Chapter 52: Returning Home, Invitation to Serial Publication

"Ah Sheng! Where did you get so much money?"

After a few seconds of stunned silence, his father frowned deeply; as he asked this, his hands trembled slightly, his face began to pale, his eyes fixed tightly on Cao Sheng, and his voice dropped very low: "Did you do something bad? Your mother and I struggled to earn money to send you to university; you cannot take a crooked path!"

His mother's face also turned pale.

"Ah Sheng, don't scare us! You are already in university now; there will be opportunities to earn money later. Do not take a wrong path at this time!"

Seeing his parents so nervous, Cao Sheng felt like laughing.

He shook his head. "Mom, Dad! Rest assured! This money is very clean; I haven't done anything bad. Wait a moment; I will go get something else to show you."

Saying this, he returned to his bedroom.

When he came back today, he brought two suitcases.

One suitcase contained clothes, shoes, and cash bought for his parents; the other suitcase contained his own clothes, some stored drafts, blank draft books, pens, and sample books.

Moments later, he returned with three sample books.

"I Wish to Become an Immortal" Volume One, Volume Two, and "Days Living with the Flight Attendant."

The three sample books were placed on the Eight Immortals table, right beside the five stacks of hundred-yuan banknotes he had just poured onto the table.

"Ah Sheng, what are you doing with a few books? Your father and I cannot read."

His mother asked in confusion.

His father's gaze also held a question.

Cao Sheng flipped to the last page of "I Wish to Become an Immortal" and pointed to the folded area on the cover; here was an introduction to the author's information, where his pen name, Zhongyuan Yidianhui, and his real name, Cao Sheng, were clearly printed.

Cao Sheng gestured for his parents to look where his finger pointed.

He knew his parents could not read many characters, but they certainly recognized the two characters "Cao Sheng," because that was their son's name.

On every textbook and exercise book he had before, these two characters were written.

There was no reason for his parents not to recognize them.

Indeed, when they saw these two characters, they were both surprised.

Cao Sheng spent some time explaining that during this semester, he had written two novels, both were published, and he had earned royalties; the fifty thousand yuan he brought back today was his royalties.

His explanation left his parents stunned.

They could not believe it.

Yet they had to believe it.

"We sent you to study, and you... you actually went and wrote books?"

His mother asked in a daze.

His father's previously tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and his previously slightly bent back silently straightened.

Then he suddenly coughed twice with force, cleared his throat, and the sound of his voice when he spoke was much louder than before.

"Ah Sheng! Read a few sentences for us! Let your mother and me hear what kind of book you wrote; read a couple of sentences quickly!"

Cao Sheng: "???"

His mother also got interested and smiled in agreement: "Yes! Ah Sheng, since your father wants to hear it, just read a couple of sentences!"

Facing his parents' expectant eyes, Cao Sheng, half laughing and half crying, flipped to the first page of "I Wish to Become an Immortal"; looking at the opening text, he opened his mouth but could not bring himself to read it out loud.

It was not that the opening text was indecent and could not be read to his parents.

Rather, he felt that reading the novel he wrote to his parents was itself a very shameful thing.

With the thickness of his skin, he simply could not open his mouth.

So, he changed the subject.

Putting down the sample book in his hand, he looked up and said to his parents: "Dad, Mom, there is something I want to discuss with you. Since I have money now, I want to rebuild our house; I want to build a two-story small building. Do you agree?"

"Build a house?"

The couple looked at each other, then looked at the fifty thousand yuan Cao Sheng had poured onto the table.

"Will you come back to live later? If you do not plan to come back to live, this old house is enough for your mother and me; there is no need to build a new one."

His father thought for a moment and voiced his opinion.

His mother hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Yes! Your father and I are getting older and older; living in these three single-story rooms is very good. But you still need to get married and start a family later; you should save this money for your future marriage! When you get married later, we don't know how much money it will take!"

His father nodded.

But Cao Sheng wanted them to live more comfortably.

As for himself?

With such a fast speed of earning money, did he need to worry about not having money for marriage in the future?

Moreover, he felt that fulfilling filial piety should be done as early as possible and should not be postponed.

So, he told a lie: "Dad, Mom, look, I write novels very well now, and my income is good too. So, after graduating from university, I want to write novels exclusively and not go to work. In that case, I will probably come back to get married later."

He paused; without waiting for his parents to respond, he added: "So, not only should we build our house, but we should also try to build it as well as possible; otherwise, if some Miss in the future does not like it, it will be difficult for me to get married."

The couple looked at each other again.

"After you graduate, you do not plan to go out to work?"

His mother frowned, her expression revealing worry.

His father frowned again. "Are you really preparing to come back to get married?"

Cao Sheng nodded.

His mother was still worried. "Can it work without going to work? Do you have confidence that writing novels will keep earning money?"

His father: "Is it not okay to work while writing your novels?"

Cao Sheng: "It is okay, but if I work while writing, I definitely cannot compete with those who write novels exclusively; at that time, I might not achieve anything in my work, nor make any name in my novels."

Hearing him say this, his parents wanted to speak but held back, not knowing how to persuade him.

Cao Sheng spent more words before finally persuading them to agree to build the new house.

He didn't want to delay building a new house.

He knew his parents' personalities—some things, if dragged on, would cause them to change their minds.

So, the next morning over breakfast, he urged his father to find a construction master, then quickly tear down the old house and start construction as soon as possible.

And he didn't plan to stay at home for long.

Before returning home, he had intended to stay only a few days before going back to school.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help with building the house at home.

It was that this summer vacation, he wanted to concentrate his time and energy on writing more manuscripts and earning more money—during term time, his daily window for writing was extremely limited.

He had almost no time during the day.

After writing at night, he still had to sneak off to an internet cafe to convert his drafts into digital manuscripts.

The efficiency was very low.

But during the summer vacation, he could have ample time; if he worked hard, one summer could earn him enough money for a whole new house.

Therefore, the very day his family's old house was torn down, he packed his luggage and boarded the train back to school.

During the summer vacation, their school dormitory did not prohibit students from staying.

When the dorm supervisor saw Cao Sheng return to the dorm, he came over, glanced twice, asked a few questions, and left.

That evening.

Cao Sheng brought a stack of drafts to an internet cafe for an all-night session, preparing to convert some stored manuscripts into digital files.

After the computer booted successfully, he habitually logged into his email account, hoping to see if Rongshu Xia or any publisher had sent him an email.

And indeed, he spotted an unread email.

The email was from Rongshu Xia.

The sender was still Wang Jing.

"Cao Sheng, hello—we've noticed multiple times in your book comments section that readers have mentioned your other work, 'I Wish to Become an Immortal,' which we heard was published in traditional Chinese in Taiwan. We'd like to confirm with you: is this true?

Do you really have a book called 'I Wish to Become an Immortal'?

If so, on behalf of Rongshu Xia, I formally invite you to serialize this book on our website. We will give it priority in recommendation resources, and we'll also strive to secure a simplified Chinese publication in mainland China. What do you think?

—Wang Jing."