Chapter 699

Li Luo had just stepped into the bedroom when he heard Xu Youyu say that, and he froze for a moment.

Then, lightning flashed through his mind, and he quickly realized something.

Whoever Xu Youyu asked about like that must be a professor he knew.

In the entire Qianjiang University, he didn't know many professors.

Aside from Jian Chun, the advisor who didn't teach any classes, there was only one left: Xu Rongsheng, Xu Youyu's father, professor and Vice Dean of the College of Literature at Qianjiang University—one of his future fathers-in-law!

Realizing this, Li Luo immediately pulled out his phone to check.

After accompanying Ying Chanxi in adding one more general elective yesterday, he'd specifically taken a screenshot of his own class schedule.

Even as he pretended to flip through his course list on his phone, Li Luo had already seen the answer inside his memory palace.

【Chinese Contemporary Literature (1)】Main Instructor: Xu Rongsheng.

He glanced at the class time.

Monday morning, 8:00 to 9:40, two consecutive periods.

Damn, it's an early eight.

This is the first class of the semester.

"Let me see, let me see!" Xu Youyu, seeing his expression, immediately sat up eagerly on the bed and tugged at Li Luo's arm to get closer.

Then she leaned in to take a look—and upon seeing her father's name, burst into loud laughter: "I'm dying! Hahaha~"

"Why are you laughing so hard?" Li Luo said, unimpressed. "Didn't Uncle Xu teach your sophomore class?"

"Of course not," Xu Youyu collapsed back onto the bed, still laughing uncontrollably. "My dad used to teach undergrads a few years ago, but after becoming Vice Dean, he only mentors graduate and PhD students."

"Then why is he teaching a freshman class this time?" Li Luo was baffled. "Did he pick this class just to see me once a week?"

"Isn't that exactly it?" Xu Youyu smiled, her eyes crinkling into crescents. "Go ask the students in Humanities Class Two, Three, and Four—see if their Contemporary Literature teacher is my dad."

Li Luo: "???"

Hearing this, Li Luo immediately sensed something was off and used his connections to ask Xu Yinghuan and several other classmates from different classes.

Sure enough, the Contemporary Literature classes for Classes Two, Three, and Four were taught by a different professor.

Only Humanities Class One's Contemporary Literature course was taught by Xu Rongsheng.

"My dad just sent me a WeChat this morning," Xu Youyu finally revealed the truth, grinning on the bed. "He told me to ask you if you noticed the little surprise on your schedule."

Li Luo smirked. "That's definitely a surprise—I can't even bring myself to skip class now."

"Isn't that even better for skipping?" Xu Youyu raised an eyebrow, smiling. "If you skip and don't show up, my dad won't take attendance."

Li Luo: "... That's true, but Uncle Xu specifically chose our class to teach—how could I not go?"

"Then do your best and make a good impression on my dad in class~" Xu Youyu rolled over, lying face-down on the bed, her bare feet wiggling in the air.

"So why didn't Uncle Xu teach his own precious daughter, and instead came to teach me?" Li Luo glanced at Xu Youyu's firm buttocks, then lifted his foot and pressed down lightly.

The soft, plump texture felt surprisingly pleasant.

"Teaching regular undergrads? Meh," Xu Youyu smiled sweetly. "But teaching a famous writer? That's rare."

"I'm just an online novelist," Li Luo wiped his nose.

"You don't know, do you?" Xu Youyu kicked his leg away, then kept kicking until her feet brushed against his. "This semester, Dad received over a dozen research papers on online literature."

"Almost every single one mentioned Chongran and 'Little Joys'."

"Think about how prestigious that is~"

"Then if you put it that way," Li Luo gripped her foot, then slipped off his other slipper and pressed his body onto her back, leaning close to her ear to whisper, "A certain writer who created 'Literary Era' and 'Gu Dao Changqing' would make a perfect subject for a thesis too."

"Don't say nonsense," Xu Youyu wriggled under him, but when she couldn't escape, she gave up and let him tease her—though she still retorted. "The school only knows that the famous Chongran chose Qianjiang University."

"I'm just an unknown nobody—who'd even recognize me?"

"Compared to Great Chongran, I'm completely insignificant~"

"Really?" Li Luo smiled and reached out. "You may be small in name, but you're not small at all."

Hearing that, Xu Youyu turned her head and shot him a glare.

They lounged on the bed for a while, until Xu Youyu, exhausted from being teased, finally stopped.

Leaning against Li Luo's chest, Xu Youyu pulled out her phone and nudged him. "Log into the academic portal."

"Why?"

"Didn't you pick any other classes yesterday?"

"I picked one—what's wrong?"

"Huh? You already picked one?" Xu Youyu leaned over to look. "'Astronomical Observation and Cosmic Exploration'? Why'd you pick that?"

"Ying Chanxi dragged me into it," Li Luo said. "At least now we have one class together."

"Can you pick one more?"

"I could…," Li Luo glanced at his schedule—the humanities major courses weren't particularly numerous.

This semester mainly consisted of 'Modern Chinese', 'Contemporary Literature', 'Ancient Chinese', 'Ancient Literature', and 'Outline of Modern and Contemporary History'.

Plus required courses like 'College English', 'Physical Education', and 'Military Theory and Safety Education', along with a few other non-major electives.

Including the elective he picked with Ying Chanxi, he had about twelve courses total.

Generally speaking, since most classes ran two periods back-to-back, he'd have at most five classes per day.

With twelve courses, his schedule filled only about two and a half days—plenty of free time remained.

Mondays and Wednesdays had three classes each; the other three days had two each.

Except for one class Thursday night, all his courses were during the day.

Honestly, Li Luo didn't mind early eight classes anymore—he'd been waking up at six daily for morning runs and wished all his classes were scheduled in the morning.

Hearing Xu Youyu ask if he could pick another class, Li Luo immediately understood her meaning—she wanted to take a class with him too.

"Ying Chanxi and Bamboo Breeze went to class with you every day in high school," Xu Youyu murmured, nestled against him, hopeful. "I've never had that experience. Let's pick a class together—you take it with me."

"What course do you want to pick?" Li Luo asked, nodding.

Either way, you have to earn enough credits in electives eventually—whether you take them early or late doesn't matter much. Hearing Li Luo agree, Xu Youyu grinned, searched the course registration portal, and quickly locked onto a specific elective.

"How about this one? Looks super interesting!"

Li Luo, curious at Xu Youyu's words, leaned over to take a peek.

But when he looked closely, his face immediately twisted into a look of utter disbelief.

"Online Novel Appreciation and Research?" Li Luo's eyebrow twitched. "Why do I always feel you've got some ulterior motive? And the instructor listed here..."

"Ahem..." Xu Youyu cleared her throat. "Isn't this right up your alley? Plus, you can see how literature professors view online novels—I think it's great."

"But why is Uncle Xu in charge of this course? Didn't you say he never teaches undergrads?"

"Well, it's not really his course—you see, there's another instructor listed," Xu Youyu pointed to the information on screen.

Xu Youyu was right.

The course "Online Novel Appreciation and Research" clearly listed two main instructors: Xu Rongsheng, and another named Si Huainian.

"What's going on here?"

"That Si Huainian is apparently my dad's student," Xu Youyu mused, stroking her chin. "Supposedly, Dad wanted to try offering this course, but he's too busy, so he handed it off to his student."

"Then why did Uncle Xu have to apply for it? Why not just let Si Teacher open it himself?"

"It seems Dad changed his mind last-minute—the course had already been approved, but as a professor, he could slip it in. And this course was his own idea—he drafted the syllabus himself. He just assigned Si Teacher to teach it."

"My dad probably isn't just dumping everything."

"He'll show up occasionally to participate in teaching—just not every class."

"... I feel like Uncle Xu has students everywhere," Li Luo said helplessly. "Is the whole literature college his network? He's always placing his people everywhere."

"That's an exaggeration," Xu Youyu laughed twice, then patted his shoulder. "But if you really want to put it that way, aren't you part of my dad's network too?"

Li Luo smiled, then searched his own academic portal, compared it with Xu Youyu's, confirmed it was the same course, and finalized his selection.

"So we're picking it?"

"Picked!"

"Time to get up and write."

"Write at this hour?" Xu Youyu, hearing Li Luo, immediately flopped back onto the bed, pulling the blanket over herself. "I'll sleep a bit longer."

"It's almost ten. What's left to sleep? Get up, write a bit, and we can have lunch."

"No writing," Xu Youyu rolled over, facing away from Li Luo and muttering. "I'll write tonight."

Xu Youyu was a chronic procrastinator—beyond saving.

Seeing she wouldn't get up, Li Luo gave up and rose, walking to his desk, turning on his computer, then running his fingers over the blue-and-gray mechanical keyboard Xu Youyu had once gifted him, and began typing—tap-tap-tap.

At noon, Li Luo received a WeChat message from Ying Chanxi: Meng Senior had invited her to lunch; she'd return after finishing her afternoon tasks.

Li Luo replied it was fine, then took Yan Zhusheng—who had practiced piano all morning—out to buy groceries. They cooked a simple meal, then called Xu Youyu to wake up for lunch.

When lunch was nearly over, Yan Zhusheng suddenly remembered something and asked Li Luo: "Can you send me your class schedule?"

"Oh, sure," Li Luo said, pulled out his phone, and sent the newly updated schedule directly to their four-person WeChat group. "Sent to the group."

"Oh," Yan Zhusheng nodded, opened her phone, and carefully noted Li Luo's free times.

Since elective courses were color-coded differently from regular ones, Yan Zhusheng spotted it immediately: "You picked two electives?"

"Yeah," Li Luo didn't hide it, nodding. "The astronomy one was picked by Chanxi. The online novel one was picked by Youyu."

Hearing this, Yan Zhusheng pressed her lips together slightly, unhappy: "Our music college's classes are completely separate from yours."

After all, they weren't even on the same campus—there couldn't possibly be overlapping electives.

Otherwise, crossing an entire campus—even with the campus shuttle—would take at least half an hour, counting travel and walking time.

It was simply more convenient to keep the public electives separate.

So now, Yan Zhusheng's hope of taking classes with Li Luo during university was completely dashed.

"What are you doing this afternoon?" Li Luo noticed her mood and tried to change the subject.

Yan Zhusheng looked at Li Luo, then fixed him with a determined gaze: "I made plans with Jin Yan. We're registering at driving school this afternoon—I'm aiming to get my license within a month."

"Ahem... no need to rush so much. Safety comes first with driving," Li Luo reassured her.

"I know," Yan Zhusheng nodded obediently—but her determination was unmistakable.

"Should I drive you to the driving school this afternoon?" Li Luo asked.

"It's not far—right next to the Yinjiang campus," Yan Zhusheng said. "Just drop me off at my dorm afterward."

"Fine."

After lunch, the dishwashing fell to Xu Youyu. Li Luo took Yan Zhusheng downstairs, drove her back to her dorm.

But when they arrived at Zhenjiang Dormitory, Yan Zhusheng didn't get out. Instead, she turned to him, blinked her eyes, and pointed to a nearby parking spot.

"What are you doing?"

"I want a hug."

"You can hug right here."

"I want to hug longer."

"Why didn't you hug longer when we left home?" Li Luo chuckled, but he pulled over as Yan Zhusheng wanted.

"Meng Senior was there—it wasn't convenient."

Yan Zhusheng climbed onto Li Luo's lap.

"What's not convenient... wait—"

Li Luo took a quiet breath.

Yan Zhusheng hadn't just wanted a hug—she was hungry for something else.