Chapter 294: The Couple

Returning to the kitchen to continue cooking, Lin Xiuhong took the plate of sliced meat from Ying Chanxi and poured it smoothly into the wok to stir-fry.

Soon, a dish of Green Pepper Shredded Pork was ready and plated; Ying Chanxi reached out to take it.

At that moment, Lin Xiuhong's eyes caught sight of the bracelet on Ying Chanxi's wrist and asked curiously, "Huh? Xi Xi, your bracelet looks pretty similar to mine?"

"Hmm… this one?" Ying Chanxi blushed slightly and whispered, "It was a gift Li Luo gave me on my birthday—it's probably from the same shop as Lin Yi's bracelet."

"No wonder," Lin Xiuhong smiled and nodded, studying it closely and comparing it with her own, "but there's still a difference—my jade plaque is green, yours is white."

Ying Chanxi extended her own wrist and pressed it against Lin Xiuhong's; both of them looked at the two bracelets side by side.

Then Lin Xiuhong laughed and said, "If we walk out like this, people will think we're mother and daughter."

Ying Chanxi's face flushed red, her heart fluttering with delight; she had no intention to deny it and simply nodded in silent agreement.

After this small interlude, Li Guohong and Li Luo returned home by car from Xijie.

As soon as they stepped inside, Li Guohong froze, watching the two girls in the living room rise in unison from the sofa.

One fetched him a spare pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet; the other took the briefcase he carried around for show.

Then Yan Zhusheng and Xu Youyu greeted him with "Uncle, hello," leaving Li Guohong stunned and slow to react.

"Uncle Li, you're here?" Ying Chanxi poked her head out from the kitchen and smiled sweetly at him, "Just wait a little longer—I and Lin Yi will finish lunch soon."

"Oh, uh… okay…" Li Guohong nodded dazedly, slipped on the slippers Yan Zhusheng handed him, and sat beside Li Luo on the sofa, "You guys… watching TV, huh?"

Still dazed from his shock, Li Guohong tried to make small talk.

But Xu Youyu sat beside him and chatted easily as if they were old friends.

Yan Zhusheng, not good at conversation, sat quietly beside Li Luo and listened, occasionally pouring Li Guohong a glass of water.

During the Spring Festival, when these two girls visited the countryside, Li Guohong hadn't felt much—he'd simply assumed they were visiting Ying Chanxi for fun.

But now, having come to Bihai Lanting, he felt a strange illusion for the first time… as if Li Luo had married, and he was visiting his newlywed son's home.

Yet upon reflection, he thought this idea inappropriate—after all, there were three girls in this house… it felt disrespectful.

Still, the thought made him, like Lin Xiuhong, suddenly suffer from decision paralysis—glancing between Xu Youyu, who spoke confidently beside him, and Yan Zhusheng, who quietly poured him water.

Then Li Guohong turned his head toward the kitchen, watching Ying Chanxi diligently assisting Lin Xiuhong.

If all three were my daughter-in-laws… it wouldn't be so bad, actually—feels quite nice.

Li Guohong only entertained this fantasy in his mind, then immediately dismissed it as unrealistic, silently muttering "Sin, sin," and assuring himself that Old Ying wouldn't blame him—he was just daydreaming.

"Dinner's ready," Lin Xiuhong walked out of the kitchen carrying a dish.

Behind her followed Ying Chanxi.

Yan Zhusheng and Xu Youyu saw this and went into the kitchen to help bring out the remaining dishes.

Li Luo went in too and fetched six sets of chopsticks and bowls.

Li Guohong sat at the head of the dining table, watching the three girls bustling around behind Lin Xiuhong, and couldn't help but feel moved again.

So similar! Truly so similar!

But the number of people is off.

A few minutes later, all six sat down to eat.

Lin Xiuhong asked about what had happened after she'd left.

After some thought, Li Guohong said, "The landlord of the hot pot restaurant is still deciding—he'll give me an answer before the end of June."

"The fruit store landlord also told me—if no one rents her shop this month, she'll consider selling it."

"As for the milk tea shop and breakfast shop landlords, you were there when we talked to them—we'll discuss the contract details after we attend the parent-teacher meeting next week."

"If everything goes smoothly, we should close the deals this month."

"Has Lu Lu mentioned the loan yet?" Li Luo asked.

"She already did," Li Guohong chuckled, "I've already contacted them. Their manager was very enthusiastic—if we have connections at the bank, we can get a lower interest rate and faster approval."

"Xue Feng and Lu Lu specifically invited us over for dinner," Lin Xiuhong added, "but you were in school then, so we didn't invite you."

"Didn't you say you could transfer your savings to Lu Lu's name?"

"She's basically been promoted half a level already—by the second half of the year, she'll likely get a full promotion."

"According to Lulu's account," Lin Xiuhong added, "someone earning this much personally is quite rare even in our Yinjiang District. Even senior executives at big companies or some small business owners don't make this much in a month. This counts as a very impressive performance."

"The manager heard about our family's income," Li Guohong rolled his eyes, "You're bringing in tens of thousands of yuan in pure income every month—you're considered a major client there."

"According to Lu Lu," Lin Xiuhong added, "people with this much personal income are rare in Yinjiang District—even senior executives at big companies or small business owners don't earn this much monthly. You've achieved a major performance."

"As long as it helps, that's fine," Li Luo scratched his head, not quite understanding.

After all, in his past life, he'd never experienced earning so much in a single month—he truly didn't grasp this world.

He'd originally thought you needed to earn a million a month to be considered a major bank client.

What Li Luo didn't know was that for corporate bank accounts, cash flows of millions or even tens of millions were common—but those weren't pure profits.

Some business owners might have tens of millions in monthly turnover, but after deducting all costs, their actual take-home might only be two or three hundred thousand.

Those who publicly claimed to be worth millions couldn't just pull out hundreds of thousands in cash at will.

Most of their wealth was tied up in company assets.

This is one peculiar trait of Online Novel authors.

Because the royalties they earn are pure cash, with zero ambiguity.

To the bank, this makes them a textbook high-quality client.

No debt, high net worth—and especially for authors like Li Luo who've already broken through, their income is stable.

Bank managers practically beg to offer loans to such clients, terrified someone else will snatch the business.

"I have an idea." Hearing his dad say that, Li Luo recalled a thought he'd had before and spoke up, "How about we let Uncle do it?"

"By the way," Li Guohong said mid-meal, suddenly remembering something, "once we buy the milk tea shop and breakfast shop, how will we handle them? Both landlords said they won't renew leases by the end of June."

"I have an idea," Li Luo said, recalling his earlier thought, "What if we get Uncle to run them?"

【61】 "Huh?" Li Guohong blinked, confused.

【62】 Lin Xiuhong also paused, then said, "What are you talking about? Your uncle's truck driving job is easy enough, and since it's a family company, his salary isn't low…"

"You don't know yet?" Li Luo chuckled and shook his head. "My uncle now drives a truck during the day and pushes an electric tricycle every night to sell fried rice at the side gate of our affiliated No. 1 Middle School dormitory area—he makes nearly ten thousand a month."

"What?" Lin Xiuhong was genuinely startled. "What's gotten into him? He never used to be this driven. Why's he suddenly trying to make money? Did he find a girlfriend?"

"Uh… he says he wants to buy a car."

"Tsk." Lin Xiuhong frowned, irritable. "Is buying a car more important than finding a girlfriend? Xiu Feng is really something."

"I was just thinking," Li Luo urged, seeing his mom say that. "Look, your brother spends his days driving a truck—he hardly ever meets girls."

"And look at this milk tea shop—it's right by Qianjiang University's west gate. Once the subway opens, foot traffic will definitely be huge."

"Around universities, there are nothing but girls. Your brother's looks—he's in his thirties, but he doesn't look any worse than a twenty-five- or twenty-six-year-old guy."

"The more girls he interacts with, the more likely he'll find someone he likes."

"Shut down that breakfast shop, knock down the wall, and make a bigger milk tea shop—one side for the counter and kitchen, the other for seating."

"When college students are bored, they'll come over for a milk tea and sit down. Doesn't that give your brother the chance to meet girls?"

Lin Xiuhong was somewhat swayed by what he said.

After all, over the years, Xiu Feng's marriage had become a long-standing worry in their family.

Whenever the family pressed him, Xiu Feng would run away—once, he even fled to another province for two or three years and refused to come back.

Now that he'd finally settled down at home, Li Luo's grandparents dared not pressure him anymore; they could only wait for him to wake up on his own.

Now, with Li Luo saying this, Lin Xiuhong hesitated and glanced at Li Guohong.

"Why are you looking at me?" Li Guohong laughed. "I'm the one who negotiated the shop, but the money all came from our son. He's grown up now, responsible—if he thinks it's good, just tell Xiu Feng and see if he's willing to manage the place."

"The subway hasn't opened yet, and after this lease ends, no one's likely to rent it—just like that fruit shop."

"Might as well let Xiu Feng run it. At least he'll have somewhere to go, instead of driving his truck all over the place every day."

Hearing Li Guohong say that, Lin Xiuhong nodded in agreement: "If you two feel that way, I'll find a chance to mention it to him."

"Mom, you can mention it, but don't say anything about finding a girlfriend," Li Luo warned with a smile. "He'll refuse to go if he hears that."

"Then what should I say?"

"Just casually mention it, so he's mentally prepared. I'll talk to him myself next time," Li Luo said.

"Alright," Lin Xiuhong smiled and patted Li Luo's shoulder. "Your uncle's big life event is up to you now."

"I just said it—I'm not guaranteeing anything," Li Luo rolled his eyes.

"I believe in you," Lin Xiuhong said firmly, glancing at the three girls quietly eating at the table.

Li Luo looked at his mom and felt she had way too much confidence in him.

"If we buy the fruit shop behind it, do you have any good ideas?" Li Guohong asked again.

"Let's hold off for now," Li Luo thought for a moment, then said. "They said they'll give an answer by month's end. By the time we actually buy it, it'll be heading into summer anyway—we can decide what to do then."

"True," Li Guohong nodded.

After lunch, Lin Xiuhong went into the kitchen to wash dishes.

Since it was Yan Zhusheng's turn to wash dishes, she firmly blocked Ying Chanxi's attempt to help, pointing seriously at the rental rules posted on the sliding door, insisting today was her turn and telling Chanxi to rest in the living room.

Then Yan Zhusheng walked straight into the kitchen, closed the sliding door, and joined Lin Xiuhong by her side, obediently helping her wash dishes.

By afternoon, the other members of the seven-person study group arrived one after another.

Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong watched the seven kids gathered around the desk, studying earnestly, and felt deeply satisfied.

"Li Luo has really grown up," Lin Xiuhong whispered from the far end of the hallway, afraid of disturbing them. "It's been less than a year—feels like a dream."

"Yes," Li Guohong couldn't help but sigh. "Who would've thought this kid suddenly woke up? Before the high school entrance exam, if you'd said Li Luo could earn a few million in under a year, who'd believe it? It's not like buying a lottery ticket."

"So now we're finally going to enjoy some peace?" Lin Xiuhong chuckled, covering her mouth. "Earlier, Li Luo said something about our breakfast shop—should we still keep it open?"

"Open your ass!" Li Guohong rolled his eyes. "We work from dawn till dusk for a month and still earn less than this kid makes in two days from his royalties. What's the point?"

"You didn't used to say that," Lin Xiuhong bit back a laugh.

"How could it be the same? Back then, we were worried about how long he'd keep writing," Li Guohong muttered. Thinking back to April, when Li Luo showed them his royalty statement—over five hundred thousand—he felt a pang of discomfort.

This money was too easy to make.

It had made him numb.

Yet even under these circumstances, Li Guohong still tried to stay rational and whispered: "Anyway, Li Luo's momentum is strong now, but once this shop matter is settled, we must warn him—not to think about any other investments."

"Four shops, plus this Bihai Lanting apartment—that's more than enough."

"If the subway really opens, property prices around here will at least double—think how much that is."

"The four shops together are probably close to three hundred square meters—total price over four million."

"Double that, and it's over eight million. If prices rise even more, it's a fortune of ten million."

"Li Luo's book is still earning continuously. According to him, he can write for another two or three years—how much more will that be?"

"They say it's easy to win a kingdom but hard to hold it. Right now, what matters most isn't property investment—it's watching Li Luo."

"Watch him for what?" Lin Xiuhong asked, puzzled.

"Watch so he doesn't get arrogant," Li Guohong whispered. "Once a man gets rich, he tends to go bad. We have to be careful—don't let this kid get into trouble."

"What trouble? He's just going to school every day," Lin Xiuhong said, completely lost.

"You really don't understand, do you?" Li Guohong sighed helplessly, then nodded toward the desk. "Look—Chanxi, Zhusheng, Youyu—three girls hanging around him every day."

"There are two more girls nearby who are also very pretty."

"Who knows how many little girls at school are crazy about him."

"He's got money, he's handsome, he plays guitar and sings, writes songs and novels, is class monitor, and his grades are great…"

"Oh my…" Lin Xiuhong finally caught on after hearing him lay it all out. "I hadn't realized it until you said it—has my son really become this good?"

Mainly, Li Luo spent most of his time at school, so he didn't interact much with his parents.

Although Lin Xiuhong had been stunned by Li Luo's recent income and personal changes, her image of her son still partly clung to the troublemaker he'd been a year ago.

Now, hearing Li Guohong say this, Lin Xiuhong suddenly realized—her son had truly become overly outstanding.

No wonder so many girls are willing to gather around him.

"Then what do you mean by that?" Lin Xiuhong asked in a low voice. "Chanxi and the others are all good friends, right? What if they don't actually have that kind of intention? It wouldn't be appropriate for us to say anything."

"Ahem… I was just saying." Li Guohong coughed and said. "Looking at him now, he should still be considered honest, but it's better to take precautions. It's usually best to pay a bit more attention."

"I thought you were going to say something." Lin Xiuhong shot him a glance. "They're all still young, so right now studying must definitely come first. Chanxi and the others are sensible children; they won't overstep boundaries."

The couple whispered to each other for a while, and didn't plan to keep disturbing their studying. By a little past one in the afternoon, they took their leave and prepared to depart from Bihai Lanting.

Before leaving, Lin Xiuhong didn't forget to ask: "Youyu, at next week's parent-teacher meeting, will your dad come, or will your mom?"

"My dad will come." Xu Youyu replied. "Auntie, my mom said she'll come with you at the time, come over here to help cook."

"Alright." Lin Xiuhong smiled and nodded. "I've added your mom's number before. I'll contact her directly when the time comes."

"No problem." Xu Youyu made an OK gesture. "I'll tell her in a bit too."

……

After seeing off Li Guohong and his wife, the seven-person study group continued to immerse themselves in their studies.

Especially Xu Yinghuan, who is now very fired up about studying.

Because recently, studying with Li Luo and the others, she felt that the midterms from a few days ago had become much easier.

This time, she estimated her grades would rise quite a bit.

And the final exam results were just as she herself had felt.

After the May Day holiday ended, when the time came to the day before the parent-teacher meeting.

The school's bulletin board posted the freshly released individual grade rankings from the midterms.

When Xu Yinghuan saw her school-wide rank of 357th, she immediately hugged Yan Zhusheng beside her and cheered excitedly.

"Zhusheng, did you see it?! 357! That's over a hundred ranks higher than my opening exam ranking!"

"Mm, I saw." Yan Zhusheng nodded. "Congratulations."

Li Luo, standing on the other side in front of the bulletin board, found Yan Zhusheng's name, then raised an eyebrow and smiled: "You got 156th this time. That's progress—you made it into the top 160."

"Wow! Zhusheng, you're amazing!" Xu Yinghuan couldn't help saying.

"Your physics was pretty good this time." Li Luo glanced at Yan Zhusheng's specific scores in each subject.

Among the six minor subjects, geography was still Yan Zhusheng's strong suit—full marks 100, she got 95, ranking in the top thirty school-wide for that single subject.

Physics also performed well this time, actually slightly better than chemistry and biology. Apart from that was history, about the same as chemistry and biology. As for politics, that was indeed Yan Zhusheng's weak point.

"It's all because Teacher Li teaches well." Yan Zhusheng replied with a perfectly serious expression.

"Teacher Li?" Xu Yinghuan beside her was puzzled for a moment. "Teacher Li teaches math, right? The physics teacher's surname isn't Li."

Yan Zhusheng glanced at her and commented: "Huanhuan is dumb."

Being told that by Yan Zhusheng, Xu Yinghuan finally caught on, then looked at Li Luo, immediately wearing a helpless expression: "You don't mean this Teacher Li, do you? You two really know how to play around."

"Teacher Li's teaching level is very high." Yan Zhusheng said earnestly. "Didn't you also make progress this time?"

"I basically asked Chanxi and Xinyan for help, okay." Xu Yinghuan rolled her eyes. "If anyone's getting praised, it should be them."

"Fair enough." Yan Zhusheng nodded, saying with great satisfaction, "Teacher Li only teaches me."

"Eww~" Xu Yinghuan rubbed her arms, feeling goosebumps coming on. "Go look at how your Teacher Li ranked, I can't stand you two anymore."

"16th in the whole school." Yan Zhusheng pointed at the very first column on the bulletin board, easily finding Li Luo's name.

"Just so-so." Li Luo put his hands in his pockets and laughed indifferently. "Still didn't make the top ten."

He could only say that the academic monsters ahead were truly abnormal… Even with his cheat, he still couldn't beat them.

Although this was also related to him not having put all his energy into studying, it was still enough to show the talent and effort of these top students.

"Just so-so, huh~" Xu Yinghuan mimicked Li Luo's tone, gritting her teeth and pouting. "So annoying, said so casually! I used every ounce of my strength just to get into the three hundreds!"

"Yeah." Qiao Xinyan, who had also come downstairs to check the rankings, glanced at her own 18th place and couldn't help sighing. "Got surpassed by Li Luo again."

"Where's Chanxi?" Li Luo turned his head and only saw Qiao Xinyan coming down alone, immediately asking in confusion.

"She was called to the office by Teacher Sun, seems like he has something for her." As Qiao Xinyan was saying this, she saw Ying Chanxi already coming down at the stairwell. "There, isn't she here now?"

Li Luo followed her gaze and saw Ying Chanxi walking over with a calm expression, but looking at her eyes, she was a little unhappy.

"What's wrong?" Li Luo patted her head and asked in confusion. "What did Teacher Sun want you for?"

"He wants me to change my college application choices." Ying Chanxi said helplessly. "I told him before that I won't take the Tsinghua/PKU exams for college, I only want to go to Qianjiang University, and as it turns out today they even called the principal in."

"Is everything okay?" Li Luo frowned and asked.

"They still think I chose Qianjiang University because of you." Ying Chanxi pouted. "I told them to call my dad. Either way, I'm definitely only choosing Qianjiang University."

Hearing the first half, Li Luo immediately felt a bit between laughter and tears. Hearing the end, Li Luo fell silent again, and patted her shoulder: "It's fine. I believe the principal and the others can understand too."

After all, that was the alma mater where Ying Chanxi's late mother had once studied.

Back when her mother passed away, Ying Chanxi had already set her heart on that place.

This matter really had nothing to do with Li Luo; it was just a coincidence that Li Luo now also had the ability to get into Qianjiang University.

After all, Li Luo remembered very clearly—in his previous life, even though he and Ying Chanxi had parted ways before the high school entrance exam, Ying Chanxi still ended up taking the exam and going to Qianjiang University.

This point wouldn't change because of the influence of his rebirth.

"We made a promise, to go to Qianjiang University together to keep studying." Li Luo pinched her cheek and said with a smile. "Don't overthink the rest. Our grade's top student."

"I know, stop pinching my face." Ying Chanxi nudged his chest and said softly, "There are still people watching."