Pursuing Her Best Friend after Confession Failed-Chapter 24 - 23 Bro, from now on, you’re my idol.
Li Yuan slammed a hand against the wall beside her and tapped her smooth forehead. "Your brother is a law-abiding citizen, you know. I earn my money fair and square."
Li Zixia’s face lit up with a smile. "Bro, then tell me how you made this money. I’m not a little kid anymore."
Girls generally matured earlier, and the children of the poor learned to be responsible sooner. As such, Li Zixia had a relatively clear understanding of money. She knew that being able to spend over ten thousand yuan on brand-name shoes and clothes was no small feat.
Li Yuan took out his new laptop and asked with a grin, "Zixia, do you know what this is?"
"Bro, is that a laptop? I think a classmate of mine has one at home."
"Correct. I just bought it today," Li Yuan said with a faint smile.
Li Zixia’s eyes sparkled. "Bro, you even bought a laptop? That must have cost several thousand, right? Where did you get so much money?"
"The laptop that girl in my class has seems to be some kind of ’Think’ brand. She uses it to watch videos and play games... it cost seven or eight thousand!"
"That’s not expensive at all. This was just over ten thousand. Chump change."
"Over ten thousand, and you call it chump change? Bro, you’re so rich! Are we secretly millionaires, or did you win five million in the lottery?"
"Pah, am I the kind of person who gets something for nothing?" Li Yuan said with a proud smile. "With the intelligence that got me into a 985 university, making money is a piece of cake. It’s all thanks to my own talent."
"You know the saying, ’There are houses of gold in books,’ right? I’ll explain in a bit."
Showing off in front of his own little sister felt pretty good. No wonder the ancients said that achieving wealth and status without returning home to show it off is like wearing a beautiful silk robe to walk in the dark. And this was just his naive little sister. If he were to come back driving a Mercedes and buy a house in Modu, his status and reputation among the folks back home would surely skyrocket. Just like Jingdong Liu. Every time he went back to his hometown, the opulence, the spectacle, and the sheer presence of it all stirred a unique feeling in one’s heart. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t envious. Of course, he hadn’t reached that level yet, so it was only right to keep a low profile. He understood the principle of not flaunting one’s wealth, but the future was a different story. Unless he was content to just coast through life, he was bound to achieve a certain level of fame and social standing. What a joy it would be to one day return to his hometown in splendor, with a massive entourage, commanding everyone’s attention.
Li Zixia hugged Li Yuan’s arm, using her ultimate charm offensive. "Bro, what on earth are you doing to make so much money? C’mon, tell me!"
"Come here, I’ll show you." Li Yuan opened the laptop, connected the wireless adapter, navigated to Yuandian Web, and pointed to *Battle Starry Sky*, which was ranked first on the bestseller list. "Zixia, have you ever read this book?"
"*Battle Starry Sky*?" Li Zixia exclaimed. "Bro, I’ve heard my classmates mention this book! I think it’s a fantasy novel, and it’s supposed to be really popular. A few of the boys in my class are always talking about the plot."
Li Yuan stated calmly, "I wrote it."
Li Zixia was completely dumbfounded. This novel that was already famous online was actually written by her own brother? For a moment, she was in a daze. It felt as if a fantasy had suddenly invaded reality; it was simply too incredible. Although she didn’t know much about web novels, seeing *Battle Starry Sky* at the top of the bestseller list told her that it had to be making money.
So, my brother wasn’t lying? He really wrote a web novel all by himself and earned a lot of money?
"Bro, so how much can you make in a month?" Li Zixia asked curiously.
Li Yuan held up one finger.
Li Zixia’s eyes lit up as she guessed nervously, "Ten thousand?"
Li Yuan shook his head. "Guess. Guess boldly. Aim higher!"
"Bro... don’t tell me it’s a hundred thousand?"
Li Zixia’s voice trembled. Her monthly allowance was just over three hundred yuan. The two-story, three-bedroom house with a yard that their family had built last year had only cost around eighty or ninety thousand. What did a hundred thousand yuan even mean? In this era, the total annual income of most families didn’t even reach that number before expenses. The salary for an ordinary worker was only one or two thousand a month.
Li Yuan just smiled, neither confirming nor denying it. "Don’t worry, Zixia. With your big bro looking out for you, I guarantee you’ll be eating the finest food and living the good life."
"MWAH! You’re the best, bro!" Li Zixia was so happy she felt like she could fly. "Brother, what do you want for lunch? I’ll make it for you."
Both Li Yuan and Li Zixia knew how to cook, their skills more or less on par, but Li Yuan had become too lazy to bother with it since his rebirth.
He pulled five hundred-yuan bills from his wallet, handed them to her with a flourish, and said magnanimously, "Zixia, go to the market, buy some ingredients, and show me what you can do. The rest is for your trouble."
Li Zixia took the bills, her eyes curving into crescents as two small dimples faintly appeared.
"Brother, what do you want to eat? Just give me your order!"
"You decide!"
"Alright then! You just wait, bro, I’m heading to the market right now."
Li Zixia agreed cheerfully. Their house was close to the town market, only about seven or eight hundred meters away. Hopping on her small electric scooter, she was there in minutes.
Watching his sister leave, Li Yuan smacked his lips and chuckled to himself. Does this count as using child labor? As they say, money makes ghosts push grindstones. A wealthy older brother is a god in his sister’s eyes.
Before long, Li Zixia returned and bustled around the kitchen preparing lunch. She made spicy diced chicken, braised pork, hot and sour shredded potatoes, and a Fanqie and egg soup. It was a simple meal, but it was filled with the warmth of home.
"Zixia, your cooking is so much better than mine."
"Heh, bro, I’ll cook for you all the time from now on, but you have to support me, okay?"
"Deal. Supporting you is a piece of cake. Here’s a thousand yuan. Go buy whatever you want."
Seeing the stack of red bills Li Yuan pulled out, Li Zixia’s eyes lit up like a little money-grubber. "Wow, bro, you’re the best! I officially declare you my idol from now on."
「The next evening.」
Their parents returned home on the rural-to-urban bus.
Li Yuan hurried over to take their bags. "Dad, Mom, you’re back. You haven’t had dinner yet, right?"
Li Zixia came out of the kitchen. "Dad, Mom, I’ve already chopped all the vegetables. I was just waiting for you to get back."
Li Heng and Xia Qin exchanged a glance and smiled warmly, feeling a renewed sense of motivation. This is what a family is. Simple, but so warm.
During dinner, before Li Yuan could even say anything, Li Zixia excitedly told Li Heng and Xia Qin the news that her brother had become a web novelist and was making a fortune.
"My brother is amazing! That novel he wrote earns over a hundred thousand a month. Even some of my middle school classmates are reading it."
Li Heng frowned. "What kind of novel earns over a hundred thousand a month? Yuan, you haven’t been scammed, have you?"
Xia Qin also found it unbelievable. Her son was earning money before he even started university? Making money was one thing, but over a hundred thousand a month? How was that possible? The two of them together only earned about forty to fifty thousand a year, and even that was considered pretty good among their neighbors in the surrounding villages.
"Yuan, what’s all this about? Hurry and tell us everything."
Left with no choice, Li Yuan had to open his laptop again. In front of his parents, he went to Yuandian Web, logged into the author’s section, and uploaded a new Chapter of *Battle Starry Sky*.
"Dad, this is my payment for July. After taxes, it’s 1.6 million."
