Chapter 587: Xu Youyu Serves Generous Portions

After lunch, everyone finally accepted this explosive news on a preliminary level.

During the afternoon mahjong game, casual conversations still revolved around Ying Zhi Cheng and Yuan Wanqing being together.

As one of the main figures, Yuan Wanqing was naturally pulled to the mahjong table, where she played while being interrogated.

Soon, some juicy details were revealed by Yuan Wanqing herself, greatly satisfying Chen Lu and others' curiosity.

Chen Sijia, who returned from her grandparents' house only at three-thirty in the afternoon, was stunned on the spot after hearing secondhand news from Chen Lu's sister.

For a moment, she was still processing this bombshell.

But none of them were gossipers, and this kind of thing wouldn't be spread outside.

Chen Lu and Chen Sijia merely helped a few close friends get Yuan Wanqing's autograph, as a kind of hush money.

Yuan Wanqing really liked the New Year atmosphere here; although Chen Lu and Chen Sijia treated her like a star, everyone else basically saw her as an ordinary person.

In this place, she could shed her stage persona and peacefully live as a commoner, playing mahjong and chatting, utterly relaxed.

As for Ying Zhi Cheng and the others, they sat on the sofa, eating fruit, watching TV, and chatting casually.

Li Luo, sitting beside them, was asked by Xu Rongsheng: "You said earlier you were going to write a new book—haven't you started yet?"

"Actually, I've prepared two new books," Li Luo peeled an orange and shoved it into Xu Youyu's mouth. "One's a long novel—I've already written tens of thousands of words and plan to send it to my editor after the New Year."

"The other's a short story—I want to adapt it into a TV drama, but I'm not sure if Uncle Ying is interested."

"If you're not interested, I'll just post it on Qidian."

Ying Zhi Cheng frowned at this and asked: "Is this the one you mentioned before… a soft sci-fi, urban setting, with suspense and criminal investigation elements?"

"Uh… sort of," Li Luo nodded.

Honestly, individually, these elements weren't bad—but together, they felt oddly mismatched.

It was perfectly normal for Ying Zhi Cheng to have reservations.

Especially since Huayue Film and Television has already invested heavily in the "Little Joys" project.

The actual results won't be known until the TV drama airs this summer.

Although there are some future project targets, Ying Zhi Cheng hasn't made up his mind yet.

Because if both "Little Joys" and another project fail, his position is essentially over—and thinking about the future would be meaningless.

Of course, Li Luo wasn't in much of a hurry either; he just took every opportunity to remind Ying Zhi Cheng that he had other material ready.

When "Little Joys" airs in summer, riding the post-college-exam hype and traffic, its performance shouldn't be bad.

Then I'll push hard—use "I Am Really Not a Star" for promotion, run ads during Yuan Wanqing's concert—this drama shouldn't flop.

But Xu Rongsheng was somewhat intrigued by Li Luo's description of the soft sci-fi, suspense, and criminal investigation urban story, and asked a few more questions:

"So what exactly is this short story about?"

"Well," Li Luo paused, then said simply, "A girl takes a bus, and halfway through, the bus explodes—then she wakes up back at the moment before the explosion."

"The core plot is simple: the female lead must, through repeated time loops, find the cause of the explosion and prevent it before it happens."

"Each time loop takes a different path based on the female lead's different choices."

"The few passengers on the bus are all people from different social strata, each triggering their own unique subplots."

"The ending, naturally, is a successful prevention of the explosion—everyone is saved."

"But why doesn't the girl just get off the bus before the explosion?" Xu Rongsheng sharply spotted the logical flaw.

"If she gets off alone and survives, the bus still explodes," Li Luo said. "In all subsequent loops, whenever she falls asleep, she's pulled back into the time loop, returning to the bus just before the explosion."

"So if she keeps looping like this, even though she's forever stuck on this one day, isn't that a kind of alternative immortality?" Xu Rongsheng asked again.

"Each passive time loop drains the female lead's energy and life force," Li Luo added. "Once the number exceeds a certain limit, she dies."

Xu Rongsheng kept asking questions, and Li Luo gave corresponding answers.

Because it was inherently a short story, their back-and-forth quickly fleshed out the entire narrative.

Xu Youyu listened with great interest, desperate to drag Li Luo back to his room and make him write the story down immediately.

Ying Zhi Cheng, meanwhile, sat quietly, occasionally rubbing his fingers together, lost in deep thought.

Then, at one moment, Ying Zhi Cheng suddenly slapped his thigh and said to Li Luo with serious intensity: "Don't post this short story on Qidian—I'm claiming it first!"

Li Luo, who had been enjoying his conversation with Xu Rongsheng, was momentarily stunned by the interruption, then smiled and nodded: "Of course, my top choice is always Uncle Ying's side."

Although he signed a platinum contract with Wenxue Group, no matter what, if you post your work on Qidian and sell the rights through Wenxue Group's channels, you still have to split the profits.

For ordinary authors without other connections, relying on the platform to sell rights is necessary—and sharing profits is only fair.

But Li Luo has a film company CEO right beside him—why go the roundabout way?

The compromise on "Little Joys" was purely because Li Luo had no track record to back up his potential in rights development.

If he sold directly to Ying Zhi Cheng, even if Ying agreed, the board might not approve—and the price wouldn't be high anyway.

But with Qidian's success and Wenxue Group's backing, plus the government-sponsored writing prize, "Little Joys" naturally gained higher rights value.

But.

Once the adapted TV drama of "Little Joys" becomes a huge hit, and Li Luo proves his strength in this area, selling the rights to future short story adaptations will become much easier.

Bypassing Wenxue Group entirely and dealing directly with Ying Zhi Cheng is completely feasible.

But Ying Zhi Cheng had previously been hesitant about this new short story's genre, preferring Li Luo to continue the "Little Joys" style.

If "Little Joys" exploded in popularity, another TV drama of the same genre—even if less successful—would still have guaranteed traffic.

That's the conventional business logic.

But after listening to Li Luo and Xu Rongsheng's conversation and understanding the plot in detail, Ying Zhi Cheng changed his mind.

This is a great script.

Ying Zhi Cheng thought firmly to himself.

If he didn't secure this script early, he knew he'd regret it later.

Better to cut in ahead and quietly make big money than pay a much higher price later to buy the rights from Wenxue Group.

According to the ideas Li Luo had just outlined, the adaptation of this short story isn't particularly difficult.

Previously, Ying Zhicheng had thought: soft sci-fi, time loops, suspense, and criminal investigation—scene setups, actor casting, even special effects production—all posed considerable challenges.

But now that he heard it, the main setting was simply a bus.

The difficulty dropped dramatically.

The main characters involved weren't many either, and given the theme and specific content, the passengers on the bus didn't even need well-known actors.

Otherwise, it would be too distracting.

With this, cost control became a major advantage—it felt like the investment wouldn't even reach the level of "Little Joy."

Such a low-budget script was more than enough to make Ying Zhicheng trust Li Luo once again.

At this point, what choice Ying Zhicheng would make was obvious.

"Very good," Xu Rongsheng said with a smile. "I'm quite interested in your script. I hope to see the finished product soon."

"If I actually write out the novel, it won't take much time," Li Luo said. "But there's no rush. Since Uncle Ying has already reserved it, let's discuss details after 'Little Joy' airs this summer."

"Of course," Ying Zhicheng nodded in agreement.

He understood Li Luo's choice.

After all, once "Little Joy" airs and performs well, Li Luo's value will immediately rise a tier.

Negotiating the price before "Little Joy" airs and after it airs are two entirely different matters.

This was Li Luo's confidence in himself.

Ying Zhicheng didn't mind this at all.

After all, he was just a CEO, not one of the board's shareholders.

The money to buy the copyright ultimately belonged to the company, not to him personally.

Ying Zhicheng had no qualms about helping Li Luo secure more earnings.

If he truly considered only the company's interests, he might end up getting lectured by his own precious daughter again.

If his daughter grew to dislike him, that would be terrible.

…

After dinner, Li Luo took the three girls for a stroll around the village and bought some fireworks on the way, then took them to an open field outside to play.

Xu Youyu, who couldn't set off fireworks in the city during the New Year, finally had her fill tonight.

By the time they returned home, it was already past nine at night.

Li Luo watched the three girls return to the neighboring courtyard and ascend the stairs before slowly climbing his own.

His mother and the others were still playing mahjong.

Cui Suling had joined the game; Lin Xiuhong and Yuan Wanqing were also there, with Auntie as a spectator. All four were fully immersed.

Li Guohong and the other two had vanished somewhere, and Uncle Chen Hailin was gone too. After asking, Li Luo learned they were playing cards and drinking in the neighboring living room.

Li Luo glanced at Cui Suling and Yuan Wanqing, then went to the kitchen, washed some fruit, brought it to the mahjong table, and peeled oranges for them one by one.

Auntie glanced at the orange slice finally placed at her lips, then looked at Cui Suling and Yuan Wanqing, and chuckled: "Can't I have some too?"

"Why not?" Li Luo said, exasperated. "There's a barb in your words, Auntie."

"Oh, I'd never dare," Auntie laughed. "You're our family's Wencheng Star now. Let your brother learn from you."

Learn what?

Probably hoping Chen Yongqi could pick up Li Luo's dating skills.

Not expecting Chen Yongqi to match Li Luo's ability to have two girls on either arm while both mothers sit peacefully at the same mahjong table.

But at least get him to produce a grandchild soon?

Auntie's wish was simple and practical—but her son just wasn't up to the task.

Every time she saw Li Luo surrounded by these three wonderful girls, she grew envious.

She couldn't figure out how the boy managed it.

"I'll head upstairs to write now. You all keep playing," Li Luo said after his show of affection and took his leave.

Lin Xiuhong waved him off and returned to the intense game.

After washing up upstairs, Li Luo had only written over four thousand words when the door to his room opened.

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, having bathed, had crept over from the rooftop balcony.

"Where's Sister Youyu?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"Senior sister still has to write," Ying Chanxi said.

"Actually, Senior sister could have written here," Yan Zhusheng said honestly. "But Xi Xi just dragged me over without even telling Senior sister in the neighboring bedroom."

"You talk too much," Ying Chanxi shot her a disgruntled glare.

"Li Luo," Yan Zhusheng snuggled into his arms. "Sister's being mean to me."

Ying Chanxi: "…"

For some reason,

her fists suddenly felt itchy.

Since learning they were cousins, Ying Chanxi had felt Yan Zhusheng was becoming increasingly annoying.

Always making her teeth itch with frustration.

But with Li Luo around, she couldn't hit her, so she'd just sneak back to her room to vent on Pikachu.

She should've brought Pikachu along earlier.

"You two go to sleep first," Li Luo said. "I still have to write some new material to show Uncle Ying."

"It's late. You should sleep too," Ying Chanxi wanted him to hug her but couldn't bring herself to say it outright.

Meanwhile, Yan Zhusheng had already climbed into bed, snuggled under the covers, and said to Li Luo: "I'll sleep first and warm up the bed for you and Sister."

Ying Chanxi clenched her fist: "... I don't need you to warm me! I'm not staying down there."

Saying this, she also slipped into the quilt.

Watching the two sisters lying peacefully on the bed, Li Luo typed a few lines before receiving a nighttime message.

After glancing at it, Li Luo looked again at Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, then silently rose and walked toward the door.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Li Luo turned off the room's light, "I'll be back soon and sleep—go ahead and sleep first."

After leaving the bedroom, Li Luo, under the moonlight, did not enter the opposite bathroom but walked down the hallway, climbed the stairs, crossed the rooftop, and arrived at the third floor next door.

The next moment.

Before Li Luo could reach Xu Youyu's bedroom door, a dark shadow lunged and pinned him against the wall.

A warm, damp breath brushed his ear.

Soft whispers echoed beside his ear.

"Do you like the sisters more... or do you like me more?"

Li Luo said nothing, only lowered his head and explored.

The sisters are nice, but Youyu-sis gives you plenty to feast on.

(End of Chapter)