Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 772 Senior, please grant the junior's request.
Xu Youyu drove Li Luo and finally arrived at the Municipal Writers Association on time at 1:30 pm.

The Online Writers Association, as an affiliated organization, is located in the same place as the Yuhang City Writers Association.

With the continuous development of online literature in recent years, traditional literary writers who originally looked down on online literature have gradually divided their attitudes towards it into two camps.

One of the more moderate factions advocated for inclusiveness and, more than three years ago, joined forces with well-known online writers in the industry to establish the Yuhang City Online Writers Association.

To put it bluntly, status is something you earn through your own efforts.

The development of the internet has made online literature increasingly prominent in terms of its economic and political value, while the decline of the traditional publishing industry has greatly weakened the discourse power of traditional literature.

The continuous interaction and integration between the two is an inevitable trend in the development of the times.

After Li Luo got out of the car, he led Xu Youyu into the building, whereupon he heard Xu Youyu say with considerable emotion:

"Back when we were both in our first year of high school, we even attended the founding ceremony of the Online Writers Association. I never imagined that time would fly by."

“Yes.” Li Luo squinted his eyes, smiled and looked up at the plaque above the main entrance of the building, and sighed, “Back then, it was here that Uncle Xu discovered that Sister Yu was writing books, exposing her secret identity as an online novelist.”

"There's no need to bring this up again." Upon hearing this, Xu Youyu's face darkened, and she shoved Li Luo impatiently. "If you can't speak properly, then shut up."

"Don't you find it interesting to have Sister Yu around?" Li Luo asked, suppressing a laugh. "Especially since Uncle Xu was pretending so well back then, we both thought he hadn't noticed."

"Hmph, it's all your fault," Xu Youyu said angrily. "You've ruined my reputation."

"It was clearly Sister Yu's own carelessness."

"Stop talking." Xu Youyu grumbled and pulled Li Luo inside quickly. "The meeting is about to start, right? Let's hurry up and get there, or we'll be late."

After the two entered the building together, they quickly found the conference hall by following the on-site signs.

Upon seeing Li Luo walk in, the platinum-level executive who had a good relationship with him stepped forward to greet him. After exchanging pleasantries, he led the two of them to their seats.

Given Li Luo's current strength and status in the industry, although he is not yet twenty years old and is a complete greenhorn in terms of age, no one at the scene dared to underestimate him.

It could even be said that, apart from the few people sitting on the stage, Li Luo was probably the one with the highest influence and popularity in the entire venue.

If this comparison isn't limited to the online literature circle, then there's no need to add any additional qualifiers; Li Luo is undoubtedly at the very top of this circle.

Yuan Wanqing's two hit albums, the wildly popular TV series adapted from "A Little Reunion", the current number one entertainment novel "I'm Really Not a Star", and "The Great Qian Night Patrol" which broke the subscription ceiling on the Qidian main site.

A brief list of Li Luo's achievements, and even just one of them, is enough for many people here to pursue their whole lives but never attain.

Li Luo, on the other hand, had already achieved such success before he was even twenty years old.

It's truly enviable and makes one sigh with emotion.

"Is everyone here?" On the platform, Xia Lie, the then chairman of the Yuhang City Online Writers Association, spoke into the microphone, "Let's not delay any longer, let's officially begin the meeting."

Meetings are inherently quite boring.

Although the main purpose of this members' representative meeting is to elect a new vice chairman and add several new council members, there are other minor matters that will also be addressed at this meeting.

Li Luo wasn't interested in these trivial matters. Bored, he leaned back in his chair and secretly played with Xu Youyu's little hand under the table.

Xu Youyu let him do as he pleased, only teasing him in a low voice, "Everyone is having a serious meeting, what are you doing?"

"I'm very serious too." Li Luo stroked Xu Youyu's small hand earnestly, opening her palm and carefully admiring the lines on her hand. "I can even read palms, do you believe me?"

"Then what do you think of my palmistry?"

"Hmm, let me see." Li Luo touched Xu Youyu's hand in a serious manner, and then pointed to the bottom line, which resembled the latter half of a parabola. "This is the lifeline."

"Your lifeline is even and not messy, with no forks in the middle and a very beautiful curve. It can be said that you will live a life free from illness and disaster."

"He looks like he'll live to be a hundred."

Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him: "Living to be a hundred years old is fine, but what about the other two?"

“That middle line is your career line,” Li Luo said with a smile. “It starts strong and powerful, and continues for a long time, which means you are very capable in your main profession, but…”

"but what?"

"The fact that there are too many intersecting and messy lines in the middle indicates that you are not completely focused on your main job and also like to do some side jobs," Li Luo said seriously. "But you're not very good at them."

Upon hearing this, Xu Youyu's face darkened immediately: "Are you shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target? Are you deliberately trying to stab me?"

"That's how palmistry shows it," Li Luo said with a smile.

"Get lost," Xu Youyu said irritably. "Where's the last one?"

“The last one.” Li Luo’s fingers stroked it, then he said softly, “This is the love line. Your love line looks very faint, but there are no other lines. This means you are quite devoted in love, but it’s not easy to grasp this kind of fate.”

"What are you implying?" Xu Youyu glanced at him.

"I'm just analyzing your palm." Li Luo coughed and released Xu Youyu's hand.

But Xu Youyu didn't pull her hand back. Instead, she grabbed Li Luo's hand, opened it, and glanced at it: "Then what is this?"

"Is his lifeline that short? It just breaks in the middle. Surely he won't die young?"

"His career line is such a mess, and his love line is so forked! No wonder he's so wicked."

Li Luo: "...These are all feudal superstitions. Just play around with them and don't take them seriously."

The two whispered and chatted for over an hour before the meeting finally moved on to the nomination of council members.

After the list of the latest council members was finalized, the host on stage said, "Given that our Vice Chairman, Mr. Cao Sheng, is getting on in years and has decided to step down from the position, this meeting will elect a new Vice Chairman to replace him."

"The following five are the candidates for vice chairman in this election."

"The first one is Teacher Li Luo, whose pen name is Chongran and whose real name is Li Luo. His representative works include 'I'm Really Not a Star,' 'A Little Reunion,' and 'The Great Qian Night Patrol.' At only eighteen years old, he was already a platinum writer at Qidian.com. The TV series 'A Little Reunion,' which was adapted into a TV series, was a hit this summer."

"Second place..."

The host quickly introduced the backgrounds of the five candidates one by one.

Li Luo and four others stood up and gestured to those around them. Then, the chairman of the online writers' association announced the start of the vote. There were five boxes in total in front of the stage. Each member had two ballots, which could be cast for one person or for two people separately.

As a candidate, Li Luo naturally didn't have a vote. Xu Youyu, after receiving his two votes, smiled at Li Luo, then playfully lifted Li Luo's chin with one of the votes and teased him:

"Call me 'sister,' and I'll give you both my votes."

"elder sister."

"How can you be so spineless?"

"Anyway, you're already older than me."

"That's a bit unpleasant to hear," Xu Youyu snorted. "It's like you're talking to someone who's really old."

“Age can never determine whether a person is young or not. At least judging from Sister Yu’s current condition, she is obviously still quite young,” Li Luo chuckled. “If we go out together, people will definitely think you are younger than me.”

"You've got a sweet tongue." Xu Youyu curled the corners of her mouth, then stood up and joined the others in lining up to go on stage, putting the two ballots in her hand into the box belonging to Li Luo.

After everyone finished voting, the vote counting began.

In the end, without any suspense, Li Luo won the position of vice chairman.

As the newly appointed vice chairman, Li Luo gave a brief speech on stage, and then remained on stage, taking his seat formally.

Xu Youyu sat below the stage, looking at Li Luo, who seemed to be shining brightly on the podium, propping her chin up and staring at him, not wanting to blink even once.

To be fair, if Li Luo hadn't run for vice chairman, the other four candidates would have been in a more tense situation.

But once the name of rekindled glory is revealed, there will be no room for comparison anymore.

With the help of the platinum tycoon who was also a vice chairman, and the fact that Chairman Xia Lie had some dealings with Li Luo, this election was as easy as eating and drinking for Li Luo, and he won with an overwhelming number of votes.

The members' representative meeting officially concluded at around 4 p.m.

Li Luo did not leave with Xu Youyu immediately. After the meeting, he stayed to get to know the other members of the presidium.

Chairman Xia Lie smiled and extended his hand to shake hands with Li Luo, exchanging pleasantries: "I wonder if Chongran still remembers me. I was already very impressed with you three years ago."

"You two knew each other before?" Platinum asked in surprise. "Why didn't Burning God mention it to me?"

“I haven’t paid much attention to the Writers’ Association before, and I didn’t know you were the chairman of our current Writers’ Association.” Li Luo had a memory palace, so he naturally recognized Xia Lie. “However, I still have a strong impression of you from that meeting three years ago.”

When Li Luo and Xu Youyu first attended an offline conference, Xia Lie, like Xu Rongsheng at the time, was an invited guest speaker.

Unlike Xu Rongsheng, who later focused on online literature research, Xia Lie not only conducted extensive research on online literature, but also actively participated in various specific matters related to online literature.

Li Luo doesn't usually pay attention to this area, so he only found out now that he had been elected chairman of the Online Writers Association.

After the meeting, Li Luo took Xu Youyu and the members of the presidium to have a meal.

During the dinner, Li Luo mentioned the Provincial Writers Association and expressed his desire to recommend Xu Youyu for membership.

After learning about Xu Youyu's grades, Xia Lie nodded happily: "Her grades are good enough. She can get in through the normal application process. She just needs to submit the application in January next year when it's time for approval."

Since the Provincial Writers Association had already been mentioned, Xia Lie continued, "The Provincial Writers Association will also hold a members' representative meeting next January. At that time, Chongran should nominate members of the Provincial Writers Association's council."

"There are also quotas available from the China Writers Association, and we will reserve a spot for you then."

"Then thank you very much, Chairman." Li Luo smiled and stood up to offer a toast.

Amidst the clinking of glasses and the exchange of toasts, the atmosphere at the dinner table was harmonious and joyful.

Because Ying Zhicheng has been taking Li Luo to various dinner parties recently, Li Luo can now easily imitate him and handle the current dinner party without much difficulty.

The others present also began to look at Li Luo with new respect.

I originally thought that most talented young people lacked emotional intelligence, or that they were too lazy to improve it and preferred to be straightforward.

But Li Luo was impeccable in this regard, handling it very well and making people feel at ease.

In addition, most of the people at the dinner table were online novelists with excellent academic records and financial freedom, so there was no conflict between them.

The meal was a pleasant affair for both host and guests. Around 6 p.m., the dinner ended, and Li Luo and Xu Youyu took their leave.

Because he was driving, Xu Youyu did not drink alcohol. He drove Li Luo to the Liuyingli Hotel by West Lake and specially chose a room with a beautiful view of West Lake.

"You're not drunk, are you?" Xu Youyu accompanied Li Luo into the room, threw her bag on the table, opened the balcony door to look at the night view outside the window, and then turned to look at Li Luo with a smile.

"I didn't have many drinks, how could I be drunk?" Li Luo shook his head with a smile, perfectly sober, and reached out to pull Xu Youyu into his arms. "Shall we take a stroll by West Lake tonight?"

"Okay." Xu Youyu leaned against Li Luo's chest, her arms wrapping around his neck like vines. Then, she breathed hot air into Li Luo's ear and teased, "Want another hour of couples experience this time?"

Upon hearing this, Li Luo's memories were immediately pulled back to three years ago by Xu Youyu.

That was the first time they had attended an offline conference and received an essay competition award. During that time, they went to West Lake together for sightseeing.

The two people used research as an excuse to have a couples experience.

Li Luo's first time holding hands with a girl in both his lives was taken away by Xu Youyu.

"Does this even need to be experienced?" Li Luo said with a laugh.

"So what do you want?"

“We’re like an old married couple, let’s have a date experience like senior and junior this time,” Li Luo whispered in Xu Youyu’s ear.

"Now that you mention it, I do remember," Xu Youyu said with a grin. "It seems like someone hasn't called me 'senior' in a long time."

"Then... senior, would I have the honor of strolling around West Lake with you tonight?"

"Hmm~ Then let's satisfy this junior's request."

(End of this chapter)