Chapter 108: Xu Youyu

Ying Chanxi and Li Luo didn't return to Bihai Lanting on Friday and Saturday because Ying Zhicheng had come home from the company for a rare two-day stay.

Only after lunch on Sunday did they pack their schoolbags, first returning to Bihai Lanting 1502, planning to rest briefly.

Because Ying Chanxi had joined the math competition team, she had to go to school on Sunday afternoon for training.

So after returning to Bihai Lanting and eating a small pudding, she licked her lips, slung her schoolbag onto her back, told Li Luo goodbye, and left for school.

Li Luo locked himself in his bedroom, turned on his computer, and quickly started writing to make up for the chapters he'd used up over the past two days.

After writing over ten thousand words in a haze of the afternoon, Li Luo leaned back in his chair and took a brief breath.

At that moment, his QQ avatar began to flicker—someone was trying to contact him.

【Qianzhou】: The Online Literature Association has approved your application. Wait for their staff to call you to arrange picking up the association's documents and certification—that's when you're officially in.

【Chongran】: Got it, thank you, editor.

【Qianzhou】: The Online Literature Association mainly serves as a communication bridge—between authors, and between authors and the official side.

【Qianzhou】: If you have the opportunity and time in the future, you might consider attending any events they organize—it's good to build connections, beneficial for your future.

【Chongran】: I still have school; I probably won't have much free time.

【Qianzhou】: No problem, no problem, I just mentioned it.

【Qianzhou】: Networking, in the end, is built on your own strength.

【Qianzhou】: So right now, besides school, your most important task is to keep updating consistently and write this novel well.

【Qianzhou】: Literary fiction is a major category. Once you hit one million words and get approved for the channel, the channel royalty won't be lower than your main site's.

【Chongran】: Yeah, I understand.

Li Luo currently updates about 150,000 words per month; at this pace, he'll reach one million words around exam season.

His current average subscription is just over three thousand, and the growth has stalled; there may still be some website recommendation slots ahead.

Based on his past experience, it'll likely peak at no more than four or five thousand average subscriptions.

But even so, for him right now, that's already a lot.

After all, calculating by his update volume, if this novel reaches five thousand average subscriptions, his monthly royalty will be at least twenty thousand.

In his previous life, online novels had already entered the era of heavy anti-piracy.

Qidian authors' subscription income came mainly from reader payments on the main site.

But in 2014, this was precisely the peak period for channel platforms.

Many online novel readers didn't even know about Qidian Chinese Website, yet they searched the internet for various sites to read novels.

Some found free pirated sites and read them happily.

But others didn't understand the difference between pirated and official content—they might have clicked on a legitimate channel site just because of a push ad.

These sites imported large quantities of popular, high-performing online novels from Qidian and then guided users to pay.

Revenue was split between Qidian and the original author according to contract.

In recent years, such sites had sprung up like mushrooms after rain, forming the massive channel distribution system behind Wenxue Group.

When the mobile internet era arrived, this boom reached its peak.

Otherwise, relying solely on the main site's traffic and readership, income would have been severely limited at this time.

Don't be fooled by Li Luo's three-thousand-plus average subscriptions and his monthly ten-thousand-plus royalty—it sounds like a lot.

But in the group of elite authors in the urban category, excluding editors, there were only twenty-seven people total.

And this was for a major category like urban fiction.

For niche categories, the number of authors surpassing the three-thousand-average-subscription elite threshold would be even smaller.

Across the entire Qidian Chinese Website, the total number of authors who had ever written an elite novel might only be one or two hundred.

All other ordinary authors were merely cannon fodder beneath their fame and success.

If in an industry, even the top 1% of practitioners couldn't reach a ten-thousand-income threshold, that would be awfully bleak.

Thinking this, Li Luo opened the comment section of his novel again.

Yan Zhusheng's post was still occasionally being bumped to the top.

And besides that, another very familiar ID appeared in his comment section.

【EarlySleepGrowsTaller】: I really like Jiang Mingyue! Can Chongran write more scenes with Yueyue?

Li Luo: "?"

After looking closely, Li Luo realized Xu Youyu hadn't just commented in his comment section—he'd also gifted a Grand Lord.

Posting under the Grand Lord title, Xu Youyu directly created a factional rivalry with Yan Zhusheng's post.

Fans who liked Mo Qinghan left comments and boosted Yan Zhusheng's post.

Fans who liked Jiang Mingyue came over to Xu Youyu's side to comment and support.

The battle was fiercer than ever.

Li Luo hadn't paid attention to the comment section for nearly half a month—he never expected it to have turned into this, leaving him both amused and exasperated.

He thought for a moment, then opened Xu Youyu's Literary Era and gifted her a Grand Lord in return, following the principle of reciprocity.

He also wrote a long review, praising her novel thoroughly and logically, and posted it in the comment section.

Just as Li Luo finished posting his comment, he heard the sound of the front door opening outside his bedroom.

Li Luo got up and stepped out of the room to see Xu Youyu walking in with her schoolbag, slipping on slippers, and greeting him.

"Oh~ You're back?" Xu Youyu waved at Li Luo, then asked, "Where's Chanxi?"

"She went to school for competition training."

"Oh right, I forgot." Xu Youyu looked troubled, holding up the bag in her hand, "I bought a lot of groceries—seems I bought too much."

"Put the extras in the fridge."

"That's fine." Xu Youyu thought for a moment, then suddenly had an idea: "Or I could call Zhusheng and ask if she wants to come over for dinner, then we can all go to school together."

"Oh…" Li Luo recalled how on Friday, Yan Zhusheng had voluntarily told the cook not to come home for dinner, and nodded, "Then ask her."

Xu Youyu immediately pulled out her phone and made a call.

"Come for dinner? Li Luo's cooking."

"Okay."

Three seconds after answering the call, Xu Youyu hung up and gave Li Luo an OK gesture: "All set, she's on her way."

Li Luo: "... Why so fast?"

"Fast is good, isn't it?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him. "Since Chanxi isn't here, do you want me to help you in the kitchen?"

"That's unnecessary." Li Luo shook his head. "I'm afraid you'll cut off your finger."

"Underestimate me?" Xu Youyu widened her eyes. She had been planning to slack off, but now she marched straight into the kitchen. "I can at least wash vegetables, you know!"

"Fine, fine." Li Luo sighed helplessly, took down the apron Ying Chanxi usually wore from the hook, and handed it to Xu Youyu. "Put it on first—don't splash water on yourself."

Unlike Ying Chanxi, when Xu Youyu put on the apron, the hem only reached her upper thighs.

Normally, when Ying Chanxi wore it, the hem reached her knees.

Li Luo unconsciously glanced a second time at this sight, then remembered how Xu Youyu had teased Yan Zhusheng in front of her, and snapped to attention, instinctively glancing at Xu Youyu's eyes.

And there he saw her half-smiling, knowing gaze.

"Cough..." Li Luo shifted his gaze guiltily and handed her the vegetables to wash. "Just wash these."

"Oh." Xu Youyu nodded, diligently washing the ingredients while kindly sharing her insight with him. "For girls, a boy's gaze is easy to detect."

"Especially a girl like me, who's been liked since childhood—basically, every time I step out, I feel people staring."

"After a while, you even sense instinctively when someone's watching you."

As she spoke, Xu Youyu thought it sounded too vague, so she smiled and added, "Next time I'm free, I'll take you shopping."

"Walk down the street, don't look at anything else—just stare at the men passing by."

"Out of ten, nine will look back."

"And the tenth will keep staring."

"I'm used to it by now."

Xu Youyu had always been this open and unreserved, never avoiding such topics in conversation.

Li Luo had originally thought that in his past life, Xu Youyu had only gradually developed this personality after growing older.

He hadn't expected she'd been like this since high school.

"It's just my nature," Li Luo sighed. "The first glance is instinctive—you can't help but flick your eyes over."

"What about the later glances?" Xu Youyu raised an eyebrow.

"The later glances? That's just appreciation of beauty—everyone has it."

"And the one who keeps staring?"

"That's 'a graceful lady, a gentleman's desire.'"

"Hah~ Smooth talker." Xu Youyu laughed heartily, the apron bouncing with her mirth.

Being with Li Luo always made gathering material feel effortless, and he always said things other boys rarely would.

She'd have to find a way to write these exchanges into her novel.

Hmm... maybe use them for the male and female leads.

The male lead glances a few too many times at another girl; the female lead pinches his ear, and they banter playfully as he cleverly replies.

Just imagining it made her smile.

Xu Youyu nodded in satisfaction, washing the vegetables with even more energy.

Over the past one or two months, readers had been praising how her daily interaction scenes had become increasingly interesting, and the feedback had been excellent.

Her novel's average subscription had climbed from just over a thousand at launch to now over eighteen hundred; with a little more effort, she might even reach the twenty-hundred threshold.

Last month, she'd earned over five thousand yuan in royalties!

Though, of course, not as much as the guy beside her...

Xu Youyu glanced at Li Luo and snorted inwardly, silently steeling herself, hoping for the day she'd surpass him.