Chapter 89: Lin Xiuhong Calls

National Day holiday began.

But for Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong, there was essentially no concept of holidays throughout the 365 days of the year.

So even during the National Day break, Li Luo wasn't asked to come home to stay—he carried on as usual, with only the note that he could return for dinner on the evening of the 3rd, as there would be guests.

Li Luo had originally planned to stay home, but Ying Chanxi's computer was right here, so he still needed to use the National Day holiday to write more.

Thus, he followed his parents' arrangement.

As for Ying Chanxi, since her father Ying Zhicheng remained busy and didn't return during the National Day holiday, it made no difference to her where she went.

Xu Youyu, however, went home after the holiday started, saying that she'd return only when her parents started to resent her.

As a result, only Li Luo and Ying Chanxi remained at Bihai Lanting.

"Li Luo, what are you doing?"

Ying Chanxi, tired from studying in her bedroom, wandered out, knocked on Li Luo's door, and pushed it open, "Are you watching anime again?"

"What's up?" Li Luo turned his head and asked.

"I'm so bored."

"It's only nine in the morning, and you're already bored?"

"But we've been stuck at home for three days already," Ying Chanxi walked into the bedroom, plopped down on the edge of Li Luo's bed, and swung her bare feet. "It's the 3rd today—don't tell me you want to be cooped up here for seven days?"

"It's not out of the question."

"You're just going to sit at home playing computer games all day during your holiday?" Ying Chanxi kicked him, annoyed. "At least go out for a bit."

"Then I'll go play basketball with Zhao Rongjun this afternoon."

"What about me?"

"I've realized you're quite hard to please," Li Luo turned to look at Ying Chanxi.

Yuhang City was still scorching hot in October, with not a trace of autumn in sight.

Ying Chanxi wore a white strapless nightdress today, exposing her shoulders and two pale, slender legs.

Hearing Li Luo's words, Ying Chanxi immediately pouted: "I want you to take me out."

"Then why didn't you just say so earlier?"

"Who knew you were this dumb—you couldn't even figure that out?"

"Fine, fine, fine." Li Luo rolled his eyes. "But I have to go home for dinner tonight—my mom said there'll be guests. Do you want to come with me?"

"I already made plans with Qiao Xinyan for dinner tonight," Ying Chanxi shook her head. "Besides, since there are guests at your place, I won't go."

"Then I'll take you out for lunch," Li Luo checked the time. "Come knock on my door at eleven. We'll spend the afternoon out, then you go find Qiao Xinyan, and I'll head home for dinner."

"Okay~" Ying Chanxi cheerfully agreed, shuffling off to her bedroom in her slippers. "I'll go read some more books."

After soothing Ying Chanxi like a child, Li Luo returned to his writing.

At ten o'clock that morning, the QQ group suddenly buzzed with activity.

Because today was the 3rd—the monthly royalty payout day.

Many authors were posting screenshots of their royalties in the group.

In the premium author group Li Luo had just joined a few days ago, several big names had already posted screenshots of royalties amounting to tens of thousands.

Although these novels had low subscription numbers on Qidian's own site, once they surpassed a million words and entered external distribution channels, royalties from off-site platforms shot up like rockets.

Li Luo's current average subscription was over three thousand; he had updated around 150,000 words in September. He opened his author backend to check the royalty data.

—12873.51

It's over ten thousand already…

What level of income was ten thousand yuan per month in 2014?

Especially for a Gao Zhongsheng.

Li Luo smiled, feeling surprisingly calm, though somewhat reflective.

Other protagonists returning from rebirth always start with tens of thousands as their first capital, then tens of millions to get started, hundreds of millions as mere pocket change, before punching Alibaba and kicking Tencent.

Only he could happily sit and write, earning a modest monthly royalty of over ten thousand.

After all, it was hard-earned money.

But this also meant he could help ease his family's mortgage burden.

Especially with I Am Really Not a Star—its performance was even better than Li Luo had expected.

At over four hundred thousand words, it already had an average subscription of over three thousand.

If the plot could be steadily developed, reaching a million words and with the editor's help submitting it to distribution channels, his monthly royalty might reach tens of thousands.

If luck held, this single novel might even pay off the mortgage ahead of schedule.

Thinking of this, Li Luo slowly exhaled.

At that moment, someone in the urban premium group suddenly @ed him.

Li Luo opened it and immediately raised an eyebrow.

【I remember "Nianlun" was your original song in your novel, right? @Chongran】

The speaker was a big-name author of officialdom fiction.

Li Luo was surprised—he didn't know why the man was asking.

【Chongran】: Yeah, I wrote it. What's up?

【I have a friend on the female audience side—her novel is being adapted into a TV drama, and they're selecting a theme song】

【The production team sent over a bunch of songs; I was just casually listening along, but I heard one that sounded familiar】

【I'd listened to "Nianlun" after reading your novel, and never expected it was chosen as the theme song】

【Chongran】: Huh?

【You didn't know? I thought it was really good—I was even going to recommend it to my friend. She's involved in the screenwriting and can still vote.】

【Chongran】: Maybe my friend recommended it for me—I'm not sure. Let me ask.

Li Luo was equally confused at this moment.

But he wasn't worried about plagiarism, since the song's copyright had long been registered.

So he simply pulled out his phone and called Yan Zhusheng, briefly explaining the situation—though he didn't mention writing the novel.

Yan Zhusheng fell silent for a moment on the other end, then mused: "It might be an issue on my mother's side. I'll ask for you."

With that, Yan Zhusheng hung up the phone.

Li Luo didn't dwell on it; after putting down the phone, he privately messaged the senior writer of officialdom fiction to learn more details.

He learned it was a historical drama titled "Yaochi Xianyuan" from the female-audience platform.

In his past life, Li Luo rarely watched TV dramas and had no memory of it.

But if the song "Nianlun" had a chance to be sold, it would certainly be a good thing.

He just didn't know how the production team had selected it for their theme song shortlist.

Could someone on the production team be his reader?

As he thought this, Yan Zhusheng hadn't replied yet, and Li Luo lost the will to keep writing; for once, he opened the comment section to glance at the past month's activity.

Because he wrote beginner-level fiction, Li Luo rarely checked the comment section, nor did he often visit his author backend.

He only ever checked subscription numbers and his monthly royalty payments.

Reader comments—he avoided them whenever possible, lest negative remarks disrupt his writing state.

But when he opened the comment section, the most prominent thing was a post with over a hundred replies.

【Shengsheng Bu Xi】: Great! I like Mo Qinghan better—can you write more of her plot?

When Li Luo saw the poster's nickname, his whole body twitched involuntarily.

Then he fell into long, silent thought.

The phone on the desk vibrated.

It was Yan Zhusheng calling.

But Li Luo didn't know how to answer.