Chapter 88

Starting from Tuesday, Li Luo noticed something strange.

His desk partner, Yan Zhusheng, had been acting oddly lately.

On one hand, he always felt Yan Zhusheng was low on energy.

Ever since morning self-study began, he always looked tired and drowsy, often dozing off.

As soon as the class bell rang, he would slump onto his desk and fall asleep; even when awake, he remained dazed and half-asleep.

At such times, Li Luo always felt Yan Zhusheng's gaze toward him was peculiar.

But whenever Li Luo asked about it, Yan Zhusheng would fall silent for a moment, shake his head, and go back to sleep.

This situation only improved slightly by Friday morning.

As was habitual, Li Luo stored the mistakes he had summarized and organized the previous day into a dedicated memory palace room, then exhaled with satisfaction at the results.

Thanks to his two weeks of effort and the memory palace's effect, he had gradually begun to form a rough framework for the knowledge systems of all his high school subjects.

Just as Ying Chanxi had believed before the high school entrance exam, building a complete knowledge framework was essential to go further on the path of learning.

Just as Li Luo exited the memory palace and saw Yan Zhusheng walking in through the back door, backpack on his shoulder, and taking his seat, he raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Li Luo asked. "You don't seem as tired today?"

"Mm." Yan Zhusheng, looking far more energetic than in the past few days, nodded. "I had a good night's sleep yesterday."

"Then why didn't you sleep well the past few days?" Li Luo asked curiously. "What were you doing late at night? Insomnia?"

"You've asked this same question several days in a row."

"That's because you never answered me."

"But I think it's better not to say it directly," Yan Zhusheng said, looking at Li Luo with sincere expression. "And even if I don't say it, you'll find the answer yourself."

Li Luo: "... If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know the answer? Am I a worm in your stomach?"

"You'll find out anyway," Yan Zhusheng declared firmly. "If you don't, then you're stupid."

Hearing this, Li Luo's forehead darkened with exasperation: "When did you switch careers to becoming a fortune-teller?"

The matter concerning Yan Zhusheng was left unresolved.

Although Yan Zhusheng claimed he would find out, Li Luo thought and thought but still couldn't figure out why Yan Zhusheng hadn't slept well late at night these past few days.

However, after that, Yan Zhusheng no longer appeared drowsy during the day, so Li Luo stopped paying attention to it.

Since Yan Zhusheng didn't want to say, Li Luo didn't press further.

After all, she's a girl—having a little private secret between them was perfectly normal.

Thus, high school life in Gao Yi quietly entered a calm phase.

Every morning, Li Luo woke up, washed up, made breakfast in the kitchen, then called Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi to get up.

The dishwashing was left to them.

Then the three of them walked to school together.

During morning self-study, he organized his knowledge framework inside the memory palace and chatted with Yan Zhusheng on scratch paper.

In the morning, he attended classes attentively; at ten o'clock, he joined the morning running exercise, and on the way back to the classroom, he asked Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu how they'd handle lunch.

If none of them had other plans, Li Luo would invite Yan Zhusheng to eat lunch together on the second floor of the cafeteria.

If they each had plans, Li Luo would either eat alone with Yan Zhusheng or be dragged off by Zhu Yufei and the others to play basketball.

Or he'd find Zhao Rongjun, make up some excuse to tag along for a meal, or generously play the role of godfather and treat him to a good meal.

After lunch, Li Luo had to go to the classroom on the top floor of the Gao Er building and attend the student union meeting with his class's Youth League secretary, Shi Yanran.

At the start of the semester, during the second week, the meeting had been chaired by Xue Yongbin, the Gao San student union president.

But by the end of the third week, the person chairing the meetings had gradually become Xu Youyu.

At home during casual chats, Li Luo had already begun addressing her as "President my lord," and though she rolled her eyes and laughed, she never denied it.

Xu Youyu's appointment as president after National Day was essentially settled.

After the midday meeting ended, Li Luo returned to the classroom to nap, then continued attending afternoon classes attentively.

After class, if the math club's tasks weren't heavy, Ying Chanxi would come find Li Luo and drag him to visit the literature club.

If Ying Chanxi was attending extra math tutoring, Li Luo would go play basketball with Zhu Yufei and the others, or accompany Yan Zhusheng to visit the rock band club.

Though he hadn't officially joined the rock band club, he'd become a semi-outsider; when they were short on members during practice, Li Luo even got up and played.

After dinner in the evening, he returned to the classroom for evening self-study, finished his homework in two sessions, then headed home with Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu.

If hungry, he'd cook a late-night snack to feed the two little gluttons at home; if not, he'd just go straight to his room to shower, then start writing.

As September drew to a close, the word count of I Am Really Not a Star reached around four hundred thousand.

On September 28, the average subscription count of I Am Really Not a Star officially surpassed the 3,000 mark, earning an electronic "Premium" badge on its book details page.

At the same time, Li Luo, as the author Chongran, was invited by editor Qianzhou into an author group.

Urban Premium Group?

In his previous life, Li Luo had written a cultural-themed novel that achieved premium status, but that had been twenty years later.

Even though a 3,000 average subscription back then was still quite impressive, it couldn't compare to the standards of 2014.

Writing a premium novel in 2014 meant you were unquestionably a future big shot.

Li Luo glanced through the group member list and couldn't help but be stunned.

There really were quite a few familiar faces.

Though online novel authors had low status, anyone in this group, if you threw a stone randomly, was someone earning over ten thousand a month.

If you were lucky enough, you might hit a millionaire—or even a multi-millionaire.

And unlike traditional entrepreneurs.

A company owner worth tens of millions had that value spread across all his assets; if you asked him to immediately pull out hundreds of thousands—or even tens of thousands—in cash without disrupting his business, he might struggle.

But for novel writers, royalties are cash flow—every penny earned goes straight into their pockets.

At present, the status of online novel authors is still obscure; the Qianjiang Province Online Novel Writers Association was only just established this year, but in a few or even ten to twenty years, these people will truly take off.

【Qianzhou】: Do you know about the Writers Association?

【Chongran】: I've heard a bit—what about it?

【Qianzhou】: Over in Qianjiang Province, the provincial Writers Association has just launched the nation's first Online Novel Writers Association.

【Qianzhou】: Lately, the Online Novel Writers Association has been actively recruiting online novel writers within Qianjiang Province.

【Qianzhou】: They've had people liaising with Qidian, wanting us to recommend some Qianjiang Province online novelists with strong performance.

【Qianzhou】: I remember you're studying in Yuhang City, right? The headquarters of the Online Novel Writers Association is right there.

【Qianzhou】: If you don't mind, I'll put your name forward.

【Chongran】: Can minors join too?

【Qianzhou】: Of course—they need role models. A high school student working part-time as a writer, producing one hit novel, earning over ten thousand a month—if things go well, you could get a lot of benefits.

【Chongran】: Thanks, editor.

【Qianzhou】: Then you'd better work hard—I believe in you! I'll submit your name right away.

【Chongran】: Got it.

After chatting with the editor, Li Luo was still dazed—he hadn't expected he could join the Online Novel Writers Association so easily.

And it was right when the Online Novel Writers Association was first founded in 2014.