Chapter 869: So All Four Mouths Are Busy, Huh?

After the annual meeting and the provincial writers' association conference, Li Luo returned to his daily life.

His daily routine was healthy, and both work and life were arranged in orderly fashion.

He woke up in the morning to go jogging, spent the morning writing, spent his afternoons listening to music with Yan Zhusheng while working out, then went to the study to write with Xu Youyu, chat, occasionally mix a couple of cocktails to taste, and pet the cat along the way.

When Ying Chanxi returned in the evening, he accompanied her for a stroll around the neighborhood, or taught her boxing, and sometimes took the other two up to the fourth floor to play mahjong.

When they grew tired from playing, all four would go together to the master bedroom's bathroom for a comfortable soak, doing intimate things.

After bathing, Li Luo went to sleep holding Xi Xi and Zhusheng, while Xu Youyu returned to the study to race against time, not coming back until two or three in the morning.

This life repeated day after day, yet never felt dull.

In between, Xu Rongsheng visited two or three times to discuss matters concerning the Research Center, and had already drafted a preliminary proposal, submitted to the university leadership committee of Qianjiang University.

Because the Lunar New Year was approaching, the proposal was temporarily put on hold until after the holiday.

Meanwhile, Li Luo reached a new agreement with Xu Rongsheng and submitted it together with the Research Center proposal.

In addition to the previous financial aid for underprivileged students, if the Research Center was actually established, Chongran Culture would provide an additional scholarship grant, the amount not less than the aid.

Calculated this way, the total annual amount Li Luo invested into Qianjiang University through these two funds amounted to several million yuan.

Although there would be certain tax reductions and similar policies, it was clear that Li Luo supported Xu Rongsheng.

…

Soon, it was February 12th; after over two months of filming, the "Beginnings" cast and crew finally reached official wrap.

Li Luo brought Ying Chanxi along, arriving specially that day to celebrate the wrap of "Beginnings," taking the entire crew to a nearby hotel for a wrap banquet.

At the dinner table, Wang Jun pulled Li Luo's hand to toast him, his face beaming: "I think the script quality of 'Beginnings' is better than 'Little Joy.'"

"Though the subject matter may not attract as wide an audience as 'Little Joy,' I believe at least in terms of reputation, we won't fall short."

"Next summer, I'm eagerly looking forward to the day 'Beginnings' premieres!"

Li Luo responded with a smile, but inside he was already planning.

Before "Little Joy" premiered, Yin Zhicheng had launched massive promotional campaigns, and Li Luo had prepared extensively.

For example, several songs were unveiled in advance, synchronized through Yuan Wanqing's concert and the plot of "I Am Really Not a Star."

Also, at that time Li Luo was taking the college entrance exam; leveraging his status as the provincial top scorer, he ignited considerable positive public opinion through the combined buffs of his identities as "student + Online Novel author + song composer."

Under these circumstances, "Little Joy" achieved a explosive debut.

But trying to replicate that success with "Beginnings" would be quite difficult.

This time, for both Li Luo and Yin Zhicheng, it was a true, no-holds-barred trial and contest.

But…

At the dinner table, Li Luo glanced at Ying Chanxi, quietly eating dinner beside him, and his mind flashed with his inner plan—he sighed inwardly.

I hope everything goes smoothly.

Some things, sooner or later, must be faced.

Better to suffer the pain early than late.

As long as he could successfully pass this hurdle, future happiness and beauty would truly be within reach.

"Why are you staring at me?" Ying Chanxi noticed his gaze and asked curiously.

"Because you're beautiful," Li Luo teased with a smile. "A few more glances and I'm full."

Ying Chanxi secretly glared at him, cheeks flushed, whispering: "Be careful—there are so many people around; you're still publicly single."

"You make it sound like I'm some villain hiding a concubine."

"You are one," Ying Chanxi huffed. "Stupid scoundrel."

"Then do you like it?"

"You're so annoying," Ying Chanxi pushed his face away. "Eat your food. When you're done, come with me to toast everyone—they've all worked hard."

"Got it."

After finishing his meal, Li Luo took Ying Chanxi around to other tables to toast and thank everyone.

Some crew members were usually background figures, but when Li Luo raised his glass to them, he naturally called them by name and knew exactly what role they played on set.

Remember, Li Luo had only visited the set a dozen times over the past two months, and never stayed long—usually just one or two hours before leaving.

After all, Director Wang controlled the shooting schedule, and everything was filmed strictly according to Li Luo's script, with virtually no changes, leaving him completely at ease.

Yet despite this, Li Luo remembered every single crew member clearly, which genuinely surprised everyone.

Thinking that such a prominent figure, so young, yet humble and courteous, respected them so deeply, the crew members were deeply moved.

After the wrap banquet ended, Ying Chanxi, along with Xiao Wen, handed out a small gift package to each crew member.

Inside were exclusive "Beginnings" crew memorabilia and a small red envelope—modest in amount, but warming the heart.

After the banquet ended, Ying Chanxi arranged chauffeurs for those who drove themselves, and called cars to take those without vehicles back to the hotel or their homes.

Once all this was done, Ying Chanxi finally exhaled a long breath.

"For future small tasks like this, let your secretary handle them—you don't need to do everything yourself," Li Luo hugged her and advised. "Learn to delegate—that's an essential skill for any excellent manager."

"I know, I know," Ying Chanxi murmured, leaning against Li Luo. "We've all had drinks—I asked Zhusheng to come pick us up."

"Mm."

They waited a moment by the roadside when Yan Zhusheng arrived in her car, rolled down her window, and looked at the two standing there, honking gently.

Ying Chanxi pulled Li Luo into the back seat and said to Yan Zhusheng: "Let's go home."

"You really treat me like your personal driver, huh?" Yan Zhusheng started the car and drove them home.

"That's odd," Li Luo said. "Why didn't you ask Butler Liu to pick us up?"

"I did originally call Butler Liu," Ying Chanxi pouted, snuggling against Li Luo, then raised an eyebrow at Yan Zhusheng in the rearview mirror, silently showing off before adding, "But Zhusheng overheard and insisted on coming herself—what could I do?"

"I just wanted to see Li Luo sooner," Yan Zhusheng said bluntly. "But I didn't want to see you hugging him nonstop—don't you get tired sitting like that?"

"Not tired," Ying Chanxi huffed, then cupped Li Luo's face and kissed him. "Mind your own business. Just drive."

The two sisters are becoming increasingly sharp with each other lately.

Before, they only hid needles in cotton, occasionally throwing out sarcastic remarks. Now, they don't even pretend anymore—this open rivalry and covert struggle really suits Li Luo.

The key is, the more they argue, the closer their bond becomes, and it hasn't escalated into any family tragedy.

After observing them for a while, Li Luo confirmed there was no serious issue between them, so he let them interact this way.

As he listened to their bickering, Li Luo pulled out his phone, opened the Qidian app, and immediately raised an eyebrow.

The celebration event for The Night Watchers of Da Gan reaching 100,000 average subscriptions has been over for some time.

Although the event hasn't fully ended, its popularity is certainly nowhere near what it was at first.

In comparison, the topic generating the most discussion on Qidian right now is undoubtedly Li Luo's new book.

That's right.

On February 3rd, the Qidian app suddenly popped up a new event page featuring Chongran's new book.

But on the initial event page, readers could only see a reservation button and a progress bar below showing the number of reservations.

It had ten progress nodes, ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 reservations.

Once a node was reached, a portion of the new book's details would be unlocked accordingly.

And within this short week, the reservation count on the page had climbed steadily from an initial surge past 50,000 to reach the 100,000 mark.

Just before the wrap-up banquet began, it was still about a thousand short; now, it had already hit 100,000 reservations.

Thus, with the 100,000 goal achieved, Li Luo's new book's detailed page automatically unlocked and appeared before all readers.

"Already unlocked?" Ying Chanxi, tired from arguing with Yan Zhusheng, turned to look at Li Luo's phone, saw the news, and immediately pulled out her own phone to enter Li Luo's new book.

"The End of the Sequence?" Ying Chanxi murmured the book's title, then entered the comment section.

【Good good good, you're awesome—your old book isn't even finished yet, and you're already announcing a new one?】

【I feel like The Night Watchers of Da Gan still has a while before ending—did you just jump straight into the next one?】

【Is the new book set in a Western fantasy world? Really? That's such a huge shift?】

【Who cares? Whatever Chongran writes, I read it—I've read his previous cultural fiction and then his xianxia fantasy, haven't I?】

【666, the new book only has a title and synopsis—there's not even any main text yet?】

【It says official updates start February 20th—so we still have to wait another week?】

【Does that mean The Night Watchers of Da Gan only has one week of plot left? Don't you dare mess it up—going for a bad ending?】

The comment section had all kinds of opinions, but none surprised Li Luo—everything was within expected bounds.

Any reader who clicked the reservation button would automatically have The End of the Sequence added to their bookshelf once the detailed page unlocked.

In effect, even before he'd even started writing, he'd already gained 100,000 favorites in advance.

For an ordinary author, this was a thing they could never even dream of.

But this was the exclusive privilege of a Grandmaster Platinum author.

After all, he'd already written a blockbuster and signed a special customized contract—if he didn't have at least this privilege, it would be too pitiful.

Yan Zhusheng drove them home smoothly; after getting out of the car, Li Luo pulled them upstairs and called Xu Youyu to join them in the fourth-floor entertainment room to play mahjong.

"Your new book's about to start serialization—aren't you going to stockpile more drafts now?" Ying Chanxi, still worried about the new book's performance, asked while playing mahjong.

"Isn't the New Year coming up soon?" Li Luo chuckled. "Just enjoy yourselves these days—after the holiday, there'll be plenty of time to write."

Mainly, Li Luo himself wasn't sure—he wasn't certain whether this beautiful life could continue if something went wrong during the holiday.

If he truly had to face a choice, could he really abandon the other two girls?

Li Luo's heart felt heavy, but he still tried his best to savor the happiness and beauty of the present moment.

After mahjong, the three girls dragged him off to soak in the bath.

That night, Xu Youyu took the day off from updating and returned to the room with Li Luo and the others.

The four of them lay in bed: Li Luo hugged Yan Zhusheng on his left, held Xu Youyu on his right, and had Ying Chanxi curled up in his arms, chatting idly.

"Lin Yi told me we're going back to the countryside on the 14th, and my dad will come with us," Ying Chanxi said, leaning against Li Luo.

"Mm," Yan Zhusheng nodded beside her, picking up the thread. "My mom's already gone to Jingzhao City—she has to perform at the Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve and won't get back until the evening of the next day."

"You two go back first on the 14th—I'll stay here," Xu Youyu added. "I've arranged with my grandparents to have an early New Year's Eve dinner on the 14th, then I'll drive over to join you on New Year's Eve."

This year, for the first time, Li Luo could spend New Year's Eve with all three girls, so he didn't want to spoil the mood—he said nothing more, just chatted about how they'd spend New Year's Eve.

"By the way, how are we going to arrange the rooms?" Yan Zhusheng suddenly leaned forward, asking seriously. "Can I just sleep in Li Luo's room?"

"There'll be so many relatives around—can you be a little more mindful of appearances?" Ying Chanxi pouted in warning. "We'll stick to the usual plan—you and Senior will stay at my place; Li Luo's spare room will be for Uncle Xu and Aunt Cui."

"You're really guarding him tightly," Yan Zhusheng muttered. "Why can't Uncle Xu and Aunt Cui stay at your place? Why must you drag me and Senior there?"

"What do you know?" Ying Chanxi huffed. "Ultimately, Uncle Xu and Aunt Cui are closer to Li Luo's parents than anyone else—this arrangement is correct. Don't butt in."

"Whatever," Yan Zhusheng said. "Either way, I'll sneak into Li Luo's room at night—so I might as well stay at your place."

"Shameless." Ying Chanxi muttered.

"If you've got the guts, don't sneak over at night yourself."

"Who are you to tell me?"

"Then you're shameless too."

"No, you are."

"You are."

The two sisters started bickering again.

Taking advantage of this moment, Xu Youyu also quietly pulled Li Luo aside and kissed him for a long while before Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng noticed.

"Senior! You're doing it again!"

"Senior's so sneaky."

"Hehe, now all four mouths are busy."