Chapter 277: The Mask Is Exposed Again

Starting from around nine p. m., Ying Chanxi scrolled through the constantly refreshing comments until well past eleven p. m.

Although many thought the song was average, there were also quite a few who liked it.

Especially for contestants like Chongran, who specialize in writing online novels, crossing over to compose songs was already impressive to most people.

So no one expected too much from Chongran's actual skill level.

Thus, after hearing just one or two catchy melodies and decent lyrics, they'd give a fairly high score.

Moreover, this time it was paired with the song's music video, featuring Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, which greatly enhanced the experience.

Ying Chanxi was engrossed in reading the comments until Li Luo felt it was late enough to tap her shoulder and say, "Time to go back to sleep."

But just then, a knock came at the bedroom door.

Yan Zhusheng, freshly out of the shower, pushed the door open and peeked in; seeing Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, she whispered, "Are you watching a movie?"

Before Li Luo could answer, footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Xu Youyu lunged at Yan Zhusheng and peered in after her, grinning, "What's going on? Any other activities tonight?"

"None," Li Luo said flatly. "Go to sleep. Aren't you tired after playing all day?"

"I don't feel that tired yet," Ying Chanxi murmured.

"Great!" Xu Youyu shouted energetically. "The Birthday Person has spoken—let's do something else!"

"Not cards again?" Li Luo sighed. "We already got bored with them this afternoon. Let's just sleep."

"Who said it's cards?" Xu Youyu chuckled. "You underestimate my prop stash. Just wait."

"Zhusheng, get the snacks!"

"Xixi, cut the fruit!"

"I'm coming!"

Li Luo: "...?"

Watching the three girls excitedly dash off to prepare, Li Luo's lip twitched. He glanced at his bedroom door, wondering whether he should lock it right now.

That time back home during the New Year was one thing—they were dressed decently then.

But now they were back at Bihai Lanting, with no Lin Xiuhong or Li Guohong sleeping next door, and the air conditioning running full blast.

Three girls, freshly showered and wearing only pajamas, gathering in his bedroom—Li Luo truly couldn't handle it.

Soon, Yan Zhusheng rushed back with a large bag of snacks and tossed them onto Li Luo's bed.

She wore a gray long-sleeved pajama top and nothing but matching shorts below, revealing a pair of long, snow-white legs that flashed past Li Luo, blinding him.

Xu Youyu returned first, wearing a white loose pajama dress, the hem ending just above her knees.

Though described as loose, it still stretched taut over her full chest.

If either of the other two wore it, they'd struggle to pull it off.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding~" Xu Youyu pulled a box from behind her back and waved it in front of Li Luo. "How about this for tonight?"

Li Luo's vision swam from the motion; only when he looked closer did he realize she held a board game of Flying Chess.

Li Luo: "... Your big new idea is this?"

"What's wrong?" Xu Youyu chuckled. "Don't underestimate the essence of Flying Chess."

"You're not planning some perverted version of Flying Chess, are you?"

"Oh? You know there's a perverted version?"

"I don't know, but I suspect you can make it perverted."

"So you have a lot of confidence in me."

"If you take my words as a compliment, then I can't help it," Li Luo rolled his eyes, at a loss for what to say.

Soon after, Ying Chanxi returned with washed fruit, and the four sat on the bed.

This time, Li Luo's double bed was large enough to accommodate all four comfortably, unlike the cramped New Year gathering.

But once the Flying Chess board was laid out, and Li Luo thought they'd simply play the game, he saw Xu Youyu pull out the earlier Truth or Dare box—he sighed helplessly.

Fortunately, Xu Youyu's Truth or Dare cards had been carefully screened, containing no overly inappropriate questions.

The four played five or six rounds of Flying Chess that night, but barely used the Truth or Dare cards at all.

When exhaustion finally overwhelmed them, none of them remembered how they fell asleep.

When Li Luo opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.

He lay sprawled diagonally on the bed; turning his head right, he saw a small, cute foot—clearly Ying Chanxi's.

To his left lay Yan Zhusheng, fast asleep.

Looking toward the foot of the bed, he saw Xu Youyu, also sprawled diagonally, her head pressed against Ying Chanxi's, while their feet pointed in completely opposite directions.

Only the bed's size had allowed all four to lie down without falling off.

Li Luo rubbed his aching head, still dazed, and barely managed to climb out of bed. He checked his phone—it was already past nine a. m.

He got up, yawned, and walked into the bathroom to wash his face.

Before he could turn on the faucet, he heard movement at the bathroom door.

Yan Zhusheng, groggy, walked in, headed straight for the toilet, and reached for her waistband to pull down her pants.

Li Luo startled and grabbed her hand. "Wake up! I'm still here!"

"Mmm..." Yan Zhusheng barely opened her eyes, then noticed Li Luo and mumbled, "Good morning."

"I'll leave first. Then you go. Okay?"

"Mmm..."

Li Luo patted her cheek to wake her slightly, then stepped out.

Soon after, Yan Zhusheng stumbled out and shuffled back to bed, collapsing again into sleep.

Li Luo sighed, rubbing his throbbing head, unable to recall what time he'd gone to sleep last night.

The main reason was they played too wildly in the late night—Xu Youyu even brought in the unopened case of beer left over from dinner, saying it would liven things up.

As a result, after Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng drank too much, both became somewhat excited and ended up playing until they didn't know what time it was.

Li Luo only agreed because it was Ying Chanxi's birthday; otherwise, he'd never let them play this wildly again.

A single game of flight chess could last hours—Li Luo didn't even know what to say.

After washing his face in the bathroom, Li Luo finally felt somewhat alert.

Just as he was about to brush his teeth, the bathroom door opened again.

Xu Youyu walked in, scratching his head, covering his mouth as he yawned; when he saw Li Luo, he smiled: "Huh, small world—you're here too?"

Li Luo sighed: "If you need the toilet, use the one outside. Go finish up and go back to your own room to sleep. No need to cram onto the same bed."

"Oh." Xu Youyu chuckled, suddenly no longer sleepy—not only did he not leave, he turned and shut the door behind him, grinning at Li Luo.

At that moment, Li Luo had already squeezed toothpaste onto his brush and was about to start brushing when he suddenly felt someone wrap their arms around his neck from behind.

"Big brother~ You're so heartless," Xu Youyu whispered softly in his ear, speaking with a mournful, devoted tone, "Didn't your two little sisters serve you well enough last night? Why are you so cruel this early morning?"

Li Luo: "..."

"What are you two doing?" Ying Chanxi suddenly pushed open the door from outside, rubbing her eyes, half-asleep.

She glanced at the sink and thought she saw Xu Youyu hugging Li Luo—but when she looked again, Xu Youyu was already walking toward the door.

Ying Chanxi assumed she was just too tired and seeing things; she felt dazed all over.

"I just needed to use the toilet," Xu Youyu teased as he walked out, then vanished from the bedroom in a flash.

Li Luo stared blankly, then turned to Ying Chanxi, who was now squinting, and quickly explained: "Do you believe her or me?"

"Pervert," Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes, but she guessed Xu Youyu was just joking.

When she reached the toilet, she looked at Li Luo, blushing softly: "You really want to watch?"

"Wait!" Li Luo shoved his toothbrush with toothpaste into his mouth and immediately stepped out of the bathroom, "Call me when you're done."

Brushing his teeth with the bathroom door shut, Li Luo sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, picked up his phone, and scrolled while brushing.

Let's be honest.

In a typical "literary plagiarism" entertainment novel, writing original songs is genuinely a risky move.

After all, most readers come for entertainment novels to see the protagonist plagiarize classic works and watch the reactions of supporting characters, gaining satisfaction from that.

But if original songs can earn external validation through their success—and in turn, feed back into the novel's content—it can achieve a similar effect.

Still, in most cases, if an author can write a hit song, why bother writing a novel at all?

So novels like the current "I Am Really Not a Star" are truly one-of-a-kind in the industry.

After "Wait for You After Class" went live yesterday, not only did readers go wild, but it also sparked heated discussion among authors.

Many authors themselves were readers still following Li Luo's novel.

They exclaimed that novels could really be written this way.

He really turned it into something brilliant.

They'd thought "Year Rings" was just a stroke of genius.

But unexpectedly, this trick could be replicated.

And this time, Chongran didn't just produce the song—he even made a dedicated MV.

This move truly opened the eyes of all the authors.

"What are you looking at?"

Yan Zhusheng was also awake; after using the toilet, she'd planned to go back to sleep, but the constant movement of people getting up beside her kept her alert.

Seeing Li Luo sitting on the bed, Yan Zhusheng shuffled over, climbed onto the bed, and rested her head on his thigh, curiously asking.

Li Luo, toothbrush stuffed in his mouth, could only show her his phone.

Yan Zhusheng saw it was a chat log from the author group and lost interest.

But she didn't move—instead, she claimed his thigh as her own and curled up on it, falling asleep again.

Li Luo stared blankly, set his phone aside, pinched Yan Zhusheng's cheek, and told her to move over.

Just then, Ying Chanxi finished using the toilet, walked out, rubbed her eyes, returned to the bed, and lay down right beside Yan Zhusheng, ready to sleep again.

Li Luo went back to brush his teeth, looked helplessly at his own bed, and felt this damn thing could no longer be called his bed.

It was more like a public bed—anyone could come and sleep on it.

As Li Luo thought this, the bedroom door opened again.

Xu Youyu walked in, yawning—apparently just finished using the toilet.

Returning to the bed, seeing the two girls lying there, Xu Youyu chuckled, then flopped down right between them.

He wrapped one arm around each: "If the boys at school knew who I'm hugging right now, they'd be insanely jealous."

Li Luo chuckled dryly, thinking: Shouldn't that line be his?

After rinsing his mouth in the bathroom, Li Luo realized he couldn't sleep anymore.

He glanced at the three girls lying on the bed, sighed, stepped out of the bedroom, stretched, went to the market, bought some vegetables, and prepared to cook a few dishes for lunch.

Just as Li Luo was tidying the kitchen and getting ready to prep ingredients, his phone vibrated several times in his pocket.

Li Luo pulled out his phone in confusion and saw a QQ message from Zhao Rongjun.

【Zhao Rongjun】: Has anyone from your class approached you yet?

【Zhao Rongjun】: It's already spread to our class.

【Li Luo】: Huh?

Li Luo frowned in confusion.

Then Zhao Rongjun sent several screenshots—chat logs from their Class Three group.

【Quick, look who this is!】

【Ying Chanxi from Class One, what's going on?】

【Where did this photo come from?】

【It's not a photo, it's an MV】

【What?】

【It's the music video for a song—go search for it, it's called "Wait for You After Class"】

【Holy shit, that's Ying Chanxi from Class One? I saw this MV yesterday, but I didn't recognize her at first】

【You didn't recognize her?】

【I never dared to even look at her properly when I saw her in person—how could I recognize her…】

【Actually, I think she looks even better in person than in the video】

【Why did she go film a music video?】

【This seems to be a song written by the author of a novel—they say they asked their cousin and cousin sister to film the video】

【There's also Li Luo in it—the guitarist from the Rock Club】

【The monitor from Class Eight? I remember him】

Li Luo finished reading the chat log. Everyone was discussing it heatedly, but no one had guessed he was Chongran, so he felt slightly relieved.

【Li Luo】: What's the big deal? I just helped Xi Xi film an MV.

【Zhao Rongjun】: But actually, you wrote that novel yourself, didn't you?

【Zhao Rongjun】: I remember your only cousin is Brother Li Dao—he's already in his thirties or forties, always busy, how could he possibly have time to write a novel?

【Li Luo】: Why couldn't it be a cousin from my second or third uncle's side? How could this possibly be written by me?

【Zhao Rongjun】: But I got curious and checked…

As he spoke, Zhao Rongjun sent another screenshot.

There it was—the report on the "Entertainment Dream, Urban Seasons" writing contest, clearly stating that I Am Really Not a Star had won first prize and a cash reward of fifty thousand yuan.

Li Luo stared closely—he realized it was published on the Writers Association's official website.

Fuck!

Qianzhou told me they wouldn't report it online!

Li Luo's vision went black, his head buzzing.

Fortunately, the report seemed to be just a brief mention in an article—with no photo at all.

Even if others saw it, they probably wouldn't guess the truth.

【Zhao Rongjun】: You refused to tell me what novel you wrote before—turns out it was this one.

【Li Luo】: Stop! Stop right there!

【Li Luo】: Bro! Free for lunch? Come over, let's talk properly!

After arranging lunch with Zhao Rongjun, Li Luo breathed a little easier—but immediately felt utterly defeated.

This time, he'd really miscalculated.

He'd forgotten Zhao Rongjun knew he wrote novels.

He'd gotten away with lying before, but now Zhao Rongjun had caught him red-handed.

Still, it was fine if his best friend knew—as long as the other classmates didn't figure it out.

Li Luo sighed, wondering if he should ask Yuan Wanqing for compensation for emotional distress next time.

He'd taken a huge risk just to weave these original songs into his book.

But this MV had spread to Class Three's group chat so fast… As Li Luo thought this, he exited his chat with Zhao Rongjun and noticed a long string of red notification dots on his QQ.

His QQ was usually on Do Not Disturb mode—only people he specifically followed could trigger alerts—and he'd been playing all night, so he hadn't checked his messages at all.

People who messaged him ranged from his classmates Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, to Rock Club members Xie Shuchen and Shao Youpeng, to Ying Chanxi's classmate Liu Shaowen, and even some he barely knew—all asking for details.

After all, seeing someone from school in an MV was pretty novel for most people.

But if this kept going…

Li Luo's back prickled with cold sweat—if his identity ever got exposed, wouldn't it spread across the entire school in an instant?