Chapter 238: I Don

On the 15th at noon, in the kitchen of Bihai Lanting, Unit 1502.

Xu Youyu, wearing an apron, stood beside Li Luo, helping him in the kitchen.

After five or six consecutive days of working together, the two had grown increasingly in sync in the kitchen.

Almost as soon as Li Luo raised his hand, Xu Youyu knew what he needed and immediately grabbed the item and passed it over.

Although the kitchen was hot while stir-frying, Xu Youyu thoroughly enjoyed it, savoring this deep harmony.

The kitchen scenes, which had already been filmed many times before, seemed to have new content worth capturing.

"By the way, are you going home right after lunch today?" Xu Youyu asked. "It's still two or three days until New Year's Eve."

"Xixi and the others are coming back tonight," Li Luo said. "Tomorrow I have to go with my parents and Xixi's family to buy New Year goods, then the day after tomorrow we'll return to the countryside."

"I see," Xu Youyu nodded. "I'm a little envious—our family always stays here for the New Year; it doesn't feel much like the holiday at all."

"You don't go back to your hometown for the New Year?" Li Luo asked.

"Well…" Xu Youyu blinked, speaking softly. "My grandparents passed away long ago, and my father's ancestors weren't locals either. My grandfather studied in He Valley Province when he was young, then was sent abroad for studies by the state. After returning, Qianjiang University invited him to stay on."

"So after my grandfather passed, my father's side basically has no relatives left—basically an only child."

"My mother's side of the family is quite large, but her hometown was demolished long ago. Everyone has spread out within Yuhang City, so there's no fixed ancestral home anymore."

"On New Year's Eve, my mom brings my maternal grandparents over for the reunion dinner, then for the next few days we visit a few familiar relatives—nothing else really."

"I see," Li Luo nodded, pretending he'd just heard it for the first time.

In truth, Li Luo had already heard all this from Xu Youyu in his past life.

"By the way, when you go back to your hometown for the New Year, is it really full of holiday spirit?" Xu Youyu couldn't help asking curiously. "I've read plenty of books and watched lots of films and TV shows describing it, but I've never experienced it myself—my family just goes downstairs to set off some firecrackers."

"It's really not that special," Li Luo chuckled. "Just ancestral worship, the reunion dinner, firecrackers—just a bit livelier because there are more people."

"I'm envious," Xu Youyu sighed, carrying the stir-fried dish out to the dining table.

Li Luo followed him out and added, "I've already made plans with Zhusheng to invite her to the countryside during the Spring Festival. If you're interested, you can come with her."

"Huh? Really?"

"Why not?" Li Luo laughed. "It's only a thirty- to forty-minute taxi ride—not some remote backwater. My grandfather's house has plenty of empty rooms."

"Then I won't be polite," Xu Youyu raised an eyebrow, suddenly excited. "When is Zhusheng coming back? I'll contact her then."

"She's probably boarding the plane now," Li Luo checked the time. "She'll likely land late at night."

As he spoke, Li Luo's phone vibrated a few times.

It was a message on QQ.

Li Luo opened it—and sure enough, just as he was thinking of her.

【Yan Zhusheng】: We're boarding the plane now.

【Li Luo】: Got it.

【Yan Zhusheng】: My mom's friend is the CEO of her company, but I never expected his daughter would be Xixi.

【Li Luo】: Huh? You didn't know?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Of course I know both of them, but I've never seen them together before.

Hearing this, Li Luo suddenly remembered—Ying Zhi Cheng hadn't shown up at the last parent-teacher meeting.

Probably Ying Zhi Cheng had never introduced Ying Chanxi to Yuan Wanqing or Yan Zhusheng before.

This would be the first time the two families met.

On the other hand, Ying Chanxi had long known that Yuan Wanqing was Yan Zhusheng's mother.

She'd just never realized Yuan Wanqing was an artist under Ying Zhi Cheng's company.

Compared to that, the parents on both sides were probably the ones most surprised.

After all, Yuan Wanqing had already met Ying Chanxi at the parent-teacher meeting, but never imagined she was Ying Zhi Cheng's daughter.

And Ying Zhi Cheng hadn't expected that their daughters were already quite familiar with each other at school.

After realizing this, both Ying Zhi Cheng and Yuan Wanqing felt, for some reason, a sudden sense of relief.

After all, if the two girls got along well, any resistance from the children would be much smaller once their relationship was revealed.

As for external public pressure, it was secondary to both of them.

After all, Yuan Wanqing was already over thirty—finding a husband and getting married was perfectly normal.

Her fans wouldn't go completely insane.

But Yan Zhusheng's remark suddenly made Li Luo realize something.

Since that night a few days ago, after ending his phone call with Ying Chanxi, she hadn't reached out to him again?

He hadn't thought much about it these past few days because he'd been constantly dragged around by Senior Sister for filming.

Now that Yan Zhusheng mentioned Ying Chanxi, Li Luo suddenly realized it.

【Li Luo】: You didn't tell Aunt Yuan about me, right? Uncle Ying probably still doesn't know I write novels.

【Yan Zhusheng】: I definitely didn't say anything. When my mom talks about you publicly, she always calls you Chongran—she never mentions your real name. I reminded her about that.

Hearing this, Li Luo exhaled in relief, feeling slightly reassured.

【Li Luo】: Good, I must've been overthinking it.

But Li Luo never imagined that simply bumping into Ying Zhi Cheng in the hallway of Huayue Film and Television had already made the man suspicious.

As a result, internal contracts were dug up and submitted to Ying Zhi Cheng by Secretary Zhao.

The fact that Li Luo was Chongran was now exposed beyond doubt.

One could only say that as CEO of a company, Ying Zhi Cheng's instinct for such things was truly unmatched.

And poor Li Luo still had no idea what had happened.

But then Li Luo thought again—he planned to reveal everything during the New Year anyway, and it was only a few days away. There was no point worrying about it now.

Better to worry about how Ying Chanxi would react after reading his novel.

"Eat up." Xu Youyu served the rice and set it before Li Luo, then glanced at his face with a frown. "Why do you look so pale?"

"I'm fine." Li Luo took a deep breath—he was ready to face life or death.

"What do you mean?"

"I plan to come clean with Chanxi during the New Year holiday about my novel writing."

"Huh? Seriously?" Xu Youyu widened his eyes in disbelief. "Why on earth are you bringing this up now?"

"My mom's a big mouth. Before I warned her, she'd already told half a dozen relatives I was writing a book." Li Luo sighed helplessly.

"Who knows what rumors will spread among the relatives when we go back to the countryside for the holiday?"

"It's better to confess voluntarily than let Ying Chanxi find out on her own."

"Hahaha~" Xu Youyu burst out laughing, slapping the table. "I'm already looking forward to it—when Chanxi reads your novel and sees Shen Dongdong, what'll her reaction be?"

"It's just research," Li Luo said sternly. "Keep laughing, and I'll recommend your book to Chanxi and Zhusheng."

Xu Youyu: "????"

"Fine, if you want to be a walking bomb, fine—but don't drag me down with you!" Xu Youyu shouted. "I barely kept this from my dad—don't go pulling some new nonsense on me!"

"I was just joking," Li Luo sneered. "You don't trust me at all? I feel deeply hurt."

"Here, eat more," Xu Youyu grinned, piling food onto Li Luo's plate. "You've worked hard cooking these past few days—I'm eternally grateful. If I'm reborn, I'll become your ox or horse to repay this debt!"

"Why wait for the next life? Why not offer yourself in this one?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow. "Isn't 'ox or horse in the next life' what people say when they're talking to someone they look down on?"

"If you really want it, this humble girl might consider it," Xu Youyu blinked her big eyes, casting him a shy, dewy glance, then covered her face with her hand, blushing. "I only fear my lord finds me unworthy—I dare not speak lightly."

Li Luo's lip twitched: "... You've got a serious case of dramatic flair. Writing Online Novels is a waste of talent—you should go into film and television."

"Sleep with the big director?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes.

Xu Youyu, who knew every gossip in the entertainment world, could write novels about it just fine—but actually stepping into the spotlight? No thanks. She'd stay as far away as possible.

The two chatted idly as they ate.

Soon, Li Luo received Yan Zhusheng's final message before boarding.

【Yan Zhusheng】: We're taking off.

【Li Luo】: Mm. Text me when you land.

After messaging Yan Zhusheng, Li Luo hesitated, then sent a message to Ying Chanxi.

【Li Luo】: Is your plane about to take off?

【Li Luo】: Text me when you land.

No immediate reply.

Several minutes passed before Li Luo's phone vibrated.

He picked it up. There was only one character.

【Ying Chanxi】: Oh.

Afternoon. Yuhang City Writers Association.

Li Guoru wandered around the neighborhood park as usual, chatted and played chess with people, ate lunch at home, then drifted over to the Writers Association.

"Jingchun? Why isn't he here drinking tea?" Li Guoru glanced around the activity room, not spotting his old acquaintance, and asked someone nearby.

"Probably busy," the man replied. "Check the hallway—you'll find him there."

"Thanks."

Li Guoru turned and left the activity room, heading for the hallway.

The Writers Association was divided into the Office Department and the Activity Department.

The former handled guests and administrative work; the latter was for members' activities.

The hallway where Sun Jingchun stood now connected the two.

Along both walls hung various paintings and notices about the Association: portraits of famous members, the Association's founding history, and its development over the years.

Today, one previously empty notice board was about to welcome its new occupant.

Li Guoru walked down the hallway and immediately spotted Sun Jingchun, along with two staff members.

The three of them carried a new notice, carefully placing it into the board. After confirming it was secure, they clapped their hands and sighed in relief.

"Thanks for your hard work," Sun Jingchun thanked the staff, then stepped back to admire the new notice, nodding in satisfaction. "Perfect."

"What's this?"

Li Guoru leaned closer and saw, in the largest font size: "Celebrating the Successful Conclusion of the First Joint Symposium of the Qianjiang Province Online Novel Writers Association."

"Oh," Li Guoru remembered. "You mentioned this before—the symposium for those Online Novel writers, right?"

"Exactly," Sun Jingchun nodded, arms crossed, staring at the notice. "It just ended a few days ago. Now that the photos are ready, we made this notice to display for a while."

"How was the symposium? Interesting?" Li Guoru asked cheerfully.

"What's interesting about it?" Sun Jingchun shook his head. "The Association invited a few guests. One of them—a writer from our side—got up to speak, tossed aside his prepared speech, and launched into a rant. I barely pulled him back."

"No way?" Li Guoru was startled, then couldn't help asking, "Who was it?"

"That new-rising writer who won first prize in our internal awards—Chu Sheng. The one who wrote 'My Father.'" Sun Jingchun whispered. "Li Chairman's nephew."

"Him?" Li Guoru's face twisted in disgust. "His writing's worse than mine."

"Shh!" Sun Jingchun hurriedly hushed him. "Say less about this. That new-rising writer's event was organized just for him—otherwise, we wouldn't have had the budget. It's just a cheap award. Give it to him, fine."

"Someone like that?" Li Guoru clicked his tongue. "Even though I don't care for Online Novel symposiums, do we really need to put him on stage?"

"Ahem." Sun Jingchun cleared his throat. "It was the Li Chairman's recommendation. Originally there were only four guests—he was forced in."

Li Guoru: "..."

Hearing this, Li Guoru shook his head repeatedly.

But he'd traveled far and wide, done plenty of business—he was used to this kind of thing.

After complaining to Sun Jingchun for a moment, he dropped the topic and carefully examined the notice board above.

"They all look so young," Li Guoru glanced a few times, skipped over the text entirely, and went straight to the photos above.

There was a group photo of the entire conference hall, and also a side shot of the five guests seated in a row.

Besides that, there were three group photos of the winners of the writing contests.

"Writers of Online Novels are all pretty young," Sun Jingchun nodded. "There's even a minor among them."

"A minor?" Li Guoru was startled. "How old?"

"Sixteen. Still in first year of high school," Sun Jingchun chuckled and shook his head. "During the meeting, Chu Sheng scolded him, but the kid shot back with solid reasoning—it was truly embarrassing."

"There's really such a thing?" Li Guoru looked at the large group photo of the conference hall and asked curiously, "Which kid is it? Point him out to me."

"No need to look at this one. Just look at the group photo of the urban writing contest winners," Sun Jingchun pointed to the photo in the lower right corner. "That young man in the very center, standing next to Secretary Cao from the Provincial Writers Association."

Li Guoru fixed his gaze in the direction he pointed and quickly spotted the clean-cut, handsome boy.

He'd only been curious at first, planning to glance and move on.

But after one glance, Li Guoru instinctively exclaimed, "Huh?"—he felt the boy looked familiar, so he looked again, closely.

This second look revealed something—once he looked, he fell silent.

Li Guoru's face showed a look of stunned uncertainty—he thought he recognized something, but wasn't quite sure.

Sun Jingchun noticed his odd expression and asked curiously, "What's wrong? Did you see flowers in it?"

"I don't know if I saw flowers, but…" Li Guoru hesitated, scratched his head, and couldn't help saying, "I think I know this kid…"

"Huh? You know him?" Sun Jingchun was startled and pressed on. "Where do you know him from?"

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"Wait, wait a minute—just to be safe, don't want to make a fool of ourselves," Li Guoru raised his hand. "These photos are a bit blurry. Let me ask you—do you know the kid's real name?"

"Of course," Sun Jingchun recalled. "His name is Li Luo—Li, as in 'luo' from 'yingluo.'"

"Oh my!" Li Guoru slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Then it really is!"

"You really know him?" Sun Jingchun asked in amazement. "How do you know him?"

"Look at his surname," Li Guoru laughed and shook his head. "He's a Li—my family's kid. My youngest brother's son—Li Luo! That's why he looked so familiar—I knew it!"

Sun Jingchun's mouth dropped open at hearing this.

"This kid's actually got some talent," Li Guoru, now knowing he was his nephew, marveled. "A while back, I heard he was writing an Online Novel, and I told him to focus on his studies—writing Online Novels can wait until college."

"Didn't expect he'd actually make something of it—won a contest prize."

"Does this contest have prize money? How much?"

"Er… he won first prize. Fifty thousand yuan," Sun Jingchun replied, pulling at his lip.

"That's not small change," Li Guoru said in surprise. "So much prize money."

To Li Guoru, fifty thousand yuan wasn't a huge sum—but knowing it was earned by a child like Li Luo made it incredibly impressive.

"Heh, it's quite a bit," Sun Jingchun chuckled bitterly, then after a moment's thought, couldn't help warning Li Guoru, "But you don't know—his book is worth far more than this prize."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Li Guoru paused, confused.

"You don't know yet," Sun Jingchun said. "His book, I Am Really Not a Star—just last month, his royalty payments reached this much."

As he spoke, he held up three fingers.

Li Guoru stared at his hand, surprised: "Thirty thousand?"

"Three hundred thousand!" Sun Jingchun shouted. "Strictly speaking, it was three hundred and seventy thousand! Exactly three hundred and seventy thousand!"

"And you don't know—your nephew got admitted into the Provincial Online Writers Association just because of this one book."

"He was even invited in person by Secretary Cao to join the Provincial Writers Association—this kid's future is limitless!"

At these words,

Li Guoru slowly opened his mouth, his mind buzzing.

He recalled the things he'd said at his brother's dinner table, and his face flushed hot with shame.

He thought of how he'd barely scraped into the City Writers Association thanks to someone else polishing his memoir—while Li Luo, still a child, had been personally invited by the Provincial Writers Association's secretary.

At this thought, Li Guoru was left speechless.

He stood frozen in place, silent for a long time.