Chapter 495: It

Li Luo hadn't been this seriously ill in a long time.

Although it was just a simple fever, a 39-degree high fever wasn't low at all.

Since Li Luo's rebirth, nearly two years had passed, and he barely got sick at all.

At most, he'd catch a chill during seasonal changes and sneeze a bit.

A fever this severe, making his head spin and feel so miserable, was truly something he hadn't experienced in ages.

But…

It was different from his past life.

Li Luo's head was propped up by two pillows to make eating easier.

But his hands were firmly pinned under the blanket by Yan Zhusheng, leaving him no need to move.

On the other side, Xu Youyu held a bowl in her hands, placing it beside Ying Chanxi, who then used one hand to hold a spoon and the other to lightly support beneath, carefully blowing the scalding white porridge to cool it before bringing it to Li Luo's lips.

As Li Luo swallowed the warm white porridge, he gazed at the three girls beside him, his mind still hazy.

He vaguely remembered that in his past life, when he was just barely over thirty, Xu Youyu's investment in his Short Drama failed, and he began working alone to earn money, sending her a few thousand yuan each month as repayment.

Although compared to the 800,000 yuan investment, paying a few thousand each month was like trying to fill a well with a teacup—he had no idea when he'd ever finish repaying.

But it was all the effort his negligible self-respect at the time could muster.

He vaguely recalled falling ill several times during that period; a simple fever like this was actually the better case.

Sometimes, to avoid worrying his parents, he'd go to the hospital alone and tough it out.

Lying in bed, in a dim room, under a pale white ceiling, alone, accomplishing nothing, his mind burning as if tomorrow he'd only wake up to find a corpse on this bed.

The Memory Palace made these memories so vivid he could almost smell the rotting odor in that room.

But when recalling memories from his past life, the Memory Palace had a bad habit—it required him to expend his own mental energy and focus.

As a result, this recollection made his already foggy head feel even worse.

So after finishing the porridge, his mind sank completely into dizziness; he weakly waved his hand, then lay back down.

Seeing how miserable he looked, Ying Chanxi and the others said nothing more.

After tidying up, they quietly left Li Luo's room, letting him rest properly.

…

Perhaps the fever-reducing medicine had started to work.

Or maybe drinking the porridge had replenished his strength.

In any case, after sleeping a few more hours, when Li Luo woke at dawn, he finally felt somewhat better.

At least his headache had eased, and he was much more alert.

But his body was still warm—he hadn't fully recovered yet.

Li Luo swallowed, feeling his throat dry, and turned his gaze toward the bedside table, wondering if there was water to drink.

But as he turned his head, a shadow hunched over the desk in the dim room lifted its upper body and asked with concern: "You're awake?"

Li Luo instantly recognized Xu Youyu's voice.

Especially with the moonlight outlining the full silhouette of her figure at the desk—impossible to mistake.

"Just woke up."

"Want water?" Xu Youyu, seeing his movement, immediately rose and came to the bedside, pressing his outstretched hand back down.

Leaning over Li Luo's head, Xu Youyu picked up the pillow beside him.

Li Luo could clearly feel a faint fragrance brush past his nose, and the tip of his nostril lightly brushed against something soft and elastic.

But the sensation vanished instantly; Xu Youyu picked up the pillow and gently lifted Li Luo's head with her other hand, helping him rest it properly.

Then she took the thermos on the bedside table, poured him a cup of hot water, and carefully brought it to his lips, feeding him.

Watching this scene, Li Luo stared at Xu Youyu in stunned silence.

"You—you drink," Xu Youyu blushed under his gaze, then laughed, "Why are you staring at me? Moved?"

"I caught this from you—I'm not that moved," Li Luo looked away, recalling events from his past life, filled with many emotions.

"Hmph." Xu Youyu shoved the cup against his lips, "So isn't that why I'm here keeping watch? Waiting for you to wake up so I can take care of you."

"Where are Xi Xi and Zhu Sheng?"

"I told them to go sleep," Xu Youyu said. "It's nearly one in the morning—they waited in the living room until then, and I could see they were about to collapse, so I didn't let them keep staying up."

"Hmm…" Li Luo finished the hot water, his throat feeling much better, then said, "You should sleep too—I'll be fine alone."

"Why the rush?" Xu Youyu gave him a look, "I'm not tired."

Saying this, Xu Youyu picked up the thermometer from the desk, shook it twice, then slipped it into Li Luo's armpit: "Let's check your temperature again—see if you're improving."

Li Luo let her do as she pleased.

"Are you hungry?"

"Fine."

"Then I'll cut you some fruit."

With that, Xu Youyu rose and left the bedroom; soon after, she returned with a small plate of sliced apple and orange.

Without needing Li Luo to move, Xu Youyu sat beside the bed, leaned forward, and fed him the fruit piece by piece.

When only a few pieces remained, seeing that Li Luo's spirits had improved, Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, picked up a slice of apple, bit it with her lips, and lowered her head.

"What are you doing?" Li Luo chuckled, watching her bite the apple slice, and asked helplessly.

"Mmm~" Xu Youyu couldn't speak, but hummed twice, tilted her chin upward, gave him a sultry blink, and brought the apple slice to his lips.

Following this, her long, smooth black hair cascaded down.

Even with his fever, such a sight made Li Luo feel a stirring within.

One could truly say "beauty is appetizing"—the phrase was perfectly apt.

Li Luo took the apple slice from Xu Youyu's lips, chewed and swallowed it, feeling it was sweeter than any he'd eaten before.

"I already said before—if you got a fever too, I'd take good care of you," Xu Youyu picked up another slice, winking at him. "Aren't I keeping my word now?"

"Is this care?" Li Luo sighed. "If you keep caring for me like this, my health will only get worse."

"I didn't do anything," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, then leaned down to bite the apple slice and held it to his mouth.

This time, after feeding him mouth-to-mouth, Xu Youyu suddenly laughed, collapsing atop Li Luo.

Li Luo: "..."

He still had the apple slice in his mouth, unable to speak, but he clearly felt Xu Youyu's knee brush against his forbidden zone.

The next second, her hand brushed over the blanket, teasing him.

"Are you really running a fever?" Xu Youyu blinked, her expression curious and skeptical. "Or are you faking it?"

Saying this, she picked up the thermometer and checked the reading.

The fever had dropped quite a bit.

She guessed he'd be fine in a day or two.

But he was still genuinely feverish now.

"Fever doesn't interfere with this," Li Luo's face darkened. "But can you please stop teasing me right now?"

"Alright, alright, my bad," Xu Youyu chuckled twice, glancing at Li Luo's blanket. "But are you sure you're okay like this? Won't your internal heat get worse and make the fever worse?"

"... What are you trying to say?"

"Need help?"

"..."

"Mmm? Not talking anymore?" Xu Youyu smiled ambiguously but didn't reach out. "You're sick—don't think about such things."

Li Luo: "... Maybe you should just go to sleep. Don't stay here."

"I already said I can't sleep," Xu Youyu said. "Last night you came to my room drinking until past two a. m. I slept all day, so what's the big deal now?"

Then she got up, walked into the master bathroom, and brought back a basin of warm water for Li Luo.

She took Li Luo's Mao Jin, soaked it, wrung it out, then returned to the bedside to wipe his face and hands.

Li Luo had slept all night; now awake, he couldn't fall back asleep anytime soon.

With nothing else to do, they began chatting.

But since Li Luo still had a fever, most of the talking was done by Xu Youyu.

"'Literary Era' has ended—with an average subscription of 16,000, all thanks to you," Xu Youyu had climbed onto the bed from the other side, leaned against the headboard, and shared with Li Luo. "Readers left many long reviews—they all seemed interesting."

"What about mine?" Li Luo pointed to himself.

"Hmph, I saw it—I pinned it for you already," Xu Youyu huffed, but her expression betrayed her delight.

Last night at midnight, Xu Youyu posted the final chapter, then quickly wrote the ending note.

Afterward, Li Luo came to her room with cocktail ingredients.

When she checked the comments after sleeping through the day, she discovered Li Luo had used his Chongran account to write a long, detailed post—full of flower emojis and a comprehensive ending review.

He'd clearly laid out every single impression he had after reading.

The 2.5 million words of 'Literary Era' contained plot points so obscure that even Xu Youyu had to pause and recall them to remember the highlights.

Yet Li Luo referenced these tiny moments throughout his long review, using them to support his arguments.

Reading his review felt like rewatching 'Literary Era' in fast-forward—it sparked strong resonance among many readers.

It even rekindled interest in readers who had been "stockpiling" the novel, forgotten earlier plots, and were about to quit—now they were preparing to reread it.

Only one day has passed since 'Literary Era' ended, yet its average subscription has already risen by over five hundred—clear proof of its remaining potential.

"After the ending, in no time, I bet your book will break 20,000 average subscriptions," Li Luo grinned. "If you launch a new book this fall and keep the momentum, the Grand Master title will be waving at you by year-end."

"It's not as easy as you make it sound," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, though a flicker of anticipation stirred inside her.

"An 18-year-old male-oriented female Grand Master under Wenxue Group—wow," Li Luo couldn't help but admire.

To be fair, in his past life, 'Literary Era' had also reached 10,000 subscriptions—but only barely, and it rarely climbed to 20,000 soon after ending.

Her follow-up novel, 'Gu Dao Changqing,' also performed well, but always fell just short of the Grand Master threshold.

Only later, with a cultural novel set in the past, did she finally break through the ceiling.

By then, she had already graduated from university.

Though 18 was young for a Grand Master, it was nothing compared to the shock of achieving it at 18 now.

But Xu Youyu, watching Li Luo's confident expression, felt no such certainty herself.

After all, she had some self-awareness.

'Literary Era' was, at its core, riding the coattails of a literary reprint—its very nature carried a "fanfic" quality.

And the genre he'd called "Spiritual Resurgence," which they'd discussed before, was entirely unfamiliar to her.

She'd never even seen such a concept in other novels.

This made her uncertain about her next book's performance—far less confident than Li Luo.

"What if I don't become a Grand Master this year?" Xu Youyu looked at Li Luo, laughing wryly. "My next book won't necessarily do as well as 'Literary Era.'"

"I'm not sure if you'll become a Grand Master," Li Luo said shamelessly, "but I'm getting Platinum this year."

Xu Youyu gritted her teeth: "... I really want to hit you—if you weren't sick, I'd have slapped you already."

But Li Luo was right.

With the official sale of 'Little Joy's' adaptation rights, combined with the massive earnings from 'I Am Really Not a Star,' Li Luo's Platinum author contract was practically sealed.

Twelve million for the film/TV rights was low compared to the peak copyright boom years.

But at this moment, it was quite excellent.

Especially since 'Little Joy' was only an 800,000-word short, realistic novel.

For the Wenxue Group, this was about more than just copyright revenue—it was also a matter of influence.

Everyone says online novels are just wish-fulfillment tropes—so why not take a look at "Little Joys"?

Online novels can also be this kind of realistic fiction.

The Wenxue Group wanted to convey exactly this message to the public.

Whether it worked was unclear, but such a narrative had to exist.

Li Luo's "Little Joys" just happened to hit the trend of the first-ever realist-themed writing contest.

Added to Ying Zhicheng's brilliant assist, this instantly solidified the foundation for Li Luo's path to the Platinum Hall.

Previously, relying solely on the subscription success of "I Am Really Not a Star," he had lacked capability in the copyright sector—now this gap was filled.

This officially cleared Li Luo's path to Platinum status.

The two talked at length past midnight.

Because Li Luo had slept late the previous night, he wasn't sleepy until past three in the morning.

But Xu Youyu was already barely holding on; as they talked, Li Luo suddenly noticed the sound beside him had stopped.

He turned his head—Xu Youyu had fallen asleep peacefully, looking deeply and sweetly asleep.

"Said you'd take care of me," Li Luo chuckled, pulled the blanket over Xu Youyu, and lay back down with a long sigh.

Let this kind of day last a little longer.

It would be even better if he didn't get sick.

Li Luo thought this, then remembered the scene of three girls taking care of him after he fell ill, and silently retracted those words.

Hmm… occasionally getting a small illness isn't so bad.

Consider it training for my immune system.