Chapter 544: Goodnight, Husband

September passed in a flash.

Xu Youyu's college life proceeded as usual.

Probably because she had grown up in the faculty housing complex of Qianjiang University, and her father, Xu Rongsheng, worked in the College of Literature.

So after enrolling in the College of Literature, Xu Youyu had almost no adjustment period and seamlessly integrated into the rhythm of college life.

The only problem was…

"Aren't you sleeping yet, Youyu?"

Near midnight, after her evening class, Xu Youyu returned to the dorm with her roommate.

At this moment, Jiang Feiya was already in bed, scrolling through her phone, replying to messages from the new "fish" who had joined her pond since starting university.

Xie Xiuying had gone to bed early; if you approached the bed, you could hear her faint snoring—she slept well.

Zhao Letian, after finishing evening class, had time to meet friends for badminton; after sweating through the game, he showered and was about to sleep when he noticed Xu Youyu still sitting at her desk typing.

At that moment, hearing her roommate's voice, Xu Youyu's expression remained calm, but her fingers tapped a shortcut key, instantly switching the computer screen.

When Zhao Letian leaned closer, the screen displayed a table filled with information about various shops.

"Some work for the External Relations Department—I'll finish soon and sleep, really quick," Xu Youyu said, glancing at Zhao Letian, her heartbeat slightly quickening. "You should get into bed and sleep."

"Oh oh, your External Relations Department sure has a lot going on," Zhao Letian nodded, didn't look closer, and climbed up the ladder to bed.

Opposite them, Jiang Feiya was casting bait on WeChat; hearing Zhao Letian's words, she chuckled teasingly: "You have no idea—the look on our department head's face when she heard Youyu has a boyfriend~"

"Alright, alright," Xu Youyu sighed helplessly. "Let's not talk about this."

"Youyu's just too popular," Zhao Letian also chuckled. "I joined the Sports Department, right? Almost all first-years in our College of Literature already know you have a boyfriend."

"But some senior students in the Sports Department heard there's a freshman girl in our college with an amazing figure—they even asked me about her the other day."

"I told them you already have a boyfriend."

"Then thanks a lot," Xu Youyu laughed. "I've got to get back to work."

"OK OK, won't disturb you," Zhao Letian pulled the blanket over himself. "Finish up early and sleep—you've got morning class tomorrow."

"Mm," Xu Youyu nodded, confirmed all her roommates were asleep, then switched the screen back and resumed stealthily typing.

Just before midnight, she finally finished today's four thousand words, quickly uploaded the chapter, closed the writing interface, and leaned back in her chair with a long sigh.

By month's end, her novel *Gu Dao Changqing* had reached sixty thousand words.

Last weekend, the editor Qianzhou had arranged her first round of trial recommendations; so far, the growth looked promising.

Although the word count was still low, the world of *Gu Dao Changqing* was slowly unfolding.

The revival of Qi was beginning to show signs; anomalies were appearing everywhere in society.

Various phenomena were also emerging on Phoenix Mountain, where the protagonist lived.

At this point, the protagonist had already begun the initial path of absorbing Qi, distinguishing herself fundamentally from ordinary people.

According to some theoretical ideas Li Luo casually shared with her.

The biggest difference between Qi revival stories and pure xianxia novels lies in the nature of interpersonal relationships.

In xianxia novels, the protagonist gradually grows stronger from weakness, while the upper echelons of the world have long been occupied and built by powerful cultivators.

Thus, the protagonist's cultivation is climbing upward within someone else's framework.

Interpersonal relationships flow from bottom to top.

But under the Qi revival framework, everyone begins as an ordinary person.

Even Daoist temples and Buddhist monasteries with cultivation lineages could not practice due to prolonged Qi scarcity.

So from the start, everyone stands on the same starting line.

As the destined child who first entered the Qi revival tide, the protagonist naturally becomes the one to break old rules and establish new ones.

The protagonist is among the earliest figures standing at the forefront of the Qi revival era.

Therefore, under these circumstances, interpersonal connections often radiate outward from the protagonist, top-down.

Especially in Xu Youyu's *Gu Dao Changqing*, this is even more true.

After finishing typing, Xu Youyu turned off her computer and climbed into bed, her mind still turning over plot ideas.

Writing Online Novels is like this.

Right after finishing typing, the mind is most active; unless utterly exhausted, one usually stays mentally alert for two or three more hours.

This is also why Xu Youyu has always preferred sleeping in late in the mornings.

Too bad tomorrow there's a morning class.

Xu Youyu sighed, wishing only to reach next semester.

After all, the first-semester courses for freshmen are all pre-assigned by the school.

Next semester, she can choose her own classes and try her best to avoid the evil morning classes.

Too bad it's still inconvenient in the dorm, especially for typing.

When roommates are around, Xu Youyu must be extra careful, which causes her to lack focus while typing and reduces efficiency.

So unless she has evening class, Xu Youyu usually still returns to Bihai Lanting.

Zhao Letian and the others were already used to Xu Youyu often staying out overnight.

After all, she's a local of Yinjiang District; they say her home is nearby, just minutes away, so it's normal she doesn't often stay in the dorm.

Jiang Feiya only lives in the dorm because her home is in Bailu City—otherwise she wouldn't stay either.

Just hope the roommates don't find out.

Xu Youyu silently prayed, then pulled out her phone and sent a message to Li Luo.

【SleepEarlyGrowTaller】: I finished typing! What about you?

【Chongran】: Why would you ask someone with 300,000 words in reserve such a question?

【SleepEarlyGrowTaller】: So what if you have reserves? You're still not sleeping at this hour, just like me.

【Chongran】: I'm doing some preparatory work for my new book.

【Gao Er】: Huh? You really plan to run two series at once?

【Chongran】: I've thought about it, but it's probably still too early.

【Gao Er】: What's the genre?

【Chongran】: Alternate history setting + low-cultivation world framework.

【Chongran】: To put it simply, you can think of it as court intrigue meets martial world.

【Gao Er】: I remember you told me several ideas before—some I found really interesting, like that one about losing money to make money. Why not write that?

【Chongran】: Now that I've got the copyright sale record of "Little Joy" as a foundation, I want to write what I love while steering it toward easier copyright sales.

【Chongran】: For the urban drama copyright direction, I already have a short story framework—I'll write it after "Little Joy" launches next year.

【Chongran】: As for the new book, I plan to venture into court intrigue and try the historical costume drama category.

【Gao Er】: Can you even pull that off?

【Chongran】: If someone else asked that, I'd be modest. But if you, Youyu, are asking, then of course I can.

【Gao Er】: Hmph, I haven't tried it myself—how do I know you really can?

When driving, Xu Youyu wasn't the least bit nervous.

Besides, she's already an adult— isn't it normal to chat about adult topics?

But Li Luo didn't take the bait; he continued speaking instead.

【Chongran】: I'm not an expert on history, so I chose an alternate setting, but I still want readers to feel a sense of familiarity.

【Chongran】: So I need to research historical materials first, gain deeper insight into certain historical contexts and major events, and then creatively adapt them into the story.

【Gao Er】: Even if you're creatively adapting, you still need to use a specific dynasty as a reference, right?

【Chongran】: Yeah, I've preliminarily settled on the Ming Dynasty, and I'll also borrow some frameworks from the Tang and Song dynasties, but the core is basically decided.

【Chongran】: Let's go into specifics tomorrow when we get to Jingzhao City. Let's get some sleep tonight.

【Gao Er】: Okay~

【Chongran】: Goodnight.

【Gao Er】: That goodnight's not good enough—say it again!

【Chongran】: How should I say it?

【Gao Er】: I'll show you an example—you just copy it.

【Gao Er】: Honey~ goodnight~ muah~

【Chongran】: …

【Gao Er】:?

【Chongran】: Wife, goodnight.

【Gao Er】: Mmm?

【Chongran】: Muah.

【Gao Er】: Good boy~ kiss~ mua! Goodnight~

After ending the chat, Xu Youyu smiled broadly and rolled around on her bed.

Meanwhile, at Bihai Lanting, Li Luo leaned back on his bed, uttered the embarrassingly sweet words, then turned to glance at Ying Chanxi, who was sound asleep beside him.

With a twinge of guilt, he plugged his phone into the charger and placed it on the nightstand, then lay down and pulled Ying Chanxi into his arms to prevent her from stealing the covers again during the night.

…

After school on September 30, Fuyi High School entered its seven-day National Day holiday.

Unfortunately, that was the holiday length for first- and second-year students; as a third-year student, Li Luo had only four days off—he had to return to school on October 5 to resume studying for the college entrance exam.

On October 1, National Day, after waking up, Li Luo took Ying Chanxi downstairs for a morning run, had breakfast, then began packing his luggage.

In the morning, Xu Youyu also came over from her dormitory and packed her suitcase.

At noon, the four parents of Li Luo and Xu Youyu arrived together; they had lunch at Bihai Lanting, then prepared to drive to the airport bound for Jingzhao City.

After arriving at the airport and passing security, Li Luo received a phone call.

"Hello? Zhusheng."

"Are you about to take off?"

"Huh? An hour left—we're already in the business class lounge." Li Luo sat back on the sofa, Xu Youyu on his left, Ying Chanxi on his right, and Yan Zhusheng on the other end of the line, "What about you?"

As for Yan Zhusheng, she had already boarded a flight to Jingzhao City the previous afternoon after school, accompanying Yin Zhicheng.

Yuan Wanqing's concert on the 2nd included a song requiring Yan Zhusheng's participation, so she had to go ahead for rehearsal.

As for Yin Zhicheng, he claimed he was going to inspect the concert arrangements, but everyone who understood knew his real motive.

"I still have rehearsal this afternoon," Yan Zhusheng said over the phone, "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"How's the preparation going?" Li Luo smiled, "Compared to the school stage, is the concert more what you hoped for?"

"Great," Yan Zhusheng nodded. "I asked my mom to reserve seats for you—all front row."

"Good," Li Luo encouraged. "Do your best—we're all looking forward to your performance with Aunt Yuan."

"Go get 'em, Zhusheng!" Xu Youyu, overhearing Li Luo, leaned over and shouted.

Ying Chanxi, however, quietly turned her head away, saying nothing, still a bit upset.

The main reason was that yesterday, Yin Zhicheng had taken Yan Zhusheng on a flight ahead of schedule, leaving Ying Chanxi deeply heartbroken.

In the past, Ying Chanxi wouldn't have thought much of it—she'd just assumed her father was working hard.

But since discovering Yin Zhicheng's secret relationship with Yuan Wanqing, she could no longer maintain her former innocent perspective.

The thought that Yin Zhicheng had flown to Jingzhao City early just to spend more time with Yuan Wanqing.

While she herself had to fly with Li Luo and Xu Youyu's families.

Ying Chanxi felt a pang of sorrow, her mood sinking a little.

Especially since Yan Zhusheng had boarded the plane with Yin Zhicheng, leaving Ying Chanxi to fret and dwell on countless thoughts.

For instance… was the relationship between her father and Aunt Yuan making him see Yan Zhusheng as a daughter too?

She was no longer her father's only daughter.

Thinking of this, Ying Chanxi grew even more irritable, her eyes brimming with tears, as if everything she owned had been taken from her.

At this thought, Ying Chanxi quietly closed her eyes and leaned against Li Luo's shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a little tired," Ying Chanxi pressed her lips together. "I'll sleep for a bit."

"Alright." Li Luo hung up Yan Zhusheng's call, took Ying Chanxi's small hand in his, and played with it in his palm.

Feeling the warmth of Li Luo's palm, Ying Chanxi felt a deep sense of calm, and without realizing it, she fell asleep.

When it was time to board, Li Luo woke her.

The group of seven, holding their tickets, passed through the business-class checkpoint without queuing and entered the front cabin to take their seats.

This was Lin Xiuhong's first time flying business class, and she felt somewhat uneasy.

But such spacious seats were undeniably far more comfortable than the cramped economy class behind.

Li Luo had secretly booked these tickets well in advance, giving his parents no time to object, so he successfully secured business-class seats.

The four parents sat in the first row, while Li Luo and Ying Chanxi took the seats directly behind them.

Since business class had only two seats per side, Xu Youyu had to sit across the aisle from Li Luo, glaring at him with a pout.

After confirming with the flight attendant that the window seat was unoccupied, Xu Youyu huffed and deliberately sat in the window seat, ignoring Li Luo entirely.

Ever since Li Luo became her pretend boyfriend, Xu Youyu had grown increasingly jealous.

Because her mood was poor, Ying Chanxi put on an eye mask and slept as soon as they boarded.

Once Ying Chanxi was sound asleep, Li Luo slipped away to the restroom and switched seats to the empty one beside Xu Youyu.

"What are you doing over here?" Xu Youyu shot him a sidelong glance.

"We agreed to talk about the new book," Li Luo grinned, reaching out to take Xu Youyu's small hand.

"Hmph, is this how you talk about a new book?" Xu Youyu muttered, yet offered no resistance.

The two chatted idly on the plane, exchanging many details and ideas for the new book.

Only when Ying Chanxi woke up did Li Luo return to his original seat.

"You weren't here just now?" Ying Chanxi removed her eye mask, stared at Li Luo with a frown.

"Cough… I went over for a bit," Li Luo gently squeezed Ying Chanxi's hand and whispered, "We talked about the new book."

"Oh." Ying Chanxi replied, then fell silent. After a while, she pressed her lips together and suddenly said, "Next time you leave my side, can you tell me first? No more sneaking around."