Rebirth begins with studying hard

Chapter 48 The Unexpected Interview

My trip to Shanghai has come to an end as scheduled.

Nothing else happened during that time; neither Wang Zhe, nor Zhong Muqing's father, nor her father's assistant appeared again.

Lu Jie could sense that Zhong Muqing's emotions were somewhat affected, but she basically recovered after returning to Feicheng.

Kafka's performance improved beyond his expectations; although losses continued, the number of cups of chilled lemonade sold exceeded everyone's expectations.

He believed that with the boost to Kafka's reputation from the chilled lemonade, turning a profit would definitely be possible ahead of schedule.

"We can start looking at the shops on Huaihe Road Pedestrian Street in advance and begin considering the location of our second store," Lu Jie suggested to Xie Bai.

"Isn't it too early?" Xie Bai wondered.

"It's not too early." Lu Jie shook his head. "At the current rate, we should be able to turn a profit by the end of the year."

"And expansion must take advantage of this momentum."

"Those businesses that can't make a living between the end of summer and Christmas will give up during this period."

"We can choose a location in advance at this time, and open the store if a good location is found."

"Any place on the main pedestrian street with an annual rent of less than one million is acceptable."

"If there is a lack of funds, I can still lend extra money to the company, and they can repay me with profits first."

"Let me think about it." Although Xie Bai still felt that it was too optimistic, he also began to ponder it after seeing the success of the chilled lemonade.

After Lu Jie pointed this out, he didn't urge them any further.

Just before the summer vacation ended, Xie Bai and I went to Huaihe Road Pedestrian Street, picked out a few spots, and I gave Xie Bai the owner's contact information based on my memories from my previous life.

"I probably won't have much time to help Kafka once school starts, but feel free to message me if you need anything."

Now that things have come to this point, he believes that Xie Bai, with his personality, will definitely think it over carefully, and once the location is determined, he will definitely open a second store.

As he expected, after the weather gradually turned cold and the first snow of the second half of the year fell in Feicheng, he received a call from Xie Bai.

He said he had already agreed on the location for the second store, and as long as he confirmed that there were no problems, he would open the second store.

He had originally assigned this position to Xie Bai, so naturally he had no objections.

After Kafka's second shop was closed, he received a notification from the editor.

Congratulations! You're the Rookie of the Year!

Can you come to Shanghai next January to attend the Qidian Annual Meeting? You'll receive an award on-site.

Lu Jie refused without even thinking: "I have final exams in January, I don't have time to come."

The title of "Rookie of the Year" doesn't actually mean anything special to him.

Anyway, he'll get all the publicity he deserves, and getting the platinum title is just a matter of time.

He's currently in the most intense period of his studies, and he feels it's already a struggle to find an hour each day to write his novel. He simply doesn't have the energy to come to Shanghai.

Okay, I'll accept the Rookie of the Year award for you. I'll send the prize to you after the annual meeting.

The physical book of "Battle Through the Heavens" is about to be published, and the publisher would like to do some promotion. Could you arrange an interview?

Lu Jie became interested. Although he had 10,000 subscribers in his previous life, fan fiction books with 10,000 subscribers were not eligible for publication.

He wasn't interested in the royalties from physical books. After all, even if the physical book market in 08 wasn't as sluggish as it would be 20 years later, it was still difficult for physical copies of online novels to sell well.

It's simply a kind of inexplicable sense of honor towards publishing.

He replied to the editor with confirmation: "Sure! I'm ready to cooperate anytime."

The editor replied: "I've given your contact information and school address to the publisher; they will contact you."

After replying "okay," he didn't ask any more questions and just waited for the publisher to contact him about the interview.

After waiting for nearly a month without any progress, he put the matter out of his mind.

Unexpectedly, just before the winter break and when the final exams were approaching, the publishing house launched a surprise attack on him.

They arranged for reporters to come directly to No. 12 Middle School for interviews.

The interview caused quite a stir, while the No. 12 Middle School did very little.

The news quickly spread throughout the school.

"Holy crap! You wrote 'Battle Through the Heavens'? I've never heard you mention it before!" Sun Bo was stunned.

Although he hasn't been as engrossed in novels as before since he started studying seriously, he has still read some popular online novels.

"Battle Through the Heavens" is his favorite novel.

More than half of the boys in the class, like Sun Bo, looked at Lu Jie as if he were an alien.

The mastermind is right next to me?!

"What is 'Battle Through the Heavens'? Is it a novel? Is it going to be published?" Even students who had never read web novels looked at Lu Jie with a change of expression after hearing that it was a novel that was about to be published.

They didn't know what online novels were, but being able to publish a book meant they were very capable.

Reporters have come to interview them.

"Wow, a great writer!" Lu Jie felt that Zhong Muqing's eyes were sparkling with excitement when she looked at him.

He felt a little embarrassed watching it.

Since the interview, students from other classes have come to see him almost every day, and some have come to ask for his autograph.

Even Song Qian, who hadn't contacted him for a long time, specifically came to his class to ask if he had really written a novel that was going to be published, and asked if he could give her a signed copy.

Fortunately, winter break was approaching, and with the pressure of final exams and the interruption of the winter vacation, the matter was quickly quelled.

After the winter break, there will be some impact, but it will be much less, and at least it won't affect his studies.

Throughout the first semester of his junior year, he basically put aside politics, history, and geography, and devoted all the time that was originally allocated to politics, history, and geography to English.

After memorizing most of the 3500 words required for high school, my grades improved significantly.

Zhong Muqing frequently spoke to him in English, which significantly improved his spoken English.

After using English more, even if your grammar isn't perfect, you'll develop a feel for the language and be able to tell which answer is more appropriate after reading it once during an exam.

"How come your spoken English is so good?" he couldn't help but ask Zhong Muqing after the final exams.

"I spoke English when I was in elementary school," Zhong Muqing chuckled.

"You lived abroad during elementary school?" Lu Jie asked in surprise.

"In Singapore," Zhong Muqing secretly told him.

Lu Jie understood now.

Although Singapore is a Chinese community, the official language is English.

A talent for language learning is important, but the environment is even more important.

Even if someone is illiterate, they can gradually learn the language if the people around them speak it every day.

He knew that Zhong Muqing's mother was from Feicheng. Since she was able to live and study in Po County when she was a child, it meant that her father was from Po County.

Or perhaps they immigrated from China to Singapore?

It's not surprising that many wealthy Chinese people chose to obtain residency in Singapore in their past lives.

Seeing that Zhong Muqing was reluctant to talk about the matter, he didn't press her further.

After the winter break, the academic pressure in the second semester of the second year of high school became even heavier.

The added pressure of the high school entrance exam caused some students, even those in the top classes, to gradually slack off in their studies.

As the pressure mounted, Sun Bo sighed several times, "I'm so tired!"

"I'm finding it hard to keep studying."

Just as he was about to reach his peak, seeing that Lu Jie's study session seemed unaffected, he couldn't help but say to Lu Jie:

"You've already written such an amazing book as 'Battle Through the Heavens,' why are you still studying so hard?"