Chapter 20: Graduation Banquet

At Yang's Family Banquet Restaurant, Zhang Xuefen smiled warmly as she moved between rooms 3, 4, and 5.

She pulled her son Wei Chun along, toasting relatives and friends attending the graduation banquet, then cheerfully collected red envelopes.

"Your Wei Chun is truly accomplished—unlike ours, whose grades are a complete mess."

"Oh, not at all—he still has room to improve," Zhang Xuefen laughed behind her hand. "He only scored 525 this time, ranked 286th in the whole district."

"Still not impressive? Every year, thousands take the middle school entrance exam!" the relative chuckled. "If you think it's too low, let Chun come be my son."

"Hahaha~" Zhang Xuefen beamed, then added, "But he got into Fu No. 1 High anyway."

"You know as well as we do—each grade at Fu No. 1 has over six hundred students. Your Chun is just average there."

"There's still plenty of room for growth. In high school, he'll need to work even harder, right?"

Wei Chun was tall, but beside his mother, he hunched his back, appearing several inches shorter, silently enduring in resignation.

He only muttered a few words when Zhang Xuefen called him to greet or toast.

On the other side, Wei Dongrong also held a glass of wine, drinking and chatting with the large table of relatives, discussing his real estate project.

Several relatives had already invested and were inviting others still hesitating to join.

As the drinking and conversation grew lively, Wei Dongrong, having had too much, rose to go to the restroom.

Passing by rooms 8 to 10 behind, he suddenly caught a familiar figure inside.

He stopped, squinted—and raised an eyebrow. It was Li Guohong's family.

Watching Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong toast with their son Li Luo among several tables, their faces beaming, it was clear Li Guohong's family was hosting.

Since it wasn't a holiday or festival, this must also be a graduation banquet for their child?

Thinking this, Wei Dongrong glanced at Li Luo, recalling his wife's earlier remark that Li Luo's grades weren't good.

Probably he overperformed on the exam this time and did decently after all?

With that thought, Wei Dongrong first went to the restroom, then returned to their room and waved to Zhang Xuefen.

"What's wrong, honey?" Zhang Xuefen, deeply immersed in the joy of being praised, turned, puzzled.

"I just saw Li Guohong and his family over there," Wei Dongrong whispered in her ear. "We showed them the project before—they seemed interested, but never responded after."

"Now we've run into them. Let's go over together—with Chun—to congratulate them on their son's graduation, and casually bring up the investment."

"If things go well, ask about their other relatives—see if we can draw in more investors."

"Lin Xiuhong's here too?" Zhang Xuefen blinked, then smiled sweetly. "Great! I'll call Chun—we'll go together."

"Be careful," Wei Dongrong warned. "I know you two don't get along, but don't say anything foolish when we go over."

"I know," Zhang Xuefen nodded quickly. "I know what's important. Don't worry."

…

The private rooms at Yang's Family Banquet were connected in a row.

When several tables needed to dine together, the central partition walls could be opened to form one larger room.

Li Luo's graduation banquet was held in rooms 8 to 10 of Yang's Family Banquet.

Around five-thirty in the evening, relatives began arriving and taking their seats.

After a lively half-hour of eating, Li Luo obediently rose with his parents to toast.

Of course, since he was still a minor, he could only drink juice.

The red envelopes he received from relatives were ultimately handed over to his parents.

But seeing his grandparents and maternal grandparents all healthy and happy, Li Luo felt content.

He vaguely remembered his grandmother passed away during his first year of college.

His maternal grandfather died just after he graduated university.

His maternal grandmother didn't survive until he turned thirty.

By thirty-five, Li Luo had only his parents left.

Especially his mother, who fell seriously ill, her health hanging by a thread.

In contrast, Li Luo felt reborn in this moment—truly a wonderful thing.

So his words grew sweeter, making the elders laugh heartily.

Added to this, Li Luo's middle school entrance exam score was excellent—he got into Fu No. 1 High, a great achievement—and the atmosphere in the room was warm.

After toasting around, everyone resumed drinking and chatting.

Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong sat down at Grandpa San's table to discuss buying a house.

Since they'd already confirmed details earlier, the conversation went smoothly. The price was especially favorable—Grandpa San's family was eager to sell, and the property was in northern Yinjiang District, where prices were low.

A 500,000 RMB down payment, plus a loan of just over one million RMB, would cover a roughly 150-square-meter apartment.

"But there's one thing I mentioned before," Grandpa San reminded them. "I divided this apartment into four bedrooms."

"Three of the student tenants finished their college entrance exams this year and graduated—they won't renew their leases."

"But one girl is about to enter Gao Er this year—she signed a three-year contract."

"So if you decide to take it, you'll need to decide: keep renting to her, or not?"

"Either way, the lease agreement and deposit will be handed directly to you—you handle it yourselves."

Li Guohong nodded, recalling the matter, then turned to Lin Xiuhong: "What do you think? If Li Luo and Chanxi live there, wouldn't it be better without strangers disturbing them?"

"But if we terminate the lease, won't we have to pay a penalty?" Lin Xiuhong considered. "Besides, she's also a Fu No. 1 student—living together could help them improve. We just need to learn her personality—see if they get along."

Li Luo, listening nearby, felt conflicted.

If possible, he'd rather not share with strangers.

But the family's one-million-RMB mortgage was a heavy burden.

If they could receive monthly rent, it would at least ease his parents' mortgage pressure.

Though Li Luo had confidence in his Online Novel, the paid readership market in 2014 was still tiny.

Especially the main site's paid reading market on Qidian Chinese Network is nothing like what it would be ten years later.

Reaching an average of 3,000 paying readers per full novel was already considered a major achievement.

On the site's bestseller ranking, starting from tenth place and below, none could reach 10,000 average subscriptions.

Compared to the scene in the future where hundreds of novels with ten-thousand-subscription averages ran simultaneously, it was still far behind.

If the distribution channels performed slightly better, a 3,000-subscription record could even compete for the site's Grandmaster title.

But even such a major author earned only around ten thousand yuan in monthly royalties from the main site.

Thinking of this, if possible, it was naturally better to have one more source of household income and earn one more bit of money.

Although when his parents made up their minds to buy a house, they never expected Li Luo to help out.

But having been reborn, how could Li Luo calmly enjoy high school life without sharing any family pressure?

At least set a small goal: help the family pay off this one-million-yuan mortgage as soon as possible.

So Li Luo said, "Since they've already signed a three-year lease, there's no need to cancel it—let's just live together."

"We're both at school all day anyway; we only come home to shower and sleep, so it won't be a problem."

"And on weekends, we can even motivate each other's studies, right?"

Lin Xiuhong nodded after hearing her son's words: "You're right—if you don't mind, we definitely won't cancel the lease."

"Then it's settled." The third uncle, seeing their decision made, said, "Let's pick a time and go through all the necessary procedures—get the transfer done early so we can rest easy."

After finalizing the arrangements, everyone smiled happily.

Li Guohong raised his wine glass and led the family in toasting the third uncle.

At that moment, someone knocked on the private room door.

Li Luo looked toward the door and saw his cousin Wei Dongrong, followed by his aunt Zhang Xuefen and his cousin Wei Chun.

"Huh? Dongrong?" Li Guohong turned toward the voice, his eyebrows lifting as he stood and walked over, "What a coincidence? You're here too?"

"Yeah," Wei Dongrong walked in smiling, raising his wine glass to clink with Li Guohong, "We're here for Chun's promotion banquet—aren't you guys here for the same reason?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Li Guohong laughed heartily, leading the three to the table, "Li Luo did pretty well on his exam, so we wanted to celebrate."

"Congratulations, congratulations." Probably because he assumed no matter how well Li Luo did, his score couldn't be that high, Wei Dongrong offered only polite congratulations, raised a toast, then shifted the topic toward real estate projects.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xuefen, seeing the two men already chatting, pulled Wei Chun over toward Lin Xiuhong and Li Luo.

"Xiuhong, congratulations," Zhang Xuefen smiled warmly as she raised her glass to Lin Xiuhong, "I heard your Li Luo did well on his exam—congratulations."

"Thank you," Lin Xiuhong replied with a smile, returning the toast—after all, she was the one being congratulated—"How about your Wei Chun? He did well too, right? From your expression, Fuyi High must be a sure thing."

"Yes, yes—he scored 525, ranked 286th in the district—Fuyi High is definitely no problem," Zhang Xuefen giggled behind her hand, delighted by Lin Xiuhong's praise, and pulled Wei Chun forward, saying, "Chun, go raise a glass to your aunt."

"Auntie, hello," Wei Chun raised his glass with a helpless expression.

Li Luo glanced at his mother, then took the initiative and raised his own glass.

The four clinked glasses, and the surface atmosphere was very cheerful.

Just as Zhang Xuefen was about to ask Li Luo exactly how many points he scored, Wei Dongrong walked over.

Li Guohong followed beside him, his face slightly apologetic: "I'm really sorry—we meant to tell you after finishing the promotion banquet."

"It's fine," Wei Dongrong smiled faintly, his true feelings unreadable. "Since your family has other uses for this money, I wouldn't force a sale, would I? We can cooperate again another time."

"Yes, we can cooperate again," Li Guohong smiled, then turned to congratulate Wei Chun, "I just heard your Chun got into Fuyi High—here, let your uncle toast you."

"Th-thank you, Uncle," Wei Chun quickly raised his glass in response.

But Zhang Xuefen's expression turned sour—after hearing Li Guohong and her husband's conversation, she knew the deal had fallen through.

So after Li Guohong congratulated her son, she smiled with a hidden barb and turned to Li Luo, raising her glass: "I should also congratulate your Li Luo—you did well on the high school entrance exam—are you planning to go Shulan or Yingcai?"

She didn't even mention No. 2 High, clearly not believing Li Luo's score was impressive.

At her words, Li Luo remained calm, but Wei Chun's expression turned awkward.

Wei Chun, who had been silent until now, suddenly tugged at his mother's sleeve and whispered, "Mom, don't say that."

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Xuefen glanced at her son, still unaware of the problem. "I'm just asking about his score—what's wrong with showing concern for Li Luo?"

"But…" Wei Chun's face flushed with embarrassment; he glanced at the calm Li Luo and wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.

After all, at last week's graduation ceremony, he had watched in person as Li Luo walked up on stage to receive his award.

But the next second, Li Luo, with a look of innocent innocence, said, "But Auntie, I scored 555 on the exam—ranked 86th in the district. If I choose Shulan or Yingcai, wouldn't that be… not ideal?"

At these words, Zhang Xuefen's smile froze instantly.

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