Chapter 750

The next day, Thursday morning.

Li Luo accompanied Xu Youyu to the online novel elective class again.

Xu Youyu, just dragged out of bed, hurried through morning ablutions in the dormitory and rushed to the classroom; no sooner had she sat down than drowsiness hit her, and she leaned against Li Luo's shoulder and nodded off.

"Did Baoma call you?" Li Luo slightly lowered his shoulder and turned to Xu Youyu.

"Mm." Xu Youyu, eyes closed and resting on his shoulder, gave a light nod. "I'll go in the afternoon."

"Shall I have Butler Liu drive us over?" Li Luo asked. "Then I'll ride back in your new car."

"No need to trouble Butler Liu," Xu Youyu yawned. "I already arranged it with Chanxi. She just got her new car yesterday and wants to drive it more—she'll drop us off today."

"... Then who's driving me back?"

"That depends on who someone loves more." Xu Youyu suddenly woke up, lifted her head, smiled sweetly at him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said with deep affection, "You'll definitely choose me, right?"

Li Luo broke into a sweat: "What about Chanxi?"

"Let her drive back alone," Xu Youyu teased with a grin. "You already spent time with her yesterday. Today it's only natural you spend it with me. It's perfectly reasonable."

"If you put it that way, then..."

"Alright, alright, I'm not teasing you anymore." Xu Youyu rolled her eyes. "Chanxi's going into the city anyway—probably about her TikTok deal—she needs to go over this afternoon."

"Xin Yan is coming along to learn too, so she's just giving us a lift."

"Someone looks so worried—feel sorry for Chanxi? Why not care about me?"

"Youyu-jie..." Li Luo took Xu Youyu's hand, about to say something, but she raised a finger and pressed it against his lips.

"I'm not teasing you," Xu Youyu smiled warmly. "I'm not as petty as Chanxi. As long as we're happy together, other things don't matter much, right?"

After saying that, Xu Youyu leaned back against Li Luo's shoulder, yawned, and closed her eyes to rest.

Only when the class bell rang did she open her eyes again.

The next second, both Li Luo and Xu Youyu instinctively widened their eyes.

Hmm... At this moment, besides Teacher Si Huanian, another figure entered the classroom behind her.

All the students fell silent—whether simply because the bell had rung, because a new teacher had entered, or because they recognized the person's identity.

Li Luo and Xu Youyu exchanged a glance, then composed their expressions and pretended not to recognize the new teacher on stage.

Meanwhile, Si Huanian had brought the new teacher to the front of the podium and smiled at the class: "This is the person I mentioned to you all on the first day of class."

"Professor Xu Rongsheng of our Literature Department, and also our Vice Dean."

"Currently, all literature department research on online novels is led by Professor Xu."

"Since Professor Xu has time today, I invited him to sit in."

"If he has any thoughts later, I hope he'll share his insights."

"Oh, by the way, you mentioned earlier..."

"Mm." Xu Rongsheng nodded with a chuckle. "Go ahead and teach. He'll be here soon."

"Perfect, perfect." Si Huanian smiled and nodded, then glanced down at the students and winked. "Professor Xu has prepared a surprise for everyone—especially the two groups presenting today. Be ready."

Hearing this, the students scheduled to present today immediately looked grim, assuming Professor Xu had prepared some difficult questions to challenge them during their presentations.

"Let's begin with the first group presenting today," Si Huanian said, then took a seat with Xu Rongsheng at two empty chairs in the front row.

The student responsible for the group presentation immediately stood up, set up the PowerPoint, and began.

The topic displayed on the screen was unmistakably Night Watch of Great Qian.

Hmm... Only two groups are allowed to cover the same book; this time it's the second group's turn for Night Watch of Great Qian.

Li Luo stared at the title on the screen, his mouth twitching involuntarily—he felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread.

After the first group finished their presentation, the second group took the stage; the title on their PowerPoint was Little Joys.

This made Li Luo's composure crack.

"Chongran-daxia~ You're really popular~" Xu Youyu leaned close to Li Luo's ear and teased him in a whisper.

"Stop it," Li Luo rolled his eyes and whispered, "Your dad's right up front—can't you behave?"

"Isn't it more exciting this way?" Xu Youyu glanced around; hearing his words, she even reached out her hand.

"What are you doing?" Li Luo jumped, quickly grabbing her mischievous hand. "What if someone sees?"

"Last row, no one's looking," Xu Youyu whispered back.

"Last row, you big dummy." Li Luo pulled her hand into his palm to stop her fidgeting, then raised his other hand and tapped her head lightly. "Behave yourself."

"Hmph~" Xu Youyu withdrew her hand and stopped causing trouble.

The two fell silent and listened to the Little Joys group's presentation.

When the presenting student returned to their seat, Si Huanian returned to the podium and opened her prepared PowerPoint.

As usual, today Si Huanian would use Night Watch of Great Qian and Little Joys as examples to conduct specific analysis and research on online novels.

Only through such practical textual study could students truly learn concrete content, rather than just superficial theory.

But for Li Luo, this was painful.

Even a professional teacher like Si Huanian sometimes drew conclusions during textual analysis that made the original author especially uncomfortable.

Of course, when Si Huanian pointed out plotlines Li Luo had carefully planned, he felt quite satisfied.

Like two years ago, when Li Luo commented on Xu Youyu's Literary Era in the comments section and made her feel thoroughly pampered.

But today was different.

Because Xu Rongsheng was here.

Si Huanian had originally planned to divide the remaining time: first quickly cover Night Watch of Great Qian, since it had already been discussed before.

Then focus on Little Joys, this realistic short-form work.

But after finishing Night Watch of Great Qian and preparing to move to Little Joys, Si Huanian remembered Xu Rongsheng's promise and couldn't help asking: "Professor Xu, you mentioned earlier..."

"You want to meet him now?" Xu Rongsheng chuckled. "He's already here, ready to come in anytime."

【61】 "That's perfect," Si Huanian smiled. "I'm just about to discuss Little Joys—I'm eager to hear his comments."

"Then I'll go invite him over?" Xu Rongsheng stood up, smiling at Shi Huanian.

"Thank you, Professor Xu."

"Mm." Xu Rongsheng nodded, but instead of heading toward the classroom door, he walked down the aisle all the way to the back.

Li Luo, sitting in the corner, watched Xu Rongsheng approach step by step—and connecting it with the earlier conversation—his face instantly changed.

Xu Rongsheng had now reached the corner, patted Li Luo's shoulder, and chuckled: "Li Luo, Teacher Shi has been looking forward to this for a long time—how about you offer a few comments later?"

At these words, the classroom fell utterly silent.

All eyes turned to Li Luo; many wore puzzled expressions, unsure what Professor Xu was up to.

Shi Huanian, upon seeing this, froze for a moment, then instantly realized what was happening—her face immediately flushed with embarrassment.

"Cough… Let me introduce everyone," Xu Rongsheng patted Li Luo's shoulder again, gesturing for him to stand.

Li Luo stood up reluctantly, playing along with his future father-in-law, as Xu Rongsheng announced: "This is the author Chongran, who wrote Night Watch of Great Qian and Little Joy."

"You may have read few online novels, or not paid attention to authors, so not recognizing him is perfectly normal."

"Chongran is also a student at Qianjiang University—he privately enrolled in this course and can share some insights about online novels with you."

At this moment, Xu Youyu, beside them, had already covered her mouth, barely holding back laughter.

Her shoulders still trembled slightly.

Seeing Li Luo glance her way with a resentful look, Xu Youyu frantically waved at him, signaling him not to expose her.

Mutual destruction would be so bad.

Li Luo had no choice but to follow Xu Rongsheng toward the podium.

Surrounded by the stunned gazes of every classmate, Li Luo stepped onto the podium.

Shi Huanian stared at the student before her, her lips twitching slightly—she never imagined the author of her lecture's novel had been sitting in her classroom all along.

Thinking back to how she'd specifically discussed Li Luo's "driving" passages, she, as a teacher, felt deeply embarrassed.

As the saying goes, embarrassment and social death are relative.

As long as you're not awkward, no one can defeat you.

So Li Luo smiled at Shi Huanian: "Teacher Shi, everything you explained was excellent—I think you did a fantastic job, clearly with deep research into online novels."

Coming from the author himself, this should have been high praise.

But Shi Huanian only felt more embarrassed.

She even hesitated to continue discussing Little Joy.

So she thought quickly and said: "Since the original author of Little Joy is here, why don't you share the creative journey behind this book?"

Seeing Teacher Shi trying to escape, Li Luo chuckled: "Your lesson plan and PPT are already ready—I'm actually looking forward to how you'll analyze this book."

"After all, Little Joy differs significantly from typical online novels."

"I'm curious what specific angles you'll use for your online novel-focused analysis."

"Alright then," Xu Rongsheng said from the side. "You continue teaching. I'll sit with Li Luo and listen—we might chime in occasionally, discuss together."

"O-Okay…" Shi Huanian forced a smile; since Xu Rongsheng had spoken, she had no choice but to accept.

…

The long torment finally ended.

Near noon, Li Luo finally escaped from the classroom.

But more than ten minutes later, Li Luo and Xu Youyu sat at the same lunch table as Xu Rongsheng and Shi Huanian, eating together in the campus cafeteria.

"Teacher, you're too cruel…" Shi Huanian sighed helplessly. "Chongran was in your class—you didn't even hint at it."

"I just thought it would be interesting," Xu Rongsheng chuckled. "What do you think, Li Luo?"

"I'm so grateful," Li Luo groaned, rubbing his forehead. "I didn't want to reveal myself—better to stay low-key on campus."

"True," Xu Rongsheng nodded in agreement. "But it's just an elective course—no big deal."

"Mm." Since his future father-in-law said so, Li Luo naturally didn't argue.

Meanwhile, Xu Youyu sat quietly like a well-behaved girl—even refrained from calling Xu Rongsheng "Dad," afraid Shi Huanian would learn their relationship, and simply played the role of Li Luo's girlfriend.

After lunch, Shi Huanian added Li Luo on WeChat, saying she'd rely on Author Chongran's support in future classes.

Li Luo insisted he was unworthy, saying Teacher Shi was the true professional—he was just a lowly online novel writer.

After Shi Huanian left, Xu Youyu finally reached out and linked arms with Xu Rongsheng, affectionately saying: "Dad~"

"I thought you didn't recognize me," Xu Rongsheng teased, glancing at his daughter.

"No way~"

"She's just afraid you'll expose her too," Li Luo added, stabbing her.

"Get lost!" Xu Youyu kicked him. "Can't you just shut up?"

"Should I introduce you to the class next time?" Xu Rongsheng raised an eyebrow.

"No, please!" Xu Youyu begged. "Dad~ Don't do this to me! I want to live a few more years!"

"Just joking," Xu Rongsheng waved his hand. "Go on, you two—I'm heading back to my office."

"Alright," Li Luo nodded, about to take Xu Youyu to pick up the car, when he suddenly remembered something and turned back to call out: "Uncle Xu, I have one more question."

"Hm? What is it?" Xu Rongsheng asked, puzzled.

"I've been meaning to ask," Li Luo smiled. "If I wanted to donate funds to support financially struggling students in the College of Literature, how should I apply?"

(End of Chapter)