Chapter 295

May 9th, Saturday morning.

This semester's parent-teacher meeting arrived as scheduled, as time passed.

Early in the morning, Li Luo stretched and got up, washed up simply, then went to the neighboring bedroom, knocked on the door, and walked in to wake Ying Chanxi from bed.

After both of them got ready, they were about to head to school to meet Yan Zhusheng for a morning run.

Then the front door was pushed open from outside.

Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong walked in, followed by Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling, causing Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, who were just putting on their shoes, to freeze in surprise.

"Come in, come in!" Lin Xiuhong warmly invited Xu Youyu's parents inside; when she spotted Li Luo and Ying Chanxi at the door, she paused, "Huh? You're up early."

"Good morning, Uncle and Auntie," Li Luo greeted Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling, then asked curiously, "Why are you here so early?"

"Your parent-teacher meeting starts at eight-thirty, right? Since Cui Auntie and I aren't going to attend, we figured we'd just come over here early instead," Lin Xiuhong said. "Besides, Xu Uncle hasn't been here much before—he should see what Youyu's living environment is like."

Saying that, Lin Xiuhong added, "Why are only the two of you here? Zhusheng's still staying on campus—I know that—but where's Youyu?"

"Um…"

"Probably still sleeping in," Cui Suling crossed her arms and snorted, "Same old habit."

"Cough… Ying Chanxi and I got up early to run to school, so we woke up a bit sooner—Senior Xu probably wakes up around six-thirty."

"Look at how well-behaved your kids are—they actually get up for morning runs," Cui Suling shook her head, stepped inside, swapped her shoes for slippers, and headed straight for Xu Youyu's room.

Li Luo and the others watched as she pushed open the study door; before she even stepped inside, her voice shot into Xu Youyu's ears.

"Xu Youyu, get up!"

"Look at Li Luo and Chanxi—look at you—how can you still lie there sleeping?"

As she spoke, a sharp "whoosh—" echoed as Cui Suling yanked open the curtains, and a slanting beam of morning sunlight flooded into the hallway from the study.

Still half-asleep in bed, Xu Youyu mumbled at the familiar voice, "Why am I even dreaming this… so annoying… can't I get a different dream?"

"You think I'm annoying now?" Cui Suling laughed bitterly, yanked the blanket off in one swift motion, and slapped Xu Youyu's firm, plump buttocks, "Get up right now and go running with Li Luo and the others."

"Ah!" Xu Youyu jolted awake fully, feeling her mother's affectionate smack on her rear, scrambled out of bed in seconds, slipped on slippers, turned around—and realized it wasn't a dream, "Mom? Why are you here?"

"It's parent-teacher day today," Cui Suling said matter-of-factly. "I just came to see how you're doing in the mornings."

"Then why didn't you tell me ahead of time?" Xu Youyu muttered under her breath.

"If I told you ahead of time, would it have this effect?" Cui Suling chuckled. "Hurry up, wash up—don't keep Li Luo and the others waiting."

"It's only six-ten…" Xu Youyu glanced at her phone, radiating resentment, "My alarm didn't even go off."

"Why so many words?" Cui Suling glared at her. "Everyone else gets up to run and exercise. Why can't you learn something good? Studying well alone means nothing—you'll realize how important exercise is when you're older."

"Alright, alright, everyone's listening," Xu Rongsheng appeared at the doorway, waving his hand. "Youyu, wash up and head to school with Li Luo and the others."

"Fine…" Xu Youyu rubbed her head as she stepped out of the room, her hair a mess from sleep.

She walked into the hallway and instinctively glanced toward the door—where she saw Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, and behind them, Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong.

"Ah!" Seeing Lin Xiuhong there, Xu Youyu's ears flushed red; she frantically smoothed her hair, "U-Uncle, Auntie… good morning…"

After saying that, she hurried into the bathroom.

Li Luo watched Xu Youyu flee in embarrassment and was slightly surprised.

This was the first time he'd ever seen Xu Youyu blush and feel shy—it was truly rare.

The flustered, scrambling way she'd escaped in the hallway was completely different from her usual flirtatious teasing of him—and somehow, it was kind of cute.

After Xu Youyu woke up and washed up.

Cui Suling helped tidy her bedroom, stripping the sheets and pillowcases to wash them, and also organized her desk.

Xu Rongsheng sat with Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong on the sofa, chatting casually.

Since he knew people in the Ministry of Education, Xu Rongsheng understood the new college entrance exam reforms well and shared some insights with Li Guohong and the others ahead of time.

But since Xu Youyu was already in Gao Er, she didn't need this information, so Xu Rongsheng hadn't asked in detail before—only mentioned a few obscure details outsiders wouldn't know.

For example, the new elective subject "Technology" had many subtleties.

In the first year of the new reform, some schools didn't even have qualified teachers for it, and the textbooks were brand new.

If someone truly wanted to, underperforming students who struggled in both liberal arts and sciences could use this subject as a shortcut to catch up.

But Xu Rongsheng was just saying this in passing—Li Luo and the other two were far too high-performing to need such considerations.

While they chatted, Xu Youyu quickly washed up, changed into her uniform, slung her bag over her shoulder, and joined Li Luo and the others.

"I'm ready, let's go!"

"Mm," Li Luo nodded, gestured to the quiet, well-behaved Ying Chanxi, then told the group on the sofa, "We'll head out now—the school won't open until eight, so you can take your time."

"Got it, go ahead," Lin Xiuhong waved, watching the three kids leave, then pushed herself up from the sofa and headed toward Li Luo's bedroom, "I'll tidy up his room too."

Thus, the living room was left with only Xu Rongsheng and Li Guohong, two men chatting.

Although Li Guohong was far less learned than Xu Rongsheng, Xu Rongsheng was a gentle, open-minded man with high emotional intelligence—he could easily converse with Li Guohong despite their differences.

But shortly after, Lin Xiuhong's voice came from the master bedroom.

"Guohong! Come here!"

"What's up?" Li Guohong frowned, apologized to Xu Rongsheng, then got up and walked toward the master bedroom.

Inside, he saw Lin Xiuhong leaning over Li Luo's bed, staring at something.

Seeing him enter, Lin Xiuhong immediately waved him over, gesturing toward the bed.

Li Guohong leaned closer and saw Lin Xiuhong picking up a single strand of hair from the bed, holding it before his eyes: "What's this?"

"Hair."

"Look at the length!" Lin Xiuhong prompted, seeing he still didn't get it.

"Oh, this isn't Li Luo's hair," Li Guohong realized, then stared blankly, "So what? Probably just Chanxi's hair left behind when she came over to play."

"But there's way too much of it," Lin Xiuhong frowned, pointing at Li Luo's sheets and pillow, "There's plenty on the pillow too."

"And I told him to change his sheets at most once a month—especially now, with summer coming, he should change them more often."

"This can't be more than what's been collected over several days."

Reminded by Lin Xiuhong, Li Guohong finally caught on, frowning as he examined Li Luo's bedsheet closely: "So whose hair is this? Is it Xixi's?"

"I don't know. It can't be Youyu's, right?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Besides, their parents are right outside—some things shouldn't be said lightly." Li Guohong warned, then added, "Maybe they were just playing games together in the room? Playing cards or something? The longer they played, the more hair might've ended up here."

"I hope that's all it is." Lin Xiuhong sighed. "This kid really gives me no peace."

"Come on, come on, it's not a big deal." Li Guohong coughed twice. "As long as it hasn't affected their grades, if something serious did happen, given Li Luo's current income and situation, well… he could totally handle it."

"You say that?" Lin Xiuhong slapped him irritably. "How can you even say that? Don't you have any shame?"

"I was just saying!" Li Guohong chuckled awkwardly. "Back in our day, at Li Luo's age, kids were already sneaking around with girlfriends. In another year or two, families would've arranged blind dates. Get married early, have kids early—nowadays, they drag it out till they're thirty."

"How can you compare?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. "I watched Xixi grow up. When her mother passed away, I promised her family I'd take good care of her. If my own son ended up stealing her away, I'd be utterly humiliated."

"What's so humiliating?" Li Guohong said. "A year ago, I thought Li Luo was a bit of a mess—definitely not good enough for Xixi. But things are different now."

"With how close our families are to the Ying family, and how close Li Luo and Xixi are now…"

"You mean… hmm? I think it's quite nice."

"Don't you want Xixi to be your daughter-in-law?"

As Li Guohong teased, Lin Xiuhong found herself growing more and more intrigued.

Indeed.

Ying Chanxi was a delightful girl in every way.

She'd been obedient and well-behaved since childhood, excelled in her studies, willingly learned cooking from her, and cleaned efficiently.

Ying Zhicheng's family was well-off, and Xixi was their only daughter.

If Li Luo married her, both families would be even closer—our hometowns were neighbors anyway, and there'd be no worry about whether to return to the husband's or wife's family during the New Year.

As she thought this through, Lin Xiuhong slipped into her own fantasy, a smile unconsciously forming on her face.

But then she reconsidered and said, "They're still too young. We'll have to wait until they get into university."

"I was just saying," Li Guohong replied. "Li Luo still acts with restraint and order—he probably won't go too far. Let things unfold naturally."

"Still, you should mention it to Li Luo privately," Lin Xiuhong sighed with a smile. "If anything actually happens, you better watch out—Old Ying might come after you with a knife."

"Why would he come after me?" Li Guohong exclaimed. "If anyone's getting slashed, it's that brat Li Luo."

As the couple chatted privately, Li Luo and the other two had already gone downstairs and were walking toward the attached middle school.

"I'm dead tired," Xu Youyu mumbled, swaying unsteadily beside Li Luo. "You two didn't even warn me when my parents showed up."

"When Aunt Cui walked straight into your room, we'd already put on our shoes—how were we supposed to warn you?" Li Luo rolled his eyes, then grinned. "Since you're up early for once, how about joining us for a morning run?"

"No." Xu Youyu refused outright. "You guys run. I'll just watch from the side."

A few minutes later, the school playground.

Li Luo held Xu Youyu's hand in front, while Yan Zhusheng and Ying Chanxi pushed her back, all four jogging slowly along the track.

"You're trying to kill me… I already said I wasn't running… huff… I'm exhausted…" Xu Youyu trudged three laps before finally giving in, waving her hands frantically to break free, then stumbling to the side to catch her breath.

Seeing this, Li Luo and the others stopped too.

"Senior, your stamina's pretty weak," Li Luo laughed. "We're supposed to develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise. As student council president, you should set an example."

Xu Youyu leaned on her knees, looking up at him with a glare: "Get lost. Next semester, it's Xixi's turn to be president—none of this is my problem."

"That's true," Ying Chanxi chuckled behind her hand. "But Senior, you should still exercise more. Three slow laps shouldn't leave you this winded."

Yan Zhusheng, watching Xu Youyu gasp for air, asked curiously, "Aren't you supposed to do morning calisthenics every day? If you actually ran, your stamina wouldn't be this bad, right?"

"Do you think I worked so hard to become student council president for what?" Xu Youyu sighed. "Of course so I could be the calisthenics supervisor forever."

Each week, the student council assigned supervisors to assist the PE teacher during the morning break calisthenics.

There were about four or five slots per week.

Students assigned as supervisors didn't have to run—they just watched the others alongside the PE teacher.

"No one's as lazy as you," Li Luo shook his head, laughing. "From now on, we'll all run together every morning. Otherwise, your fitness is truly terrible."

"Fine if I'm unfit—I'm still sleeping in," Xu Youyu grumbled. "You guys run if you want, but don't drag me along."

With that, the four headed toward the cafeteria, had a simple breakfast, then went off to their respective classrooms.

Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng returned to Class Eight and sat down. After morning self-study began, Kong Junxiang entered carrying a stack of materials and began organizing the parent meeting schedule.

As before, once morning self-study ended at eight, the school gates would open for parents to enter.

When parents arrived at the classroom, students could vacate their seats and either go upstairs to the self-study rooms or join club activities.

This time, however, there would be no parent observation activities—all morning would be devoted to explaining the new college entrance exam reforms.

As a member of the student council, Li Luo told Kong Junxiang during morning self-study and went downstairs early to help greet parents who arrived ahead of time.

There at the school gate, he spotted Xu Rongsheng and Li Guohong.

"Why are you here so early?" Li Luo asked, approaching his father. "Couldn't you have come at eight?"

"Your mom and Aunt Cui said they were doing a big cleaning and kicked us out," Li Guohong said helplessly.

Nearby, Xu Rongsheng chuckled. "Good timing—I came to see you. Youyu said you all went for a morning run together today?"

"Uh…" Seeing Xu Youyu's smug grin directed at him, Li Luo sighed and smiled. "Yeah, she came along."

At that moment, Ying Chanxi had already poured two glasses of water and brought them to Li Guohong and Xu Rongsheng.

A short distance away, a red Audi pulled over to the roadside. Zhang Xuefen stepped out and walked straight to the school gate. Spotting Li Guohong, she smiled warmly and came over to greet him.

"Isn't Xiuhong coming today?"

"She's cooking at home," Li Guohong replied.

"Oh, I see." Not seeing Lin Xiuhong, Zhang Xuefen's expression showed slight disappointment, but she still chatted with Li Guohong. "Guohong, you didn't know? The project Dongrong mentioned to you before—its one-year term is almost up. The ten percent interest is ready to be paid out to investors."

"Has the price of the house you bought in Bihai Lanting gone up?"

"This area north of Ningshan hasn't seen economic growth—why on earth did you buy a house here?"

"If you'd invested in that Dongrong project last year, you'd have earned tens of thousands in interest by now."

Now that his own son had become successful, Li Guohong was in a good mood; hearing Zhang Xuefen say such things, he merely smiled and offered a few polite congratulations, too lazy to argue with her.

A year ago, he might have really coveted those tens of thousands in interest.

But now? It was just a few days' worth of his son's royalty fees—was that much?

Li Luo listened beside him, silently dumbfounded, thinking his cousin's wife really talked too much.

Their project could still pay interest normally for the first two years, but starting in the third year, it slowly shifted to paying off debts with shares or promises of future apartments.

When they tried to recover their principal, the others kept making excuses and delaying payment; out of respect for family ties, they couldn't just sue outright.

Only after several more years did a group of relatives finally grow tired of it and file a joint lawsuit—but by then, the funding chain had already collapsed beyond repair.

Li Luo now earned hundreds of thousands a month in royalties; though still pitiful compared to other Reborns, it was more than enough to ensure his family's comfort.

Once they bought those several storefronts on Xijie and waited for the subway line to open and the Tianjie complex to be completed, they could truly rest easy for the rest of their lives.

Looking at Zhang Xuefen's current display of boasting and passive-aggressive smugness, Li Luo found it laughable.

Just then, another parent spotted Li Guohong and exclaimed, "Huh?" before walking over to greet him: "Guohong? You're here for the parent-teacher meeting too?"

"Oh, An Gang." Li Guohong immediately smiled and greeted him, "I'm here for my son. You too?"

"Yeah." Li Angang nodded with a smile. "My son's in his final year of high school—this is his last parent-teacher meeting before the college entrance exam."

Watching his father greet this uncle, Li Luo suddenly realized: this must be the real estate agent his uncle Li Guoru had introduced to his father—also a fellow villager from Li Family Village.

Because Li Guohong's purchase of storefronts involved a large sum, Li Angang treated him as a highly valued client and spoke with him very familiarly.

If Li Guohong hadn't already made lunch plans with Xu Rongsheng and the others, he'd probably have been dragged off to lunch right then.

Zhang Xuefen was suddenly left standing aside, her expression darkening, her mood souring.

But she knew Li Angang—she'd met him at a dinner where her husband Weidongrong had been present; he was a major player in real estate in Yinjiang District with wide connections, so she couldn't say anything rude.

Soon, after a brief exchange, it was eight o'clock.

The school gates opened, and parents who had arrived early began filing into the First Affiliated Middle School.

Seeing Li Angang and Li Guohong part ways, Zhang Xuefen hurried over to Li Angang, smiling sweetly: "Brother An Gang, you remember me? Dongrong's wife."

"Dongrong? Which Dongrong?"

"Wei Dongrong—he was the one you talked to about that self-built housing project."

"Oh oh, I remember." Li Angang recalled; Wei Dongrong was a notable businessman in Yinjiang District, so he immediately nodded and greeted Zhang Xuefen warmly.

They exchanged a few pleasantries.

Zhang Xuefen couldn't help asking: "I'm related to Guohong too. You two seem so close—do you know him well?"

"Of course—he's one of my big clients." Li Angang grinned.

"Big client?" Zhang Xuefen frowned in confusion. "Aren't you in real estate? Guohong's family only bought one apartment in Bihai Lanting—how's he a big client?"

"What Bihai Lanting?" Li Angang paused, then waved his hand. "We're talking about another project—hundreds of millions in transactions. Do you think that's a small client?"

"What?" Zhang Xuefen froze, thinking: How could Li Guohong's family have hundreds of millions? "Are you being scammed? They run a breakfast stall—where'd they get hundreds of millions?"

Hearing this, Li Angang frowned irritably: "Why are you asking me this? What's it to you?"

He'd known Li Guoru for years—why would someone like him lie about something like this?

Besides, what's there to lie about? He's just a broker—spends time and effort. What could he possibly scam him for?

Ridiculous.

Li Angang refused to engage further with the woman, shook his head and waved her off, signaling he was going to attend the meeting and had no more time to talk.

Zhang Xuefen stood frozen, her expression shifting between shock and suspicion, her mind racing—how had Li Guohong's family suddenly acquired hundreds of millions?

As for Li Guohong, he had already entered the teaching building and arrived at Class Eight.

Kong Junxiang saw Li Guohong enter and warmly greeted the homeroom teacher's parent, smiling and chatting with him at the podium.

When Li Guohong reached Li Luo's seat, Yan Zhusheng stood up politely and pulled out his chair: "Uncle, please sit."

"Ah, thanks."

As soon as Li Guohong sat down, Yan Zhusheng hurried to the water dispenser by the podium and poured him a cup of water.

Watching Yan Zhusheng hand him the disposable cup, Li Guohong felt a wave of emotion.

Thinking that this girl was the daughter of his idol Yuan Wanqing, sat next to his son, and was his son's bandmate in the rock club…

If his future daughter-in-law turned out to be Yan Zhusheng… actually, it seemed… maybe… not bad?

But Chanxi is also very good.

Completely unaware of what Zhang Xuefen had just done, Li Guohong now found himself caught in a kind of blissful dilemma—already picking out his son's future wife.