Chapter 151: The Endless Road

"Weiwei, can you drive?"

"No, I can't, Boss."

"Zhou Nan, can you?"

"I can't either."

"Sigh, look at you two. How will you ever make a living out in the world like this!" Zhang Tan sighed deeply. "You need to learn. Driving is a skill. How about this—the studio will pay for both of you to go to driving school. Once you've learned, you can drive for me... No, wait, female drivers tend to be a bit wild behind the wheel. Never mind, you shouldn't learn after all."

Ma Weiwei and Zhou Nan: "..."

Zhang Tan coveted the convenience of having a chauffeur to pick him up and drop him off, but his cowardice and fear of death dictated that he was not fond of novice drivers, especially female ones.

The thought that once next April passed, he would turn eighteen and be eligible to take his driver's license test brought him a sense of peace.

He could endure this brief period of time until then.

In the end, Zhang Quansun drove his beloved Audi A6 to take Zhang Tan to school. Instead of parking directly at the school gate, he parked at the entrance of the rental house. Once the luggage was unloaded, Zhang Tan told Zhang Quansun to head back first, as he didn't need anyone's help around the school. He didn't even bring along his two assistants, Ma Weiwei and Zhou Nan.

"Alright, I'll be off then. Study hard at school. Even though the Beijing Film Academy is opening doors for you, you still need to learn what you're supposed to."

Zhang Tan nodded. "I understand."

Zhang Quansun wanted to say a bit more, but nothing came to mind. He nodded as well, got into the car, and drove away from Shuangdun Town.

He had plenty of matters to attend to back home.

Ever since the internet café was transferred to Zhang Tan's eldest cousin, Zhang Quansun had poured all his time and energy into the Luzhou Studio, treating it as his new career. The studio's current affairs were mainly focused on cracking down on piracy. The legal team, alongside the legal department of Anhui Arts and Literature Publishing House, traveled everywhere to investigate pirated books.

In addition, the Tan-Zhang Cup Wuxia Literature Grand Prix was also in the busy preparations stage.

Film and television companies had already sent expressions of interest regarding the purchase of adaptation rights for *The Four Constables Shake Guandong* and *The Four Constables Meet in Beijing*. Meanwhile, *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, which had surpassed 900,000 copies in sales within a month of release and topped China's bestseller list for four consecutive weeks, had even more film companies tentatively throwing out offers.

Most of the offers were under one million yuan.

Naturally, Li Yan wouldn't agree. Having spent a long time following Zhang Tan, she had absolute confidence in him. She was single-mindedly waiting for the television series adapted from *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* to broadcast before discussing adaptation rights with other production companies. One must realize that in her and Zhang Tan's eyes, the 500,000-yuan adaptation fee for *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* was practically giving it away for cabbage prices.

Future adaptations would no longer be packaged as a whole; they would be calculated per episode.

Selling any adaptation for less than 80,000 to 100,000 yuan per episode was completely out of the question.

Zhang Tan's Wuxia works were not only massive bestsellers in simplified Chinese editions; the traditional Chinese editions were equally successful, sweeping across the entire Chinese-speaking world. Sales figures in Southeast Asia were stellar, nearly matching the cultural impact that veteran Wuxia masters wielded back in the day. Furthermore, Chinese communities in North America and Europe were gradually coming into contact with Zhang Tan's novels.

During his trip to Wuhan a couple of days ago, Zhang Tan had given Luzhou Studio's mailing address to the editorial department so they could publicize it in the future, allowing letters sent specifically to readers' beloved author Zhang Tan to be delivered directly to the studio. He had also retrieved several large bags of mail from the editorial department, and the shipping costs alone had been quite substantial.

Upon returning, the people at the studio had nothing to do during their downtime, so they amused themselves by opening the letters.

Quite a few of them had been mailed from overseas.

One letter came from New York, USA. The sender was a high school student who had immigrated just a year prior. His parents had chosen to move to the United States, but upon arrival, the boy found himself unable to integrate into American society, feeling exceptionally lonely. Later on, a relative mailed him a set of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* from back home, and he clutched those books tightly, weathering the most difficult days of his life.

Interestingly enough, because of the set of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* he brought with him, he became a prominent figure among the local Chinese-American kids. Everyone borrowed the books from him, and eventually, even their parents came over to borrow them.

Gradually, he built friendships with his Chinese-American classmates through the books. Because his foreign classmates also invited him to tell stories from *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, he once again became a minor celebrity in his class, no longer as aloof as he had been when he first arrived.

This was a very interesting story.

It gave Zhang Tan a great sense of satisfaction, knowing that his books could find readers even across the ocean, sparking the interest of foreigners as well. This was overflowing with a sense of accomplishment.

Consequently, Zhang Tan had Zhou Nan ghostwrite a reply on his behalf.

The general gist was that he was very glad his books could help this student integrate into American life, wishing him all the best in the United States, and urging him—if possible—to promote Chinese culture as much as possible so that arrogance and prejudice could not slander China, and so on.

As for the matter of immigration, Zhang Tan held no particular opinions.

Since they yearned for life in America, they should go ahead; as long as they didn't start cursing China the moment they stepped foot abroad, there was nothing to criticize. Besides, their migration to foreign lands could even help promote the global outreach of Chinese culture, so it wasn't without its benefits.

...

Sweeping away the accumulated dust, replacing old toiletries with new ones, and tidying up the rental house.

Zhang Tan then went to the courtyard behind the bungalow. There was a hand pump in the yard, and he thoroughly washed himself with cold water.

He changed into a newly bought T-shirt and casual trousers.

Looking at the tall, well-proportioned, handsome young man in the mirror, Zhang Tan curved his lips into a satisfied smile.

His physique had developed to an extraordinary degree.

Thanks to long-term exercise, his body was extremely well-toned. Though his muscles weren't as exaggerated as a bodybuilder's, not an ounce of excess fat remained. With just a slight flex, the eight-pack abs on his abdomen became clearly visible. His pectoral muscles were also bulging prominently, creating a distinct cleavage between them; viewed from the side, the outline of his chest muscles was even more striking.

To describe his current physique as that of a collegiate athlete would be no exaggeration at all.

Whether due to adequate nutrition or not, his height had reached 176 cm, towering 1 cm taller than in his past life. Moreover, in his past life, he hadn't completely stopped growing until he turned twenty; now he was only seventeen, with three more years of development ahead. No matter what, he could surely grow another centimeter or two. Standing at 177 cm wasn't considered short at all.

Though his face wasn't breathtakingly handsome, it radiated spirit. His facial features were well-proportioned, his brows and eyes clear, and his gaze bright, belonging to the type that grew on people the more you looked at them. Coupled with his physique, temperament, and stylish attire, he was a flawless specimen of the "tall, rich, and handsome" elite among authors.

"Well now, not bad at all."

Zhang Tan arched an eyebrow, turned, walked out of the rental house, and headed toward the school.

...

The rental house was about five hundred meters away from the school. Tricycles constantly shuttled back and forth along the road, each hauling three to five students along with their parents. It was that time of the year—the start of another school semester.

Zhang Tan walked empty-handed, taking confident strides with his toes pointed slightly outward, choosing not to ride a bike.

The number of heads turning to look at him along the way remained quite high.

People who didn't recognize Zhang Tan would still cast a few extra glances his way simply because of his dashing attire.

Those who recognized him but weren't close would look at him and smile.

As for the classmates who knew him well, they would shout from afar, "Detective! Detective!"

It was Cao Yuchuan.

The guy was carrying a school backpack and hauling a large camouflage duffel bag, while dragging a suitcase with his other hand, having just stepped off a minibus. Having spent the entire summer vacation getting much fatter, he still radiated a comical, goofball aura from head to toe. On his upper body, he wore a floral shirt with the lowest buttons stretched so tautly they looked ready to burst at any second.

Who knew how much greasy food he had consumed over the course of the summer vacation to pack all that weight into his belly.

"You've gotten really fat," Zhang Tan remarked with a sigh.

"Have I?" Cao Yuchuan asked, looking puzzled as he felt quite good about himself. "It's not that bad."

What could Zhang Tan say to that? He merely offered, "I'll carry one of your bags for you."

"Great, a famous author helping me carry my luggage, hehe," Cao Yuchuan said, handing over the large camouflage duffel bag, which weighed at least fifty pounds.

Zhang Tan's face darkened as he reached out and snatched the wheeled suitcase instead. "Have you no shame?"

Cao Yuchuan feigned extreme weakness. "Just help me carry this one. I'm practically exhausted to death."

"No way, do you know what that means?"

Faced with Zhang Tan's unhesitating rejection, Cao Yuchuan didn't mind in the least. Soon enough, he was lugging the heavy duffel bag, stumbling as he walked toward the school. "You're amazing, Detective! They're actually adapting *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* into a TV series, and you didn't even give us a heads-up. A TV series, wow!"

"I only signed the contract during the summer break. How was I supposed to tell you?"

"Since *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* is selling so well—I didn't know beforehand, but I saw in the newspaper that you made tens of millions, is that true? Goodness gracious, a multi-millionaire standing right next to me, I feel like kidnapping you right now," Cao Yuchuan wailed dramatically.

Zhang Tan calmly shook his head, offering a modest display of feigned poverty: "Exaggerated, wildly exaggerated, complete nonsense. I didn't make that much—maybe one or two million. After buying a house and a car for the family, tossing money here and there, it all got spent."

"One or two million? That's still a fortune. People like us might not even make that much in a lifetime."

"Human effort can achieve anything. As long as you have the courage to venture out and try, who can guarantee you won't make a million or ten million?"

After dropping off Cao Yuchuan's suitcase at the dorm, greetings and recognitions followed him continuously along the way. By now, everyone knew about the news regarding *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, and they were all clamoring for Zhang Tan's autograph. If the old Zhang Tan could be considered a prominent campus figure, the current Zhang Tan had transcended that status entirely, ascending to an entirely different realm.

He was treated completely like a giant panda in a zoo—cherished and treated as a rare treasure.

The atmosphere Zhang Tan had once tried so hard to blend into was once again walled off from him, making it seem as though he were walking in a dimension far removed from the campus. Faced with this, Zhang Tan could only feel a sense of helplessness. Perhaps the most beautiful moments in life are always those of initial encounters.

"Maybe I should have said goodbye to Shuangdun Middle School long ago?"

Listening to the tones of his classmates when they spoke to him—fraught with tension, alienation, adoration, and jealousy—Zhang Tan felt a strong illusion of it being lonely at the top. At this point, only Cao Yuchuan could still give him the feeling of peers interacting freely, while all other classmates had grown significantly more distant.

Even though Zhang Tan had always pursued a carefree and untethered life.

At this very moment, a trace of melancholy truly washed over him.

Staying in the dorm for half an hour and declining his classmates' invitation to play cards, Zhang Tan strolled out of the dormitory and headed toward the classroom. Dusk was gradually setting, and since classes hadn't officially started yet, there were very few people inside the classroom.

Standing at the doorway, he looked at the handful of classmates buried in their books, reading and writing.

Zhang Tan smiled faintly and retreated.

At that moment, a lyric seemed to echo in his ears: "We are all constantly hurrying along, forgetting the way out, seeking occasional satisfaction amidst disappointment. We all seek liberation in dreams from the bitterness of waking, wandering where the lights burn dim and distant. Unable to reach the end, returning to the origin, enjoying that endless road." (To be continued.)