Chapter 299

May 30th, Saturday.

At this time, Lin Xiufeng would usually sleep in until nine or so, slowly waking up.

He claimed to drive a truck, but due to relatives placing him there, he rarely had much work and even had weekends off—it was quite leisurely.

His monthly salary was a few thousand yuan; his relatives had gone out of their way to be generous.

Lin Xiufeng was a man content with little.

With no clear life goals, he could adapt to any situation—as long as he had food and drink and stayed alive, he didn't care much for quality of life.

Especially now, living in the house his parents had bought for him long ago in the southern part of Yinjiang District, with no mortgage pressure and no wife or children, he spent all his salary on himself.

In fact, with his habit of not smoking and rarely drinking, a few thousand yuan a month was more than enough.

His few hobbies were gaming and driving.

The most luxurious item in his home was the latest-model computer in his bedroom, but he never spent money on in-game purchases—he only played single-player games, bought legitimate copies, and could play for months without spending hundreds.

As for his other major hobby…

Lin Xiufeng washed his face, returned to the living room, and glanced at the poster on the wall—it showed a car.

Beside it were a series of numbers.

From the initial 5097, all the way down to the bottom, updated to the latest figure—125790.

Hmm, that was the money he'd saved for this car.

Once he saved 200,000 yuan, he planned to buy himself a new car—this was the new goal he'd set, and the reason he now insisted on working late selling fried rice every night.

Otherwise, with his few-thousand-yuan monthly salary, Lin Xiufeng had no reason to go out and work late.

When he had a concrete goal, Lin Xiufeng's determination became exceptionally strong—he would never stop until he achieved it.

But today had no work—he was free to relax.

Lin Xiufeng went to the kitchen and fried himself some rice, brought it to his bedroom desk, and planned to finish this breakfast-lunch before spending the whole day gaming.

But he suddenly remembered last night's arrangement with Li Luo, and sighed helplessly.

…

1:30 p. m.

Lin Xiufeng arrived punctually at the entrance of Bihai Lanting, and soon spotted Li Luo walking out of the compound—he waved his hand in greeting.

Seeing the kid grinning like an idiot, Lin Xiufeng slapped him on the shoulder and asked with suspicion, "You up to something shady? What do you actually want from me?"

"Come with me and you'll find out."

Li Luo pulled his uncle toward Xijie, refusing to say what this was about.

This made Lin Xiufeng suspicious—he couldn't help guessing, "Is your mom setting me up on a blind date and afraid I won't go, so she sent you to trick me?"

"How could that be!" Li Luo immediately declared firmly, "What's my relationship with my mom? What's my relationship with you, Uncle? Do you think I'd betray you?"

"Hmph." Lin Xiufeng snorted. "If I'm skipping my Saturday gaming to hang out with you, you better actually have a real reason."

"Of course I do—it's definitely not a blind date."

Following Li Luo all the way to Xijie, Lin Xiufeng grew more and more confused, unable to figure out what his nephew was up to.

Until they stopped in front of a bubble tea shop—Lin Xiufeng glanced at the middle-aged man standing there, who smiled warmly and greeted Li Luo, then pulled out two keys and opened the locked shop door.

"The previous owner has vacated. You said the equipment could stay, and your dad already paid the depreciation fee, so everything inside now belongs to you."

"Take a look—any problems?"

"If nothing's wrong, here's the first key."

Li Luo walked around the entire shop, then asked, "Did the previous owner run it himself? I remember there were staff, right?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Do you have their contact info? I might need to ask how to operate the equipment."

"I'll ask the former owner for you."

"Thanks a lot."

"No problem."

After inspecting the bubble tea shop, the middle-aged man took Li Luo and Lin Xiufeng to the breakfast shop next door.

"As you requested, all the tables and chairs were removed—the previous owner got rid of them, leaving only the kitchen. Check if anything's wrong."

Li Luo walked through it once, confirmed everything was fine, and took the second key from the middle-aged man.

"If there's no issue, I'll be off then—any problems later, just contact me anytime."

"Alright, thanks, Uncle An Gang."

After seeing off the real estate agent An Gang, Li Luo held the two extra keys in his hand, grinned at Lin Xiufeng beside him, and asked, "Uncle, what do you think of these two shops?"

"What do you mean?" Lin Xiufeng was baffled by the situation. "Are you opening a bubble tea shop?"

"Not me," Li Luo shook his head, then pointed at Lin Xiufeng and slipped the keys into his uncle's hand. "It's you."

"What?" Lin Xiufeng stepped back half a pace, staring at his nephew in shock. "Explain clearly—what's going on?"

"I'm giving you a shop," Li Luo said matter-of-factly. "Have you heard of industrial upgrading? Pushing around a little tricycle every day isn't sustainable—here's your base."

"Get lost! Stop being so childish!" Lin Xiufeng frowned and immediately refused. "That guy was a rental agent? Go call him back and cancel this lease—don't waste money renting!"

"Didn't you hear what he said?"

"The previous owner of this bubble tea shop vacated—how could you make money here?"

"Don't go spending money recklessly just because you made a fortune writing novels—your parents would kill you if they found out."

Li Luo watched his uncle speak, coughed twice, then reminded him: "Uncle, these two storefronts aren't rented—they've already been bought."

At this, Lin Xiufeng fell silent, momentarily speechless.

"This side is Qianjiang University," Li Luo pointed behind the shops, then stepped outside and gestured toward the Ningshan Tunnel entrance. "That side will be a new subway entrance."

"Across from us is the soon-to-be-built Shidai Tianjie commercial district."

"In the future, this shop will be one of the most popular in the area, with property values at least doubling."

"But right now... it's pretty desolate; hardly anyone rents here."

"Originally, my parents planned to just leave it vacant, since they bought it purely for property appreciation."

"But then I thought of you, Uncle."

"Since the shop's empty anyway, why not renovate it and let you run this milk tea shop for me? What do you say?"

Hearing Li Luo say this, Lin Xiufeng nodded in understanding, grasping the general idea, but still frowned and asked: "But didn't all the previous milk tea shop owners just run off? How can you make money here?"

"That's different," Li Luo shook his index finger. "I won't charge you rent—you keep all the profits."

The previous milk tea shop owner hired two employees, paying each 2,000 yuan per month.

After deducting labor and material costs, monthly profit was only a few thousand yuan.

After paying rent, the net gain was even less than the combined wages of the two employees.

But if you exclude employee wages and rent, monthly revenue still amounted to nearly ten thousand yuan.

This isn't the kind of milk tea shop from my last life, where staff made drinks nonstop.

This shop's in-store business, plus the newly emerging delivery orders, sells each milk tea for around ten yuan; the cost is barely a fraction, so with over ten thousand yuan in revenue, it's roughly a thousand cups sold per month.

Spread across the day, that's just thirty-some cups per day—easily the most relaxed job imaginable.

But if you rely solely on this ten-thousand-yuan revenue to recoup costs, especially since you'd shut down during summer and winter breaks, just the renovation fee alone would take a full year of hard work to pay off.

Not to mention all the other expenses.

But for Lin Xiufeng, the situation is completely different.

First, no rent to pay.

Second, renovation costs are all covered by Li Luo.

Third, making milk tea here is very easy—he can handle it alone.

Thus, what was once a barely profitable business becomes, for Lin Xiufeng, a truly effortless way to earn money.

After Li Luo's detailed analysis, Lin Xiufeng was somewhat tempted—after all, this was far easier than driving a truck.

Plus, it wouldn't interfere with his evening stall at the First Affiliated High School.

But thinking of how much money Li Luo would spend on renovation, Lin Xiufeng hesitated: "Maybe we should just forget it? You said the subway will come here eventually, and once property values rise, you'll probably sell it anyway—no need for all this back-and-forth."

Hearing his uncle say this, Li Luo burst out laughing.

"We're not even sure if we'll sell it," Li Luo said with a smile. "Our family isn't short on money. Just treat this as helping me manage the shop—if you want, you can give me a share of the profits each month."

"Hmm..." Lin Xiufeng thought of the seventy or eighty thousand yuan he still needed to buy a car, and finally nodded in agreement. "Then we split the milk tea shop's monthly profits fifty-fifty."

"Twenty-eight," Li Luo said. "Just give me twenty percent."

"No way—four-six."

"Three-seven," Li Luo said. "That's final. We'll renovate during summer vacation; you come oversee it. When Qianjiang University opens in the fall, you officially open."

"Alright."

After finally convincing his uncle, Li Luo discussed the renovation plan with him.

After finalizing the details, Lin Xiufeng planned to personally find a familiar renovation team to handle the work.

This milk tea shop was about to get on track.

…

While Lin Xiufeng shifted some of his attention to the milk tea shop,

the date arrived: June 6th.

Early in the morning.

Li Luo woke up, washed his face, then woke Ying Chanxi first, telling her to go to the bathroom to wash and brush her teeth, before walking into Xu Youyu's room.

"Senior, wake up, get up—we're going for a morning run."

Li Luo gently patted her face and said: "Today's your birthday—cheer up a bit."

"Ugh... you're so annoying..."

"Your mom specifically told me to wake you up every day for a run. If you don't get up, I'm calling your mom," Li Luo pulled out his phone, pretending to dial.

"Wait!"

Hearing this, Xu Youyu snapped awake, sat up instantly, and reached for Li Luo's phone.

Li Luo raised his hand high, then glanced at the screen and grinned: "Oops, looks like it already dialed."

"Hang up right now!" Xu Youyu panicked, lunged forward, wrapped her arms around Li Luo, climbed onto him, and grabbed his phone.

Li Luo was startled by her move, lost his balance, and tumbled back onto the bed with her.

Xu Youyu was pinned beneath him, let out a muffled grunt, but still snatched his phone.

Only then did she realize the phone hadn't dialed at all.

"You're messing with me?!"

"I was just joking—why'd you take it seriously?" Li Luo propped himself up on his hands, preparing to rise.

But Xu Youyu swiftly locked her legs around his waist, flipped him over, and pinned him beneath her.

Then, pulling back the blanket, she buried her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Wait... what are you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"Then at least let me go—why are you crushing me?"

"So you won't wake me up again. Better to sleep together," Xu Youyu mumbled, hugging him. "Be good, don't make noise."

"You're the one... stop messing around," Li Luo said. Because Xu Youyu's position was slightly high, he could barely lower his head without seeing her striking curves and cleavage—it made him flush. "Chanxi will come out of the bathroom soon—if she sees this, it'll be bad."

"I don't care. Today's my birthday—you have to listen to the Birthday Person."

"Actually, you're the Birthday Person in two days; today's Birthday Person status is fake."

"You talk too much, shut up!" Xu Youyu impatiently clamped her hand over Li Luo's mouth; anyone seeing it might think she was about to do something drastic.

Just as Li Luo was being pinned down on the bed by Xu Youyu, Ying Chanxi had finished washing up and stepped out of the bathroom, planning to return to the bedroom to change into her school uniform.

But in the hallway, she saw neither Li Luo nor Xu Youyu emerging, and Ying Chanxi couldn't help but feel puzzled.

"Li Luo, Senior, where are you?"

Hearing the voice from outside, Li Luo immediately sat up from the bed, grabbed Xu Youyu, and jumped off, placing her down beside the bed.

After tidying his clothes, Li Luo coughed twice and fled out of Xu Youyu's room like a runaway: "I'm calling her to wake up—she insists on sleeping in. Chanxi, you go wake her up too."

"I'm already up!" Xu Youyu followed Li Luo out of the bedroom, her clothes disheveled, eyes half-closed with sleep, her pajama shoulder straps dangling, revealing a large expanse of pale skin on her chest.

Ying Chanxi saw this scene and hurried over to Xu Youyu, helping her fix her pajama without letting Li Luo see: "Senior, hurry and wash up—today afternoon we'll celebrate your birthday."

Xu Youyu was pushed by Ying Chanxi into the bathroom.

Soon, the three of them were fully dressed, backpacks on, heading to school.

Saturday morning was self-study class.

During the last period, Kong Jun came into the classroom and explained some matters to everyone.

"The Gaokao is on the 7th and 8th, but the exam ends tomorrow afternoon on the 7th, so it won't affect our evening self-study—everything proceeds as usual, though afternoon remedial classes are canceled; you don't need to come."

"On the 8th, daytime classes continue normally, but there will be no bell—everyone must stay quiet and avoid loud noise in school, so as not to disturb the Gao San examinees."

"Especially near the Gao San teaching building—that's a sealed-off Gaokao zone. The library has also been temporarily requisitioned as a self-study area for Gao San students, and entry is forbidden during this period."

Since Fu No. 1 High is itself a Gaokao test site, only its own Gao San students take the exam here, so only the Gao San teaching building is sealed off, with no impact on Gao Yi and Gao Er classes.

This has always been the case.

Li Luo had originally thought the school would give a holiday on Xu Youyu's birthday, the 8th, but later learned that Fu No. 1 High was different from his previous high school—probably because of its remote location, the Ministry of Education hadn't assigned any other schools' examinees here.

So it became like this.

After finishing the Gaokao announcement, Kong Jun paused, then brought up another matter.

"At the end of this month, the 24th to the 26th, is the final exam."

"After the exam, everyone will receive a Gao Er subject selection form."

"During this time, you've probably all discussed it with your parents, and those with questions, your parents have already called me many times to consult."

"Once the final exam is over, take that form home, fill in the three elective subjects you plan to choose, have your parents sign it, and bring it back."

"I'm telling you in advance: go home this week and confirm again with your family—don't wait until the last minute to make a decision."

As soon as he finished, the dismissal bell rang.

Li Luo packed his bag and was about to leave with Yan Zhusheng to meet Ying Chanxi and the others, when Kong Jun came down from the podium, found Li Luo, and asked quietly: "Which three subjects are you choosing? Have you decided?"

"I have." Li Luo nodded. "Physics, History, Geography."

Kong Jun listened carefully, then looked surprised: "Why two humanities subjects?"

"I like them better." Li Luo made up an excuse.

Yan Zhusheng, beside him, glanced at him at once.

"History, Geography..." Kong Jun murmured, then added out of nowhere, "Well, fine. Should be okay."

"Okay what?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"Nothing." Kong Jun laughed, patted Li Luo's shoulder. "Keep working hard in Gao Er—I have high hopes for you."

With that, Kong Jun walked out of the classroom humming a tune, oddly cheerful.

"Why is Old Kong so happy?" Li Luo, baffled, turned to Yan Zhusheng.

Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "Maybe because your subject choices mean you'll still be in his class after Gao Er division—he's happy about that?"

With Yan Zhusheng's reminder, Li Luo suddenly understood: "You're pretty smart—I didn't think of that."

Yan Zhusheng nodded, as if it were obvious.

In competing for Li Luo, she was a professional, clearly sharing much common ground with Kong Jun, who also liked to snatch the class monitor.

She had instantly grasped the hidden meaning in Kong Jun's words.

"Let's go."

After school, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng slung their backpacks over their shoulders, left the classroom, and met Xu Yinghuan. At the stairwell, they waited for Ying Chanxi, Qiao Xinyan, and Zhao Rongjun, who hurried down.

Then the six of them went downstairs to Houde Road, where they met Xu Youyu, full of excitement.

"Come on, come on! Let's go!" Xu Youyu threw her arms around Yan Zhusheng and Ying Chanxi's shoulders, bouncing happily. "Let's have hot pot for lunch—I'm treating!"

"Hot pot? Fine." Li Luo nodded. "Which place?"

"The same one we went to last time—it's close by," Xu Youyu said. "That Chuan-Yu Old Hot Pot."

Chuan-Yu Old Hot Pot—when Li Luo arrived with the group at the restaurant's entrance, his expression turned slightly odd.

Because as Xu Youyu was about to enter, the server stopped her, saying the restaurant was shutting down and would close immediately.

In the end, the owner, seeing the scene at the door and hearing it was a girl's birthday, still let them in.

"We're closing up—won't reopen," the owner said, smoking on an empty seat nearby. "There's still plenty of fresh ingredients left in the kitchen—eat your fill. No need to pay—it's my gift for your birthday."

Xu Youyu and the others froze, stunned by this unexpected stroke of luck.

Li Luo's expression remained calm, but he gave the owner a curious glance, wondering what had happened.

While Xu Youyu and the others ordered dishes, Li Luo chatted with the owner and learned the situation.

The landlord, who had previously agreed to lower the rent, had suddenly changed his mind for some reason.

Li Luo didn't know whether this change had existed in his past life, or whether it was triggered by Li Guohong's acquisition of the storefronts, causing this new twist in the present.

In any case, this Chuan-Yu Hot Pot restaurant was truly finished.

He didn't know whether the landlord would still sell the property.

Li Luo muttered to himself, then was dragged off by Xu Youyu to celebrate the Birthday Person's birthday.

After a hearty lunch of food and drink, before Xu Youyu left, he still settled the bill, waved his hand, and took Li Luo and the others with him.

When they returned to Bihai Lanting, it was already past two in the afternoon.

"So we're not buying groceries?" Li Luo asked Xu Youyu, who had brought them back. "We still need to eat dinner, right?"

"No need." Xu Youyu waved his hand grandly. "We'll have Pizza Hut delivery tonight, so stop wasting our precious time cooking."

Hearing Xu Youyu say that, Li Luo immediately had an ominous premonition: "So… what are you planning to do with all this precious time?"

"In any case, it's not hide-and-seek." Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him, then had them sit down properly on the sofa. She herself ran back to the bedroom looking full of enthusiasm, took out a box of something, walked over to the coffee table and slapped it down, announcing loudly, "It's my birthday today, so you'll just have to play this with me~"

Li Luo leaned over to the coffee table with a puzzled look, then said, utterly speechless: "Monopoly? That's it?"

Ying Chanxi and the others also looked completely surprised.

He'd originally thought that Xu Youyu, who could come up with something like hide-and-seek, might have some new trick up her sleeve—but in the end, they were just playing Monopoly?

"Don't question my taste in games." Xu Youyu wagged her index finger, then tapped a string of words someone had written on the box. "Look at what this says."

Li Luo looked at it carefully with a suspicious expression, then read aloud: "Attached Middle School Version? What does that mean?"

"Hehe, open it up and take a look, and you'll understand." Xu Youyu laughed mysteriously. "This is something good I spent ages putting together."

Hearing her say that, Li Luo immediately felt a jolt, hurriedly flipped open the box, and pulled out the map placed on top.

"This…" Feeling the texture under his hands seemed a bit off, Li Luo took a closer look and realized this thing seemed to be handmade by Xu Youyu herself. "Senior 1 Class 8 classroom… 20 credits… what is this thing?"

"It means you can buy it for 20 credits."

"…What?"