Chapter 921: Rebirth

The thrilling, intimate night in the motorhome had passed.

The next morning, Li Luo woke up in the bedroom on the second floor of the motorhome, turned his head to see Xu Youyu sprawled sideways atop him, then glanced at the scenery beyond the transparent small bed, a happy smile spreading across his face.

He pinched Xu Youyu's sleeping cheek, leaned in and kissed her, then carefully pried her arms and legs off him.

After re-covering Xu Youyu with the blanket, Li Luo climbed from the second-floor entrance down to the first floor, closed the entrance door, and stretched out in the vehicle.

Looking at the mess inside the motorhome, Li Luo recalled the night's frenzy and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Stepping out of the motorhome, he did a few simple stretches, locked the door, then climbed up the trail leading from the campsite into the hills.

Using hiking instead of morning jogging, he exercised on the mountain, and after descending, ate breakfast at a nearby shop, then brought back a portion for Xu Youyu.

When he returned to the motorhome and climbed back up to the second floor, Li Luo woke Xu Youyu, had her lean against his chest, and made her eat her breakfast obediently.

"Still tired?" Li Luo asked after she finished breakfast, holding her.

"Mm." Xu Youyu nodded weakly, then asked, "Did you go for a morning run?"

"No, I went hiking." Li Luo kissed her forehead, "Then I had breakfast."

"Oh." Xu Youyu murmured, pulled back under the covers, and lay there lazily.

"Aren't you getting up?"

"How can you even ask?" Xu Youyu grumbled from under the blankets, "You wore me out so much yesterday—I'm dead tired."

"Then sleep some more," Li Luo laughed, "I'll go downstairs and clean up."

Saying that, Li Luo returned to the entrance, climbed down, and casually slapped Xu Youyu's firm buttocks.

Xu Youyu grunted like a piglet, gave him a light kick, and went back to sleep.

Li Luo went downstairs, cleaned up the mess from last night, tidied the outdoor barbecue grill, put it back inside the vehicle, then folded up the outdoor canopy.

Once the motorhome was ready to depart at any moment, Li Luo picked up the collected trash and took it to a nearby recycling station to dispose of it.

Returning to the motorhome again, he checked the time—it was only just past eight in the morning.

Xu Youyu wouldn't wake up anytime soon, so Li Luo pulled out his laptop, sat down in the living-dining area on the first floor, and started writing.

More than two months had passed since The End of the Sequence went live; its average subscription growth had gradually slowed, but it still advanced at a pace no other novel could match.

Now, The End of the Sequence's average subscriptions had reached 120,000; at this rate, it would soon surpass the final numbers of Night Watch of Great Qian after its conclusion.

What left other authors helpless was that, thanks to The End of the Sequence's strong performance and Night Watch of Great Qian occasionally releasing a side chapter,

even now, Li Luo's three novels remained firmly in the top ten of the bestseller list, never dropping out.

Back in April, at its peak, the top three books on the entire site were all Li Luo's.

Night Watch of Great Qian had just concluded and ranked first.

The End of the Sequence debuted with 60,000 subscriptions, delivered powerful updates, and ranked second.

I Am Really Not a Star averaged over 70,000 subscriptions; though it only posted four thousand words daily, it rode a small surge during the time of Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng's album launch, placing third on the bestseller list.

Even now, in June, The End of the Sequence had taken over the torch from Night Watch of Great Qian and firmly held the number one position.

I Am Really Not a Star still hovered in the top five, occasionally slipping a few spots but always staying between third and eighth.

Night Watch of Great Qian often ranked ninth or tenth; sometimes it slipped out, but a single side chapter would instantly boost it back in.

No author didn't envy these results.

Especially after Night Watch of Great Qian's film and television rights were sold, and Tencent Video publicly announced project preparations—authors were green with envy.

Now, relying on his previous contract with Tencent Video, Li Luo had secured a portion of investment shares; last month, he completed the exchange and received a stake in Huayue Film and Television.

Li Luo was no longer merely a partner of Huayue Film and Television—he had become someone eligible to attend its board meetings.

But he didn't hold the shares purely as an individual; they were split into two parts: one held personally by him, the other held under the name of Chongran Culture.

So Li Luo never attended Huayue Film and Television's board meetings himself—Ying Chanxi attended them as CEO of Chongran Culture.

From April until now, two months had passed, and many things had happened.

After finishing his writing, Li Luo didn't wait for Xu Youyu to wake up; he sat by the motorhome window, gazing outside, and recalled the past.

Xu Rongsheng's Research Center had already launched part of its operations; originally, they'd only wanted Jian Chun to be a figurehead, but his aunt proved highly capable and lent considerable help.

By this coming autumn, the Research Center would officially begin operations, and the Chongran Rongyin Student Aid Fund would also launch officially.

One part was poverty-student scholarships, just like before—any impoverished student in the College of Liberal Arts who met the criteria could apply.

The other part was a dedicated scholarship for the Research Center: any student participating in its research projects and performing excellently could apply.

Students who received this scholarship could, before graduating with their bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees, choose to sign employment contracts with Chongran Culture.

This also served as a way to replenish Chongran Culture's talent pool.

Honestly, science students from Qianjiang University would most likely not choose a small company like Chongran Culture.

But for liberal arts students, Qianjiang University graduates didn't have much advantage—they could only rely on their diplomas to compete for positions that didn't care much about specialization.

Under these circumstances, Chongran Culture, a company founded by alumni and similar to an MCN, offering training as internet influencers and preferential resources, appeared quite attractive.

After all, many MCN agencies on the market were terrible; even Li Luo's contract, which wasn't particularly outstanding, was still far better than most MCN companies.

But that wasn't Li Luo's concern—he left it to Ying Chanxi to handle.

Li Luo's role was simply to spot promising talents and help plan their video styles and content.

In his past life, he used to scroll through TikTok all day, especially when researching short dramas, often searching for inspiration on TikTok.

Now, whenever he wanted, he could retrieve from his Memory Palace any type of influencer and find corresponding reference models.

The most difficult part of the internet—content—was, for Li Luo, the cheapest part of all.

Moreover, students graduating from Qianjiang University, no matter what, had far superior personal qualities than ordinary people.

Combined with Chongran Culture's more favorable contracts compared to other MCN companies on the market, they wouldn't cause too many problems.

Even if they later trained a major influencer who insisted on going solo and didn't want to be exploited by the company, Li Luo didn't mind—amicable parting was fine.

Thinking of this, Li Luo pulled out his phone and scrolled through TikTok, and happened upon Xu Yinghuan and Zhao Rongjun's couple account.

Xu Yinghuan had now managed this account for over half a year; after Li Luo gave her some initial suggestions, she had since developed a video framework perfectly suited to the two of them.

A fan base of a hundred thousand is quite substantial, and the monthly income is never insignificant.

This semester, Zhao Rongjun also took the software system he developed to the Dandelion Innovation Competition and won second prize—it's pretty impressive.

At Li Luo's urging, Zhao Rongjun teamed up with a senior he'd previously collaborated with to form a small studio, continuing to refine that software while beginning development of other campus applications.

During this time, Xu Yinghuan took on the role of marketing director for the studio—in reality, she was the only one—but she dragged Zhao Rongjun all over Yuhang City's universities.

Thanks to her sales efforts, she actually sold over a dozen copies of the software, earning the studio a good deal of money.

Xu Rongsheng had helped facilitate some connections, but Xu Yinghuan's own efforts were no less significant.

Watching the young couple work hard to build their business, Li Luo felt deeply satisfied.

Though it was tough on Qiao Xinyan—

Ever since her confession plan died in the womb, Qiao Xinyan had barely contacted Zhao Rongjun.

Though she still attended group meals, in daily activities, Qiao Xinyan mostly stuck with Ying Chanxi, and her relationship with Xu Yinghuan gradually grew distant.

Xu Yinghuan probably sensed something, so she said nothing more, quietly accepting the state of their relationship.

For Li Luo, no matter which girl Zhao Rongjun ultimately chose, he would support him.

Just don't learn from him and try to keep two at once.

After all, he himself had used all his strength to get things to this point.

With Zhao Rongjun's personality, if he truly struggled to choose, he'd likely end up in a dismal mess.

This way is fine.

After scrolling through videos of Xu Yinghuan and Zhao Rongjun for a while, Li Luo was thinking about these things when he heard movement above.

By the time he turned his head, Xu Youyu was already climbing down from the second floor.

"Sleep well?"

"Mm." Xu Youyu, still half-asleep, murmured in reply, then walked into the bathroom to freshen up.

After washing up, she returned to the living-dining area, plopped onto Li Luo's lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Going home now?"

"Mm—sort of."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"To another home." Li Luo smiled, then took Xu Youyu's hand and led her to the front of the motorhome. He climbed into the driver's seat, started the vehicle, and drove toward Jincheng Community.

Li Luo kept her guessing until they arrived at Jincheng Community, when Xu Youyu finally realized.

"Why are we here?" Xu Youyu asked, watching Li Luo drive through the community gate. "Isn't this your house?"

Come to think of it, during his three years of high school and one year of university, Xu Youyu had never once visited Li Luo's home.

Yan Zhusheng had come a few times, but Xu Youyu had never set foot here—though she visited the countryside every year.

"You've never been here before. Today I'm taking you for a meal," Li Luo said casually, parked the motorhome, got out, walked to the passenger side, and waved to Xu Youyu.

Xu Youyu opened the door and stepped out, following Li Luo into the stairwell, all the way up to the fourth floor, glancing curiously around.

This is your place, and across the hall is Xi Xi's home, right?

"Right."

"Aww, I'm so jealous," Xu Youyu giggled. "Why don't I have a childhood sweetheart?"

"What? You want a childhood sweetheart?"

"I want you to be my childhood sweetheart," Xu Youyu hummed, following Li Luo into the apartment. "Why did you think to bring me here? Are your parents home?"

"Not sure if they are," Li Luo said, already slipping on slippers and looking around. "Looks like they left early—Dad's probably at the hotpot restaurant, Mom's either at the mahjong parlor across the street or went to visit your mom."

"No one's here," Xu Youyu said, pulling out a pair of pink slippers from the shoe cabinet. "Can I wear these?"

"Wait." Li Luo stopped her, pulled out a pair of pale yellow slippers from another cabinet, and handed them to her. "Wear these."

"What's the difference?" Xu Youyu asked, puzzled.

"Those are Xi Xi's," Li Luo smiled. "These are yours."

"? You have your own slippers?" Xu Youyu blinked, slipped on the pale yellow pair. "You're not just grabbing any pair to fool me, are you?"

"My mom bought them all on purpose," Li Luo said. "Xi Xi always wore the pink ones. When Yan Zhusheng came a few times, Mom just bought matching pairs for both of you—the white ones over there are Yan Zhusheng's."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Xu Youyu stepped into the living room wearing her exclusive pale yellow slippers. "These slippers must've been bought a long time ago—and I only just got to wear them."

"As long as you're wearing them," Li Luo said, watching her step in the slippers, a look of nostalgia crossing his face, then a smile.

He took Xu Youyu on a tour of the apartment, explaining each room's function, after which she disappeared into his bedroom and didn't come out.

"Hehe, it's all your scent," Xu Youyu burrowed under his covers, sniffing them.

Li Luo sighed deeply, watching Xu Youyu lying on the bed.

"Why sigh?"

"Nothing. Just really happy."

"Who ever expresses happiness by sighing?"

"Can't I? That's just how I am." Li Luo laughed, leaned forward, and pinned Xu Youyu to the bed.

"No—what if your parents suddenly come back?"

"So what?"

"You're so naughty~" Xu Youyu whimpered, not resisting, but Li Luo didn't go further—only climbed onto the bed and held her.

"Why stop?"

"Just hold you for a while."

"Did you get too tired last night? Can't go on now?"

"Heh—just don't beg for mercy."

They wrestled a bit more, both breathing heavily.

Xu Youyu rested against Li Luo's chest, and the thought that this room was where he'd grown up made her feel strangely exhilarated.

"What are we having for lunch? I'm a bit hungry."

"I already decided—I'll go buy the groceries."

"What dishes?"

"Maple Tofu, potato stewed with beef brisket, garlic sprouts stir-fried with twice-cooked pork, and a tomato and egg drop soup, plus two small bottles of wine."