Chapter 407

Evening.

While Ying Chanxi was helping in the kitchen with dinner, Xu Rongsheng and Li Guohong also arrived one after another, preparing to have dinner together.

The two families are now quite familiar with each other, after all, they come over every weekend for two meals.

Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling often make plans to dance or play mahjong on regular days.

On Xu Rongsheng's side, whenever he attends school faculty dinners, he brings people to Li Guohong's Sichuan-Chongqing Hotpot to support his business.

With the discount coupons Li Guohong gives out, it's cheap and practical.

It has also indirectly built some recognition for the Sichuan-Chongqing Hotpot among the Faculty of Literature professors.

Moreover, since foot traffic in Xijie is still low, Li Guohong's hotpot prices are significantly cheaper than those of the two hotpot restaurants on Ningshan Avenue.

So after Xu Rongsheng set the precedent, the Faculty of Literature professors now willingly come to Xijie's Sichuan-Chongqing Hotpot when they want to treat themselves to a good meal.

It's a good thing, really.

Although the monthly revenue of the Sichuan-Chongqing Hotpot still can't match the two restaurants on Ningshan Avenue, let alone Li Luo's income.

But this job is much easier than his old breakfast shop—everything is handled by the staff below, and Li Guohong mainly just gives orders and glances over occasionally.

Earning a little money each month, with no major expenses in daily life, Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong have no goal or pressure to save—whatever they earn, they spend. Their daily life is far more comfortable than before.

Through the bond of the hotpot shop and their weekly dinners, Li Guohong and Xu Rongsheng's relationship, while not as intimate as the two girls in the kitchen, is certainly familiar.

Xu Rongsheng, though a scholar from a scholarly family and a professor of literature at Qianjiang University, has no intellectual snobbery.

No matter the topic, Xu Rongsheng can always keep up the conversation and chats happily with Li Guohong.

Plus, due to his admiration for Li Luo himself, Xu Rongsheng genuinely enjoys talking to Li Guohong about Li Luo's childhood.

Whenever this happens, Li Luo immediately walks over to the sofa to sit with them, cutting off his father's endless stream of embarrassing childhood stories and quickly changing the subject.

It happened that today when chatting with senior Jian Chun about Qian Da's elective course, Li Luo brought up "A Little Reunion" with Xu Rongsheng.

"Your novel, Little Joys, has quite a few students in my elective course who really like reading it," Xu Rongsheng said with a smile. "But I noticed your serial platform charges for reading—wonder if sharing your text in class might cause any issues?"

"It doesn't matter," Li Luo shook his head. "Piracy is everywhere anyway. I didn't write this book for those subscription fees."

With current serial readership at over two thousand, even if it reached the premium standard of three thousand average subscriptions after going live, and all 800,000 characters were published, the total royalties would amount to only a few ten thousand yuan—less than a fraction of the earnings from I Am Really Not a Star.

Li Luo's ultimate goal in writing Little Joys is still to see if he can sell the film and television rights for a good price.

That depends on how much support Wenxue Group's current realist-themed writing contest is willing to give, and whether Huayue Film and Television under Yin Zhicheng can handle it.

It's also an experiment for Li Luo.

After all, by the time of Wenxue Group's annual meeting at year-end, Qidian will publicly announce his status as a Grandmaster.

With that status, plus the outstanding performance of I Am Really Not a Star and Little Joys' contest results, he might actually secure a decent rights price.

Li Guohong doesn't like reading, so he couldn't join their conversation and just sat listening.

He had once read some of Li Luo's books, but mostly gave up after a few pages.

If not for the three female leads in the book having real-life prototypes, Li Guohong might not have even finished the first chapter.

Later, when he did read, he simply treated it as stories of his son dating Xi Xi and the others.

After he started going daily to the hotpot shop or handling messages from people and companies inviting songs in his office, he put his son's novels aside.

Online novels are primarily written for young people, and since Li Guohong never had a reading habit, once he put them down, he never picked them up again.

Xu Rongsheng clearly noticed Li Guohong had fallen silent, so smoothly ended the previous topic and said: "Earlier you mentioned considering buying a car—how's that going?"

"Oh, that," Li Guohong perked up at a topic he cared about. "I think our current car can still run a while longer—no need to buy one now."

"I've looked at some—Audi, Mercedes, BMW—I don't have high demands. Just comfortable to drive."

"But if you want more space, an SUV would be nice. Still, the prices I saw are way too high."

"The cheapest are over six hundred thousand, and the pricier ones head toward a million—that's almost enough to buy another apartment."

Xu Rongsheng listened, glanced at Li Guohong, then at Li Luo, and chuckled: "Your son earns so much now—a million is just two or three months' income for him."

"Cough." Li Luo cleared his throat and reminded him: "If you only look at September and October, it's just one month's income."

Xu Rongsheng: "..."

Li Guohong: "..."

In September and October, because Yuan Wanqing appeared on the singing stage with one new song after another, driving traffic to I Am Really Not a Star, Li Luo's channel royalties exploded, making him the hottest new sensation of those two months.

Even all the pirated sites featured the book on their homepage banners for months, and it's still visible there now.

"But you still can't treat money like it's nothing," Li Guohong grumbled. "I'm the one who's worried—you don't care, but I do. After the New Year, just buy a cheap car, ten or twenty thousand, something that runs fine."

Li Luo smiled casually at his father's words, didn't respond, and just let him talk.

He'd already said before he wanted to buy Li Luo a car and let him pick freely, using the company's name.

But earlier this year, he said they should pay off the mortgage on Bihai Lanting first.

Then during summer vacation, he said they should handle the hotpot shop first.

After Li Luo started Gao Er, he said they should focus on Yuan Wanqing's singing show and handle the recent song invitations.

Now, nearing the end of the semester, he's saying the family's used sedan can still be used, and they'll buy a new one after the New Year.

It's just that they got used to frugal living, and now that the family has money, they're reluctant to spend.

Li Luo understands his parents' mindset and has no intention of forcing them to change.

After all, financial habits are easy to shift from frugality to luxury, but hard to reverse.

He's only been reborn for less than two years; though his parents' changes are already obvious, being a bit behind in spending isn't a big deal.

Still, Li Guohong's thinking is simple.

When Li Guohong was called into the kitchen by Lin Xiuhong to help serve dishes, he whispered to Xu Rongsheng: "I'm not really unwilling to spend that money."

"If it were me earning hundreds of thousands or even a million a month, I'd buy a million-yuan car with a wave of my hand."

"But now it's my son earning it—even if we buy it under the company's name, I don't feel right spending it, because he earned it all by his own ability, and we've done nothing to help."

"And writing novels—there's no telling what might happen in the future. It's safer to save more."

"You think so, right?"

After listening to Li Guohong's words, Xu Rongsheng nodded in strong agreement: "That's certainly true, but if your family's car has been used for a long time, it's only right to replace it with a new one."

"Of course I know that," Li Guohong nodded. "There's also the hot pot restaurant income, and my company pays me a salary too—I've saved up for half a year already; after the New Year, I estimate I'll have around two hundred thousand."

"I feel this money is finally my own earnings, even if I did benefit from my son's success—it's still solidly my own income."

"Then, when I buy a new car, I'll feel more at ease."

After hearing this, Xu Rongsheng regarded Li Guohong with newfound respect.

One could only say that parents capable of raising an outstanding child like Li Luo were themselves highly admirable.

And this excellence need not manifest in earning ability, but rather in other aspects of conduct and character.

Thinking of this, Xu Rongsheng felt a quiet stirring, his gaze drifting to Cui Suling's back as she bustled in the kitchen, recalling her earlier words.

Hmm… if my future son-in-law were Li Luo, merging our two families would truly be a fine match.

Especially given the relationship between Li Luo and my daughter… Xu Rongsheng recalled last time attending the symposium, and couldn't help shaking his head with a wry smile.

Cui Suling might not know, but didn't Xu Rongsheng understand clearly enough?

My daughter probably truly likes this boy, Li Luo.

Even that novel, *Literary Era*, grows increasingly like Li Luo in its male lead as it progresses.

Not to mention those rather explicit plotlines… my daughter, in this regard, is surprisingly mature.

Xu Rongsheng sighed helplessly, then looked toward Ying Chanxi helping in the kitchen, and Yan Zhusheng who had just stepped out of the piano room, and let out a soft breath.

The only problem is, this boy Li Luo attracts too much attention.

If it were an ordinary girl, Xu Rongsheng had full confidence in his daughter.

But facing girls as outstanding as Yan Zhusheng and Ying Chanxi? That's far less certain.

Still, the children are all still young—this sort of thing can wait until at least they enter university.

Xu Rongsheng merely thought about it in his mind, then set it aside with a smile.

"Dinner's ready! Go wash your hands and come sit down," Lin Xiuhong called from the dining table, removing her apron.

…

On Sunday morning, Lin Xiufeng accompanied Li Luo to a nearby 4S dealership, where they surveyed options and narrowed down their choice.

In the afternoon, he called his elder brother Li Guoru and asked him to come over to coordinate with the dealership under the company's name.

After that, Li Luo left the matter entirely alone and quickly returned to his daily school routine.

【Ying Chanxi】: o

【Li Luo】: ×

In Classroom 16, history class was in session.

Although Li Luo and Ying Chanxi had both scored 100 in their history elective, theoretically exempting them from attending.

But to accompany Yan Zhusheng to history class, the three still came together to Classroom 16 for rotating lessons.

Yan Zhusheng sat beside Jin Yuting, attentively taking notes.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi sat together in the back row, doing homework and occasionally playing gomoku.

It was now Wednesday afternoon, the final class of the day—teachers had already assigned New Year's Day assignments.

But since Li Luo and Ying Chanxi's three elective subjects had all reached perfect 100 scores, they only needed to complete assignments for Chinese, Math, and English—so skipping this one class didn't matter.

During class, whispering in the back row was tolerated by the teacher, as long as they didn't make loud noises disturbing other students.

【Li Luo】: I lost this round—what do you want?

【Ying Chanxi】: Let me think.

【Li Luo】: Give the president a massage tonight?

【Ying Chanxi】: Isn't that your duty anyway?

【Li Luo】: Fine, fine—what other services would you like?

【Ying Chanxi】: For the New Year's Day event, come patrol with me?

【Li Luo】: Sure, I'll carry you on my back while patrolling—I'll even be your mount.

【Ying Chanxi】: No way.

【Ying Chanxi】: After the New Year's Day event, let's keep filming the MV.

【Li Luo】: Sounds good—what song this time?

【Ying Chanxi】: Hmm… I have two options.

【Li Luo】: Tell me.

【Ying Chanxi】: One is "The Sun," the other is "Hollow."

【Ying Chanxi】: But "The Sun" was your birthday gift to Zhusheng—I think we should get her approval first.

The reason for choosing these two songs is, of course, that like "The Chase," they both belong to the category of romantic duets.

Ying Chanxi felt that after filming the MVs for "Waiting for You After Class" and "The Chase," she had become more familiar and skilled with this type.

That's why she made this choice.

Absolutely not because she wanted to arrange a kiss scene!

【Li Luo】: Then you can ask Zhusheng.

【Ying Chanxi】: Shouldn't you ask? After all, it's your song.

【Li Luo】: I feel the chance she'll say yes is higher if you ask.

【Ying Chanxi】: Huh? Why do you think that?

【Li Luo】: I mean, why would you think Zhusheng would say no if you asked?

【Ying Chanxi】: I didn't say that…

Of course it's because there'll be a kissing scene… How could Zhusheng agree to that?

Ying Chanxi thought this to herself, but since Li Luo had said so, she decided to ask first.

The result…

"Sure."

At dinner in the cafeteria, Ying Chanxi quietly asked Yan Zhusheng this question.

To Ying Chanxi's surprise, Yan Zhusheng nodded immediately without hesitation, not even pausing to think.

This left Ying Chanxi stunned.

All the carefully planned phrasing she'd rehearsed in her mind became useless, leaving her mentally frozen.

"What do you mean 'sure'?" Xu Yinghuan asked, confused, having not heard Ying Chanxi's question.

Yan Zhusheng said without any reservation: "Xixi wants to shoot the MV for 'The Sun,' and I agreed."

"Still shooting it?" Xu Yinghuan exclaimed, then quickly realized and whispered to Yan Zhusheng, "Aren't you the one who received this song as Li Luo's birthday gift? Are you really letting Xixi shoot it?"

"I don't know how to shoot anyway," Yan Zhusheng blinked.

"What I mean," Xu Yinghuan glanced at Ying Chanxi and Qiao Xinyan across the table, then lowered her voice further to advise Yan Zhusheng, "you could be the female lead, let Xixi be the director, and Li Luo be the male lead—get what I'm saying?"

"Oh…" After hearing Xu Yinghuan's suggestion, Yan Zhusheng's eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Ying Chanxi across the table and asked, "So is Xixi the director?"

"Mm-hmm," Ying Chanxi nodded lightly, casting a suspicious glance at Xu Yinghuan before adding, "I've always been the director."

"Then let me be the female lead," Yan Zhusheng said eagerly, volunteering outright.

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi across the table froze, stammering: "This… um… wouldn't that be inconvenient? Zhusheng, you still need to focus on your studies, um… Xixi and Li Luo both scored full marks on our elective exams, so we only have free time now."

"But I don't need such high scores," Yan Zhusheng said. "My elective scores are already high enough; after this, I could just study Chinese, math, and English and it'd be fine."

This was genuinely true for Yan Zhusheng.

After all, she scored 100 in geography, 97 in history, and 94 in physics—solidly in the high-scoring tier.

If placed among art students, it felt almost like a level-down advantage.

As long as Yan Zhusheng maintains her current level in Chinese, math, and English for the Gaokao, and her art exam score is above passing, getting into the Music College of Qianjiang University is a sure thing.

So there was no truth to Ying Chanxi's claim that Yan Zhusheng had no free time.

With Yan Zhusheng saying this, Ying Chanxi found herself trapped.

But remembering that "The Sun" was originally Li Luo's birthday gift to Yan Zhusheng, Ying Chanxi finally gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, then you be the female lead."

"Thank you, Xixi~" Yan Zhusheng happily thanked her, then curiously asked, "So… will there be a kissing scene?"

"…" Ying Chanxi's cheeks flushed at the question; sensing the stares of others around her, she quickly waved her hands. "Zhusheng, don't say things like that! How could there be a kissing scene!"

"But didn't your MV for 'Chasing the Light' have a kissing scene?" Yan Zhusheng asked innocently. "I think 'The Sun' could have one too."

"T-that was all shot with cutaways!" Ying Chanxi winked at Yan Zhusheng, signaling her not to spill the truth.

Though Ying Chanxi already knew many people in the room were aware she and Li Luo had actually kissed.

But if it were exposed publicly, it would still be too embarrassing and too embarrassing.

Fortunately, Yan Zhusheng wasn't truly foolish; hearing Ying Chanxi's hint, she nodded: "I know—it's shot with cutaways, so there still is a kissing scene, right? Just not an actual kiss."

"Mm-hmm!" Ying Chanxi nodded quickly. "No actual kiss."

Then she added, "I still have to shoot the MV for 'Hollow' with Li Luo. For 'The Sun,' since I want to capture a summer vibe in some scenes, I'll probably only shoot simple shots for now—I'm letting you know ahead of time."

"Mm," Yan Zhusheng nodded without objection. "No problem."