How Could I Possibly Have a Daughter After Reincarnating?

“Hello, is this Teacher ‘Zero’?”

During the break after the second class of the morning, Ling Ning received another call from her editor, and from the voice, it seemed like it was the same Xiao Xiao as last time.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Well, we’ve received your contract and we’re planning to have your book go live this Friday. I’ve already emailed you the specific details about the release.”

“I understand. Isn’t this just the usual routine—leave the plot on a cliffhanger before going live, then prepare a message to readers the day before?” Ling Ning said with a knowing smile. She was all too familiar with these tactics, having written web novels in her previous life.

“Uh… right.” Xiao Xiao hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond to Ling Ning’s bluntness. After a couple of awkward laughs, she said goodbye and hung up.

After ending the call, Xiao Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had a suspicion that this “Teacher Zero” might actually be an established author using an alternate identity, a “little sock puppet” account. But when she tried to find similar writing styles among all the prominent authors she knew, nothing matched.

If this was a newcomer, it was hard to believe. The detailed descriptions, the way the plot was handled, the pacing—it was all beyond what she expected from someone new to the industry.

“Well, who knows? It doesn’t really matter as long as the novel is good,” Xiao Xiao thought to herself.

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Ling Ning did some quick calculations—it was Tuesday now, which meant three days before the book would go live on Friday. However, her story was just three chapters away from a major turning point. If she updated one chapter a day, that wouldn’t be an issue, but Ling Ning wanted to maintain her daily update streak. To do so, she’d need to put some extra effort into those three chapters.

But all of that was manageable. After a moment’s thought, Ling Ning decided that tonight she would use her “secret watering technique” to add some filler and stretch those three chapters into six. That way, she could end on a perfect cliffhanger just before the book went live. And after the launch, she already had half of her backlog ready for a massive update blitz.

Ling Ning could already envision the wave of subscriptions rolling in. A silly smile crept onto her face, and it felt as if her long-dormant passion for writing had been reignited.

Seeing Ling Ning suddenly grinning to herself, Xu Qing had no idea what to say. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Ling Ning like this; it had been happening sporadically for the past few days. Ling Ning would randomly smile while typing on her phone, and Xu Qing was curious about what she was writing.

“Are you okay?” Xu Qing placed her hand on Ling Ning’s forehead, checking to see if she had a fever.

Ling Ning swatted Xu Qing’s hand away, puffing her cheeks indignantly. “I’m not sick—I’m just in a good mood. Haven’t you heard that you should smile more often?”

“Yeah, but there’s smiling, and then there’s… whatever it is you’re doing,” Xu Qing replied, exasperated.

Just as Ling Ning was about to retort, a voice called from outside the classroom. “Ling Ning, someone’s here to see you.”

“Someone’s here to see me?” Ling Ning tilted her head, puzzled. It was almost time for the next class—who would be looking for her now? Still curious, she slowly got up and walked out of the classroom.

The moment she stepped outside, she saw a somewhat familiar face, though she couldn’t quite recall the name. The boy stood there with one hand behind his back, hiding something.

It was, of course, none other than Sun Jie, the campus playboy, infamous for changing girlfriends as often as clothes and thinking himself the protagonist of some romantic harem drama. After his attempt to pay off the punk trio to mess with Li Si failed, and they had ended up in the hospital instead, Sun Jie found himself puzzled. When he asked what had happened, they refused to talk about it and even returned his money.

This left Sun Jie completely bewildered. He couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. Could it be that Li Si, the quiet boy from their class, was some sort of martial arts master? Since his original plan fell through, Sun Jie decided to take matters into his own hands.

Seeing Ling Ning come out of the classroom, Sun Jie walked up to her, gazing at her with what he thought was a romantic intensity. Then, with a flourish, he brought his hand from behind his back, revealing a bouquet of roses. But before he could even begin his cheesy love confession, Ling Ning cut him off.

“Sorry, you’re a good guy.” With that, Ling Ning turned around and headed back into the classroom, leaving Sun Jie stunned. She didn’t have time to deal with yet another confession—there had been so many over the past few days that she’d lost count of how many times she’d said that exact phrase.

Ling Ning found all these boys’ methods of confessing so outdated—it was no wonder they couldn’t find girlfriends. Even with the roses—such a tiny, unimpressive bouquet. Didn’t they know that if you were going to make an impression, you needed at least 9,999 roses? Something with some flair, for heaven’s sake.

And sending roses at all was passé. If they really wanted to stand out, they should at least send 999 pomelos, or even 999 boxes of… well, you get the idea. At the very least, send a wreath or something creative.

“Back in the day, I…” Ling Ning reminisced briefly about her own high school days. Most of them were spent studying, and as for romance, she vaguely remembered a cute girl confessing to her. But back then, Ling Ning valued her studies over relationships, and so that opportunity passed by.

It wasn’t until she got to college that she realized—what was the point of studying? Only relationships were truly worth pursuing.

“Sigh~”

Ling Ning sighed deeply. She felt like her high school life had been incomplete. She’d wasted it all on studying, and now, even in this life, she was focused on making a living. There was no time to truly enjoy the high school experience.

“Who was it?” Xu Qing asked curiously as Ling Ning returned.

“Just a good guy.”

“Oh~”

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In the blink of an eye, Friday arrived.

Ling Ning was excited today. Her novel was finally going live, and it even had its first recommendation slot—a homepage feature. The idea of getting a feature slot right away made her feel a rush of excitement.

Throughout the entire morning, Ling Ning found it impossible to concentrate on anything the teacher was saying. All she could think about was how her novel would go live and all the different ways she could promote it. It had been so long since she’d felt this kind of thrill.

When school was finally over, Ling Ning hurried home. This time, she was smart—she stopped by a street vendor on the way and bought a few buns to serve as her lunch.

The moment she got home, she opened her computer, and sure enough, her novel was now marked as “live.” The recommendation slot hadn’t changed yet, but it probably would in the afternoon.

Without hesitation, Ling Ning started uploading her backlog. Of course, she didn’t post it all at once. Instead, she posted one chapter at a time, spaced out, deciding to start with five chapters and see how it went.

“Having a backlog really is the best,” Ling Ning thought with a satisfied smile.

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Author’s Note:

Don’t be fooled by the title—Salty Fish doesn’t actually have a backlog (hehe). Also, the book isn’t going live quite yet—probably not this week, at least.