Chapter 724: Xu Youyu

September 28, Thursday.

The daily rhythm of university life passed quickly.

The coursework wasn't as heavy as high school; many classes were easy, and after attending just once, Li Luo started skipping them entirely.

Only courses related to Xu Rongsheng's specialization were worth Li Luo's attention.

It was morning now, and Li Luo accompanied Xu Youyu to the class "Online Novel Appreciation and Research."

To be fair, although the class discussed online novels—something Li Luo knew inside out—Professor Si Huannian still managed to bring out some fresh insights.

Often, she offered analyses from angles Li Luo had never considered before.

Today was the third session of this course, and the class had reached the stage where student groups presented their work.

This week, two groups took the stage to present their favorite online novels, applying Professor Si's analytical methods and their own interpretations to deliver targeted research.

The first group was all female; they picked a popular xianxia novel from the female-audience segment, which Li Luo rarely read and didn't understand well.

But when the second group stepped up and opened their PowerPoint, Li Luo kept a straight face, yet Xu Youyu couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"Hahaha~ Turns out it's your turn after all." Xu Youyu stifled her chuckles, patted Li Luo's shoulder, and stared at the PowerPoint screen displaying the five bold characters "Night Watch of Great Qian," laughing uncontrollably.

Li Luo wore an expression of helpless resignation.

Although he'd mentally prepared for this, he never expected his own work to be the very first one presented.

Fortunately, besides himself, all other students in the elective were second- or third-year seniors.

Even though a few seniors recognized Li Luo's identity, among the forty-plus students enrolled, only Jiang Feiya, sitting across the aisle, knew he was Chongran.

Thinking of this, Li Luo turned to look at Jiang Feiya across the aisle; she turned her head too, and their eyes met instantly.

At this moment, Jiang Feiya's emotions were also complicated.

After learning the true identities of Li Luo and Xu Youyu, she'd briefly lost her emotional balance.

Li Luo was fine—his career was so successful, earning millions; Jiang Feiya could accept that. It was just that Xu Youyu got lucky and found a powerful boyfriend.

But Xu Youyu's own success still left Jiang Feiya feeling a bit envious.

She'd spent this time carefully researching online novel authors' income levels and compared them with Xu Youyu's achievements, doing rough calculations.

Then she discovered that since Xu Youyu began writing in Gao Er, over the past three years, his royalty income had reached nearly two million yuan!

Two million yuan in three years!

Although this number paled next to Li Luo's staggering earnings, for a university student, it was still an astronomical sum.

Who in their right mind could earn two million yuan during high school and freshman year?

Every time she thought of this, Jiang Feiya couldn't help feeling envious.

Yet after reading Xu Youyu's two major works, Jiang Feiya's mindset shifted slightly.

How to put it… it was hard to describe.

Her feelings toward Xu Youyu were now strange.

On one hand, she thought it was awesome that he made so much money; on the other, she thought his writings were downright indecent.

But… Jiang Feiya also realized she kept getting absorbed while reading them.

She'd often accidentally stay up until two or three in the morning, only snapping back to reality after hours had slipped away.

If not for this, she never would've finished both of Xu Youyu's books—over four million characters—in just over half a month.

After all, she hadn't been much of an online novel reader before and hadn't developed the speed of a seasoned reader who skims ten lines at a glance.

So she read slowly and paid close attention.

She'd savor a single chapter for several minutes.

If she read the chapter comments too, ten minutes or more would vanish unnoticed.

"Night Watch of Great Qian breaks the traditional xianxia framework, blending court intrigue, martial world grudges, and case-solving plots to weave the main storyline."

"It also introduces a completely novel career advancement system, unlike any conventional xianxia novel."

"And on this foundation…"

As Jiang Feiya wrestled with her complex emotions, the presenting student on stage began speaking.

Below, Li Luo listened as others lavished his work with extravagant praise, and goosebumps rose on his arms.

Especially when they praised the innovation in the cultivation system, Li Luo felt slightly embarrassed.

After all, this system was originally pioneered by "The Master of Mysterious Secrets" in online novels.

But at this time, "The Master of Mysterious Secrets" was still far from being released; Wu Ze was still wrapping up his "Dog Food Master."

His new book wouldn't come out until next April.

"That's so well said," Xu Youyu whispered mischievously into Li Luo's ear, "Feels great, doesn't it? All this fancy praise?"

"Hmph." Li Luo glanced at Xu Youyu. "Wait until next time it's my turn to present—I'll make you feel just as good."

Hearing this, Xu Youyu's face froze, then she huffed: "Who's afraid of whom? I've already prepared something on you too."

The two of them secretly plotted to embarrass each other below, while the presenter on stage moved from thematic innovation to narrative structure and character growth.

Finally, they concluded with a sublime reflection on chivalry and human morality, leaving Li Luo stunned.

"Did you think of all this when you wrote it?" Xu Youyu asked curiously.

Li Luo: "... When typing, who has time to think that deeply?"

"Hahaha~ Then why don't you raise your hand and correct them?" Xu Youyu giggled behind her hand.

Li Luo cleared his throat and shook his head. "Although I didn't think that deeply while writing, maybe I'm naturally drawn to chivalry and justice, so these ideas flowed into my work instinctively."

"If you think of it that way, what they said isn't wrong."

"No need to correct them."

Xu Youyu eyed him sideways and chuckled. "You're pretty good at self-praise."

She said it aloud, but inwardly, she fully agreed with the student's analysis.

Especially the praise for the author made Xu Youyu smile broadly and nod repeatedly in agreement.

Compared to the cultural theme of I Am Really Not a Star and the realistic theme of Little Joy, Night Watch of Great Qian clearly has a broader audience. Especially when the protagonist, after reincarnation, experiences clashes between modern ideas and certain beliefs of the xianxia world, gradually guiding him from a contented, small-fortune mindset toward a transformation of protecting all living beings—this theme and core resonated deeply with Xu Youyu.

And this point was excellently explained by the members of this small group, leaving Xu Youyu highly satisfied.

When the student on stage finished the presentation, Xu Youyu immediately raised both hands and clapped vigorously.

"After class, let's go eat lunch, then swim?" Li Luo finally waited for the presentation to end, sighed in relief, and turned to ask Xu Youyu.

"Let's go back to the dorm and take a nap first," Xu Youyu said. "I'll go after I wake up."

"Don't you dare oversleep again."

"I never oversleep during naps!" Xu Youyu gritted his teeth. "Don't stereotype me."

"Really? I seem to remember…"

"Don't bring up old grievances," Xu Youyu grumbled, pinching his waist flesh angrily.

After their playful tussle, Shi Huainian on stage had already moved on to today's main topic.

After the previous two classes covered the history of Online Novels and some basic analytical methods and tools, today's lesson arrived at specific case analyses.

"With the presentations from the first two groups, everyone should have noticed, to some extent, that they used many of the methods we covered last class."

"But in truth, everyone still clings too tightly to traditional literary perspectives."

"Even if you read Online Novels regularly, you're all literature majors—you often can't shift your mindset."

"Or rather, you're not bold enough."

Shi Huainian smiled slightly, then opened his prepared PowerPoint. "Perfect—using today's two student presentations as examples, let's delve deeper from my angle."

"This time, I'll pick an angle everyone should find interesting and make a simple attempt."

"Take a look."

As he spoke, Shi Huainian flipped the slide, revealing the first group's presented female-oriented Online Novel.

But the screenshot was somewhat embarrassing.

Compared to the first group's presentation, which analyzed themes, narrative structure, plotlines, character cores, and ideological elevation, Shi Huainian was far bolder.

He directly pulled screenshots of the novel's steamy scenes.

The female author was quite open in this regard, especially with her prose—her atmosphere, subtle and intricate, placed readers right inside the moment.

If reading this privately, everyone would likely stare wide-eyed and savor every word.

But right now, after glancing at what was written, most lowered their heads, glanced around nervously, too embarrassed to look at the screen.

"Holy shit, Professor Shi is that ruthless?" Xu Youyu blurted out, then turned to Li Luo and saw his face had gone pale.

"These are explicit depictions of romantic and sensual elements from this novel," Shi Huainian said with a smile. "But we're not here to condemn such content—we're using historical comparison to understand how Online Novels have evolved and changed in this regard."

"Now look at these passages."

No sooner had he spoken than Shi Huainian flipped the slide again—the screen split into four sections, each displaying a passage.

"Starting from the top-left: Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty—fragments from works on this subject."

"Now let's look at excerpts from Night Watch of Great Qian," Shi Huainian continued, flipping again.

At this point, Li Luo refused to look anymore.

Jiang Feiya, not far away, nearly burst out laughing, glancing twice toward Li Luo; seeing him hunched over, covering his face, she finally laughed aloud.

Xu Youyu was also struggling to keep a straight face, stifling laughter as he comforted: "It's, it's fine—nobody here knows you anyway."

"Stop talking," Li Luo said helplessly, waving his hands. "I wish I hadn't come to this class."

"Hahaha~" Xu Youyu, meanwhile, was thoroughly enjoying it and even defended Professor Shi. "I think it's great—even traditional literary works contain plenty of such content."

"I think it's awesome that Professor Shi dares to analyze and share this."

"Besides, this kind of appeal really works—look at everyone's eyes."

Xu Youyu whispered this, and Li Luo lifted his head to scan the room—finding nearly everyone listening intently.

To be fair, for an elective like Online Novels, some students truly chose it out of interest.

But many others came just to slack off.

After all, Online Novels are inherently light; the course content surely wouldn't be overly professional.

Come to slack off, finish the semester, and the credits are yours.

But right now, after Shi Huainian pulled this move, everyone was utterly focused, completely captivated by the professor on stage.

Shi Huainian spent several minutes explaining his views on this evolution, then leaned on the podium and addressed the class: "The entertainment nature of Online Novels cannot be ignored—especially not by researchers like us."

"We mustn't force traditional literary analysis onto Online Novels just to prove their worth."

"Is the true driving force behind readers' love for Online Novels really just what our group students analyzed?"

"This is something we must reflect on deeply."

After speaking, Shi Huainian continued analyzing both Online Novels from other angles, temporarily sparing Li Luo.

"Sigh…" Li Luo sighed deeply, then couldn't help saying, "Next time I'll recommend Literary Era to Professor Shi—wonder if she'd be willing to analyze it deeply."

"Get lost," Xu Youyu glared at him. "I didn't even get involved in this. If you've got guts, wait till another student presents my book."

Here, Xu Youyu grew smug: "Look how famous you are—I'm just a tiny nobody; no one would ever present my book."

"Tsk." Li Luo made a sound of annoyance, but had no reply.

After enduring another twenty minutes, the dismissal bell finally rang.

Li Luo immediately grabbed Xu Youyu and hurried out, unwilling to linger in the classroom.

"Hey, won't Chanxi join us for swimming?" On the way to the cafeteria, Xu Youyu hooked his arm around Li Luo's.

"She said she's going to the secretary's office after lunch, so she won't swim—it doesn't count toward sunshine running hours since we haven't started swimming class yet," Li Luo said. "But after we swim, if we go see the kittens, she said she'll come with us."

"So it's just the two of us swimming, then?" Xu Youyu raised an eyebrow, pressing close to Li Luo's ear in a suggestive tone. "Coach Li, you'd better teach me how to swim properly."

(End of Chapter)