Chapter 613

"Today's lunch is really generous."

Li Luo washed his hands and sat at the table, taking the bowl and chopsticks from Yuan Wanqing's hands. "What dishes did Aunt Yuan make today?"

"Taste it first," Yuan Wanqing smiled. "Two of the dishes are mine."

"I definitely won't be able to tell," Li Luo shook his head. "Aunt Yuan, you learned your cooking from my mom—you're almost surpassing her. Everything tastes the same."

"Enough talking," Lin Xiuhong lightly slapped the back of Li Luo's head. "Eat your meal, then take a nap—you have exams this afternoon."

"Mom, my head's precious now—don't smash it."

"Smash it?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. She was about to say more, but remembered it was Gaokao day, so she let it go. "Eat, eat. Drink more fish soup—it'll nourish your brain."

"Just don't make me drink the fish eyeballs."

"Do you have a grudge against its eyeballs?"

"Not against me," Li Luo chuckled. "But those eyeballs have a grudge against hundreds of thousands of Gaokao candidates in Qianjiang Province."

"What nonsense are you talking?"

Seeing Lin Xiuhong's confused expression, Ying Chanxi softly began explaining to her.

With her junior high dropout education, Lin Xiuhong naturally couldn't grasp reading comprehension, but she roughly understood.

"Did you finish it?" Lin Xiuhong only cared about this.

"No," Yan Zhusheng answered honestly.

Ying Chanxi also shook her head: "I wrote my own answer, but I'm not sure how far it differs from the standard one."

"Don't worry about it," Li Guohong waved his hand reassuringly. "If nobody can do it, it's as if everyone can. Losing points on such questions won't hurt much—don't overthink it."

Hearing this, Yan Zhusheng nodded vigorously and happily told Li Guohong, "Uncle, I just said the same thing!"

"Really?" Li Guohong glanced at Yan Zhusheng, then smiled. "See? Our Zhusheng is quite smart in this regard."

"Let's not talk about the Chinese exam anymore," Yuan Wanqing said after sitting down. "Once it's over, forget it for now—just keep pushing through the remaining exams."

Here, Yuan Wanqing paused, then turned to Ying Chanxi: "Your father's company is busy—he returned there this morning, but he'll come back for dinner."

"Mm, it's fine," Ying Chanxi shook her head, fully understanding Ying Zhicheng. With "Little Joys" about to premiere, she knew he was swamped.

Besides, she felt confident about her Gaokao. Her father coming to see her off early in the morning was already more than enough.

Thinking this, Ying Chanxi glanced at Yuan Wanqing, then pursed her lips and added softly: "Aunt Yuan coming is just as good."

Hearing this, Yuan Wanqing's chopsticks trembled slightly as she reached for food, and the chicken wing she'd just picked up fell back onto the plate.

She quickly composed herself, picked up the wing again, and placed it in Ying Chanxi's bowl, her smile radiant: "Eat more—good luck in your afternoon exam."

After lunch, Xu Youyu went into the kitchen to help wash dishes.

Since both their parents were still present, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng didn't dare follow Li Luo back to the master bedroom to nap—they returned to their own rooms obediently to rest.

Xu Youyu, using the excuse of slicing fruit for them, first delivered portions to Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, then carried the last tray into Li Luo's bedroom.

"Still awake?"

Xu Youyu pushed the door open, peeked in, saw Li Luo lying in bed scrolling on his phone, walked right in, and gently kicked the door shut with her foot.

"What's up?"

"I sliced some fruit for you."

"Ahh~" Hearing there was fruit, Li Luo didn't move a muscle, just opened his mouth for feeding.

Xu Youyu looked at him with amusement, but ultimately satisfied the exam candidate's demand. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped a slice of apple into his mouth.

"This piece is way too big..." Li Luo struggled to chew, finally swallowing it.

"You're picky," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes, picked up another slice, and first bit off half herself.

Li Luo thought she'd give him the remaining half.

But Xu Youyu placed the extra half back on the tray, then leaned her upper body down.

The next instant, their lips merged.

This time, the apple slice was sweeter, juicier, softer, smoother, and more supple.

After finishing, Li Luo looked at Xu Youyu—her cheeks flushed, eyes soft—and sighed deeply: "Youyu, I have an exam this afternoon—don't mess with me."

"They say releasing stress before an exam helps you focus better?" Xu Youyu grinned, licking her lips, then turned to Xiao Li. "Want to try?"

"Just leave me alone," Li Luo quickly pulled the blanket over himself. "You're not relieving my stress—you're a demon draining my energy."

"That hurts, you know."

"Just talk..." Li Luo sighed. "Why are you crawling under my blanket?"

"I'll nap with you," Xu Youyu slid into Li Luo's arms like a plump fish, sending ripples through him.

Li Luo couldn't take it anymore—he flipped over and pinned her beneath him.

"What are you doing?" Xu Youyu blinked innocently. "Didn't you just call me a demon?"

"I can't let you drain my energy," Li Luo said, burying his face into the blanket. "But I still haven't had enough of today's fish soup—I can taste some more now."

At first, Xu Youyu didn't catch his meaning. Only when Li Luo fully disappeared under the blanket did she realize his implication—her face instantly flushed crimson.

"No... um!"

"Don't..."

2:00 p. m.

Li Luo woke from his nap, stretched in bed, yawned, got up, washed his face with cold water in the bathroom, and instantly felt alert.

Xu Youyu, awakened by his movements, wriggled under the covers, then looked at Li Luo by the bed. "Leaving?"

"Yeah, I need to meet up at the classroom—should be heading there around two."

"I'll walk you there," Xu Youyu slid languidly off the bed and stretched her limbs fully.

Li Luo looked down at the scene before him and silently savored it.

"Still looking? Still looking?" Xu Youyu slapped him. "Didn't you get enough earlier?"

"It was all under the covers—I couldn't see anything."

"You dare say that? You just love picking on people."

"You started the provocation—I was just forced into a defensive counterattack."

"Forced, huh?" Xu Youyu snorted, stood up, stepped on his foot, grumbled, then turned and walked toward the hallway.

But just as he was about to leave the door, Xu Youyu suddenly remembered something and turned back to look at him: "It's all your fault for messing around at lunch—you made me forget to tell you."

"What else is there?"

"Tomorrow's my birthday," Xu Youyu said with a smile. "After your English exam tomorrow morning, you're done—afternoon, you're all coming with me to celebrate."

"No problem at all."

"Hehe, I haven't finished yet," Xu Youyu's face lit up with eager anticipation. "I've prepared a huge surprise—no matter what I want to do, you all have to go along with me."

"What surprise?"

"If I tell you now, how could it still be a surprise?"

"Is it just for me, or for everyone?"

"You're a guy—why are you talking like Lin Daiyu?" Xu Youyu rolled his eyes, then said, "Of course it's for everyone."

"Alright," Li Luo nodded, realizing it wasn't what he'd thought, and added, "Don't pull another Monopoly Super Evolution version."

"You're seriously underestimating my creativity!" Xu Youyu snorted, then finally turned and walked out of the bedroom. "Alright, no more talking—you still have your exam."

"I need some exam motivation," Li Luo said, following him out.

Xu Youyu glanced at him, then looked toward Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng's bedroom door, before turning and launching himself into Li Luo's arms, rising onto his toes. "You're impossible."

Several minutes later, Xu Youyu, pinned against the wall by Li Luo, panted and said, "Alright… go wake up Chanxi and Zhusheng."

…

At around two in the afternoon, Li Luo and the other two, escorted by Xu Youyu, returned to the entrance of Fuyi High School.

After parting with Xu Youyu at the school gate, the three walked straight to Class 8 of Gao San and collected their exam admission tickets from Kong Junxiang.

At exactly 2:30, everyone stood up and quietly headed toward the examination rooms.

At this point, the vast majority had fully entered their Gaokao mindset, their minds filled entirely with the upcoming math exam.

Li Luo parted from Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng at the stairwell, then returned to Examination Room 9 and took his seat.

As time passed, the invigilators followed the standard Gaokao procedure: checking admission tickets, distributing test papers, and monitoring from front to back.

When the exam bell rang, Li Luo focused intently and began answering questions—first finishing those identical to those from his past life, then turning to tackle the harder problems.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

When the end-of-exam bell rang, Li Luo put down his pen and slowly exhaled.

The math exam had ended successfully—only the English exam remained for tomorrow morning.

Before the exam, he had felt Gaokao was sacred, impossibly important.

But now, having sat through it and finished, stepping back and reflecting, he realized it was just another ordinary exam.

It was only the weight attached to it that made it feel so heavy.

Li Luo followed the crowd out of the exam room and met Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng at the stairwell.

At the school gate, Xu Youyu picked them up; back home, Lin Xiuhong and Yuan Wanqing had already prepared a lavish dinner.

This time, there was nothing left to ask.

After all, math was the subject most distant from parents' understanding.

Every year during Gaokao, topics about Chinese composition would trend online and spark public debate.

Because only that was something nearly everyone could understand and offer opinions on.

After all, even if you couldn't write an essay—or wrote a bad one—you could still blabber online.

But if you didn't understand math, you truly didn't understand it—you couldn't even join the conversation without exposing your ignorance.

So Lin Xiuhong merely asked how it felt, then kept urging them to eat more.

After dinner, Lin Xiuhong kindly asked what they wanted for breakfast tomorrow, then carefully wrote it down.

When she finished, Li Luo couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you ask what we want for lunch tomorrow?"

"Aren't you done with exams tomorrow morning?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes. "Lunch can just be thrown together—what do you expect?"

Li Luo: "... Mom, can you be any more practical?"

"Then what do Chanxi and you want? Auntie will buy it for you."

"What about me? What about me?" Li Luo leaned in front of Lin Xiuhong to assert himself. "Aren't I your biological son?"

"What's that saying again?" Lin Xiuhong chuckled. "Home flowers don't smell as sweet as wild ones."

Li Luo's lip twitched: "... You really can use that line here—you're incredible."

After dinner, Lin Xiuhong and Yuan Wanqing washed dishes in the kitchen.

Li Luo, with his Memory Palace, didn't need to review English, so he chatted with Ying Zhicheng on the living room sofa.

"Your song had a big impact," Ying Zhicheng said. "Many schools are using it now—it's trending online—and it's helped a lot with the early promotion of 'Little Joy.'"

"That wouldn't have happened without Uncle Ying and Auntie's efforts behind the scenes," Li Luo smiled.

Without Yuan Wanqing's concert as a stage, and without Huayue Film and Television pushing the narrative, "Not Wasting Our Prime" could never have achieved this effect.

In the internet age, high quality and high traffic aren't equivalent—there's hardly any necessary connection between them.

"What are your plans after the exam?" Ying Zhicheng asked. "How will you spend this summer?"

"My new book just launched—I'll definitely update it seriously," Li Luo said. "And the villa's still under renovation—I need to go check on-site."

"If I have time, I might travel somewhere."

"But after 'Little Joy' is released, if there are any more promotional tasks, I'll definitely cooperate."

Ying Zhicheng nodded lightly, then took a sip of tea: "The discussion heat around 'Little Joy' has already started rolling like a snowball; subsequent promotion will only become easier."

"Why are you two talking about this again?" Ying Chanxi, emerging from the bathroom, heard them discussing it and frowned: "Dad, you really shouldn't— we haven't even finished the exams yet. Don't distract Li Luo."

Saying this, she pulled Li Luo to his feet and headed toward her bedroom: "There's still time tonight— let's review English again."

"Dad, you should head home early too. You're already busy with work— don't worry too much about us."

If you two don't leave soon, how am I supposed to sleep in the same bed with Li Luo… Ying Chanxi muttered to herself.

(End of Chapter)