"By the way, sis, let me pay you for that last month of rent," Chen Zhao suddenly remembered.
He'd still owed her the rent for his final month. He hadn't been able to pay, so Deng Zixin had waived it, but he'd always felt bad living there without paying. Now that he'd started making money from livestreaming, he figured he should settle the debt. It was better to owe nothing. A grown man shouldn't take advantage of a woman, right?
"Oh, that's a big talker," Deng Zixin said with a scornful smile. "Fine. Once your writing fee comes in, come find me upstairs."
"I don't have to wait for that. I have money now." Chen Zhao pulled out his phone. "Do you want me to pay you through WeChat or Alipay?"
Deng Zixin looked surprised and sat up straight. "Where'd a kid like you get money? Don't tell me you're giving me your tuition or something. You don't have to."
"It's not tuition. It's gifts from my livestream. I've made quite a bit these past couple days." Chen Zhao smiled proudly.
Deng Zixin froze, then frowned and flew into a rage. "Chen Zhao, can you get a grip? Do you know what time it is? You've got just a few dozen days left before the college entrance exam! Do you still not understand how important it is? I don't want your rent, and I don't need that little bit of money. My bank balance is almost eight figures! You'd better study hard and stop messing around with all that nonsense!"
Deng Zixin spoke so fast she sounded like a machine gun. Chen Zhao tried several times to cut in and explain, but she interrupted him every time. If this woman ever got married, her husband would be in for the worst luck of his life. He'd lose every single argument! With Deng Zixin's sharp tongue, she'd just keep firing off words. Who could argue with that?
"How are your grades now? Are you confident about getting into college?" Deng Zixin asked, changing the subject.
"I'm practically guaranteed to get into college. I'm aiming for Tsinghua University and Peking University," Chen Zhao replied.
"Bullshit! You think someone like you can get into Tsinghua or Peking University?" Deng Zixin frowned even harder, furious. "Young people should stop bragging so much. If you get into Tsinghua or Peking University, I'll give you this whole building! I'm leaving. You'd better study hard. If you don't get into college, just you wait! I'll have someone beat you to a pulp!"
Deng Zixin got up and left, slamming the door behind her. Her attitude had been awful, and she hadn't listened to a word of his explanation, but Chen Zhao still felt warm inside. He knew his landlady was only fierce on the surface and was actually a kind person. She'd gotten angry because she wanted him to focus on studying and get into college. Once his acceptance letter arrived, he'd have to take Deng Zixin out for a meal.
Chen Zhao logged in and livestreamed another match, then announced he was ending the stream to go to bed. His fans wailed in protest, calling him a lazy streamer. Other streamers would broadcast for an entire day or night in one go, but Chen Zhao only ever played a couple of matches before logging off.
The next day's exams were just as easy. Chen Zhao was confident he'd score close to full marks on the science comprehensive exam, but English was less certain. He'd been terrible at English since he was a kid; he couldn't even recognize all the phonetic symbols. He'd recently gone through a lot of English study guides, but they didn't seem to have helped much. He figured he'd get around 130 in English, which was awful.
He'd have to cram English properly later.
Then came a day off. Chen Zhao spent the whole day livestreaming, and his fans were thrilled. The long stream worked wonders: he gained sixty thousand followers in a single day and received countless gifts. After cashing them out, he had more than 2,400 yuan.
2,400 yuan a day.
Thirty days in a month—that was a full 72,000 yuan!
Twelve months in a year—that was 864,000 yuan!
As his streaming hours accumulated, his fame would keep growing. Maybe the legendary million-yuan annual salary wasn't just a dream anymore!
Chen Zhao was thrilled. It turned out that making money was easy if you were smart and worked hard. Just by livestreaming, he could live a comfortable life.
That evening, Deng Zixin came by again. She brought a copy of the Baicheng Times and opened it to the second-to-last page for Chen Zhao. In the upper-right corner was the classical Chinese essay Exhortation to Learning, with Chen Zhao listed as the author.
"Look at you, writing an essay in classical Chinese!" Deng Zixin slapped Chen Zhao on the shoulder. "Come on, give me your autograph."
"Huh?" Chen Zhao stared at her.
"Sign it! Right next to your essay. I'm keeping it as a collectible. If you make it big in the literary world someday, that autograph could be worth a fortune!" Deng Zixin grabbed Chen Zhao by the back of the neck and hauled him over to the coffee table like a kitten. She slapped the newspaper down, then shoved a pen into his hand.
"Make it look good. Don't scribble!" Deng Zixin warned him.
Chen Zhao nodded and did his best to make his handwriting neat and attractive. It was only two characters, but it took him a full twenty seconds.
When he finished, Chen Zhao was pleased. It was probably the best he'd ever written his name.
"Good grief, your handwriting is awful! It's a complete mess!" Deng Zixin picked up the newspaper and looked at it, her lovely brows knitting together. "It's all limp and ugly. Even if I gave a zoo monkey a pen, it'd write better than you!"
Chen Zhao nearly choked on his own blood.
"It looks fine to me!" Chen Zhao protested. "If you think my handwriting's so bad, show me what good handwriting looks like!"
Deng Zixin snatched the pen and began writing on a piece of scrap paper nearby.
Tap, tap, tap!
She finished in a few strokes, then set the pen down with a slap.
"Got anything to say now?" Deng Zixin asked contemptuously, tapping Chen Zhao on the head with her slender finger.
Chen Zhao gaped at the three characters, Deng Zixin, on the scrap of paper. They were neat, precise, and beautiful—so much so that they looked printed! They even looked like the characters in the copybooks he'd bought in elementary school!
"Holy crap, didn't you drop out of school? How is your handwriting so good? That's not fair!" Chen Zhao exclaimed.
"Do you know who my dad is?" Deng Zixin suddenly asked.
"Who?" Chen Zhao looked bewildered.
"Deng Tiejun. He's a calligrapher and a traditional Chinese painter! His calligraphy goes for over ten thousand yuan per square foot! With my dad teaching me, I could write with my feet and still make it look better than yours!" Deng Zixin said proudly, looking down on Chen Zhao.
Chen Zhao was stunned. No wonder Deng Zixin had so much money. Her father could sell his calligraphy and paintings for ten thousand yuan per square foot. If he spent two or three days painting, he could make tens of millions. Buying a building must have been a piece of cake.
"By the way, my dad said he wants to meet you," Deng Zixin suddenly added.
"Meet me?" Chen Zhao was taken aback. "Why?"
"Your essay caught his interest. He thinks you've got potential. My dad's a cultured man, after all. Of course he'd want to meet someone who can write a good essay," Deng Zixin said. "If you're willing, I can take you over whenever you're free. And stop standing there with your mouth hanging open like an idiot. If my dad's in a good mood, he might take you on as a disciple. You'd be getting an incredible deal! The line of people who want to be my dad's disciples stretches all the way from the entrance to the Forbidden City to the entrance of the White House!"
"But... I never planned to become a calligrapher or painter..." Chen Zhao scratched his head. "You've seen how bad my handwriting is. I just don't have the talent."
"My dad will probably invite you to dinner or something. You could at least go for a free meal," Deng Zixin said.
"Sure!" Chen Zhao nodded vigorously. She could've just said there'd be a free meal!
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