Chapter 305

Li Luo only relaxed for one night.

When he woke up the next morning, he checked the update list for Literary Era and was shocked to find that Xu Youyu had posted four chapters in one night.

By another night, Xu Youyu posted three more chapters in a row, suppressing the growth of her average subscription count.

On the morning of June 8th, Li Luo woke up, glanced at the chapter list of Literary Era, and immediately twitched his mouth.

Seven updates in two days!

Is this really the senior I know?

She's truly resorting to any means to win!

After washing up, Li Luo woke Ying Chanxi, then went to Xu Youyu's bedroom, looked at her sleeping face, sighed helplessly, and poked her cheek.

"Senior, wake up—it's time for morning run?"

"Mmm…" Xu Youyu woke up, opened her eyes briefly, then immediately shut them again, lightly slapping Li Luo's face as she mumbled, "Don't wake me, I'm exhausted… you guys go run, I'm not going."

"What time did you go to sleep last night?"

"Uh… two? Or three? I don't remember…"

"Do you really need to push yourself this hard…? It's just a small bet—what if you lose?"

"Yeah, what if I lose?" Xu Youyu forced her eyes open and rolled her eyes at him. "That line goes out to a certain someone first."

"Cough… my Silver Alliance was mostly to celebrate your birthday, Senior."

"Then I really thank you." Xu Youyu chuckled twice, "Isn't a Silver Alliance adding extra chapters just standard? I'm just thanking you for your birthday gift."

Li Luo: "…"

Xu Youyu's logic was so sound that Li Luo couldn't refute it.

"How many average subscriptions do you have now?" Li Luo asked.

"Hehe." At this, Xu Youyu grinned proudly, "Just barely holding at 9,850."

"But the Silver Alliance added tens of thousands of collections… sure, most are fake—people just grab treasure chests—but still, quite a few actually read my book."

"Over these past two days, probably more people finished the free chapters, especially today—it's Monday…"

"What's special about Monday?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"More people read on Mondays."

"Oh, I guess that's true."

It was a very counterintuitive thing.

Unlike other entertainment activities, Online Novels actually see more readers on workdays and school days.

Probably because on weekends, when people have longer free time, they don't necessarily spend it reading Online Novels.

But once back at school or work, they're happy to sneak in a few minutes of reading during short breaks.

This trend wasn't obvious—or even reversed—before, but since last year, when Qidian Reading's mobile app became popular and mobile reading surpassed PC, this trend became much more pronounced.

"So do I still have a chance to win?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow.

From its launch last August until now, over nine months, plus the initial two-month new book period.

Xu Youyu has been writing this book for nearly a year.

The total word count of Literary Era has reached over 1.4 million.

Though it doesn't match Li Luo's current 2.2 million, it's still not insignificant.

With more words and chapters, the growth rate of average subscriptions slows further.

Unless there's a major plot twist attracting many new readers, or a powerful recommendation slot drives traffic.

Otherwise, the later a book gets, the harder its average subscriptions are to move.

Like Xu Youyu's Literary Era, its continued growth is partly due to editorial recommendation slots, Li Luo's chapter promotion, and the Silver Alliance boost.

But at this stage, her word count has also started generating word-of-mouth, slowly forming a grassroots wave of praise among readers.

With this momentum, combined with the traffic from the Silver Alliance, if Xu Youyu didn't update today, Li Luo estimated Literary Era would hit ten thousand subscriptions by nightfall.

In fact, if Xu Youyu hadn't been pushing so hard these past two days, it should've already hit ten thousand yesterday.

But after hearing Li Luo's words, Xu Youyu got uneasy, got out of bed, sat at her computer, opened her author backend, and immediately paled.

Because her average subscriptions had risen from 9,850 at dawn to 9,900!

It had only been a few hours!

Seeing this, Xu Youyu frantically opened her draft folder and posted two more saved chapters, dragging her average subscriptions back down, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

"What…?" Li Luo stared, dumbfounded after she posted two more chapters, "Where did you even get so many saved drafts?"

"Hmph." Xu Youyu gave a cold laugh, "Don't underestimate human potential when facing desperation."

"This isn't desperation… I won't do anything to you if I win."

"But if I lose, I won't be able to do this to my little brother first, then that," Xu Youyu sighed.

Li Luo: "…?"

"What exactly do you mean by 'do this first, then that'?"

"I'll tell you after I win."

"Huh… heh…" Li Luo thought for a moment, pulled out his phone, "Looks like one Silver Alliance isn't enough."

"Stop!" Xu Youyu leapt from her chair, lunged forward, and tackled Li Luo onto the bed, snatched his phone, threw it aside, then grabbed his collar fiercely: "I'm seriously warning you—if you dare send another Silver Alliance, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

"Stop, stop—I was just joking!" Li Luo raised his hands in surrender, "Since you're awake now, let's go for a morning run?"

Seeing the bet might slip away, Li Luo still wanted to try harder—to tire Xu Youyu out with the morning run.

Otherwise, if she wrote two more chapters, it'd be impossible to reach ten thousand subscriptions before midnight.

But Xu Youyu clearly didn't want to run; after letting go of Li Luo, she crawled back under the covers.

But fearing he'd bother her again, she grabbed Li Luo's hand and pressed it against her chest, then screamed: "Help! Help! Ying Chanxi, come save me! Li Luo's assaulting me! He's touching my chest!"

"Holy shit!"

Li Luo's hand was pressed toward Xu Youyu's chest.

Fortunately, he resisted slightly, and after shifting, his hand landed on Xu Youyu's shoulder.

But hearing a flurry of hurried footsteps in the hallway outside, Li Luo instantly panicked, quickly snatching his hand away and retreating several steps back.

At that moment, Ying Chanxi had already run to the study room door, shoved it open, and rushed in—then froze in place: "You two…"

"Chanxi!" Xu Youyu strained to blink, but her acting still needed work—she couldn't produce even a few tears, and with a mournful face, she complained, "Li Luo…"

"Don't make things up!" Li Luo immediately scowled and cut her off. "I just came to wake you up. You didn't want to get up, and now you're slandering me."

Ying Chanxi glanced skeptically at Li Luo, but didn't believe he was that kind of person.

Especially since her senior always liked to joke—now seeing her senior trying hard to look pitiful, yet unable to suppress a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, Ying Chanxi sighed helplessly: "Senior, you nearly scared me to death."

"Cough…" Realizing she'd been exposed, Xu Youyu yanked the blanket over her head and mumbled, "Anyway, you two go jogging. Don't drag me along—I still need to sleep."

"Alright, alright." Ying Chanxi quickly pulled Li Luo out of the study room. "Senior, keep sleeping. I won't let him bother you anymore."

Saying this, Ying Chanxi kindly closed Xu Youyu's door.

"You really are something," Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the living room and gave him a look. "If Senior wants to sleep, let her sleep."

"So next time you want to sleep in, I won't wake you up either?"

"That's different!" Ying Chanxi glared at him. "I want to go jogging. Senior genuinely doesn't."

"Fine."

At least he hadn't been branded a pervert.

If they'd misunderstood, he'd never wash it off even if he jumped into the Yin River.

…

After tidying up and slinging his backpack on, the two headed to the Affiliated No. 1 High School, met Yan Zhusheng at the playground, and began running.

The 7th and 8th were the days of the National College Entrance Examination.

Affiliated No. 1 High School hadn't locked down campus or given Gao Er and Gao San students a holiday; instead, they'd specially planned two routes.

The normally crowded Houde Road was designated as the exclusive dining route for Gao Er and Gao San students, while the Gao San teaching building was completely isolated.

The other route, Boxue Road, was reserved exclusively for Gao San examinees—during this period, only Gao San students were allowed to pass.

Ordinary Gao Er and Gao San students, from morning self-study onward, were forbidden to leave their classrooms except to use the restroom.

At lunchtime, each class had to line up quietly and move out, and they could eat only on the first floor of the cafeteria.

The second floor was reserved for Gao San students who needed it.

After running, Li Luo and the others headed toward the cafeteria. Passing the Gao San teaching building, Li Luo glanced at the yellow caution tape surrounding it and muttered: "In two years, it'll be our turn."

"In one year, it'll be Senior's turn," Ying Chanxi added.

"Why does it sound like you're kind of eager?"

"I'm not!" Ying Chanxi glared at him.

After breakfast, the three returned to the Gao San teaching building and parted at the third-floor corridor entrance.

Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng entered the classroom, sat at their desks, stretched, then had Yan Zhusheng pull out her history textbook to reinforce the memorization points needed for the subject during morning self-study.

When the first class began.

Since Li Luo had already taught Yan Zhusheng all the semester's material ahead of time, there was no homework for the first class, so Yan Zhusheng secretly passed him a note.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Should we play Senior's Monopoly again next time it's my birthday?

Li Luo glanced at Teacher Ding at the podium, then glanced at the draft paper's content, and immediately looked speechless.

【Li Luo】: You've gotten addicted to it, haven't you?

【Yan Zhusheng】: It's really fun, don't you think?

【Li Luo】: Once was enough. Doing it again is getting boring.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Don't you like the feeling of having three girlfriends at once?

【Li Luo】: …

【Yan Zhusheng】: You didn't deny it—that means you like it?

【Li Luo】: Don't make things up!

【Yan Zhusheng】: Then how should I celebrate my birthday?

【Li Luo】: How did you celebrate before?

【Yan Zhusheng】: If Mom's free, she'll celebrate with me—we'll play piano together and sing.

【Yan Zhusheng】: If Mom's not free, she'll buy me a cake, and I'll eat it alone while watching TV.

【Li Luo】: This year, we'll celebrate your birthday with you.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Okay.

【Yan Zhusheng】: But before my birthday, there's the class-splitting trip.

【Li Luo】: What?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Huanhuan and the others mentioned it privately.

【Li Luo】: What do you mean, class-splitting trip?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Huanhuan and the others said that after Gao Er, we'll be split into different classes, and many classmates won't end up in the same class, so they're thinking of organizing a summer trip.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Yesterday they discussed it loudly in the dorm. The vice-class monitor said she'd ask for your opinion today.

【Li Luo】: Oh, I see.

Li Luo nodded in understanding—he roughly grasped what the girls meant.

It was basically like a graduation trip, except they weren't anywhere near graduation—but the Class 8 of Gao Yi really was about to "graduate."

Over the past year or so, the classmates in Class 8 had gotten along fairly well.

Yan Zhusheng, at the start of the semester, had a strained relationship with her dormmates due to some actions by the female sports committee member.

But later, under Li Luo's guidance and help, they now get along quite well.

After participating in collective activities like the sports meet, New Year's Eve party, and the three major ball tournaments, everyone's bonds grew thoroughly familiar.

Unfortunately, just at this point, Gao Er was about to be divided into new classes.

Many had already settled on their three elective subjects, and some were destined not to be in the same class; faced with this impending separation, emotionally sensitive girls naturally felt it more deeply.

Though they would still be in the same school, after the division, most would likely not speak another word to each other.

At first, they might still nod and greet each other when they met.

Over time, as distance grew, they might not even nod anymore.

In that case, planning a trip before the class division wouldn't be a bad idea.

In Li Luo's memory, only in elementary school had the school organized a spring outing.

After entering junior high and then high school, no similar school activities had taken place since.

But traveling with classmates was indeed a wonderful experience.

【Li Luo】: Let's wait until Hua Xiuxiu comes to discuss it with me—this isn't urgent; we can think about it after the final exams.

【Li Luo】: Besides, if we organize it ourselves, getting parents to feel at ease is a problem—we'll need to think carefully.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Oh.

Yan Zhusheng hadn't thought that far ahead.

She only thought that if it was a class-dividing trip, then only Class Eight's classmates would go together—Xixi and the senior wouldn't be there.

Li Luo hadn't guessed Yan Zhusheng's quiet thoughts; he simply felt the class-dividing trip was fairly meaningful, so he noted it mentally, adding it to his Memory Palace's task list to handle later.

……

When it was time for the noon nap, Hua Xiuxiu indeed came to find him.

After listening, Li Luo asked: "So what's your current plan?"

"My plan…" Hua Xiuxiu frowned in thought, then said, "First, collect opinions from classmates to see where everyone wants to go? Pick the place with the most votes, then contact a travel agency."

"Listen to me instead," Li Luo sighed, pulling out paper and pen and writing down several points: "First, don't consult the entire class on the destination—we'll decide privately, and choose somewhere as close as possible around Yuhang City."

"Second, don't hire a travel agency—we'll rent a coach ourselves, maybe just add a private tour guide."

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"Third, ask Teacher Kong ahead of time whether he's willing to act as my lord guarantor—having a teacher vouch for us will make it easier to convince parents."

"Fourth, if all else fails, I'll ask my parents—after all, for students to travel, we definitely need adult supervision."

"Fifth, once the destination is set, how should we schedule the time—just a single day, or an overnight trip?"

"Sixth, once time and place are confirmed, how should we set the budget, and plan activities and expenses at the destination?"

"Seventh, how do we ensure students' safety during the trip so parents can feel at ease?"

"That's all for now."

After writing, Li Luo handed the paper to Hua Xiuxiu and smiled: "Are you planning to try solving this yourself, or should I handle it?"

Hearing this, Hua Xiuxiu raised an eyebrow, snorted, and snatched the paper: "I'll do it myself."

"Don't tell the classmates yet," Li Luo warned. "Draft a framework first, then work out the details slowly."

For group activities, absolute democracy is the worst approach.

Everyone chimes in with their own opinion, you suggest one thing, I suggest another—eventually no one knows whose advice to follow.

So the best method is to centralize decision-making: two or three people finalize the itinerary, and everyone else just executes it.

But since they're all Gao Zhongsheng, Li Luo estimated not many would join the class-dividing trip.

Many parents wouldn't feel comfortable letting their children join such private outings.

Of the forty students in the class, twenty showing up would be a lot.

Thinking this, Li Luo simply handed it over to Hua Xiuxiu and let her think up solutions.

After all, there was still plenty of time; concrete actions could wait until after the final exams.

……

After sending Hua Xiuxiu off at noon, Li Luo received the first planning proposal in the evening.

After pointing out a few flaws, Li Luo sent it back to Hua Xiuxiu to rethink.

After evening self-study ended, Li Luo returned home with Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu; while Ying Chanxi was showering, he quietly asked Xu Youyu: "What's your average subscription?"

"9967," Xu Youyu replied, then immediately walked into her bedroom—clearly intending to keep working hard.

Li Luo checked the time—it was still nine at night.

If Xu Youyu didn't update in the remaining three hours, reaching ten thousand with the Silver Alliance boost would be easy before midnight.

But if Xu Youyu posted two more chapters…

Thinking of this, Li Luo sighed, realizing he'd have to bring out his own trump card.

But…

After her shower, Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the room and made him dry her hair.

After drying her hair, she sat beside him watching him type.

It wasn't until around eleven at night that Li Luo finally persuaded her to go back to her room and sleep.

After confirming Ying Chanxi had returned to her room, Li Luo quietly slipped out of his own room and went to Xu Youyu's door, gently knocking.

No response.

Li Luo knocked again, whispering: "Senior? Senior?"

Still no reply.

So Li Luo carefully pried open a crack in the door—before he could even look inside, sharp slapping sounds came from inside.

Xu Youyu was sitting intently in front of her computer, beside her the speakers Ying Chanxi had given her, now playing soothing light music.

Her hands danced across the keyboard like butterflies, swift as thunder.

Li Luo glanced again at his phone.

The Literary Era hasn't updated yet!

"What are you doing?" Xu Youyu turned, annoyed at the sound of the door opening, "Don't bother me, or I'll hit you."

"Cough… I've got something important to tell you," Li Luo said quickly, "Sis, don't you remember? Today's your birthday—I still haven't given you your gift."

"Then hurry up, I still have to write."

"Why write anymore?" Li Luo walked over to Xu Youyu, massaging her shoulders and pulling her hands away from the keyboard, "My gift is special—you need to savor it, and it takes time to prepare."

Xu Youyu: "...?"

"Are you sure your gift is serious?"

Xu Youyu, who habitually wrote steamy scenes in her novels, was still in high-speed writing mode and immediately misinterpreted Li Luo's words.

Li Luo, reminded by her, finally caught on, then his face darkened instantly. "Don't say nonsense—I'm giving you a serious gift!"

"Is it something to drink?" Xu Youyu chuckled, her expression loaded with meaning.

"... It is something to drink," Li Luo twitched his lips, "but not what you're thinking."

"What am I thinking? I wasn't thinking anything." Xu Youyu giggled, "Then hurry and show me—what are you going to make me drink?"

"Cough, wait a moment." Li Luo turned and walked out of the study. Soon after, he returned carrying two boxes, setting them down on the floor.

"What's all this?" Xu Youyu, even while writing steamy scenes, was still startled by the two boxes.

Squatting down to watch Li Luo open the boxes, Xu Youyu realized—each box was completely filled with liquor!

"I noticed you usually only drink beer," Li Luo tapped the side of one bottle with his finger, producing a crisp sound, "And I bought you wine glasses, didn't I? Tonight, I'll make you some cocktails to taste."

"You know how to make cocktails?" Xu Youyu asked in surprise. Seeing Li Luo nod, she grew delighted.

"Still writing?"

"Hurry up! I can't wait!"