Soon, Xu Lin drove to the neighborhood where Chi Linyue lived.

After parking in the underground garage, Xu Lin got out of the car, and Chi Linyue followed. However, having had some drinks, she wasn't walking steadily and leaned against the car.

Seeing this, Xu Lin went over to support her.

"Society is pretty dangerous these days, lots of bad people around, drinking can easily lead to trouble."

Xu Lin reminded her.

"I know."

"Don't drink in the future. If you really must, just let me know!"

"Will you drink for me?"

"I'll clean up after you!"

"Hmph, you're so improper!"

Chi Linyue rolled her eyes at him.

Just then, Chi Linyue noticed Xu Lin's fair and clear skin. "After so much military training, how come you haven't changed? Still so fair?"

"Probably because I'm resistant to sunlight!"

"I see."

Chi Linyue didn't think much of it, finding Xu Lin's fair skin quite nice, as she wasn't fond of tanned skin.

Soon they arrived at the door of the house.

The area outside was Chi Linyue's private space, so Xu Lin let go of Chi Linyue, leaving her to take off her high heels there.

Chi Linyue seemed really enchanting, whether intentionally or naturally so. Like now, even just taking off her high heels was so alluring, be it her movements, her posture, or the breathtaking sight when her top-tier figure bent over...

This woman really knows how to do it!

Xu Lin also took off his shoes, changing into slippers.

Then he followed Chi Linyue into the house.

As the door opened, Chi Linyue's scent filled the air again.

Chi Linyue said to Xu Lin, "Feel free to sit anywhere, make yourself at home. If you want some red wine, you can get it at the bar too!"

"Then I won't hold back!"

"Yeah, drink as you like!"

Chi Linyue added, "I'm going to take a shower first."

Xu Lin went to the bar area to get some red wine.

He wasn't familiar with wines, so he grabbed a bottle, opened the stopper, and glugged it down.

[Energy (85/100): Spirited.]

Xu Lin could now see his energy bar, so he generally kept his energy between 80 and 90. In this state, he'd be full of energy, neither feeling fatigued nor overly hyper; 'spirited' was a comfortable zone for him.

After drinking some red wine, Xu Lin went to rest on the sofa.

He messaged Ning Yuhuan, saying he went out tonight, as she originally wanted to have dinner with him.

What about Rong Xiyi?

She updated her social media.

Turns out she was dining with another girl, and the meal looked lavish.

Caption: May our friendship endure through time!

Xu Lin didn't know this girl, she wasn't from their class. Presumably, she was one of the high school friends Rong Xiyi mentioned. She had two good friends in high school, one went to the Capital City, and the other stayed in Jiangdu.

During the early days of college, many people remained active in their high school circles, but as they got to know their college peers, they wouldn't necessarily continue hanging out with high school friends. In fact, many become phase-specific friends, though a considerable number make lifelong friends from high school, and college is no different.

Xu Lin liked Rong Xiyi's post, then logged off the app and started browsing short videos.

But after ten minutes or so, Xu Lin felt bored. He wasn't someone who indulged in short videos, gaming was more his thing.

Meanwhile, Chi Linyue took over forty minutes to finish her shower.

When she came out, she was just in plain pink pajamas, nothing too special, but the steam rising from her had a striking beauty-coming-out-of-the-bath vibe.

Xu Lin found himself at a loose end, realizing it was just past eight in the evening.

"Is your laptop convenient?"

Xu Lin asked.

"You need to use the computer?"

Chi Linyue asked him.

Xu Lin nodded, "Yes."

"Then give me a moment."

Soon, Chi Linyue brought out her laptop and charger from the room for Xu Lin.

Chi Linyue reminded him, "It's almost out of battery, use it while charging!"

"Then I'll head back to the room!"

"Alright."

Xu Lin went to the room where he slept last time. Speaking of which, he still had a set of clothes neatly folded on the bed there.

Xu Lin opened the laptop and plugged it in.

Logged into his alternate account.

A lot of messages were there from Moonlit Night and the others.

Xu Lin hadn't been online for a while.

Speaking of which, "Daddy, don't!" — that's Wu Chengfeng's novel — had now easily surpassed 100,000 average subscriptions. As of this morning, according to the latest info from Wu Chengfeng, the average subscriptions had now reached over 113,000.

Currently, the book's word count was only forty-seven thousand.

Based on the outline Xu Lin provided him, the book should normally have at least three million words, so once the book "Listen to the Wind" is completed, what the average subscription count will be is anyone's guess.

This one book is enough for Wu Chengfeng to change his fate.

Moreover, Wu Chengfeng often sought advice from Xu Lin. In online literature terms, Wu Chengfeng certainly grasped some insights, which is why under Xu Lin's outline, he managed to take off. For an author with general abilities, they wouldn't be able to hold on.

You can tell this by comparing it with Toutuo.

Toutuo's book has been online for ten days, with over sixty thousand words so far. It has more than fifty thousand collections, still keeping down two past-their-prime great authors. In a period without strong releases from top authors, Toutuo's book currently ranks first on the new book list, which isn't bad, but it lags significantly behind Wu Chengfeng's book released at the same time.

The gap between authors is huge, and it's not something effort alone can bridge. It depends on talent and skill, and to some extent, luck, which is quite elusive.

Tonight, Xu Lin plans to continue writing his outline, which will be completed in a few days—there are two versions he's working on simultaneously.

Before that, Xu Lin opened Moonlit Night's chat interface once again.

Moonlit Night just sent the royalty payment yesterday and is contacting Xu Lin.

Paid Daily: "Here."

A few seconds later.

Moonlit Night: "Big boss! It's finally online! I've sent the royalties again!"

Moonlit Night: "Big boss, is it the same QR code from before?"

Xu Lin knew it was time to receive money again.

Paid Daily: "Yes."

Moonlit Night: "Big boss, I've transferred the payment to you!"

Buzz buzz!

Soon, Xu Lin received eighty thousand.

Moonlit Night usually transfers a third of the post-tax royalties to Xu Lin, which is quite sincere. After all, online, you can't expect others to remember your kindness, so Moonlit Night is really nice. Xu Lin doesn't mind continuing to cooperate.

[Wealth: 577,537.46 Yuan.]

The savings have reached 570,000.

Moonlit Night: "Big boss, thank you so much during this time. I'm almost done paying off my mortgage! Grin.jpg"

Paid Daily: "Keep it up, and happy cooperation."

Moonlit Night: "Salute.jpg"

Tap tap...

At this moment, Chi Linyue came in with a small plate of watermelon.

"Xu Lin, want some watermelon?"

"Thanks, sis."

"Uh-huh."

Chi Linyue glanced at Xu Lin's computer screen, "What are you doing?"

Chi Linyue, unaware of her wealth's extent, even though this large flat alone is worth billions, so Xu Lin didn't feel that earning a little money was impressive, he just said directly: "Making money!"

"How are you making money?"

Chi Linyue was curious and moved another chair to sit down.

So Xu Lin explained his money-making model.

Simply put, he cooperates with others to write novels. In the industry, this is known as ghostwriting, but Xu Lin only does top-tier work.

On this, Xu Lin skimmed through Moonlit Night's chat records.

Chi Linyue was quite surprised to see Xu Lin earning tens of thousands gradually.

Chi Linyue exclaimed: "I didn't expect you to know this! And you've made quite a lot!"

To Chi Linyue, tens of thousands are not a small amount for a young person, especially since he earned it by himself.

"I earned this from ghostwriting, and it helped that this person was sincere. Actually, they didn't need to share the later royalties with me."

"Indeed, quite sincere." Chi Linyue nodded.

Xu Lin: "Currently, the route I'm taking is to draft the outline, have others write, and we sign a contract with a 40-60 split on the proceeds, I take 40%."

"Does this model make money? How much can you earn from just providing the outline?"

Chi Linyue pressed on.

Xu Lin opened the book "Listen to the Wind"; currently, it ranks ninth on the sales chart. The book hasn't topped the list due to its fewer words and updates. Otherwise, even without topping the list, it would be enough to make the top three in sales.

"This book is one of my outlines, but it requires a capable author to execute it well; otherwise, it wouldn't achieve such results."

Xu Lin said: "Currently, this book is ninth on the sales chart, and the ranking will likely continue to rise!"

"How are the earnings for this book?"

"According to this site, just this month, the royalties for this book are estimated to be over 500,000 Yuan, increasing rather than decreasing. It's hard to specify, but topping the list could mean over two million Yuan a month."

"That's quite a lot!"

Chi Linyue was surprised.

Indeed, Chi Linyue is a wealthy woman; a monthly income of over two million is merely "quite a lot" to her.

Consider this: in most cities, two million is enough to buy a house outright with tens of thousands left for renovations.

Back in the countryside, two million would build a huge villa!

"Xu Lin, you're pretty amazing, having this kind of skill!" Chi Linyue marveled.

After a while, Chi Linyue suddenly said: "Speaking of which, I thought of something, when you sell outlines like this to others, who owns the copyright?"

"The other party."

In fact, Xu Lin hadn't really thought about copyright before. He only planned to earn from royalties.

He hadn't considered anything beyond that.

Chi Linyue said: "I had a friend before who worked for a while as an investor in novel copyrights. I saw that some copyrights earn quite a lot, between ten to twenty million, or at least a few hundred thousand. Not to mention, successful post-sale copyright operations can bring significant income, although many also lose money."

Pausing, Chi Linyue continued: "Suppose you have a book that can be sold for copyright, and later, the copyright operation succeeds, then the revenue from operating the copyright would have nothing to do with you, right?"

"Yes, it wouldn't be related to me."

Xu Lin nodded slightly.

Chi Linyue asked again: "But if you keep the rights, and you only provide the outline, without doing the work, have you ever thought about that?"

"How would that work?" Xu Lin was intrigued.

"Start a company... or a studio, the rights would belong to your studio, essentially to you, and those who write for you are just employees. They get a portion of the royalties, let's say the 40-60 split you mentioned, they would take 60%."

Chi Linyue smiled: "That way, everything you should have would be in your hands!"

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