Chapter 265

When Ying Chanxi heard Yan Zhusheng say "moving in," she instantly turned her head, squinting at Li Luo.

"Cough… I was just about to tell you about this." Li Luo coughed, walked to the door, opened it, and waved at Yan Zhusheng, "Come in."

As Li Luo dragged Yan Zhusheng's suitcases into the small bedroom beside the kitchen, opposite the study, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me ahead of time you were coming?"

Yan Zhusheng blinked: "Forgot."

Watching Yan Zhusheng's two suitcases being placed inside that small bedroom, Ying Chanxi drew a deep breath: "Is Zhusheng planning to live here instead of the dorm this semester?"

"Nope." Yan Zhusheng shook her head and explained, "I'll still stay at the dorm this semester—just weekends here."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi exhaled slightly in relief.

People are like this: if you directly say you want to open a window, they might refuse—but when they think you're about to smash the door, and you say you only want to open a window, they suddenly accept it.

After putting the suitcases away, Yan Zhusheng pulled an envelope from her backpack and handed it to Li Luo's chest: "Rent."

Li Luo didn't refuse; he reached out and took the envelope.

At that moment, Xu Youyu jumped up from the sofa, ran back to her room, fetched another envelope, and grinned as she handed it to Li Luo: "Almost forgot—here's this quarter's rent, Landlord~"

Hearing Xu Youyu call him "Landlord," Li Luo instinctively stepped back half a pace, feeling certain her mind had just flashed through several unspeakable novels, plotting to act them out on him.

Seeing both women hand over their rent, Ying Chanxi's gaze flickered, and she bit her lip.

"So that's the situation." Li Luo pointed at the small bedroom behind him, then at Yan Zhusheng, "You all know each other well, and since we have one extra bedroom, I've rented it to Yan Zhusheng."

"After all, this place was meant only for students, but usually only during summer break do students come to view it."

"I thought I'd have to wait until this summer to rent it out—now it's perfect."

Actually, after his novel royalties surpassed ten thousand yuan, Li Luo had already lost interest in renting out the bedroom and hadn't contacted any rental agencies or done anything about it.

He'd never even posted a rental ad.

He was just saying it now.

After all, if he truly rented out the bedroom, he'd only rent it to someone he knew.

Like Yan Zhusheng, or friends like Zhao Rongjun.

After speaking, Li Luo took the envelope back to his room, thinking he'd find a place to store it.

Yan Zhusheng went into her small bedroom to unpack and organize her luggage and wardrobe.

Xu Youyu returned to her room to write.

Only Ying Chanxi stood in the hallway, biting her lip for several minutes, before shuffling in her slippers into her room, then entering Li Luo's bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Li Luo had just turned on his computer to write—he still had a review session tonight, so he wanted to get some writing done now.

After entering the room, Ying Chanxi walked up to Li Luo, nervously biting her lip, then pulled a stack of cash from behind her back.

"Um… I saw Zhusheng and Senior Xu pay rent, so maybe I should pay too, otherwise it feels… awkward."

Seeing Ying Chanxi's embarrassed expression, Li Luo laughed and shook his head: "What are you doing? Afraid I'll get beaten by my mom when I get home?"

"But…"

"What's there to 'but'?" Li Luo shoved the money back into her pocket and said, "What's my relationship with them? What's my relationship with you? Figure it out—how could I possibly take your rent?"

"If you really feel guilty, that's your own problem—do you think of my family as outsiders?"

"If my mom found out, she'd be heartbroken."

"I—I didn't!" Ying Chanxi's face flushed red as she hurriedly denied it, "I never thought of you as outsiders… it's just…"

"Alright, alright, I know you didn't." Li Luo chuckled, pinched her cheek, and said, "Just don't say things like that again."

"Oh… okay." Ying Chanxi lowered her head like a child who'd misbehaved, yet inside she felt a quiet joy—suddenly realizing one thing: in Li Luo's heart, she was truly different from others.

"By the way." Li Luo suddenly remembered something, pulled the envelope from his drawer, transferred all the cash into one envelope, and handed it to Ying Chanxi: "Take it."

"…Huh?" Ying Chanxi froze, caught the envelope, and stared at Li Luo in confusion, "Why are you giving me this?"

"I'm the one paying the mortgage, so rent is under my control—my parents don't ask me for it anymore." Li Luo said, "From now on, all rent collected will be handed to you—handle the water and electricity bills, buy groceries, that sort of thing."

Ying Chanxi instinctively wanted to refuse, feeling it was wrong to take Li Luo's money.

But hearing it was for water, electricity, and groceries… she bit her lip, then nodded and accepted the task.

"But this much money won't be spent, right?" Ying Chanxi said. "Three months' utilities aren't that expensive—we only buy groceries for weekend meals anyway, we won't use this much."

"The rest goes to your meal card, or we can treat ourselves to a nice dinner on weekends." Li Luo smiled. "There are always more ways to spend money than to earn it—this becomes our activity fund from now on."

"Alright then." Ying Chanxi reluctantly took the money. "I'll manage it for you—if your meal card runs out, just tell me and I'll top it up."

"Fine." Li Luo nodded, then checked the time. "At three, go buy groceries—I'm going back to writing."

"Okay, I won't disturb you then." Ying Chanxi nodded obediently and left Li Luo's bedroom with light steps.

…

After dinner, Li Luo took a sheet of paper and stuck it on the sliding glass door of the kitchen. "I made a chart—take a look."

"We've clearly assigned chores like washing dishes, laundry, and cleaning."

"For example, today is Yan Zhusheng's turn to wash dishes."

"Next time it's Ying Chanxi's turn, then Senior Xu—cycle through them."

Yan Zhusheng leaned in to examine it closely, then asked curiously, "Why aren't you assigned any cleaning?"

"I'm the landlord." Li Luo said matter-of-factly. "Who ever heard of a landlord doing cleaning?"

"You're just lazy." Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes.

"Actually, it's not that dirty anyway." Li Luo said shamelessly.

"I have a suggestion." Yan Zhusheng raised her hand.

"Go ahead, Yan."

"My family used to have a cook." Yan Zhusheng said. "But since I moved in, she had to find another household to sign with, so I was thinking…"

"But isn't she just a cook?"

"Cooking staff also clean the house," Yan Zhusheng said. "I can pay her to come once a week to clean."

"That's not impossible." Li Luo nodded, then waved his hand and said, "But you don't need to pay—the cost for hiring Auntie to clean will be deducted from the activity fund, Xixi."

"Alright, I understand." Ying Chanxi nodded, then turned to Yan Zhusheng and said, "Zhusheng, please contact Auntie when you have time—I'll pay for it."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng nodded. "Got it."

"Then what's this written down here?" Xu Youyu squinted, leaned closer to examine it, then pointed to a footnote below and asked, "What does 'No unauthorized entry into others' bedrooms on school days' mean?"

"It means exactly what it says." Li Luo spoke with a serious expression. "Otherwise, you all keep coming over at midnight to watch movies—what if it disrupts my studying?"

At the mention of this, all three of Ying Chanxi, Yan Zhusheng, and Zhao Rongjun simultaneously felt a twinge of guilt and avoided each other's eyes.

But Yan Zhusheng still asked: "So weekends are okay?"

"Check the next footnote." Li Luo pointed downward.

"Everyone must return to their own rooms to sleep at night; overnight stays in others' bedrooms are prohibited." Xu Youyu read it out word by word, then stared blankly. "How does it feel like you think you're the one being taken advantage of?"

"I'm just ensuring everyone maintains a healthy routine, so please abide by it strictly." Li Luo spoke with solemn sincerity.

The three girls nodded on the surface, barely conceding.

By around seven p. m., Qiao Xinyan arrived.

Since school was reopening tomorrow, she and Ying Chanxi had agreed to bring their school luggage ahead of time.

She would stay overnight at Ying Chanxi's place and move directly to the dorm tomorrow.

A little later, Zhao Rongjun also arrived.

The six of them sat in a circle around the study desk in the living room.

Li Luo sat in the center of the north side, with Yan Zhusheng to his left and Ying Chanxi to his right; opposite him was Xu Youyu.

To his front-left was Zhao Rongjun; to his front-right was Qiao Xinyan.

Ying Chanxi went to the kitchen, washed some fruit, placed them on the desk, and then all six entered study mode—though the atmosphere remained relaxed.

"Did you finish your homework?" Li Luo glanced at Zhao Rongjun and asked casually.

"I finished."

"When did you finish?"

"Before I went back to the village."

"Oh~ So that's the difference between you and the top student in Class One." Li Luo wagged a finger, then pointed to Qiao Xinyan, who was diligently working on her test paper. "Look at Xinyan."

"Even though she had the ability to finish her winter break homework early, she still planned daily tasks according to subjects and number of papers."

"She ensured she had tests to solve every day, keeping her problem-solving edge sharp—that's how she consistently ranks in the top forty of the grade."

"Zhao Rongjun, Zhao Rongjun, you've still got a long way to go."

Ying Chanxi glanced at him from the side and rolled her eyes in amusement.

Zhao Rongjun stared blankly: "Didn't you finish yours before vacation too? How can you even talk?"

"I'm ranked 17th in the whole school. What about you?" Li Luo chuckled smugly.

Among the six present, only Yan Zhusheng was reliably beneath him; the rest were only Zhao Rongjun.

Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi need not be mentioned.

Qiao Xinyan was also a top student in Class One, evenly matched with him.

In last semester's midterm exam, Li Luo surpassed her; in the following monthly exam, he ranked 15th overall, holding her down.

But during the final exam, though Li Luo also ranked 17th overall, Qiao Xinyan outperformed herself and came in 14th—slightly better than him.

As for Zhao Rongjun, his grades had always hovered around 60th to 70th overall; now he was clearly outclassed by this slacker Li Luo.

Zhao Rongjun stared blankly at Li Luo, too lazy to argue, and buried himself back into his studying.

At that moment, Li Luo suddenly held his breath and instinctively looked down—there, a white socked foot had brushed against his thigh.

The next second, Li Luo snapped his head up and stared at Xu Youyu across from him.

But Xu Youyu was now intently flipping through her textbook and class notes, occasionally picking up a grape and popping it into her mouth.

Only for a fleeting instant did she glance up at Li Luo—their eyes met midair—and she gave him a subtly alluring blink before resuming her studying as if nothing had happened.

As if the mischievous foot beneath the table didn't belong to her at all.

"What's wrong?" Ying Chanxi glanced at Li Luo, sensing his oddness.

"Nothing." Li Luo shook his head, suppressing his expression, forced to endure the senior's teasing, pretending to focus on studying.

He had originally planned to sneak his hand under the table when Xu Youyu wasn't looking, grab her foot, and give it a good scolding.

But Xu Youyu's eyes were sharp—she spotted his move instantly, and her foot darted back with agility.

Only when he let his guard down did she extend it again.

This left him in constant tension—he could only take deep breaths to calm himself, avoiding any giveaway.

By around nine p. m., Zhao Rongjun prepared to leave.

Li Luo walked him to the door, intending to say goodbye and shut it.

But Zhao Rongjun suddenly turned back, stepped close to Li Luo, and whispered, "I forgot to ask you before—there's something I wanted to ask you since the New Year."

"What is it?" Li Luo looked puzzled. Seeing his curious expression, he said, "Go ahead—why so secretive?"

"It's just…" Zhao Rongjun asked curiously, "Everyone in the village says you wrote a novel and won an award, but I never heard about it. What novel did you write?"

At these words, Li Luo froze, then held his breath: "Y-you… where did you hear that?"

"My mom told me," Zhao Rongjun scratched his head. "She was dancing at the village square and chatted with your aunt."

Li Luo: "..."

Damn it… women really are big mouths!

Why are they so gossipy even while dancing?

Li Luo was furious, but since it was his own elder, he couldn't say much.

Seeing Zhao Rongjun's keen interest, he clenched his teeth, hesitated for a long moment, and finally chose to deceive rather than eliminate.

"Just wrote it casually, some rinky-dink award. Elders always like to exaggerate, it's not actually that impressive." Li Luo brushed it off. "Head back early, don't dwell on it."

"Oh." Zhao Rongjun saw that he clearly didn't want to elaborate, so he didn't press further.

But after leaving, he couldn't help muttering to himself.

What kind of rinky-dink award gives a fifty-thousand-yuan prize?

Too bad his mother had been so busy praising him back then that she never even asked clearly what novel he'd written.

Otherwise, Zhao Rongjun really was quite curious about what Li Luo had written.

After all, Li Luo had scored full marks on the Chinese essay portion of his middle school entrance exam, and his essay scores on regular Chinese tests were never bad either.

So the novel he wrote must be pretty good too, right?

Li Luo had no idea what Zhao Rongjun was thinking; after seeing him off, he just let out a long breath.

But the next second, someone hugged him from behind.

"Junior~" Xu Youyu breathed softly by his ear. "Was that exciting just now?"

"Wait…"

"Don't get worked up." Xu Youyu whispered. "Zhusheng went to the bathroom, Xixi and Xinyan are in the bedroom."

"Then you still can't…"

"You haven't answered me yet." Xu Youyu cut in. "What were you thinking just now? Give me some material."

"I just wanted to grab your ankles, pin you to the sofa, and smack your butt hard." Li Luo said expressionlessly.

"Eww~ so you're into that sort of thing."

"You're just asking for a spanking, aren't you afraid of them catching us?"

"Landlord dear~ don't be so mean~" Xu Youyu pleaded softly by his ear. "I'll definitely be able to pay the rent in full next month, so could you give me one more month? Just let me off tonight, please?"

Li Luo's ear tickled from her breath, his heart skipped a beat, and feeling the pressure on his back and the coquettish voice by his ear, his whole body instantly went rigid.

"…What on earth have you been watching, all that weird stuff?"

"The way you said that, looks like you've watched plenty too." Xu Youyu said with a grin. "That look of yours getting it instantly is really cute."

At that moment, Li Luo still wanted to say something.

The sound of flushing already came from the bathroom.

Xu Youyu let go of him at just the right moment, let out a silvery laugh, turned around, and slipped back into her own bedroom: "Okay, no more teasing, I'm going to write."

Li Luo watched Xu Youyu's slender back, rubbed his head with a troubled look on his face — she really was a headache.