Chapter 452

The Coconut Dream Promenade in Qiongzhou City is a road by the sea.

On the left is a wide road lined with towering buildings; on the right lies a golden beach and an endless ocean.

At noon, Li Luo and the others ate at a seaside restaurant nearby, enjoying the coastal scenery as they ate.

After finishing their meal and resting until two or three in the afternoon, they were taken by Butler Liu to the Coconut Dream Promenade to stroll along the seaside road.

They occasionally walked onto the sand, stepped through the waves, returned to the road, and bought a coconut with a straw to drink.

By late afternoon, around five o'clock, the sun began to set.

The sunlight gradually shifted from golden to red, staining the entire sky with crimson clouds and turning the sea into a sea of fire.

Under such a beautiful scene, Ying Chanxi held a camera and recorded this moment.

Of course, it included a group photo of them all.

After returning to the private villa, everyone was exhausted from climbing mountains all morning and walking all afternoon.

But as they entered the villa, Cui Suling took Lin Xiuhong's hand and whispered something to her ear.

Lin Xiuhong nodded, glancing unconsciously at Xu Youyu, and seeing her still cheerful expression, couldn't help sighing.

Then she pictured that scene in her mind, smiled faintly, found it amusing, but regretted she couldn't see it firsthand.

After everyone returned to their rooms to rest, Butler Liu came to call them to the dining room for dinner. After everyone ate their fill, Lin Xiuhong began to pick players, calling Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng to play mahjong with her.

Li Guohong followed along to join them.

Seeing this, Xu Youyu had a sudden idea and, taking advantage of Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng being called away to play mahjong, secretly pulled Li Luo away.

But just as they turned the corner, Cui Suling called out to them.

"Where are you two going?" Cui Suling asked.

"We're going for a walk on the beach," Xu Youyu quickly said.

"You've been walking all afternoon—still going?" Cui Suling said, walking over to them and patting Xu Youyu's shoulder, "Your father and I need to talk to you—come with me."

Then Cui Suling glanced at Li Luo beside her and smiled slightly, "Li Luo, come too."

Xu Rongsheng followed behind, nodded to the two of them, and headed toward the fourth floor.

Xu Youyu and Li Luo exchanged a glance, both feeling strange, and silently followed them upstairs. Soon, they arrived in Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling's room.

There was one chair in front of the desk, and two chairs beside the coffee table.

Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling entered the room and sat on the two chairs beside the coffee table.

Xu Youyu naturally walked toward the chair in front of the desk, but just as she was about to sit, Cui Suling waved her hand: "Hey hey hey, don't sit—let Li Luo sit. You stand over here."

Both Li Luo and Xu Youyu froze.

Seeing Cui Suling and Xu Rongsheng's posture, they immediately felt a bad premonition.

Normally, Xu Youyu might have pouted or begged, but now she fell silent, blinking nervously, giving Li Luo a glance to take the chair.

She obediently stood still before her parents.

"What's going on? Why are you two acting like this?" Xu Youyu muttered softly. "We're on vacation—why this interrogation setup?"

"Precisely because we're on vacation, we waited until now to do this," Cui Suling snorted. "Otherwise, do you think we'd let you play happily until now?"

"Then—then what's wrong?" Xu Youyu's heart lurched; she didn't know what could make her parents look like this.

Could it be that last night, while soaking in the hot spring, she secretly bullied Li Luo underwater and her parents found out?

Or had they seen her being affectionate with Li Luo privately these past few days?

That couldn't be.

Could it be they found out she writes novels?

Xu Youyu believed her cover was flawless—how could it possibly be exposed?

Thinking this, Xu Youyu's face tightened, her mind racing, struggling to stay calm.

"I'll give you a chance—own up honestly," Cui Suling said slowly, picking up the bottled water on the table, unscrewing the cap, and taking a sip. "Everything you should know, everything you shouldn't—we already know."

"You're talking like you're interrogating a criminal," Xu Youyu muttered.

"Won't speak, huh?" Cui Suling snorted. "Let me remind you—what were you doing two days before we came to Qiongzhou City?"

At these words, Xu Youyu's heart skipped.

Li Luo, seated by the desk, also felt his heart stutter, his eyes flickering with panic.

He looked at Xu Youyu, who calmly replied: "I was at Bihai Lanting—what's wrong?"

"Should I call Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng over right now and ask them if you were there those two days?" Cui Suling chuckled.

At this, Xu Youyu's expression finally changed: "W-what's there to ask? Where else could I have been?"

"Exactly—where else could you have been?" Cui Suling took another sip, then finally pulled her phone from her pant pocket.

She opened her photo album, found a picture, tapped to enlarge it, and placed it on the table.

"If you were at Bihai Lanting those two days, then who is this person?" Cui Suling tapped the table, gesturing for Xu Youyu to come closer, smiling cheerfully, "How come I didn't know I had a twin daughter?"

"Or is there some coincidence in this world where someone looks exactly like you?"

"And just happens to know Li Luo too, and took a photo together with him?"

Hearing Cui Suling's words, Xu Youyu felt uneasy yet curious, staring at the photo on the phone, feeling it looked familiar.

But when she stepped closer and saw it, her face turned deathly pale; she staggered back several steps, her throat locked, unable to speak.

Li Luo beside her also leaned in curiously, glanced at the photo on the coffee table, then fell into long silence.

That photo…

Wasn't it the one they took at the annual meeting, in front of the autograph wall?

Didn't that photo get taken down from Qidian's official Weibo account after only half an hour?

How could Aunt Cui have seen it?

"Still got anything to say?" Cui Suling snorted coldly. "You secretly followed Li Luo, came ahead to Qiongzhou City—you trying to scare me to death?"

Xu Youyu stammered, his mind racing frantically until he finally spotted a glimmer of hope and quickly explained:

"It's my fault, it's my fault, I know I was wrong—I shouldn't have sneaked over with Li Luo just to see their year-end party. I was just curious about it, and Li Luo said I could come along, so I got carried away and followed him."

Although the photo showed the pen names of both Xu Youyu and Li Luo, the signatures were barely noticeable on the signature wall.

Unless magnified to the maximum and examined closely, you couldn't make out what was written on the signature wall.

So Xu Youyu thought her mother might not know she wrote novels—she probably just assumed she'd secretly tagged along with Li Luo to Qiongzhou for fun.

But Cui Suling snorted at her words: "Still not being honest? Do I have to spell it out for you?"

She reached out, took back her phone, opened the Qidian app, found the novel *Literary Era*, pulled up its main page details, and placed it again on the table, facing Xu Youyu.

"This book's performance seems pretty good, don't you think?"

At these words, Xu Youyu's face turned pale—paler than before—sweat drenched her back, and she felt her heart might stop beating.

She instinctively glanced at Li Luo, her face filled with desperate signals for help.

But Li Luo, faced with this situation, had no idea what to do either.

From Cui Auntie's demeanor, it was clear she already knew everything.

Li Luo was internally panicking, wondering whether Cui Auntie knew he and Youyu had shared the same room those two days.

If Uncle and Auntie found out about that, Li Luo didn't even know how to explain himself.

"Why are you looking at Li Luo?" Cui Suling tapped the coffee table and chuckled, "Stop trying to wriggle out of it—this book is yours, isn't it?"

"No, no… you're mistaken," Xu Youyu still struggled, clinging to the hope her mother was bluffing and had no solid proof.

Seeing her still resisting, Cui Suling let out a cold snort and turned to Xu Rongsheng: "Lao Xu, you tell her! Make this girl give up—look at how stubborn she is, she won't admit defeat until she's hit rock bottom."

Hearing his wife finally call on him, Xu Rongsheng cleared his throat, looked helplessly at Xu Youyu, then at Li Luo, and said gently: "Do you remember that time just before last New Year? Around February, there was a symposium in Yuhang City."

Li Luo and Xu Youyu exchanged glances, their unease deepening; under Xu Rongsheng's gaze, they nodded reluctantly.

"I happened to run into the two of you at that symposium," Xu Rongsheng helped them recall. "At the time, Youyu told me you were accompanying Li Luo because he came alone."

"But after I met you two there, a friend of mine from the Writers' Association—the symposium's host—"

"He got me a copy of the attendee list and the hotel check-in records."

"A quick comparison revealed that your pen name is Zao Shui Hui Chang Gao, and your novel is *Literary Era*."

"Hmm… yes," Xu Rongsheng smiled as he saw the stunned expressions on Li Luo and Xu Youyu's faces. "I knew back then—I just never said anything. Not even to your mother."

After hearing Xu Rongsheng's words, Xu Youyu felt the world before her turn pitch black.

She suddenly recalled everything from the past year—how Xu Rongsheng would sometimes joke with Li Luo, then casually slip in a mention of *Literary Era*.

She'd truly believed it was only because *Literary Era* and *I Am Really Not a Star* had jointly won that writing contest, so Xu Rongsheng had taken notice.

But in truth, her father had known all along—and that's why he always casually mentioned *Literary Era*!

Back then, whenever this happened, though embarrassed, she'd always sighed in relief, glad her father didn't realize she was the author.

And now he was telling her he'd known all along?!

The moment Xu Youyu realized this, her head spun, heavy and dizzy.

Especially when she imagined her father had already read the latest chapters of her novel—all the things he should and shouldn't have seen laid bare before his eyes—she nearly fainted.

"Dad…" Xu Youyu's face twisted in helpless despair. "If you knew, why didn't you tell me?"

If she'd known she was exposed, she'd have preferred he'd confronted her earlier—she wouldn't have spent a whole year acting like a fool in front of Xu Rongsheng!

The only silver lining for Xu Youyu right now was that she didn't have Li Luo's Memory Palace, so she couldn't vividly recall every humiliating moment from the past year.

Xu Rongsheng, watching his daughter's expression, barely held back his laughter, covering his mouth as he chuckled: "I was mainly thinking of you—I hoped you'd come forward and confess to me and your mother yourself. After all, you deserve your privacy."

"I—I was going to tell you after I got into university," Xu Youyu muttered softly, her hands twisting nervously in front of her stomach, her face flushed with shame and anguish, wishing she could vanish into the ground.

For Xu Youyu, her parents finding out she wrote novels felt like the sky had collapsed.

Especially when she imagined not just her father, but her mother too, reading her novel—she felt suffocated.

She could barely breathe!

It was all because of that stupid signature wall!

Why did anyone have to take a photo?!

And why did they have to post it online—only for her own mother to stumble upon it?!

At this thought, Xu Youyu suddenly felt something was off, and asked curiously: "Mom… I remember that photo was only posted on the official account for a moment before the editor asked us to delete it. How did you even find it?"

"I didn't find it," Cui Suling blinked, then smiled faintly. "I don't have time to scour the internet for your photos. This photo was sent to me by Aunt Lin."

Aunt Lin… Aunt Lin…

Which Aunt Lin?

Xu Youyu's mind went fuzzy, then she turned to Li Luo—and her eyes widened in realization: "L… Li Luo's mom?!"

"Who else would it be?" Cui Suling gave her a look. "If she hadn't called me, I'd still be in the dark!"

At this moment, Cui Suling was no longer in the dark—but Xu Youyu felt as if struck by a bolt from the blue, standing frozen, utterly stunned.

She looked utterly lifeless.