Chapter 488: Fevered

Following the requirement of Xu Yinghuan and the other three group admins, after joining the group, everyone should change their nickname to their real name.

But this isn't mandatory—just a suggestion.

Many who joined and went silent never changed theirs, but a quick glance still showed over half had changed their nicknames to their real names.

So Li Luo scanned the list at a glance and immediately knew who had already learned of Xu Youyu's great achievement.

"Chen Zhongqi, Zhu Huiyan, Wang Xinyu… all familiar faces," Li Luo muttered, unable to resist complaining, "How come even Shen Shuhua and Dong Mengjie from Class Sixteen are here too!"

Seeing Shen Shuhua's name, Li Luo finally realized why the girl hadn't been chatting with him lately.

He still remembered how, back in Gao Yi, during the school's New Year's event, she had actively come up to talk to him.

Later, in Gao Er, because of subject selection, Li Luo and the other two had to attend history class in Class Sixteen every time.

At that time, Shen Shuhua would occasionally seize chances to chat with him.

But later, such incidents became fewer, and now she hardly ever reached out to him at all.

Judging by this, she probably spent too long in the group, realized she couldn't compete with Xixi and the others, and gave up?

Li Luo guessed this in his mind, muttering aloud: "There are just too many people here."

Even Jian Zhenyuan from Class One is lurking here!

Bro, you're the number two student in the grade—really this curious?

Li Luo scanned the member list of 【Dongdong the Number One Cutest】, glancing and silently complaining.

Finally, he quickly scrolled through all three group member lists, memorized them all in his Memory Palace, then began examining them slowly.

"Niu Qingling, Qian Siliang, Shao Youpeng… damn! You guys are really gossipy," Li Luo groaned, covering his forehead as he spotted several senior students from the Rock Club, "And they joined Mo Qinghan's group—is this Zhu Sheng's family squad?"

After complaining, Li Luo turned his attention to a few names that felt slightly unfamiliar yet vaguely recognizable.

He pulled up the student roster of Xu Youyu's Gao San Class Sixteen from his Memory Palace and cross-referenced it with the QQ group names.

Then he looked at Xu Youyu, limp on the bed, with a pitying expression, walked to the bedside, gently stroked her head, and softly said, "Youyu-jie, there's some good news—want to hear it?"

"What good news?" Xu Youyu's dull eyes shifted slightly, glancing at Li Luo beside her, a faint glimmer of hope appearing in her gaze.

"Yu Chenguang, Feng Yao, Le Huizhen…" Li Luo listed seven names; with each one, Xu Youyu felt a tiny tremble in her heart, "If I remember right, these seven are all your classmates, right?"

Xu Youyu nodded slightly, her face twisted in sorrow: "They're all in the group?"

"Yes," Li Luo sighed, "Cheer up—you're classmates all know now."

"What kind of good news is this!" Xu Youyu punched him in frustration, her grief pent up with nowhere to go, finally burying her face in the quilt and sobbing softly.

"Isn't this good news? Only seven people from your class are in this group—meaning the rest probably still don't know."

"I really owe you one," Xu Youyu glared at him with a haunted look, her eyes still red and wet, looking pitifully fragile.

Li Luo rarely saw such an adorable side of Xu Youyu; he couldn't help but pinch her cheek: "Anyway, it's happened now—you've got to accept reality, Youyu-jie."

"How am I supposed to accept this!"

Xu Youyu rolled around on the bed, crying and screaming like a child, then collapsed, panting from exhaustion, strands of messy hair stuck to her lips.

But after this outburst, Xu Youyu slowly calmed down; after crying for a while, she finally dragged herself up, leaning on Li Luo.

With her intellect back in control, Xu Youyu asked: "Now we know roughly how many people, but when?"

"What time?"

"When did they find out I wrote the novel?" Xu Youyu said. "Can we check the group chat history?"

"We can check, but there's a lot," Li Luo flipped through the chat logs casually; since the group didn't restrict new members from viewing past messages, Li Luo could see everything before he joined.

But scrolling manually like this would be too inefficient.

Li Luo simply typed keywords like "Literary Era" and "Xu-xuejie," then traced backward along the timeline until he found the original source.

When the two saw the date, they exchanged a glance, stunned.

"Youyu-jie."

"Hmm…"

"They found out last semester?" Li Luo stared at the chat logs, speechless. "It's been over half a year already."

"Don't say it," Xu Youyu quietly pressed down Li Luo's phone, turned on her side with a blank expression, and closed her eyes gently. "Just pretend I'm dead. Don't talk about this anymore."

Li Luo looked at her self-destructive state and couldn't help but feel both amused and exasperated.

He shook her shoulder, but she remained completely still, as if truly lifeless.

Only when Li Luo tickled her waist did Xu Youyu break—bursting into laughter, then immediately scowling and kicking him: "You're so annoying! I'm miserable, and you're still doing this!"

"Then what should I do?"

"Of course, comfort me."

"Aren't I already comforting you?"

"No—words mean nothing."

"So you want physical comfort?"

"Mmm," Xu Youyu lay on the bed, her foot hooking around Li Luo's waist.

The next second, Li Luo pressed himself onto her.

Clearly, only something more intense could temporarily drown out Xu Youyu's embarrassment over her social death.

Once immersed, one stops thinking about other trivial matters.

Unfortunately, this relief was only temporary.

After they parted, Xu Youyu would still have to face reality.

"By the way…" Xu Youyu held Li Luo's phone, still scrolling through the chat logs of the three groups, then suddenly realized something, "Have you noticed that Xixi and Zhusheng aren't in the group at all?"

"True," Li Luo nodded. "I guess these groups were originally just fan groups for the characters, so they never added Xixi and Zhusheng—the real-life prototypes."

"After your novel got exposed, they still discussed it in the group."

"Probably afraid Xixi and Zhusheng would find out and tell you? That's probably why they never added the two of them."

Xu Youyu felt a little better after hearing this analysis, patted his chest and let out a sigh: "That's the only real good news I've had all afternoon."

After all, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng were both reading *Literary Era*—if they found out the book was written by Xu Youyu, he'd really have to dig a hole and crawl into it.

"But isn't it really not that big a deal?" Li Luo rubbed his chin. "So many people already know. It's not like Yingxi and Zhusheng are any different. You might as well just come clean to them."

"I'll have to wait until after the Gaokao to tell them!" Xu Youyu couldn't help but exclaim.

"What difference does it make?"

"It just means dying a little later."

"But you seem pretty open normally—you even like taking baths with them," Li Luo laughed. "So why are you embarrassed to let them study what's in your book?"

"Shut up!" Xu Youyu shot him an irritated glare, cheeks flushed—yet the glare carried an odd charm, tinged with playful pouting.

But since things had come to this, Xu Youyu could only sadly accept the reality.

"There's another good piece of news," Li Luo suddenly said.

"What?"

"We're getting Labor Day off," Li Luo said. "You don't have to go back to class until Tuesday—you can delay seeing your dear classmates a little longer."

Xu Youyu: "... Is there any way to never see them again?"

"Think carefully—you can't go doing anything illegal."

"What are you thinking?" Xu Youyu rolled his eyes, then said, "I mean, there's only a month left before the Gaokao. Can't I just ask my teacher for permission to study at home?"

"What's the point of covering your ears while stealing a bell?"

"It's still better than going to school every day facing weird looks from my classmates!" Xu Youyu clenched his fists and shouted loudly. "I think it's seriously affecting my study state!"

"You're not even aiming for Tsinghua or Peking—Qian University's cutoff is child's play for you."

"Still, I need to prepare properly and face the Gaokao at my best!" Xu Youyu said solemnly. "So what do you think of my proposal?"

"Running away is shameful," Li Luo chuckled. "Why don't you learn from me? Just face it head-on."

"You make it sound so easy," Xu Youyu muttered under his breath.

The two chatted in the room, ending up staying the entire afternoon in Xu Youyu's bedroom, scrolling through the chat histories of three group chats.

At dinner, facing Xu Yinghuan and Qiao Xinyan, Xu Youyu was utterly restless.

Now that he knew they were aware he'd written the book, he constantly felt their gazes on him were strange.

But.

Just as Xu Youyu was suffering, bracing himself for Tuesday's return to school,

the weather on Labor Day suddenly turned cold—a cold front swept through, bringing heavy rain to the Yinjiang District.

Xu Youyu caught a cold.

By Monday, he felt his throat was dry; from the afternoon on, he kept drinking hot water, but it didn't help much.

Then, late Monday night, while Li Luo was diligently typing in his bedroom, his phone suddenly rang.

He picked it up—and saw it was Xu Youyu calling.

Li Luo paused in surprise, but answered anyway.

"Hello? Why'd you call? If it's something important, just walk over."

"Li Luo..." Xu Youyu's weak voice came through the line. "I think I've got a fever."