Chapter 867: Let

At noon, Ying Chanxi learned from her good sister and did not go home with Li Luo for lunch; instead, she found a restaurant on Times Tianjie to have lunch together with him.

After eating, Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo around, visited several men's clothing stores, and helped him pick out two new outfits for the New Year.

After choosing them, the two placed the bought clothes in the car, and Ying Chanxi took out her camera, pulling Li Luo into the university campus to stroll and take photos.

They wandered from the west gate all the way to the east gate, then arrived at the gate of the affiliated high school next door.

Thanks to his own fame and his three years of experience building rapport with the security guards in high school, Li Luo easily brought Ying Chanxi back onto the high school campus.

They walked past many familiar paths, and Li Luo pointed to the narrow trail beside the wall behind the library, smiling and teasing, "Back then, someone really loved this place—always dragging me here to shoot kissing scenes."

"No way," Ying Chanxi's face flushed red as she secretly poked him twice, "It was you who loved adding drama—you kept slipping kissing scenes into the plot out of nowhere."

"But you seemed to enjoy it just fine," Li Luo chuckled, lifting her snow-white chin, "Shall we relive it?"

"N-no way…" Ying Chanxi quickly pushed him away, her cheeks burning hot; she glanced around nervously, confirmed no one was nearby, then sighed in relief, "Don't go doing that here—it's a school, you idiot, what if someone sees?"

"Didn't we choose this spot to film the MV precisely because hardly anyone ever comes here?" Li Luo smiled. "Someone carefully picked this place."

"Don't talk nonsense here," Ying Chanxi huffed, refusing to admit it, and hurriedly pulled Li Luo forward.

The two wandered around the high school campus, then casually went to the freshman teachers' office and easily found Kong Junxiang, who had just resumed teaching the freshman class this year.

Kong Junxiang was preparing meeting materials and, upon suddenly seeing Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, was pleasantly surprised, immediately standing up to greet them with a smile.

"Teacher Kong, you haven't gone on winter break yet?" Li Luo greeted cheerfully.

"The students have already left," Kong Junxiang chuckled, "But as their homeroom teacher, I still have a few more days—I've got a meeting coming up soon. What about you two? What brought you here?"

"To see you, of course," Li Luo lied with a straight face, "I just missed you."

"Don't give me that," Kong Junxiang glanced at him, "That won't fool me."

"Alright, fine—you don't like white lies," Li Luo grinned, taking Ying Chanxi's small hand, "We came to relive the good old days of high school—with my girlfriend. Is that answer satisfactory?"

"Tsk," Kong Junxiang looked at the clasped hands of his former class monitor and vice-monitor, a helpless smile spreading across his face, "Graduated, and your guts have grown considerably."

But… Kong Junxiang suddenly recalled rumors from when Li Luo's class graduated, and a thought struck him.

"You and Ying Chanxi… what about Yan Zhusheng?"

"Cough, cough…" Li Luo coughed twice, reluctant to mention the other two while alone on a date with Ying Chanxi.

Kong Junxiang instantly realized his mistake and hurried to apologize.

But Ying Chanxi had already wrapped her arm around Li Luo's, smiling brightly as she explained to Kong Junxiang, "Zhusheng is at home today—Li Luo is mainly here with me."

The way she said it… Kong Junxiang nearly lost his train of thought.

So Li Luo really was going for both of them?

The rumors from graduation weren't baseless after all.

But Kong Junxiang himself hadn't expected that Ying Chanxi, as a girl, would so openly say such things.

It seemed she had fully accepted this situation?

After all, this was their personal matter—even though they had once been his students, Kong Junxiang had no right to say more, so he simply said, "Then I'll extend my congratulations to you both."

"When we get married, Teacher Kong, don't forget to come," Ying Chanxi invited sincerely.

"Of course," Kong Junxiang chuckled, "I'll bring Teacher Ding along."

"Oh right," Ying Chanxi suddenly remembered, "Where's Teacher Ding? Has she already gone on break?"

"She?" At the mention, Kong Junxiang's face lit up with a happy smile, "She's on maternity leave—she's expected to give birth around May this year."

"Ah! Already that long?" Ying Chanxi's eyes widened in surprise, then she quickly congratulated him, "You didn't even say anything in the group chat—congratulations!"

"Thanks," Kong Junxiang chuckled, "We were planning to share the news after the baby's born. You just happened to ask, so I mentioned it."

After chatting a while, Kong Junxiang checked the time and prepared to leave for his meeting, bidding farewell to Li Luo and Ying Chanxi.

The three parted at the office door, and Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo toward the classroom where they had once studied together.

The students were all on winter break; the classroom was empty, though some students' textbooks and exam papers still sat on the desks.

Looking at the familiar yet strange layout, both of them wore expressions of quiet nostalgia.

After wandering out of the affiliated high school, Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the car and drove them to their junior high, Yucai Middle School.

Unfortunately, their junior high homeroom teacher, Zhang Wei, was already on winter break and not at school; after strolling around the campus and taking some photos, they headed back to Jincheng Community.

Since Chongran Culture moved its office to a building on Times Tianjie, the former breakfast shop that had served as the company's address had changed its appearance.

The original breakfast shop wasn't particularly large, but Li Guohong had made considerable money over the years from the hotpot restaurant on the west street of Qianjiang University.

So after discussing with Lin Xiuhong, they simply rented the row of shops on the second floor above the breakfast shop, turning the first floor into the entrance and the second floor into a mahjong parlor.

The renovation took considerable effort and had only just opened in the past two or three months.

When the breakfast shop had been converted into Chongran Culture's office, Li Guohong and Lin Xiuhong had hired Li Luo's second aunt, Li Xuefeng, to do some simple work.

Now that the mahjong parlor had opened, Lin Xiuhong simply invited both Li Luo's second and third aunts to come—between them, they could handle the front desk and service duties entirely.

Li Luo's eldest uncle, Li Guoru, was quite wealthy, but his second and third aunts, both divorced, had struggled to raise their daughters alone.

They often relied on Li Guoru's help.

Many jobs were also arranged for them through Li Guoru's connections.

But since the two aunts had little education and only physical strength, they couldn't do delicate work, and life had always been hard.

Now that the mahjong parlor had opened, their work was clearly much lighter than before, and they were very happy.

Lin Xiuhong specially designed a semi-open private room integrated with the front desk, reserved exclusively for the two aunts; when she had free time, Lin Xiuhong herself would also come over to check in.

By simply asking someone from the community to help out, they could play mahjong while keeping an eye on the shop—two benefits in one.

Li Luo pulled Ying Chanxi's hand as they strolled over and took a quick look at the mahjong parlor, greeting his second and third aunts.

His second aunt, Li Xuefeng, beamed upon seeing Li Luo—after all, her daughter Chen Lu's promotions at the bank were thanks to Li Luo's connections.

After accompanying Li Luo around the mahjong parlor, Ying Chanxi sighed as they went downstairs, "I never realized how much this place had changed—I heard Lin Yi mention it once, but I never came to see it."

"The renovation was overseen by Butler Liu—it saved a lot of trouble," Li Luo said casually. "It's almost five—should we go home for dinner?"

"No way," Ying Chanxi smirked mischievously for once, pulling Li Luo toward the nearby vegetable market, bought some groceries, then brought Li Luo back to her own home.

"I thought you were going to drag me back across the hall." Li Luo turned to glance at the door of 401 as he stepped into 402. "I told you today's our two-person world—Neighbor Lin Yi and Uncle Li are probably having dinner right now; let's not go disturb them." Ying Chanxi said, "I'll cook tonight—you can be my assistant."

As Li Luo slipped on his slippers, he teased with a smile: "Aren't you worried Uncle Ying and Aunt Yuan might be over here?"

"I've figured out Dad long ago," Ying Chanxi huffed. "He's cozying up with Mom—why would he bother driving all the way back here?"

"Zhu Sheng said her family's place has been empty all along, no one ever stays there. Dad apparently bought a place near his company."

"Oh by the way, we've got a cleaning lady now—she's the same one who used to cook for Zhu Sheng."

"Because Zhu Sheng lived with us during high school, that lady lost a major source of income."

"So recently Zhu Sheng found her again—haven't you noticed?"

"Huh? Really?" Li Luo paused, genuinely surprised by this little detail.

Mostly because Butler Liu was too professional—he'd meticulously managed all household staff like cooks and maids.

Based on his understanding of the routines and daily activities of the four people in the house, he'd carefully scheduled the cooks' and maids' work hours and movement paths.

For example, the study should be cleaned early in the morning, since Xu Youyu always slept in and was unlikely to be there.

But after 7:30, you need to check first—if Li Luo hasn't gone to the study, you can keep cleaning; otherwise, you must finish before then.

There were many such details, which meant Li Luo rarely saw these people at all.

Yet whenever needed, they appeared instantly on call.

Li Luo felt it was well worth luring Butler Liu to his own home—it saved him a lot of trouble.

Thinking this, he followed Ying Chanxi into the kitchen and began helping her.

Three dishes and one soup were quickly prepared through their teamwork.

Ying Chanxi carried the dishes to the dining table in the living room, served the rice, then sat down with Li Luo around the table.

She looked around and found it unbelievable that she was now eating alone with Li Luo in her own home.

"When I was little, I imagined this scene countless times—I never thought it would actually happen," Ying Chanxi whispered, taking small bites of rice.

"Huh?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow. "Imagined what? Eating alone with me at home?"

"Yeah."

"When did you imagine it?"

"... W-when I was little."

"How little?"

"You're so annoying." Ying Chanxi puffed out her cheeks and glared at him—though the glare lacked any real threat, it only made her cheeks flush red.

Li Luo smirked, refusing to let it go: "So someone liked me even when they were little?"

"I didn't understand anything when I was little—how could there be like or dislike..." Ying Chanxi stubbornly insisted, shoving a cola chicken wing into Li Luo's mouth. "Eat up, shut your mouth."

The two chatted idly as they ate.

After dinner, they tidied the table together, washed the dishes together, and cleaned the house together.

Only by late evening did they finally have a moment to rest.

"Remember? Every weekend or holiday, you'd come over to my place," Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the study and pointed to the desk beside her. "You'd sit right there in front of the computer."

"This was your spot—you'd dump your homework here, then run over to the computer to play games."

"I'd sit here doing homework, and every time Lin Yi came to check, you'd rush over and pretend to be studying."

Li Luo chuckled and rubbed his nose—he hadn't expected Ying Chanxi remembered so precisely.

These small details, after so many years, would've been forgotten entirely unless he dug deep into his memory palace.

"Too bad there's no computer here anymore—otherwise I'd be itching to play," Li Luo said with a smile.

The computer was still at the house in Bihai Lanting, never brought back.

"Doesn't matter—we hardly come back here anyway," Ying Chanxi said, pulling Li Luo out the door and leading him to the rooftop. "Remember? When Dad and Uncle Li got drunk, you dragged me up here to play guitar and sing for me."

"Yeah." Li Luo nodded with a smile—it was something that happened after his rebirth. As soon as Ying Chanxi mentioned it, he recalled it clearly.

He pulled Ying Chanxi into his arms, looked up at the night sky, and softly hummed:

"Back to the very beginning~"

"I remember your youthful face~"

"We've finally reached this day~"

Listening to the song, Ying Chanxi felt as if time had returned to the moment right after their junior high graduation.

Her mood grew calm and warm.

The two reminisced about the sweet memories on the rooftop, then finally returned home.

With a shy smile, Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the bathroom, leaned into his arms, and began undressing him.

"Can we sleep here tonight?" she asked only after she'd stripped him completely. "Let's take a bath first."

Looking at this home that once belonged to Ying Chanxi, and this familiar bathroom, Li Luo felt a sudden thrill.

It wasn't unfamiliar to him—but the thought of bathing with Ying Chanxi here now felt far more intense than doing so at Sky Ridge Elegant Residence.

As if breaking some childhood taboo, some long-held fantasy.

He couldn't refuse—only nodded gently.

"Alright, let's stay here tonight—but…"

"I know," Ying Chanxi lifted a hand to gently cover his lips, smiling softly. "You need to tell Sister Xue and Zhu Sheng, right? We'll talk about that when we're in bed."

Damn… Li Luo looked at Ying Chanxi, feeling utterly helpless.

It felt like all of them had been corrupted by Xu Youyu.

Why did everyone love playing this game?