Chapter 5: Classmate Tan Lei

Because his mind was occupied with his new book, Cao Sheng spent this New Year somewhat absent-mindedly.

On Piao Chuxi night, his thoughts were on the plot of his new book.

During the first and second days of the New Year, when he went out to pay New Year calls, his mind was still on his new book.

On the third day of the New Year, he did not need to go out to pay New Year calls.

But since his older male cousin, older female cousin, and others came to his home to pay New Year calls, during the day he had to accompany his older male cousin, older female cousin, and others.

It was not until evening that he finally found some quiet.

Sitting alone by the desk in his bedroom, facing a sheet of draft paper, he picked up his pen and began writing the main text of his new book.

Before his transmigration, he had not handwritten a novel for a very long time.

But now he had no computer, so he could only write by hand for the time being; he planned to wait until the new semester started and he went to university, then figure out a way to upload his handwritten manuscript to the internet.

Book Title: "Days Living with a Flight Attendant"

Genre: Romance

Author: Zhongyuan Yidianhui

Synopsis: As a third-rate freelance writer, Ding Yang's life was very dull; therefore, whenever he lacked inspiration and could not write anything, he was accustomed to going to a nearby bar to have a couple of drinks. Beautiful women always appeared in the bar, and Ding Yang also hoped in his heart to encounter a fling.

That night, he could not write anything again, so he went to that bar again.

Then, he saw her, a beauty whose looks, figure, and temperament were all top-tier.

She was the type he liked.

So, after drinking two glasses of wine to bolster his courage, he summoned the bravery to approach and strike up a conversation.

When Ding Yang approached to strike up a conversation with her, he could never have imagined that a few days later, he and she would be living under the same roof.

What surprised him most was—she was actually a flight attendant.

Cao Sheng wrote all this in one breath, then temporarily put down his pen.

Zhongyuan Yidianhui was the new pen name he had recently given himself; the inspiration for this pen name came from the "Five Whites of Zhongyuan" in the online literature circle of the original timeline.

Once, the Five Whites of Zhongyuan was a term of mockery used by the industry for five god-tier authors whose achievements were explosive.

Because although the sales of these five gods' Divine work were extremely high and they earned a great deal, the works they wrote were very shallow, the kind primary school students could understand.

Therefore, some peers who felt envy, jealousy, and hatred gave them the title "Five Whites of Zhongyuan."

But...

As time passed, the industry gradually discovered that latercomers seemed unable to surpass the achievements of these five gods; thus, gradually, the title "Five Whites of Zhongyuan" became a symbol of the industry's pinnacle.

Cao Sheng did not dare to compare himself to the Five Whites of Zhongyuan.

Yet he wanted to add the two characters "Zhongyuan" to his pen name.

So, he thought of the pen name "Zhongyuan Yidianhui."

It sounded quite similar to the legendary assassin "Zhongyuan Yidianhong."

As for the male protagonist in the synopsis of this new book... naming him "Ding Yang" was because he simply could not remember the male protagonist's name in that book from the original timeline.

Moreover, he did not intend to copy that book from the original timeline verbatim.

He could not even remember the plot of that book; even if he wanted to copy it, he could not do it.

He was merely borrowing the title of that book from the original timeline, as well as the name of the female protagonist in the book, "Ran Jing."

Even the male protagonist's profession was set by him as "freelance writer."

Anyway, that book from the original timeline told the story of a shut-in living with a flight attendant; a freelance writer could also be a shut-in, and furthermore, once the male protagonist truly fell in love with Ran Jing, he could write their story into a work, which would add a few points of color to the love between the male and female protagonists.

From this day on, Cao Sheng began writing the main text of his new book.

Staying indoors every day made his parents quite unaccustomed; they thought he had encountered some misfortune, and one morning while eating breakfast together, they specifically asked him a few questions.

Cao Sheng brushed them off.

He only said that the new semester was about to start, and he wanted to preview the courses he would study in the new semester before classes began.

This reason made his parents very gratified, and they were very supportive.

Afterwards, whenever there was any work to be done at home, they tried their best not to call on him.

Every day when Cao Sheng did not come out of his bedroom, his parents would subconsciously keep the house quiet.

It was a bit like the atmosphere whenever he was at home during his high school days.

In the blink of an eye, the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month passed.

Three days after the Lantern Festival, Cao Sheng packed his luggage and set off for school; the new semester was about to start.

Before leaving, his parents, just like the previous semester, gave him the entire semester's food allowance in one lump sum.

The reason they gave him so much all at once was not that his family's finances were particularly abundant, but rather that neither of the couple had much education; every time they went to the county town it was inconvenient, and transferring money or sending remittances at the bank, they did not know how to operate.

So, they could only choose to give Cao Sheng the entire semester's food allowance in one lump sum.

Cao Sheng's past conduct also made them believe he would not squander money, nor would he finish an entire semester's food allowance early.

But this time Cao Sheng planned to spend all this living allowance in advance.

Because he intended to use this living allowance to go online and publish his recently written new book on the internet.

In these days, internet access fees were very expensive; he did not have his own computer; if he did not use this living allowance, he would have absolutely no way to publish his manuscript online in the short term.

As for what to do after this living allowance was spent?

He temporarily thought of two plans.

One was to work while studying, using time outside of study to find a part-time job off-campus and support himself.

The other plan was: try to see if he could find a wealthy girlfriend and eat soft rice for a while.

Plan one was not difficult to operate, and its feasibility was very high.

Plan B…

Logic told him the chance of success was slim.

Even if he believed that, given his looks, finding a girlfriend wouldn't be hard, finding a wealthy girlfriend to support him would certainly be difficult.

Moreover, deep inside, he was somewhat resistant to living off a woman's money.

With these scattered thoughts swirling in his mind, he took a tricycle to the county town, got off, and walked to the county's train station.

In the original timeline, this train station had long been abandoned, but now it was still operating normally.

There was one train to Huizhou every morning around eight o'clock.

So Cao Sheng had arrived early today.

When he reached the station, the time was still before eight.

The waiting hall had a few scattered passengers seated, but the ticket counter windows were still closed; the clerks hadn't started work yet.

Cao Sheng found an empty bench and sat down, waiting patiently.

Before the ticket window opened, he heard someone call his name.

"Cao Sheng? Cao Sheng!"

It was a woman's voice, somewhat familiar.

He turned toward the sound and saw a familiar smiling face.

A long oval face, large eyes, a high nose bridge, hair simply tied into a ponytail, at least one meter seventy tall, her astonishing bust even refused to be hidden by the white down jacket.

She was Tan Lei.

She had been his classmate in Gao San and also an alumna of Huizhou Teachers College.

Unlike Cao Sheng—Tan Lei, though also attending Huizhou Teachers College, had scored higher than him in the college entrance exam and was enrolled in the undergraduate program.

Moreover, although she now looked at him with a joyful smile, appearing cheerful, back in Gao San she had been expressionless all day.

During Gao San, she had very little presence in the class.

She spent all day with her head down studying; if a boy spoke to her, she would first frown and mostly not reply a single word.

But after entering university, she seemed to have become a different person.

Cao Sheng remembered that in the original timeline, the first time he met her by chance on the Huizhou Teachers College campus, she had been beaming with surprise, extremely warm—not only voluntarily giving him her dorm building number and room number, but also inviting him to visit her when he had free time, even suggesting they take the train home together during the holidays.

At this moment, seeing her smile, Cao Sheng unconsciously smiled back.

Tan Lei strode over on her long legs, plopped down beside him on the empty seat, and cheerfully said: "What a coincidence! You're going to school today too? Let's buy our tickets together! And sit together on the train—then we'll have company on the way. Otherwise, these few hours on the train will be so boring! Don't you think so?"

Cao Sheng nodded with a smile.