Chapter 12: The Ordinary Path

At the beginning of July, Xu Heng's royalties came in.

Excluding the small change, it was 100,000; at this juncture, his book had reached 500,000 words, the editor gave him another major front-page recommendation, his average subscription was pushing 15,000, and with things flourishing, he already had the bearing of a minor god.

The last book with such hot momentum was *Fo Ben Shi Dao* from last year; even this year's *Infinite Terror* couldn't compare to his *Ultimate Male God*.

In the dormitory, probably only Sheng Bo knew that Xu Heng was making money writing books, and even Sheng Bo didn't know how popular his book was.

Because at the time, he had truly just tipped him 1,000 yuan out of support for a friend; he himself liked reading traditional novels and had no interest in web novels.

As for Xu Heng carrying his laptop to the study room all day, it didn't make Zhao Gaoyang or Cheng Huaiyu think much of it.

With funds in hand, Xu Heng's plan began to be implemented.

Starting from June, he spent his days and nights recalling some of the bull stocks from the 2007 bull market, writing down everything he could remember in a notebook.

He remembered that this bull market might quiet down by November, so to ensure the safety of his funds, he prepared to withdraw from the stock market around October 20th.

The stock market is the kind of thing that, if you don't have some skill, you shouldn't touch too deeply, otherwise, there might be one more person jumping off a building on a chilly rooftop.

He knew exactly how many people that year had clamored, "Others are fearful, I am adding to my position," only to become brave souls who never returned.

7,000 points was already the peak of the stock market, yet even this number could not suppress human greed.

As long as the stock market was still rising, they would naively believe that 8,000 points, 9,000 points, or even 10,000 points were not a dream.

Xu Heng didn't have such great greed or ability; he didn't plan to spend his whole life in the stock market. In his mind, having his own company and industry was the most stable path. Moreover, now was the high-speed growth period of the internet, and he had so many prophetic ideas and directions in his mind—even a pig could fly, so there was absolutely no need to hang himself on the crooked neck tree of the stock market.

The money in the stock market was merely a means for him to accumulate initial capital.

Unlike the bustling Xu Heng, Zhao Gaoyang, after experiencing Xu Heng's "enlightenment" a few days ago, spent every day and night pestering Fan Xi to chat, sometimes grinning foolishly while holding his old, generic-brand mobile phone, sending hundreds of text messages that cost a penny each.

Cheng Huaiyu once flipped through his phone and mocked: "You send a dozen and she only replies to one, things like 'I'm going to take a shower' or 'I'm tired, going to sleep first'—it's obvious she doesn't want to be friends with you."

Zhao Gaoyang's face flushed red, which, paired with his dark skin, made him look like a peeled sweet potato: "What do you know! Maybe she really is tired!?"

Cheng Huaiyu raised an eyebrow: "What do I know? Just by the fact that I managed to hook up with Dan Yuyue, I know more than you. She has absolutely no interest in you. If you ask me, stop wasting your phone credit; wouldn't it be better to save some money and go to the internet cafe with the guys?"

Zhao Gaoyang was hit right on the mark.

Over the past two days, the news of Cheng Huaiyu and Dan Yuyue dating had also spread through several dormitories.

In their dormitory, Sheng Bo had a girlfriend from out of town, and Xu Heng had dated before; in the end, after the entire freshman year, only Zhao Gaoyang hadn't dated, which deeply stung his young self-esteem, and this was why he wanted to chase Fan Xi so urgently.

Zhao Gaoyang stopped talking, turned his back, and buried his head in typing; seeing that he couldn't be persuaded, Cheng Huaiyu couldn't be bothered to keep talking to him.

The relationship between the two seemed to have undergone a subtle change.

In the last two days, they entered the homecoming week for students not staying at school.

Zhao Gaoyang's little schemes returned; his personality was a bit flawed, but that didn't mean he was stupid—he understood the principle of "the near water tower gets the moonlight first."

Fan Xi was from the same village as his hometown; if it were the old him, he certainly wouldn't have thought of using this good opportunity to close the distance between them, but today was different from the past.

Almost without hesitation, Zhao Gaoyang gritted his teeth and bought two bus tickets.

The bus tickets were several hundred each, much more expensive than the green-skinned trains, but to show off his masculine spirit, he saved money from his part-time jobs just to invite Fan Xi to go home together.

"Are you there? 8:00 AM on the 5th, bus tickets to Qiu County, I bought one for you."

After this text message was sent, Zhao Gaoyang held his phone without blinking, and after waiting for a long time, he couldn't wait for a reply from the other side.

Just as his eyelids were fighting each other, the phone screen suddenly lit up.

Zhao Gaoyang's expression brightened, and he immediately opened the text.

"Gaoyang, to be honest, I don't want to date for the time being, and you shouldn't keep pestering me; this isn't good for either of us."

"It's fine, we don't have to date. I just think it's not safe for a girl like you to go home alone. We are both students from Qiu County, so it'll be easier to look out for each other on the road."

With the current thickness of Zhao Gaoyang's skin, a single rejection clearly couldn't shake his resolve.

Fan Xi had no choice but to agree to his invitation.

If she refused even after he said that, she wouldn't be able to act as the Class Monitor anymore.

That night, Zhao Gaoyang was so excited on his bed that he kept rolling around; Cheng Huaiyu thought he was doing "handiwork" and deliberately filmed two short videos to keep as material to tease him.

The next morning, Sheng Bo left first; he had to go to another city to see his girlfriend, and then go home with her—the two were high school classmates and had been dating for three years.

In the afternoon, Xu Heng also left, leaving Cheng Huaiyu and Zhao Gaoyang in the dormitory, both entangled with women.

After confirming the relationship, Cheng Huaiyu wanted to take Dan Yuyue home to show his parents, and also to show off to his old friends when attending the high school reunion.

Look, brother found such a beautiful girlfriend, go ahead and be jealous!

But Dan Yuyue didn't really want to go home with Cheng Huaiyu, and she kept refusing.

As for Zhao Gaoyang, he was able to travel with Fan Xi, but the speed at which the other party replied to messages was still so slow; sometimes he wouldn't see a single text for half a day.

Most of them were still things like "It's getting late, I'm going to sleep first."

But Zhao Gaoyang felt that being able to receive such replies was already quite good.

……

Looking at the scenery slowly receding outside the glass window, Xu Heng was full of emotion.

In 2007, high-speed rail had not yet become common nationwide, especially in his hometown of Tong City; in this day and age, there weren't even many cars, so he could only take the train back from Jinling.

A fast one took half a day, a slow one a full day.

For comfort, Xu Heng specifically bought a soft sleeper; it had a separate compartment, and the smell was much better than the hard seats and hard sleepers.

It's strange to say, but he didn't know if it was because of his rebirth, but Xu Heng had become less fond of smoking.

Although he would still subconsciously want to reach into his pocket for one, when he actually put the cigarette in his mouth, he didn't want to light it.

He threw the pack of Xuanhemen he had just bought yesterday to Zhao Gaoyang; it wasn't because they had a great relationship, but simply because the other two in the dorm didn't smoke, and only Zhao Gaoyang did.

Thinking of Zhao Gaoyang, he associated him with his past self.

If it were his past self, what would he be doing now?

Like Zhao Gaoyang, begging Ying Ziyun to go home with him?

Yes, probably... after all, he was once a "lick-dog" too.

Which lick-dog doesn't have a complete, tragic past?

Thinking this, sleepiness welled up in Xu Heng's mind.