Chapter 494: Three Women Serve One Man

A night of confusion and passion passed.

Li Luo, having drunk too much alcohol, was woken by the morning alarm; after opening his eyes, he felt his throat tightly dry.

He assumed it was merely from drinking too many cocktails the night before, didn't think more of it, turned off the alarm, and quickly got up from Xu Youyu's bed.

"Mmm… you're going to class?" Xu Youyu mumbled from under the covers, woken by Li Luo's movements; she rolled over and barely cracked open one eye slit to look at him by the bed, "What time is it?"

"Half past five. Keep sleeping." Li Luo found one slipper that had somehow flown under the desk, then crouched down to locate the other under the bed; after putting them on, he said to Xu Youyu on the bed, "Chanxi and Zhusheng will come to my room to wake me in the morning—I need to go back and lie down."

"You say that like…" Xu Youyu couldn't help laughing at his words, reached out from under the covers, grabbed him, and grinned mischievously, "Feels like you're sneaking out for an affair?"

Li Luo rolled his eyes at her, then said, "Too much talk. Go back to sleep. Let go."

"Won't the two little sisters be angry if they find out you slept with me last night, big brother?" Xu Youyu didn't let go, deliberately asking in an extra-sweet, cooing tone.

Li Luo felt a wave of black lines cross his head, utterly speechless.

But the next second, Xu Youyu pulled him back onto the bed and kissed him on the lips.

Only then did she release him, lie back down, pull the covers over herself, and sigh contentedly: "Alright, alright, hurry back. Don't make the sisters worry."

Li Luo laughed softly, raised his hand and slapped her firm buttocks through the covers, finally rising and heading for the door.

Before leaving, he asked: "Are you still taking the day off? Your novel's finished—why not come to school today?"

"Oh come on, one day won't matter." Xu Youyu waved her hand, yawning widely, "I stayed up so late yesterday—I still want to catch up on sleep."

"Then keep sleeping." Li Luo opened the door and stepped out, then gently closed it behind him, tiptoeing down the hallway to the master bedroom at the end.

Back in his own bed, Li Luo exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and slept a little longer.

Until he felt something pressing down on him, his face itchy—he suddenly opened his eyes to see Yan Zhusheng straddling his stomach, bending her head to use her long hair to mischief on his face.

"Awake?" Yan Zhusheng blinked, and as she moved her head slightly, her smooth hair rippled gently, tickling Li Luo's face.

The sensation was both itchy and pleasant, as if his heart too was tingling.

But when Yan Zhusheng saw he was awake, she obediently rolled off him and handed him the clean school uniform beside the bed.

Li Luo sat up, frowned, and rubbed his throat—the dryness had grown more pronounced.

Taking the uniform from Yan Zhusheng's hands, Li Luo glanced around and asked, "Where's Chanxi?"

"Chanxi is brushing her teeth," Yan Zhusheng said. "I just finished, so I came to wake you."

"Oh." Li Luo nodded, then said, "Could you boil me some hot water? My throat's dry."

"Okay~" Yan Zhusheng nodded and walked out of the room, obediently going to boil water for Li Luo.

Meanwhile, Li Luo changed into his school uniform, quickly washed up in the bathroom, and went to the living room.

Just then, the water boiled; he mixed in a little cool water, poured himself a cup at just the right temperature, gulped down two large cups, and finally felt his throat ease.

With all three ready, they left for school to run in the morning.

After breakfast at the school cafeteria, Li Luo went to the teachers' office on the Gao San building, found Teacher Cao, explained the situation, and said Xu Youyu's fever had broken; she'd rest one more day and return to class tomorrow.

This was the final month before the college entrance exam; for a student like Xu Youyu, physical health was most important.

As long as she performed steadily, admission to a 985 university was certainly no problem.

If she performed well, even Tsinghua or Peking University were within reach.

But Teacher Cao knew Xu Youyu's family situation and her personal aspirations.

After all, she had a professor of literature at Qianjiang University as her father, and she herself preferred Qianjiang University.

On this basis, Teacher Cao had very low expectations for Xu Youyu—just a stable performance on the exam would suffice.

After returning from Teacher Cao's office, Li Luo attended morning self-study in Class 8, Gao Er.

For the entire morning's four self-study periods, Li Luo kept getting up from the very first class, holding the dog-shaped mug Yan Chanxi had made for him, going to the water dispenser to refill with hot water.

Yet after drinking hot water all morning, his throat remained dry—he began to sense something was off.

In fact, because he'd drunk so much hot water, Li Luo felt his body temperature had risen slightly.

After lunch, he'd planned to go to the rock club with Yan Zhusheng, but instead he felt drowsy, his whole body warm, and all he wanted was to sleep.

So he covered his head and said, "You two go to the club—I'm heading home to nap. I'm too tired."

"Are you okay?" Ying Chanxi asked, concerned. "I noticed you've been drinking hot water all day—did you catch it from Senior Xu?"

"I'm fine. Just need a nap." Li Luo waved his hand, telling them not to worry, then packed his bag and headed home.

Xu Youyu had just gotten out of bed, ordering takeout, when she saw Li Luo return—she was startled.

"No club activities this afternoon?"

"Feeling sleepy. Came home to nap." Li Luo spoke listlessly.

"Haha~ I told you so. You stayed up so late yesterday and got up early—you couldn't possibly handle it." Xu Youyu, still unaware of anything unusual, laughed. "Go sleep quickly. Don't overexert yourself."

"Mm." Li Luo nodded, slipped on his slippers, and returned to the bedroom.

But as he was about to lie down, his phone rang.

Li Luo didn't want to answer, but when he saw the caller ID read "Director Wang Jun," he reluctantly picked up: "Hello, Director Wang?"

"Teacher Chongran, are you free now?" Wang Jun said on the other end. "I've had my assistant send you some materials."

"The first part concerns several lead actors—I've contacted several big-name TV stars, two of whom showed interest."

"If negotiations go well, we should be able to confirm the actors for Fang Yifan's parents first."

"Mm." Li Luo forced himself to pay attention, nodded. "The ones you mentioned before?"

"Yes. You've seen the materials already."

"I know. I have no objections to these candidates—Director Wang, you handle it." Li Luo said. "Anything else? Is the casting session starting?"

"There are two casting sessions—one scheduled for next week, mid-May, and another at the end of May." Wang Jun said. "But the second part I sent you concerns something else."

"What else?"

"Hmm… the other board members who invested in the project want to slip some people into the crew." Wang Jun's voice lowered slightly. "It's normal practice—most board members have restraint, at most pushing for minor supporting roles; they won't interfere with main cast."

"Wait a moment—I'll check." Li Luo frowned slightly, fighting his drowsiness, sat at the computer, turned it on, logged into his email, and received the materials sent by Wang Jun's assistant.

He carefully reviewed the files of the roughly ten people who wanted to get in through backdoor connections in the second section.

He checked eleven of them, crossed out two, then told Wang Jun about it.

"Don't take the two crossed out. The rest are fine," Li Luo said. "Just say it's my order."

As the major investor who had put in five million, and since the two crossed out were people pushed in by minor directors who had only invested a few hundred thousand, Li Luo still had this much authority.

Wang Jun merely glanced at the two names Li Luo had crossed out, and a smile appeared on his face.

Sneaking people into the production team was a very common practice; many directors probably had a few such people on their lists.

Some were relatives, others were… well, let's just say it's better not to elaborate.

But if someone had formal training or prior experience as a background actor, it wasn't entirely unacceptable to bring them in.

But these two actresses Li Luo crossed out? Their problems were obvious at a glance.

They only wanted minor roles, so Director Wang Jun found it hard to refuse.

Now Li Luo had directly blocked them for him, sparing him the trouble of arguing himself—it was much more comfortable.

"Or you could tell those two directors the people can join, but with conditions," Li Luo thought for a moment and added, "No guarantee the scenes won't be cut after filming. Just treat it like giving them a free actor experience card. That's fair enough for their few hundred thousand investment."

"Alright," Wang Jun said, somewhat surprised.

This was a very common industry tactic—after all, once you hold the editing rights, no matter how much you shoot, you can just cut it all down to nothing, and they can't do a thing about it.

But Li Luo was just a high school student; writing online novels and songs was one thing, but how did he know so much about production team matters?

Wang Jun muttered in amazement, but said nothing more, agreed, and hung up the phone.

After handling all this, Li Luo finally exhaled deeply, shrugged off his school uniform, and collapsed onto the bed, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

…

This semester's final exams were officially scheduled for June 22nd to 24th.

As the final exams drew nearer, Li Luo's seven-member study group had kept pushing forward without pause.

After the club activities ended in the afternoon, everyone gathered again at Bihai Lanting 1502.

Xu Yinghuan didn't see Li Luo and asked curiously, "Where's Li Luo? Why isn't he with you guys?"

"He wasn't feeling well and came back home at noon," Ying Chanxi said, glancing at the clock—it was already 4 p. m.

Prompted by Xu Yinghuan, Ying Chanxi walked toward Li Luo's room.

She gently knocked on the door. No response. She quietly pushed it open and saw Li Luo fast asleep in bed.

"He's still sleeping. Don't wake him yet," Ying Chanxi returned to the living room and said, then took over Li Luo's usual role, leading the study group in review for the finals.

In the evening, Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling came over to cook dinner.

At mealtime, Lin Xiuhong called everyone to eat and asked Ying Chanxi, "Where's Li Luo?"

"He's sleeping. I'll go call him."

Saying this, Ying Chanxi returned to Li Luo's room, opened the door, found him still asleep, walked to the bedside, and gently shook his shoulder.

"Li Luo, wake up," Ying Chanxi said softly. "Time for dinner. You've slept all afternoon."

"Mmm…"

Li Luo woke up at Ying Chanxi's call, blinking drowsily. Then he felt a splitting headache, his whole body burning hot, his throat dry as if it were on fire.

Only when his mind cleared did he realize what was happening. He frowned tightly and struggled to say, "Xi Xi…"

"Huh? What's wrong?" Ying Chanxi noticed his voice sounded odd. She quickly turned on the room light and saw his face was flushed with fever.

She reached out and touched his forehead, then let out a small gasp. "So hot!"

"Mmm…" Li Luo coughed twice, his voice hoarse and strained. "I think I've got a fever. I won't eat dinner. You guys go ahead."

"You—wait a moment!" Ying Chanxi's heart clenched seeing him suffer. She jumped up and ran out, boiling water while asking Xu Youyu, "Sis, where's your thermometer?"

"Huh? In my room. What's wrong?" Xu Youyu asked, puzzled.

"Li Luo has a fever," Ying Chanxi frowned. "And your fever medicine—please bring both."

"Ah?" Xu Youyu froze, then immediately rose from the table, dashed into her bedroom, and hurried back with the thermometer and fever medicine.

Hearing this, Yan Zhusheng also stood up instantly and took the kettle from Ying Chanxi's hand. "I'll fill the water."

"Yes, yes!" Ying Chanxi nodded vigorously, handed over the kettle, and rushed back to Li Luo's room.

Soon after, Xu Youyu followed, holding the thermometer and fever medicine.

…

Not long after.

Li Luo's temperature was measured: 39 degrees.

After being given fever medicine and warm water, he fell asleep again.

In the living room, Lin Xiuhong watched the three girls coming and going, her heart filled with emotion.

When she first heard Li Luo had a fever, she'd thought she should do something.

But when she stood up, she realized… she couldn't help with anything—everything had already been handled by these three girls.

In the end, she could only sit back down at the table and urge Zhao Rongjun and the others to start eating.

After dinner, because of Li Luo's fever, Zhao Rongjun and the others took their leave early, not wanting to disturb his rest.

Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling also left, reassured by Ying Chanxi and the others' promise to take good care of Li Luo.

After Xu Youyu and Yan Zhusheng washed the dishes, Ying Chanxi cooked porridge for Li Luo.

When Li Luo woke up again and opened his eyes, he saw three girls sitting beside his bed, their eyes all fixed on him with concern.

Li Luo looked at this scene. Though still unwell, he couldn't help smiling: "You guys are acting like I've got some incurable disease."

"Pfft! Don't talk nonsense!" Ying Chanxi immediately slapped his arm lightly, her face serious. "How do you feel now? Are you hungry? Should I get you a bowl of porridge?"