Chapter 16: Chapter 15 Yuan, You Must Be a Rich Second Generation (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The county town had three driving schools, and the one Li Yuan and his group went to was the Chunlei Driving School in the city’s west end. High school graduates could get a 20% discount if they registered with their student ID. The four of them signed up together, each paying 2,800 yuan for a C1 license. By registering in late June, they could get their licenses by the end of August.

At that time, driving schools, especially in small counties, were not strictly managed. Li Yuan simply handed over two cartons of Yuxi cigarettes and received special treatment from the instructor.

“Hey, Yuan, you really know how to handle things,” Wang Shuai said. “Now the four of us have a car to ourselves. We can practice to our heart’s content.”

Wang Shuai and the others had gotten used to Li Yuan’s generosity. If it were up to them, they probably would have been too embarrassed and a bit reluctant to hand over the cigarettes. Two cartons of Yuxi were four hundred yuan, after all.

Li Yuan was well aware of how things worked at the driving school. Most of the instructors were worldly men, and to deal with worldly men, you had to use worldly methods. Thanks to his “gift,” their practice speed increased dramatically. Just one week after registering, they had already scheduled their Subject 1 test.

As for the Subject 2 practice, Li Yuan, having been an experienced driver in his previous life, only needed one casual pointer from the instructor to handle the car proficiently.

Yang Zhen was stunned to see Li Yuan complete reverse parking, parallel parking, navigating curves, and hill starts all in a single attempt. “Yuanzi, don’t tell me you already knew how to drive?”

Xu Zhi was also curious. “He’s a rich second-gen; his family definitely owns a car.”

“Definitely,” Wang Shuai chuckled. “Yuan’s a rich second-gen. His family probably owns a mine.”

In that era, private cars were still quite rare. Anyone who could afford one was either rich or influential. Li Yuan was always lavish with his spending. After he gifted each of them a pair of Nike basketball shoes worth over a thousand yuan, they were even more convinced of this.

Li Yuan laughed it off, boasting, “I’m not some rich second-gen. My family is very poor, just a farming family, much poorer than any of yours. Of course, we don’t have a car… As for driving, maybe I’m just gifted. I learn everything quickly.”

He wasn’t lying. After his rebirth, his memory and learning ability had indeed improved significantly. Even his typing speed and inspiration had increased dramatically. The plots and stories of works he had read in his previous life now appeared clearly in his mind.

I guess this is the hidden cheat that came with being reborn.

“Cut it out. You say you’re poor, but who’s going to believe that?” Xu Zhi said with a hint of envy. “You’re decked out in Nike and Adidas from head to toe. That’s got to be two or three thousand yuan worth of clothes right there.” This was a stark change from before; since finishing the college entrance exams, Li Yuan had become incredibly generous with his money.

Li Yuan said helplessly, “Why doesn’t anyone believe me when I tell the truth!”

「At the county hospital」

When Li Yuan heard his parents on the phone saying they were leaving to return to the northeast, he immediately rushed home and brought them in for a medical check-up. While waiting for the results, he wanted to tell his parents about the money he had earned so they wouldn’t have to work so hard, enduring the wind, sun, and harsh weather. But he didn’t know how to explain it.

His conservative parents wouldn’t easily accept the idea of him getting his first pot of gold from the lottery and then investing it all in stocks. It would likely lead to endless lectures.

After a moment’s thought, Li Yuan decided to keep it to himself for now, planning to tell them after he received his author royalties. In any case, being an author earning hundreds of thousands a month sounded far more legitimate than playing the stock market.

“Dad, Mom, why don’t you stay for a while longer? You can leave after I get my university acceptance letter!”

His father, Li Heng, had long grown bored of staying at home. He was the tireless type, a real workhorse who couldn’t sit still and had spent his entire life working to make ends meet. He said solemnly, “There’s nothing to do at home. If we go back earlier, we can earn more money. If we’re gone too long, we’ll lose our regular customers.”

Xia Qin added, “We’ll come back when you’re about to start school. We don’t understand anything about the university applications, so you should ask your teachers for advice.”

Since his parents were adamant about leaving, Li Yuan couldn’t stop them. Once I get to Modu, I’ll set up a shop so Mom and Dad can move there and run it.

When the medical results came back, Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. His mother had mild gastritis and needed some medication. His father had slightly high blood pressure and a fatty liver, but there were no other major issues.

His parents left for the city the next day to catch their train. As was the case every year, his younger sister, Li Zixia, was sent to live at their maternal grandmother’s house.

「A week later」

Li Yuan smoothly passed the Subject 1 test, and his Subject 2 test was scheduled for two weeks later.

At an internet cafe, he logged onto a stock trading website to check on the “Salt Lake Shares” he had purchased. He had invested 6 million yuan in the stock, buying shares at 4.1 yuan each. Now, just over half a month later, the price had risen to 6.2 yuan per share, an increase of over 50%, and it was still climbing rapidly. If he sold his shares now, he would net a profit of over 3 million yuan—and all in just half a month.

Li Yuan finally understood why the associate professor from his past life had boasted about this for years. The feeling of watching your wealth grow dramatically every day was truly exhilarating.

According to that professor, this stock should keep rising until the end of July. I’ll just have to check on it occasionally. At the end of July, I’ll sell it all, no matter how much profit I’ve made.

He wasn’t a greedy person, and he knew the stock market was a murky business. One wrong move and he could get trapped, losing the first pot of gold he’d worked so hard to earn.

Besides investing, Li Yuan spent most of his time writing. The free section of *Battle Starry Sky* had reached 130,000 words. After one final week on the Sanjiang recommendation list and a major promotional feature, it would be ready to go premium. Its performance on the new book charts was already in a league of its own.

Recommendation Tickets: 63,000, Monthly Tickets: 12,000, Collections: 89,000, Paid Followers: 23,000.

The numbers were incredibly impressive, even exceeding Li Yuan’s expectations. His editor’s attitude toward him grew better and better. With the full slate of recommendations, reaching over one hundred thousand collections was practically guaranteed, and the first-day subscription numbers had a good chance of setting a new record on Yuandian Web.

Starry Sky: Xia Hua, the Sanjiang recommendation is tomorrow, followed by the major promotional feature. Your stats are still climbing. Work hard for the next few days and stockpile some Chapters. When the book goes premium, a massive release of Chapters will help lock in more paid readers…

Li Yuan: Don’t worry. I already have over 300,000 words stockpiled. I’m prepared to update ten thousand words a day for a few months after it goes premium.

Thanks to his enhanced memory from rebirth, his writing speed was faster than ever, and inspiration flowed endlessly. He could now consistently type at a speed of 5,000 words per hour, which was faster than most people who used Pinyin input. If there were a leaderboard for writing speed, he’d definitely be at the top.

Starry Sky: You have that many stockpiled Chapters? That’s a relief. Still, take care of your health. Don’t push yourself too hard. Maintaining the quality of the content is what’s most important.

「In the teacher’s apartment building next to No. 4 Middle School」

Bai Weixi strummed her guitar, softly humming a sad-sounding tune.

Outside her bedroom, Bai Weixi’s parents frowned, whispering to each other. “Our daughter has been so absent-minded since the college entrance exam. She seems really down. I even saw her hiding under the covers, wiping away tears…”

“Tianqi, do you think our daughter might be in a relationship?”

Bai Tianqi shot to his feet, about to say something, but then sank back down with a sigh. His voice was heavy. “Weixi has always been a sensible girl. I doubt she’d get into a relationship. Besides, what kind of girl who’s dating can score a 642 on the college entrance exam and come in first in her class?”

Yang Jinyu looked unconvinced. She peeked into the room, her face filled with worry. “Weixi is obedient and sensible, but I’m still worried.”

Bai Tianqi suddenly suggested, “How about this? After she fills out her university applications, we can take a family trip during the summer break to relax.”

Hearing the word “trip,” Yang Jinyu’s face lit up. Because of their daughter’s schooling and their financial situation, they had rarely traveled since they got married.

“A trip sounds good, but what about her university choice? Whenever I ask her where she wants to go, she just clams up and won’t say.”

Bai Tianqi clicked his tongue. “You’re her mother. Try to sound her out. I hope she doesn’t go too far away. Staying in Luzhou would be fine.”

Yang Jinyu immediately objected, “What’s so great about Luzhou? If she’s going to a university, it should be in a big city. Beijing’s weather is terrible, always having sandstorms. I think Modu would be nice. The scenery there is pleasant.”

“When she’s at university, Weixi can find a boyfriend who’s a Modu local, and then she’ll never have to come back to this small county. She won’t have to suffer like I have, married into a small place like this where I can’t even go back to my family home. My parents were right—you have to marry someone of equal social standing. From now on, I will never approve of my daughter marrying a man from a poor family.”

Bai Tianqi looked a little dejected. He was a country man from a small county, while Yang Jinyu was a city woman from Su Province. The chain of discrimination between cities, and between urban and rural areas, ran deep.

“Still, we should respect our daughter’s decision,” he said, his voice trailing off.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep