Chapter 871

Li Luo got out of Ying Zhicheng's car and watched Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng carry their luggage toward the neighboring unit, then took out his own bags.

Greeting his aunt and the others along the way, Li Luo reached his room on the third floor, placed his suitcase down, pulled out his laptop, plugged it in, and arranged the keyboard and mouse.

When he came downstairs again, he noticed a stranger in the second-floor living room.

No, perhaps he should say an acquaintance.

"Who's this?" Li Luo asked, feigning curiosity as he looked at the bald man sitting beside his cousin Chen Lu.

"Li Luo, you're back?" Chen Lu smiled and stood up as she saw him descending, introducing him, "This is my boyfriend, Zhao Shuhan."

Then she turned to her boyfriend and said, "I've told you about him many times—Li Luo, my cousin."

"Hello, hello."

Li Luo and Zhao Shuhan extended their hands, smiled, and shook hands, formally meeting for the first time.

But Li Luo's expression was somewhat odd, leaving him slightly baffled.

Because this Zhao Shuhan had been his cousin's husband in his past life.

After his rebirth in this life, his influence and changes toward Chen Lu had been substantial, yet she had still ended up with the same person.

That was truly remarkable.

After all, in his past life, Chen Lu had graduated and become a bank teller, with no hope of promotion.

In this life, with Li Luo's help, she was now the bank's senior client manager.

Almost all of Chongran Culture's hundreds of millions in funding this past year flowed through Chen Lu's bank.

In short, Chen Lu in her past life and this life were entirely different people.

Of course, that didn't mean Zhao Shuhan was unworthy of his cousin.

After all, Li Luo remembered clearly: in his past life, when Zhao Shuhan married Chen Lu, he was already an Alibaba P6 technician, later promoted to P7 in his thirties with a million-yuan annual salary—considered a golden husband even in Yuhang City.

Later, during Lin Xiuhong's serious illness, Li Luo had borrowed several ten thousand yuan from Chen Lu and Zhao Shuhan, and he had always cherished that debt of gratitude.

Since nothing had changed in this life, Li Luo thought it was fine, so he sat down on the sofa and chatted casually with Zhao Shuhan.

Zhao Shuhan considered his own conditions solid; even though Chen Lu held a high position at the bank, it still didn't match his, so he remained fairly confident.

But when facing Li Luo, he became noticeably more humble.

After all, he had often heard Chen Lu mention Li Luo and had even searched online himself; after learning the extent of his cousin's power, even though he was ten years older, he dared not put on any airs.

"I brought him home for dinner today, and tomorrow on New Year's Eve, I'll take him to my place," Chen Lu teased Li Luo, linking arms with Zhao Shuhan, "You won't see me during the holiday—did you prepare a red envelope? Hand it over early~"

"Sis, you've been graduated for years—still dare to ask me for a red envelope?" Li Luo teased back, smiling. "I'm the college student here; I'm not even asking you for one."

"Hehe." Chen Lu got along well with Li Luo, especially since his rise; she could joke with him like this, and he didn't mind at all, making her love her cousin even more.

In Chen Lu's eyes, if not for Li Luo's support, her former status as a bank teller would have made Zhao Shuhan unlikely to even notice her.

Now that she was with Zhao Shuhan, it was clearly thanks to Li Luo's help.

Li Luo didn't dwell on these thoughts—he knew in his past life, Chen Lu's husband had also been Zhao Shuhan, clearly unrelated to whether he'd intervened or not.

It was simply that Chen Lu herself was capable; even in her past life, her being with Zhao Shuhan had little to do with her career achievements.

"How long have you two been dating?" Li Luo asked curiously.

"About a year and a half," Chen Lu said cheerfully. "But back then, during last year's New Year, we'd just started dating, so I didn't tell you."

"So this year you think it's serious enough?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You're already meeting the family."

"Yes," Zhao Shuhan said with a smile. "LuLu and I get along very well. We met the families during National Day, and now for the New Year, we're visiting each other's relatives to get acquainted early and become familiar."

"That's good," Li Luo nodded in agreement. "Then you must have plans for the wedding too?"

"I'm planning for National Day this year," Chen Lu said. "That way, it'll be exactly one year after our first family visit, and all relatives and friends will be off work, making it easier to invite them to the wedding."

Li Luo nodded, chatting with the couple for a while, when two pretty girls walked up the stairs.

Zhao Shuhan turned to look, his eyes clearly stunned—he hadn't expected Chen Lu's family to have such beautiful relatives.

Watching the cute girl in the white down jacket sit beside Li Luo, and the tall girl in the beige down jacket walk to the other side and sit beside him too, Zhao Shuhan asked, "Who are these two…?"

"Uh…" Li Luo coughed twice, giving a vague answer, "They're from next door… uh… relatives."

But Chen Lu quietly leaned close to Zhao Shuhan's ear and whispered, "The girl on the left in white is Ying Chanxi—just call her Xixi."

"Oh, oh," Zhao Shuhan nodded. "Your neighbors…"

"Pfft, not neighbors," Chen Lu said, exasperated. "That's my sister-in-law."

"Huh? Li Luo's girlfriend?" Zhao Shuhan whispered. "Then why didn't he say so? And who's the one on the other side?"

"Uh… uh…" At this point, Chen Lu herself felt a bit embarrassed, but still whispered to her boyfriend, "The other one… is also my sister-in-law."

Zhao Shuhan froze again, taking a long moment to process this.

Because in his mind, Chen Lu had only ever mentioned one cousin to him.

And if the tall girl's boyfriend were someone else, why would she be sitting so close to Li Luo?

Which meant…

"I'm warning you," Chen Lu bit her teeth and warned before Zhao Shuhan could fully react, "If you even think of copying him, you're dead."

"Cough, cough, cough…" Zhao Shuhan burst into a violent coughing fit, then waved his hands frantically. "How could I…?"

Once he fully understood, he immediately turned and leaned close to Chen Lu's ear, speaking softly, "I only love you, of course."

"Hmph~ Good, you're smart," Chen Lu smiled sweetly.

Meanwhile, Li Luo, sitting across from them, took the opportunity while Chen Lu and Zhao Shuhan whispered to explain Zhao Shuhan's identity to Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng.

After mutual introductions, Chen Lu invited everyone to sit at the mahjong table, planning to chat while playing.

Lin Xiuhong, having just finished unpacking, took the main seat without hesitation; Zhao Shuhan was pulled by Chen Lu to sit beside her.

Ying Chanxi, a professional mahjong partner, immediately sat on Lin Xiuhong's other side.

Then Li Xuefeng was called over by Chen Lu to take the last seat.

As for Li Luo, Yan Zhusheng, and Chen Lu, they sat aside to watch.

When playing mahjong, Lin Xiuhong asked about Zhao Shuhan's job, and upon learning he was a top graduate working at Alibaba, she immediately regarded him with new respect.

This piqued Ying Chanxi's curiosity, and she asked a few questions about Youku Video.

Because she had been negotiating copyright deals with Tencent Video recently, to push for a higher price, Ying Chanxi also casually discussed potential copyright cooperation with iQiyi and Youku Video alongside Attorney Tian.

So the moment she heard "Alibaba," it all clicked.

Unfortunately, Zhao Shuhan worked in Alipay and Ant Financial, with no connection to video services.

They chatted for a few more minutes and dropped the topic.

But at this moment, Zhao Shuhan realized that the young girl beside him was already in charge of Li Luo's company—and even fully responsible for the crucial copyright division.

It seemed this sister-in-law was more than just good-looking.

The person who managed the family's income clearly had the bearing of a matriarch, and Zhao Shuhan couldn't help but view her with higher regard.

In the middle of the afternoon mahjong session, Lin Xiuhong and Li Xuefeng went to the kitchen to cook, leaving Li Luo and Chen Lu to take their places. At five-thirty in the evening, Lin Xiuhong called everyone to dinner.

Li Guoru, Li Xuexian, Chen Hailin, and others from next door also arrived. The younger generation—Li Dao, Chen Yonglin, Chen Sijia—and the youngest, Li Xiang, followed their elders over here.

Li Guohong also went to fetch Ying Zhicheng and Grandpa Ying; the elders sat at one table, while the younger generation and women sat at another.

Li Luo's current status and position clearly made it impossible for him to sit with the children—he was called over by his grandfather to sit beside him at the honored seat, pouring wine.

In addition, Grandpa Ying, Li Guohong, Ying Zhicheng, Chen Hailin, Zhao Shuhan, and Li Dao also sat in a circle around them.

Aunt Li Xuexian wanted to move her son Chen Yonglin to the men's table, but Chen Yonglin stubbornly refused, insisting on staying with the children's table to eat.

He finished eating at lightning speed, then ran back to his room next door to play games, which infuriated Li Xuexian.

"Don't be so upset," Li Dao said with a chuckle upon seeing this, "this kid works hard at the factory—anything you assign him, he generally gets done well; he's very capable."

"I'm mainly worried about how he'll find a partner," Li Xuexian replied irritably. "You're the same—why haven't you introduced him to someone at the factory? Are you really going to let him spend his whole life with video games?"

"Ahem… I think it's better not to force things," Li Dao said helplessly. "The more you pressure him, the more he resists."

The topic of Chen Yonglin's matchmaking had become a yearly staple during the New Year.

But in his past life, everyone had given up on Chen Yonglin—after Li Luo graduated from university, the New Year's pressure shifted entirely to him.

But in this life… Li Luo glanced at Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng sitting at the children's table, and couldn't help smiling.

At dinner, the topic of Chen Yonglin was briefly mentioned and dropped.

At Chen Lu's table, the conversation turned to Chen Sijia's marriage prospects.

Originally, Chen Lu had suggested Zhao Shuhan introduce a few of his colleagues to Chen Sijia.

After all, Chen Sijia had only graduated half a year ago, studied computer science in university, and now worked in the technical department of Nongfu Spring—quite a respectable job.

She'd likely have plenty in common with Zhao Shuhan's colleagues.

Unfortunately, due to her father's domestic abuse before his death, Chen Sijia had always resisted marriage, shaking her head repeatedly; Chen Lu could say no more.

Then Li Xuefeng and Li Xuemei began talking about things at Lin Xiuhong's mahjong parlor. Li Xuexian became interested and said to Li Guoru at the next table: "Lin Xiuhong's mahjong parlor is quite interesting—should we go check it out sometime?"

"Sure," Li Guoru replied.

He had fully entered retirement, spending most of his time wandering the Writers' Association, chatting with friends, fishing, and writing calligraphy—very leisurely.

"By the way," Li Guoru said, smiling as he thought of the Writers' Association, "I heard you've become vice-chairman of the provincial online novel association this year—and a council member of the city's online novel association too? You're really getting more impressive."

"It's just an honorary title," Li Luo replied modestly. "The online novel association values achievements above all; this arrangement is normal—it's essentially just a nominal position."

After chatting about online novels, Li Guohong changed the subject and asked Li Dao: "My hotpot restaurant wants to add a takeout service—something like spicy hotpot takeout."

"Aren't you guys the factory that produces takeout containers?"

"Let's talk about it—your factory can handle all my takeout container orders."

"Sure," Li Dao smiled. "Our factory's doing well these days—if you need anything like this, just let me know anytime. Come visit the factory later."

"Alright, it's settled then."

At this moment, Ying Chanxi at the next table couldn't help turning to ask Li Dao: "Brother Li Dao, can I ask—can your factory make anything besides takeout containers?"

"Huh?" Li Dao was caught off guard by Ying Chanxi's sudden question, paused for a moment, then asked, "What do you have in mind?"

"It's like this," Ying Chanxi put down her chopsticks and turned around. "Li Luo's books are doing extremely well now, and there's demand for some novel merchandise."

"I think the factory Wenxue Group hired is producing low-quality merchandise—I thought since we're family, we could ensure better quality, so I just wanted to ask."

"Just simple things—badges, bookmarks, character art cards, that sort of thing."

"I see…" Li Dao fell into thought. "You saying that alone—I can't guarantee it. I'm not sure if our production line can handle it."

"Technically, making molds for these items shouldn't be too hard—but you'd better ask Yonglin first; he knows the technical side inside out."

"Also, it depends on how large the order is—if the quantity's too small, we can't bring down the cost."

"Mm-hmm," Ying Chanxi nodded eagerly. "I just thought of it suddenly—we can discuss the details later."

"Alright, no problem."

Having family connections really made a difference—many troublesome matters could be solved with just a few words exchanged among relatives.

By the end of the meal, quite a few business deals had been settled.

After dinner, the women gathered around the mahjong table to keep playing, while the men sat on the sofa, playing cards and chatting.

Midway through, Yan Zhusheng said she was sleepy, stood up, and went back next door to bathe and sleep.

Over half an hour later, Li Luo received a WeChat message.

【Yan Zhusheng】: (photo)

Li Luo glanced at the photo Yan Zhusheng sent, and his eyes flickered.

It was a photo she had just taken: Yan Zhusheng lying on her bed, one long leg half-exposed from under the covers, half-concealed—appearing especially alluring.

But the key detail was the background: on the desk beside her sat a laptop Li Luo recognized instantly.

Clearly, then, where Yan Zhusheng was lying was obvious.

"I still need to write tonight—I'll excuse myself," Li Luo understood at once, stood up, bid everyone farewell, and went upstairs.

Everyone else, including Ying Chanxi, thought nothing of it—after all, Li Luo writing late was routine, nothing suspicious about it.

But the moment Li Luo opened the door on the upper floor, a figure rushed into his arms.

"I thought so—why did you suddenly say you were tired and wanted to go sleep? You were up to something, weren't you?" Li Luo held Yan Zhusheng and set her on the desk, teasing with a grin, "Couldn't you wait until tonight?"

"Tonight, Sister gets in the way," Yan Zhusheng blinked her eyes. "She's playing mahjong with Lin Yi now—she won't come up."

"You can't even hold out for a whole day?"

"Don't talk," Yan Zhusheng fixed her gaze on Li Luo's eyes. "I want it. Give it to me now."

……

Deep night.

Ying Chanxi returned to her room next door after finishing mahjong, finished her bath, and suddenly remembered Yan Zhusheng.

She went to bed so early—could it be she fell asleep right away and never went to Li Luo's room?

Thinking this, Ying Chanxi's face lit up. She crept quietly toward Yan Zhusheng's closed door, slipped open a crack, and peeked inside.

The next instant, her expression changed, and she let out a huff.

Not long after.

Ying Chanxi slipped out onto the rooftop, crossed over to the neighboring room, arrived at Li Luo's door, and without even knocking, shoved it open.

At that moment, Li Luo sat at the desk, typing on his keyboard.

Yan Zhusheng lay in bed; seeing Ying Chanxi enter, she let out a tiny yawn and said to her sister, "I'm giving Li Luo to you tonight—I'm exhausted. Don't wake me when I sleep."

Ying Chanxi's forehead darkened: "... When did you even come over?"

"While you were playing mahjong," Yan Zhusheng winked at Ying Chanxi and confessed honestly. "Li Luo bullied me for a long time."