Chapter 310: Couple Outfits

July 4th.

The first morning of summer vacation.

Li Luo was jolted awake by an itch, his nose tingling—he jerked his head back and sneezed.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Yan Zhusheng, dressed in a light pajama set, lying beside him, holding a strand of his long hair like a brush.

Seeing this, Li Luo narrowed his eyes: "First thing in the morning, come here to cause trouble again, huh?"

"I was just waking you up," Yan Zhusheng said, quietly pulling her hair back, speaking with a straight face.

"Should I thank you then?"

"No need."

"Fine, I'm up." Li Luo got out of bed and slapped Yan Zhusheng's small butt where she still lay on his bed, "Go wake up Chanxi. I'll go wake up Xuejie."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng obediently followed behind Li Luo, and the two left the bedroom, each heading to carry out their daily task.

Li Luo knocked on the door, then walked in, glanced at Xu Youyu still asleep in bed, stepped to the bedside, and gently patted her cheek: "Xuejie, wake up. It's time to get up."

Xu Youyu didn't respond—still asleep.

Li Luo was about to call again, but his gaze fell on Xu Youyu's hair—he immediately had an idea, plucked a strand, moved it to her nose, and lightly tickled it a few times.

Xu Youyu quickly furrowed her brow, then couldn't hold back—a sneeze burst out, and she fully woke up.

She blinked in confusion, then saw Li Luo crouched beside her bed. She rubbed her nose and asked suspiciously: "What are you doing here?"

"I was just trying to wake you up for a morning run, and you sneezed right then," Li Luo said with a perfectly innocent expression. "Probably the AC is too cold. You should be more careful—you don't want to catch a chill."

"Oh…" Xu Youyu believed him, rubbed her head, reached for her phone, checked the time, and her face darkened instantly: "It's only just the first day of summer vacation—who the hell would be crazy enough to go for a morning run?"

She rolled up her blanket, turned sideways, and buried her head: "Whoever wants to run, run. I'm not running."

"Really not running?" Li Luo patted her shoulder. "You really want to sleep in?"

"Not running, not running. You guys go ahead," Xu Youyu waved her hand. "I only slept past two yesterday—you trying to kill me?"

"Alright." Li Luo stood up, brushed his pants, and said to Xu Youyu, "Try to wake up early this morning. Zhao Rongjun and the other three will come over later to study together."

"You guys study. I'm not missing anything by not being there."

"I suggest you wake up early, Xuejie. Otherwise, you'll regret it later."

"Only if you drag me out for a morning run will I regret it!" Xu Youyu stuck out a pale, smooth bare foot from under the blanket and kicked Li Luo squarely on the thigh. "Get out, get out—no waking me up during summer vacation, or tonight you'll wish you'd never been born."

Hearing this, Li Luo's expression changed—he stepped back several paces, then regained his composure, cleared his throat, and said: "Fine. That's what you said. Then keep sleeping."

As Li Luo stepped out of Xu Youyu's bedroom, he ran straight into Ying Chanxi, who had just finished washing up and was heading out.

Seeing no Xu Youyu behind Li Luo, Ying Chanxi rubbed her eyes and smiled: "Xuejie couldn't get up again?"

Li Luo spread his hands, indicating helplessness.

"Go brush your teeth and wash your face. Don't forget to use the face wash I bought you." Ying Chanxi raised her hands and patted Li Luo's cheeks, then added, "The clothes I brought back from my trip abroad—did you bring them over?"

"I brought them. They're in the closet."

"Remember to wear them," Ying Chanxi smiled sweetly. "It's sunny today—wear the white one."

Watching Li Luo nod, Ying Chanxi's cheeks flushed slightly. She lowered her head and walked into the bathroom down the hall.

Li Luo didn't notice her odd behavior. He returned to his bedroom, washed up, used the face wash, then went to the closet and found the summer T-shirts Ying Chanxi had given him.

He pulled out the white T-shirt, put it on, paired it with a random pair of pants, and checked himself in the mirror.

The back of the white T-shirt was plain except for a brand logo; the front featured a panda crouched on the ground, looking to the right.

It looked silly and cute.

Li Luo stepped out of his bedroom wearing the outfit, stretched his arms wide in front of the living room's floor-to-ceiling window.

Soon after, Yan Zhusheng, having finished washing up and changed into sportswear, came out and stood beside Li Luo, turning to look at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

But before she could act, Li Luo slapped her head: "What are you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking anything…" Yan Zhusheng muttered softly—her mischief had been interrupted before she could even begin.

At that moment, Ying Chanxi also emerged, having washed up and changed clothes. But she looked slightly embarrassed, biting her lip and avoiding Li Luo's gaze, pretending everything was normal as she walked to the door and said: "Let's go for a run."

Even though Ying Chanxi tried to act natural, Yan Zhusheng's eyes weren't blind.

She glanced at Ying Chanxi's white T-shirt—the panda crouched on the ground, looking left—then at Li Luo's, the panda looking right. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she turned to Li Luo: "When did you two buy these shirts?"

Li Luo now noticed the special detail on Ying Chanxi's T-shirt too. His mouth twitched—he hadn't expected her to pull this move.

"Didn't you all go abroad during winter break? She bought them overseas as gifts. Since they're summer wear, we just kept them until now."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng nodded, understanding, said nothing more, followed Ying Chanxi to the door, and put on her shoes.

But when Li Luo reached the door, he couldn't help muttering: "Why do our shirts match?"

"Don't you think this panda is cute?" Ying Chanxi avoided Li Luo's gaze, speaking softly. "I thought it looked nice, so I bought one for you and one for myself."

"You bought me three shirts total," Li Luo said, slipping on his shoes, suspiciously. "You didn't buy all three the same, did you?"

"You talk too much." Ying Chanxi hurried out the door and ran to press the elevator button. "Hurry up, let's go."

A few minutes later, the three stood at the entrance of Bihai Lanting.

Two of them wore matching panda T-shirts, standing out conspicuously.

Yan Zhusheng, in a black short-sleeve shirt, looked distinctly out of place among them.

As they jogged around the compound, Yan Zhusheng kept glancing back at Li Luo and Ying Chanxi's shirts, then pouting silently.

When they finished running and went to the breakfast stall downstairs, Yan Zhusheng remained silent.

Only while eating fried dumplings did she quietly place one on Li Luo's plate.

A middle-aged man rushing to work, eating mixed noodles nearby, glanced at the two bright, youthful girls and sighed inwardly at his lost youth.

Then he spotted a boy sitting across from one of the girls, wearing a matching panda T-shirt—and he sighed again.

But when he saw the girl in the black short-sleeve shirt place a fried dumpling on the boy's plate, the middle-aged man fell into long silence, momentarily confused about the relationship among the three.

Then, when he watched the girl in the panda T-shirt stubbornly place a wonton on the boy's plate too, the middle-aged man's brain short-circuited—he had no idea what modern youth's romance was even supposed to look like anymore.

After breakfast, the three of them returned home together.

Li Luo brought the breakfast he'd bought into Xu Youyu's room, pulled up a chair beside her bed, and woke her again: "Eat something before you go back to sleep."

"Mmm…" Smelling the food, Xu Youyu no longer found Li Luo annoying; without opening her eyes, she shuffled to the edge of the bed, opened her mouth, and said, "Feed me."

"Sure," Li Luo chuckled. "Order me to feed you as the reward for our bet, and I will."

"Dream on," Xu Youyu snorted, refusing to waste her hard-won nuclear option. She picked up her chopsticks and ate while lying on the bed.

Seeing she wasn't biting, Li Luo shook his head and left the study.

Around eight in the morning, Zhao Rongjun and the other two arrived.

Li Luo sat at the living room desk with his textbooks and summer assignments, cleared his throat, and said, "Today is Saturday, a demonstration day for summer study. From now on, we'll study here Monday through Friday, and rest on weekends."

"This summer's study goals are threefold."

"First, finish all our summer assignments."

oC〇

"Second, pick one to three elective subjects, cram hard this summer, and aim for a perfect 100 on the first elective exam in the fall."

"Third, Ying Chanxi, Qiao Xinyan, and Zhao Rongjun—you three must prepare seriously for subject competitions and work hard. Let's all push together."

After a brief speech, Li Luo asked everyone about their elective exam goals.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi both planned to complete all three subjects at once.

Qiao Xinyan had the same idea.

Zhao Rongjun, being cautious, chose only physics—the subject he was competing in.

For chemistry and geography, he planned to take one each semester, and by the final semester, retake all three electives.

Of course, getting a perfect 100 would be best.

As for Yan Zhusheng, Li Luo had prepared two heavy subjects for her: history and geography. Physics would wait—this short summer couldn't boost her much.

As for Xu Yinghuan, she'd also chosen physics, chemistry, and geography—something that surprised Li Luo.

But after recalling Xu Yinghuan's past exam scores, Li Luo understood.

She clearly disliked memorization-heavy subjects like history, politics, and biology—subjects that relied heavily on rote learning.

In comparison, the other three, though still packed with facts, were slightly more tolerable.

At least from her past exams, her scores in these three were consistently higher.

Still, Xu Yinghuan wasn't overreaching—this summer, she planned to focus solely on geography.

If she made good progress, she'd join Li Luo and the others and take the geography exam during the first elective test.

Even if she fell behind, she'd still be far ahead of classmates who only played all summer.

Since the three top students on the table all had competitions, they'd go to school for competition classes every weekday afternoon.

So Li Luo planned out everyone's study schedule.

In July, every morning, we'd work on summer assignments together.

In the afternoons, the three from the elite classes would attend competition classes, while Li Luo stayed behind to tutor Yan Zhusheng and Xu Yinghuan, reviewing all upcoming lessons they hadn't studied yet.

Evenings were for practicing problems to solidify their elective subjects.

By August, once the summer assignments were nearly done, mornings could be used to prepare for the elective exams.

To get into their dream universities, everyone pushed hard—even during summer break.

But Li Luo wasn't a monster; he still gave everyone weekends for relaxation and fun.

Still, for a better future, a little effort now was necessary.

Take Xu Yinghuan—within just a few months from the entrance exam to the midterm, her rank rose over a hundred places, giving her huge encouragement and motivation.

In this final exam, Xu Yinghuan moved up another few dozen spots, reaching 307th in the entire school.

When results were announced, Kong Junxiang publicly praised Xu Yinghuan's progress in class.

Let's be honest: students who got into Fuyi High weren't inherently bad.

With serious effort, good methods, and proper guidance, anyone could catch up and surpass others.

Students like Xu Yinghuan had been top performers in middle school, but after entering Fuyi, her rank dropped to bottom-middle—she immediately felt out of place.

Her former academic drive as a top student was crushed, and gradually, she grew accustomed to being bottom-middle, losing all ambition.

But once she tasted the sweetness of progress, and had clear direction and methods, she immediately reignited a powerful desire to learn.

Still…

The three who had just arrived weren't paying attention to what Li Luo was saying—their eyes kept flicking between Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, making Ying Chanxi blush.

After Li Luo finished explaining the summer study plan, Qiao Xinyan leaned close to Ying Chanxi's ear and whispered, "Are you two wearing matching couple outfits?"

"N-no…," Ying Chanxi hurriedly denied. "We just thought they looked nice, so we both bought one."

"Then why are the panda heads facing opposite directions?" Qiao Xinyan asked suspiciously.

Li Luo sat in the center of the desk; Ying Chanxi sat to his right.

So their panda designs faced each other—one left, one right—looking oddly cute.

"Men's and women's versions are slightly different—it's totally normal," Ying Chanxi whispered defensively.

Hearing this, Qiao Xinyan burst out laughing, shaking her head with a tut-tut sound, too amused to argue further.

Same pattern, slightly different men's and women's versions? That's obviously a couple outfit.

If they were identical, wouldn't that just be matching clothes?

Ying Chanxi refused to admit it verbally, but her body was honest—she'd specifically told Li Luo to wear this shirt this morning.

On the other side, Xu Yinghuan quietly asked Yan Zhusheng, who gave her a stern rebuke: "If Chanxi says it's not a couple outfit, then it's not."

Hearing this, Xu Yinghuan was speechless, thinking: You actually believe that…

Well… Xu Yinghuan glanced at Li Luo, realizing there was still one person who believed this wasn't a couple outfit.

Of the three, only Zhao Rongjun didn't overthink it—or rather, his mind didn't allow him to imagine something like "matching outfits," he just glanced a few extra times at Li Luo and Ying Chanxi.

But since Qiao Xinyan and Xu Yinghuan both had to sit across from their best friend, Zhao Rongjun had to settle for the middle seat, directly facing Li Luo.

"Isn't the senior here?" Zhao Rongjun asked curiously.

"Sleeping in," Li Luo said, pulling out his summer homework and starting to solve problems.

Qiao Xinyan asked again: "Are we going to buy groceries later? Li Luo, aren't you still going to cook for us? If you do it every day, it feels like too much trouble."

"Of course not," Li Luo shook his head rapidly.

Cooking once or twice a week occasionally was no problem for Li Luo.

But making lunch and dinner for them every weekday in a row? Li Luo absolutely couldn't handle it.

Cooking occasionally was a pleasure; cooking daily was pure physical labor.

"Then how do we handle lunch and dinner? Eat downstairs?"

"Don't worry," Li Luo said. "My mom will come over to cook. Just focus on your studies."

"Ah? Won't that be too much trouble for your aunt?" Qiao Xinyan worried.

"My mom doesn't have a job right now—she's got nothing to do all day," Li Luo chuckled. "If she gets something to do, like cooking for hardworking kids like us, she's thrilled."

As he spoke, before eight-thirty, a noise came at the door.

Lin Xiuhong opened the door and walked in, carrying groceries.

Behind her came Cui Suling.

The two mothers chatted merrily as they came in from the market; seeing the six people in the living room, Lin Xiuhong smiled and said, "Sorry to disturb you—keep going, keep going. My friend Cui and I will head to the kitchen to prepare lunch."

"Mom, why are you here so early?" Li Luo glanced at the clock, surprised.

"Cui and I have nothing to do, so we just went to the market early to cook lunch sooner," Lin Xiuhong said. "Didn't you say Xi Xi and the others have afternoon competition classes?"

"I figured if we eat lunch early, they can nap during their break and recharge."

"That way, they'll be more energetic in the afternoon and have a better chance of doing well in the competition."

"Then you two go ahead," Li Luo stood up, walked over, took one of the bags from Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling, and helped carry it into the kitchen.

At that moment, Cui Suling glanced around the living room and realized her daughter wasn't there.

"Li Luo."

"Huh? What is it, Auntie Cui?"

"Where's Youyu? Why isn't she here?"

"The senior? … She's still asleep," Li Luo said with a straight face, barely holding back laughter. "She told us not to wake her—she'll probably wake up at noon."

"That girl…" Cui Suling's face flushed with anger at this.

Normally, fine.

But now all six kids were in the living room studying seriously, and you, a Gao Er senior, were still sleeping in your bedroom?

How could you be so shameless!

Thinking of it, even Cui Suling felt embarrassed for Xu Youyu.

So she dropped her bag and stormed to Xu Youyu's bedroom door, flinging it open and stepping inside.

"Xu Youyu!"

"Look at what time it is!"

"The sun's already on your butt!"

With a whoosh, the curtains in the study were yanked open.

"Oh? Still eating breakfast in your chair?"

"You had Li Luo buy you breakfast this morning, didn't you? How do you manage to be so pampered?"

"While everyone else runs in the morning to exercise, you're sleeping in?"

"Now everyone's studying hard, and you're still sleeping in?"

"Get up right now!"

Ten minutes later.

Cui Suling had returned to the kitchen and was chatting merrily with Lin Xiuhong as they prepared lunch.

Xu Youyu, looking utterly miserable, finished washing up, changed clothes, and angrily patted Zhao Rongjun on the shoulder, demanding he give up his seat across from Li Luo.

"Hey hey hey!" Li Luo quickly stopped him, gesturing for Zhao Rongjun to sit. "Senior, sit over there—there's an empty spot."

Li Luo pointed to the empty seat beside the desk. Xu Youyu snorted: "What's wrong with me wanting to sit here?"

"Auntie Cui…"

"Shut up!" Xu Youyu rushed to the side seat and plopped down, glaring fiercely at Li Luo. "You dare say that after my mom leaves!"

"Then you'll be disappointed," Li Luo grinned. "Auntie Cui and my mom will be cooking for us all summer."

"Then why didn't you tell me this morning?" Xu Youyu gritted her teeth. "How come I didn't know?"

"Cough… I only told my mom last night," Li Luo coughed twice, then couldn't help laughing. "Then she contacted your mom."

"Since Auntie Cui usually has nothing to do, she agreed to help out."

"But she warned my mom ahead of time not to tell you—she wanted to see how your summer schedule was."

"Besides, I hinted at you this morning—who told you not to get up?"

Watching Li Luo's innocent expression, Xu Youyu angrily kicked his leg.

But the next second, Yan Zhusheng turned her head toward the senior and whispered, "Senior… um… you just kicked me."

"Huh?" Xu Youyu froze. She'd aimed at Li Luo's direction—Yan Zhusheng sat between them, so from her angle, she shouldn't have reached her.

But Yan Zhusheng had already quietly pulled her foot back, glancing at Li Luo with a guilty look.

Li Luo was speechless—he felt the force of the senior's kick through Yan Zhusheng's calf.

"Enough, enough." Li Luo tapped the table and announced, "Focus on your studies."