Chapter 298: It Hurt Me, So You Have to Take Responsibility

May 29th, Friday.

Chongran Culture Media Company was officially registered and established.

Li Guohong secretly asked Li Guoru to help him, going through the industrial and commercial procedures.

Probably because he had been deeply shocked by the group photo from the symposium posted on the association's notice board, Li Guoru had been paying close attention to Li Luo's situation.

After retirement, to keep himself occupied, he had hired someone to polish his autobiography, funded its self-publication, and joined the Yuhang City Writers Association just to pass the time.

Just so he wouldn't be idle.

But since Sun Jingchun introduced him to Li Luo's achievements at the association last time, Li Guoru's interest in the association had gradually faded.

When Li Guohong came to his elder brother this time, Li Guoru immediately became interested, personally accompanying Li Guohong back and forth to finalize the company registration.

Since Li Guoru was originally trained as an accountant, and Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong couldn't yet find a suitable financial officer, Li Guoru simply took a nominal position in their company, helping out with bookkeeping.

After all, Li Luo's finances were simple: just collecting royalty payments monthly, with taxes pre-paid by Qidian, requiring only year-end confirmation of any additional tax owed.

Aside from that, the music copyright contracts with Huayue Film and Television were straightforward matters; though Li Guoru hadn't handled finances in years, these basic operations posed no problem.

"So now you're the general manager, Dad?" In the evening, Li Luo slipped a call to Li Guohong in a corridor corner, and upon hearing the details, couldn't help laughing.

"Stop joking," Li Guohong chuckled. "The company's registered. Now, according to your Uncle Ying's advice, since you're a minor, your legal guardian—your mom—needs to sign an agency authorization agreement with our company."

"Then tell the editor at Qidian to redraw the contract, signing it directly under the company's name."

"That way, all future royalties and copyright fees can go straight into the company's account."

"OK." Li Luo nodded, then teased, "Dad, remember to give yourself and Mom a salary slip—don't shortchange yourselves."

"You say that?" Li Guohong laughed and scolded, "You're just thinking of paying your parents a salary so we can work for you, right?"

Although Li Guohong handled the registration, the company used Li Luo's personal information, and Li Guohong, as his legal guardian, provided the capital and held all equity on his behalf.

Once Li Luo turns eighteen, everything will naturally transfer to him.

So technically, saying Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong are working for their son isn't wrong.

"Better than working for free," Li Luo said with a grin.

"Alright, enough of this," Li Guohong cut off the topic. "The milk tea shop and breakfast shop have both been taken over—they won't renew their leases at month-end. Tell your uncle when you want to handle it."

"And the fruit shop just got word—the space is still unrented."

"I guess after this weekend, they'll agree to sell us the storefront."

"Got it. I'll talk to Uncle," Li Luo nodded, then asked, "What about the hot pot shop?"

"That one… is tricky," Li Guohong clicked his tongue, uneasy. "I don't know where the landlord heard the rumor, but he's heard the Yinjiang District subway extension project will be approved this summer, and now he won't sell."

"Really? Word's already out this early?" Li Luo paused, surprised.

In his memory, Yuhang City only approved the Yinjiang District subway project in September this year.

"The planning proposal was actually publicized last year, but it never got approved," Li Guohong said. "I still keep in touch with your classmate Shao Heqi's father—he's got a vague idea."

"But he's vague too—no certainty on when approval will come."

"Still, it doesn't matter much—let him sell or not."

At this stage, with Li Luo's online novel success and music copyright income both flourishing, Li Guohong had gained far more confidence in his actions.

With Li Luo's career steadily rising, especially after learning of Li Luo's secret collaboration with Yuan Wanqing's new album, Li Guohong had finally relaxed completely.

As for the storefronts on Xijie, they were now merely icing on the cake—no longer of major significance to their family.

Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong had come to terms with it: even if they shut down their breakfast shop entirely, they could just renovate it slightly into a small office.

Since Chongran Culture's registered address was their breakfast shop's storefront, they'd now go to work there every day.

They'd seriously read their son's novels, learn some accounting knowledge in their spare time, study bookkeeping and tax filing with Li Guoru, and manage these trivial matters for Li Luo.

Occasionally, they'd stroll over to Xijie near Qianjiang University, check on their shop's business, and collect rent when due.

In their free time, they'd pick up a couple of small hobbies—wasn't this already living the retired life ahead of schedule?

"Alright," Li Luo said, hearing his father's tone, and stopped pressing.

No matter how profitable the hot pot shop might become in the future, to Li Luo it was just a modest side income—not worth mourning if lost.

At least the initial goal had been achieved: successfully convincing his parents to abandon their breakfast shop.

Though Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong had still been running around lately, busy with storefronts and company registration, their spirits had improved greatly, and they looked healthier.

"I'll hang up then," Li Guohong said. "Focus on your classes. Tell me about the contract change this weekend."

"Got it."

After finishing business, Li Luo hung up and returned to class for evening self-study.

Lately, under Li Luo's tutoring, Yan Zhusheng had already finished all this semester's coursework ahead of schedule.

During class, Yan Zhusheng followed Li Luo and completed the day's homework.

During evening self-study, it was Li Luo's intensive training for Yan Zhusheng, focused primarily on physics.

Geography was Yan Zhusheng's strong suit—no need to worry.

History involved mostly memorization, so Li Luo would open his memory palace during free moments and quiz her on textbook questions to reinforce her memory.

Thus, evening self-study was dedicated to physics, aiming for a high score in the upcoming fall elective exam.

After the second evening self-study session, once he finished night running with Yan Zhusheng, Li Luo walked down with Ying Chanxi, met Xu Youyu on Houde Road, and the three headed toward the school gate.

On the way, Li Luo said, "Go home first—I need to see my uncle about something. I'll bring you fried noodles later."

"What's it about?" Ying Chanxi asked curiously.

"Cough… it concerns my uncle's lifelong happiness. Top secret."

"Making it so mysterious," Xu Youyu giggled, covering her mouth. "I want fried rice noodles today—with a ham sausage."

"Got it." Li Luo nodded. "What about you, Xixi?"

"Same as always."

"OK."

After parting at the school gate, Li Luo went straight to the side iron gate of the dormitory compound.

Zhao Rongjun was already helping out, having pre-packed portions of fried rice and fried noodles, waiting to sell them to classmates after class.

"Oh, you're here?" Lin Xiu noticed Li Luo approaching and smiled. "What'll you have today?"

"One serving of fried vermicelli, two servings of fried noodles. Add a sausage to the fried vermicelli."

"Got it. Wait a sec."

Li Luo didn't speak right away. Instead, he glanced at Zhao Rongjun and asked with a grin, "How much pocket money have you saved up?"

"Several thousand," Zhao Rongjun chuckled. "But I'm definitely not up to your level."

Although Zhao Rongjun didn't know Li Luo's exact income, he knew his novel was wildly popular online—just one contest prize was fifty thousand yuan. He dared not even imagine how much the royalties added up to.

But he was a man who knew contentment. When his brother needed help, he lent a hand; when his brother soared, he rejoiced with him. He never felt envy over his own meager earnings, and happily earned his daily dozens of yuan in tips.

Lin Xiu was somewhat surprised by this.

He'd originally thought Zhao Rongjun would last only one or two months at most—but this kid had stuck with him since last semester, never once complaining of fatigue or hardship.

And just recently, in the midterm exam, Zhao Rongjun still held his rank, placing 61st in the entire school—his grades hadn't slipped at all, which was quite remarkable.

"By the way," Li Luo said, watching Lin Xiu work, "what subjects are you planning to pick for your Gao Er division?"

"I've talked it over with my parents," Zhao Rongjun said. "I'll probably pick physics, chemistry, and geography."

"Chemistry…" Li Luo rubbed his chin. "I wonder if we'll end up in the same class."

"What about you?" Zhao Rongjun asked back.

"I, Chanxi, and Zhusheng all picked physics, history, and geography—different from you."

Generally, the school grouped students by subject choices.

But to be honest, Li Luo wasn't sure how many students had chosen all three: physics, history, and geography.

In his memory, his previous ordinary high school had twelve classes total.

Among them, eight were pure science classes, many of which students had been persuaded into by teachers.

After all, the school was new to the "seven choose three" policy for the new college entrance exam, and still clung to old habits—preferring students to pick either pure science or pure liberal arts, for easier teaching.

So back then, there were eight science classes, two liberal arts classes, and only two mixed classes.

One class was physics, chemistry, geography; the other was history, politics, biology.

Geography was called "science among liberal arts," and biology "liberal arts among science," so these two mixed classes weren't much different from pure streams.

But Li Luo's trio—physics, history, geography—was an odd combination. He doubted anyone else in the school had picked the same.

If there were too few students like them, they might end up in any class at all.

And according to Kong Jun's private hint to Li Luo, after this division, Fuyi High would no longer have "key classes"—everyone would be randomly redistributed.

All classes would be reorganized.

Unlike before, when Gao Er divisions still kept the concept of key classes.

"There you go." Lin Xiu finished cooking, wrapped Li Luo's food in plastic, handed it to him.

Li Luo took the bag but didn't leave right away. He grinned at Lin Xiu. "Uncle, are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

"What's up?" Lin Xiu glanced at him. "I'm off on weekends. What do you need?"

"Help me out," Li Luo said, nodding in satisfaction as he turned to leave. "Meet me at my apartment entrance at 1:30 p. m. I've got a surprise for you."

"Hey! You haven't even told me what it's about!"

"You'll find out tomorrow!"

…

After returning from the stall, Li Luo placed the fried vermicelli and fried noodles on the dining table and called out.

Xu Youyu, drawn by the smell, came out of the bedroom, sniffed the air, and rushed to the table to open his fried vermicelli.

"Where's Chanxi?"

"In the shower."

Li Luo nodded, sat down, and started eating.

When he'd nearly finished his fried noodles, Ying Chanxi walked out of the bathroom in her pajamas and sat at the table to eat her late-night snack.

Li Luo got up, went behind her, and blew dry her hair.

At that moment, Ying Chanxi, while eating the fried noodles, asked, "Isn't Senior's birthday on June 8th? It's coming up soon."

"Yeah," Xu Youyu nodded. "But it's a Monday—we have to go to school."

"Then we can celebrate two days early," Ying Chanxi suggested. "On the 6th, Saturday."

"Sure!" Xu Youyu grinned happily. "If you say that, I won't be polite."

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?" Li Luo said, glancing at Xu Youyu's grin.

"What are you talking about?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes. "I just thought of a fun birthday activity—we'll play it."

"Not hide-and-seek again, I hope."

"Of course not."

"Now I'm even more worried…"

After finishing the late-night snack, Ying Chanxi went back to her bedroom, planning to read Li Luo's novel a bit before sleeping.

Before getting into bed, she casually punched Pikachu and Doraemon twice.

No particular reason—just habit, and the feel was satisfying.

Xu Youyu, meanwhile, took a shower first, then returned to her room to keep writing.

After returning to his room, Li Luo contacted his editor and explained his situation again.

【Qianzhou】: No problem. I've already spoken with the contract department about it.

【Qianzhou】: Normally, the Grand Master would've mentioned this when signing you. But since you've already set up your own company, it's easier for me—just need to sign a new contract.

【Qianzhou】: I'll send you the contract documents tomorrow; once your company signs and stamps them, just mail them back.

After receiving Qianzhou's confirmation, Li Luo finally relaxed.

With this, his life's career had finally set on the right path.

Just after Li Luo finished chatting and wrote today's chapter, the door behind him was pushed open.

Li Luo didn't need to guess who it was.

Especially when the soft pressure against the back of his head made him silently bear this heavy burden.

"What's up today?"

"Nothing much—just one good piece of news and one bad piece. Which do you want to hear first?" Xu Youyu gently massaged his head, smiling.

"Let's hear the good news first."

"The good news is, my average subscription count has reached 9,500," Xu Youyu said happily. "Just 500 more to hit ten thousand!"

"And the bad news? Don't tell me the average subscriptions are already dropping."

"No, they're not dropping—but…" Xu Youyu said, "these days, it's only increasing by ten or twenty subscriptions daily. I doubt it'll reach ten thousand before my birthday, so… little brother, you're going to lose the bet."

"There's still more than ten days left," Li Luo laughed, immediately opening his author backend and adding a line at the bottom of tomorrow's chapter: "I'll give your chapter another push."

"Hey hey hey! How are you using outside tactics?!" Xu Youyu widened her eyes. "That's cheating! You're market manipulation!"

"The bet didn't say you couldn't do this," Li Luo chuckled. "Besides, I've already pushed your chapter several times—this time, I don't even know how much effect it'll have."

"You're this determined to beat me?" Xu Youyu grinned. "You don't actually want your sister to do something… suggestive, do you?"

"You're imagining things. I'm just afraid that if you win, you'll make me do something weird," Li Luo said seriously. "Nuclear weapons—you don't need to have them yourself, but you absolutely can't let your enemy possess them."

"When did I become your enemy? We're comrades-in-arms, sharing hardships together!"

"Then when are you going to tell Uncle Xu about your writing Online Novel? So we can share the hardships together."

"Hehe… sharing hardships has different roles. You're handling the frontline fire, while I'm handling logistics support for you."

"Where's your logistics support?"

"Right here?" Xu Youyu pressed his head against her chest, smiling. "Feel my logistics support?"

Li Luo: "..."

"By the way," Li Luo changed the subject, "how are you planning to spend your birthday? Like last time with Chanxi?"

Seeing how awkwardly he changed the subject, Xu Youyu quietly chuckled.

Then, hearing his question, she wagged her index finger: "NoNoNo."

"My birthday will follow my own plan."

"You just follow my instructions then."

Hearing this, Li Luo felt a bad premonition: "So what exactly are you planning? Give me a hint?"

"Oh, just stick to the usual birthday routine—I'm not picky," Xu Youyu waved her hand. "But I thought of a fantastic little birthday game—you'll all have to play with me."

"... A new version of hide-and-seek?"

"I already said it's not hide-and-seek. What are you afraid of? I won't eat you."

"Then what birthday game is it?"

"I won't tell you," Xu Youyu smirked. "You'll find out when the time comes."

Li Luo twitched his lip. Even though he didn't know what it was, he suddenly didn't want to play this game anymore.

It felt too dangerous.

"By the way," Xu Youyu cheerfully brought the topic back to their ten-thousand-subscription bet, whispering into Li Luo's ear, "If I win the bet, I've already thought of what I want you to do. Little brother, want to hear?"

"... No."

"Really not?"

"No," Li Luo grunted. "I'm going to win anyway."

"But my birthday is on the 6th—shouldn't we set the bet deadline to the 6th?"

"No way!" Li Luo immediately rejected it. "It's definitely based on the 8th."

"What if it hits ten thousand exactly on the 8th?"

"Then I win," Li Luo said boldly. "If it hits ten thousand after the 8th, you win."

"Fine~" Xu Youyu didn't argue over this timing.

After multiple chapter pushes from Li Luo, the promotional effect on her book had become extremely limited.

And the editor hadn't assigned her any new recommendation slots recently.

At the current rate of ten or twenty subscriptions per day—even with Li Luo's chapter pushes—by June 8th, it would likely only reach around 9,800.

"For the next dozen days, I'll give your chapter a push every single day until you hit ten thousand," Li Luo pulled up his scheduled future chapters and pasted a push note into each one. "I refuse to lose."

"You're really competitive," Xu Youyu chuckled, then reminded him, "Don't forget my birthday gift—I'm looking forward to it."

"Don't worry, I've already prepared it."

"Huh? When did you prepare it?"

"It's already been delivered—that package."

"Let me see it?"

"Hey hey hey! Wait until the birthday to open it—don't touch it now!"

In the small struggle, Xu Youyu tumbled onto Li Luo's bed, her long hair spreading out, her nightgown strap slipping.

She bit a strand of hair between her lips, gazing at Li Luo with half-lidded eyes, her gaze sultry: "You hurt me—you're responsible now."