Chapter 791: How Many Girlfriends Does Chongran Have Anyway?

November 25, Saturday.

Xu Yinghuan got up early in her dorm, washed up, dressed, and slung her small bag over her shoulder to head out.

Ren Zheng, still sleeping in, blinked sleepily, glanced down at the bed, and asked weakly, "Where are you going so early?"

"To the office building—Zhao Rongjun and the others should be waking up soon. I'm bringing breakfast over," Xu Yinghuan said cheerfully. "Keep sleeping, I won't wake you."

"You really are full of energy…" Ren Zheng rubbed her eyes, sighing. "It's not even your project."

"How isn't it?" Xu Yinghuan shot back, eyes wide. "I'm a project member too, just handling logistics."

"Didn't you say you were handling finances?" Ren Zheng stared at her. "How did that turn into logistics? You're just delivering meals every day—you're basically a delivery person."

"School cafeteria food is cheap," Xu Yinghuan lifted her chin proudly. "I originally thought I'd just treat them to meals—it wouldn't cost much—but they refused, so I had to deduct it from the budget."

"All these big guys relying on one little girl to feed them? That doesn't sound good if it gets out," Ren Zheng chuckled. "All these guys are like that—so obsessed with face."

"I think you should find a guy and start dating," Xu Yinghuan suggested helplessly. "Stop complaining all day—maybe even get back together with Fang Chen."

"Get back together? We never even dated!" Ren Zheng glared, correcting her.

"Alright, alright, I'm not arguing with you anymore. I'm leaving."

"Wait!" Ren Zheng rolled out of bed. "I'm coming with you—I can't sleep anyway. Let's get breakfast."

After waiting for Ren Zheng to wash up and get ready, Xu Yinghuan went with her to the cafeteria for breakfast.

While eating, Ren Zheng scrolled through TikTok on her phone and said to Xu Yinghuan, "I've seen several videos of Yuan Wanqing these past two days—have you seen them? All posted by bloggers I follow."

"Really?" Xu Yinghuan had been busy with Zhao Rongjun's big project and hadn't paid much attention to TikTok, but she'd heard something: "Didn't Aunt Yuan plan to join TikTok? Should be soon, right?"

"Oh right, I think I saw news about that too," Ren Zheng thought, then searched—and quickly found the content. "Looks like today? It's already trending on Weibo."

"Hey, look," Xu Yinghuan pulled out her phone and scrolled TikTok, then surprisedly handed it to Ren Zheng.

Ren Zheng looked down and saw Yan Zhusheng and Li Luo—alongside a video of a blogger touring Qianjiang University.

"Why are they here too?"

"Yan Zhusheng and Li Luo are also joining TikTok with Aunt Yuan," Xu Yinghuan said. "They signed a contract with TikTok when they went to Jingzhao City."

"Do you need a contract for something like this?" Ren Zheng, unfamiliar with the business, asked curiously. "Do they get paid?"

"Of course," Xu Yinghuan nodded. "They're celebrities—TikTok has to pay to invite them. Us ordinary people don't get this treatment."

After chatting a bit, Xu Yinghuan bought a few more breakfasts and headed with Ren Zheng toward the Times Tianjie office building.

When they arrived, the project team members were still asleep on their folding beds.

Zhao Rongjun, however, wasn't sleeping there—he'd just arrived from his dorm, woke everyone up, and began eating breakfast.

After breakfast, Zhao Rongjun and the others started working. Ren Zheng and Xu Yinghuan found a quiet corner and scrolled TikTok again.

As expected, after just a few swipes, they found numerous videos about Yuan Wanqing and the other two.

Just the ones Ren Zheng and Xu Yinghuan saw totaled over a dozen unique videos.

"Huh?" Mid-scroll, Ren Zheng suddenly gasped and quickly showed her phone to Xu Yinghuan. "Look at this—is this Yuan Wanqing's account? Not a fake, right?"

"It has the verification badge," Xu Yinghuan pointed out. "It's her—she already has an account, she just hasn't posted videos yet."

"She already has over a hundred thousand followers?" Ren Zheng finally noticed the follower count and widened her eyes. "She hasn't even posted a video and already has a hundred thousand?"

"What about the other two?" Xu Yinghuan asked curiously.

"Let me check," Ren Zheng searched for Yan Zhusheng—and sure enough, found her verified account, still without posted videos.

But when she searched for Li Luo, nothing came up.

"Search 'Chongran,'" Xu Yinghuan reminded her. "He's definitely using his pen name."

"Oh right!" Ren Zheng realized, searched the pen name—and there it was.

But compared to Yuan Wanqing, Yan Zhusheng and Li Luo's accounts, even without posted videos, had barely any followers—only about a hundred total.

Just as the two were chattering about it, Ying Chanxi arrived at the office building with newly hired staff, directing the workers on renovation matters.

Seeing the two sitting in the corner, Ying Chanxi walked over curiously, glanced at their screens, and smiled: "It should be almost ten o'clock—videos will be up soon."

"Any insider info, Xi Xi?" Xu Yinghuan leaned toward Ying Chanxi, curious.

"They'll release a new song," Ying Chanxi said. "Written by Li Luo. Aunt Yuan and Zhusheng will both sing it."

"Will the new song be released directly on TikTok?" Xu Yinghuan asked, surprised.

"Yes," Ying Chanxi nodded. "It's part of the deal with TikTok—contracted."

As she spoke, the clock struck ten.

Ren Zheng had barely scrolled—she hadn't even gone to Yuan Wanqing's profile—when TikTok instantly pushed her the newly posted onboarding video.

Sixty seconds long.

"Can you post videos this long now?" Ren Zheng asked, puzzled. "I thought the limit was fifteen seconds."

"Oh, this?" Ying Chanxi said beside her. "It's TikTok's latest beta feature—just opened for Aunt Yuan and the others."

"I remember your account has over thirty thousand followers—your backend should be able to apply now."

"Once approved, you can post sixty-second videos too."

"Really?" Xu Yinghuan was surprised, then picked up her phone to check. "Let me see."

Xu Yinghuan and Ren Zheng didn't find anything odd about Yuan Wanqing and the others joining TikTok.

But to the outside world, it was a clear signal.

TikTok was launching a new offensive.

This wave of promotion was extremely intense.

Almost simultaneously, every major platform spread news of Yuan Wanqing's TikTok onboarding, and trending topics related to her kept climbing.

At the same time, news of Yuan Wanqing's new song spread widely.

But since TikTok had bought exclusive rights to "Wrong Space-Time," it was the only platform where the song could be heard for now.

Since it was a free app, many of Yuan Wanqing's fans didn't mind—download it, listen, then delete it if they wanted.

But after downloading and following Yuan Wanqing's account, she learned she could see Yuan Wanqing's daily updates even more closely—she'd probably be unwilling to delete it now.

If Douyin then recommends more handsome guys or beautiful girls, it's easy to get trapped in Douyin's big data algorithm and be unable to extricate oneself.

"This song isn't bad," Ren Zheng said after listening to Yuan Wanqing's new song, nodding thoughtfully.

"Of course," Xu Yinghuan said beside her. "After all, it's Li Luo's work."

Ying Chanxi listened to their praise; though it wasn't about her, she felt happier than if she'd been praised herself, and couldn't help a slight upward curve of her lips.

"Will you join us for lunch later?" Xu Yinghuan asked again. "Ren Zheng and I are going out to eat, and we'll bring back lunch for Ah Jun and the others."

"I won't join," Ying Chanxi shook her head. "I'm going to have lunch with Li Luo—he's meeting a guest."

"Oh, I see."

As noon approached, Ying Chanxi instructed her staff to prepare boxed meals for the renovation workers, then went downstairs to find Li Luo.

They met outside a restaurant, entered, and found a quiet corner; soon after, the White Gold big shot from the Writers Association arrived.

He was called White Gold, but that title was already in the past—his new book this year had terminated its contract with Wenxue Group and opted for full-network release.

Still, the White Gold status carried weight.

"Isn't that Qianjiang University over there?" the White Gold big shot said after sitting down and greeting them. "Do you two study there?"

"Yes," Li Luo nodded. "This is my girlfriend, Ying Chanxi—also the current CEO of Chongran Culture."

"Perfect match," the White Gold big shot chuckled. "I envy you college students—I never went to college, don't know what it's like."

"If you're going to say that, I'll have to recount that story about how someone became famous as a teenager," Li Luo laughed.

"Ahem, no need to dwell on past glories," the White Gold big shot waved his hand. "Now that I'm older, I just want to earn money and enjoy life."

"How's your new book doing?" Li Luo asked curiously.

"Better than before," the White Gold big shot snorted. "Those guys fooled me before they terminated the contract—now look: combined full-network data, even just average subscriptions, exceed the total of my last few books."

They chatted at length, and Li Luo learned many deeper industry secrets from him.

Soon after, Li Luo brought up the recommendation letter and pulled out Xu Youyu's document.

"'Gu Dao Changqing,'" the White Gold big shot glanced at the title, then suddenly realized. "I think I saw this at the annual meeting before… hmm…"

Here, the White Gold big shot suddenly froze, looked up at Li Luo, then covertly glanced at Ying Chanxi beside him, then quickly averted his gaze.

In previous years, before leaving Wenxue Group, he'd attended every annual meeting and had known Li Luo for a long time.

But…

Didn't he recall this kid having some kind of relationship with the author of 'Gu Dao Changqing,' Zao Shui?

Had he remembered wrong?

No.

He clearly remembered the two holding hands!

The White Gold big shot glanced at Li Luo again, buried his doubts deep, smoothed his expression, cleared his throat, and pretended to know nothing.

"The document's content is fine—just submit it to the secretariat later. But…"

"But what?"

"Normally, one vice-chairman's recommendation is enough, since you're splitting the pie," the White Gold big shot said. "But aren't you also writing 'Night Watch of Great Qian' yourself?"

"My book doesn't need to worry about copyright issues—no need for this," Li Luo shook his head.

"It's different," the White Gold big shot shook his head. "It adds a bit more weight—I'll submit it for you."

"Huh?" Li Luo was stunned—he hadn't expected such help. "What about you? Aren't you just released a new book too?"

"Mine truly doesn't need it," the White Gold big shot rolled his eyes. "All copyright terms were settled before I even started writing—this kind of support slot means nothing to me."

"That's true."

Since he insisted, Li Luo accepted his kindness.

They continued chatting, and soon the topic turned to Douyin.

The White Gold big shot had just seen Li Luo's video—the announcement of his Douyin onboarding—and asked curiously: "Do you think Douyin will keep developing?"

"Probably," Li Luo said, then suddenly pictured someone in the future livestreaming games on Douyin every day, and barely suppressed a laugh. "Actually, it'd suit you well."

"How so?" The White Gold big shot, now truly older, cared deeply about the opinions of young people like Li Luo and asked earnestly.

"Your books' readers are mostly students from your generation—and even today's students still love them," Li Luo said. "Douyin, by nature, attracts the market's lower-tier users—simple put, it's down-to-earth."

"I feel these users overlap significantly with your readers."

"If you're interested, you could post videos here too—live streaming channels will open soon. Try it; the results might be good."

The White Gold big shot fell into thought, taking Li Luo's words seriously and pondering them carefully.

After lunch, Li Luo and Ying Chanxi saw him off downstairs; Ying Chanxi returned to the office building to work, while Li Luo went back to Bihai Lanting, planning to write some characters in the afternoon.

Xu Youyu had just woken up, ate something simple, and sat in his room typing away.

Yan Zhusheng, while his sister was away, curled up on Li Luo's bed scrolling his phone, occasionally stretching his leg to brush against Li Luo, teasing him.

"Li Luo."

"Hmm?"

"Someone asked me if I'm dating you."

"Who asked?"

"A fan on Douyin."

"Just don't reply."

"Okay," Yan Zhusheng nodded obediently, then liked the comment.