Chapter 220: I

Take a sweater, wear your autumn pants, and remember to change your underwear and socks.

In the afternoon, Lin Xiuhong hurried home from her breakfast shop to help Li Luo pack his luggage.

Originally, Li Luo had just carried a backpack, with a laptop tucked in an inner compartment and a few sets of spare underwear and socks stuffed inside—that was all.

But Lin Xiuhong went overboard: it was only a two- or three-day trip, yet she dug out a large suitcase from the storage room and stuffed everything into it.

"And these—these are specialties from Yinjiang District. When you get there and meet authors or editors, give them as gifts."

Lin Xiuhong naturally thought far more than Li Luo did—even the gifts for meeting people were already planned.

Li Luo watched, amused and exasperated, but didn't refuse; he accepted his mother's arrangements with complete ease.

In his past life, he had almost stopped hearing such reminders and instructions.

Now, being able to watch his mother pack his bags while fussing over him was already a kind of happiness.

"That's enough, it's almost full," Li Luo reminded her. "The authors you're meeting are all from Yuhang City—probably plenty from Yinjiang District too. You've overdone the gifts."

"It's just about showing goodwill. Why are you talking so much? Just take them."

"Alright, alright, I got it."

After everything was finally packed, Li Luo slung his backpack and dragged the suitcase, and Lin Xiuhong saw him all the way to the gated entrance of the compound until he got into a taxi.

"Driver, to the subway entrance."

After stating his destination, Li Luo waved goodbye to Lin Xiuhong through the taxi window.

Lin Xiuhong rattled off another round of instructions, clearly nervous and worried about her son traveling alone for the first time to attend such an event.

But Li Luo waved his hand: "Alright, the driver's waiting—bye, I'll be back in a few days."

Once the car drove off, Li Luo tapped the driver's seat and said, "To Huxin Yintai, Quanjie Hotel on Jiefang Road. Thanks."

"Aren't you going to the subway entrance?"

"Uh… just go straight to the destination."

In front of his mother, he had to be frugal—but taking the subway there would take over an hour, with two transfers.

By car, it's comfortable and takes only thirty to forty minutes.

After all, he was earning a lot now, but Li Luo knew that if he told his mother outright he was taking a taxi so far, spending dozens of yuan, she'd scold him.

So he resorted to this tactic.

After sending a message to his editor, Li Luo closed his eyes and rested in the car.

More than half an hour later, the taxi arrived beside Xihu in Yuhang City's urban area. Li Luo paid and got out, walking to the entrance of Quanjie Hotel.

At that moment, Qianzhou was already waiting by the hotel entrance, waving at him.

Li Luo's gaze paused for a moment on Qianzhou, then shifted to the middle-aged man beside him.

The man was slender, also wore glasses—but round-framed—and had thinning hair; he looked refined and scholarly.

Li Luo walked up to greet them. Qianzhou enthusiastically introduced him: "This is Hongdou, chief editor of our Urban Fiction group. Boss, this is Chongran."

"Hello," Hongdou smiled warmly, extending his hand to shake Li Luo's. "I've heard about you from Qianzhou for ages. Finally meeting you in person—truly, the new generation surges forward. The future of online novels belongs to you young people."

Li Luo politely demurred a couple of times, then was led inside the hotel by the two editors and assigned a room.

Qianzhou walked him all the way to his room, helped him settle in, and Li Luo pulled out some hometown specialties from his suitcase, handing him two packages: "One for you, one please give to Editor Hongdou."

"Alright," Qianzhou accepted without fuss, smiling. "Let me take you to sign in at the venue."

The forum's venue was a rented conference hall next door.

As Li Luo followed Qianzhou to sign in, he saw many online novel authors.

Many of them were wildly funny and bold in online chat groups, but now, face-to-face and unfamiliar with each other, they all turned into ostriches with social anxiety, too shy to even speak.

Only those who had already known each other offline gathered in small groups chatting.

Qianzhou pulled Li Luo to find Hongdou at the venue and introduced Chongran to many authors.

Most authors, seeing how young Chongran was, couldn't believe it.

"Damn, how old was Tudi when he wrote The Sword Saint?"

"I feel like I've lived my whole life as a dog—I was sixteen and still playing games in internet cafes every day."

"I was sneaking glances at the school beauty—I had zero time to write novels."

"You're not a reincarnated soul, are you?"

"Aren't you making a fortune with I Am Really Not a Star? It's been crushing me on the bestseller list, and now you tell me the author's a kid?"

"I thought it was some middle-aged guy! That tone couldn't possibly be written by a Gao Zhongsheng!"

Hearing someone suspect he was reincarnated, Li Luo felt a bit embarrassed.

He could only say—no wonder they were all online novel authors; their imaginations were far beyond ordinary people's.

After walking around with Qianzhou, Li Luo added many big-name authors on QQ, instantly expanding his network.

Especially now that he carried the halo of I Am Really Not a Star, even at just sixteen, few authors dared to look down on him.

In this world, the online novel circle operated this way.

Everything was judged by performance.

Even if you were young, as long as your results were outstanding, everyone would respect you more.

In fact, because you were young, they admired and envied you even more.

Many people, upon seeing Li Luo's age, couldn't help sighing—if only they'd been sensible at sixteen and written online novels too.

"Enough, enough, you old fossils—online novels didn't even exist when you were sixteen! What the hell were you going to write?"

The online novel circle had only just begun to take shape, and Qianzhou Province was the first to dare, establishing a writers' association for online novelists.

So many major authors from outside Qianzhou Province had traveled here to attend, unwilling to miss this grand event.

Li Luo looked at the still-youthful faces around him and felt a deep sense of emotion.

¤tTkΛn¤￠〇

After all, despite his young age, among everyone present, very few were actually over thirty.

Most of the currently popular authors are under thirty, right at the peak of their lives.

As the saying goes, full of vigor and ambition, they were also experiencing, for the first time, official recognition of the status of online novel authors—everyone naturally beamed with pride.

Under this atmosphere, as dinner time approached, someone invited Li Luo to join them for a meal.

But just as Li Luo was about to decline, Editor Hongdou coughed nearby to remind him: "Hey hey hey, he's still a minor—you'd better not corrupt this kid, or I won't know how to explain it to his parents."

The group burst into stifled chuckles, winking and nudging each other, but didn't actually take Li Luo along.

Some of the more forward ones patted Li Luo on the shoulder: "Wait till you're an adult—we'll take you out for good food and drinks in a couple years."

Then, the group of authors gathered and left together.

Li Luo watched their backs, then looked at Qianzhou: "What were they talking about? Isn't it just dinner?"

"Cough cough…" Qianzhou looked a bit embarrassed. "The point isn't the meal—it's what happens after. But you're better off not knowing about it. Aren't you going to treat me to dinner? Let's go."

Li Luo vaguely guessed what he meant, chuckled, and said nothing more—he led Qianzhou toward Yuhang Restaurant near Yintai.

Just as he remembered, Yuhang Restaurant beside Xihu still retained its ancient, elegant charm from his past life.

Following his memory, Li Luo ordered several local specialties of Yuhang City for Qianzhou: Xihu vinegar fish, Dongpo pork, and others.

After tasting it, Qianzhou said: "This Dongpo pork is delicious."

"What about the Xihu vinegar fish?"

"Uh… the fish meat is pretty tender," Qianzhou smiled awkwardly. "But the flavor feels a bit strange."

"That means this restaurant is authentic."

After dinner, the two strolled along Xihu for a while, then returned to the hotel.

Li Luo planned to keep writing—he bid Qianzhou farewell at the room door.

Qianzhou waved goodbye and headed for the elevator: "An author just arrived—I'll go greet them first. You keep writing."

"OK." Li Luo gave a thumbs-up, entered the room, closed the door, and pulled out the notebook Yan Zhusheng had lent him, beginning to type.

At this moment, he realized he'd been added to a private group of authors by some big name.

It was mostly the male-oriented authors who attended the gathering.

Looking at the familiar nicknames and IDs inside, Li Luo couldn't help clicking his tongue.

Throw a stone into this group, and nearly every one of them will become a millionaire in the future.

A few who sold their copyright already are.

Thinking of this, Li Luo couldn't help sighing—who could have imagined that, after being reborn, he'd actually enter this circle?

Even Xu Youyu, who later became a Grandmaster of Qidian, wasn't really close to these early big names.

Moreover, Xu Youyu never cared about cultivating such social connections, so she had very few familiar people in the industry, and Li Luo had rarely seen her interact with other online novel authors.

Just as he set aside the QQ group and kept typing until past ten at night, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

Li Luo opened the door in confusion and saw Qianzhou standing there: "What's up?"

"An author insisted on treating me to barbecue, but I thought she's a girl—I didn't want to go out alone with her late at night, so I figured I'd invite you too."

"Who?" Li Luo blinked. For some reason, a sudden unease rose from his chest.

But the next second, the door of the neighboring hotel room was pushed open.

A familiar voice reached Li Luo's ears: "Editor, you're here? I'm in 9106—did you get lost?"

Xu Youyu stepped out of room 9106 and immediately saw Qianzhou standing at the adjacent door.

"Oh, I just thought it'd be more fun with one more person," Qianzhou smiled—then he saw Li Luo step back sharply, grabbing the doorknob to shut the door.

Qianzhou froze, then rushed forward, stepping into the doorway: "Li Luo, what are you doing! Are you going to bed already? Didn't I just tell you she asked you for chapter promotion before?"

"I thought you two got along well?"

"Why are you running from a barbecue?"

At these words, Li Luo, who had been trying to shut the door, instantly lost his strength and leaned close to Qianzhou's ear, whispering desperately: "Don't call me by my real name! Don't you usually use my pen name?!"

"Uh… you're overreacting," Qianzhou blinked, confused by Li Luo's reaction.

But he didn't know that Xu Youyu, who had just walked to the door to see what was happening, froze completely upon hearing his words.

But it was already too late.

Because she had already reached Li Luo's door.

? tTkдn? co

At this moment, Qianzhou was blocking the door, Li Luo's body mostly inside the room.

But his head wasn't hidden—he looked past Qianzhou and locked eyes with Xu Youyu.

The next second.

Xu Youyu spun around and fled back to her room with lightning speed—bang! —the door slammed shut.

Qianzhou stared, dumbfounded. His hand, still gripping the door, loosened. He looked from Li Luo to the neighboring room, then muttered:

"Did you offend her online?"

"Did you secretly online-date her and then dump her?"

Hearing this, Li Luo's face darkened: "You haven't even told me yet! Why didn't you say Xu Youyu was coming to the panel?!"

"You never asked," Qianzhou scratched his head. "And she's a minor, a girl—I figured it was better to respect her privacy and safety, so I never mentioned it online."

"I really appreciate your thoughtfulness…" Li Luo leaned against the doorframe, covering his face, utterly defeated.

"So what's going on between you two?" Qianzhou asked curiously.

"What else could it be? It's just—" Li Luo began, but before he could finish, they heard the neighboring door open.

They turned—and saw Xu Youyu covering her face with one hand, dragging a suitcase with the other, pretending not to know anyone, heading straight for the elevator to escape.

Seeing this, Li Luo, who had just been mortified, suddenly burst out laughing at Xu Youyu's antics.

Since everyone at home already knew he wrote books, and Yan Zhusheng knew too, adding one more senior sister didn't seem to matter much.

Li Luo had more experience in this regard and adjusted his mindset quickly.

So he stepped forward swiftly, grabbed Xu Youyu's wrist at once, and said helplessly, "Senior sister, you've already seen me—there's no need to cover your ears and steal a bell, fooling yourself, is there?"

"Ah! Let go of me!" Xu Youyu reacted violently, her face flushing crimson, desperate to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, "I don't know you! Let go right now!"

"Wu wu wu! I can't show my face to anyone anymore!"