Chapter 375: This Posture Is More Comfortable

At the dinner table.

After Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong agreed to the two girls' request, the parent-teacher meeting was officially set.

But during dinner, Xu Youyu glanced at Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng's actions, his expression slightly odd.

It wasn't anything else—he just thought that since Ying Chanxi's father and Yan Zhusheng's mother were already together behind the scenes, and neither would show up for this parent-teacher meeting, they were probably sneaking off somewhere to meet.

Thinking of this, Xu Youyu couldn't help but chuckle silently.

Cui Suling watched the two girls fussing over Li Guohong and his wife, then glanced at her own daughter, who was just sitting there watching the show and snacking, and sighed deeply, feeling worn out.

She didn't expect Xu Youyu to start dating in high school, but look how proactive those two girls are?

Why is her own daughter completely oblivious to any sense of urgency?

Or does Xu Youyu not actually like Li Luo that much?

All he does all day is sleep in, snack, and master slacking off.

He never takes the initiative on his own.

He hasn't inherited a single bit of Cui Suling's excellent genes.

To be fair, after spending these past few months with Lin Xiuhong, Cui Suling truly felt the Li family were all very good people.

Especially since Li Luo made a fortune writing novels, the Li family's circumstances were now far better than the Xu family's.

Still, Xu Rongsheng held the title of professor at Qianjiang University, giving him some social standing.

He had more hidden resources and connections.

If these two families were to unite…

Every time Cui Suling thought of this, she felt it would be a truly wonderful thing.

She'd already become like sisters with Lin Xiuhong—their bond was so close—that if the two families eventually became one, Cui Suling couldn't help but feel delighted at the thought.

Unfortunately, reality didn't go as planned.

As things stood now, it seemed unlikely.

Especially next year, when their daughter graduated and went to Qianjiang University, separated from Li Luo and the other two, their relationship would likely grow even more distant.

Fortunately, Cui Suling wasn't completely obsessed—she'd just think about these things in her head, never actually say them to Xu Youyu privately, or the tone would change entirely.

"By the way," Xu Rongsheng now turned to Li Luo and asked curiously, "You said last time you were going to write a realist-themed novel—have you made any progress?"

"Oh, that one," Li Luo remembered upon being reminded, "I'm uploading this book today."

He pulled out his phone, checked the date, read the message from his editor Qianzhou, then confirmed: "Yes, today."

"But I haven't finished writing it yet—I've written nearly eight hundred thousand characters so far."

"I'll wrap it up in the next two days; the final word count will be just over eight hundred thousand."

"When you come for dinner next week for the parent-teacher meeting, I'll send you the full manuscript."

"Alright," Xu Rongsheng nodded with a smile, "I'll look forward to it."

After reading Li Luo's novel, Xu Rongsheng was genuinely curious what kind of work Li Luo would produce next.

Whether this was just a fleeting flash or a sustained output—both were possible for a child his age.

After all, with insufficient personal accumulation, a sudden burst of inspiration producing a popular work like I Am Really Not a Star didn't guarantee he could do it again.

Especially now, with realist-themed novels gradually declining—even Xu Rongsheng rarely encountered standout modern traditional novels anymore.

Of course, for a teenager like Li Luo, Xu Rongsheng's standards weren't high—he simply wanted to see what kind of story he'd write this time.

Realist-themed works, to some extent, require some reflection on reality, don't they?

Young people's reflections in this area might naturally appear relatively immature.

But given Li Luo's character and conduct, Xu Rongsheng felt Li Luo might still surprise him.

Amid this mix of expectations and doubts, Xu Rongsheng was genuinely looking forward to Li Luo's second work.

Unlike Cui Suling, Xu Rongsheng, while caring about his daughter's relationship with Li Luo, wouldn't pursue some "ideal state" of his own.

Cui Suling thought it would be wonderful if Li Luo and her daughter ended up together.

But Xu Rongsheng absolutely respected Xu Youyu's own agency.

The focus was always on what Xu Youyu herself thought—no matter what decision she made, Xu Rongsheng would support his daughter.

After dinner, once the parents had left, the living room of 1502 grew noticeably quieter.

Li Luo plopped onto the sofa, slumped down, and sighed: "You two have stolen my parents away—I'm the lonely one now."

"Hmph, it's because Lin Yi dotes on me," Ying Chanxi walked over to the sofa, saw him sprawled out taking up all the space, lifted her foot, and gently tapped his thigh with her soft, pale sole, "Move over a bit."

Li Luo pulled his leg back, making room; Ying Chanxi sat down.

Then Li Luo stretched his leg toward her again, pretending he meant to rest it on her thighs.

"Want me to give you a foot massage?"

"Dream on," Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes at him, but didn't mind his stinky feet—she just grabbed a sofa pillow, pinned his two meddling feet firmly onto her thighs.

At that moment, Xu Youyu walked out of the kitchen, sucking on a little pudding, grinning: "You could ask my mom to go to the parent-teacher meeting for you too."

"She really likes you now."

"If you asked her, she'd say yes right away."

"Cough… no need to trouble Auntie," Li Luo waved his hands frantically—even now, every time Xu Youyu said Cui Suling liked him, Li Luo felt weird.

It felt like a clash between memories from his past life and this one.

One could only say life was unpredictable—sometimes, only by becoming better yourself could you change others' opinions.

This, perhaps, is the meaning of reincarnation.

The more he noticed how his own improvement changed how people viewed and treated him between his past and present lives, the more Li Luo felt that stark contrast.

He didn't blame others—just thought that if his past self had tried just a little harder, some things might have turned out differently.

"Li Luo, what are you thinking about?" Ying Chanxi asked, puzzled as he suddenly fell silent.

"I was wondering when you'd finish playing with my feet."

"I didn't play with your feet at all! Don't make things up!" Ying Chanxi's face flushed red at his words, and she immediately shoved his stinking feet away with a pillow.

With his feet finally freed, Li Luo rolled over, checked the time, slipped on his slippers, and strolled toward his bedroom: "You two should bathe early—I'm heading back to my room."

Back at his desk, Li Luo turned on his computer, logged into QQ and his writing software, and soon saw a new message from his editor.

【Qianzhou】: All connections with Qidian are set. The event will officially launch at 9 PM.

【Qianzhou】: I've already submitted your first two chapters to the review department in advance—they'll be uploaded on schedule as the new book release.

【Qianzhou】: You can also promote this on your old book, reminding readers about the new release.

【Chongran】: Received.

【Qianzhou】: Realistic fiction has a limited audience, so don't expect high numbers—we're entering this for the contest.

【Qianzhou】: If you win first place in the contest, there's a strong chance the film and TV rights will sell, and government resources will be directed your way.

【Qianzhou】: Especially with your Gaokao-themed content—if you gain government endorsement, the review process might go smoothly, something rarely seen under normal circumstances.

【Chongran】: Don't worry, I understand.

【Qianzhou】: Alright, your book's probably almost finished, right? The performance won't affect you either way.

【Chongran】: Yeah, I'll wrap it up in a few days, then just keep updating from my saved drafts.

……

At nine o'clock that evening.

"Little Joys" officially launched.

At the same time, Li Luo's bedroom door was pushed open.

A few seconds later, he felt the back of his head sink into a soft, intimate space, and he closed his eyes, puzzled: "Senior, don't you write at night?"

"I finished writing in the afternoon," Xu Youyu said, her cool fingers gently pressing acupoints on his head as she chuckled, "Now that I'm free from student union and club duties, Saturdays are wide open. You think I came back just to sleep?"

"What else?"

"Underestimating me, huh?" Xu Youyu snorted lightly and pressed down harder.

Li Luo hissed in pain—his body felt both agony and pleasure, like ice and fire raging together, unbearable yet addictive.

"Your new contest entry—has it been uploaded yet?"

"Yeah, just now."

"Let me check."

Xu Youyu released Li Luo's head, reached into her nightgown pocket, pulled out her phone, and opened the Qidian app.

The moment she tapped it, a full-screen promotional banner popped up.

It boldly displayed three large characters: "Little Joys."

——Chongran's latest masterpiece arrives!

Below it were various related tags on the background image.

After clicking the link, the phone screen redirected to an event details page.

The event runs from today, November 20th, until January 7th next year.

It had already been announced that the new book would be officially released on New Year's Day, January 1st.

Below were the rewards for collecting, voting, and tipping—each granted a chance to win prizes from the prize pool.

Regardless of what the prizes were, just this full-screen promotional banner alone showed overwhelming support for Li Luo's new book.

When Xu Youyu exited the event page and returned to her bookshelf, she noticed a floating circular window in the bottom right corner—clicking it would instantly redirect to the event page.

"Damn! Is this what being a top author feels like?" Xu Youyu stared in disbelief. "This exposure is insane."

"Signing a top author contract is exactly for these perks," Li Luo laughed. "But this floating window only appears for the first seven days and seven days after release."

"Still amazing!" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, then walked to Li Luo's side, plopped down sideways onto his lap without hesitation, and laid her phone flat in front of him. "When will I ever get an event like this?"

"... Can you not suddenly sit on me while talking?" Li Luo felt a sudden wave of fragrance and the softness of her body pressing against him—his breathing quickened slightly.

"What? You're already tired of me?" Xu Youyu put on a pitiful expression, then leaned further into his arms, her body settling against him. "You were just enjoying my massage, and now you're throwing me away? Even a little sit is too much?"

Li Luo: "... You're a ten-thousand-subscriber author now. When you launch your next book, you'll get similar events too."

Unable to argue with Xu Youyu, Li Luo shifted the topic to distract himself.

"Your exposure won't be nearly this big, and I won't even write my next book until next year—it's way off," Xu Youyu wiggled slightly, then gave him a sly smile, winking. "Someone's been naughty."

"Alright, alright." Li Luo quickly pushed her off his lap.

"Hah~" Xu Youyu landed on his bed, propped herself up on her elbows, and stretched out one foot to tease him again, grinning at his flustered face. "What's there to be shy about? It's normal—I get it~"

Xu Youyu had written so many steamy scenes in her novels that Li Luo's reaction now was too tame to even include—she'd consider it too slow even for her own car scenes.

"Stop it," Li Luo slapped her mischievous foot away, then composed himself, adjusted his chair, sat upright, and reached for his keyboard. "I'm starting to write. Don't disturb me."

"Fine."

Xu Youyu stopped teasing him. Seeing he was serious, she rolled onto her back on his bed, cradled her phone in both hands, opened his new book's detail page, and tapped "Add to Bookshelf."

Lying on Li Luo's bed, Xu Youyu propped her head on her hands, phone in hand, legs swinging idly, occasionally lifting her nightgown hem to reveal her snow-white thighs.

Compared to Yan Zhusheng's slender legs and Ying Chanxi's cute, pale ones, Xu Youyu's were slightly fuller—so tempting one wanted to squeeze them.

But Li Luo only glanced twice, then immediately looked away, focusing seriously on finishing "Little Joys."

The TV drama "Little Joys" had 49 episodes. Li Luo followed the drama's plot exactly, writing roughly ten to twenty thousand words per episode.

By the time he neared the end, the total reached about eight hundred thousand words.

Compared to the original's brief hundred thousand words, this was a massive expansion.

Li Luo didn't know if this approach was right, but from a pure reading perspective, his version was clearly better.

The plot had detailed buildups and climaxes, with sufficient emotional peaks.

When Ying Chanxi read his "Little Joys," she cried and laughed—Li Luo knew he hadn't written it wrong.

But.

While Li Luo was diligently typing, finishing up the backlog for "Little Joys," Xu Youyu was browsing "Little Joys" on his bed.

At nine o'clock that evening, besides "Little Joys" going live, Li Luo also updated a chapter of "I Am Really Not a Star," mentioning his new book at the end.

Soon, a batch of readers were drawn over to "Little Joys."

Xu Youyu scrolled through the comments section; each refresh added a dozen new comments.

Only a hot author like Chongran could achieve such results right after a new book's release.

In just half an hour since launch, the comment section had surpassed five hundred posts, and the number kept rising.

Favorites had jumped from five hundred within three minutes of launch, to one thousand at ten minutes, then to three thousand by the half-hour mark.

Watching this surge in data, Xu Youyu couldn't help but recall her own new book's performance last year.

It had taken her two full months of the new book period to barely reach three thousand favorites.

Thinking of it this way, it really was enough to make one jealous.

【???】

【Wait, new book?】

【Did the old one end?】

【It didn't end! End what?】

【I came from the old book—what the hell is this new one?】

【What is "Little Joys"? Such an abstract title.】

【The summary says it's about the college entrance exam—why doesn't it feel like an Online Novel?】

【Didn't you see the tags? It's an entry for a realism-themed contest—probably some official requirement.】

【Damn, is Chongran now eating from the imperial table?】

【What's the point of this contest? Better just update the old book.】

【Read it. Boring.】

【Not entertainment? Boring, leaving.】

Looking at the comments now, Xu Youyu furrowed her brow slightly.

Although the opening data was strong, the comments were overwhelmingly skeptical.

After all, "I Am Really Not a Star" was going well, and suddenly a new book appeared, planned for simultaneous serialization.

This upset some longtime readers.

But soon, someone found Chongran's note at the end of "Little Joys" and reposted it to the comments.

【Chongran says "Little Joys" was written long ago, so it won't affect updates on the other side.】

【That's better—I just feared he'd neglect the old book for this contest entry.】

【He released five chapters at once. After reading them, I think it's okay—it's just not like traditional Online Novel style.】

【The protagonist has no cheat system—he's just an ordinary Gao Zhongsheng with a childhood friend, a female classmate. Is this really Chongran's own life?】

【Alright, alright, autobiography, got it.】

【Didn't he say his desk partner was Yuan Wanqing's daughter? Did he write her in?】

【Laughing so hard—is this really an autobiography?】

【To be fair, if you read this book as Chongran's autobiography, it suddenly becomes way more interesting, haha.】

【It's probably heavily fictionalized, but the school and such must be based on his own.】

【Actually, I don't care about any of that—I just want to point out one thing: in recent updates of "I Am Really Not a Star," the protagonist Li Yang plans to create a TV drama tailored to Shen Dongdong's student-like traits. You guys get what I mean?】

【Holy shit? He writes original songs—I can accept that. But now he's creating a TV drama too? I don't believe it. Too coincidental.】

【Honestly, that's unlikely. Adapting a novel into a TV drama takes years. Can his old book even last that long?】

【If he really creates a TV drama and both book and show explode, then "I Am Really Not a Star" will truly be a legendary Online Novel—no question.】

Seeing that someone in the comments had immediately guessed this, Xu Youyu couldn't help but smile.

But honestly, even Xu Youyu didn't think Li Luo's chances of success were high.

After all, a TV drama isn't a song.

Writing songs could still be considered within normal bounds.

But creating a TV drama with the same impact as Li Luo's songs? The difficulty level was entirely different.

Yet from a sentimental standpoint, Xu Youyu glanced at Li Luo, who was diligently typing, and a faint smile touched her lips.

She seemed to have too much faith in him.

She actually believed this novel could become a hit TV drama.

Unlike Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, Xu Youyu had never asked Li Luo for a copy of "Little Joys" before—today was her first time reading it.

She could only admit she was being a bit overly fond of him.

Xu Youyu rolled over, lying flat on Li Luo's bed, laughing softly and shaking her head, then stretched out comfortably.

After Li Luo finished typing and turned to look at his bed, he realized Xu Youyu had fallen asleep without him noticing.

Fortunately, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng had both been well-behaved tonight—after bathing, they returned to their own rooms and didn't disturb Li Luo.

After typing, Li Luo checked "Little Joys" one last time, ignored the negative comments, kept his composure, grabbed clean clothes from the wardrobe, and went to take a shower.

While showering, Li Luo heard a sound from the door lock and turned, puzzled, toward the bathroom door: "Senior?"

No response.

Li Luo thought it was his imagination.

After showering, Li Luo opened the bathroom door—he'd locked it while bathing—and stepped out in pajamas.

Xu Youyu was still peacefully lying on his bed, sleeping soundly.

Li Luo sighed, pulled the blanket over Xu Youyu, then lay down on the bed himself, turned off the light, and closed his eyes to sleep.

But no sooner had he turned off the light than he felt a soft octopus clinging tightly to him under the covers.

"Senior, if you're awake, go back to your own room."

"I'm asleep."

"That only fools children."

"I was really asleep just now, but you woke me up," Xu Youyu said lazily, wrapping her arms around Li Luo, resting her head on his shoulder and blowing softly against his ear. "I just woke up, I don't have the energy to move much."

"You don't have the energy to go back, but you have energy for this?"

"This position is more comfortable," Xu Youyu chuckled, unhesitatingly placing her leg across Li Luo's stomach. "It's like hugging a big stuffed toy—no wonder Chanxi loves her panda so much."