"Fanchen, your recent 'Strange Tales' stories have been quite good. I wonder if you've got more in that style. If so, feel free to send them to me anytime."
Editor Liangcha from Midnight Talk messaged Huang Yifan late at night with a manuscript request.
This came on the orders of Chief Editor Zhou Qing from the day before.
While Liangcha didn't know why Zhou Qing had suddenly taken an interest in 'Strange Tales', since it was now a priority, she wasted no time reaching out.
"Of course, since your writing's been solid, we've raised your payment to 80 yuan per thousand characters."
"No problem. I've still got a few on hand. I'll send them over in a bit."
Huang Yifan replied after seeing the message.
There were about 400 stories in the complete 'Strange Tales'. Publishing them all would take some time.
Although it seemed like the stories hadn't yet attracted much attention, Huang Yifan wasn't too worried. Classics often need time to be recognized. Even the Four Great Classical Novels weren't immediate hits when rediscovered. Real gold would shine eventually, and Huang Yifan had time to spare.
As for the manuscript fee, Huang Yifan didn't really care.
Knowing the market, he understood that without fame, even the best-written 'Strange Tales' wouldn't fetch more than 500 yuan per thousand words. Whether it was 50 or 80 yuan per thousand made little difference.
Besides, he knew there was little money in magazine work. The key lay in publication rights.
And since he still held the publication rights himself, he let the magazine pay whatever they wanted for the serialization.
After some thought, Huang Yifan chose two stories: 'Strange Tales - Corpse Transformation' and 'Strange Tales - Carrying the Corpse'.
These were like 'Biting a Ghost' and 'Ear Dweller', not masterpieces, but passable. More importantly, they weren't among the iconic tales. Publishing these wouldn't hurt. He'd use these average pieces to first open up the market for 'Strange Tales'.
He quickly translated both stories into modern prose and sent them to Liangcha.
By the time he finished, it was already close to 10 PM.
Then he checked his novel's stats on Lingdian. At that moment, 'How a Bad Guy Is Made' had passed the 50.000 bookmarks.
Thanks to its rising popularity, the book was now the talk of the site, whether it was in the comment section or on the Feilong forums. Smiling to himself, Huang Yifan felt like he'd finally found his footing in this new world. Without dwelling on it further, he remembered he had to take a test in Xinfeng the next day, so he washed up and went to bed.
…
In front of Tieshikou Middle School.
The students chosen to represent the county in the junior high academic competition had all gathered.
Tieshikou had three advanced classes in the third year: Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. Each selected two representatives, totaling six students.
In addition, three teachers were assigned to lead the team into the county seat.
"It's almost 6 o'clock. Why is one person still missing?"
Sun Jin, one of the Class 1 reps, sounded annoyed.
"Yeah, can't they see what kind of exam this is? Making all of us wait around."
Wu Haihua from Class 1 chimed in.
"Jiang Weiwei, I think the one who's missing is from your class, right? Do you have his home number? Call him."
"Uh…"
Jiang Weiwei frowned and looked around.
She recognized Sun Jin and Wu Haihua from Class 1, and Li Luozhi and Yu Bin from Class 3 were already here. That just left the two from her own class.
But the problem was, their homeroom teacher and the lead teacher had never told her who the other Class 2 rep was. Now that they were asking her to make a call, how was she supposed to know who to call?
Just as she was flustered, a figure suddenly appeared.
"Huh? Huang Yifan?"
"What are you doing here, Huang Yifan? Morning self-study already started, why aren't you there?"
In her anxious state, Jiang Weiwei blurted out at him.
"Now that's rich. If you're allowed to be here, why can't I be? If this is about morning study, Jiang Weiwei, why aren't you there?"
Seeing her again, Huang Yifan felt a headache coming on.
If it weren't for the 10.000 yuan the homeroom teacher had promised him yesterday, he wouldn't have shown up no matter what.
"Well, look who's getting slick lately. Listen, we're here waiting for our teacher to take us to the county for a competition. You better get back to class. The entrance exam's coming up, you should take it seriously."
"Thanks for the concern, Vice Class Rep."
Huang Yifan couldn't be bothered. He stepped away from Jiang Weiwei and waited quietly for the teacher.
"Hey hey hey, Huang Yifan! I told you to go to class. Why are you still standing there?"
Seeing him ignore her, Jiang Weiwei got even more irritated.
She marched over and confronted him again.
"Jiang Weiwei, do you ever stop? Worry about yourself. Why are you so obsessed with what I'm doing? Also, why is it okay for you to be in the competition but not me?"
"You? Compete?"
Jiang Weiwei laughed like she'd heard a joke. "Huang Yifan, that's not funny at all."
But just as she said that, the time hit six. The three teachers leading the team walked out of the office.
"Looks like everyone's here. Alright, let's get on the bus."
Teacher Ye Fei glanced at the group and gave the signal.
"Wait… what?"
Jiang Weiwei was stunned.
What was going on?
"Mr. Ye! Mr. Ye!"
She ran over and asked softly.
"What is it, Jiang Weiwei?"
"Why is Huang Yifan here?"
"Oh, you mean Huang Yifan? He's also one of the participants in the county competition. Is something wrong?"
"Wait… what? He's in the competition too?"
At that moment, Jiang Weiwei froze.
…
"Huang Yifan! Explain yourself! What's going on?"
Once they were on the bus, Jiang Weiwei looked like she was about to explode.
Especially when she saw Huang Yifan sitting there with a half-smile. She wanted to crawl into a hole.
She'd just been mocking him. Then: Bam! Instant slap in the face.
Still, Jiang Weiwei was the type who couldn't let things go. Even if she'd embarrassed herself, she wasn't about to drop it. She pressed Huang Yifan for an explanation.
"What do you mean: 'What's going on?'"
Huang Yifan sighed. With this girl's attitude, how did she even manage to study? Her IQ was seriously questionable.
"Why are you in the competition?"
"Why can't I be in the competition?"
He threw the question back.
"You…"
Jiang Weiwei was at a loss for words. She wanted to say it was because his grades were bad, but with everyone else in the bus, she hesitated.
But if she didn't say it, it gnawed at her.
Thankfully, after about ten minutes on the road, one of the teachers, Zhang Ming, clapped his hands and addressed everyone.
"Let me explain the schedule for today's competition. When we get to the county, we'll have breakfast at 7 AM. After that, we'll head to the county cultural center, where the exam will be held. But we won't take the exam right away, it starts at 2 PM. Between breakfast and noon, it's free time. Now, don't think this is just playtime. The point of this 'free time' is to interact with students from other schools and get a sense of the competition. After lunch, at 2 PM, the official competition begins. It'll span two days. On the last day, the champion will be decided. Oh, and one more thing; if you win the championship, the school will reward you with 10.000 yuan."
As soon as Zhang Ming finished, the students erupted in chatter.
"Wait, wasn't it 5,000 before? When did it become 10.000?"
"Yeah, the school must be going all in this time."
Sun Jin and Wu Haihua from Class 1 exchanged remarks, and everyone laughed.
"Haha, good question."
Zhang Ming chuckled. "Why raise it to 10.000? Apparently, one of the participants said 5.000 wasn't enough. I won't say who, but since they had the guts to bargain with the school, we hope they can bring home the win."
Everyone looked around, trying to guess who it was.
"Don't look at me! It wasn't me," Wu Haihua quickly said.
"Wasn't me either. I thought 5.000 was already a fortune, why ask for 10.000?"
Sun Jin added.
Jiang Weiwei shook her head, signaling it wasn't her.
Then everyone turned toward Huang Yifan. But he had his eyes closed, clearly uninterested in responding to a bunch of kids.
"Stop looking at Huang Yifan. I know his level. No way it was him."
Jiang Weiwei stepped in to "defend" him.
"Could it be Yu Bin?"
Though Tieshikou had three advanced classes, Class 3 had always been the strongest.
When the students looked at Yu Bin, he just shook his head and smiled. "You all know I'm not short on money. Why would I make a request like that?"
With Yu Bin denying it, everyone seemed to think they had the answer.
It had to be Li Luozhi.
She was the academic queen of Tieshikou, holding the top rank since seventh grade. Even the other star students felt a bit inferior around her.
Unfortunately, Li Luozhi was notoriously cold. She didn't care for boys or girls. And because of her unmatched performance, she often made others feel inadequate.
Although everyone was guessing it was her, no one dared ask.
As for Li Luozhi, she heard everything but didn't explain a word. Just like Huang Yifan, she closed her eyes and said nothing.
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