in appearance. I once saw him from afar, and he is truly a dashing figure!"

"I've heard of his name, but I've never met him."

"By the way, Second Aunt, has your father and mother started looking for suitable partners for you lately?"

......

As the conversation flowed, the topic turned to marriage.

The mention of marriage immediately snapped Yan Huaijin, who had been feeling drowsy, back to reality. Wasn't this her chance to shine?

She immediately gave a disdainful smile and declared, "No matter how good the young men in the capital are, I won't marry them!"

Everyone was shocked by these words.

Why don't you get married?

"Could it be that you, Jinniang, already have someone you love, and that this person is not from the capital?"

......

The crowd began to discuss it amongst themselves.

Seeing that it was about time, Yan Huaijin stood up and looked around. Once everyone's attention was on her, she raised her chin and said firmly:

"What's the point of getting married? If anyone's going to get married, it'll be someone else marrying me!"

"My parents only have one daughter, so I want to find a husband to live with us. In the future, if we have children, they will take the surname of the Yan family so that our Yan bloodline can be passed down!"

Yan Huaijin's willingness to speak out in public was undoubtedly based on careful consideration.

Now it is the Tang Dynasty, a time of open-mindedness and Emperor Taizong's magnanimity. He would probably not blame her for such a small remark. If she were reborn in the Qing Dynasty, she would really have to think carefully.

Everyone was startled upon hearing this.

Yan Huaijin's remarks were indeed bold, leaving the young ladies at the table at a loss for words.

After the flower-viewing banquet ended, Yan Huaijin's son-in-law's speech quickly spread throughout Chang'an City, and for a time, everyone in the city knew the name of Yan's wife.

Yan Huaijin became famous, but not for a good reason.

Many pedantic intellectuals even publicly denounced her, calling her shameless, morally bankrupt, unchaste, and ignorant of social hierarchy.

Xu Ying enjoyed writing it.

It was already 10 p.m., but she felt her mind was still very active and there was still a lot to write down.

So she rubbed her wrists, rested for only a few minutes, and then continued writing.

In ancient times, without mobile phones, people's lives were actually quite dull.

A major news story has finally broken in Beijing, and everyone is eager to hear the gossip.

The rumors had been circulating for only two days when someone asked Yan Liben about it. Yan Liben went from being puzzled to confused, and then to shocked and angry in just one minute.

However, he still had to maintain his composure in front of outsiders.

After he finally sent away his colleagues who had come to watch the commotion and returned home, he could no longer contain his anger and glared at Yan Huaijin in front of his wife.

"Tell me, what happened?!"

Madam Chen's face also turned ugly: "Jin'er, if you really said that outside, do you know that I've been looking for a husband for you recently? After you said that, which family would still want you?"

She said that the ladies had been looking at her strangely these past two days because her daughter had gotten into trouble outside.

This is exactly the effect I wanted.

Upon hearing her mother's words, Yan Huaijin knew that her idea had succeeded.

However, in front of her parents, she naturally had to be clever and obedient.

She hugged her mother's arm tightly, her eyes brimming with tears, and said, "I don't want to leave you, Father and Mother. I know that you are the only ones in this world who treat me the best. No one else will treat me like this if I leave you."

Seeing their daughter cry and hearing such comforting words, the couple, who were still angry, immediately fell silent. They had always loved their daughter, otherwise they wouldn't have given her a name that sounded like a man's.

Yan Liben softened his voice and tried to reason with his daughter.

"A woman will eventually get married. Don't worry, your mother and I will find you a good marriage and won't let your husband's family bully you."

"Father, I will not get married."

“If my daughter had an older brother, I would definitely be willing to marry him, but now my parents only have me by their side. If I get married, they will be all alone in the future. How can I be at ease then!”

Yan Liben's expression softened even more.

"It's enough that you have this intention. In the future, I will choose someone from the clan to be adopted into our family. You don't need to worry about taking care of us in our old age and seeing us off when we die."

Yan Huaijin had already considered the adoption.

“But Father, no matter how you adopt someone else’s child, they are still someone else’s child. Don’t you want our own Yan family bloodline? I don’t ask for great wealth and status, I just ask that our family be safe and sound. In the future, I will choose a man of humble status to marry into our family, and the children we have will take our Yan family’s surname, wouldn’t that be better?”

Before Yan Liben could speak, Chen was already somewhat tempted.

No matter how good someone else's son is, he can't compare to one's own daughter. Rather than having her live with an outsider in the future, it's naturally a better choice to keep her by one's side.

"master......"

Yan Liben knew from the look on his wife's face that she was tempted.

He had no choice but to wave his hand and say, "Let me think about it."

A note from the author: