Chapter 427: This Photo—Isn

The banquet ended just before seven o'clock.

From seven o'clock in the evening until half past seven was the time when guests arrived one after another.

Li Luo wiped his lips with a gray suit sleeve, then walked behind Qianzhou alongside Xu Youyu, who wore a blue-pink evening gown.

"Remember to sign your names on the autograph wall later," Qianzhou said to Li Luo and Xu Youyu. "Your seats are in the third row, numbers sixteen and seventeen—each chair back has a number."

"There's also a name card with your pen name on the small table beside your chair—you'll see it at a glance."

"I'll go in first—you two head to your seats."

"Alright." Li Luo nodded understandingly and followed Qianzhou to the third floor, near the entrance of Conference Hall No. 1.

As staff, Qianzhou didn't need to sign the autograph wall; he simply lowered his head and slipped past the cameras, hurrying into the conference hall.

Besides him, everyone else from the editorial department who came to Qiongzhou City for the annual meeting held the rank of chief editor or higher.

Once inside, he'd just sit on a small stool in the corner, quietly staying beside his own chief editor.

Hongdou, chief editor of the Urban Fiction Division, whispered as Qianzhou entered: "Where's Chongran?"

"Signing outside," Qianzhou replied softly, then glanced at the several large cameras in the hall and asked curiously, "Do we really need this many camera positions for our annual meeting?"

"This is live-streamed," Hongdou said, surprised, then suddenly remembered. "It was decided just a week ago—since only chief editors were coming, we only notified up to our level. Forgot to tell you."

"Huh?!" Qianzhou froze at this news. "Why are we live-streaming our annual meeting?"

"A few celebrities were invited," Hongdou whispered. "All of them have collaborated with our IP adaptations. The live stream is mainly for their fans—it has little to do with us."

"Ohhh." Qianzhou nodded slightly, then asked, "Where are we streaming?"

"Mainly Penguin Live, plus Douyu and Huya," Hongdou said. "Those big cameras are all for the live stream."

After understanding, Qianzhou paused, then pulled out his phone and sent a message to Li Luo.

Meanwhile, while Qianzhou and the chief editor were talking, Li Luo and Xu Youyu had reached the autograph wall.

Xu Youyu linked arms with Li Luo and walked with him to the spot on the wall printed with the cover of I Am Really Not a Star.

The two then took signing pens from the staff; Li Luo immediately wrote his pen name—"Chongran"—on the cover of I Am Really Not a Star.

Seeing this, Xu Youyu grinned and raised her hand, writing "Zao Shui Hui Gao Chang" beneath Li Luo's pen name, then deliberately drew a heart around both names.

Watching Xu Youyu's childish gesture, Li Luo smiled and returned the pen to the staff.

Then, under the staff's direction, the two turned toward the cameras, posed for several photos, and walked directly into the conference hall to find their seats in the third row.

A total of over two hundred authors were invited to attend the annual meeting.

With over thirty sofa seats per row, there were seven rows total.

Li Luo and Xu Youyu's seats were in the middle front section, offering an excellent view of the stage.

"This chair is so spacious," Xu Youyu said, having never seen the sofa chairs before—she'd arrived in the afternoon. After sitting down, she sighed. "I thought they'd be like movie theater seats."

"The setup really is different," Li Luo said, glancing at the free fruit on the table, then picking up a grape and popping it into his mouth.

Xu Youyu glanced at the small table between them and sighed slightly: "It's a bit too far apart."

Hearing this, Li Luo shot her a look: "Academy senior, what kind of mischief are you planning at the annual meeting?"

"How can you call it mischief?" Xu Youyu huffed, then reached over and took Li Luo's hand. "Holding hands is fine too—it's inconvenient with this table in the way."

"Just behave yourself at the annual meeting."

"What's the harm?" Xu Youyu said. "The audience seats are pitch black—no one will notice."

Li Luo smiled, playing with the hand she offered, then pulled out his phone and idly scrolled through his messages.

Then he froze—and immediately let go of Xu Youyu's hand.

"What's wrong?" Xu Youyu turned, puzzled, and saw Li Luo's expression had changed.

"Academy senior…"

"Hmm?"

"I have bad news."

"What now?" Xu Youyu laughed. "As long as it's not that my attending the annual meeting got exposed, nothing's bad news."

"If that's the case… it's not too bad yet," Li Luo said, pulling at his lips. "But it's heading toward the worst direction."

Hearing this, Xu Youyu's heart sank, and she pressed urgently: "What exactly? Just tell me!"

"Tonight's annual meeting is being live-streamed," Li Luo said, pointing to the cameras nearby, speaking softly to Xu Youyu.

At once, Xu Youyu stiffened, instinctively glancing toward the cameras.

When she saw one camera's lens sweep across the audience seats, she instantly dropped her head, raised her hand to cover her face, and asked anxiously: "What's going on? I thought there was no live stream!"

"It was decided last week as a last-minute change—no one notified Qianzhou," Li Luo said, his expression odd. After reading Qianzhou's message, he told her everything.

Honestly.

Li Luo wasn't particularly afraid of exposure anymore—those who shouldn't know already knew he wrote novels.

Whether netizens knew what he looked like didn't matter to him anymore.

Li Luo had long accepted this, and he no longer cared much about such things.

But he didn't care—someone beside him did.

Seeing Xu Youyu's anxious, fearful, trembling face, Li Luo quickly whispered reassurance: "It's not that big a deal."

"It's live-streamed—and you say it's not a big deal?!" Xu Youyu complained.

"This live stream is mainly for the fans of the invited celebrities—it has little to do with us," Li Luo said, analyzing and soothing. "Qidian didn't even promote it—readers probably don't even know about it."

"Think about it—who'd watch a company's annual meeting? Wenxue Group isn't a celebrity brand—no one's paying attention."

"Especially not spotting us sitting in the audience seats from inside the live stream."

After hearing Li Luo's analysis, Xu Youyu felt slightly relieved—there was some logic to it.

After all, she herself was a reader—if Qidian's app hadn't promoted the live stream, she likely wouldn't have known either.

And even if they had announced it, she probably wouldn't have clicked in anyway.

Even if, even if! You actually clicked in to watch the live stream, you were really after those long-established Platinum authors.

At most, you'd glance at Li Luo, this year's new rising star.

What about authors with ten thousand subscriptions?

Though in the industry, that achievement is already quite impressive, for readers, it's hardly enough to make them specifically tune into a live stream just to watch a ten-thousand-subscription author.

After thoroughly sorting out these thoughts in her mind, Xu Youyu finally felt at ease, yet still propped her elbows on the armrest of the sofa chair and covered most of her face with her palm.

In short, better safe than sorry.

As long as she kept her hands over her face, even if a keen-eyed reader spotted her, it would only confirm she was a girl.

Though the fact that "early to bed makes you grow tall" turned out to be a girl might be pretty shocking, it would still be far better than Xu Youyu exposing her true identity.

If her classmates at school found out and went to read her novels… Xu Youyu couldn't even bear to imagine that scenario—she'd want to dig a hole and crawl into it.

If her own parents found out… She dared not even think about that possibility; she felt if it ever happened, she'd never dare return home again.

Various thoughts swirled through Xu Youyu's mind, and as time passed, when everyone had entered the conference hall and taken their seats, the annual meeting officially began.

The specific proceedings of the annual meeting were boring to Li Luo, and even more torturous for Xu Youyu.

From the host's opening remarks, to the CEO presenting the company's 2015 performance data, to the editors taking the stage to announce the achievements of various hit works.

Around eight o'clock, the CEO returned to the stage and officially announced this year's twenty-some new rising stars of Wenxue Group, along with eight Platinum authors.

On the large screen behind the stage, the pen names and photos of over thirty authors instantly lit up; Li Luo, as the youngest among them, naturally drew the majority of attention.

Of course, youth was only one reason.

Beyond that, it was because… due to their long hours of sitting, most online novel authors were quite overweight, each with round heads and round faces.

Li Luo's photo, by contrast, looked incredibly energetic, with sharp facial contours and strikingly handsome—like a wolf pup bursting out from a pack of Huskies.

The contrast was somewhat jarring.

Just as Li Luo was invited onto the stage as one of the representative rising stars to speak.

Xu Youyu quietly pulled out her phone, searched for Wenxue Group's annual meeting live stream on the platform, and glanced at the scene inside.

【So many I've never heard of】

【Who are these people?】

【Holy shit! So young!】

【Damn, is this Chongran?!】

【Wasn't he already said to be a Gao Zhongsheng? Why are you so shocked?】

【Sure he's a Gao Zhongsheng, but being this damn handsome is just unfair!】

【Laughed my ass off—people who don't know think Qidian invited some little fresh meat from some idol agency】

【Alright alright, no wonder Yuan Wanqing's daughter went for this guy—what a damn shame!】

Xu Youyu watched the barrage comments in the live stream.

Most of them were fans of celebrities urging and demanding to know why their idols hadn't appeared yet.

Beyond that, Xu Youyu could barely pick out from the sea of barrage comments those actually discussing Li Luo.

Seeing this, Xu Youyu breathed a sigh of relief—thinking that even Li Luo's popularity was being heavily suppressed, there was no need to worry anyone would notice a tiny fish like her.

But Xu Youyu didn't know that, far away in Yinjiang District, Yuhang City, at Bihai Lanting, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng sat at the master bedroom desk, turning on Li Luo's computer to watch the live stream of the annual meeting.

"Zhusheng," Ying Chanxi turned to Yan Zhusheng, "how did you find out about tonight's live stream?"

"Qidian posted a notice on Weibo," Yan Zhusheng blinked. "I saw it. What about you, Xixi?"

"I—I saw it too."

As Ying Chanxi spoke, she quietly pulled out her phone and, out of Yan Zhusheng's line of sight, glanced at the QQ group's status.

【Zhang Guohuang】: (screenshot)

【Zhang Guohuang】: Look what I found!

【Ren Zheng】: Huh? Annual meeting live stream?

【Hua Xiuxiu】: What's this Wenxue Group?

【Zhang Guohuang】: It's the website where our monitor writes novels—this company owns it.

【Lin Yuan】: They're holding an annual meeting—what's it got to do with us?

【Zhang Guohuang】: You're so dumb! Our monitor must be there!

【Zhang Guohuang】: It says they'll announce this year's new rising stars. Our monitor had such a huge hit last year, reached the top few on the site—how could he not make it as a rising star?

【Fang Chen】: But what's so exciting about that?

【Ren Zheng】: True. Our monitor's just slacking off now—his info's totally boring.

【Zhang Guohuang】: If our monitor's there, don't you guys think for a second—could Xu Xuejie be there too?

【Ren Zheng】: Huh? Could she?

【Zhang Guohuang】: Haven't you guys been reading Xu Xuejie's novels lately?

【Hua Xiuxiu】: I haven't finished yet.

【Zhu Yufei】: I've been waiting for the finish—updates are too slow, even slower than our monitor, and lately he keeps taking leave. I'll wait till it's done.

【Ren Zheng】: What does that have to do with her update schedule?

【Zhang Guohuang】: She posted a leave notice yesterday.

【Zhang Guohuang】: (screenshot)

【Zhang Guohuang】: Just look for yourselves—if our initial guess is right and "early to bed" is Xu Xuejie, then Xu Xuejie must be at the annual meeting right now!

【Ren Zheng】: I've already opened the streaming app! Hurry up and look!

Ying Chanxi glanced at the QQ group's content, then flicked her eyes toward Yan Zhusheng, a flicker of suspicion lingering in her mind.

As the live stream cut to the audience seats, the camera focused on Li Luo, who had just stood up.

Almost everyone's gaze followed Li Luo.

But Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng instantly locked their eyes on the girl sitting beside Li Luo, wearing a pink-blue dress.

Although she had covered most of her face with her hand, given how well they knew Xu Youyu, they recognized her at a glance—she was unmistakably Xu Youyu.

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng exchanged a subconscious glance, each assuming the other hadn't noticed, and both fell silent.

Yan Zhusheng merely said, "Li Luo looks great in a suit."

"Mm-hmm." Ying Chanxi nodded.

"Next time we shoot the MV, we should have him wear a suit." Yan Zhusheng suggested.

The suggestion made Ying Chanxi's eyes light up; she nodded eagerly. "That's a good idea."

As she spoke, a corresponding image formed in Ying Chanxi's mind, and she immediately felt anticipation rising.

At that very moment, as the previous shot flashed by, the QQ group exploded with activity.

【Ren Zheng】: Did you all see that shot just now?

【Hua Xiuxiu】: I think I did—was that Senior Xu?

【Zhu Yufei】: She covered her face; I can't see anything.

【Zhang Guohuang】: I took a screenshot.

【Zhang Guohuang】: (screenshot)

【Zhang Guohuang】: Look at the sign on the table—it says the pen name: "Go to Sleep Early, President Gao!"

【Ren Zheng】: It really is!

【Lin Yuan】: Dude, how fast is your hand?

【Zhang Guohuang】: Heh, when the host announced the Great God list, I was already ready, okay?

【Fang Chen】: No wonder—you'd be wasting your talent if you didn't become a paparazzo.

【Hua Xiuxiu】: He's basically a paparazzo already.

【Jiang Liuxian】: By the way… didn't you all see the photo Qidian posted on Weibo?

【Zhang Guohuang】: What photo?

【Jiang Liuxian】: It was posted just minutes ago—I saw the group message, checked it out, and noticed they'd posted something new; there was definitely a photo of Senior Xu in it.

【Zhang Guohuang】: Huh?! I'll check!

……

Across from Jincheng Community, in an office converted from a breakfast shop.

Lin Xiuhong was learning how to use a computer, and also checking which places in Qiongzhou City were fun to visit.

Li Guohong was banished to the shop entrance to smoke.

Li Luo's uncle, Li Guoru, had brewed a pot of tea in the office and sat before the computer, idly browsing.

Until he went through his routine check of all Weibo accounts linked to Li Luo, spotted Qidian's official account posting about the annual meeting livestream, and immediately called Li Guohong inside to open the livestream on Lin Xiuhong's computer.

"What's this?" Lin Xiuhong asked curiously.

Li Guohong leaned over to look, and Li Guoru said, "It's the annual meeting your son's attending—they've livestreamed it, so you can watch the live scene online."

"Oh wow, we can watch too?" Lin Xiuhong stared at the livestream camera. "Where's Li Luo?"

"Probably sitting in the audience; the camera hasn't caught him yet." Li Guohong said this just as the stage began announcing this year's newly promoted Great Gods, and his eyes lit up. "Look, look—it's your son!"

"There's even a photo of Li Luo," Li Guoru said after watching Li Luo's stage speech, returning to another computer and scrolling through Weibo.

"Where? Where?" Lin Xiuhong rushed over to look at Li Guoru's screen.

Li Guohong followed closely.

The couple stared hard at the image of a man and woman standing before the signature wall—and immediately gasped in shock, faces filled with astonishment.

"This…"

"Isn't that Youyu?"