Chapter 257: Who

Mmm…

Five-thirty in the morning.

Yan Zhusheng slept on the side near the wall; hearing the alarm sound, she immediately furrowed her brows and opened her eyes drowsily.

Hearing the source of the alarm, she instinctively rolled over, propped up her upper body, and reached out toward it.

She shifted her whole body over, grabbed the ringing phone, and at the same time pressed herself onto Li Luo.

Li Luo had just been half-asleep from the alarm, on the verge of waking up, but now something pressed down on him—he instantly opened his eyes and saw Yan Zhusheng rubbing sleepily against him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Turn off the alarm." Yan Zhusheng closed her eyes again, silenced the alarm, and immediately plopped face-down on Li Luo's chest to keep sleeping; Li Luo couldn't help but smile, and instantly woke up fully.

"Alright, alright, get up already." Li Luo patted her shoulder. "Didn't you say you wanted to go jogging early? If Xi Xi wakes up at six and doesn't see you in her room, it'll be bad."

"I just said I woke up early and came over to find you." Yan Zhusheng murmured, her lips barely moving.

"... Nice excuse." Li Luo rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, lifted her upper body off the bed, shook her shoulders, patted her cheeks, then pinched her face hard. "Awake yet?"

"Mmm…" Yan Zhusheng opened her eyes, pouted slightly, and complained, "So sleepy."

"Who told you to keep fidgeting last night?" Li Luo grumbled. "You kept wanting to talk to me, didn't fall asleep until past one."

"I was nervous," Yan Zhusheng said seriously.

"Nervous about what?"

"Uncle and Auntie are right across the hall."

"Then why did you come over here?"

"It's exciting." Yan Zhusheng's big eyes sparkled slightly. "I'll come again next time."

"Next time? You've got a big head." Li Luo flicked her forehead. "Get up."

Li Luo sat sideways on the edge of the bed first, put on his socks, and handed her the socks she'd taken off last night.

Yan Zhusheng obediently followed behind him, scooted to the edge of the bed, but didn't rush to put on her own socks—instead, she bent down, searched the floor, finally pulled out a pair of sneakers from under the desk, and moved them beside Li Luo's feet.

Li Luo watched her actions, then looked down and recognized the sneakers she'd given him—he couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.

But then he remembered that Ying Chanxi would also be joining them for the morning jog, and his head started to ache.

At that moment, Yan Zhusheng had already taken the pair of gloves she'd given him from the desk and was carefully putting them on him.

"I still need to wash up—why are you putting these on me now?" Li Luo laughed helplessly, took off the gloves, and shoved them into his pocket. "I'll put them on later."

"Then put these on." Yan Zhusheng pointed to the sneakers by his feet.

"Fine." Li Luo had no choice but to slip into the sneakers.

Gloves could be worn one at a time, but sneakers couldn't—wearing just one would be too obvious, downright ridiculous.

Seeing Li Luo wear the sneakers she'd given him, Yan Zhusheng nodded happily, then began putting on her own socks.

Li Luo moved her shoes beside her feet, then stood up and went to the bedroom door, listening like a spy—after confirming no noise in the hallway, he quietly unlocked the door and turned the handle.

By then, Yan Zhusheng had already put on her shoes and followed obediently behind Li Luo as they stepped out of the room.

Li Luo escorted her all the way to the staircase, pointing toward the rooftop. "Go back the way you came. After you wash up, come to my place for breakfast the normal way."

"Can't I just wash my face and brush my teeth here?"

"This side only has toiletries prepared for your senior sister. Your stuff should all be in Xi Xi's bathroom," Li Luo patted her head. "Hurry back."

"Okay." Yan Zhusheng nodded and headed upstairs toward the rooftop.

Downstairs, Li Luo turned to leave, then added one last reminder: "Don't forget to wake up Xi Xi so she can get up."

Yan Zhusheng nodded, signaling she understood.

Then she followed last night's path, returning through the shared rooftop to the third floor of Ying Chanxi's home.

At this moment, Ying Chanxi and Ying Zhicheng were clearly still asleep.

Yan Zhusheng entered the bathroom, quickly washed up, then, following Li Luo's instructions, knocked on Ying Chanxi's door and peeked inside.

"Xi Xi?"

Yan Zhusheng walked to the bedside and gently shook Ying Chanxi. "Want to go jogging?"

"Mmm…" Ying Chanxi was utterly drowsy, barely awake; after being shaken, she rolled over, pulled the blanket over her head, and mumbled inside, "Let me sleep a little longer."

Just then, the alarm on Ying Chanxi's bedside table rang.

Yan Zhusheng glanced at it—it was five-forty-five.

Looking at Ying Chanxi, still clearly wanting to sleep, Yan Zhusheng thought for a moment, then quickly silenced the alarm.

Very thoughtful.

She didn't disturb Ying Chanxi further, exited the bedroom, and quietly closed the door before heading downstairs to the neighboring house.

At this point, Li Luo had already washed up and come downstairs to the second-floor living room.

Grandma had already risen early and cooked a pot of white rice porridge.

At this hour, everyone else was still asleep—only Li Luo had come downstairs.

"Good morning, Grandma."

"Ah." Grandma smiled warmly at her grandson. "The porridge's ready—want me to serve you a bowl?"

"Serve three bowls," Li Luo said. "Two more are coming soon."

"Alright." Grandma nodded. "Want preserved eggs? I'll peel two for you."

"Definitely." Li Luo walked into the kitchen, took two preserved eggs from the fridge, and also grabbed three eggs. "I'll fry some eggs."

He simply heated oil in the pan, cracked in the three eggs, didn't add any seasoning, fried them until set, then plated them and drizzled a bit of soy sauce on top.

At the same time, Grandma had already served the porridge and sliced the preserved eggs into bowls.

The two of them carried the food to the dining table.

At that moment, Yan Zhusheng arrived from next door, politely greeted Grandma, then sat down beside Li Luo.

"Where's Chanxi?" Li Luo glanced behind Yan Zhusheng but didn't see Ying Chanxi's figure, and asked curiously.

"I called her to wake up, but she seemed really sleepy and said to let her keep sleeping," Yan Zhusheng replied honestly. "So I came over first."

"I see." Li Luo studied Yan Zhusheng's eyes and saw no sign of deception; he pushed the porridge toward her. "Have breakfast first."

Logically, Ying Chanxi's schedule should be quite regular—she had no trouble waking at six during school days.

Since she couldn't get up this time, she must've been reading his novel again late at night.

Thinking of this, Li Luo stopped worrying and focused on breakfast with Yan Zhusheng.

After finishing, the two set off downstairs together, preparing to jog along the nearby path.

…

On the other side, early in the morning, Li Xiang was woken by his grandmother, who scolded him for sleeping in.

Fortunately, Li Xiang's biological clock was still normal; after yawning and climbing out of bed, he stretched by the window.

The next second, his expression hardened—he spotted two familiar figures at the gate of the courtyard below.

Closer inspection revealed it was Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng!

Well, damn.

Everyone else sneaks out at night, but you two are going on a morning date?

Li Xiang couldn't help mentally complaining, then remembered the plot of his novel.

Mo Qinghan always loved to invite Li Yang out for morning jogs…

Uncle, you really write everything into your book?!

Thinking this, Li Xiang leaned closer to the window and observed carefully.

He noticed the two didn't start running immediately; instead, Yan Zhusheng grabbed Li Luo's hand, slipped both hands into his pants pocket, pulled out two gloves, and put them on him with serious focus.

Watching this, Li Xiang clucked his tongue, thinking his choice yesterday was definitely right.

The Mo Party is the hidden boss!

This is incredible.

Look at this natural, effortless intimacy—compare it to the interactions between Ying Chanxi and Li Luo, and you realize some things only make sense through contrast.

The childhood friend still loses by a bit.

But why wasn't Ying Chanxi here?

Watching the two figures gradually run off into the distance after getting ready, Li Xiang fell into deep thought, wondering why Ying Chanxi, who had woken up so early yesterday, wasn't joining them today.

How could she just give up this chance for solitude? It was truly irresponsible.

Li Xiang shook his head and sighed, changed clothes, washed up, then went next door for breakfast.

As he drank his porridge, he habitually opened his phone to scroll.

While tapping to open an app, he noticed a string of replies in the background.

Curious, Li Xiang clicked on the post with the most replies—and one glance made him break into a cold sweat.

This post was his own, posted yesterday at noon, announcing his official defection from the Mo Party.

But the comments below were all from the same user ID.

【Chanxi Not Laughing】

Fuck!

This was obviously who it was!

And after a closer look, Li Xiang saw beside Ying Chanxi's ID: a "Silver Ally" title.

He hadn't paid much attention to big donations on the site before, so he didn't know who had sponsored Li Luo's novel.

Now, seeing Ying Chanxi's ID and the Silver Ally title, he sucked in a sharp breath.

This was real love—ten thousand yuan, just like that?

Although Li Xiang's family wasn't poor, his monthly allowance was only two thousand five.

That was a lot among classmates, but he could never suddenly pull out ten thousand yuan.

Unless he raided his recently saved New Year's money.

Even then, he'd need to add the thousand yuan red envelope his beloved uncle had given him just to reach the ten-thousand threshold.

But Ying Chanxi? She just gave it.

Thinking this, Li Xiang curiously opened the reader leaderboard for I Am Really Not a Star—and saw three glaring Silver Allies.

And checking the donation order, the first to donate Silver was the user named 【Shengsheng Bu Xi】.

Seeing this ID, Li Xiang fell into deep thought.

Shengsheng Bu Xi… Yan Zhusheng…

Could this also be the same person?

Thinking this, Li Xiang clicked into 【Shengsheng Bu Xi】's profile and saw her comments—all uniformly supporting Mo Qinghan.

The most popular thread had been pinned for over a thousand replies, mostly Mo Party readers checking in.

Li Xiang knew this thread well—it had been at the top for months, locked in a stalemate with another thread supporting Jiang Ming.

He'd always posted support under Jiang Ming's thread and barely noticed 【Shengsheng Bu Xi】.

Of course, back then he didn't know Yan Zhusheng, so he couldn't have connected the ID to her.

Of course, back then he didn't know Yan Zhusheng at all, so he couldn't have detected anything from that username.

Li Xiang immediately returned to the comments and found the Jiang Ming thread he'd supported for months.

The OP was clearly the last of the three Silver Allies—EarlySleepPresident!

Seeing this, Li Xiang began to doubt.

Seeing this, Li Xiang began to doubt.

"Xixi Bu Xixi" is Ying Chanxi.

"Shengsheng Bu Xi" is Yan Zhusheng.

So this "SleepEarlyGrowsTaller" — could it really be Xu Youyu himself?

But…

Li Xiang clicked into the personal page of "SleepEarlyGrowsTaller," where a novel was clearly displayed — Literary Era.

Could Xu Youyu even write male-audience novels?

Li Xiang began to doubt his own judgment.

It just didn't seem right.

But after seeing the pinned long review posted by "Chongran" in the comments section of Literary Era, Li Xiang's view shifted slightly.

Li Xiang clicked into "Chongran"'s page and found that Li Luo had posted only this one long review — no other posts at all.

Upon noticing this detail, Li Xiang's expression hardened instantly, and without hesitation, he added Literary Era to his bookshelf.

Whether it's true or not doesn't matter — judging by Li Luo's review, this book must be quite good.

Upholding a spirit of scientific skepticism, Li Xiang decided he might as well take a look.

He'd been catching up with I Am Really Not a Star for a long time; now was a good chance to switch to something else.

Thinking this, Li Xiang opened Literary Era and began reading while sipping his porridge.

…

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

In the bedroom.

Ying Chanxi suddenly jolted awake, not knowing what she had dreamed.

She looked around dazedly, then shuddered again, quickly grabbing her phone to check.

Seeing that the time was already 6:30 a. m., Ying Chanxi sprang up in alarm, threw off the covers, and leapt out of bed.

She ran to Yan Zhusheng's room, flung open the door, and saw the bedroom empty — her heart sank, she didn't even wash her face, hastily pulled on her coat, and rushed to the next room.

At this moment, Li Xiang had already finished breakfast and was leaning on the living room sofa reading a novel when he saw Ying Chanxi burst in.

"Where's Li Luo?" Ying Chanxi asked.

Facing Ying Chanxi's anxious inquiry, Li Xiang opened his mouth, then remembered the barrage of comments she'd left on his post under "Xixi Bu Xixi," and felt a flush of embarrassment.

"Uh… he probably went out for a morning run?"

"With Zhusheng?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Oh, I see." Ying Chanxi pursed her lips.

At this moment, Grandma walked out of the kitchen and called to Ying Chanxi: "Li Luo prepared porridge for you — you weren't up, so I left it on the table. Do you want it cold or reheated?"

"If you want it hot, I can get you another bowl?"

"How about fried eggs? They left you a portion, but it's gotten a bit cold."

"It's fine, Grandma." Ying Chanxi shook her head, silently walked to the table, sat down, pulled the already-cold white porridge in front of herself, and lowered her head to gulp it down. "Hot burns the mouth; cold is tasty too."