Chapter 21: Agreement: Qianjiang University

Some words, if spoken by my lord, would be undignified.

But if a child says them, it's just childish babble—kids are young and don't know better.

Leveraging his fifteen-year-old age, Li Luo glanced at his mother's barely contained smile and continued grinning:

"I got lucky this time, Auntie—you know? My Chinese essay got full marks, and lots of schools copied it to show students."

"And because I performed way above expectations, the school broke protocol and awarded me an Outstanding Graduate certificate."

"Only eleven students in the whole school got one—it's pretty rare."

Li Luo's rapid-fire boasting left Zhang Xuefen's face flushing red and white.

But as an elder, she couldn't possibly quarrel with a child, so she forced a stiff smile, avoided Lin Xiuhong's annoying grin, and turned to Li Guohong with a rigid question:

"Your Li Luo did so well this time, huh?"

"Yes," Li Guohong replied calmly, without any intention of boasting or humiliating, "he was just lucky—some classmates helped him review."

"Our two families are truly fortunate to have children in the same cohort entering Fuyi High."

"Once in high school, Li Luo and Wei Chun must both study hard and aim for a top university."

"Exactly," Wei Dongrong chimed in with a beaming smile, "they both need to work hard."

Saying this, he pulled a red envelope from his pocket and handed it to Li Luo: "Here, getting into Fuyi High isn't luck—I'm sure it's merit. Take this, Li Luo. Wei Chun will need to learn from you."

"Thank you, Uncle Wei," Li Luo accepted the envelope politely.

On the other side, Li Guohong also pulled out a red envelope and handed it to Wei Chun.

After exchanging compliments, the Li family escorted the Wei family out of the private room.

Leaving the room and walking down the restaurant corridor, Zhang Xuefen's face darkened instantly, her heart aching bitterly.

Then she couldn't help but slap her son's shoulder hard, gritting her teeth: "You knew about Li Luo's grades all along, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me ahead of time?"

Wei Chun instinctively shrank back, staring at the floor, whispering: "You didn't ask…"

"You're going to kill me," Zhang Xuefen fumed, her chest heaving with rage.

Just thinking of Lin Xiuhong's beaming smile made her chest tighten.

She'd always believed her own son was the top student, consistently outperforming Lin Xiuhong's boy.

And now, this Li Luo kid had turned everything upside down?!

555 points!

Full marks on the Chinese essay!

Could that kid really have scored that?

"Didn't Xiuhong's family use connections to leak the exam questions to Li Luo?" Zhang Xuefen muttered with malice.

"Enough," Wei Dongrong frowned at her. "I've told you before—don't be so petty."

"They run a breakfast stall. The Li family just has many relatives with decent connections in the district."

"What's our current situation? Do you really need to compare yourself to them?"

"The scores are right there—facts are facts. Don't bring this up again."

Hearing this, Zhang Xuefen fell silent at once, becoming as docile as a cat, instantly calming from her furious state.

Just before reaching their own private room, she whispered: "If they're not investing in our project, then what are they planning to do with the money?"

"They said they want to buy a house," Wei Dongrong replied. "Property prices in the city have been falling for half a year—I can't figure out why they'd buy now. Do they think they're catching the bottom?"

"Buy a house?" Zhang Xuefen paused, then sneered, "They don't even have that much savings—they'd have to take out a loan, right?"

"That's exactly why it's baffling," Wei Dongrong shook his head. "But honestly, we don't need their money anyway."

With that, they returned to the private room.

Zhang Xuefen's eyes darted around, already planning to find out which house Lin Xiuhong's family intended to buy.

…

"Keep it. Don't give it back to me."

Inside the restaurant's private room, Li Luo handed the red envelope from Uncle Wei Dongrong to his mother.

But Lin Xiuhong waved it off, telling him to keep it: "I already saved your previous envelopes. This one's yours—spend it as pocket money."

Li Luo raised an eyebrow: "Mom, the sun's rising in the west."

"What's that supposed to mean, kid?" Lin Xiuhong glared at him, reaching to snatch the envelope back. "Is that how you talk to your mother?"

"Hey! Hey hey hey!" Li Luo twisted away nimbly and shoved the envelope into his pant pocket. "You gave it to me—no taking it back!"

"Keep it, then," Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes, then smiled faintly, her mood delightfully light.

Ever since her marriage, whenever she faced Zhang Xuefen's mouth, Lin Xiuhong always came out worse.

Today, for the first time, her son Li Luo's chatter had turned the tables—finally letting her, as a mother, relish the joy of parenting.

So this is what it feels like when your child does well?

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuhong added a warning: "You've got the envelope, and I've bought you a house. If you go back to slacking off at Fuyi High, I'll punish you."

"Relax, relax," Li Luo patted his chest, then pointed to Ying Chanxi beside him and grinned. "Ying Chanxi said if I got into Fuyi High, I'd definitely get into Qianjiang University. If I don't, Mom, you can hold her accountable."

Ying Chanxi, who had been eating fruit, swallowed her watermelon immediately: "I was encouraging you—I never promised anything!"

"You've got no shame," Lin Xiuhong said with disgust. "Do you really think Qianjiang University is that easy to get into?"

Qianjiang University, located on the Yinjiang River in Yinjiang District, Yuhang City, Qianjiang Province, is the top university in the province—without exception.

Nationally, it ranks firmly among the top five comprehensive 985/211 Double First-Class universities.

Although Li Luo had successfully entered Fuyi High, Lin Xiuhong had never imagined her son could qualify for Qianjiang University.

After all, among their relatives, a few children occasionally made it into Fuyi High.

But no one had ever gotten into Qianjiang University.

If Li Luo did, it would be smoke rising from the ancestral graves.

But thinking of this, Lin Xiuhong couldn't help glancing at Ying Chanxi and suddenly realized: "Come to think of it, wasn't Xi Xi's mom a graduate of Qianjiang University?"

At the mention of this, Ying Chanxi froze, then slipped into memory, nodding softly: "Mm… Mom was a graduate of Qianjiang University."

"Back then, getting into Qianjiang University was truly impressive," Lin Xiuhong said, then added, "But Xi Xi, with your grades, you could've easily gotten into those two universities in Jingcheng, right?"

"Qianjiang University is the best choice," Ying Chanxi shook her head, smiling brightly, "There's no other option."

Turning to look at his childhood friend's profile, Li Luo sighed, then said: "Fine, I'll reluctantly take the entrance exam for Qianjiang University and keep you company."

"You said that?" Ying Chanxi turned her head, locking eyes with Li Luo, her eyes sparkling brightly, "Don't you dare back out."

"It's a deal," Li Luo chuckled twice.

There were still three years until the college entrance exam; the exam papers from back then could easily be recalled in his memory.

…

After the promotion banquet ended, Li Luo slipped into the ordinary rhythm of his summer break.

The summer between junior and senior high had no homework requirements; his time was entirely his own.

He now woke at three in the morning, helping his parents at their shop, then returned home to nap at noon.

In the afternoons and evenings, he hunched over his keyboard in Ying Chanxi's study.

Occasionally, he met Zhao Rongjun to play basketball, getting used to his youthful body, brimming with endless energy.

Recalling his past life, he'd sat for long hours writing online novels right after college, his weight skyrocketing to eighty or ninety kilograms; later, he stayed up late producing short dramas and writing copy, surviving on takeout every day.

Then, he'd start his night shift at nine, stir-frying noodles on the roadside until three in the morning, and by day, ride his electric scooter across the city delivering food.

By the time he turned thirty-five, his body was already ruined.

Now, back at fifteen, he leapt and darted across the court, twisting and turning, playing basketball all afternoon without feeling tired.

Li Luo felt this life was wonderful.

Yet, as his parents signed their mortgage and completed the loan procedures, preparing to acquire the house from Third Grandpa, Li Luo wrote earnestly, hoping his first novel might ease his family's burden slightly.

He wanted to find some shady way to make quick money, but he had little cash and, being a minor, couldn't do anything.

He could only offer his humble effort.

While Li Luo enjoyed his summer break between junior and senior high, in Wenhue Group in Changning City, editor Qianzhou waited for the backend data to refresh.

The head of the Urban Division, Hongdou, checked the time and instructed the editors in her team: "Yesterday's follow-read data is out. Submit three Sanjiang-recommended books to me by noon; if any have five hundred follow-reads, mark them specially."

Sanjiang recommendation is the best promotion slot a book can receive during its free new-release period.

Among hundreds of books released simultaneously, only about ten or so qualify.

As a new editor, Qianzhou's authors varied in quality; unlike veteran editors who held one or two big-name authors to anchor their performance, he had no such safety net.

So, facing the weekly Sanjiang recommendation, Qianzhou still felt some tension.

Meanwhile, the female editor beside him, Qingyue, looked relaxed, clearly confident about securing a Sanjiang slot.

Qianzhou, of course, understood why.

Qingyue had joined half a year earlier; over these months, leveraging her knowledge of K-pop, she'd gathered many authors skilled in writing K-pop stories.

In recent years, the Korean entertainment craze had swept across the country, igniting wave after wave of gossip and public frenzy.

As a commercial writing form that chases trends, online novels naturally followed suit, producing numerous high-quality K-pop novels that once dominated half the urban entertainment category.

Now, among new urban books, eight out of ten involving entertainment were K-pop stories, and their data remained strong.

Hua-entertainment stories had somewhat declined.

Not to mention fictional alternate-world entertainment!

But Qianzhou rarely followed K-pop news, didn't watch K-dramas or idols, so he rarely signed K-pop stories.

Among this batch of new books, only two entertainment stories caught his eye and had decent data.

One was "ZaoShuiHuiChangGao"'s *Literary Era*, depicting the art-house film era of the early 2000s under China's sixth-generation directors, written with real flavor.

The other was "Chongran"'s *I Am Really Not a Star*, which followed parallel development in music, literature, and television dramas, delivering constant thrills with excellent pacing.

"Ohhh~" The editor beside him, Qingyue, let out a delighted laugh, "My book *K-Pop Max Level Guide* had 780 follow-reads last week—Sanjiang is pretty much locked in, right?"

Hearing Qingyue's words, Qianzhou's heart tightened.

The Urban Division had only two or three Sanjiang slots per week.

If Qingyue took one, and another went to a hot officialdom or traditional power-fantasy story, his books were in danger.

Thinking this, Qianzhou quickly refreshed the backend and checked the follow-read data of his books.

*Literary Era* — follow-reads: 507.

Over five hundred!

Too bad… Qianzhou felt both joy and regret; this flavorful Hua-entertainment story had collided with Qingyue's rising K-pop wave—what a pity.

As he thought this, he scrolled down—and instantly perked up.

*I Am Really Not a Star*

—follow-reads: 1078!

Over a thousand?!