Pursuing Her Best Friend after Confession Failed-Chapter 28 - 27: Do you find me that repulsive?

Li Yuan was very familiar with Modu. The family of four took a taxi to a neighborhood near Daxia University. In his previous life, he had often come here searching for Bai Weixi.

The four of them checked into an ordinary hotel. Hotel prices were already quite expensive at this time, with a double room costing 298 yuan per night.

After a simple dinner downstairs, they were all quite exhausted from the day-long journey.

"Dad, Mom, Zixia, let’s rest for the night. We’ll go look at houses first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yuan, things are so expensive here. Even the cheapest double room costs 300 yuan," said Xia Qin. She was accustomed to managing the household frugally, and even though they were suddenly wealthy, she was still reluctant to spend.

Li Yuan replied helplessly, "Mom, this is the center of Modu. This is actually considered cheap."

Li Heng and Xia Qin looked around the hotel room, feeling utterly out of place. Arriving in the metropolis, they were like country folk in the big city, looking visibly out of their element.

Li Zixia, on the other hand, was very excited due to her young age.

"Brother, the night view of Modu is so beautiful!"

"Yeah, it’s a big city. There are always dazzling lights and worldly pleasures to attract people. You’ll get used to it."

Li Yuan shared a double room with his father. After washing up, he opened his laptop, logged into the author’s section and QQ, and started writing.

He glanced at the back-end data. Nearly two months after the new book was put on sale, the average subscriptions had soared to over 61,000. The new subscriptions from just the last twenty days already matched the total for all of July. This month’s royalties were going to be even higher than the last.

He opened the QQ group for *Battle Starry Sky* and saw many unread messages, including many that tagged him. Back then, the internet was still a freewheeling place. The group was full of casual discussions ranging from geography and history to military affairs, politics, and entertainment, which made Li Yuan’s heart pound.

He was afraid the group would be shut down one day.

Lewd content was one thing, but getting into political discussions was asking for trouble.

I can’t let them boast so recklessly. If they cause trouble, disbanding the group will be the least of my worries. I can’t afford to get involved. I don’t have time to manage the group myself. The best solution is to find a few group administrators, who could also act as the book’s operations officers, to handle things. Besides, I’ll definitely have more than one group in the future. This 2,000-person VIP group is already full. I can pay to apply for a few more.

Li Yuan was a man of action. He immediately posted a group announcement:

"Recruiting 3 group administrators. Interested parties can add me on QQ for a private chat. Requirements: fan value over 10,000, must be law-abiding, patriotic, and love the group..."

The moment the announcement went out, it caused a huge stir among the two thousand group members, and a lively discussion immediately erupted.

"Author Xia Hua has finally appeared again! Recruiting admins? Author, what do you think of me? 170 cm, 48 kg, can be sweet or sassy, fair-skinned with beautiful long legs..."

"Is the person above a girl? Author Xia Hua is recruiting administrators, not a personal secretary. Author Xia Hua, how about me? I’m a loyal fan of this book, patriotic and law-abiding..."

"Author Xia Hua, look at me! I can do it too! I’m a university student with a lot of free time to help you manage the group..." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Li Yuan looked through the profile pictures and messages of those who had added him. After careful consideration, he chose three readers.

Two women and one man would serve as temporary group administrators. In any case, he was the group owner. If these three proved incompetent, he could simply replace them.

Their task was simple: primarily to help him manage the group members and prevent anyone from posting inappropriate comments or lewd content.

As soon as he approved one, a user with a classical Chinese painting for an avatar and the screen name "Love Eating Cilantro" sent a message.

"Hi, Author Xia Hua! I’m a loyal fan. Thank you for choosing me! *blushes*," she typed. "Don’t worry, Author Xia Hua. I’ll definitely do a good job managing the group for you."

Li Yuan replied succinctly, "Okay, I’ll see how you perform. Just prevent group members from posting inappropriate remarks and information. If you find any, warn them once. Kick them out on the second offense."

"I understand, Author Xia Hua. I’ll definitely do it well," she replied. "By the way, Author Xia Hua, may I be so bold as to ask if you’re a university student? *shy face*"

Li Yuan was taken aback for a moment. Thinking it was nothing to hide, he simply replied, "Yeah!"

Strictly speaking, I’m not a university student yet, since classes haven’t started. I’m a prospective student!

"Whoa! *shocked face* Author Xia Hua, you really are a university student!" Love Eating Cilantro typed. "I’ll let you in on a little secret... I’m a university student too! *shy face*"

Li Yuan smiled. There were many university students who read web novels; it was perfectly normal.

"I have to write now. We can chat later when I have time."

"Okay, okay, sounds good! Keep it up, Author Xia Hua!" she replied.

Besides this reader, two others also messaged him. One was a guy named "That Gust of Wind," who, based on their chat, was likely also a male university student.

The other was a girl with the screen name "Loves Reading Books." She was a woman of few words, and her avatar was the cover of *Battle Starry Sky*. She was clearly a die-hard fan.

Li Yuan wrote late into the night, finally finishing a 15,000-word update. Typing on his laptop slowed him down considerably. It wasn’t as efficient as the desktop computers at an internet cafe.

He stretched, then did a set of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. Health was the foundation of any endeavor.

Making money but having no life to enjoy it wasn’t the worst fate.

The most tragic case was that of the future superstar Kobe Bryant. The man was gone, but his wife was still around and in her prime, and he’d left behind a billion US dollars. The very thought sent a shiver down his spine.

Li Yuan habitually picked up his phone, intending to scroll through messages.

Seeing the old-fashioned Nokia, he then remembered that smartphones didn’t exist yet.

There was still some time before the Fruit phone would be released in the mainland.

He had to admit, this era was quite boring without a computer.

Various websites, forums, and videos didn’t exist yet. Besides playing games, the main pastime was browsing Qiandu Tieba.

On a whim, Li Yuan searched "Battle Starry Sky" on Tieba and was surprised to find a forum for it.

Whoa, I wonder which fan created a *Battle Starry Sky* forum on Qiandu Tieba. It already has over 500,000 followers. Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?

After a moment of shock, Li Yuan felt it was actually quite normal.

In this era, there were many university students but few online forums. Platforms like Zhihu and Xiaohongshu hadn’t been established yet. The most popular ones were the Old Wave microblogging site and Qiandu Tieba.

He had spent a lot of time on Tieba in his previous life, especially on the NBA and school forums. They were great places for shooting the breeze and chatting.

It was only later that Tieba was gradually abandoned due to poor management by the Qiandu company.

But, as the saying goes, a centipede dies but never falls. Before his rebirth, Qiandu Tieba still had a large user base.

Li Yuan casually browsed some of the top-rated posts. Most of them were discussions about the book’s plot, and nearly all were filled with praise. They claimed it heralded a new era for web novels, was the pioneering work of the "broken engagement" genre, the number one feel-good story, and that it could "beat up Chen Dong and kick Divine Chicken."

After reading for a while, Li Yuan yawned. Drowsiness washed over him. Since his rebirth, his spirit was much better than in his past life. Both his senses and his physical stamina had improved significantly.

Just as he was about to get into bed, his QQ pinged. It was a message from Bai Weixi.

"Brother, you went to Modu, so why didn’t you tell me? Am I really that annoying to you?"