Chapter 90: Date

After a brief internal struggle, Li Luo picked up the phone.

Yan Zhusheng on the other end had no idea what Li Luo was currently going through; she simply went on: "I've found out the details."

"Didn't I tell you before? I asked a music arranger to handle the composition—she's a friend and colleague of my mother's."

"Later, I recorded a version of 'Nianlun' and sent it to her to check for any issues, but my mother and some company executives happened to hear it."

"Since you said not to mention it was your song to outsiders, I didn't say who wrote it."

"So my mother and the executive assumed I wrote it. The executive thought the song was pretty good, and since the company was preparing a TV drama's theme song, they recommended it."

"That's basically how it happened. The songs have been preliminarily selected—five in total, to serve as theme song, ending theme, and background music during plot transitions."

"Your song has been chosen, though it hasn't been decided yet whether it'll be the theme song or one of the others."

"Of course, the copyright is yours—whether you agree or not ultimately depends on your own decision."

Yan Zhusheng relayed exactly what she'd learned from Aunt Luo Fei, then asked: "Now that the preliminary results are in, the copyright for those songs shouldn't be an issue, but you haven't been consulted yet."

"Before, since everyone thought it was my song, my mother didn't ask further—she knows I usually don't care about these things."

"But if it's yours, I think it's better to ask you first—if you disagree, we can swap in another song."

"What do you think?"

Li Luo listened quietly, temporarily forgetting that Yan Zhusheng already knew he was a writer.

He carefully weighed the options, then asked curiously: "If I agree, what exactly would the deal look like? What about payment?"

"The production team's total budget for the songs is around 200,000 yuan," Yan Zhusheng said honestly. "If chosen as the theme song, you'd get more; the other four would get less."

After all, none of them are well-known composers, and the drama 'Yaochi Xianyuan' isn't a big-budget production either.

All the money went into hiring the lead actors—the male lead is a current popular heartthrob, and the female lead is one of the few famous rising actresses of recent years.

Before airing, the hype had already been fully built up by fans.

But since so much was spent on the actors, other areas naturally had to be cut.

For the music, they couldn't afford to hire any of the more famous industry names.

After all, once a song passes through their hands, 500,000 yuan per song isn't unusual—not to mention 200,000 for five songs.

So in Li Luo's view, this price was still quite reasonable.

"Is it a full copyright buyout, or…?" Li Luo suddenly thought of another question and asked.

"I don't really understand this," Yan Zhusheng frowned, then said, "But it's probably not full copyright—I can ask again for you."

"Then I'll leave it to you," Li Luo said. "I have no issues—if they need to, we can discuss further."

"Oh, okay," Yan Zhusheng nodded. "I'll hang up now—I'll notify you once there's more news."

"Wait—" Li Luo instinctively said, wanting to ask Yan Zhusheng about her reading his novels.

But the words died on his lips.

"What's wrong?" Yan Zhusheng asked, puzzled.

"Nothing…" Li Luo twitched his mouth, then decided against it. "Hang up. We'll talk later."

Putting the phone back on the desk, Li Luo sighed. Although 'Nianlun' had accidentally caught the production team's attention and he could earn money from selling the copyright, he felt quite pleased.

But…

He glanced again at the comments from "Shengsheng Buxi" and the pile of reader replies beneath.

【Is this the person who sang 'Nianlun'?】

【Tsk tsk, if you say there's no affair here, I just don't believe it.】

【Miss, do you know Chongran offline? If you have time, send us some blades for him.】

【Huh? Mo Party? Even though I love your 'Nianlun,' Shen Dongdong is still the best! Childhood sweetheart wins!】

【Looking down on my Yue Party? Jiang Mingyue is number one! Age-gap is the ultimate answer! How can a little sister compare to a big sister?】

【You don't get it—if Mo Qinghan is actually Shengsheng Buxi herself? Look, she even tipped as an Alliance Master.】

Li Luo: "..."

Let's be honest, these readers are really good at making wild guesses.

And sometimes, they actually get it right.

Li Luo never knew many girls in his previous life, and the three girls who had the biggest impact on him were undoubtedly Ying Chanxi and the other two.

As a result, when crafting his female leads, he inevitably infused them with traces of these three women.

For instance, the character Mo Qinghan mentioned by Yan Zhusheng is portrayed in the novel as a passionate young pop diva with a deep love for music.

She is also the very diva whose concert the protagonist attends immediately upon being transported in the novel's opening.

She is the first female lead to appear in the book.

She provides the protagonist with significant support on his musical journey, and they become important musical confidants.

Hmm… now that I think about it, I understand why Yan Zhusheng likes this character.

And she even became a patron… I hadn't noticed that before.

So, out of my monthly 12,000-yuan royalty, 500 yuan actually came from Yan Zhusheng.

But… just imagining that Yan Zhusheng will read everything I write in future novels makes me feel utterly uneasy.

Especially if I ever write scenes between Mo Qinghan and the protagonist that readers love—knowing Yan Zhusheng will read them too makes my skin crawl.

It's so damn embarrassing!

But since Yan Zhusheng hasn't publicly exposed my author identity, I'll just pretend I didn't notice either.

I'll just act like I don't know.

Covering my ears while stealing a bell is better than having Yan Zhusheng confront me face-to-face about the plot later.

No wonder Yan Zhusheng was lethargic for several days during the second week of school—she'd been staying up late reading my novel.

Just thinking about it makes Li Luo's mouth twitch.

At that moment, the bedroom door was knocked on.

Ying Chanxi peeked in from outside and said to Li Luo inside, "It's almost eleven! Come out with me for a walk!"

"Got it." Li Luo turned off his computer, stood up, and tidied himself, "Coming right away—get ready too."

"OK~"

A few minutes later.

Li Luo had changed into a loose sport outfit; Ying Chanxi wore a pink-and-blue dress with a wide-brimmed sun hat, looking youthful and radiant.

"We're not going anywhere special—why dress up so nicely?"

"Mind your own business?" Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes at him, slipped on her white sandals, and stepped out the door with a patter-patter, "Hurry up, don't dawdle."

Li Luo followed behind, grabbed the keys, stepped out the door, and after getting into the elevator, leaned close to study Ying Chanxi's profile.

Startled by his sudden closeness, Ying Chanxi's cheeks flushed slightly, and she asked quickly, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Li Luo shook his head, merely curious, "Did you put on makeup?"

"Hmm…" Ying Chanxi blinked, avoiding his gaze with a guilty look, "Just a little foundation."

"You also put on lipstick, didn't you?"

"Just a little!"

"When did you buy makeup?" Li Luo was surprised.

To be honest, since they'd gone their separate ways before the high school entrance exam in his past life, Li Luo hadn't seen much of Ying Chanxi—this was truly the first time he'd seen her wearing makeup.

Even though it was just a simple, light makeup, to him it felt entirely new.

"Bought it secretly during summer break," Ying Chanxi whispered. "Don't tell my dad—I just wanted to practice."

"I can tell—it's definitely practice."

"What?" Hearing that, Ying Chanxi immediately frowned, "Is it ugly?"

"It's pretty, sure," Li Luo turned his face again to examine her closely, then concluded, "But this beauty comes purely from your natural looks—not your makeup skills. You'd probably look even better without it."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi lowered her head, her ears turning red, muttering softly, "You talk too much…"

The two descended the stairs, exited the elevator, and walked toward the neighborhood gate; Ying Chanxi asked, "Where are we going?"

This area near Fuyi High School hadn't developed much yet.

The subway hadn't reached here, and Longhu Tianjie next to Qianjiang University hadn't been built yet.

It was a transitional zone between Yinjiang District's center and the suburbs.

But restaurants were certainly not lacking.

Li Luo took Ying Chanxi to a restaurant that looked clean and bright, booked a small private room, ordered three or four small dishes, and had a simple meal.

The bill came to nearly a hundred yuan—a substantial expense for an ordinary high school student.

But just as Li Luo was about to pay, Ying Chanxi beat him to it, pulling a bright red hundred-yuan note from her small purse and handing it to the cashier.

"Your change is seven yuan and fifty fen—please take it."

Ying Chanxi took the change, shoved it into her wallet, and looked at Li Luo: "Let's go."

"I should have treated you."

"I invited you out, so of course I'm paying," Ying Chanxi grinned. "If you want to treat me next time, be more proactive—don't always wait for me to ask you."

Ying Chanxi knew Li Luo's family had taken out a loan to buy their apartment, and his pocket money was surely limited.

So she absolutely wouldn't let him pay such a large sum.

But after saying all that, she pointed across the street to a bubble tea shop: "I want bubble tea."

Li Luo glanced at Ying Chanxi, grasped her intention, and sighed with a faint smile.

Being treated to a meal by a girl, yet still having her carefully preserve his pride—she really was going out of her way.

"What flavor do you want?"

"Just regular pearl milk tea."

"No ice?"

"Huh? Uh… yeah, I can't drink ice these days…"