Chapter 728: Chanxi: Win! Win! Win!

Ying Chanxi actually wasn't very keen on going over.

After all, in Li Luo's roommates' eyes, Xu Youyu was his official girlfriend.

If Ying Chanxi just walked over to greet them, even though Wen Zexuan already knew the truth, she still couldn't throw caution to the wind in front of the other two roommates—she had to preserve Li Luo's face.

In that case, she'd either have to claim she was Li Luo's cousin, or invoke their high school classmate connection.

But neither option was what Ying Chanxi truly wanted to say.

Yet if she didn't go over to greet them, among her own roommates, she was Li Luo's official girlfriend.

When you run into your boyfriend and his roommates at a restaurant, even if you don't suggest joining their table, at least you should say hello.

Otherwise, acting like strangers without even a greeting would be too strange.

So Ying Chanxi was stuck here, caught between two difficult choices.

If her roommates also came over to greet them, Ying Chanxi wouldn't even know what to do.

Fortunately, Qiao Xinyan was beside her, distracting Lin Zhixia and Jiang Lai, which gave Ying Chanxi a little breathing room.

After adjusting her expression and taking a deep breath, Ying Chanxi finally gathered the courage and walked toward Li Luo's table.

Come to think of it, this was Ying Chanxi's first time meeting Li Luo's roommates—aside from Wen Zexuan.

Previously at school, since the senior had already publicly announced her status as girlfriend, Li Luo had always been the one coming to find Ying Chanxi, and he'd already met her roommates many times.

And now…

"Hi, how's it going?"

Nervously, Ying Chanxi walked up to Li Luo's table and greeted the group.

At that moment, only Wen Zexuan reacted, responding with a greeting.

Beside him, Bai Haoran and Cheng Xin were still dazed.

But their expressions and emotions were different.

Bai Haoran simply felt confused—he didn't understand why it wasn't Jiang Lai who came over, but another unfamiliar beautiful girl, and he was still wondering if she was one of Wen Zexuan's many girls.

If so, Wen Zexuan really had no shame…

Not to mention Ying Chanxi was genuinely stunning, instantly captivating at first glance.

But wasn't she Jiang Lai's friend?

You just broke up with her, and now you're hitting on her friend?

Bai Haoran thought of this, and felt speechless.

Cheng Xin, meanwhile, was just plain stunned.

He'd originally thought seeing Xu Youyu, such a beautiful senior at school, was rare enough.

But he never expected to meet another girl just as stunning as Xu Youyu under these circumstances.

Though her body measurements were noticeably less, Ying Chanxi's natural, pure, and adorable aura perfectly made up for it.

And for Cheng Xin, compared to Xu Youyu's outgoing, lively, and alluring older-woman type, Ying Chanxi's cute, obedient, and delicate charm better matched his ideal of a partner.

"Why are you here too?" Li Luo asked.

"National Day holiday's coming, so we thought we'd have one last meal together before parting," Ying Chanxi looked at Li Luo and answered honestly, "What about you? Same?"

"Yeah." Li Luo nodded. "That's quite a coincidence."

"Yeah."

"Li Luo… you know her?" Bai Haoran, seeing Li Luo chatting with the girl while Wen Zexuan stayed silent, finally realized he'd guessed wrong.

Come to think of it—

Wen Zexuan might be a bit of a player, but he still had basic sense of risk—he wouldn't go for his ex's leftovers.

But now, Bai Haoran was even more surprised.

After all, Li Luo already had Xu Youyu, such an excellent and beautiful girlfriend, yet he still knew another girl just as stunning.

And worse, she'd come over to greet him herself.

"Of course I know him," Ying Chanxi smiled, and to spare Li Luo embarrassment, she volunteered an introduction: "I'm his high school…"

"She's my girlfriend."

Just as Ying Chanxi was halfway through, Li Luo suddenly pulled her into his arms, plopping her onto his lap, cutting her off mid-sentence.

At the same time, as Li Luo spoke those words, Ying Chanxi froze, utterly flustered and at a loss.

"Y-you… what are you saying…" Ying Chanxi's face flushed red as she mumbled into Li Luo's arms, her tone anxious, "But the senior still…"

"Good girl, listen up," Li Luo affectionately patted Ying Chanxi's head, pinched her cute cheeks, then turned to face Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran, both gaping in shock.

"Bro… what did you just say?" Cheng Xin looked utterly bewildered, his mind blank, "She… she… is she…"

"You heard right," Li Luo wrapped his arms around Ying Chanxi's slender waist, turning her to face his roommates, then smiled and introduced, "Her name is Ying Chanxi—my girlfriend. Brother Wen has met her before."

"Cough…" Seeing Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran's gazes shift to him, Wen Zexuan gave a helpless expression and nodded. "When Li Luo treated their dorm to dinner, I was still dating Jiang Lai—I already knew about this."

"H-hi there…" Ying Chanxi, deeply embarrassed, greeted Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran again, then quickly slid off Li Luo's lap and sat beside him.

Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran's expressions were utterly uncontrollable; it took them a long while to recover.

Ying Chanxi, meanwhile, felt too awkward to stay seated, and finally stood up. "Uh… my roommates are waiting for me over there—I'll go join them now."

"Go ahead," Li Luo didn't keep her longer, nodding. "Want to walk back with me later?"

"No, thanks—we're going shopping this afternoon," Ying Chanxi waved her hands, declined, then hurried back to Qiao Xinyan and the others.

"You two are so cute together," Jiang Lai teased, watching how Li Luo had just pulled Ying Chanxi onto his lap.

Now that Ying Chanxi had returned from that side, she finally snapped out of her shyness, realizing what Li Luo had just done—her heart was completely filled with sweetness.

Hearing Jiang Lai's words, Ying Chanxi beamed happily and nodded.

Qiao Xinyan watched all this, her gaze slightly odd.

But after noticing the expressions on Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran's faces, Qiao Xinyan fell into thought, then turned her eyes back to Li Luo's back, pressing her lips together.

"Did your roommate find out?" Qiao Xinyan leaned close to Ying Chanxi's ear and whispered.

Ying Chanxi had already privately complained to Qiao Xinyan about Xu Youyu announcing his girlfriend; now, hearing the question, she gave a slight nod, unable to suppress the upward curve of her lips.

Qiao Xinyan looked at Ying Chanxi's happy face and recalled the images of Xu Yinghuan and Zhao Rongjun in her mind; then she shook her head, pushing those thoughts aside. They were ultimately different, Qiao Xinyan thought.

…

After Ying Chanxi returned to her roommate's side, Li Luo's group erupted into chaos.

Wen Zexuan watched Ying Chanxi leave, then began venting loudly.

"You have no idea how much this has been eating me up inside!"

"Li Luo is a bastard! He's been playing both sides for ages! And you still thought I was the jerk!"

"Was I the jerk? I was just taking every relationship seriously!"

"Look at our Brother Luo—he's the real master of dating."

"Cheng Xin, you said this morning you wanted to learn from Brother Luo—so what now? Huh?"

"Go on, show me how you'd do it."

Cheng Xin's face darkened at this; he stammered: "I—I never thought this would happen… and besides, how could you even…"

To be fair, Cheng Xin had still harbored a faint fantasy just now.

After all, if Wen Zexuan had a girl like this in his pond, he'd have already shared Ying Chanxi's photos with them.

And if this girl were someone Li Luo knew well, then given Li Luo already had a girlfriend, there could be no flirtation between them.

So if Brother Luo could help connect them, wouldn't he have a chance too?

Cheng Xin knew his limits—he knew such a beautiful girl would almost certainly not look at him.

But whenever a man saw a girl like this, he couldn't help but imagine it.

Yet this fantasy had barely surfaced before Li Luo's words shattered it mercilessly.

"You guys just know this much," Li Luo waved his hand, signaling Wen Zexuan to stop talking. "Let's eat."

He said "let's eat," but how could Cheng Xin possibly eat?

His mind was filled with the image of Li Luo pulling Ying Chanxi into his arms and declaring her his girlfriend—so effortlessly dominant.

The impact of that moment was overwhelming.

Compared to the shock Wen Zexuan had delivered to his views on love over the past weeks, Li Luo's move was far more devastating.

It completely shattered Cheng Xin's long-held beliefs, leaving them in pieces, making him doubt true love even existed.

If even a model couple like Li Luo and Senior Xu could end up like this, could true love exist anywhere?

Li Luo had no intention of explaining further—he simply didn't want Ying Chanxi to suffer any more in this regard.

Seeing her force a smile, trying to introduce herself as his high school classmate, Li Luo didn't feel relief as he used to; instead, his heart tightened instantly.

His chest felt suffocating.

All four of them had reached this point.

Li Luo no longer wanted to hide.

At a time like this, let the truth come out—it was better than letting Xixi suffer alone.

Turning to look at Ying Chanxi's table, he saw her radiant smile—and his own face softened into a relieved grin.

After the meal ended.

The four returned to their dorm, and Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran began packing.

Seeing their large suitcases, Li Luo said: "I'll drive you to the high-speed rail station."

"Huh? The station's pretty far—no need to trouble Brother Luo," Cheng Xin scratched his head, embarrassed.

"What's the trouble? Finished packing?" Li Luo clapped their shoulders. "I'm free this afternoon. Let's go. Next year when the subway opens, getting to the station will be easy—you're lucky to catch it just in time."

"The subway opens next year?" Cheng Xin dragged his suitcase behind Li Luo as they left the dorm, curious.

"Yeah," Li Luo nodded. "More precisely, by the end of this year—at the latest, after the New Year, it'll be operational."

Speaking of which, the subway entrance at the intersection of Xijie and Ningshan Avenue had already been under construction for over two years since it began in 2015.

By next spring, it'll be nearly two and a half years—quite fast for an opening.

Since the subway project was approved, housing prices in the surrounding area have surged.

At Bihai Lanting, just one street away from the subway entrance, prices have risen from around 10,000 yuan per square meter when Li Luo's family bought it, to 18,000 yuan now.

But that's still the low end.

Li Luo's three shops on Xijie, located right beside Qianjiang University and benefiting from subway and Tianjie traffic, have skyrocketed to over 30,000 yuan per square meter.

Yet given Li Luo's current assets and income, there's no need to cash out these properties.

His hot pot shop and bubble tea shop are doing fine—even if prices fall later, Li Luo won't sell.

He might sell only the shop currently rented to the cake store; at current growth rates, just that one shop could cover the original cost of all three.

In Li Luo's estimation, if he waits another one or two years, when prices peak, these shops could reach 50,000 yuan per square meter.

But after 2019, prices won't reach that level again.

"Drive safely," Li Luo saw Cheng Xin and Bai Haoran off at the high-speed rail station, then drove back to the northern part of Yinjiang District.

On the way, Li Luo called Ying Chanxi and learned she and the others had finished shopping; he then drove to the entrance of Tianjie to pick up her entire dorm for the return to Zhulu Xuan.

Qiao Xinyan was local—no need to go home for National Day; she could return anytime on weekends.

Jiang Lai's family was out of province, but she planned to stay on campus during National Day.

Lin Zhixia was going home, but her family lived in the neighboring city; she'd already arranged a ride with a fellow student, so she didn't need Li Luo to drive her to the station.

After dropping them off at the dorm, Li Luo turned to Ying Chanxi, who was still lounging in the car.

"Aren't you coming up?" Li Luo smiled.

"I'm your girlfriend—I'm going home with you," Ying Chanxi lifted her chin, proud, her smile impossible to hide.

Li Luo looked at her adorable expression and couldn't help leaning down to pin her to the seat.

"Mmm… don't… this is the dormitory entrance…"

"What does it matter?" Li Luo said as he kissed her, "She's my girlfriend—what's wrong with a kiss?"

At these words, Ying Chanxi went limp, letting Li Luo do as he pleased.

(End of Chapter)