Chapter 591

Saturday at Qianjiang University.

The College of Literature had just concluded a cross-university literary forum this week, and the External Relations Department, having been swamped with work, was finally able to take a breather.

Department head Yan Yishan stood at the front of the temporary meeting room, glanced at his team members, and smiled: "Let's have a dinner tonight—those free after work, come with me."

The External Relations Department of the College of Literature had only twelve members: Yan Yishan, a junior, five sophomores, and six freshmen.

Upon hearing about the dinner, many cheered, but some apologized and excused themselves, likely because they had plans with their partners.

Xu Youyu also stood up at the right moment, apologized to Yan Yishan, and said she already had plans for dinner.

Her roommate Jiang Feiya glanced at Xu Youyu curiously, then asked: "Off to another rendezvous with your Li Luo?"

"Yes, but tonight's a family dinner, not a secret meeting," Xu Youyu chuckled. "His cousin's birthday is coming up—I can't miss it as someone's girlfriend."

"Your families are way too close," Jiang Feiya said, dumbfounded. "You're going to your boyfriend's cousin's birthday?"

"It's different," Xu Youyu said. "His cousin studies at the nearby No. 1 Affiliated High School—I passed on my student union president position to her. We're close."

"No wonder," Jiang Feiya said, nodding in understanding. "Then go ahead."

"What about you?" Xu Youyu asked curiously. "Didn't you say last night that Song Yu was taking you out to dinner?"

"How could I miss a department gathering?" Jiang Feiya said, as if it were obvious. "Song Yu can take me out anytime, but department dinners happen once in a while."

"Alright," Xu Youyu sighed with a smile, checked her phone, and stood to leave. "I'm off then."

After leaving the meeting room, Xu Youyu headed straight for the College of Literature's administrative building, arriving at Xu Rongsheng's office door.

She knocked, heard her father's voice, pushed the door open, and immediately spotted Li Luo sitting comfortably on the sofa, sipping tea.

"I'm done," Xu Youyu said, walking over to Li Luo and patting his shoulder, then turning to Xu Rongsheng at his desk. "Dad, you done too?"

"Zhou said he needs to pick up a cake?"

"Yeah, over at Xijie," Li Luo stood up and headed for the door, walking as he spoke. "We've got a store there besides the hotpot place and the bubble tea shop, right?"

"The new cake shop?" Xu Youyu said. "Our department just did a street survey and updated store info—the old fruit shop there is gone."

"Yeah, business is bad," Li Luo shrugged helplessly. "The hotpot and bubble tea shops are fine, but fruit shops? They work better on the main path to the dorms. Otherwise, too few people will detour just to buy fruit."

The three walked out of the administrative building and headed toward Xijie.

Just then, as Li Luo and the others passed the teaching building, members of the External Relations Department emerged one after another and spotted Xu Youyu's back.

Xu Youyu was too striking in the department—those fox-like eyes and her rule-breaking figure meant even her back was instantly recognizable.

Yan Yishan saw Xu Youyu and his gaze shifted to the boy beside her, then casually asked Jiang Feiya: "That's Xu Youyu, right?"

"Yeah," Jiang Feiya nodded.

"The one next to her…"

"That's her boyfriend, Li Luo," Jiang Feiya said. "She mentioned him to the department head before."

"Hmm…" Yan Yishan fell silent for a moment, then looked toward Xu Rongsheng on the other side.

As the trio turned toward Xijie, Yan Yishan caught Xu Rongsheng's profile and felt a strange sense of familiarity.

"I just don't know who the guy beside her is," Jiang Feiya said, looking puzzled.

Xu Youyu had never mentioned her parents in the dorm, so no one knew her father was a professor and Vice Dean of the College of Literature.

Although Yan Yishan found Xu Rongsheng's profile vaguely familiar, the distance made it impossible to recognize him as their own Vice Dean.

Everyone thought nothing of it, parted ways with Li Luo's group at the intersection, and headed toward Ningshan Avenue.

Li Luo, meanwhile, took Xu Youyu and Xu Rongsheng to the new cake shop on Xijie to pick up the customized birthday cake for Ying Chanxi, then headed toward Bihai Lanting.

Ying Chanxi's birthday is on March 14, but the 14th is a Tuesday, and they still have class.

Since Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing had just obtained their marriage certificate on Friday, they decided to celebrate on Saturday, combining the occasion with Ying Chanxi's birthday.

As the four children grew closer, the four families—no, now it should be three families—were increasing their dinner gatherings.

The relationships among the three fathers and three mothers were also growing warmer, and they kept in touch privately.

On the way to Bihai Lanting, Xu Rongsheng noticed the two kids deliberately lagging behind him, walking slowly and trailing him—he pretended not to notice and walked straight toward Bihai Lanting.

Xu Youyu and Li Luo followed behind, whispering to each other.

"Our department's dinner tonight—I turned it down," Xu Youyu whispered. "You owe me."

"It's Chanxi's birthday, not mine," Li Luo laughed. "If you want compensation, ask her."

"The compensation I get from her will just come out of you anyway," Xu Youyu smiled, looking at Li Luo with clear intent, then deliberately glanced downward. "No middleman taking a cut—better to come straight to you."

"Where are you looking?" Li Luo pinched her chin, lifting her head, and scolded, "You're getting bolder by the day."

"Am I?" Xu Youyu huffed. "Not devouring you already shows how much restraint I have."

Hearing that, Li Luo's heart stirred, and uncontrollable, vivid images flooded his mind.

But he knew Xu Youyu always talked big without a hint of seriousness—she drove faster than a sports car.

You could never tell which of her teasing lines were real and which were jokes.

Yet precisely because of that, she gained an extra layer of allure—always leaving you unable to let go.

"By the way, when's your new book coming out?" Xu Youyu noticed her father glancing back at them, and immediately switched to a serious topic.

Li Luo glanced at Xu Youyu, then at Xu Rongsheng's back, and said: "I've already shown the opening to Qianzhou and the chief editor."

"What did they say?" Xu Youyu asked curiously.

"Qianzhou thinks it's decent," Li Luo said. "But the chief editor isn't too optimistic—just said it's worth a try."

"It's a big genre shift," Xu Youyu comforted. "You'll be fine."

"Mm," Li Luo nodded lightly, though he wasn't that confident.

He didn't write online novels by directly copying original texts, like I Am Really Not a Star.

But since he'd been proficient in entertainment literature in his past life, and added newer, more effective tropes from the future, he could still carve out a path in this era's entertainment fiction.

But for this new long-form novel, Li Luo truly couldn't claim a hundred percent certainty.

He'd drawn ideas and frameworks from several hit books of the future, and even waited for the "Chapter Comments" feature to launch, aiming to gather all favorable timing and conditions into one.

A bestseller across the entire internet requires not only solid quality but also many external factors to consider.

More often than not, it comes down to fate.

Just like Li Luo's current serial, I Am Really Not a Star.

If it weren't for a twist of fate, leveraging Yuan Wanqing's initial popularity from singing "Year Rings," followed by the synergy of Yuan Wanqing's first album, Li Luo could never have gained such massive external traffic.

The book's performance might have stalled at an ordinary ten-thousand-subscription level.

But now, this book has six thousand average subscriptions and is unquestionably the flagship title across all distribution channels.

The difference between before and now is obvious, yet the book remains the same book—its quality is merely the door knocker, the foundation for unlocking traffic.

But when that traffic will unlock, no one can say for sure.

"The Chapter Comments feature will launch an internal test version in mid-April," Li Luo said. "You know, the one I mentioned before—where readers can comment directly on specific sentences. My new book will be among the first to be tested."

"That sounds kind of interesting," Xu Youyu said, eager. "When will other serialized books get it?"

"If there aren't major bugs during testing, it'll likely roll out in May."

As the two chatted idly, they followed Xu Rongsheng to the entrance of Bihai Lanting community and soon returned to apartment 1502.

Xu Youyu pulled out her keys, opened the door with practiced ease, and saw her mother lounging on the sofa watching TV.

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng sat beside her, chatting with Cui Suling.

Ying Zhicheng and Li Guohong stood by the balcony window, smoking. Seeing this, Xu Rongsheng changed into slippers and walked over to them.

Xu Youyu, puzzled, walked over to the sofa and asked, "Mom, aren't you cooking today?"

"Your Aunt Yuan insisted on cooking herself," Cui Suling chuckled. "The kitchen was too crowded, so your Lin Yi kicked me out."

"I see you're having such a good time chatting with Xi Xi and Zhu Sheng—aren't you about to abandon your own daughter?" Xu Youyu glanced at the sofa, where the three had filled the large one; she had to sit on the single chair, grumbling.

"They're far more well-behaved than you," Cui Suling shot her daughter a look. "If you had half their self-discipline, I'd be overjoyed."

"Then you'd better just let Xi Xi and Zhu Sheng be your daughters—it'd be easier," Xu Youyu huffed, sulking.

"Mommy!" Yan Zhusheng blinked innocently and said directly to Cui Suling.

Ying Chanxi: "..."

Xu Youyu: "...?"

Cui Suling burst into laughter at Yan Zhusheng's remark, pulling her close and grinning. "I'll just tell Wanqing right away—let Zhu Sheng and Xi Xi become my adopted daughters. Saves me from being annoyed by someone every day."

"Zhu Sheng!" Xu Youyu nearly laughed in exasperation. "How can you just randomly claim someone as your mom? If Aunt Yuan heard, she'd be furious."

"But Senior Sister agreed first," Yan Zhusheng said, looking utterly innocent.

Li Luo watched and chuckled. Seeing Xu Youyu glare at him, he picked up the cake, went to the kitchen, put it in the fridge, and quietly avoided the tension in the living room.

Yuan Wanqing was still busy in the kitchen, with Lin Xiuhong assisting her.

After placing the cake, Li Luo sneaked a bite of pork liver, then gave a thumbs-up: "This pork liver is delicious—better than my dad's cooking by a few notches."

"You're exaggerating," Yuan Wanqing laughed.

Lin Xiuhong saw him reaching for more and swatted his hand away, scolding: "Not even served yet—what's the rush? Did you wash your hands? How dirty."

Li Luo pulled his hand back, dejected.

But Yuan Wanqing brought over a pair of chopsticks, smiling and offering them to Li Luo: "If you like it, have more. Give me your feedback."

Li Luo grinned and took them, first placing a piece on his mother's plate, then taking a bite himself.

At that moment, Ying Chanxi walked into the kitchen, curiously looking around.

Yuan Wanqing was just finishing cooking cola chicken wings.

Li Luo waved to her, gesturing for Ying Chanxi to come closer, then picked up a wing with chopsticks and held it to her lips.

"Try it—Aunt Yuan made your favorite cola chicken wings herself."

"Wait, it's hot," Ying Chanxi stepped back half a step, then leaned in, blowing gently a few times before opening her mouth to take a small bite.

Yuan Wanqing gripped the spatula tightly, more nervous than she'd ever been facing ten thousand fans at a concert.

Only when Ying Chanxi leaned forward again, bit off half the bone, savored the meat thoroughly, and nodded in approval, did Yuan Wanqing slowly exhale, a smile spreading across her face.

"Eat more later," Yuan Wanqing smiled happily. "There's still tomato and egg stir-fry—your favorite."

Lin Xiuhong assisted Yuan Wanqing, teaching her how to make tomato and egg stir-fry even better, more suited to Xi Xi's taste.

Ying Chanxi stood in the kitchen, watching Yuan Wanqing's earnest, focused back, her eyes momentarily blurring as if merging with a familiar figure—leaving her momentarily dazed.

When she snapped back to reality and tried to savor the taste of the cola chicken wings again, she saw Li Luo had already shoved the remaining half-wing into his own mouth.

"You ate my chicken wing?" Ying Chanxi tugged Li Luo's arm, pouting and whispering reproachfully.

"You want more? I'll give it back," Li Luo leaned close, grinning.

Ying Chanxi pushed him away with disgust: "Gross! All saliva!"

"You never complained when we filmed MVs," Li Luo whispered teasingly near her ear. "Director Ying, you can't only like sticking out your tongue during casting calls, can you?"

"Y-You're too loud! What if someone hears?" Ying Chanxi's face flushed red. She glanced at Yuan Wanqing and Lin Xiuhong still cooking, then hurriedly pulled Li Luo out of the kitchen.

(End of Chapter)