Chapter 7

At midnight, Fei Hong's new book list was updated, and Xu Ying's "Returning to High School" was also put on the shelves.

However, she didn't live to see the change of rankings.

She packed her things and cleaned her dorm room all day. She was so busy that she didn't even go for a jog on the track in the evening. She was so tired that she went straight to bed.

She had no idea that her book had climbed to fifth place on the new book charts as soon as it was released.

On the Feihong app's mobile page, the homepage of the new book list can cover exactly five books, which means that as long as readers open the new book list, Xu Ying's book will be prominently displayed at the bottom.

This is already a very good amount of exposure.

However, that's not all.

When Ying woke up around nine in the morning, her new book had already climbed to second place. As for the first place, it was a long-awaited new work from a great author with countless fans.

The long-awaited return of this top author is sure to excite her fans. Subscribing to the new book is just the beginning; donations are pouring in one after another. Her incredible earning power is something that ordinary authors simply cannot match.

Unfortunately, February Sky and Qingfeng were released on the same day.

Yueyin had messaged Xu Ying in advance, asking if she wanted to postpone the release by a day. Xu Ying felt it was unnecessary, so the two of them released it as planned.

Therefore, in Yueyin's opinion, this is the best result a newcomer can achieve. As a result, when Xu Ying woke up, she received a screenshot of the new book ranking and a congratulatory text message from Yueyin.

Xu Ying didn't reply; she went to check the Feihong app first.

On Fei Hong's new book list, her "Back to High School" was indeed in second place, while the top spot was Qingfeng Xulai's "Ten Thousand Calls".

Xu Ying didn't pay much attention to the first place's score. She just glanced at the other person's more than 10,000 favorites, then exited and went to check her own data in the backend.

The new book chart truly lives up to its reputation as the most popular chart. Her new book only stayed on it for a full nine hours, yet it already had over three thousand favorites. This increase was more than double her previous totals.

No wonder everyone wants to go for it!

Xu Ying experienced the allure of the new book charts and wanted to stay there forever. Unfortunately, each book only had one chance to be listed.

Xu Ying didn't dwell on it too much. She checked her earnings again. With the collection increasing so quickly, the earnings must not be too bad.

She was mentally prepared, but she was still shocked by the amount shown in the backend – it was over a thousand yuan.

In just one day—no, in only half a day—she had already earned 1089 yuan, and that was after deducting the website's revenue, which was her share.

She's earned more money than this before, but things are different now; she has less than a thousand dollars on her at the moment.

As for why her savings suddenly dropped from 1,900 to this level, it's because she needs to eat every day.

She has been in this world for more than half a month. During this time, she has been eating in the school cafeteria. Even though the school cafeteria is cheap, it still costs her twenty or thirty yuan a day.

Money doesn't just keep disappearing as you eat.

Not to mention that the school keeps sending out notices about printing various materials, so she now only has a pitiful nine hundred yuan left in her pocket.

However, she had been calculating all along.

To get back to her hometown of Mengxian from Kangcheng, she needs over 200 yuan for the high-speed rail and 48 yuan for the bus. The distance from the station to her home is quite long, and if she takes a taxi, it would probably cost more than ten yuan.

She couldn't touch the travel expenses; she had already set aside that money separately. Fortunately, the remaining money was barely enough for her to eat and drink at school, which was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

She is now only praying that the school will issue her graduation certificate soon, so that she can go home sooner.

Therefore, the revenue on the first day of the new book's release was a huge surprise to her.

If it weren't for the platform's rule that monthly royalties can only be withdrawn the following month, she would have loved to withdraw them now and splurge a little; she was truly fed up with eating in the cafeteria every day.

Xu Ying felt great looking at the amount in the backend. She sent a message to the editor and then went back to writing.

Little did she know that at this very moment, controversy was slowly brewing regarding the data on her novels.

Feihong Novel Network, Taxue Forum.

[--Redacted|Are newbies really this aggressive with their data manipulation these days? If it weren't for Qingfeng being the top player, was this person planning to just climb straight to the top? ... ... . ...

NO1: The censorship in the original poster's code is so obvious, it's like they didn't type it at all, hahaha!

NO2: I think she's not afraid to spend money to get to the top of the charts, but she doesn't have the money. Qingfeng has countless fans, how much money does she have to spend to get to the top? Even if she did have the money to get to the top, Qingfeng's fans wouldn't let her off the hook.

NO3: I'm speechless. As an author, can't you just write a proper book? All you do is come up with crooked and unorthodox ideas.

NO4: Ha, I noticed her a while ago. She didn't just start posting today, I guess she's been posting for a while now. The number of favorites for her new book has been increasing ridiculously.

NO5: Holy crap, after seeing what the person upstairs said, I went back to take another look, and she's already got over 4,000 favorites [speechless].

NO6: ......

NO7: Big daring.

NO.8: Newcomers are so bold.

NO9: I want to say that the book is actually quite good.

NO10: Wow, the paid trolls are so fast! They came over as soon as the post opened.

NO11: I'm a serious reader, okay!

NO12: ?

NO13: What are you talking about? I don't understand a word of it.

NO14: There's a melon, so put an ear on it.

NO15: Here's a code word, are you talking about Sister Yueyue on the new book list?

NO16: Sister Yueyue, hahahahaha.

NO17: The person upstairs is really talented. I want to be your online friend again in my next life!

NO18: That's why people say he's smart. He stays in the second position, gaining traffic without offending the fans of the big names.

NO19: I went over and read a few chapters. The plot is so ridiculous, it's definitely a guaranteed rip-off.

NO20: Are you really watching or just pretending? [Speechless]

NO21: You're the one who's a hater, stop talking nonsense. This book is very well written and innovative. Once you've read it, you can't honestly say it's not good!

NO22: Arrest a wild aquatic creature.

NO23: The online trolls arrived so quickly?

NO24: Sister Yue is rich.

NO25: ? If you don't believe me, click into my homepage and you'll see all the purchase records.

NO26: I understand, I understand. Being an online troll isn't easy these days. You've worked hard.

NO27: Haha!

NO28: I'm speechless. I think the real trolls are you guys who are trying to slander me. I told you the truth, but you wouldn't listen. You haven't even read a few chapters of the main text before making random comments and mocking me. Are you just jealous of the author?

NO29: What are you jealous of? Are you jealous of her stat boosting? [winking]

NO30: Oh my god, I'm dying of laughter! The person upstairs is awesome!

NO31: Tsk tsk tsk, some authors don't even know to pay attention when they're posting, do they really think everyone is stupid?

NO32: You guys are really idiots for just blindly following the trend of criticizing.

NO33: Oh my, someone's defenses have been broken [smile][smile].

NO34: Is it so hard to understand why it's so popular? It's because it's good! Readers aren't stupid. If the book were really as bad as you say, would anyone be so eager to defend the author? I ask you!

NO35: There's no way to communicate with these people; they're determined to smear DaDa.

NO36: Pfft, the reversed Heavenly Gang.

NO37: We've actually become paid trolls? Okay, okay, I'm a paid troll. So, could you please share some of your pay with me?

NO38: That's right, that's right. How can we do the work of an online troll without getting paid for it? Just kidding.

......

NO84: No, believe me! I've been a reader for ten years, and this book is seriously, seriously, seriously good! After finishing it, I'm completely out of reading material. I can't find anything to replace it with. Now I'm just begging the author to transform into a tentacle monster and update the story quickly!!!

NO85: It's really good, but unfortunately the people in the post are too crazy, I don't dare to say anything.

NO86: That's right, that's right. As long as you say something in support of this book, you'll immediately be labeled a paid troll.

NO87: I've finally found my people, sob sob! Our high school made it up here on its own merits, and I even contributed to it! Proudly, hands on hips!

NO88: No, aren't you trolls being a little too emotional?

NO89: Sister, facts speak louder than words. Go and see for yourself whether we are paid trolls or not.

NO90: The comments section was arguing for ages, and I flipped through several pages but still couldn't find the book title [frustrated].

NO91: Me too, I really can't understand the code. Is there anyone kind enough to reveal it to me, or just post the name?

NO92: "Back to High School Days", by Er Yue Tian.

NO93: Holy crap, she just said it so sweetly?

NO94: What can't be said? These nagging people are so annoying. If you have real evidence that someone is manipulating data, then report them. If not, just read the article. Who are you insulting by calling her "Sister Yueyue" all over the place?

NO95: Suspected to have been posted by the author himself.

NO96: I'm not the author, I'm just a casual reader.

NO97: I'll go test the poison first, family members wait for my feedback.

NO98: etc.

NO99: Waiting.

......

The post was made this morning.

Although the two sides were arguing in the thread, the number of people was limited, and the argument gradually subsided after a hundred floors, without causing any major upheaval.

But by evening, the situation had changed.

Although Xu Ying's new book has not yet climbed to the top of the list and has been steadily holding the second position, the increase in her collection is truly astonishing for a newcomer.

She has already received six thousand.

Keep in mind that this is only evening, and office workers are just getting off work. You can imagine how amazing the increase in her novel's popularity will be when it's late at night and during peak traffic hours.

It's not impossible for it to break 10,000.

In fact, if it weren't for the coincidence of running into Qingfeng today, this February's new book might already be at the top of the charts.

That's terrifying.

With such a promising newcomer, how can one not feel envious and jealous!

As a result, the previously dormant posts were dug up again by those with ulterior motives, reigniting a new round of smear campaigns and verbal battles. This time, the battle was much more intense than the one in the morning, with all sorts of vulgar language flying around.

The post was chaotic, and those who hadn't read the story before clicked in, subconsciously developed a prejudice against "Back to High School".

Furthermore, a number of people deliberately trying to smear "Back to High School" formed a group to report the novel on the Feihong Novel Network's backend, claiming that Eryuetian paid money to inflate its data.

In a short time, Xu Ying's backstage received countless reports.

There were too many private messages reporting the issues on the Feihong Novel Network's backend. Yueyin was about to leave work when the editor-in-chief called her back, and she started working overtime to check the backend data.

Upon hearing the devastating news, Yueyin was furious.

It's obvious without even thinking that someone is behind this.

Moreover, it's most likely the work of some author who's jealous and envious. After all, there's no vested interest between readers and authors, so who would do something so thankless and exhausting?!

Who is it?!

Yueyin gritted her teeth.

She finally found a promising seedling, and just as it was about to flourish, someone tried to pluck it out halfway through! Unforgivable!

Don't let me catch you.

Yueyin thought fiercely, but suppressed her anger and sent a message to Eryuetian to soothe her emotions.

Newcomers are generally more vulnerable.

February Sky's new book has just been released, and today should have been a good day, but unexpectedly she has encountered such a large-scale whistleblowing incident. She must be feeling very bad right now.

I need to comfort her quickly, otherwise it will affect her writing and that would be a loss.

Fearing something might go wrong with her cash cow, Yueyin quickly sent a long message of reassurance.

Xu Ying did not reply to her in time.

It was lunchtime, and perhaps knowing she hadn't gone home, Jie Lin had been asking her out several times recently.

Unfortunately, she was short of money, and although Jie Lin offered to treat her, she always reluctantly declined, adhering to the principle of not taking advantage of others.

well.

After being rejected a few times, Jie Lin learned her lesson and this time she actually invited her to eat at the cafeteria.

Xu Ying: "......"

This time, she didn't hesitate and agreed immediately.

So the two of them were chatting and laughing as they went to the cafeteria for lunch, completely unaware of the uproar on the Taxue Forum caused by her.