Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 714 [Extra: Youyu] (6) The gap between us

Li Luo was caught off guard by Li Guohong's sudden attack when he returned home, and responded with a guilty conscience.

However, as soon as he blurted out the previous words, he realized that this excuse didn't seem to work, so he quickly made up for it: "Zhao Rongjun is coming over in a while, and we're going to have a meal together, so I plan to prepare some dishes."

"Oh, so that's it." Li Guohong nodded suddenly, without thinking much, he just walked into the kitchen curiously and took a look.

Since he cooks a lot at ordinary times, Li Guohong could tell at a glance that there should be four dishes, which were indeed enough for two people.

It’s just that Li Luo seldom cooks at home, so it was quite strange for Li Guohong to see her this rarely.

"Dad, why did you come back at this time? Is everything okay at the breakfast shop?" Li Luo started to change the subject and asked Li Guohong.

"Oh, nothing. I just came back to get something." Li Guohong waved his hand and returned to the door of his house.

When passing by Li Luo's bedroom, Li Luo's heart was beating fast, for fear that he would suddenly become curious and open the door to take a look at his room.

Fortunately, nothing happened. Li Guohong returned to the door, picked up two umbrellas, and pushed the door open to leave: "The weather forecast said it would rain in the afternoon, so I came back early to get the umbrellas."

"If Zhao Rongjun comes over later, remember to remind him to bring an umbrella."

"And remember to clean up the kitchen after dinner."

"Got it." Li Luo walked him out of the house. Looking at Li Guohong's back disappearing around the corner of the corridor, he slowly closed the door, appearing less anxious.

After the door was completely closed, Li Luo quickly ran to the balcony and confirmed that Li Guohong had walked out of the corridor and left towards the gate of the community. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

At this time, Li Luo remembered that there was someone else in his bedroom, so he hurried back, opened the door of his room, and took a look inside.

As a result, Xu Youyu was sitting beside his bed at this time, looking at the awards on the wall with curiosity, and he didn't look nervous at all.

"Aren't you worried at all?" Li Luo said helplessly, covering his forehead, "I was almost scared to death just now."

"There's nothing to worry about." Xu Youyu said with a laugh, "If uncle had found out just now, I would have said she was your girlfriend. What else can I do?"

These words came out of Xu Youyu's mouth so lightly.

She probably didn't know how strong the impact was on Li Luo, to the point that Li Luo's heart was in turmoil and he was having difficulty controlling his heart palpitations.

But he still had a wry smile on his face and waved his hands repeatedly: "Stop joking."

"That's better than you saying I'm a man." Xu Youyu blinked and said with a smile.

"Well... I was in a hurry and had no choice but to say it." Li Luo said helplessly.

Besides, Zhao Rongjun is not only his good buddy and brother, but also the scapegoat that he has been accustomed to since he was a child.

Whenever there is something that is difficult to explain clearly, just pull Zhao Rongjun out and it can basically be smoothed over.

After the two of them had a little commotion, Xu Youyu continued to visit Li Luo's room.

Li Luo's bedroom is very simple.

There is a bed on the left, a double-door wardrobe against the wall, a desk, a chair and a trash can on the right, and no other furniture.

On the table was a laptop that Lin Xiuhong bought for Li Luo when he first entered college.

I don't have any keyboard or mouse peripherals, I have always used the ones that come with the laptop.

There are several award certificates posted on the wall that are obviously very old. Without exception, they are all things that Li Luo won when he was in elementary school.

Since entering junior high school, Li Luo has had no chance of receiving awards or certificates.

"Your room is quite clean, a little different from what I imagined." After taking a quick look around, Xu Youyu returned his gaze to Li Luo and said with a smile.

"What's the difference?" Li Luo looked away slightly guiltily.

After all, he knew in advance that Xu Youyu was coming, so he did a thorough cleaning in the room yesterday.

Of course, Lin Xiuhong would clean his room every once in a while, so it wasn't very dirty.

It’s just that Li Luo often likes to throw clothes around, and there are a lot of snack bags and drink bottles scattered on the desk, so I specially cleaned it up last night.

"I thought there would be some prohibited items." Xu Youyu said with a smile, "Like pulling out a stack of magazines from under the bed or something like that."

"You've watched too much anime." Li Luo covered his face helplessly, "Who still buys magazines these days?"

"Indeed." Xu Youyu nodded suddenly, raised his index finger and said, "So I should check your browsing history. Wouldn't this be more reliable?"

"I advise you to be kind." Li Luo's eyes twitched and he subconsciously took a step towards his computer, fearing that Xu Youyu would really take action.

"Haha~" Xu Youyu noticed his subtle reaction and laughed happily, "I understand, I will write this in my next book."

Li Luo: “…”

"Speaking of which." Having made some progress in collecting materials, Xu Youyu cast his eyes on Li Luo's laptop and couldn't help asking, "Why don't you get a better computer? Isn't it uncomfortable to type on a laptop every day?"

"It's okay, I'm used to it." Li Luo shook his head, not wanting to spend too much money on a new computer.

Xu Youyu asked again: "You don't play games normally? I don't think this laptop can handle any games."

"I just play games on my phone at best," Li Luo said with a laugh. "I haven't played computer games for years."

"What a pity." Xu Youyu sighed, "I was thinking of playing duo with you."

"What game are you playing?" Li Luo asked.

"Whatever, I play a little bit of everything." Xu Youyu said with a smile, "League of Legends, PUBG, Valorant, CSGO, whatever game is popular, I play it."

"After all, I'm writing a male-oriented novel, so I should learn more about what boys like."

"Even if the novel itself doesn't involve these things, occasionally adding some relevant jokes in the text can have a good effect."

"Otherwise, if you don't touch these things for a long time, it's easy to fall behind the current readers."

"The online literature industry must keep pace with the times. Otherwise, every time you publish a new book, it is like gambling. If you are not careful, you will be eliminated by the times."

Li Luo listened to her and was somewhat moved by what she said, but in the end he did not make any promises.

The two of them just sat in Li Luo's room and chatted.

Although nothing was done, there was constant topic and the atmosphere was never dull.

It was not until nearly eleven o'clock in the afternoon that Li Luo ended the topic, stood up and said, "I'll go cook first."

"So early? Didn't you just say half past eleven?"

"Well...it's better to cook it earlier. I'm afraid that if I stew the beef brisket for too long, the taste will be out of control."

After finding a lame excuse, Li Luo hurried out of the room and headed towards the kitchen.

In fact, he was just worried that the situation just now would happen again. If his parents had to come back again for something, it would be unbearable.

So it’s better to finish lunch early.

Fortunately, it was Li Guohong, not Lin Xiuhong.

If Lin Xiuhong came back to get the umbrella, with her keen sense, she might really see something.

Thinking of this, Li Luo quickly went to the kitchen and made a plate of Mapo Tofu, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, and finally served beef brisket stewed with potatoes and tomato egg drop soup. The three dishes and one soup were perfectly completed.

Xu Youyu sniffed the fragrance and couldn't wait to come to the dining table with a satisfied look on his face.

Li Luo took out the bowls and chopsticks, and took out the beer that had been chilled all morning from the refrigerator. At this time, Xu Youyu followed in from behind and pointed to the highball glass in the glass cabinet next to him: "How about drinking from that?"

"Sure." Li Luo nodded and reached out to take two glass goblets. "But they need to be washed. Wait a minute."

"OK, I'll take the beer first." Xu Youyu took the beer and went to the dining table and sat down.

Li Luo cleaned the wine glass, then walked to the dining table in the living room and handed one to Xu Youyu.

Then they each poured a glass of beer. The golden liquid flowed, rippled when the two clinked their glasses, and finally flowed into their lips.

"Oh my, so refreshing." Xu Youyu sighed comfortably, then picked up his chopsticks to taste Li Luo's cooking. After taking a bite of the Mapo Tofu, he was immediately moved and said, "Yes, this is the taste! I've been craving for it for a long time."

Ever since he had eaten the Mapo Tofu made by Li Luo last time, Xu Youyu had been longing to eat it again.

During the past few months of traveling, Xu Youyu had no chance to eat mapo tofu as good as Li Luo's, which made him very greedy.

"If you like it, eat more." Li Luo smiled with relief.

The two of them drank and ate, and when half of the wine was drunk, Li Luo finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked Xu Youyu, "So what was the good news you mentioned earlier?"

"Haha!" Xu Youyu laughed happily when he heard this, "You finally couldn't hold it in anymore and asked! I was almost dying of holding it in, and you actually waited until now to ask!"

Li Luo: "...I thought you would say it directly."

"I'm just guessing how long you can wait before asking me." Xu Youyu chuckled.

Li Luo was speechless, thinking this was really childish.

But I am a little envious of Xu Youyu's mentality.

"So what's the good news?"

"That must be a great thing." Xu Youyu smiled and took out a mobile phone from his pocket. He clicked on something and handed it to Li Luo to take a look.

Li Luo looked closely

There is a document on the phone.

The title at the top clearly reads:

"Exclusive Authorization Cooperation Agreement of Wenyue Group's Great Writers"

This long string of words was dizzying, but Li Luo still captured the most crucial information in it at once.

"Great God?!"

"That's right~" Xu Youyu laughed happily, "The editor told me that the competition was fierce and I might not have a chance, but I didn't expect that I actually got it."

"Congratulations." Li Luo was happy for Xu Youyu from the bottom of his heart and immediately raised his glass to celebrate, "That's amazing!"

"Hehe, thank you~" Xu Youyu raised his glass, clinked it lightly with Li Luo's, and then drank it all in one gulp.

After sharing this news, Xu Youyu ate even more happily.

The two of them ate and drank until around one o'clock in the afternoon, when they finished their lunch.

After finishing the meal, Xu Youyu continued, "This is just an electronic contract, but they suggest that it's better to sign it offline, so I have to go to Changning City tomorrow morning."

"Oh, then you should go." Li Luo nodded.

"So I want to ask you." Xu Youyu said, "How about you go with me tomorrow?"

"Ah?" Li Luo hesitated when he heard this.

At this time, Xu Youyu quickly struck while the iron was hot: "You can also go to meet the editor and visit Wenyue's company."

"And there are several other authors who will be signing contracts this time. We can all get together then and you can get to know them."

"Aren't you almost finishing this book now?"

"Accompany me this time and chat with the editor and other authors. Maybe you'll have some ideas for a new book."

"How about you accompany me to visit Changning City?"

After being told this by Xu Youyu, Li Luo was moved and then asked, "How many days will you be gone?"

"Just two or three days." Xu Youyu held up three fingers. "It won't take long to sign the contract. We can sign it tomorrow. Most importantly, I can meet other people and go around Changning City."

"Okay then..." Li Luo finally couldn't resist the temptation and agreed, "What time will your high-speed train be tomorrow?"

"Take out your phone and I'll buy it for you."

"Row."

……

After agreeing to Xu Youyu, Li Luo bought a high-speed rail ticket under her guidance.

But after really following Xu Youyu to Changning City the next day, Li Luo began to regret it.

Without any achievements to back him up, Li Luo had absolutely no confidence when facing those big authors who also came to sign contracts with him.

Especially when Xu Youyu dragged him to a dinner party, others asked what book Li Luo had written and what his pen name was.

Every time he announced the title of his book or pen name, and noticed a hint of confusion in the other person's eyes, and then the other person tried deliberately to be polite, patted his shoulder and said, "It's you," Li Luo felt very uncomfortable.

After meeting each other, they added each other as friends, and some authors politely approved his application.

But one of the authors present here did not accept Li Luo’s friend request after he scanned the QR code until Li Luo returned home, obviously not considering him as someone on the same level as him.

Although the other party still maintains basic social etiquette on the surface.

But this disregard for details made Li Luo more and more uncomfortable.

So much so that on the last day in Changning City, when Xu Youyu dragged him around for a stroll, he couldn't muster any energy.

After the two returned to Yuhang City, whenever Li Luo wanted to chat with Xu Youyu in private, he suddenly realized that she had become a great writer.

And I am just an ordinary LV5 author with an average subscription of to .

For him, even the king of pop is out of reach, let alone the great god.

It is even unknown whether the next book can achieve the same success as the current one.

So Li Luo subconsciously reduced his communication with Xu Youyu.

Usually, it was Xu Youyu who took the initiative to look for him.

However, after signing the contract with the great writer, Xu Youyu went into seclusion and began preparing for a new book, and basically had no communication with the outside world.

Li Luo naturally reduced his communication with Xu Youyu.

Although the past one or two years have been wonderful, Li Luo has realized that he and the other person are not in the same world.

But what if... Li Luo looked at the computer screen, his heart pounding as he thought of the new book he was preparing.

If his new book could do well, such as reaching the goal of 10,000 orders, or even going further... then maybe that would give him a little courage.

(End of this chapter)