Chapter 265: Chapter 265: Plans for the Future

"Isn’t that just like Tan Ying? She’s bullied you since you were little. You were just silly back then. The moment she came looking for you, you’d go trotting right over," Tan Deming said, then added teasingly, "Good thing you’ve wised up now."

"I know. Looking back, I really do think I was incredibly stupid," Tan You said, not at all offended. ’This is my grandpa. I could never get angry at anything he says.’

"To be blunt, it wasn’t that you were stupid, just too soft-hearted and too honest." Tan Deming sighed. "These days, honest people are the ones who get taken advantage of. Just think about it—how many things has Tan Ying taken from you since you were kids?"

"Those hair ties I bought you—you wore them for less than two days before Tan Ying took them. It made me so angry I stopped buying them for you. In the end, they all wound up with Tan Ying anyway."

"I’d give you an apple, and you’d still share it with Tan Ying, even though her family is much wealthier than ours."

Tan You said, "I understand now. It won’t happen again. I guess Tan Ying has probably gotten the message, too. Truth be told, we were never really that good of friends to begin with."

"She was always finding new friends, and every single one was more important than me, her friend since childhood. Yet, if I got close to anyone else, Tan Ying would get upset. She’s a textbook example of double standards."

"Oh well, let’s not talk about her. We won’t be spending much time together in the future anyway." Tan You was good at letting things go. The past was in the past, and besides, her memories from that long ago were hazy; she couldn’t clearly recall most of what Tan Deming mentioned.

Moreover, Tan You wasn’t one to dwell on the past. If something upset her, she would forget it by the next morning. ’Perhaps it’s because of this personality that I’ve been able to endure until now.’

Otherwise, with her mother’s rock-hard parenting methods and her father Tan Lin’s "adversity training"—a lovely combination of cold emotional abuse and hot-tempered violence—she would have snapped long ago. How else could she have grown up to be even remotely okay?

Tan Deming didn’t understand the term "double standard," but after mulling it over, he more or less figured it out. "Well, enough about her. You’ve had this math competition book for over a month now, and you’ve only gotten through a third of it. It must be really tough."

"It is pretty tough," Tan You admitted. She never denied that science wasn’t her strong suit, even though in her life as Han Tingting, she’d been the top science student. But frankly, competition math and the standard curriculum were two different beasts entirely.

You could say they were worlds apart. Many who washed out of the competitions could still score incredibly well by following the standard college entrance exam track. As for those students with excellent grades, if you threw them into the competition circuit... well, one look at the elimination rates told you everything you needed to know.

"But the more I work on it, the more interesting I find it," Tan You said with a smile. "You’ve got to use your brain, or it gets rusty. Besides, I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I solve a problem."

Tan Deming remarked curiously, "I’ve got to say, you’ve changed so much. You used to try every trick in the book to read novels, and now you just stare at these problems all day. You don’t watch TV anymore, and you don’t want to go out."

"Aren’t I just taking after you? You like to stay home, too, don’t you?" Tan You shot a glance at Tan Deming. "I’ve just found that going out, watching TV, reading novels... none of it is very interesting."

"Besides, I don’t want to just be throwing money away. I need to save up for your retirement. And I still have to build you that big villa I promised."

Tan Deming chuckled. "Alright, I’ll be waiting for my dear granddaughter’s big villa. If I really get to live in a mansion, I’ll be truly blessed. I never got to enjoy such fortune from my son, but it turns out I’ll get to enjoy it from my granddaughter."

Tan You smiled, too. "Mhm. So, will you go with me to town tomorrow morning to mail the manuscript? I promised Mom I’d finish the novel I’m serializing before school starts, and I have to keep my word."

"Alright, I’ll go with you," Tan Deming said. "So, once this book is done, will you keep writing? You’re a student..."

"The fifty thousand the magazine company paid was the advance for the first third of the manuscript," Tan You explained. "Once I submit the whole thing, if they decide to do additional print runs later, more money will definitely come in."

Tan Deming’s eyes went wide. "Just for one-third? Then how much will the full amount be?"

"And that’s just the advance, not counting the royalties after it’s published as a complete book," Tan You said with a smile. "So you don’t need to worry. This one book alone will be enough to easily pay my way through high school and college."

Tan Deming was floored by the implied total of 150,000. "No wonder your mom was always pushing you to study. An education really is important! Look at you, you’re still so young and you’re already earning your own money."

’It’s not just my education that’s allowing me to earn this money,’ Tan You thought. Still, she couldn’t deny that without it, she wouldn’t have been able to see this wider world of opportunities.

"I wonder what the sales are like. If it sells well, does that mean you’ll get even more money?" Tan Deming wasn’t slow; he might have been a man of few words, but he was inwardly sharp.

"Naturally. And counting the days, the novel should have already started its serialization." Tan You thought for a moment. "How about this? Why don’t we go to a bookstore in the city tomorrow and check out the sales?"

"How would we do that? I don’t understand this stuff at all," Tan Deming said, curious but clearly confused.

"The magazine company said they’re serializing it for now, releasing two Chapters every week..." Tan You didn’t just dismiss his question because he didn’t understand; instead, she began to explain the process in detail.

"After the first third of the story is fully serialized, they’ll probably release it as a first volume. That’s on the condition that sales are good, of course. If they are, publishing houses will naturally reach out to them for a partnership."

Tan Deming got it. "So we’re going to see how well the magazine is selling?"

"Exactly," Tan You grinned. "My grandpa’s sharp. You get it as soon as I explain."

Tan Deming looked a little smug. "Hey, I can read, you know. I’ll have to buy a copy later to add to my collection."

Tan You stated matter-of-factly, "There’s no need. The editor said they’ll mail me a complimentary copy of every issue. If you want to collect them, you can just save those."

Tan Deming grew even more pleased. "That’s great. With this much money, I really don’t have to worry about your school fees."

’Tan Deming really is a worrier,’ Tan You thought. "Don’t worry," she said aloud. "If I run out of money, I’ll figure something out. When has money ever truly stopped me? There’s always a way."

Tan Deming finally set his mind at ease. "But now that you’re making money so easily, your studies..."

As he spoke, he glanced at the math competition book beside her. "Then again, you’ve always had your own mind. You’ve been reading ever since you came home."

"I would never neglect my studies," Tan You said. She was an open book with Tan Deming. "And I don’t plan on writing novels forever. I’m not eighteen yet, after all. If I keep making this kind of money, my dad... he..."

Tan You trailed off, but Tan Deming understood. "That’s true. For now, it’s enough to earn what we need to get by. Later, when you’re old enough to be your own boss and sign your own contracts, then it won’t matter."