"If you buy a house for a million now, you can sell it for at least seven or eight million in six or seven years. If you really don’t want to strive anymore, you can sell the house and go live comfortably for the rest of your life in a provincial capital or even back in your hometown."
Wu Hao stared at Li Yuan eagerly. "I believe in your judgment, Yuan. When I go back for the National Day holiday, I’ll have a good talk with my parents. Yuan, if it turns into a loss, I’ll be mooching off you for the rest of my life."
Liu Jia muttered, "Then I’ll give it a try too. If I can really convince my parents, I could probably cobble together a few hundred thousand."
"Alright, that’s enough from you guys," Li Yuan said. "And about me writing web novels—don’t spread it around. This stays between us in this dorm." After speaking, he shot a pointed glare at Zhou Tianyu, his meaning perfectly clear. It was this guy who had exposed him for being a freshman pretending to be a "senior." He’d almost died of social embarrassment, but luckily, he was quick-witted enough to invent a story on the spot.
Feeling guilty under Li Yuan’s meaningful gaze, Zhou Tianyu said, "Li Yuan, why are you looking at me like that? I’ll definitely keep my mouth shut."
Li Yuan just scoffed, "Heh."
Zhou Tianyu grew anxious and quickly swore an oath. "Li Yuan, I really will keep my mouth shut. A gentleman’s word is his bond!"
"Yeah, right," Li Yuan retorted, not believing him for a second.
Just then, a timid voice suddenly spoke up.
"Uh, Yuan... I’m sorry," Xu Ziqiang said, his face a mixture of guilt and worry.
Li Yuan froze. He was about to ask why, but a thought suddenly struck him. His expression turned serious as he stared at Xu Ziqiang, his brows furrowed. "Old Xu, don’t tell me you’ve already spilled the beans?"
Seeing Li Yuan’s stern expression, Xu Ziqiang looked so frightened that he was on the verge of tears.
Li Yuan was tall and muscular. While he was usually all smiles, he was truly intimidating when he got serious. Now that his identity as a Great Writer earning tens of millions a year was exposed, his presence and authority felt even heavier.
Although he didn’t understand why Li Yuan would want to hide his identity—it was a perfect chance to show off—he figured Li Yuan must have his reasons. And look at the stupid thing he had just done.
Xu Ziqiang’s voice trembled. "Yuan, I’m so sorry. I accidentally sent it out... You can hit me or yell at me, I’ll take it."
Seeing Xu Ziqiang’s expression, Li Yuan wasn’t actually that angry. He knew his identity was bound to be revealed sooner or later; he just hadn’t expected it to be this soon.
In hindsight, it was partly his own fault. He couldn’t help but say something when he saw Liu Jia and Xu Ziqiang reading his painstakingly written novel on a pirate site. Then, having forgotten to change his username, his high-IQ roommates had easily found clues and uncovered his "alt."
Calmly, Li Yuan asked, "Where did you send it? Can it still be retracted?"
Just as Xu Ziqiang was about to answer, Yi Jing, who had been silent until now, suddenly chimed in.
"The class group chat. They’re already going crazy over it. Just look at your phone."
Li Yuan’s mind went blank. He grabbed his phone and saw dozens of chat notifications flashing and bouncing before he could even open the QQ group chat.
A quick glance showed they were all from his classmates in Computer Science Class One—both guys and girls, but mostly girls. Some were friend requests, while others were messages just to say hi.
Upon entering the Computer Science Class One QQ group, he saw that over a thousand unread messages had piled up in just a short time.
Li Yuan only had to take one look to imagine how heated the discussion must be. He quickly scrolled to the top of the chat history, to around ten minutes ago, right after he’d gotten out of the shower and admitted his identity.
A message from Xu Ziqiang had ignited the entire chat.
[BREAKING NEWS: Li Yuan has personally admitted that he is "Life Like Summer Flowers," the Great Writer of "Battle Starry Sky," who earns a million a month!]
Just as Li Yuan expected, the first person to question it was a girl. Her name was one he hadn’t thought of initially, but on second thought, it made perfect sense: Wang Jierong. Her mocking message was still visible in the chat, as she’d retracted it a bit too late.
[Heh, if you’re going to brag, at least make it realistic. Don’t just claim every cool identity for yourself.]
Next was Xu Ziqiang’s reply:
[If you don’t believe me, join the official fan group for Battle Starry Sky and ask. The owner of the full-subscriber group is Li Yuan.]
Seeing how confidently Xu Ziqiang spoke, other students in the group started discussing it, and the more proactive ones began searching online to verify...
When the acting class monitor, Tan Yanqiu, posted a screenshot of her verification in the group, the chat exploded...
Li Yuan only skimmed the messages. He was being continuously @-tagged, with people begging him to show up and explain.
Li Yuan didn’t reply. He looked over at Xu Ziqiang, who seemed ready to cry from guilt and self-blame, and felt utterly speechless.
If Xu Ziqiang had only told one person, it would have been manageable. Li Yuan could have asked them to keep it quiet, and the news wouldn’t have spread so fast.
But now, not only did the entire class know, by tomorrow, the news would probably be all over Daxia University.
After all, a Great Writer earning millions, a freshman... The combination of sensational tags was just too much. This must be what it feels like for a famous author like Potato to be reborn at a top-tier university.