Chapter 898: Opening Day

The day after beating up Ying Zhicheng, Li Luo went to the city to attend the seminar on Gu Dao Changqing's works.

This seminar invited several well-known writers from the Writers Association, a professor from Qianjiang University, and several senior literature department faculty members.

Among them was Teacher Si Huainian, who had taught Li Luo and Xu Youyu's online novel elective last semester.

Originally, Li Luo had planned to use the seminar as an excuse to sneak off privately with Xu Youyu.

But unexpectedly, although Xu Rongsheng officially wasn't participating in the seminar, he still came along with Xu Youyu.

On one hand, as Xu Rongsheng's position included not only Vice Dean of the Literature College at Qianjiang University but also a council member of the Writers Association, his presence helped coordinate communication between both sides.

On the other hand, it was to prevent Li Luo from gaining too much ground before his daughter's romantic situation was fully settled.

Li Luo could only accept this, engaging in another cordial exchange with Xu Rongsheng at the seminar, asking when he might next have time for a visit.

Unfortunately, Xu Rongsheng was currently very busy; although school hadn't officially opened yet, as Vice Dean he had already returned to campus to begin work.

Especially regarding the establishment of the Research Center—the proposal had been submitted before the New Year and had just been approved a few days ago.

To ensure the Research Center could launch and begin research as soon as possible, Xu Rongsheng had been utterly swamped during the period before and after the semester's start, with no spare time at all.

After discussion, they set the date for Li Luo's next visit to the weekend of the first week after the semester began.

But this meant Xu Youyu's return to his side would be delayed once again.

If not for Yan Zhusheng accompanying him daily, Li Luo might have cracked under the intensity of his longing.

As for Ying Zhicheng, he had yet to send Li Luo any further message.

But Yuan Wanqing had sent him an "OK" emoji—by the look of it, there seemed to be no problem.

It now appeared that full acceptance of their four-person relationship by the elders was merely a matter of time.

No further obstacles remained.

Thinking of this, Li Luo's mood lifted considerably, and he temporarily set aside his frustration over not being able to bring back Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi.

After all, the future was long; there was no need to rush.

After the seminar ended, Li Luo fully immersed himself in writing his new novel.

Without daily interruptions from Xu Youyu and the others, the new novel's writing progressed smoothly.

From the 20th onward, through the half-month period until Qianjiang University's new semester began, the follow-read count for The End of the Sequence steadily rose to forty thousand.

You know, among all the books on Qidian's main site these days, reaching an average subscription of 40,000 is extremely rare.

Yet Li Luo's new book, only half a month after launch, has already hit 40,000 in follow-up reads.

That's genuinely terrifying.

On one hand, it's related to "Daqian Night Patrol Bureau" still wrapping up with regular updates, continuously funneling readers to the new book.

On the other hand, Qidian's new book promotional activities have been steadily delivering fresh traffic.

But beyond that, it also has to do with Li Luo's update volume.

【Qianzhou】: Bro—what's with you updating 10,000 words every single day lately? And you're still in the new book period!

Since the 27th, the update volume of "Sequence's End" has become abnormal.

At first, it was just bonus chapters, which made sense given the several Golden and Silver Alliance Leaders.

So Qianzhou didn't pay much attention.

But by March, when "Sequence's End" had just reached 60,000 words, Li Luo's updates completely spiraled out of control.

10,000 words a day, 10,000 words a day, still 10,000 words a day!

Even readers didn't expect that Chong Ran, while maintaining three simultaneous books, would still find time to drop 10,000 daily updates on his new book.

Let alone the editors.

After all, common sense says that daily 10,000-word updates during the new book period would significantly inflate the free reading chapters, resulting in too many words by the time it goes on the shelves.

Put simply, it means losing out on a substantial amount of royalties.

But for Li Luo, that bit of royalty money doesn't really matter—better to just update more.

After all, he's aiming for a length of five to six million words for this new book.

Even with daily 10,000-word updates, it'd still take over two years to write.

If he slacks off a bit later on, it could stretch to three years, possibly all the way until he graduates college.

The more he writes, the more readers get to read.

Daily explosive updates can attract more readers, and the results might actually be better, right?

【Chong Ran】: No worries, I can't finish my drafts anyway. I've got over 400,000 words saved up, so releasing a bit more doesn't matter.

【Qianzhou】: Then by the time it goes on the shelves, the word count won't be small. How about putting it on the shelves earlier? With 40,000 follow-up reads, you're definitely going to break your previous first-day subscription record.

【Chong Ran】: No worries, let's stick to the original plan—put it on the shelves on April 1st. The extra word count doesn't matter.

【Qianzhou】: Alright, so the finale of "Daqian Night Patrol Bureau" will be the day before the new book goes on the shelves? I've already had the operations team start preparing the finale event.

【Chong Ran】: Yeah, no problem. "Daqian Night Patrol Bureau" still has about 200,000 words left for the wrap-up.

【Chong Ran】: This month I'll stick to the usual 4,000 words a day. During the final three days, I'll release 30,000 words each day to wrap up the climax in one go.

【Chong Ran】: After that, the main story will officially conclude, and it'll transition directly into the new book's launch. Combined with some epilogues and side stories, that should be about it.

【Qianzhou】: OK, as long as you're prepared, I won't say more.

After finishing his chat with the editor, Li Luo stretched, glanced at the moonlight outside the window, and continued typing.

When he woke the next morning, he patted Yan Zhusheng, who was still asleep curled in his arms, then took her out for a morning run; after returning home for breakfast, he packed his bag and prepared to report to Qianjiang University.

"When will Xi Xi and Sister Xue come back?" As they descended to the basement level, Yan Zhusheng clung to Li Luo's arm and turned to ask.

"As for Sister Youyu, I've arranged with Uncle Xu to visit their home on the 10th for a meal—I feel after that talk, she'll be able to return." Li Luo smiled. "As for Xi Xi—Aunt Yuan already sent me an 'OK' message."

"I'll try to probe Uncle Ying's mood these next few days and see when he might be free."

"According to Xi Xi, she plans to attend that film industry conference; she's already arranged with Tencent Video to meet in person and discuss the details."

"I'll have Xiao Wen and Xi Xi's secretary accompany her, along with Lawyer Tian—he'll help ensure they don't get cheated on the contract terms."

"By the time they get back, it'll already be the 12th."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng's face drooped at the topic. "Still that long?"

"What's wrong?" Li Luo glanced at Yan Zhusheng in his arms, then chuckled and pinched her cheek. "You used to go to great lengths to get alone time with me—why are you suddenly hoping they come back soon?"

"Mmm————" Yan Zhusheng shifted her gaze away, slightly embarrassed, and finally muttered under her breath, lying through her teeth: "I just miss them."

In truth, she simply couldn't handle Li Luo alone—this was why she began missing her two good sisters, hoping they'd return soon.

Li Luo didn't press further. After changing shoes in the basement, they each grabbed their car keys and walked toward their respective vehicles.

Before leaving, Yan Zhusheng threw herself into Li Luo's arms and kissed him for a long while before waving goodbye and getting into her Mercedes.

Since the music college was on the opposite side of the river, they couldn't arrive on campus together at the start of the term.

After agreeing to have dinner together at home, they drove out of Sky Ridge Elegant Residence and parted ways at the intersection of Yinjiang Bridge and Ningshan Avenue.

Li Luo drove into the Qingxi Dormitory compound, found a parking spot, and checked in with the dorm supervisor.

Since he wasn't a freshman, there weren't many procedures to go through.

After checking in at the dorm building, Li Luo went upstairs to his long-absent dorm room.

Actually, Qianjiang University had already reopened on Saturday, March 3rd, and all three roommates had returned to the dorm early.

Only Li Luo came back on the 4th.

As soon as he entered, all three roommates turned to look at him and greeted him.

"Hey." Li Luo waved, slapped Wen Zexuan on the shoulder, and grinned. "Hard to see you in the dorm these days."

"You have the nerve to say that?" Wen Zexuan looked exasperated. "You're the one who comes back least often."

"My place is right next door—of course I come back less." Li Luo rolled his eyes. "Unlike someone who keeps checking into hotels."

"Cough—cough————" Wen Zexuan waved his hands frantically. "Don't go spreading rumors, Brother Luo—I've gone straight now."

"What? Gone straight from what?"

"He's back together with Jiang Lai," Bai Haoran said calmly, still reading his book. "Hmm—"

"—this time, it's probably true love from prolonged closeness."

"Really?" Li Luo stared at Wen Zexuan in surprise, then couldn't help laughing.

Wen Zexuan sighed. "That woman's a nightmare. Fine, I give up."

"Brother Wen's just being stubborn," Cheng Xin couldn't help teasing. "Having such a gorgeous girlfriend isn't enough? Learn to be content."

"What do you know?" Wen Zexuan rolled his eyes. "Don't talk about me—you're a decent-sized influencer now, even got Bilibili's creator incentive program."

"Aren't you pulling in over ten thousand yuan just from incentive bonuses this month? Not to mention the GG sponsorships from Li Luo's company."

"At that income level, you're totally crushing half the guys on campus."

"Fix up your look, go all out—how could you still not find a girlfriend?"

Cheng Xin immediately shook his head. "No way. I can't do it."

"You're a coward!" Wen Zexuan groaned in frustration.

Watching this, Li Luo grinned and offered a half-baked idea: "Start a new column—call it 'College Dating Guide.'"

"Then randomly pick passersby on campus—anyone willing to join, stay."

"Pair one guy with one girl, have them meet face-to-face, chat, interact, play little games."

"Get a bunch of girls involved, see which one Cheng Xin likes, then let him give it a shot."

Wen Zexuan's eyes lit up at the idea. He slapped Li Luo's shoulder hard. "Nice! No wonder you're Brother Luo!"

"Good idea. I'll talk to Jiang Lai—she'll find the girls, I'll find the guys."

"If we pull it off, the response should be good—and we'll help Cheng Xin find a girlfriend too."

Hearing this, Cheng Xin felt a flicker of interest and asked quietly, "Can we really do this? Won't it be… a bit inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate?" Wen Zexuan rolled his eyes. "Just make it clear upfront—anyone who doesn't want to join doesn't have to. No one's forcing anyone."

Li Luo had no further suggestions, so he let them chat and brainstorm.

He'd just thrown out the idea casually; whether Wen Zexuan actually pulled it off wasn't his concern.

But—

"Oh, by the way." Li Luo climbed onto his bed, planning to chat with Xi Xi and the others on WeChat, then leaned out. "This semester, the school's launching a new Research Center."

"The director is our Vice Dean. Make sure you sign up for its activities and courses."

"You don't have to do much—just use your stories as promotional samples."

Naturally, the three roommates didn't dare refuse Li Luo's suggestion—they immediately nodded in agreement.

Satisfied, Li Luo went back to chatting with the girls.

Once Xu Rongsheng's Research Center is established, if it keeps producing success stories like Cheng Xin's, it'll count as a solid achievement.

Li Luo's various internet trends and ideas were useless to him personally—he might as well apply them to these classmates.

Once these classmates rise to prominence, Li Luo could sign them all through Chongran Culture.

And he wasn't out to exploit profits—he could offer contract terms everyone would find fairer.

Far better than those scammy, contract-trapping MCN companies on the market.

Students who graduate from Qianjiang University are far less likely to have personal quality issues.

In this way, Chongran Culture would truly carve out a unique path.

No longer relying solely on Li Luo's personal IP value.

It would also help Xu Rongsheng vie for the position of Dean—two birds with one stone.