Chapter 823: Birthday Gift

Early in the morning, everyone sat in a circle around the dining table.

Apart from Yin Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing, who were still asleep, everyone else had already arrived.

In the kitchen, the chef arranged by Butler Liu had prepared breakfast early and was now serving each portion to the table according to the number of guests.

During breakfast, Xu Youyu elbowed her father and whispered, "I've scheduled a time with Aunt Yuan to view houses—will you two come along?"

The night before, Xu Youyu had already told her parents about her idea to buy a house here too.

At first, Cui Suling strongly opposed it.

After all, houses here were so expensive—a villa could easily cost nearly ten million; how could a family like theirs afford it?

But Cui Suling thought for a moment and assumed Li Luo was buying the house for Xu Youyu, so she probed gently.

Upon learning that Xu Youyu planned to pay for it herself, she felt even less need for it.

Although Cui Suling was quite envious of such a large villa, she wasn't truly that vain.

With just her and Xu Rongsheng living in such a huge villa, it would feel awfully empty.

Qianjiang University's staff housing was already not far away—there was no real need to buy another house.

But after hearing Xu Youyu's idea, Xu Rongsheng simply asked if she was serious, confirmed her intent, then said nothing against it—instead, he told Cui Suling to say less.

"Your mother and I have no objections," Xu Rongsheng said simply. "But try to pick a weekend."

"Hehe, got it~" Xu Youyu loved this about her father—he rarely interfered with her choices, ever since she was little.

Even with writing Online Novels, Xu Youyu knew that if she'd told him outright in high school, he'd likely still have approved her writing.

But because the content was embarrassing, she just hadn't dared to tell Xu Rongsheng.

"Buying a house is fine," Cui Suling added from the other side, "but try to get a cheaper one. Are all the houses at Sky Ridge Elegant Residence this big, like Li Luo's?"

"Not at all," Xu Youyu blinked, then turned to Butler Liu standing nearby and asked quickly, "Butler Liu, what other types of units are available here?"

"Sky Ridge Elegant Residence is a villa community, but there are three size categories," Butler Liu replied promptly.

"The first type, and the rarest in the community, are five ultra-large villas located closest to Ningshan."

"The second type is the normal-sized villa like Mr. Li's."

"Besides that, behind our villa are two rows of townhouses—smaller in area, about half the size of ours, but still quite spacious for ordinary housing."

"Oh?" Xu Youyu's eyebrows lifted at this. "There's that too?"

Earlier, when Li Luo viewed houses, he'd only looked at the second type—he knew townhouses existed, but he'd never considered them.

So Xu Youyu had no idea about them at all.

Now that she heard, her eyes lit up as she turned to Cui Suling: "Mom, doesn't the villa feel too huge and creepy? What if we buy a townhouse instead?"

"Aunt Yuan and Uncle Yin are also just two people—I'll ask Aunt Yuan's opinion. If they're willing to buy a townhouse too, we can be neighbors."

"We could even knock down the wall," Yan Zhusheng suddenly added. "We could live as one family."

Hearing this, Li Luo, who was eating nearby, coughed twice.

Fortunately, Cui Suling and Xu Rongsheng didn't think deeply into it—they just smiled and nodded, assuming Yan Zhusheng was joking.

Soon after breakfast, Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling took their leave first.

But when Li Luo saw them off to the basement parking, Xu Rongsheng waved him over and signaled him to come to the car.

Then Xu Rongsheng pulled a book from his car and handed it to Li Luo.

Li Luo paused, then heard Xu Rongsheng say: "Today's your birthday, right? Your Aunt Cui and I didn't prepare anything—just this book. Hope you like it."

Li Luo reached out and took it, smiling: "Of course I like it. Thank you, Uncle Xu."

"Mm, we're off then," Xu Rongsheng patted Li Luo's shoulder, helped Cui Suling into the car, rolled down the window to wave goodbye, then drove out of the underground parking.

Li Luo watched the car leave, then walked back while glancing at the book Xu Rongsheng had given him—The Little Prince.

This book was a common recommendation during student years, but Li Luo had never liked reading extracurricular books in school—he'd never read it and didn't know what it was about.

When he returned to the first floor, Ying Chanxi and the other two girls had already come down from the third floor, carrying their school supplies.

Seeing the new book in Li Luo's hands, Xu Youyu asked curiously: "The Little Prince? Where did you get this?"

"My dad gave it as a birthday gift," Li Luo held it up and shook it slightly, then chuckled, "Does this mean something?"

"You haven't read it?" Xu Youyu fell into thought.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Li Luo's heart skipped at her expression.

"Nothing," Xu Youyu coughed, composing herself and waving her hand. "It's probably just a random book he gave you to read. What deep meaning could it have?"

At that moment, Yin Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing had also gotten up and were eating breakfast in the dining room, while Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong sat with them chatting.

Li Luo prepared to take the three girls out for morning jogging and greeted Yin Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing in the dining room first.

"You're going out?" Yuan Wanqing smiled as she saw Li Luo.

"Yeah," Li Luo nodded. "Running to school."

"Dad," Ying Chanxi suddenly interrupted, pointing at the book in Li Luo's arms. "Uncle Xu gave Li Luo a birthday gift—aren't you supposed to give him something too?"

Yin Zhicheng froze at this, surprised his daughter was so aggressively pushing him to act.

Hit squarely in the chest by Ying Chanxi's remark, Yin Zhicheng took a deep breath and quickly thought of what to give.

But Yan Zhusheng gently nudged Ying Chanxi and helped Yin Zhicheng out of the awkwardness: "Dad doesn't need to—didn't you already give him something yesterday? I think that was enough."

"What are you saying?!" Ying Chanxi turned bright red and quickly covered Yan Zhusheng's mouth. "If you can't speak properly, don't say random things!"

"Mmmph… I didn't say anything wrong… mmm…" Yan Zhusheng struggled weakly as Ying Chanxi shoved her away from the living room.

Watching the two girls tussle, Lin Xiuhong chuckled and shook her head: "Their relationship's gotten even closer."

"So what did you give him?" Li Guohong asked his brother curiously. "How come I didn't know?"

"Cough, cough, cough…" Yin Zhicheng burst into a fit of coughing, waving his hands. "Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning—just… some little trinkets."

Yuan Wanqing blushed slightly, covering her mouth to stifle laughter, then glared at her daughter, silently telling her to say less.