Actually, Zhou Mo also knew that the boys in the dorm were reading novels online, but he didn’t quite understand, "How do you make money from online novels?"
Zhou Yiyi simply explained the VIP system, and after Zhou Mo understood, he looked at her in surprise, "How did you come up with this?"
"I feel like I have a lot of stories in my head, and I want to write them down. It doesn’t matter if I make money or not, I just want to write."
After understanding her current situation, Zhou Mo said in a very MAN-like manner, "From now on, I’ll cover the food expenses."
Zhou Yiyi hooked his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder, shaking it coquettishly.
"Oh, it’s so nice to have a boyfriend. Even without money, someone will take care of you. Don’t worry, as soon as my scholarship comes in, I’ll pay you back!"
Zhou Yiyi did well last semester and also had the Lanting Award to add value. She was definitely going to get the art department’s scholarship. Although she hadn’t made any particular outstanding contributions in the computer department, she won quite a few awards in the swimming and calligraphy contests against Beijing University, which could also be counted as extra points. Overall, it should be about the same as last semester.
As for Zhou Mo, she guessed that he would be even better than last semester, because in the second semester of his sophomore year, he participated in two competitions and successfully passed the re-exams. The finals were coming in the second half of this year. At the department’s research meetings, his presentations were brilliant. He was now a celebrity in both the physics department and the computer department. His future was bright!
"Alright, only you could talk so much. When your novel is written, I want to be the first to read it." Original content can be found at novel fire.net
Zhou Yiyi: "What’s the problem? Wait until I’m registered."
Maybe it was the pressure from lacking money, but Zhou Yiyi was really proactive this time and registered herself under the pen name "Yimo". She supported her chin and thought that Zhou Mo would be happy to see this name. It was also an indirect confession from her.
She had already finished her first work, titled "Becoming a Cook in the 1990s", which was based on herself. The whole work had over 800,000 words. She just needed to launch the first 10,000 words and wait for the editor’s review. Then there were the contracting matters to handle, one step at a time, no rush.
While waiting, she started working on her second piece, "Becoming a Fisherwoman in the Ancient Times." The name was very typical of that time, tacky, but eye-catching. Just the word "transmigrate" was enough to pique people’s interest.
As for whether she could make money, she didn’t really care. In the early stages, that’s just how it was. Online literature required the patience to endure loneliness and withstand tests. Without a certain level of perseverance and effort, one simply couldn’t survive in this field.
She chose to debut on a site called "Some Point," which had just been acquired by Shengda. Next, they would launch a never-ending stream of literary websites and games. The peak period for Shengda was approaching.
In fact, by around May or June this year, the pandemic had ended. Basically, Zhou Yiyi didn’t feel its presence at all. Instead, the medicines and protective masks in her "space" made her feel that she had become overly anxious. Fortunately, these things didn’t spoil, so she could use them gradually.
The first half of the sophomore year was as busy as the first half of the freshman year. Although there wasn’t a month-long military training, running drills became a habit. It seemed like without running a few laps every day, she would be embarrassed to go eat.
After the National Day holiday, the scholarship money came in. Zhou Yiyi did pretty well and got exactly ten thousand yuan. Zhou Mo was even more impressive, getting up to twenty thousand yuan, and he received twenty thousand.
After getting the money, Zhou Yiyi immediately paid back Zhou Mo. He didn’t want to take it, but she insisted on giving it. There was no helping it; he took both his and her twenty thousand yuan and deposited it in his bank account, continuing to trade stocks for profit. Without Zhou Yiyi’s guidance, he and Lin Mu were also proficient at operating on their own. Having tasted sweetness, they cherished every penny they had saved even more.
During the one and a half months of summer vacation, they had earned about five thousand yuan. They paid their tuition fees with these five thousand yuan and only kept two to three thousand yuan in hand for turnover.
Zhou Yiyi was left with about one thousand yuan after paying the tuition fees. This one thousand yuan definitely wouldn’t be enough for the living expenses of the semester, so she cleared a day for Zhou Mo and took her Calligrapher Association certificate to some training institutions to teach classes—three classes a day, six hundred yuan (twenty people per class, two hundred yuan each class). Four days a month could earn her about 2400 yuan. It was indirectly like going out to work and earn money.
This year, in addition to taking the Level 6 English test, she also needed some computer-related certificates. Besides that, there were three calligraphy competitions she had to participate in.
Although Zhou Mo said he would support her, she had her own hands and feet; how could she rely on someone else to provide for her? Besides, he could cover meals, but should she also use other people’s money to buy daily necessities? So it was necessary for Zhou Yiyi to go out and make money.
Zhou Mo had a heavy academic workload, so she didn’t let him worry about these matters. After all, compared to her, his two majors were incredibly challenging.
So, she spent the entire first half of her sophomore year in a state of busy activity.
In the blink of an eye, the semester ended, and it was 2005. This semester, Zhou Yiyi made ten thousand yuan just from substitute teaching. After deducting living expenses, she still had five to six thousand yuan left.
This five to six thousand yuan was all her wealth.
But the training institution specially opened an Advanced class for her during the winter break, teaching professional calligraphy teachers, five hundred yuan a day, with twenty people in a large class.
Five hundred yuan a day; ten days before the New Year, and ten days after, making twenty days in total. In less than a month, she made ten thousand yuan, which was much better than her hard-earned money from selling stewed meat. Especially since it was all afternoon classes, it didn’t interfere with her morning classes at all, at most just required some running around.
Zhou Yiyi accepted this offer, so naturally, she didn’t need to go home for the New Year.
Lin Mu had participated in elective competitions last year, and round after round, he surprisingly made it to the top ten. Although he was eliminated in the top five, he gained a lot of exposure. Plus, with the three commercials he took on last year, it was much easier than struggling for scholarships. Now, the kid had saved up forty to fifty thousand yuan.
Because Mrs. Lin missed him too much, she didn’t let him go out to earn money this year at all. Zhou Mo was busy with his studies. He needed to go into the lab before and after the New Year. This was a special class set by the professors in their department, so his schedule was similar to hers. The only difference was Zhou Mo could stay on campus, and she had to stay in her own "space" because it was inconvenient to stay on campus as she also had to go to Professor Guan’s classes.
During the one-week New Year break, Zhou Yiyi still didn’t return home because the trip alone would take three days. Zhou Mo had to go back since Mrs. Zhou was equally nagging. The New Year’s gifts Zhou Yiyi sent to everyone had already been mailed back, a tradition she kept every year. To the families of her master, the Zhou Family, the Lin Family, and even to her former teachers, Teacher Meng and Mr. Qin, she made sure the gifts were delivered, even if she couldn’t be there in person.