Chapter 10
Xu Ying wiped the sweat from her forehead and, under the blazing sun, went to the new address.
Property Management Office.
A middle-aged man was sitting in the empty room. As soon as Xu Ying walked in, he looked up and asked in a local accent, "Here to pay the bill? How much?"
Um......
Xu Ying hesitated for a moment.
Based on her usual practice, she would definitely pay several thousand yuan in electricity bills upfront to save money and avoid having to go to the property management office every month. But now she has no money on hand, so she can only spend it carefully.
She only has a little over 500 yuan left.
This money is needed to cover her living expenses for this month, as well as the rice, flour, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar for the household. These were leftovers from two years ago, and she dared not use them; she had to buy a new set.
Fortunately, there are less than ten days left in this month, so we can get through it no matter what.
"Fifty, I guess."
Xu Ying had never paid such a low electricity bill in her life.
Fifty yuan. It seems she'll have to use her air conditioner sparingly. The air conditioner at home is an old-fashioned one; it's cool, but it consumes a lot of electricity.
This is really worrying.
The old man looked at her in surprise, probably not expecting anyone to pay such a small amount for electricity in the middle of summer.
He didn't say much, just reached out and tapped the QR code on the table: "Okay, just scan the code."
Xu Ying scanned the code as instructed.
As soon as the money was paid, she immediately received a balance notification from the bank via text message; she now only had 473 yuan left in her account.
It's alright, it's enough.
After comforting herself, Xu Ying left the residential compound and went to a nearby supermarket to shop.
She didn't buy any fruit, but bought all the seasonings she had already listed in her mind. She also picked out some inexpensive vegetables and meat, and then carried the bag of things home.
Xu Ying felt she had been frugal enough, but the balance of this trip still decreased by another hundred.
Okay.
She bought a bag of noodles at a small shop near the entrance of the residential area, thinking that if she really didn't have enough money in the last few days, she would eat plain noodles every day and somehow get through the month.
Once she receives her royalties next month, she won't have to live such a miserable life anymore.
The bag was heavy and constricting, filled with bottles and jars of seasonings. When Xu Ying got home, her hands were red and her back was covered in sweat.
She stood in the living room, stubbornly refusing to turn on the air conditioner.
The air conditioner can be turned on, but it has to be turned on when she's writing, because she gets irritable when it's hot, and when she's irritable, she can't write properly.
This fifty dollars should be used wisely.
Thinking this, Xu Ying simply turned on the large ceiling fan in the living room, and to her surprise, it was quite cool.
After resting for a while and feeling that she had recovered, Xu Ying got up to tidy up the kitchen and living room, which were filthy because they hadn't been cleaned yesterday.
"Dishcloth, dishcloth..."
Xu Ying muttered to herself as she wandered around the small rooms of the house, but she couldn't find a clean strip of cloth. With no other option, she picked up the rag that she had thrown in the trash can yesterday, washed it, and reused it.
There are too many broken things in the house.
Xu Ying cleaned and threw away trash as she went, eventually filling an entire sack.
After going downstairs several times to throw away all the trash, Xu Ying returned to the living room and looked around. The house was finally clean.
*
Xu Ying took a long nap in the afternoon, and when she woke up, the sky outside the window was already filled with the glow of dawn.
She got up lazily.
She slept so well that all her fatigue vanished.
In a good mood, she picked up her large backpack, took out her computer and graduation certificate, put them away, went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water, and then sat down in front of the computer.
She's been so busy and tired these past few days that she hasn't had time for her novel at all.
Xu Ying opened the Feihong Novel Network and went to check out the comments section of "Returning to High School Days".
There are so many comments in the comment section, several times more than before it was listed, and her collection count is increasing by hundreds every day.
The thought that all of this would eventually translate into profits made her smile involuntarily.
After admiring the string of numbers in the backend for a while, Xu Ying opened the document and continued typing.
Online, she had just finished serializing "Back to High School" up to the part where the female protagonist and her friend clarified their future ideals, but in reality, her drafts had already reached the point where the female protagonist participated in a math competition.
She had briefly mentioned the math competition earlier; it was just the preliminary round then, but now it's a league. Later on, the female protagonist will advance all the way to the finals to participate in training camps, win a gold medal, and be guaranteed admission to Tsinghua or Peking University. That's the female protagonist's ultimate goal.
At the same time, the female lead's friends can't be left out either.
After finding her dream, Xiaoxing quickly signed up for art exam training...
Xu Ying hadn't written anything for two days, and now she was in excellent condition, her typing speed almost unable to keep up with the words constantly popping into her head.
She finished a chapter every hour while enjoying the air conditioning.
*
Mo Yun and Yang Hui are on holiday from university.
They went to the same high school, so naturally they were from the same hometown.
On the way home, the two chatted and the topic turned to "Back to High School".
Mo Yun nudged her best friend: "Did you see yesterday's update?"
"Of course I watched it! The female lead won first place in the league and successfully advanced to the finals. Wow, she was so cool!"
Yang Hui was clearly a little excited, and she accidentally raised her voice, attracting a glance from the stranger sitting to her left.
She gave an embarrassed smile, then turned her head and lowered her voice, saying, "It's just a pity that Yueyue is too aloof. She only knows how to update every day and never pays attention to her readers."
February was originally a derogatory term for the weather in February, but these readers have turned it into an affectionate nickname.
Mo Yun wholeheartedly agreed.
"Yeah, look at how she updates at the exact same time every day, she must have set it to update automatically, she probably doesn't even log on once a day!"
"He really is a blockhead who only knows how to write; he never even said a word about extra chapters, but suddenly an update pops up..."
As the two were exchanging barbs, the girl to Yang Hui's left suddenly spoke up.
Are you showing off?
Song Yilian would occasionally read novels when she had free time, but she didn't read many.
However, she still knew the most basic facts about online novels. In her understanding, it was quite common for online novel authors to delay or stop updating, and it was rare for them to update on time and even add extra chapters from time to time.
She strongly suspected that the two people were not just complaining, but actually showing off.
Mo Yun and Yang Hui's conversation abruptly stopped.
Yang Hui pursed her lips, unsure of what to say. She seemed crazy, but that was only with familiar people. When she was with strangers, she couldn't utter a single word.
"Um......"
Finally, Mo Yun poked her head out and started chatting with Song Yilian across Yang Hui.
"Hey, you read novels too? Do you know Feihong Novel Network? Let me tell you, there's a great author there who writes really good stories..."
Mo Yun then proceeded to recount the entire process of how she discovered February Sky and the book "Back to High School Days".
During the conversation, she also gave a special mention of the recent incident involving the reporting of negative posts about February Sky.
"So many twists and turns!"
"Yeah, yeah, if you ask me, Yueyue is just too amazing, that's why people are wary of her. Think about it, which newcomer is like her, who topped the forum as soon as she came out?"
Yang Hui stood between the two, dumbfounded.
No matter how many times she saw it, she was still amazed by her friend's extroversion. How could she so naturally utter so many words to a stranger?
admire.
Seeing that the girl on her left had been persuaded by Mo Yun and actually took out her phone to download the Feihong app and start searching for it, Yang Hui even turned her head and secretly gave Mo Yun a thumbs up.
Wow!
Mo Yun raised an eyebrow at her and smiled smugly.
Just as Yang Hui was about to speak, the girl next to her spoke up again: "No, why can't I find this person you're talking about?"
How is that possible?!
Yang Hui turned her head.
Song Yilian had already held up her phone and handed it to the two of them.
Yang Hui looked closely and couldn't help but laugh out loud. No wonder she couldn't find it; Song Yilian had clearly typed "month" into the search bar.
"The month is our nickname; her real name is February Sky."
Yang Hui, no longer bothering to be shy, immediately began to explain to her.
"Oh, I see. I knew it."
Song Yilian withdrew her hand and fiddled with her phone a few more times. This time she found it, and just in case, she handed the phone to Yang Hui to confirm.
"Is this the one?"
Mo Yun and Yang Hui said in unison, "Yes, this is it."
Song Yilian confirmed it and then opened it to read.
Her interest in the novel stemmed entirely from Mo Yun's introduction. However, to avoid spoilers, Mo Yun didn't actually talk much about the novel's specific content; instead, she focused more on the events that happened to the author.
So at this moment, Song Yilian, who clicked on this novel, was less interested in the novel itself and more interested in the author as described by Mo Yun.
I read this novel because I was curious about the author.
Therefore, her expectations were not high.
However, after reading for only a few minutes, her mindset completely changed. This book was a bit unconventional.
Song Yilian was captivated by the plot; she involuntarily sat up straighter, her eyes glued to the phone screen, reading on with great eagerness.
The female protagonist is murdered, and when she wakes up, she finds herself back in her high school days.
She studied hard, saved her best friend, participated in a math competition, won first place, and became the center of attention, surrounded by flowers... a life trajectory completely different from her previous life, filled with wonderful moments.
Although it was clearly inspiring, Song Yilian felt a pang of sadness in her heart.
She thought back to her high school days.
She wasn't unintelligent when she was in school; if she had studied hard, she could have easily gotten into a top university in China. It's just a pity that she was immature back then and only wanted to be in a relationship. She even went against her parents and homeroom teacher because of her relationship.
Why.
As a result, she didn't get into a good university, and her boyfriend broke up with her as soon as he graduated.
Fortunately, she realized it not too late.
Because her undergraduate degree wasn't good, she worked hard to get into graduate school, and with the help of a capable mentor, she's doing quite well now.
However, in the quiet of the night, I still can't help but think back to my senior year of high school.
Every time she thinks about it, her heart is filled with regret.
If only life could be lived again like in this novel, she would definitely listen to the breakup and study hard.
“This book is really good,” Song Yilian said earnestly to the two girls beside her, pulling herself out of her reverie. “Thank you both. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know when I would have discovered such a wonderful book.”
Her eyes were so sincere that Yang Hui was momentarily at a loss for words.
Does a novel deserve such a formal thank you?
Mo Yun, on the other hand, was quite carefree: "Right, right? I told you this book is incredibly good, you definitely won't regret reading it!"
Having successfully promoted "Back to High School Days," she's beaming with joy, even happier than when she read the book herself.
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