Chapter 3: An instant hit!

Xu Xiuwen got up, opened his computer, and prepared to start typing the text document.

Suddenly, he paused.

No, although online novels can make money, they are divided into male and female genres. For Xu Xiuwen, reaching 300,000 words for a male genre is too slow!

He can't wait for 300,000 words.

Upon careful consideration, he decided that writing a female genre is better. Not only can it be published with just a few thousand words, but there's also no concern about losing face, unlike with male genres.

Using Kong Yiji's words, "Stealing books can't be considered stealing... Stealing books! Can it be considered stealing for scholars?"

For scholars, copying is not called copying; it's called reference.

However, there are many classic female genres, and Xu Xiuwen hasn't decided which one to draw inspiration from.

Before writing, he checked online to prevent accidentally duplicating existing works.

To his surprise, many romance novels that had already appeared in 2005 were still nonexistent.

For example, "Why Sheng Xiao."

"Why Sheng Xiao" was published by Manda in September 2003 on the Jinjiang website.

For some reason, even until today, Manda has not published it.

In addition to novels, Xu Xiuwen also checked many movies, TV dramas, and songs. He was dumbfounded to find out that many classics from his previous life had not been released.

The most unbelievable was "Meteor Garden."

The TV drama from 2001 hadn't even started filming yet, and even the original manga couldn't be found.

After the shock, Xu Xiuwen laughed.

Regardless of the butterfly effect or other reasons, since these classics haven't been released, he might as well take advantage of it.

So, Xu Xiuwen decided on his first original novel, "Why Sheng Xiao."

Having not read the original work in his previous life, he had watched the TV drama remake multiple times, and he knew the characters and plot inside out.

In one night, Xu Xiuwen sat in front of the computer and wrote twenty thousand words in one go!

After reincarnating, he hadn't had the chance to fully appreciate the benefits of a young body, but now he was starting to feel it.

Staying up late and sitting in front of the computer for hours didn't cause any discomfort. If it were before the reincarnation, he would have experienced back pain, wrist pain, and fatigue.

His endurance and focus were better now, and even his memory had become remarkably good. Despite it being a TV drama from many years ago, he remembered the entire content after a brief recollection.

After writing twenty thousand words in one go, Xu Xiuwen stopped typing.

He logged into the novel website, applied to become an author, and published his work.

Xu Xiuwen chose a meaningful pen name for himself, "Xu Renshan."

He divided the twenty thousand words into ten chapters, with each chapter being two thousand words. He decided to test the waters by releasing the first chapter.

On the first day of publication, as a newcomer, "Why Sheng Xiao" received little attention.

However, on the second day, the third day... as the story progressed, the novel's popularity quickly soared.

Three days later, the comments section was already buzzing.

"Another dog food scene, so pitiful, hahaha!"

"Hmph! Since you're working so hard to update, I'll give you some nutrients! Keep it up!"

"Pouring nutrients into a small tree pit, will it grow into a towering tree? Pouring nutrients on the author, will it produce a ten-thousand-word fat cat?!"

"Dear customer, the nutrients you ordered are accepted as payment through updates."

"Hahaha, sorry! The first time I read this novel, I hadn't been in a relationship, and now on the second read, I'm still single!"

Among the cute and playful comments, two types were the most common: urging for more updates and praising.

This indicated that "Why Sheng Xiao" had become popular overnight!

The book gained popularity, but the contract had not yet been signed.

Although Xu Xiuwen could apply for a contract backstage, he didn't actively seek it, so he kept delaying.

On the fourth evening of publication, Xu Xiuwen received a private message from the editor backstage and formally signed the contract.

After signing, "Why Sheng Xiao" got the homepage's cover recommendation. With a good position and a cover, the traffic exploded.

Subsequently, "Why Sheng Xiao" continued to achieve good results, successfully topping the charts within a week.

As the book gained traction, the comments section also explosively grew.

Riding the wave, Xu Xiuwen established the first reader group.

At the beginning, regardless of gender, the group quickly reached its limit of 500 people. However, Xu Xiuwen only created the group and didn't manage it much. After assigning a few familiar readers as moderators, he didn't pay much attention.

One day, Xu Xiuwen, exhausted from writing, glanced at the reader group and found chaos.

It turned out that some male moderators were taking advantage of their roles to flirt with girls in the group. This infuriated Xu Xiuwen.

How could my reader group allow other men to flirt with girls?

So, in a fit of anger, Xu Xiuwen kicked out all the male members from the group, leaving only female readers. He also posted an announcement: "This group is for romance novel discussions, not for romance. So no male members allowed."

The announcement caused an instant uproar in the group.

Seeing the enthusiastic female readers, Xu Xiuwen decided to greet everyone and typed, "Hello!"

Since creating the group, Xu Xiuwen had never said a word in it until now. The sudden appearance of the author in the group excited the female readers.

"Finally, we've been waiting for you, author!"

"Author, I've been waiting so long that I'm about to burst."

"Hello, author!"

New messages in the group flashed like shooting stars.

Until a female reader asked a question, "Author, are you a man or a woman?"

After this question appeared, the group fell silent, as if everyone was waiting for Xu Xiuwen's response.

After a moment of thought, he decided to reply, "A man."

In fact, everyone had noticed that the author's Penguin account indicated a male identity, but they couldn't be sure because some girls in the group used male accounts.

However, now that those people had been kicked out, what happened afterward was a different story.

In any case, the group erupted again with Xu Xiuwen's response.

"Wow! Is the author really a boy?"

"Author, are you married?"

"How old are you, author?"

"Author, are you still a virgin?"

Watching the increasingly casual comments from the female readers in the Penguin group, Xu Xiuwen, under the guise of writing, quickly exited.

After closing the Penguin group, Xu Xiuwen didn't really continue writing.

For this past week, he had worked tirelessly, almost completing the entire book in one go. Now, he only needed to release it slowly.

The reason for Xu Xiuwen's urgency was simple.

VIP income is only paid to the author in a lump sum after completion. Before that, the money in the account can only be looked at and not touched.

Xu Xiuwen had planned to write "Why Sheng Xiao" to be around 120,000 to 200,000 words at most, certainly not exceeding 300,000. Yet, he had already published more than half, earning quite a bit.

Subscription and reward amounts displayed in the backend totaled 52,000, and with the increasing popularity of the book, this number was expected to grow. By the time it concluded, Xu Xiuwen estimated he would have at least 100,000.

100,000!

Not too much, not too little.

But this was just the money Xu Xiuwen earned in less than a month.

And now it was 2005; this amount of money was enough to buy a house in Langya!