Chapter 23: Change of Perception

Facing Li Luo's greeting, Yin Zhicheng glanced at the boy's face, then at the clothes in his hands, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, me?" Li Luo blinked innocently. "Ying Chanxi called me at noon saying it was going to rain, and asked me to come collect her clothes."

As he spoke, Li Luo had already walked to Ying Chanxi's bedroom door, opened it, and stepped inside.

He placed the clothes on her bed, then immediately stepped back out.

He felt no guilt at all.

After all, he'd been raised under Yin Zhicheng's watch since childhood; both families came and went freely, and it was perfectly normal for Ying Chanxi to ask him to collect her clothes.

Yin Zhicheng didn't react much to this; he swapped his slippers and walked into the living room, asking Li Luo, "Is Xixi still at school?"

"Yes."

"Today's Friday," Yin Zhicheng mused. "I recall they dismiss early on Fridays?"

"Right. No evening self-study on Fridays. Ying Chanxi usually gets home around five-thirty." Li Luo answered while wondering if he should slip away.

Being alone in the living room with Uncle Yin felt awkward.

Yin Zhicheng felt the same, though he'd never say it aloud: "I'm cooking dinner tonight—I already told your dad. Come over in the evening, let's have a little gathering."

In truth, Yin Zhicheng didn't like Li Luo.

But he didn't dislike him either.

He'd been close friends with Li Guohong since childhood.

He naturally wouldn't reject his good friend's son.

But Li Luo was just too wild; Yin Zhicheng always worried he'd corrupt his own daughter.

Especially since he worked long hours in the city and rarely had time to supervise Ying Chanxi.

If Ying Chanxi started spending all day hanging out with Li Luo, her grades would surely suffer.

But over time, Yin Zhicheng noticed his daughter's grades had consistently remained first in the entire school, never slipping—and he relaxed.

Plus, his good friend's family lived right next door and often looked after his daughter, so Yin Zhicheng stopped interfering and focused on earning money over there.

Still, he could never bring himself to like Li Luo.

Li Luo sensed it too, and naturally didn't linger; after hearing Yin Zhicheng out, he headed for the door: "Then Uncle Yin, I'll come back with Mom and Dad for dinner tonight—right now I'm going home to catch some sleep."

"Alright." Yin Zhicheng took off his suit; as Li Luo turned to leave, he suddenly asked, "What does Xixi like to eat now? Minced pork with eggplant?"

"Yes." Li Luo, already putting on his shoes at the door, replied, "Minced pork with eggplant, tomato and scrambled eggs, cola chicken wings—those are her three favorite dishes."

"Still exactly the same," Yin Zhicheng chuckled, shaking his head.

"They're Auntie's best dishes, after all," Li Luo said, smiling as he finished lacing his shoes. "I like them too."

"Hmm…" Yin Zhicheng fell silent, offering no reply.

Li Luo then opened the door at the right moment, preparing to head home.

But as soon as he opened the door, he saw a delivery guy standing right in front of his own door, about to knock.

Knock knock knock.

"Anyone home? Package delivery!"

"Package for 401?" Li Luo, standing behind the delivery guy, suddenly asked.

Startled by the voice behind him, the delivery guy turned and looked at Li Luo, then checked the package in his hand: "Yeah, 401. Do you know this family?"

"Of course. I live in 401." Li Luo stepped out from in front of 402's door, pulled out his keys, and unlocked 401. "But we didn't order anything online—what's this?"

"Admission letter," the delivery guy said, handing it over now that Li Luo had opened the door. "You're Li Luo, right? Do you have an ID card or student ID? Need your signature to confirm."

"Oh, sure, wait a sec," Li Luo said, thinking he should close 402's door first.

But at that moment, Yin Zhicheng, drawn by the noise, had already come over and stood at the doorway, curious: "Admission letter?"

"Yeah." Li Luo, seeing Yin Zhicheng had no intention of closing the door, replied and went inside to fetch his student ID.

Yin Zhicheng, meanwhile, stared curiously at the package and couldn't help asking, "Which school's admission letter is this?"

"Fuzhong No. 1," the delivery guy said casually. "Your neighbor's kid's pretty impressive—I remember Fuzhong No. 1 is the top high school in Yinjiang District, right?"

Hearing this, Yin Zhicheng froze for a moment, stunned: "This letter's addressed to Li Luo?"

"Of course, who else?" The delivery guy gave Yin Zhicheng a puzzled look. "The name's right there on it."

This left Yin Zhicheng genuinely astonished.

In his mind, Li Luo's grades had always been mediocre.

During the New Year dinner when both families got together, he and Li Guohong had discussed Li Luo's final exam results.

He ranked 27th in his class, nearly 170 points behind Ying Chanxi.

Could someone with that score really get into Fuzhong No. 1?

Surprised, Yin Zhicheng watched as Li Luo came out of his home, presented his student ID, signed the delivery slip, and took the package.

After the delivery guy left, Li Luo glanced at Yin Zhicheng's expression, then simply stayed in the hallway instead of going inside—he tore open the package and pulled out the admission letter.

Yin Zhicheng leaned over to look at it.

The admission letter contained two things: one was a congratulatory certificate, praising Li Luo for being accepted into the school and so on.

The other was an orientation guide listing the start date, required items, and various instructions.

"You did well on the high school entrance exam?" Yin Zhicheng asked. "Fuzhong No. 1 isn't easy to get into."

"Yeah, scored 555," Li Luo said. "86th in the district—not bad, but nothing compared to Ying Chanxi."

"That's still impressive," Yin Zhicheng said, glancing at Li Luo and suddenly feeling the boy wasn't as bad as he'd thought. "Perfect—this dinner tonight will be a celebration."

"Thanks a lot, Uncle Yin."

The two returned to their respective homes.

Li Luo took a shower and went straight to bed for a nap.

When he woke up, it was already past three in the afternoon.

At this time, he should have gone to Ying Chanxi's house to borrow her computer and keep writing.

But now that Ying Zhicheng was there, Li Luo decided not to go.

Besides, he still had plenty of saved drafts; a day or two didn't matter—today he'd just rest.

Thinking this, Li Luo rolled over in bed and heard the sound of raindrops tapping against the window.

He sat up and looked out the window.

Heavy rain poured down, blurring the window's reflection.

Li Luo opened the window and saw a torrential downpour outside—he guessed it wouldn't stop anytime soon.

So he got out of bed, rummaged through the cabinet by the door, pulled out three umbrellas, slipped on his shoes, and prepared to take them to his parents.

Just as he opened the door, the door across the hall—402—also opened.

Ying Zhicheng stepped out and, seeing Li Luo, clearly froze for a moment.

"Uncle Ying, going out?" Li Luo asked as he headed downstairs.

"Yeah, we ran out of soy sauce. I forgot to buy some when shopping," Ying Zhicheng said. "I need to go down and get a bottle."

"Oh, that's fine," Li Luo stopped walking and said to Ying Zhicheng, "You don't need to go down."

"I'm going to deliver umbrellas to my parents anyway—I'll grab one for you on my way back."

"It's pouring outside; no need for both of us to go down."

Hearing this, Ying Zhicheng nodded happily: "Then I'll trouble you."

"No trouble at all," Li Luo smiled and turned to run downstairs.

Watching Li Luo's retreating back, Ying Zhicheng felt a strange sense of disorientation—he somehow felt this kid had suddenly become more steady and mature.

Not so reckless and impulsive as before.

Thinking this, Ying Zhicheng turned back inside and returned to the kitchen to prepare ingredients.

Li Luo went downstairs, opened his umbrella, stepped into the rain, and headed toward the breakfast shop across the street.

"Mom, I'm leaving the umbrellas here! Remember to use them when you get home," Li Luo said, placing the two umbrellas on the counter to Lin Xiuhong.

Seeing her son had actually come to deliver umbrellas, Lin Xiuhong's heart warmed: "Got it."

"I'm heading back now," Li Luo said. "Neighbor Ying said he's cooking dinner tonight and invited us over."

"Mm, your father told me," Lin Xiuhong nodded, then added, "Don't tell Chanxi, though—Ying probably wants to surprise her; he didn't notify her ahead of time."

"Oh?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow, then smiled. "Got it—I'll keep it secret."

After speaking, Li Luo opened his umbrella again, ran to the entrance of the opposite compound, bought a bottle of soy sauce at the supermarket, and walked back to the stairwell.

He put away his umbrella, climbed to the fourth floor, arrived at 402's door, and instinctively reached for the key hidden inside the couplet.

But after a moment's thought, he retracted his hand and knocked on the door.

Soon after, Ying Zhicheng opened the door, took the soy sauce from Li Luo, and said: "Come in and sit. The computer in the study is still free—you can play around on it."

Since Ying Zhicheng had said so, Li Luo—who had originally planned to return to his own room—didn't refuse. He stepped inside and changed into slippers.

Watching Ying Zhicheng return to the kitchen to keep working, Li Luo wandered into the study, uninvitedly turned on the computer, logged into Qidian Chinese Website, and glanced at the Sanjiang ranking list.

I Am Really Not a Star was right there.

Yesterday he asked his editor—his novel's follow-up readership was around 1,200.

After this round of recommendations ends, next week he could prepare for official release.

Seeing his novel's data, Li Luo could only shake his head and chuckle—he knew that if this data appeared ten years later, it wouldn't even make the third round of recommendations, let alone rank on Sanjiang.

But Li Luo wasn't in a hurry—he knew exactly where his advantage lay.

In 2014, the Online Novel industry was entering a new developmental phase.

With the gradual spread of smartphones, Qidian Chinese Website followed the trend and launched the Qidian Reading App, joining the wave of mobile internet.

By year's end, Qidian's reader distribution between computer and mobile platforms was nearly even.

By the end of 2015, mobile users accounted for 70%; by the end of 2016, that figure ballooned to 90%.

Some might wonder: what's the difference?

It's all reading—what does it matter if you use a computer or a phone? At most, reading on a phone is more convenient.

But in reality, there were two major changes.

First, the change in user demographics.

Previously, those who had the means to use computers and specifically read novels tended to have at least some education and literary literacy—they could at least learn to operate a computer, and their family circumstances weren't poor.

But with smartphones entering the market—especially cheap ones like Xiaomi—this suddenly pulled masses previously excluded from the internet into mobile internet.

These users, at least in terms of literary literacy and aesthetic standards, certainly didn't have the same high expectations as earlier users.

Naturally, this gave rise to a wave of more straightforward, "爽白化" works.

Second, the change in reading habits.

Previously, when reading on a computer, an author could write paragraphs of hundreds of characters, and the layout looked perfectly normal on screen.

But the same paragraph, when placed on a smartphone screen, instantly became a massive blob of text.

The reading experience became terrible.

Many authors initially didn't realize this and kept their old computer-era writing habits.

But for new mobile users entering the Online Novel world, solving the text layout problem meant their novel had an inherent advantage from the start.

Li Luo stood at the forefront of this tide—his new novel perfectly adapted to these changes, so achieving decent results was only natural.

But just as Li Luo was about to write a few more lines, a noise came from the kitchen.

Li Luo stepped out of the study in confusion and looked toward the kitchen—he saw Ying Zhicheng frowning, his right hand tightly gripping his left finger.

On the floor lay a kitchen knife, somehow fallen.

"Uncle Ying, what happened?"

"Mm… hiss…" Ying Zhicheng furrowed his brow, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth. He glanced at Li Luo and said helplessly, "Cut my hand while chopping vegetables."