Chapter 243: Xi Xi Doesn

Five-thirty in the evening.

Ying Chanxi woke up drowsily from sleep, stretching lazily in bed.

After her mind cleared slightly, she blinked her eyes, took in her surroundings, and remembered she had fallen asleep in Li Luo's room.

She glanced at the desk but didn't see Li Luo's figure.

She looked out the window—night had already fallen.

She was covered by a quilt; when she lowered her head, she could still smell the familiar, comforting scent of Li Luo.

Ying Chanxi rolled onto her side, stretched again, then clutched the quilt tightly and checked her phone.

Hmm… five-thirty already? Then dinner should be ready soon.

Ying Chanxi idly scrolled through her phone, checking QQ.

At the top of QQ's homepage, Li Luo's chat box was pinned right at the very top.

Below it, the Class 1-1 group chat was the most active, with classmates popping up now and then.

Some complained about their winter break, others shared travel routines, and some cracked jokes and laughed heartily.

Below that were private messages from various people.

For unfamiliar classmates, if it wasn't something important, she simply ignored them.

Then she replied to a few of her close friends.

For example, Qiao Xinyan asked how she was enjoying her time abroad, and what differences she noticed between France, Britain, and the U. S.

She also asked when Ying Chanxi would be free after the Lunar New Year, so they could go out together.

After replying to these messages, Ying Chanxi's gaze fell again on the chocolate wrapper Li Luo had opened.

This French chocolate was a thin, long bar—fitting perfectly in her palm, stretching from fingertip to wrist.

Li Luo had eaten most of it, fed her two pieces, and the rest remained uneaten.

Looking at the chocolate, Ying Chanxi let out a soft sigh.

She had planned to give it to Li Luo as soon as she returned on the 15th.

After all, the 14th was Valentine's Day… Ying Chanxi squeezed the quilt tightly, buried her face in Li Luo's pillow, and began daydreaming again.

Then she opened her phone and searched "What kind of mouse do boys usually like?" to prepare in advance.

Not long after, the bedroom door opened.

Li Luo peeked inside, saw the faint glow from under the quilt, and knew she was awake.

He turned on the bedroom light and said to Ying Chanxi under the quilt: "Stop lying there. Get up, wash your face, and get ready for dinner."

"Okay, coming," Ying Chanxi pulled back the quilt, climbed out of bed, then opened the bedroom window to let in the cold air.

She gazed at the night outside and sighed: "What a shame—the snow last night only lasted a little while, and by morning there wasn't a trace left."

Li Luo smiled from outside the door: "I checked the weather forecast—it might snow on New Year's Eve. I hope it snows heavily then."

Ying Chanxi followed Li Luo out of the room, washed her face in the bathroom, then sat down at the dining table to eat.

The five of them from both families gathered together; Lin Xiuhong specifically told the two men not to drink tonight, since they'd need to drive back to the countryside tomorrow.

Li Guohong waved his hands saying it was fine, but still pulled out a few drinks with Ying Zhicheng.

Fortunately, he still knew his limits and didn't drink as much as he used to.

After all, during the New Year period there was no work—plenty of chances to drink later—so Li Guohong wasn't in a hurry to finish this one meal.

After dinner, Li Guohong and Ying Zhicheng kept chatting; when Lin Xiuhong came out after washing the dishes, the two dragged her into a card game, playing while chatting idly.

Ying Chanxi chopped up some fruit in the kitchen and brought it to her uncle, aunt, and father; the rest she carried into Li Luo's bedroom for them to share.

Since her manuscript backlog returned to 200,000 words, Li Luo's daily writing quota had become less urgent.

Still, considering the Spring Festival period might be busy, Li Luo had written a few extra ten thousand words in advance—now he had about 240,000 words stored.

That way, even if he spent these few days of the New Year just playing, by the time school resumed, his backlog should still hover around 200,000 words.

So in the evening, Li Luo didn't rush to write; instead, he played games with Ying Chanxi, passing the time quickly.

Only when Ying Zhicheng prepared to go home to sleep did he knock on Li Luo's bedroom door and call for Ying Chanxi to return.

"Don't stay up late again tonight," Li Luo reminded her as she left.

"Okay, okay," Ying Chanxi replied aloud, but muttered inwardly.

She'd slept all afternoon—how could she fall asleep so fast at night? She'd definitely read novels.

She even wanted to finish them early.

…

The next morning at nine, both families set off, driving toward the countryside.

Ying Zhicheng was still alone today, driving his Audi ahead; though Li Guohong's car wasn't impressive, to outsiders, with both son and daughter present, his family clearly looked happy and complete.

"What time did you sleep last night?" Li Luo asked, eyeing Ying Chanxi, who was already dozing off in the car.

"Hmm… I slept well."

"So what time?" Li Luo chuckled. "Didn't you look in the mirror when you washed your face this morning? You've got dark circles."

"Huh? Really?" Ying Chanxi panicked, turning to peer at the car window, trying to see her reflection. "No way—I slept by three a. m. yesterday, and I checked my face in the mirror when I woke up…"

"Oh~ You slept at three?" Li Luo nodded. "You call that sleeping well?"

Then he turned to Lin Xiuhong in the passenger seat: "Mom, look at Xi Xi—she's been staying up late these two days. Shouldn't you manage her?"

"You!" Ying Chanxi glared at him, raising her fist as if to hit him.

Lin Xiuhong up front said: "You're just good at tattling. Do you really need me to mediate this? Didn't you used to hate people tattling? Now you're doing it yourself?"

"Xi Xi just flew back from abroad—adjusting her circadian rhythm is normal, isn't it?"

"Do you think everyone's like you?"

Drenched in Lin Xiuhong's biased defense, Li Luo was speechless; he glanced at Ying Chanxi beside him, smirking, and rolled his eyes.

Li Guohong drove up front, watching them fussing around, smiling but saying nothing.

After playing around with him in the back seat, Ying Chanxi took out her phone again and opened the StartPoint app.

She had actually planned to read even later last night.

But while reading over two hundred chapters, she suddenly saw Mo Qinghan sneak a kiss on the protagonist Li Yang while he was asleep.

This enraged Ying Chanxi so much she nearly smashed her phone on the spot.

After that, she was too furious to continue reading, her mind fixated on one thought… Could Li Luo really have been secretly kissed by Zhu Sheng?

But then she remembered what Li Luo had said—that many things in novels were fictional and exaggerated—and slowly comforted herself, convinced such a thing could never happen.

Yet right here, Ying Chanxi finally snapped back to reality and gradually realized one thing…

The protagonist Li Yang in Li Luo's novel clearly wasn't just romantically entangled with his childhood friend Shen Dongdong.

He also had suspicious, unclear relationships with two other major female characters: Mo Qinghan and Jiang Ming!

To be fair, it was hard on Ying Chanxi.

After all, in her previous understanding, she had never had a clear concept of how many female leads a novel could have.

Even the concept of "novel protagonist" wasn't always fixed to one specific character in some novels—it could shift at the author's whim.

But in Online Novels, all this had gradually solidified into a set of established norms, forming a broad consensus between readers and authors.

Meanwhile, different types of Online Novels had spawned various tags and categories.

For example, based on the number of female leads, there were three types: no female lead, single female lead, and multiple female leads.

But Ying Chanxi had never encountered Online Novels before and never considered such things while reading.

It wasn't until she noticed the protagonist Li Yang juggling between three female characters, then checked the comments section, that she suddenly understood.

Oh… this novel's male lead was actually a womanizing scumbag planning a harem!?

The moment she realized this, Ying Chanxi became furious.

She had been reading from around two a. m. until three a. m., scrolling through the comments section after seeing Mo Qinghan's sneaky kiss scene.

In the comments section, besides idle chatter and plot analyses, most posts discussed the three female leads.

Among them,

because Mo Qinghan and Jiang Ming both had pinned top posts supported by patrons, and their romantic developments were progressing well, both Mo Faction and Jiang Faction had many followers.

Readers daily left comments under these two posts—"Another day supporting Mo Qinghan (Jiang Ming)!"

In contrast, Shen Dongdong had only scattered supporters, and as Ying Chanxi scrolled through, these supporters mostly appeared in the novel's early chapters.

In the first hundred chapters, Shen Dongdong had substantial screen time; everyone loved this childhood friend heroine, shouting "Long live the Childhood Friend Faction!" and urging the male lead to treat her well and not betray the girl.

But once Mo Qinghan and Jiang Ming entered the scene, these same readers changed sides faster than thieves.

Ying Chanxi had a good memory and even saw several readers who had posted support for Shen Dongdong in July and August, only to switch to the Mo Faction or Jiang Faction by November or December—making her so upset she nearly bit her lips raw.

Of course, perhaps because the recent plot had returned to Shen Dongdong's TV drama storyline, Li Yang's interactions with her had sparked a slight revival.

The Childhood Friend Faction, which had lain dormant for a while, showed signs of resurgence, offering Ying Chanxi slight comfort.

But when she saw readers endlessly posting jokes like "Dongdong in class," "Dongdong sleeping," "Dongdong filming," "Dongdong traveling"—those infamous "world-famous paintings"—she still flew into a rage.

Last night, she nearly got so angry she lost her appetite.

If she hadn't been utterly exhausted, she probably wouldn't have slept a wink all night.

Now, in the car, trying to catch some sleep, she closed her eyes and immediately thought of it—then couldn't help but punch Li Luo.

"What… are you crazy?" Li Luo opened his eyes wide at her, bewildered. "Why'd you suddenly hit me?"

"Hmph." Ying Chanxi turned her head away, ignoring him. She glanced out the window at the scenery, her mood slightly eased, then closed her eyes to resume napping.

Beside her, Li Luo was utterly confused, helplessly shook his head, then pulled out his phone and idly scrolled.

After replying to a few messages on QQ, he boredly opened the StartPoint app, checked his comments section—and immediately spotted a new post that had been pinned up, making him raise an eyebrow, half-amused, half-exasperated.

【Xixi Bu Xixi】: Isn't Shen Dongdong cute? Childhood friends are the best! Everyone should support Dongdong!

Looking at the level tag in the upper-right corner of the username, it clearly bore the title "Patron."

Li Luo chuckled and opened his author backend—sure enough, he saw that the account 【Xixi Bu Xixi】 had tipped him one thousand yuan.

He turned to look at Ying Chanxi, who was napping, and as he gazed at her profile, he suddenly found her even more adorable.