Chapter 10: I

6:30 a. m.

Ying Chanxi woke up on time and washed up.

She warmed a bag of milk, took two slices of bread, and went to the balcony.

She sent her father a good morning message on her phone, then turned on the radio loaded with her high school vocabulary list, and the vocabulary listening began.

Ying Chanxi stretched her body while listening, spelling the words out in her mind.

After a simple stretch, she sat on the chair by the balcony edge, eating breakfast while continuing to listen to the vocabulary.

At seven o'clock, Ying Chanxi returned to her study, tied her hair into a ponytail, and entered her preview mode.

Every half hour, she stood up to walk around, stretch her body, and glance at her phone.

Then she returned to her studies.

When she finally pulled herself out of her study state, it was already past noon.

She checked her phone again.

Her father hadn't replied.

Lin Yi hadn't sent Li Luo to call her for lunch either.

Li Shu and Lin Yi must be opening their shop today; it's normal they won't cook lunch.

Yesterday I told Li Luo I'd be seriously previewing high school material, so he probably won't come bother me.

Maybe he already went out to play basketball with Zhao Rongjun?

So, another dull day it will be.

Ying Chanxi stretched, wandered out of her study, rummaged through the kitchen fridge, and decided to make herself some noodles.

But recalling Li Shu's stir-fried noodles, her mouth watered.

Her own noodles suddenly tasted bland.

So Ying Chanxi changed clothes, grabbed her phone, put on her shoes, and stepped out the door.

She first knocked on the opposite door; when she confirmed no one was inside, she knew Li Luo had gone out to play.

Ying Chanxi went downstairs and walked toward the breakfast shop across the compound.

Then.

Just as she entered the shop and was about to ask Lin Yi for a plate of stir-fried noodles, she saw a familiar figure inside.

"Oh?" Li Luo spotted Ying Chanxi's pink, oval face, raised his hand in greeting, and grinned, "What'll the customer like?"

Ying Chanxi stood at the doorway, staring at Li Luo, blinked, thinking she'd mistaken her eyes, stepped back, then stepped again over the threshold.

She fixed her gaze again—he was still standing there.

Hmm… it wasn't an illusion.

"Xixi, you're here?" Lin Xiuhong saw Ying Chanxi and immediately rose from her chair with a smile, then shouted toward the kitchen, "Lao Li! Bring Xixi a plate of stir-fried noodles!"

"Got it!" Li Guohong replied from the kitchen.

Ying Chanxi obediently sat at the counter seat, politely greeted Lin Xiuhong, then turned to Li Luo with a puzzled expression.

"I know what you're thinking," Li Luo leaned over the counter, propping his chin with his hand and grinning, "This guy's usually so lazy—he should be out playing basketball with Zhao Rongjun, so why's he乖乖 helping out in the shop?"

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi's face tightened: "I didn't think that."

"This kid's got some strange idea stuck in his head," Lin Xiuhong said beside him. "Got up in the middle of the night and insisted on coming to help."

"Mom, stop pretending," Li Luo glanced at his mother. "Your mouth's been wide open since this morning—you're thrilled."

"I was just moved that you finally have some conscience and realize how hard your parents work," Lin Xiuhong said, her sentiment always interrupted by this brat. "But your mouth's still as foul as ever—every half-sentence annoys me."

Saying this, Lin Xiuhong no longer wanted to deal with her son and turned to Ying Chanxi: "What about you, Xixi? What did you do today?"

"I previewed some first-year high school lessons this morning," Ying Chanxi replied obediently. "I plan to do some exercises this afternoon to get used to it—I'm reporting to Fuyi High School next week for their summer prep class."

Fuyi High School's independent admission batch has only 160 students—these are the absolute top performers in academic ability and performance across Yinjiang District and surrounding areas.

Every summer, Yuhang Fuyi High School gives these 160 students early high school training.

Commonly called "special tutoring."

The main goal is to accelerate their mastery of high school fundamentals, so once regular classes begin, their faster pace gives them ample time to enter subject competitions.

Although Fuyi High admits roughly 640 new students each year, those admitted through independent selection are on a completely different level from those admitted later.

Students like Ying Chanxi—the scholarly prodigies—are naturally top priorities for Fuyi High's attention.

"Look at Xixi," Lin Xiuhong turned to Li Luo. "Even on vacation, she studies hard every day."

Li Luo sighed—he was immune to his mother's "other people's children" routine.

He used to argue with her as a child, but now he simply said to Ying Chanxi: "My mom means you're studying too hard—you should relax sometimes. You should learn from me."

At this, both Lin Xiuhong and Ying Chanxi stared at him, expressions strange—both wondering how he could say such a thing with a straight face.

"Stir-fried noodles are here!" Li Guohong appeared just in time, placing a steaming plate of stir-fried noodles before Ying Chanxi.

Li Luo also ladled a bowl of light seaweed soup for her.

Ying Chanxi picked up her chopsticks, sipped the seaweed soup to moisten her throat, then began tasting slowly.

"Mom, is the shop quiet this afternoon?" Li Luo asked.

"Not busy at all. Why?"

"After she finishes her noodles, I'll walk her back home," Li Luo said. "She needs a nap."

"Alright, go ahead."

So after Ying Chanxi finished her meal, Li Luo followed her back across the compound.

On the way, Li Luo checked the time and said to Ying Chanxi: "I'm going back to nap. I'll come over to your place to play computer games this afternoon."

"Oh, sure," Ying Chanxi nodded in agreement.

"Want to play together?"

"I'm not playing," Ying Chanxi shook her head. "I need to preview my lessons. You play."

"Actually, what I just said was sincere."

"Huh?" Ying Chanxi paused, her expression puzzled. "What did you say?"

"I said," Li Luo glanced at her, "you should occasionally relax a little, do things you enjoy."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi instinctively shook her head: "No, I like studying."

Li Luo: "..."

After returning home, Li Luo took a nap, then wandered over to Ying Chanxi's house.

Ying Chanxi let Li Luo use the study room with the computer, while she took her textbooks back to her bedroom desk to study.

Although they didn't speak much for the rest of the afternoon, Ying Chanxi felt much more at ease than she had in the morning.

Every half hour, Ying Chanxi took a break, stood up to stretch, and drifted over to the study room to see what Li Luo was doing.

Each time she neared the study room, she heard the rapid clatter of a keyboard—but when she actually went in, she saw anime playing on the screen.

Ying Chanxi found it strange, but didn't ask further. She figured Li Luo must be playing games, but pretended to be watching anime so she wouldn't sneak and tell Lin Yi.

So Ying Chanxi silently accepted this, and returned to her bedroom to keep studying.

June 20.

Wenhue Group, Changning City, Qidian Chinese Website Editorial Department.

The urban fiction editor, Qianzhou, was reviewing manuscripts.

He had only been in the position for a month and had few author connections; submissions from internal emails were scarce, so he could only fish through the website's open submission pool for new authors.

Scrolling through these new books, each only a few thousand to tens of thousands of words long, Qianzhou might have to scroll through twenty or more before barely finding one that met the contract threshold.

Near lunchtime, just as he was about to nod off from scrolling, he suddenly spotted a metropolitan entertainment manuscript.

He read the first three chapters.

The protagonist is reincarnated into a parallel world where all familiar music, literature, and films no longer exist.

Upon waking from the reincarnation, he finds himself at the concert of a newly risen pop diva, chosen as a lucky audience member and summoned onstage to sing.

The protagonist, equipped with a system, performs "Dongfeng Po," stunning everyone in the audience...

Editors scan books quickly; after a cursory read of the plot, Qianzhou raised his eyebrows and reread it carefully.

The prose was straightforward and simple; the system's mechanics were revealed gradually alongside the plot, avoiding the rookie mistake of dumping all the lore at once.

The opening had strong appeal: a blockbuster debut at a diva's concert, paired with a power-up, swiftly introducing the main plot, resolving conflict, summarizing gains, showing the protagonist's growth, and setting up the next stage...

Hmm... the pacing was surprisingly polished.

Qianzhou read two more chapters, then glanced at the author's pen name—Chongran.

He hadn't heard of it.

Probably a veteran author's alternate account?

Chongran, Chongran—doesn't that mean "rekindling," as in living a second life?

Definitely some old codger trying to reincarnate through an alias.

Maybe even a frequent abandoner of unfinished novels.

Thinking this, Qianzhou immediately sent a contract invitation to the book's backend.

He had to sign it quickly before other editors spotted it.

He was a new editor—didn't matter what kind of old abandoner it was, as long as he could write something successful.

But what happened afterward drove him crazy.

Starting from the 20th, when he found the book, for a full week afterward, the author named Chongran never responded to his contract invitation!

Even the editor next door had spotted the book; since it remained unsigned, it kept circulating in the pool and caught the attention of other editors.

So, over the next few days, several other editors, unaware of the situation, each sent their own contract invitations to the book.

Only after several days of silence did they casually mention it over lunch—and realize the author had truly ignored everyone.

After lunch, Qianzhou returned to his desk, disbelieving, checked the author's backend info, found his QQ, and sent a friend request.

In the afternoon, the friend request was finally accepted.

Qianzhou immediately messaged him, explained the situation, and asked why he refused to sign.

The reply...

【Chongran】: Sorry, editor. I'm a minor. I'm still trying to convince my mom—I can't sign a contract yet.

【Qianzhou】:???