Chapter 644: Reflection

At nine o'clock in the evening, Lin Xiuhong and the other three returned to the hotel and walked into the lobby toward the elevator.

"Shall we prepare to drive the motorhome to Suzhou tomorrow?" Lin Xiuhong asked Ying Chanxi.

"Mm." Ying Chanxi nodded. "I planned the route with Senior Sister yesterday. Tomorrow we'll head first to Campsite No. 1 near Taihu—it's suitable for motorhome camping."

"Fine. We'll just follow behind you in our car," Lin Xiuhong said. "When you get back tonight, shower early and go to sleep—don't stay up too late. Get plenty of rest."

"Got it, Lin Yi." Ying Chanxi nodded, stepped into the elevator first, and pressed the buttons for the eighth and tenth floors.

"Yes, remember to make sure Youru goes to bed early," Cui Suling specifically reminded. "Among the four of you, she's the one who stays up the latest—make sure she sleeps early tonight."

"Mm, mm." Ying Chanxi assured her, watching the elevator floors rise one by one, already eager to see Li Luo and throw herself into his arms for a hug.

It was rather amusing.

On this trip, both Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling had brought their children, yet during the past two days exploring attractions in Changning City, it was always Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng accompanying them.

Lin Xiuhong was delighted—having two daughters to keep her company, with her good friend Cui Suling as a partner, even without her son Li Luo beside her, she had thoroughly enjoyed herself.

For Cui Suling, the past two days had also been quite pleasant.

Ying Chanxi was obedient and thoughtful, far better than her own daughter—never deliberately talked back or annoyed her, and always planned everything meticulously. She was the perfect daughter.

Yan Zhusheng, though not as adept at pleasing others and mostly silent throughout, was still far better than Xu Youyu—at least she never complained of exhaustion after walking a few steps. After a full day of walking, her face remained neither flushed nor breathless, clearly possessing excellent stamina.

If her own daughter had half Yan Zhusheng's stamina, Cui Suling wouldn't constantly urge her to exercise more.

Beyond that, for Cui Suling, taking Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng out together clearly offered an additional benefit: it gave her daughter and Li Luo space and time to be alone.

For the sake of her daughter's future happiness, Cui Suling had exhausted herself worrying.

As for Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, though they longed to stay with Li Luo, they understood the online novel salon was Senior Sister's domain.

After all, they weren't online novel authors—even as family members—it wasn't appropriate to follow Li Luo around constantly.

Moreover, every time they met unfamiliar online novel authors, Li Luo had to introduce their identities after greeting them.

But in the online novel circle, many authors had already tacitly accepted Chongran and Zao Shui as a couple.

This meant that when introducing them publicly, they could only be called Li Luo's distant cousins.

Yan Zhusheng didn't mind at all—distant cousin was fine; it didn't stop her from snuggling up to her cousin.

But Ying Chanxi certainly wasn't happy—so rather than accompany Li Luo while he introduced her as his cousin, she preferred to travel and play with Lin Xiuhong.

For Ying Chanxi, compared to Yuan Wanqing, her stepmother, Lin Xiuhong clearly fulfilled the role of mother during her formative years.

Soon, the elevator reached the eighth floor.

Originally, Lin Xiuhong and Cui Suling had considered stopping by the eighth floor to see what Li Luo and Xu Youyu were doing.

But since Ying Chanxi had already pressed the button for the tenth floor, they decided against making extra trips, watched Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng exit the elevator, and continued upward to the tenth floor.

After exiting the elevator, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng returned to their own room door, swiped their key cards, and entered.

"Get your pajamas first," Ying Chanxi said, turning to Yan Zhusheng. "Will you shower in this room, or go to the next one first?"

"You're being unnecessarily complicated," Yan Zhusheng said, walking to her suitcase, pulling out her pajamas, hugging them to her chest, and walking straight toward the adjacent room.

Ying Chanxi pouted, grabbed her own pajamas, and followed right behind.

Soon, the two arrived at Li Luo's room door.

Yan Zhusheng knocked.

A moment later, Li Luo opened the door.

Instantly, both felt a wave of hot air rush toward them.

"Back already?" Li Luo said, stepping aside and returning to sit at his desk, ready to resume writing. "Go ahead and shower—I'm still writing."

Ying Chanxi entered the room and looked toward the window, realizing the source of the hot air, then asked with obvious confusion: "It's sweltering outside—why open the window? Why not turn on the air conditioning?"

"Cough, cough…" Li Luo glanced nervously at his computer screen, his back to Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, making up an excuse: "Just now, Senior Sister let out a really, really stinky fart. I couldn't stand it, so I opened the window to air it out."

"Really?" Ying Chanxi now noticed Xu Youyu lying on the bed, fast asleep, and raised an eyebrow. "Why is Senior Sister asleep so early?"

"Probably exhausted from the salon activity this afternoon," Li Luo said without blinking. "Go shower first—I still have writing to do."

Ying Chanxi no longer doubted, walked into the bathroom with her pajamas, and noticed the floor was still wet.

But both Xu Youyu and Li Luo had changed into pajamas, so they must have showered earlier—the wet floor was normal.

Yan Zhusheng followed her in, and the two showered together.

Watching them enter the bathroom, Li Luo finally relaxed slightly, then quickly stood up, shut all the windows, and turned on the air conditioning.

He gently sniffed, confirmed there was no lingering odor, then sat back down, reassured, and resumed writing intently.

More than half an hour later, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng finished showering and stepped out of the bathroom.

Li Luo stood up to dry their hair; the sound of the hairdryer naturally woke Xu Youyu up in bed.

Xu Youyu groaned weakly, tossed and turned, then finally blinked open her eyes sleepily, seeing the two younger girls seated at the desk, and yawned: "You're back?"

"Mm." Ying Chanxi nodded.

Beside her, Yan Zhusheng suddenly said: "Li Luo says you just let out a really, really stinky fart."

"What?" Xu Youyu froze, momentarily stunned, then turned to Li Luo, indignant. "You're the one who farted! I didn't fart!"

"You were asleep—you wouldn't know," Li Luo said from behind the two girls, winking furiously at Xu Youyu, his tone unchanged. "It was so bad I opened the window. The room smelled awful."

Hearing this, Xu Youyu instantly understood, but her face still showed skepticism. She feigned thoughtfulness: "Oh? I slept so deeply, I don't remember."

"Are you just too tired?" Ying Chanxi asked, concerned. "We got back at nine—already you were asleep."

"Ah, I'm just exhausted," Xu Youyu laughed it off, brushing it aside without further explanation.

She got up from bed, intending to use the restroom, but felt her waist go weak and quickly steadied herself with her hand.

Once turned away from Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng, she grimaced, sucked in air, and tapped her aching lower back.

As she passed the desk, Xu Youyu deliberately circled behind Li Luo, out of Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng's view, and quietly pinched a chunk of his waist flesh.

Li Luo winced from the sudden pain but dared not make a sound, letting her vent.

Beneath the noise of the hairdryer, Xu Youyu leaned close to Li Luo's ear from behind and whispered softly: "You say I farted, huh? It was clearly you who did something dirty—and now you're blaming me?"

"Cough… cough…" Li Luo continued blowing dry Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng's hair without changing expression, then turned to Xu Youyu and whispered, "I had no choice—just made up an excuse. You've got a generous heart, Youyu, you'll forgive me, right?"

"Hmph!" Xu Youyu extended her foot and pressed hard on his instep, then leaned close to his ear and said, "Whether I forgive you depends on your future performance."

"You know better than anyone how I perform," Li Luo raised an eyebrow and grinned mischievously. "You should be satisfied."

"Don't you know 'too much is as bad as too little'?" Xu Youyu's cheeks flushed slightly as she muttered under her breath.

Finally, she temporarily spared him and turned away.

While Xu Youyu went to the bathroom, Li Luo suddenly remembered something, picked up two books from the desk, handed one to Ying Chanxi and one to Yan Zhusheng, then resumed blowing dry their hair.

Ying Chanxi glanced down and exclaimed in delight: "The physical copy of 'Little Joys' is out? When did this happen? I didn't know!"

"Not yet," Li Luo smiled. "The publisher has already printed them, but the official release is mid-month. These few copies were snagged by my editor from operations."

"No wonder." If the physical book had truly been released, Ying Chanxi would have bought it first. She stared at the book in her hands, tracing the cover, then glanced at Yan Zhusheng's copy. "Is it split into two volumes?"

"Oh, there's a middle volume too—it's with Youyu," Li Luo confessed honestly. "I gave that one to her. These two are for you two—each has my handwritten signature inside."

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhusheng immediately flipped open the cover, found Li Luo's signature, and broke into a happy smile, her slender fingers gently brushing the embossed ink.

Ying Chanxi looked at her own upper volume, then at Yan Zhusheng's lower volume, and couldn't help feeling baffled: "Why not give each of us a complete set? Who gives only a third of a book?"

"Sis, when you're dating, you only date a third too," Yan Zhusheng kindly reminded her.

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi shot her a furious side-eye, utterly speechless.

But Yan Zhusheng went on unperturbed: "But if the three of us come together, then the dating partner is complete—just like our three books together make up the full set of 'Little Joys.'"

"You've taken up philosophy now, have you?" Ying Chanxi muttered in disbelief. "All nonsense logic."

"Nonsense?" Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "Don't believe me? Ask Li Luo—see if I'm wrong."

"Cough… cough…" Li Luo avoided her question, cleared his throat, then gently traced his fingers over the cover of the upper volume resting on Ying Chanxi's thigh. "Actually, there is some meaning to it."

"I met Xixi first, so I gave you the upper volume."

"I met Youyu online—through my editor's recommendation—right after my middle school entrance exam, during the summer break."

"As for Zhusheng, you were my desk partner throughout high school. The lower volume fits you perfectly."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi suddenly felt the upper volume held deep significance, and she pulled it tightly to her chest.

But what Li Luo didn't say was that the division into upper, middle, and lower volumes meant far more than he'd just explained—it reflected his past life's emotional experiences.

Xixi was his childhood white moonlight; Xu Youyu was the woman he'd imagined marrying countless times in his youth; with Yan Zhusheng, it was more a fantasy born of office life.

He was certain: as a child, Xixi had liked him; later, Xu Youyu, who'd chatted with him about Online Novels, had probably felt something for him too.

But by the time he was thirty-five, though he often felt Yan Zhusheng treated him overly kindly, he never believed someone like her could truly like someone like him.

He simply saw her as one of those naturally pure, unpretentious personalities—though her cold exterior hid it from everyone else.

Now, having returned to this life and met this version of Yan Zhusheng, Li Luo was even more certain of his guess.

Of course, Li Luo would never mention his past life.

Still, upon hearing the hidden meaning behind his gift, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng were both moved.

Even Xu Youyu, who had just returned from the bathroom, couldn't help raising an eyebrow: "I thought you just handed these out randomly. So there's actually a method? Don't tell me you just made this up on the spot."

"I'm not that bored," Li Luo rolled his eyes. "It's almost ten. You haven't written a word today."

"Damn it!" Reminded by Li Luo, Xu Youyu suddenly remembered and rushed to the desk, sat down, and started typing furiously. "It's all your fault—if you hadn't just… uh…"

Mid-sentence, she realized Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng were still there, so she clamped her mouth shut and stammered, "If you hadn't woken me up earlier, I might've already finished!"

"Yes, yes, it's all my fault," Li Luo said cheerfully after finishing drying their hair. He walked behind Xu Youyu and began massaging her shoulders. "Next time I'll wake you up early—we'll write together."

Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng didn't catch the double meaning in Li Luo's words.

Only Xu Youyu's face flushed red. She turned and shot him a glare, recalling how she'd earlier dragged him to the desk, pretending to write.

Instantly, her legs pressed together, and she lost all focus.

"Stop bothering me! Go away!" Xu Youyu waved him off. "I'm writing now—everyone be quiet!"

(End of Chapter)