"Ten favorites."
From yesterday, when How a Bad Guy Is Made was uploaded, up until today, it has already gained ten favorites.
These so-called ten favorites meant that ten people were following this work.
This result was neither particularly good nor particularly bad, and Huang Yifan didn't care too much about it.
He spent another hour writing eight thousand words, then updated two more chapters.
After the update, he checked the time, and it was only nine o'clock.
It wasn't too late.
Feeling bored, Huang Yifan entered a website called "Feilong."
Although it was called a website, it was actually a forum mainly focused on reviewing web novels.
Because of Feilong's neutrality, many authors and administrators from major websites frequently appeared there.
To better understand Huaguo's online literature scene, Huang Yifan continuously browsed through various threads.
[A Brief Discussion on the Worldbuilding of Fantasy Novels.]
[The Future Prospects of Alternate History Fiction.]
[Have Virtual Game Novels Truly Lost All Innovation?]
[Lingdian, Huanyue, and Lianheng: three Major Literature Sites Competing Like the Three Kingdoms, Each Unleashing Killer Moves.]
[Newbie Here with a Fresh Story, Seeking Guidance from the Feilong Masters.]
[Breaking News! Super Platinum Author "Wuhen" Releases a New Book, Giving Away 88,888.]
The Feilong forum had countless topics. There were discussions about current web novel writing trends, analyses of various novel genres, and also plenty of news and gossip about competition among major websites. Naturally, there were also newbie authors advertising themselves on Feilong, asking fellow writers for feedback.
As Huang Yifan read, he absorbed knowledge about Huaguo's current web novel scene, while also comparing it to the development of web literature on Earth.
Before he knew it, an hour had passed, and the clock pointed to ten o'clock at night.
Tomorrow was Monday, and he still had classes, so Huang Yifan didn't continue reading. Instead, he shut down the computer.
"I didn't expect Huaguo's online literature to be taking such a literary, artsy route."
Lying in bed, Huang Yifan summarized the threads he had just read.
From those posts, he could see that most web novels in Huaguo currently had fairly good prose, and the overall writing style tended to be quite rigorous.
As for those with poorer writing or less rigorous, newbie-style novels, most of them had little market appeal.
However, Huang Yifan clearly didn't agree with this view.
Although How a Bad Guy Is Made had average prose, wasn't very rigorous, and was a textbook newbie novel, looking at the work as a whole, it could be summed up in one word: exhilarating.
For web novels, no amount of money can buy sheer satisfaction.
Isn't reading novels all about that sense of satisfaction?
With that thought, Huang Yifan slowly drifted into sleep.
…
Tieshikou Middle School.
Who would have thought that more than ten years later, I would return to campus in this way?
Walking along the concrete paths of Tieshikou Middle School, Huang Yifan felt deeply emotional.
In fact, during the weekend, Huang Yifan had already entered the campus twice to go to the library.
It was just that those times were during the weekend, when there were no students around, so he hadn't felt much.
But when a campus broadcast tune, similar to the "Athletes' March" from his previous life, rang out, Huang Yifan was instantly pulled back into the past.
More than ten years ago, he had also been a middle school student.
It was just that the current Huang Yifan was no longer the same Huang Yifan from over a decade ago.
Having lived two lives, even though Huang Yifan's current identity was still that of a student, his mindset was completely different.
With the feeling of revisiting his old school, mixed with memories of his youth, Huang Yifan strolled around the campus.
A path that took only a few minutes to walk was stretched by him into more than ten minutes.
"Did you finish yesterday's homework?"
"Let me copy it."
"I had way too much fun grinding over the weekend. I got thirty kills by myself! Let's go again next week."
"Forget it, there's an exam coming up soon. We need to hurry up and review."
As he entered Class 2 of the third year, a series of classmates' conversations reached Huang Yifan's ears.
Some talked about studying, some about playing, and some just joked and bragged.
In the teacher's eyes, this was just a noisy scene, but to Huang Yifan, it was the truest depiction of campus life.
A faint smile curved at the corners of Huang Yifan's mouth, and he even slightly narrowed his eyes. He really missed this feeling of being on campus.
"Huang Yifan, you're not late today. That's rare."
As soon as he sat down, a voice came from beside him.
It was his deskmate, Zhang Huiping.
Yes, a female deskmate.
He didn't know what rule Class 2 of the third year followed, but the entire class had boys and girls seated together.
"Huh, Huang Yifan, it's only been a few days, why do you seem like a completely different person?"
As Zhang Huiping spoke, she stared at Huang Yifan.
After a moment, she suddenly seemed to realize something, blushed, and turned her head away.
"A different person? Really?"
Huang Yifan looked himself over, feeling a bit puzzled.
"Yes! Anyway, you just feel different from before, more energetic. Especially your eyes, and also… alright, let's not talk about that. Have you finished writing your ghost story?"
Zhang Huiping didn't want to continue discussing the topic.
Some things couldn't be said to a deskmate, especially thoughts that girls kept in their hearts.
"Ghost story? What ghost story?"
"No way! Haven't you been writing ghost stories lately? You promised that after the weekend, you'd write a brand-new ghost story. What, did you forget?"
"Did I?"
A trace of memory surfaced in his mind. Huang Yifan took out a densely written exercise notebook from under the desk.
Campus Ghost Stories.
Isn't this the notebook I used to write stories in during my previous life?
Huang Yifan almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but after confirming it countless times, he knew this really was his notebook from his previous life. And not only that, but the ghost stories written inside were also ones he had written back then. Although Huang Yifan knew that these so-called campus ghost stories were incredibly childish.
How did this notebook appear here?
Could it have crossed over into this world together with him?
His eyes grew a little moist.
Huang Yifan gently stroked the slightly wrinkled notebook, as if it weren't a notebook at all, but an old friend.
Then, he put the notebook back into the desk.
"Sorry, I spent the weekend playing games and forgot to write it."
Huang Yifan apologized to his deskmate, Zhang Huiping.
But just as he finished apologizing, a voice from the front row suddenly cut in, "Hmph, Huang Yifan, did you really forget, or are you just not capable of writing it?"
The speaker was Jiang Weiwei.
According to his original memories, Huang Yifan had always had a bad relationship with Jiang Weiwei in front of him.
The reason was that Jiang Weiwei often tattled to the homeroom teacher, reporting who wasn't paying attention in class or who was talking during self-study.
Naturally, Huang Yifan was often a regular on her list.
"If you ask me, if you can't write it, then just admit it honestly. Right, Huiping?"
"Weiwei, say less."
Zhang Huiping looked a bit awkward. "Huang Yifan, I didn't mean it that way. Actually, the ghost stories you wrote before were pretty good. If you forgot, then you forgot, just write one in a few days."
"Pretty good? Huiping, are you kidding? Did you even read his ghost stories? What kind of ghost stories are those? They're not scary at all; they couldn't even scare a kid. And he calls that a ghost story? Huang Yifan, I advise you to pay attention in class instead of always writing this kind of messy stuff. Look at you, you used to rank thirtieth in the class, now you've dropped to fortieth."
Jiang Weiwei was the class study monitor, always ranked first in exams. Talking about Huang Yifan's academic ranking, she spoke with full confidence.
In her mind, she was simply reminding him.
If this had been the previous Huang Yifan, he might have flipped out at Jiang Weiwei on the spot.
But Huang Yifan, reborn into a new life, merely smiled calmly.
Between classmates, there was never really any deep hatred.
Maybe there were conflicts now, but if you looked back ten or twenty years later, you'd realize that those conflicts had perhaps been incredibly precious.
Having lived one full life already, Huang Yifan understood this clearly.
He wasn't going to get angry over it, or anything like that.
Still, if he didn't respond at all, even if he was broad-minded, it would make that little girl far too smug.
After thinking for a moment, Huang Yifan spoke.
"Jiang Weiwei, what rank I'm in is none of your concern. As for the ghost story I mentioned before, to be honest, I really did forget over the weekend. Since you don't believe me, I'll write it now. But you should go back to your seat; whether I write it or not has nothing to do with you. Also, sorry, I'm writing it for Zhang Huiping to read. After it's done, I won't let you read it."
After saying that, Huang Yifan took out a fresh exercise notebook and prepared to write a brand-new ghost story.
Jiang Weiwei, hearing this, was stunned on the spot.
Since when had this Huang Yifan become so eloquent?
And after what she just said to him, he could actually hold it in and not get angry, how strange.
She wanted to say something more, but seeing Huang Yifan already bent over writing, she just snorted and returned to her seat.
…
Strange Tales.
Huang Yifan hadn't read many ghost stories in his previous life, but Strange Tales was undoubtedly the most famous.
However, in this world, probably no one would understand what Strange Tales actually was.
Of course, Huang Yifan wasn't going to write out all of Strange Tales.
In fact, Strange Tales wasn't a long novel, but a collection of individual stories compiled into a book.
For writing a ghost story now, he just needed to pick any one story from Strange Tales.
"Biting a Ghost."
Huang Yifan chose the "Biting a Ghost" story from Strange Tales.
Although Strange Tales was said to be a collection of ghost stories, most of its ghost stories weren't actually that scary.
Some weren't scary at all; in fact, they were quite romantic.
Stories like scholars falling in love with white fox spirits, or tragic romances between humans and ghosts, had moved countless people in his previous life.
But among them, "Biting a Ghost" really was somewhat frightening.
Shen Linsheng said: One summer day, a certain old friend of his was napping during the daytime. In a hazy state, he saw a woman lift the curtain and enter…
No, he couldn't write it in classical Chinese.
How could a third-year middle school girl possibly understand classical Chinese?
Not to mention a middle schooler, even high school or college students who didn't major in literature, wouldn't be able to fully translate it.
Originally, Huang Yifan had planned to simply copy out the "Biting a Ghost" story from Strange Tales, but now it seemed he had no choice but to translate it himself.
In half an hour, Huang Yifan finished writing "Biting a Ghost."
"Biting a Ghost" told the story of a man in ancient times who experienced sleep paralysis and then bit the ghost to death.
The original story was already fairly frightening, and when Huang Yifan translated it, he deliberately added more details about the sleep paralysis. By the end, the entire story became even more terrifying.
After finishing, Huang Yifan handed the notebook to Zhang Huiping.
"Zhang Huiping, it's done. But let me say this first: I only wrote this ghost story for you to read. You're not allowed to show it to anyone else. Also, you can't read it during class. Read it after class, or when you get back to the dorm, either is fine. One last thing: if you get scared after reading it, don't blame me."
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Glossary
1 - Strange Tales (聊斋, Liaozhai) or Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异, Liaozhai Zhiyi) is a classic collection of short stories written by Pu Songling in the early Qing dynasty, during the 17th century. The work compiles supernatural tales involving ghosts, spirits, fox demons, and the strange side of human nature, blending folklore, social criticism, and moral reflection, and it remains one of the most influential foundations of Chinese supernatural and fantasy literature.
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