It was just a love letter; I'm really no great writer!

Qianqian asked me to meet up again?

Lu Ran, who has no resistance to rich women, had no choice but to reluctantly decline.

Rainy night: "I'm home now, I'll definitely go next time /doge"

Qianqian: "You promised next time, so don't stand me up again, or I'll bite you to death!!!"

"Big sister, I sell my art, not my body..." Lu Ran thought to himself.

Lu Ran's home is in the suburbs of Huaicheng.

It's an old residential compound allocated before the reform of state-owned enterprises, and it takes an hour to get there from the city center by subway.

Not only is the location undesirable, but the house also leaks.

But having lived there for over a decade, I've developed a deep affection for every blade of grass and every tree.

"Oh, Lu Ran's back?"

"Hello, Aunt Li... Uncle Shao, are you playing chess?"

After exchanging pleasantries with his neighbors, Lu Ran arrived at his front door and pushed it open.

On the mahogany sofa in the living room, Lu Zhuozhuo, the younger sister, was eating potato chips and watching TV. The cartoon on the screen was still Boonie Bears.

Lu Zhuozhuo is four years younger than Lu Ran. She is going to junior high school this year and will be attending Yumin Elementary School nearby.

Unlike Lu Ran, who was mischievous and naughty since childhood, Lu Zhuozhuo was quiet and had excellent grades from a young age.

Children from poor families learn to be independent early.

At a young age, Lu Zhuozhuo was already aware that learning was the way to change her destiny.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Lu Ran put down his schoolbag.

"He's not off work yet." Lu Zhuozhu handed him the potato chips; she knew her brother had a sweet tooth.

Upon seeing that it was wasabi flavored, Lu Ran waved his hand in refusal: "Have you cooked yet? I'll cook a big meal for you guys tonight!"

"Brother, stop fooling around. With your mediocre skills..." Lu Zhuozhu pouted, speaking with a precocious air, "Mom said we're going to Uncle's house for dinner tonight."

"Uncle...is today Lunar New Year's Eve?"

Lu Ran's grandfather had four sons and one daughter. Among them, his eldest uncle, Lu Guoqiang, was the richest. He accumulated wealth in his early years by contracting coal mines and became a big boss.

The other two brothers are also doing quite well.

Lu Ran's father, Lu Guosheng, was the most unlucky and tragic.

After the three brothers made money, they used all their savings to take over the over-exploited coal mine. However, environmental protection policies came down and it was shut down, leaving them with a huge debt.

My mother, Li Huaming, was a well-known pampered young lady for twenty years. She never lifted a finger and was a music teacher at an experimental middle school. She was so anxious that she had to go to a tutoring agency to work part-time.

The three uncles watched from the sidelines with indifference, while only the newlywed aunt, Lu Zhi, lent money to help them through the crisis.

Later, through a friend's introduction, Lu Guosheng joined a small decoration company and worked tirelessly to take on jobs, gradually paying off his debts.

They were poor, but they didn't feel bitter.

The couple worked together and survived those impoverished days.

But naturally, apart from my aunt's family, my relationship with the other relatives also cooled down...

Of course, relatives are still relatives, and they should still visit each other during holidays.

"Why did Uncle invite us to dinner? Is his business failing and he wants to borrow money from us?" Lu Ran wondered. "Zhuozhuo, what do you think?"

"How would I know? I'm only twelve!" Lu Zhuozhuo exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, let's wait for Mom and Dad to come back." Lu Ran plopped down on the sofa, but still reached into the bag of potato chips.

Wasabi flavor is not necessarily unpalatable.

The couple is almost forty years old. Lu Guosheng picks Li Huaming up from get off work every day, and the whole neighborhood knows that the Lu family has a "henpecked husband".

The brother and sister watched "Boonie Bears" for a while.

Lu Zhuozhuo's dark eyes darted around, and she quietly snuggled up to Lu Ran's side, sniffing the familiar scent before feeling satisfied.

It was getting late.

Lu Guosheng rode a red motorcycle with his wife into the yard.

Hearing the sound of an engine outside, Lu Ran rushed out the door.

"mom!"

Li Huaming hugged her son with a smile: "Ranran has grown taller again."

Lu Ran looked at his father, whose slightly dark face was as resolute as if carved by a knife, and softly called out, "Dad."

Lu Guosheng nodded: "Now that you're back, get some rest and don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"Okay, okay." Lu Ran thought to himself, I really don't feel pressured. Tell me, who would feel pressured if they had a million or two in their pocket?

"Explain to your mother, how exactly did you get that royalties?" Li Huaming said with a slight reproach, pulling Lu Ran to sit down on the bamboo chair in front of the door. "Neither your father nor I dared to touch that money."

"I already said it's royalties, it must be money I earned from writing the book..."

"One hundred thousand is no small sum."

"Mom, this is an era of universal reading. If you write well, you can become famous and make money. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do." Lu Ran said helplessly.

Li Huaming muttered, "I only get two hundred yuan for teaching one class."

In the naive understanding of the previous generation, only social elites could make a lot of money.

As for writers... that's an even more prestigious and sacred profession.

In his parents' eyes, Lu Ran was still a child who hadn't grown up.

"You mean, your book 'White Night Walk' became a hit?" Lu Guosheng came out of the house.

"Yeah, it's really popular. You can find out by searching it online." Lu Ran shrugged.

The bookseller also told him that the first edition sold very well and that they would reprint it.

Translations are also being made for overseas channels—but it will take some time to translate the Chinese as faithfully as possible.

Lu Guosheng and Li Huaming remained silent.

Judging from my parents' reaction, they still seem unable to accept it.

Lu Ran then abandoned the idea of ​​a complete showdown, deciding to take things slowly, let alone buy a house.

a long time.

"Lu Ran has this artistic talent..." Lu Guosheng remarked, "I wonder who he inherited it from."

"That must be me!"

Li Huaming smiled broadly and then added:

"Ranran, we don't object to you writing books, but you should be careful not to neglect your studies."

"Mmm." Lu Ran thought to herself, "Do I still have any studies to fall behind in?"

"We'll save your royalties for now, and you can use them as you see fit after you come of age," Lu Guosheng said with a smile, patting Lu Ran's head.

"Okay, I'll transfer it to you. Give me the card number." Lu Ran shrugged.

The brief family meeting ended.

The family of four took a taxi to their uncle's house on the Second Ring Road.

While waiting for the car, Lu Ran secretly saved up 100,000 yuan and transferred 700,000 yuan to the car.

At sixteen, buying a car for your dad isn't too much to ask, is it?

……

At dusk, at Huaihe Bay Huafu.

At the gate, Lu Guosheng made two phone calls before the heavily guarded security personnel finally allowed him to leave.

I took the elevator to the eighteenth floor, went inside to change my shoes, and was greeted by the dazzling lights.

Besides my aunt, there was a couple I didn't know in the living room. They were dressed in expensive clothes, and their demeanor suggested they were not ordinary people.

Uncle Lu Guoqiang walked into the entrance hall wearing slippers, his face full of fat, looking like a smiling tiger.

"It's good that you're here, why did you bring anything?" Lu Guoqiang said with a smile.

"It's nothing, I just bought it on the way," Lu Guosheng said with a smile.

"We have guests here, please make yourselves at home." Lu Guoqiang turned around and introduced, "This is my younger brother, Lu Guosheng... This is Boss Di Yuanping..."

Lu Guosheng greeted him politely.

Interactions between adults are irrelevant to younger generations.

After greeting them as uncle and aunt, Lu Ran led his younger sister to sit down on the sofa in the corner of the living room.

Each person plays games on their phone, just waiting for dinner to start so they can eat early and go home.

"Brother, you got a new phone?" Lu Zhuozhuo asked.

"My brother made money writing books," Lu Ran whispered. "Our family is rich now."

"How does it compare to my uncle's family?" Lu Zhuozhuo wore plastic shoe covers over her white shoes, afraid of getting the floor dirty.

"Much richer than him." Lu Ran thought for a moment.

He didn't want his sister to feel inferior.

"Brother is so amazing." Lu Zhuozhuo's eyes were filled with admiration.

"You're talking nonsense!" The chubby boy, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, scoffed. "How much money do you think your family has to compare to my dad?"

Lu Ran carried Lu Zhuozhuo to the other side, ignoring her.

There's no need to argue with a child.

Lu Liang felt humiliated and quietly went to his room to yell at them.

"Sis! He said he's richer than our family!"

Lu Qian was entertaining old classmates when she heard her younger brother complaining. She was taken aback and asked, "Who said that?"

As if he had found a powerful backer, Lu Liang pointed to Lu Ran in the living room.

"Lu Ran?" Lu Qian had already graduated from university and wouldn't take it to heart. "Heh, do you really believe everything he brags about? Just ignore him."

"Lu Ran?"

The girl opposite him kept pondering the name, then looked up and asked, "Is it Lu Ran?"

"Which...which Lu Ran?" Lu Qian was completely confused.

The girl in front of her was her college classmate at Shanghai University. Since the Lu family and the Di family were business partners, the younger generation of the two families were very close.

They say they're business partners...

But Lu Qian knew perfectly well that the Di family was someone her family needed to curry favor with.

Although the Di family is not a prominent family in the provincial capital, they are local tyrants in Huaicheng.

Di Qingling was the most outstanding, most beautiful, and most powerful girl she knew.

She was a prodigy whom she tried her best to pursue, imitate, and still could not reach.

"Haven't you been following the news?" Di Qingling said. "Lu Ran, the first Chinese poet to appear on the World Poetry Forum, gained fame in the poetry world with a love letter."

"Never heard of it..."

Lu Qian was extremely surprised.

She knows a great deal about celebrities, both domestic and international, but not poets…

This is definitely a blind spot in my knowledge.

What kind of international joke is this? My cheap cousin is a poet?

Every poet who has achieved fame is a national treasure.

Di Qingling looked at her younger sister, who was lying on the bed playing on her phone: "I heard Lu Ran is also from Huaicheng No. 1 High School, do you know him?"

"Huh?" Di Lingyan sat up blankly.