Gu Zhinan had no idea that the poetry event had already gone viral online. He swore he was genuinely focused on outlining the remaining plot of The Legend of Sword and Fairy, while Qin's Moon was already in its final stages, and he needed to pn its conclusion.

  Aside from occasionally listening to the crisp guitar sounds coming from outside his room, he was really concentrating!

  “The guitar keeps stopping and starting… looks like she’s stuck. I get it. It’s like how we small-time authors hit writer’s block,” Gu Zhinan muttered, having heard the same melody at least ten times.

  The tune had a mencholic yet carefree feel to it. Back in his past life, he had also learned to py the guitar in college. His dorm mates all said learning the guitar made it easier to impress girls.

  But ter, he realized fairy tales were lies. No matter how hard he strummed, his goddess still got into that fshy Mercedes-Benz. So he gave up.

  Then someone told him pying the piano made a guy seem elegant and high-css, something girls loved. As a young and passionate college student, Gu Zhinan couldn’t resist.

  He immediately joined the piano club and diligently practiced for months only to get rejected again. The disappointment crushed him more than the sadness. From then on, he stopped believing in “chick-magnet skills” and just went with the flow.

  Now, he had probably forgotten everything. He chuckled at himself, if he picked up a guitar again, he probably wouldn’t even be able to py a single note, let alone touch a piano. He vaguely remembered that Xia An’ge had a piano in her room. He had heard her pying it yesterday.

  Singers really were something, they seemed to know a bit of everything.

  Gncing at the time, Gu Zhinan realized he had been sitting at his computer for five hours. It was already evening, but the guitar outside was still going on and off. Her determination is impressive. She had been at it for almost the whole day.

  But then again, rumor had it that she was being forced by her company. If she didn’t produce something, she’d be treated like a mindless tool. Even worse than a 9-9-6 grind. Gu Zhinan suddenly felt a little sympathy for his cold and aloof ndlord.

  “Hmm?”

  He had a habit of checking the Chinese Literature site after finishing his writing. But this time, as soon as he opened it, his author notification box kept fshing with messages. He was stunned.

  The site allowed private messaging, though authors could disable it. Gu Zhinan rarely got messages, maybe just a few from enthusiastic readers urging him to update. But now? There were at least hundreds!

  What the hell happened?

  He clicked on a few messages and immediately found it funny. They were all people from the poetry event, flooding his inbox to praise his romantic verses.

  One message read, "Author, you're f*cking amazing! I already used your poem to confess to someone, and it worked! I’ll send you a big tip!"

  Another said, "Dude, you’re a legend! You made our web novel site look so good! Your poem doubled the votes of the ones on the poetry ptform! ‘Drunk, I cannot tell if the sky is in the water—it’s absolutely stunning!"

  "I love you! Author, I freaking love you!"

  **"Missy here has taken a liking to you! Here’s my number ******. I hope you know what’s good for you. Contact me, and we’ll have a story of our own!"

  Gu Zhinan didn’t even know how to respond. There were too many messages. He could only mark them all as read and turn off private messaging. Then, he suddenly noticed something unusual in his author backend.

  Clicking into it, he took a sharp breath—

  His earnings today showed over 60,000 yuan?!

  What the hell?!

  He quickly checked Qin's Moon’s backend data. Turns out, all the tips and donations from the afternoon until now had converted into that massive amount of revenue. The list of people who sent gifts was endless!

  Looking at the reward rankings, Qin's Moon was now in the top three. Absolutely insane!

  Scrolling through the chapter comments, he saw over 10,000 new comments, most of them coming from poetry event fans.

  Some joked, "‘Crossing Dongting’ author’s novel nd, *** was here!"

  "Came from Weibo. Your poem is beautiful, though the novel’s so-so. But for such a romantic verse, I’m sending a reward!"

  This actually works?!

  Aside from the jokers, most people were discussing his poem Crossing Dongting. He had to dig through the comments to find just a few actual novel readers.

  He was getting rich!

  Gu Zhinan, trembling with excitement, opened the poetry event’s website, and his eyes turned into crescent moons, his smile was uncontrolble.

  Crossing Dongting: 180,000 votes!

  Early Summer: 100,000 votes—leading by a ndslide!

  He was really getting rich!

  If nothing unexpected happened, the 50,000 yuan gold prize was already in the bag. Plus today’s crazy surge in tips, he was looking at a six-figure monthly income now!

  He had never seen so much money in one go in his entire past life!

  Opening Weibo, he saw the #8 trending topic, “Crossing Dongting: A Romance for the Ages.”

  Clicking in, the page was filled with hot discussions, "A stunningly romantic verse appears at the poetry event?"

  "‘Drunk, I cannot tell if the sky is in the water, A boat full of dreams pressing against the Milky Way’—an absolutely breathtaking image!"

  "A dreamlike poetic masterpiece, truly a verse for the ages!"

  Every post was filled with netizens praising the romance of the poem. The two lines ‘Drunk, I cannot tell if the sky is in the water, A boat full of dreams pressing against the Milky Way’ were dominating the discussions.

  Gu Zhinan already knew how cssic these lines were. Like he had said before, in his past world, many people might not know the full poem or its first lines, but these two lines were unforgettable.

  Because you could see them everywhere.

  He never expected them to cause such a sensation here too. Tang Ju, my man, this golden age turned out just as you wished!

  Calming himself down, Gu Zhinan decided to reward his lovely readers with an extra chapter today. Also, he needed to leave a message to crify things, he didn’t want to leave the audience hanging.

  He was totally NOT trying to ride the hype train or milk the money!

  After uploading, he added a final note:

  Straight Guy: Bonus update today! To all the friends from the poetry event, your passion burns like a raging fire in my heart. Crossing Dongting was written on a whim, but I’m gd it resonated with you all. ‘I am born with a purpose’—heaven does not deceive me! Enjoy, mwah!

  Upload!

  At that moment, countless netizens were still refreshing the novel site and poetry event pages. When they saw that Crossing Dongting’s author had updated a new chapter, they rushed in to read.

  At the end, when they saw the note, they burst into ughter.

  "LOL, he said his heart is burning! The author is too cute. And this ‘I am born with a purpose’—I love it! I believe in myself too! Sending a tip!"

  "I’m saving ‘I am born with a purpose’ as my life motto!"

  "Damn, another golden quote! This guy is unstoppable!"

  "Yes! I am born with a purpose! Thank you, author! When I pass my exam, I’ll come back to repay you!"

  And just like that, the phrase “I am born with a purpose” went viral, pushing Crossing Dongting back to the top of the trending charts!