Chapter 1: Do I Have a Chance to Become the Forefather of Web Novels?

"Cao Sheng! Cao Sheng? Get up and eat, what time is it and you're still sleeping? Hurry up and get up to eat!"

Cao Sheng, who was fast asleep, was pushed a few times by his mother. Just as he opened his eyes, he heard his mother's nagging, and he stared at her blankly, doubting he was still in a dream.

Because the mother before his eyes was much younger, and the lime-plastered walls of the room, the old solid wood wardrobe in the corner, the old desk by the bed...

...were all exactly as they looked in his old family home.

"Get up quickly! Hurry up and eat. Once you're done, go help your dad make puffed rice candy! Hurry up!"

After his mother finished speaking, she turned and left his bedroom.

Cao Sheng still suspected he was in a dream.

But the chill in the air, the sensation of the bedding, and everything in his field of vision were so clear; it didn't feel like a dream at all.

He frowned and sat up.

When he pulled his hands out from under the covers, he clearly felt the cold in the air. He subconsciously looked down at his hands and discovered they had become delicate, looking at least twenty years younger.

Transmigration?

Rebirth?

Such thoughts flashed through his mind.

Inside the bed were his clothes: a wool sweater, jeans, and a black cotton-padded jacket.

He first put on the wool sweater, then draped the cotton jacket over his shoulders, reached out to grab the jeans, and felt the pockets, but didn't find a mobile phone.

He had originally wanted to find his phone to check the date, but now he discovered there was no phone in his pockets.

Could it be that I don't have a phone yet?

What year is this, exactly?

Unwilling to accept it, he felt through the inner and outer pockets of the cotton jacket again, then felt under the pillow, but still found no phone.

He remembered that he had bought his first mobile phone in 2003.

Could it be even earlier than 2003?

Carrying this question, he finished putting on his clothes and pants, got out of bed, and slid his feet into the black cloth slippers by the bedside. When he saw these black cloth slippers, his heart skipped a beat, because he vaguely remembered wearing them before 2000; his mother had made them for him by hand.

After getting out of bed, he went to the desk and looked at the rectangular mirror on it.

In the mirror appeared a young face.

A head of jet-black hair parted to the side, with a pleasing thickness.

The facial contours were sharp, and beneath two sword-like eyebrows, a pair of clear eyes shone brightly.

His skin was fair, the look of a pale scholar.

So young?

With complex emotions, he stared at himself in the mirror; this was how he looked in his youth, the look that could make girls chase after him.

"Cao Sheng! Come out and eat, have you gotten up yet or not?"

His mother's urging suddenly came from the main room, pulling Cao Sheng's thoughts back to reality. He responded, composed his emotions, and turned to leave the bedroom.

The air outside was colder than in the bedroom.

His mother and father were already sitting at the eight-immortal table eating breakfast, a very simple breakfast—pickles with rice porridge.

Seeing him come out, his father glanced at him without saying a word, while his mother urged him to hurry up and wash his face to eat.

Cao Sheng didn't say anything either; he grunted in acknowledgment and went out through the back door. Their kitchen was behind the main house.

Washing his face also meant scooping water in the kitchen.

By the time he finished washing and brought a bowl of porridge back to the main room, his father, who ate very quickly, had already finished and was just getting up to take the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen.

Cao Sheng sat in the seat his father had just vacated, added two pieces of pickles to his bowl, and lowered his head to start drinking the porridge.

After a mouthful of porridge, he asked casually: "Mom! Did you just say we're making puffed rice candy today?"

His mother hummed in agreement.

Cao Sheng reached a conclusion: it was the end of the year.

Because his family only made puffed rice candy when the New Year was approaching.

Every household in the village was the same.

During ordinary times, no one would make puffed rice candy.

"How many days until the New Year?"

After drinking two more mouthfuls of porridge, he asked as if it were unintentional.

His mother: "Not many days left, just a week or so!"

She paused, then urged him again, "Hurry up and eat! In a while, you go tend the fire and help your dad make the puffed rice candy. I have to go out; your dad hasn't received his wages from the kiln factory this year, and I have to go ask for them again. If we don't get them before the New Year, it'll be even harder to get them after."

Hearing this, Cao Sheng raised his eyes to look at his mother and nodded slightly.

His mother's words just now made him even more certain that it was before 2000.

Because he remembered that after 2000, his father no longer worked at the kiln factory.

The reason?

Because his father's job at the kiln was kiln-unloading; the red bricks inside the kiln were often still hot, and the workers had to move all the bricks out of the kiln.

It was fine during other seasons.

But it was the same in the summer, which was especially grueling.

Imagine, summer is already hot, the bricks in the kiln are still hot, the temperature inside the kiln is at least forty or fifty degrees, and the air inside is very poor—stuffy and hot.

In such an environment, one still had to do manual labor; those with even slightly poor health simply couldn't hold on.

And his father had worked in that kiln factory for over a decade, all out of necessity.

By after 2000, Cao Sheng was almost finished with college, and the wages for other jobs outside were not much less than kiln-unloading, so his father didn't want to do that work anymore.

After breakfast, Cao Sheng's mother went out.

Cao Sheng came to his parents' bedroom door and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall.

January 19, 1998?

January 27 is New Year's Eve?

So, according to the lunar calendar, is it still 1997?

Am I still a freshman in college?

1997...

Cao Sheng didn't know what to feel.

He felt this point in time was not very good.

If it could have been two years earlier, he would have had a chance to work hard and get into a better university.

But now?

The Huizhou Teachers College he was attending was not prestigious at all; it was embarrassing to even mention.

If it were a few years later, he would have graduated from college and could earn his own money, and life would be a bit more comfortable, but now it was the end of 1997.

The family gave him 120 yuan for living expenses every month.

Averaged out, that was only 30 yuan per week.

This 30 yuan included his food expenses and all other daily costs.

He had already lived through such days in his original timeline; now, having to live through it again, just thinking about it made him afraid.

"Cao Sheng! Are you done eating? Come over and tend the fire!"

His father's call came from the kitchen.

Cao Sheng responded and went to the kitchen with a bitter smile.

He was very familiar with tending the fire.

He had been used to it since he was a child.

He took a bundle of straw, lit it with a match, stuffed it into the stove, and then added firewood bit by bit.

They weren't in a mountainous area, so they usually burned rice straw, rapeseed stalks, or soybean stalks.

But every year when making puffed rice candy, they needed to keep the fire going for a long time, and the heat had to be high, so generally, when making puffed rice candy, they would burn some wood.

Every household didn't have much wood.

Only when the New Year was approaching would they be willing to burn a few bundles.

He was tending the fire at the stove mouth, while his father was pouring sand into the large iron wok. Soon, when the sand was hot, they would use it to stir-fry the dried rice that had been steamed.

The dried rice stir-fried in sand would expand into puffed rice.

This puffed rice, combined with heated maltose, could be used to make their local traditional snack—puffed rice candy.

Families with better conditions would add a little sesame or peanuts to the puffed rice candy.

Puffed rice candy with sesame was sesame candy.

With peanuts, it was peanut candy.

Only during the New Year would they be willing to make this here.

Cao Sheng's father was busy at the stove, and Cao Sheng was tending the fire at the stove mouth. His father was busy until sweat appeared on his head, while Cao Sheng was roasting by the stove, his face flushed red, feeling very comfortable.

His thoughts were drifting again.

Having come back from 2024, he naturally couldn't get used to the hard life of 1997.

Thinking that after the New Year, when he went back to school, he would have to live on only 30 yuan a week, he wanted to earn money.

What could 30 yuan do?

If it were 2024, 30 yuan would barely be enough for his daily food expenses.

Although prices and consumption were low in 1997.

But at school, a single meal cost him at least one yuan.

If he wanted to see eggs, shredded meat, or minced meat in his dish, a meal would cost one yuan and fifty cents; if he wanted to see chunks of meat, a meal would cost at least two yuan.

Thirty yuan a week, what could that possibly buy?

To earn money, the first thing he thought of was to start a new book as soon as possible.

Because before he transmigrated, he had been writing full-time for over a decade.

Typing words was the skill he used to make a living.

Although in his original timeline, he had been typing for over a decade without ever achieving any decent results.

He was a veteran failure in the eyes of readers.

But he believed that if he published a new book in 1997 or 1998, the results should be better; after all, there shouldn't be many people writing web novels in this day and age.

The competitive pressure was very low.

Suddenly, Cao Sheng’s brows furrowed slightly, and a look of suspicion appeared in his eyes.

Because he suddenly thought of a question: were web novels even born in 1997?

If I write a web novel now, wouldn't I become the founding father of web novels?

What year did the first web novel appear in his original timeline again?