Chapter 154: Like

Recently, Ying Chanxi has been acting strange.

Her knees and wrists actually healed over a week after the sports meet.

But after recovering, she began locking herself in her bedroom and refusing to come out.

She stopped eating late-night snacks, went straight to shower as soon as she got home, then returned to her room; even on weekends, she stayed in her bedroom all day, only coming out for meals.

No one knows what she's up to.

When Li Luo asked her, she wouldn't say.

During this time, Li Luo also hadn't much bandwidth to attend to other matters.

Because "I Am Really Not a Star" had gone viral.

From late November onward, for an entire week, his daily new favorites hovered around 2,000.

After that, although the numbers began to decline, by mid-December they surged sharply again.

Li Luo checked Weibo and understood why—his heart had already turned to ash.

The reason was that Yuan Wanqing, while being interviewed for a talk show, mentioned the creator of the song "Year Rings."

The show's production team had done thorough research and dug up the information on Chongran, the lyricist and composer of "Year Rings," discovering he was an Online Novel author.

They used this as a topic to chat with Yuan Wanqing.

Yuan Wanqing naturally wouldn't casually reveal Li Luo's real identity, but she openly and calmly stated she was also reading this author's novels and that she knew him in real life.

The show was quite popular due to its host's witty remarks.

After this episode aired, its view count hit a new record.

Now, anyone who followed "Yaochi Immortal Affinity" or Yuan Wanqing or "Year Rings" knew that "Year Rings" was written by an Online Novel author named Chongran.

With things at this point, Li Luo could only sadly accept the reality and resolve to avoid visiting Yan Zhusheng's house as much as possible in the future.

He didn't know if Yuan Wanqing would actually finish reading his books.

He could only pray silently that the things she said during the interview were just polite words—that, given her deeper understanding of the entertainment industry's inner workings, she'd find countless plot logic flaws in his entertainment-themed novels.

Hopefully she can't even finish them…

Holding this thought, Li Luo sighed and quietly returned to school and studying.

As December drew to a close, temperatures gradually dropped.

In Yuhang City, daytime highs were only around eight or nine degrees, while nights neared two or three degrees.

Cold-sensitive classmates had already started wearing scarves.

"What's that?"

On Sunday evening, returning to school, Li Luo noticed Yan Zhusheng walking into the classroom carrying a large package and asked curiously.

"For you." Yan Zhusheng shoved the package into Li Luo's arms and sat down at her own desk.

Li Luo froze, confused: "For me? What?"

"Birthday gift." Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "Isn't today your birthday?"

"Huh?" Li Luo secretly pulled out his phone and checked today's date: December 21.

Yeah, it really was his birthday.

But since elementary school graduation, Li Luo hadn't celebrated his birthday much.

Counting his past life, he hadn't received a single birthday gift in over twenty years.

Being suddenly given one now was unexpectedly touching.

"How did you know today was my birthday?" Li Luo asked, clutching the package. "I don't think I ever mentioned it."

"You wrote it on your QQ profile." Yan Zhusheng blinked. "Right?"

"It's not wrong…"

Although many people filled in fake birthdays, Li Luo had entered his real one honestly—he just never expected Yan Zhusheng would prepare a birthday gift for him.

"So what did you give me?"

"You can open it and see."

Hearing that, Li Luo stopped being polite and bent down to unwrap the package.

Inside was a shoebox.

Opening the lid revealed a pair of white athletic sneakers.

"I noticed your sneakers are worn out, and you still run for exercise, so getting a new pair makes sense," Yan Zhusheng said.

"You know my shoe size?"

"Oh… when I visited your house, I secretly checked the size of your shoes."

"You're pretty clever."

Li Luo cut off the tag, then looked at Yan Zhusheng: "Can I put them on right away?"

"Mm." Yan Zhusheng nodded, threaded the laces for him, then placed the shoes beside his feet.

Soon, Li Luo slipped on the new shoes; as he tied one lace, Yan Zhusheng crouched beside the other foot and tied it for him.

After putting them on, Li Luo stood and took a few steps—they fit perfectly, more comfortable than his old pair, and even had a slight springiness, clearly high-end.

"How much did these cost?"

"I don't know." Yan Zhusheng shook her head. "I asked my mom to buy them for me; she said the quality is good."

Hearing this, Li Luo felt a flush of embarrassment and whispered: "Did your mom read my novels? What did she say?"

"She said you made too many processes too simple—reality is far more complicated," Yan Zhusheng thought, recalling. "And there were too many female leads—just one is enough, preferably Mo Qinghan; get rid of the other two."

"Are you sure the last part was your mom saying that?" Li Luo narrowed his eyes.

Yan Zhusheng blinked, looking down at Li Luo's new shoes: "Do you like the shoes?"

"Yan Zhusheng, you're clever and somehow foolish at the same time."

Yan Zhusheng didn't understand and continued asking, "Do you like it or not?"

"I like it." Li Luo laughed helplessly and sat back down. "Thanks for the gift, and please thank your aunt for me too. With her promotion, my book's performance has gotten a lot better."

"My mom said it's her who should be thanking you," Yan Zhusheng said earnestly.

And indeed, that was the case.

Compared to Li Luo relying on this wave of traffic to climb from an average subscription of around 4,000 all the way to the current 7,000, it was obvious that Yuan Wanqing had gained even more from this incident.

Not only did she truly return to the public eye, but she also raised her current commercial value by relying on the single "Tree Rings."

For many celebrities, that's just how it is.

Most of the time, it's not that your ability isn't good enough, but that you simply don't have a stage or opportunity to showcase it.

Once you seize a certain opportunity, traffic floods in, and things that once seemed out of reach can become within your grasp in an instant.

In less than a single month, Yuan Wanqing, empowered by "Tree Rings," had directly achieved a great turnaround.

So much so that some songs on her new album, which were already of decent quality, were now dug up by netizens and, along with "Tree Rings," charged back onto the song charts.

The profits involved—how could they be just a million or two?

Just the few endorsement deals that Huayue Film and Television had negotiated for Yuan Wanqing had already easily recouped the upfront costs, and then some, with a huge profit to boot.

In contrast, Li Luo's novel average subscription would at most double by the end of the month.

His royalties would only go from the previous twenty thousand a month to around forty thousand.

"My mom asked me to give you a heads-up," Yan Zhusheng added. "The contracts for 'Chaser of Light' and 'Light' can be re-signed with a price increase for you."

"That's not necessary," Li Luo shook his head. "A deal that's already been struck doesn't need to be overturned. The fact that 'Tree Rings' has gone viral doesn't mean the other songs I write will have the same effect. Auntie really doesn't need to feel bad about it."

"There's one more thing," Yan Zhusheng said again. "Because my mom still needs 'Tree Rings' to appear on some stages—for example, Qianjiang Province's New Year's Eve gala is considering inviting her to perform a song on stage—we'll need to renegotiate the copyright with you on that front."

Previously, the copyright agreement signed between Huayue Film and Television and Li Luo regarding "Tree Rings" mainly covered a series of rights related to TV dramas.

And now, with "Tree Rings" becoming Yuan Wanqing's most representative work at the moment, naturally more copyright authorizations in other areas were needed.

Of course, Yuan Wanqing clearly had another layer of meaning—simply put, giving money, as thanks.

After all, her great turnaround now was entirely brought about by Li Luo's "Tree Rings," yet Li Luo had only earned less than three hundred thousand from his three songs.

This made Yuan Wanqing feel a bit uneasy about it.

After hearing Yan Zhusheng's words, Li Luo also nodded. "Mm, this we can discuss. But if Auntie needs it urgently, she can go ahead and sing it first, and we can supplement the licensing contract later. I'm not in a rush on my end."

"Then shall we go to my place next week?" Yan Zhusheng's eyes lit up as she asked.

Hearing this invitation, Li Luo fell silent.

The thought that Yuan Wanqing had already read the novel he wrote made him somewhat reluctant to set foot in Yan Zhusheng's home now.

"I'll have to think about that…"

"Then I'll have my mom come to your side of town when the time comes."

"No, no, no!" Li Luo waved his hands repeatedly. "I'll go, I'll go. It's better that I go to your place."

The matter of him writing novels couldn't be known by anyone else!

It was one thing for Yan Zhusheng to know.

But if Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu also found out, living under the same roof day after day—Li Luo didn't even dare imagine that scene.

"Then it's settled." Yan Zhusheng finalized the plan, then took the old shoes Li Luo had taken off, put them into a shoebox, and set them aside for him.

Li Luo sighed, feeling that life was getting harder and harder by the day.