Chapter 601: Just Testing Lung Capacity

Lin Xiuhong sat in the driver's seat of the Feidu, striving to maintain the dignity befitting an elder.

But she couldn't resist gripping the steering wheel tightly, secretly rubbing it up and down, feeling its texture and quality.

To be honest, this car was certainly nowhere near as good as the one Li Luo had bought for Li Guohong before.

But if Li Luo had really spent that much money on it, Lin Xiuhong would've only felt pained by the expense.

Now seated in the driver's seat, Lin Xiuhong carefully started the engine while listening to Ying Chanxi explain the car's origins and all its features.

After circling the residential compound twice with Li Luo and Ying Chanxi inside, Lin Xiuhong pulled back into the parking spot, thoroughly satisfied.

"I'm not saying this to criticize you," Lin Xiuhong said, forcing her slightly upturned lips into a stern line, "but next time, at least give us a heads-up. You said you'd buy it during summer vacation—right now, Xixi can't even drive."

"But we've got Lin Yi," Ying Chanxi grinned. "Lin Yi can drive it for me for now—I'll only use it on weekends."

"Fine," Lin Xiuhong reluctantly accepted. "I just can't do anything with you."

"Lin Yi is the best~"

After getting out of the car, the three of them went upstairs.

At lunch, Li Luo scrolled through his phone while picking up food, checking the current status of Qidian.

After about half a month of trial testing, Qidian found that the "Chapter Comment" feature truly had many benefits.

So they quickly rolled it out fully, applying it to all currently serialized novels.

As a result, readers could now leave Chapter Comments on everything, including I Am Really Not a Star and Xu Youyu's Gu Dao Changqing.

But Li Luo's Night Watch of Great Qian had the first-mover advantage, plus Li Luo frequently posted humorous content under his author account within the chapters.

So within just half a month, these dozens of chapters of Night Watch of Great Qian had accumulated a truly valuable treasure trove.

Hmm… it was really just a massive volume of reader Chapter Comment interactions.

Normally, during his new book phase, Li Luo updated three chapters daily—6,000 words.

Fast readers might finish them in just a few minutes.

Even slower readers took no more than ten or so minutes.

But since the Chapter Comment feature arrived, reading a single chapter sometimes took several times longer.

In April, only a handful of new novels on Qidian had Chapter Comments enabled.

And Night Watch of Great Qian was the one with the highest traffic, the most active author, and the strongest reader feedback.

Naturally, it drew in a large crowd of readers obsessed with posting Chapter Comments.

Once this snowball effect took hold, accumulating advantages bit by bit, the momentum of Li Luo's new novel became utterly unstoppable.

Originally, according to Qianzhou and the chief editor's expectations, a big-name platinum author like Li Luo would always draw a huge crowd at launch.

Many readers—even those not normally his audience—might come just because of his fame, curious to see what kind of nonsense he'd written.

But if the opening wasn't to their taste, most would just leave it on their bookshelf to gather dust, never following from the start.

Thus, in the first two days after launch, new book follow-reads would peak, then likely drop over the following week.

But the data trend of Li Luo's Night Watch of Great Qian was completely different.

From over ten thousand follow-reads on day one, to twelve thousand on day two, then fourteen thousand a week later, it grew steadily every day.

In the second week, though the growth slowed, it still climbed steadily to fifteen thousand follow-reads.

Keep in mind, at this point, Li Luo's novel had only been written for half a month, totaling less than one hundred thousand words.

Originally, Chief Editor Hongdou had worried about Li Luo's dual serialization—but now, it seemed she'd overthought it.

The main issue was that Li Luo had shifted directly from urban entertainment fiction to xianxia—such a massive leap.

I Am Really Not a Star was Li Luo's first novel.

Any editor, faced with this situation, would have been skeptical.

But Chief Editor Hongdou thought Li Luo was still young, with a boy's temperament, likely unwilling to listen to advice, so she simply let him try on his own.

She figured once he hit a wall, got crushed once, he'd realize writing online novels wasn't that simple.

According to Chief Editor Hongdou's plan, Li Luo's second novel could first try transitioning into proper urban fiction.

Then see if he could add some fantasy elements into urban fiction, and only later make a full transition.

But no one expected that when Night Watch of Great Qian launched, it shot straight to the peak.

Just this momentum alone was incomparably stronger than his previous book.

"Will your new novel affect your daily studies?" Lin Xiuhong asked, seeing Li Luo scrolling on his phone. "Updating two books at once—is your body up to it?"

"Didn't your second mock exam results come out yet? Your grades didn't drop," Li Luo said. "No impact."

"Wasn't your mock exam rank second in grade?" Lin Xiuhong said. "Total ranking was around eighty-something?"

"Number 89."

"What about Xixi's?"

"Number 7."

"Look at that," Lin Xiuhong raised an eyebrow. "Why can Xixi be seventh, but you're only eighty-ninth?"

Li Luo: "... Then why don't you ask Xixi why she's only seventh? Why doesn't she get first?"

"The total ranking is different," Ying Chanxi explained beside her. "That's the combined ranking from the top dozens of high schools across the province—it's nearly equivalent to the college entrance exam ranking."

In truth, Lin Xiuhong was just looking for an excuse to say something.

Li Luo had simply become too outstanding, far beyond the normal range of excellence for a child.

It made this mother feel like she'd lost the sense of being a parent.

"Just relax and enjoy your peace," Li Luo smiled. "If you've got time to worry so much, why not go check on the villa every now and then?"

"Even with Butler Liu watching over it, we should still go take a look sometimes, right?"

"Dad's always tinkering with his hotpot restaurant, and you've got nothing to do—why not go oversee the renovation?"

"Do you think I need you to tell me?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. "I'll go check on the renovation myself—it cost so much money."

At dinner, chatting idly, Li Luo continued reading his novel.

Besides *Night Watch of Great Qian*, his *I Am Really Not a Star* has also been doing well lately.

It had reached five or six million words and was essentially in a long-form retirement phase.

But the traffic surge from his new dual-series launch actually benefited *I Am Really Not a Star* as well.

Now that the chapter comments have opened, the new chapter has become lively again.

Some readers even shared their Yuan Wanqing concert tickets in the comments.

Seeing this, Li Luo suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Yan Zhusheng, who was quietly eating: "When is Aunt Yuan's concert in Yuhang City again?"

"The seventh this month," Yan Zhusheng said. "This Sunday."

"How's the preparation going?" Li Luo smiled, looking at Yan Zhusheng's profile. "You're singing a new song too."

"Mom's team will arrive here the day after tomorrow," Yan Zhusheng counted on her fingers. "I'll need to take leave to help with rehearsals and practice."

"Mm." Li Luo nodded. "What about the videos I recommended to Aunt Yuan?"

"All shot," Yan Zhusheng nodded. "I recorded the song last week; the video's still being edited."

"Then there's plenty of time," Li Luo smiled. "Perfect to coordinate with the *Little Joy* promotion."

"Will you come?" Yan Zhusheng blinked, her gaze fixed intently on Li Luo. "Mom asked if you'd sing too."

"Me?" Li Luo paused, then laughed. "I'm not a professional singer—better not embarrass myself up there."

"Your singing isn't bad at all," Yan Zhusheng said seriously. "Don't I teach you proper vocal techniques sometimes?"

Li Luo: "... How can you even say that?"

Though Li Luo's singing was indeed decent, and Yan Zhusheng occasionally taught him vocal techniques, he certainly couldn't match a professional like her.

He could probably make it onto *The Voice of China*—if he performed well, he might even advance past a few elimination rounds.

His real strength lay in composition.

In casual offline singing, his level was more than enough to impress.

At school rock club performances, Li Luo never felt nervous.

But if he stepped onto a concert stage beside professionals like Yuan Wanqing and Yan Zhusheng, his vocal flaws would quickly show.

Still...

Looking at Yan Zhusheng's expectant expression, Li Luo couldn't bring himself to refuse.

Especially after remembering her recent offhand complaint—that she rarely got to go out on dates with him alone.

After thinking it over, Li Luo nodded and said: "Ask Aunt Yuan—if she agrees, I'll come up on stage with you."

"Yay~" Yan Zhusheng's eyes lit up; she nodded eagerly like a chick pecking grain, immediately agreeing.

She'd assumed Li Luo would turn her down based on his earlier words.

The sudden turn of events made her ecstatic.

"You're going to sing at her concert?" Lin Xiuhong worried. "Don't cause trouble for Aunt Yuan."

"Just one song—it's the new track from *Little Joy*," Li Luo said simply.

"Aunt Lin, Li Luo's fine," Yan Zhusheng quickly told Lin Xiuhong. "He sings really well—just need a few extra rehearsals."

Ying Chanxi heard this and shot a sideways glance at her sister.

Extra rehearsals?

You're just trying to take more leave to spend more time alone with Li Luo, aren't you?

What a transparent little scheme!

But Ying Chanxi had no way to stop it—she couldn't possibly take leave herself just to follow them around rehearsals.

She'd let her sister win this round.

May 4th, afternoon.

Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng each obtained a leave slip in Kong Junxiang's office, then bid farewell and left, walking out of the school building to the gate.

Their driver-assistant Xiao Wen sat waiting in the minivan.

Seeing them emerge from Fuyi Middle School, she quickly opened the door and waved happily: "Long time no see!"

"Hello, Sister Xiao Wen," Yan Zhusheng greeted politely; Li Luo followed with a greeting, and they sat side by side on the empty rear seats.

"These two days are basic rehearsals," Xiao Wen told them after instructing the driver to start. "Zhusheng's already familiar—Li Luo, this is your first time, right?"

"Mm," Li Luo nodded. "Definitely my first time."

"Zhusheng has duets with Qing-jie, but you only have that one new song—a duet with Zhusheng," Xiao Wen said. "Just work with the band, then get familiar with the stage movement plan."

"No problem," Li Luo agreed.

The minivan drove for over half an hour before finally arriving at the concert parking lot.

Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng followed Xiao Wen into the stadium entrance and went straight to the dressing room.

"You two get ready—I'll go find out when your rehearsal is," Xiao Wen said, then left the room, giving them space.

As soon as Xiao Wen left, Yan Zhusheng turned immediately to Li Luo, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Li Luo glanced at her and stepped back half a pace, laughing: "Hey, what's that look for? Trying to seduce me?"

"Well, why not?" Yan Zhusheng blinked, closing in until she stood before him. "Sister Xiao Wen just said you're a first-timer—I can teach you."

"Where did you even learn that?"

"From your novels."

"When did I ever write something like that? Don't make things up."

"You definitely did," Yan Zhusheng insisted. "That fox spirit pretending to be a noble family's daughter—wasn't there a scene like that when she interacted with the protagonist?"

Li Luo: "..."

Well... he was mainly led astray by Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng.

Ever since they asked him last time which female characters in his new book resembled them, whenever he wrote a fox spirit, he couldn't help but infuse it with Xu Youyu's personality.

As a result, as he wrote, that fox-like seductiveness began to slip through.

"Rehearsal won't start for a while yet," Yan Zhusheng leaned close to Li Luo, pressing against him. "We can practice a bit first."

"What are you practicing?" Li Luo reached out and gripped her slender waist, unable to resist squeezing twice. "Aren't we here to sing?"

"Singing requires lung capacity," Yan Zhusheng said seriously, her hands already coiling like vines around Li Luo's neck. "Let me test yours first."

With that, she rose onto her toes and diligently began testing him.

Only when both were gasping for breath did a knock sound at the door, prompting Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng to pull apart.

Xiao Wen waited a few seconds after knocking, then peeked in and said, "Your rehearsal's starting—the band teacher's already waiting."

(End of Chapter)