Chapter 642: Xixi and Zhusheng Haven

Watching Xu Youyu flee all the way to the room's entrance, Li Luo had originally planned to drag her back.

But as soon as he followed her out of the room and pulled her into his arms, he bumped straight into an author friend who had just stepped out of another room.

This left Li Luo instantly embarrassed; he quickly let go of Xu Youyu.

The passing author stifled a laugh, covering his mouth: "Go ahead and continue—I saw nothing."

With those words, neither of them dared return to the room, so they followed him downstairs together.

Yet Xu Youyu was only slightly embarrassed; as they went downstairs, she still clung tightly to Li Luo's arm, asserting her claim to him before everyone else.

With Xixi and Zhusheng both absent, Xu Youyu had the rare chance to monopolize Li Luo—she naturally didn't want to let go.

After stepping out of the elevator, Li Luo leaned close to Xu Youyu's ear and grumbled, "Why did you run off just now? Now everyone saw."

Hearing this, Xu Youyu huffed: "Confucius himself said appetite and desire are human nature—what's there to be embarrassed about? That author's over thirty and married—he understands perfectly well, it's no big deal."

"Sounds great," Li Luo chuckled, "but just now, weren't you just as quick to drop your head as I was when you saw someone?"

"It's all your fault," Xu Youyu shot him a glare. "I already ran out—you still tried to drag me back? How desperate are you?"

"You clearly enjoyed it too," Li Luo said with an innocent expression. "Last night, who was it that insisted on learning so many new things?"

At this, Xu Youyu's face flushed red, then she slapped him in annoyance: "What are you saying out here? Shut up right now!"

Seeing Xu Youyu's flustered expression, Li Luo grinned mischievously and led her toward the place he'd agreed to meet Editor Qianzhou.

For Xu Youyu, she was just like Li Luo—newly initiated into matters of the flesh, and inevitably a little addicted.

Especially since Li Luo grew more intense each time, making Xu Youyu adore it even more.

But her stamina was simply too poor; after just a few minutes, she was utterly exhausted and couldn't keep up with Li Luo's boundless energy.

…

After stepping out of the elevator, the two arrived on the hotel's third floor.

Wenxue Group had rented a conference hall for tomorrow's salon event.

Authors who had already arrived at the hotel could come early to familiarize themselves with the space and use it as a tea room to chat.

When Li Luo arrived, the conference hall was still nearly empty, but Qianzhou had already been waiting there.

Each year, about a hundred authors are invited to the writers' salon, but usually only fifty to sixty actually show up.

Qianzhou had messaged all the authors in the urban division, inviting them to come over and chat once they arrived at the hotel.

Li Luo brought Xu Youyu into the conference hall, sat down beside Qianzhou, and nodded in greeting to the other two authors present.

Seeing that Chongran himself had arrived, others scattered around the hall began gathering over.

Fu Chen, the fantasy division editor, arrived with his three authors, squeezed in beside Qianzhou, grinned at Li Luo, congratulated him on the explosive opening-day performance of "Little Joy," and introduced the three first-time salon attendees beside him.

On the other side, Ju Zi, the female-oriented urban romance division editor, arrived with two female authors, eager to pay homage to Chongran in person.

A circle of over a dozen people quickly buzzed with lively chatter centered around Li Luo and "Little Joy," which had just premiered last night.

Yesterday, the Qidian app's splash screen directly displayed a recommendation page for "Little Joy"; clicking it didn't just redirect to the original novel's page, but also straight to Tencent Video.

As authors and editors, everyone here used the Qidian app daily—seeing another online novel adapted into a TV drama naturally made them curious enough to take a look.

"I'd already read Ran Shen's original 'Little Joy,'" one author remarked, "and I watched the TV adaptation too—it actually followed the novel's plot almost exactly."

"It's really about control," Li Luo smiled. "The director and crew were very cooperative; there were no major disagreements on the plot—it was a pleasant collaboration."

Whether an online novel author can personally adapt the screenplay still depends on the individual.

Li Luo could directly mimic the shot-by-shot visuals of last life's "Little Joy" TV series, and he already had a background in writing short dramas from his previous life, so he was familiar with scriptwriting.

Otherwise, if an author who'd only ever written online novels and knew nothing about screenwriting tried to adapt it themselves, the chances of failure would be even higher.

The main pain points in online novel adaptations are actually just two.

First, online novels are generally long and feature grand scenes; without content cuts, production costs become enormous and technical challenges arise.

Second, online novel plots are inherently unpopular among directors and screenwriters; investors don't understand the nuances, so in the end, the plot gets heavily altered—effectively buying only the IP's shell.

Li Luo's "Little Joy" was fortunate because Ying Zhicheng personally bought the rights and found him a director who never tampered with the plot.

Otherwise, if another investor had acquired it, Li Luo truly couldn't predict what the final product would look like.

"By the way, Ran Shen, how much did you sell the rights for 'Little Joy'?" a female author asked curiously.

This wasn't exactly a secret in the industry, so Li Luo answered: "Twelve million."

"I'm so jealous…" muttered the male author attending the salon for the first time with Editor Fu Chen.

"Twelve million in rights fees—fifty-fifty split means six million net, minus taxes, still over four million?" another female author counted on her fingers, saliva practically dripping.

"Still feels like a loss," the first female author chimed in. "Judging by 'Little Joy's' current launch momentum, it's basically guaranteed to be this year's breakout hit—the investors behind it will make at least two or three hundred million."

"That much?" Li Luo blinked in surprise.

"Oh… I was just guessing," the female author quickly waved her hands, thinking Li Luo felt he'd sold too cheaply. "It really depends on the situation."

"The actual amount does depend on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering," Qianzhou nodded. "But 'Little Joy' has a modern urban setting—advertising placements and subsequent rerun rights will definitely bring in plenty."

Li Luo hadn't looked into this in detail, but if what they said was true—if "Little Joy" could earn hundreds of millions—then he'd made a serious profit.

After all, he'd actually invested money in "Little Joy."

The total project cost was around thirty to forty million, and Li Luo had contributed five million himself.

If "Little Joy" earned two or three hundred million, then based on his investment share, wouldn't he get back thirty to forty million?

He hadn't calculated it before, but now that he did, Li Luo was genuinely startled.

Thirty to forty million… After three years of hard work since his rebirth, all his royalties, rights fees, and even money from copying songs might barely add up to that.

And now, just one investment project could double his assets?

No wonder it's a breakout hit.

And he only held a small portion of the investment—the biggest chunk was all with Huayue Film and Television.

You could say the profits from "Little Joy" alone were enough to fully satisfy everyone at Huayue Film and Television.

But regarding these insider details, Li Luo certainly wouldn't share them publicly—only whispered them privately to Xu Youyu.

Others, seeing Chongran suddenly fall silent, assumed he was upset about not getting a single cent from the profits after "Little Joys" became a hit.

So everyone shifted topics, turning to other subjects.

A male author who also wrote xianxia fiction couldn't help but ask Li Luo about his own recently rising new novel.

"Say, Master Chongran's 'Night Watch of Great Qian' has held the top spot on both charts this month—what's its average subscription now?"

"Sixty-three thousand," Li Luo replied casually. "It just surpassed the average of my old book yesterday."

Hearing this answer, the other authors present all drew in sharp breaths.

After all, such a rapid increase was simply outrageous to them.

Among those present, apart from one xianxia author and one urban fiction author, even Xu Youyu's average subscription hadn't reached twenty thousand, let alone sixty-three thousand.

Li Luo was even serializing two novels!

And anyone who's written an online novel knows that Li Luo's "Night Watch of Great Qian" has only been live for a month, right at its peak momentum—sixty-three thousand average subscriptions is clearly not its ceiling.

When the topic turned to new novels, several male authors immediately perked up, pressing Li Luo for tips.

With nothing else to do, Li Luo began chatting with them.

Xu Youyu sat quietly beside him, rarely interjecting, only occasionally refilling his tea.

The male authors, seeing Xu Youyu so obediently seated beside Li Luo, looked at her with envy.

Such a beautiful girlfriend, with such a great figure, and also an online novel author with ten-thousand-subscription success—even writing for the male audience!

For an online novel author, she was practically the perfect girlfriend.

……

They kept chatting in the conference room until evening, when Qianzhou told Li Luo that there was a dinner nearby and he should attend.

Li Luo sent a message to his mother and Chanxi and the others, telling them to have dinner out themselves—he'd be dining with the editors.

After making arrangements, Li Luo and Xu Youyu followed Qianzhou downstairs to a restaurant that looked quite upscale.

Inside the private room, they discovered that besides the chief editor Nan Feng and urban fiction chief editor Hongdou, even the CEO of Wenxue Group was present.

Qianzhou delivered Li Luo to the room, handed him over to his boss Hongdou, then waved and left.

Clearly, this dinner was no ordinary gathering for regular editors.

Li Luo and Xu Youyu sat in the empty seat beside chief editor Hongdou; after glancing around, he realized the other authors present were all big-name authors who had sold publishing rights.

Sure enough, when the dinner began, the CEO of Wenxue Group introduced Li Luo and the other authors to the men beside him, briefly explaining their backgrounds.

After finishing, the CEO turned to Li Luo and said: "This is Mr. Wang from Tencent Video, Mr. Liu from iQIYI, and Mr. Cao from Youku Video."

Clearly, they were here to discuss copyright deals.

……

At around eight p. m., Li Luo and Xu Youyu stepped out of the restaurant's private room, left the building, and looked up at the night sky, exhaling deeply.

Chief editor Hongdou followed behind, clapping Li Luo on the shoulder: "All these companies have clear intentions—what's your current thought? The copyright department is already following up."

"'I Am Really Not a Star' can be sold right away—please have the copyright department continue detailed negotiations; I'll also assign a lawyer to monitor the situation," Li Luo thought for a moment, then made his decision. "But 'Night Watch of Great Qian' isn't urgent—wait until at least the end of the year."

"Yeah, I told the chief editor the same thing," Hongdou nodded. "'I Am Really Not a Star' is still a text-copying novel—just selling it is already a win."

"'Night Watch of Great Qian,' with its fictional ancient setting, is easier to adapt and more favored by the TV market."

"It's still in its growth phase—there's no rush. But…"

The moment Li Luo heard "but," he knew something else was coming, and he frowned at Hongdou.

"Here's the thing," Hongdou whispered to Li Luo. "The CEO heard from Tencent Video they want to pre-book the copyright for your 'Night Watch of Great Qian.'"

"Since Wenxue Group and Tencent are practically sister departments, if the price is reasonable, we'd naturally prioritize our own."

Li Luo frowned at this: "Then why not compete fairly? Why pre-allocate?"

"They just want a better deal," Hongdou snorted. "The CEO's position is to hold off for now—just letting you know. As long as it's not desperate, we won't let you get screwed."

After talking with Hongdou, Li Luo and Xu Youyu returned to their hotel room.

On the way, Li Luo's mood was complicated.

On one hand, his copyright being sought meant his novel was worth tens of millions.

On the other, Tencent Video had set its sights on him—and now wanted to cut corners and take advantage. That annoyed Li Luo.

Fortunately, Wenxue Group and Tencent Video weren't parent-subsidiary; Wenxue Group had to eat too—they wouldn't just give away free meals to Tencent.

He just hoped the final outcome wouldn't be too bad.

Thinking of this, Li Luo opened his laptop at the desk, took a deep breath, and prepared to write with Xu Youyu.

But Xu Youyu set her own laptop aside, then crawled from behind her chair onto Li Luo's lap, blowing warm breath against his ear: "Pouting?"

"Not really," Li Luo shook his head. "Just a bit annoyed."

"I see," Xu Youyu smiled softly into his ear.

"Then… let you have some fun—would that cheer you up?"

She added, seductively low: "Chanxi and Zhusheng haven't come back yet."

Hearing this, Li Luo's annoyance vanished instantly—he stood up, scooped Xu Youyu into his arms, tossed her onto the bed, and pounced like a starving tiger.

"No, no… wait… why so eager?"

Xu Youyu giggled and pushed him away, tickled by his kisses: "Wait, let me get that first…"

As she spoke, a knock came at the door.

Li Luo sat up, looking helplessly down at Xu Youyu.

Xu Youyu shrugged, then sat up and kissed him on the lips: "Alright, go open the door. We'll finish this next time."

……

After opening the door and letting Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng in, Li Luo and Xu Youyu returned to the desk and began writing seriously.

Xu Youyu sat across from Li Luo, secretly lifting one leg under the table to tease him, murmuring softly:

One monk carries water to drink~

Two monks carry water to drink~

Three monks~ no water to drink~

Li Luo heard the hidden meaning in her words and couldn't help rolling his eyes at her, then retorted, "Two monks carry water to drink?"

"You haven't tried it, how do you know it won't work?" Xu Youyu chuckled, winking slyly at him, "Anyway, I have no objections~"

This remark… Li Luo's expression remained unreadable.

(End of Chapter)