Chapter 760

Another Monday arrived.

As usual on every Monday since the semester began, Li Luo woke early, went for a morning run, then prepared to attend Xu Rongsheng's modern and contemporary literature class.

But unlike before, Yan Zhusheng now had her own car, so she no longer needed Li Luo to drive her across the river to the music college.

It saved him a lot of time.

The cost was that after returning to Bihai Lanting from his run, he still had to linger with Yan Zhusheng in the piano room.

"Zhusheng, shouldn't we go?"

Li Luo sat on the black bench in front of the piano, holding Yan Zhusheng astride his lap, and said with a sigh.

"Call me teacher," Yan Zhusheng said seriously. "This is class time."

"I think I've graduated already."

"Really?" Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "Then sing me that song, 'Unknown Person.'"

"Why that one?"

"My mom and I have both tried your five songs related to 'The Beginning.' The others are fine, but this one just feels right when you sing it yourself," Yan Zhusheng said. "Aunt Luo said your demo actually sounds more emotional—it's just that your vocal technique still needs strengthening."

"I could sing this one, sure, but how exactly do I strengthen my vocal technique?"

"Aren't I teaching you right now?" Yan Zhusheng said with a serious expression.

"You call this serious?"

"Yes, very serious," Yan Zhusheng nodded solemnly, then kissed Li Luo on the lips. "Knowledge flows like water—from high to low. Vocal technique should follow the same logic. So you just need to stay still."

"Your logic is always so twisted."

"Be good, don't move," Yan Zhusheng said, sitting on Li Luo's lap, her head higher than his, occasionally pecking him or giving him deep kisses.

As for whether his vocal technique had actually improved, Li Luo wasn't sure.

Maybe it had improved a little.

"Where are you two?"

Ying Chanxi's voice came from outside, followed by a knock on the door.

The next second, Ying Chanxi opened the piano room door from outside and, seeing the scene before her, narrowed her eyes.

"Zhusheng, is this what you meant by 'discussing a new song with Li Luo'?"

"Mm-hmm," Yan Zhusheng remained utterly calm, showing no panic at being caught. She simply slid off Li Luo's lap and lied casually, "I'm teaching him to sing."

"Do you need to sit on his lap to teach him to sing?" Ying Chanxi chuckled, her sharp mind not believing a word.

"You wouldn't understand," Yan Zhusheng said seriously. "There are many scientific vocal techniques, and everyone's suitable and skilled areas differ."

"Li Luo used to have a raw, untrained voice. I'm teaching him to resonate in different cavities so he can feel the sound properly."

"Sitting on him is just more convenient for showing him exactly where the resonance points are."

Ying Chanxi felt confused—Yan Zhusheng's explanation sounded logical, yet something felt off.

But Yan Zhusheng didn't give her time to think further. After getting off Li Luo's lap, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door: "Let's go to class."

"Do I have to tell you that?" Ying Chanxi muttered beside them. "I came here specifically to call you two to class—it's already twenty minutes until eight. If you leave now to drive across the river, it'll take over ten minutes. Don't be late."

"It's fine," Yan Zhusheng shook her head. "My teacher is very kind to me. Being late doesn't matter."

"Privileges shouldn't be abused," Ying Chanxi warned. "Aunt Yuan is close with the Dean of the music college, but you can't take advantage of that."

"Xixi's right," Li Luo nodded in agreement, patting Yan Zhusheng's head. "People's kindness toward you isn't guaranteed. Be more careful in the future."

"Oh," Yan Zhusheng nodded obediently, then asked, "So is Li Luo being kind to me taken for granted?"

"That one can be."

"Hmph," Ying Chanxi snorted beside them.

"The same goes for Xixi," Li Luo added, reaching out to stroke Ying Chanxi's head.

In the next instant, the corner of her mouth, which had been downturned from her snort, couldn't help but curve upward.

"I'm not a child," Ying Chanxi swatted his hand away, feigning annoyance. "That kind of sweet talk doesn't work on me."

Li Luo chuckled and stroked her head again, like smoothing out the fur of a startled kitten.

The three of them went downstairs together, each got into their own car, and drove toward Qianjiang University.

At the entrance of Zhu Luoxuan Dormitory in Zhu Institute, Ying Chanxi parked the Audi A8 that Li Luo had given her right at the dorm gate.

After receiving her message, her three roommates timed their descent perfectly and walked out of the dorm under Qiao Xinyan's lead, heading toward Ying Chanxi.

Many students leaving for class noticed the Audi A8.

When Ying Chanxi's window rolled down and her pure, adorable face appeared inside, several passersby instinctively stopped.

The understated luxury of the car paired with a girl like Ying Chanxi felt oddly mismatched.

Yet at the same time, many felt envy.

Look at them, look at themselves—comparison truly killed the spirit.

But most didn't think Ying Chanxi had bought the car herself; they assumed her family was rich.

At this moment, Qiao Xinyan had already led Lin Zhixia and Jiang Lai to the car.

After Qiao Xinyan took the front passenger seat, the other two sat in the back.

Because Ying Chanxi's license plate hadn't yet been registered in the school's access system, she hadn't driven the car to campus much before.

Today was the first time Jiang Lai and Lin Zhixia had ridden in Ying Chanxi's new car.

As soon as Jiang Lai sat in the backseat, she couldn't help exclaiming, "Whoa! Where did you get this car? Did your dad buy it for you?"

In contrast to Jiang Lai's amazement, Lin Zhixia remained calm—she simply didn't care much about material things and wasn't as easily impressed as Jiang Lai.

Hearing Jiang Lai's question, Ying Chanxi blushed slightly, smiled shyly, and started the car, glancing at Qiao Xinyan.

Catching her friend's glance, Qiao Xinyan helped explain: "It wasn't her dad who bought it. Li Luo bought it."

"Li… Li Luo?" Jiang Lai froze. "This is an Audi A8, right? I remember it's not cheap—costs at least a million."

Jiang Lai was always well-versed in luxury goods, so well-known car brands like Audi were naturally familiar to him.

But precisely because of that, when he heard this car was bought by Li Luo, Jiang Lai's expression instantly turned shocked.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Lai's face lit up: "This car must be something Li Luo bought for himself, right? I remember he already had an Audi; it's normal to upgrade to a new one."

"Nope," Qiao Xinyan shook her head. "Li Luo bought this car specifically to give to Xixi. He's still driving his old one."

Upon hearing this, even Lin Zhixia froze for a moment.

One million yuan…

Though they'd all heard of Li Luo's achievements and assumed he wasn't short on money,

spending over a million on a brand-new car for his girlfriend before marriage still exceeded Lin Zhixia and Jiang Lai's frame of reference.

Jiang Lai felt deeply envious, wondering why she couldn't find a boyfriend like that.

Meanwhile, Ying Chanxi's lips curled upward, her heart sweet and joyful as she drove her roommates toward the classroom.

At the same time, Yan Zhusheng had already arrived at Zhenjiang Dormitory in her Mercedes.

Cheng Xin, who had long heard Li Luo planned to buy Yan Zhusheng a car, had been waiting here early, accompanied by her roommates Su Wei and Shen Zhaoyin.

Yan Zhusheng parked in front of the dormitory, rolled down her window, and waved at them.

Cheng Xin's eyes lit up; she hurried over and eagerly climbed into the front passenger seat.

But the next second, Yan Zhusheng patted her shoulder, signaling her to get out.

"Huh?" Cheng Xin blinked, thinking Yan Zhusheng didn't want her in the front seat.

But Yan Zhusheng said: "You drive."

"Huh?!" Cheng Xin was stunned. "Really? Didn't you just say you'd never let me drive?"

"I was just teasing you," Yan Zhusheng stepped out from the driver's seat and walked around to the passenger side. "Whenever you need to go to class, you can drive."

Yan Zhusheng was lazy in this regard; with Cheng Xin as a free driver, she naturally chose to make practical use of her.

Only when going to see Li Luo did Yan Zhusheng plan to drive herself.

Otherwise, Cheng Xin's hard-earned license would be wasted.

"I love you so much, Zhusheng!" Cheng Xin cheered, immediately jumping out and rushing to the driver's seat, rubbing her hands together eagerly yet nervously.

In the backseat, Su Wei glanced around the interior curiously and asked: "Did you buy this car yourself, or did your mom buy it for you?"

"Li Luo bought it for me," Yan Zhusheng said, slightly lifting her chin with quiet pride.

"This car must cost over a million," Shen Zhaoyin said calmly. "It's expensive."

"One million?!" Su Wei exclaimed in shock. "Is Li Luo really that rich? Just gives it away like that?"

"Think about who Li Luo is," Cheng Xin, now gripping the steering wheel, sighed. "He's Chongran! A million's nothing."

"But that's not the same thing," Su Wei shook her head. "Having a million yuan is different from being willing to spend a million on your girlfriend."

Su Wei was right.

But Yan Zhusheng didn't care about any of this.

In truth, whether Li Luo was willing to spend this money or not wouldn't change anything between them.

"Let's go," Yan Zhusheng told Cheng Xin. "We're going to be late for class."

"Got it," Cheng Xin gripped the steering wheel nervously. "Now that you said it costs over a million, my hands are shaking—I'm terrified I'll scratch or dent it. I couldn't afford to pay for repairs."

…

Li Luo didn't know his two girlfriends were showing off their cars in front of their roommates.

He drove to the classroom building, walked straight into the lecture hall, and sat down beside his dear roommates.

Wen Zexuan, seeing Li Luo sit down, resumed his topic: "Our school's having a music festival this weekend—let's all go. There'll be tons of hot girls."

"What about your gym plan?" Li Luo asked curiously. "Didn't you find any suitable girls for Cheng Xin?"

"Don't even mention it," Wen Zexuan waved his hand. "He's hopeless. I'm about to give up on him."

"I did exactly what you told me to," Cheng Xin looked innocent. "It just didn't work that well."

"I already said his approach relies heavily on looks," Li Luo chuckled.

After some casual chatting, class began.

But reminded by Wen Zexuan, Li Luo remembered he had a music festival to attend.

Their band, Sheng Sheng Bu Xi, already had great chemistry; their regular rehearsals didn't need to be too frequent.

As long as Yan Zhusheng was there, everything would be fine.

Thinking this, Li Luo stood up and began taking attendance for Xu Rongsheng.

The modern and contemporary literature class passed quickly.

At the end of class, Xu Rongsheng called Li Luo over and asked him to meet at the end of the hallway.

"About what you asked me last week," Xu Rongsheng said, "I looked into it these past few days. If you're free now, I'll explain in detail."

"I'm free," Li Luo lied, skipping his next class entirely, smiling at Xu Rongsheng. "Let's find a quiet place to talk?"

"Where?"

"My uncle's milk tea shop?" Li Luo said. "It's quiet there now, and the AC's on."

"Fine."

Xu Rongsheng nodded and got into Li Luo's car; soon they arrived at Lin Xiu's milk tea shop.

They found a corner booth, pulled the curtain shut, and created a private little space.

Taking a freshly made milk tea from Li Luo's hand, Xu Rongsheng took a small sip, considered carefully, then said to Li Luo:

"Regarding the grant you mentioned, Qianjiang University has a complete set of options available for you."

"For donations or subsidies from individuals or companies, our school offers several choices."

"First: direct donation. You can apply through the Qianjiang University Education Foundation—just follow the procedure. It's the simplest."

"But this is definitely different from the grant program you mentioned—it's just a straightforward donation, with no control over how the money is used."

"Second, donating in the form of materials—for example, some alumni who have achieved success will donate a teaching building to their alma mater."

"Third, establishing a dedicated scholarship program—but this is also the most complex option among them."

"On one hand, Qianjiang University already has various types of grants and scholarships within its own system."

"On the other hand, this also involves the college's operational responsibilities—it's not enough to simply set it up; future operation of the grant must be taken into account."

"Therefore, this matter requires not only approval from the Qianjiang University Education Foundation, but also submission by a recommender to the university's Party Committee, and formal establishment only after approval."

Here, Xu Rongsheng took another sip of milk tea to moisten his throat, his expression becoming slightly more serious: "So I need to confirm this with you again."

"Do you truly intend to establish a dedicated grant fund program, or are you simply looking to make a donation?"

"If you only want to donate money, just give it directly to the Education Foundation—it wouldn't be this complicated."

After hearing this, Li Luo's face broke into a smile.

Xu Rongsheng probably still feared Li Luo had overthought it—if Li Luo hadn't thought this deeply, Xu wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of coordinating everything later.

But after being advised by Li Guoru, Li Luo was now clear about what he needed to do.

So he said seriously: "Uncle Xu, if possible, I would definitely choose the third option."

"You said the recommender needs to submit it to the university's Party Committee for approval—given your position as Vice Dean of the School of Literature, shouldn't this be well within your capability?"

"If possible, I'd be grateful if you could go through a bit more trouble for me."

Upon hearing this, Xu Rongsheng smiled with relief and immediately nodded: "How could this be trouble? Since you have this intention, I will see it through to the end."

At this point, the two exchanged glances and both smiled knowingly.

(End of Chapter)