Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 819 Birthday Gift
Early in the morning, everyone sat in a circle in the restaurant.

Except for Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing, who were still sleeping, everyone else had arrived.

In the kitchen, the chefs arranged by Butler Liu had prepared breakfast early in the morning, and now, according to the number of people, the meals were served one by one.

During the meal, Xu Youyu nudged her father and whispered, "I've arranged a time with Aunt Yuan to come see the house. You two can come together then."

Last night, Xu Youyu told his parents about his idea of ​​buying a house here.

At first, Choi Soo-ryung was strongly opposed.

After all, houses here are so expensive. A villa can easily cost close to ten million yuan, which is far beyond what a family like theirs can afford.

But then Cui Suling thought again that Li Luo was going to buy a house for Xu Youyu, so she asked him a couple of questions.

After learning that Xu Youyu planned to buy it himself, he felt it was even more unnecessary.

After all, although Cui Suling was quite envious of such a big villa, she wasn't really that vain.

It would be quite spacious if only she and Xu Rongsheng lived in such a big villa.

The Qianjiang University staff quarters are not far from here, so there seems to be no need to buy another house.

After listening to Xu Youyu's idea, Xu Rongsheng simply asked her if she really wanted to buy it. Once he confirmed Xu Youyu's intention, he didn't say anything against it and instead told Cui Suling to keep quiet.

“Your mother and I have no objections,” Xu Rongsheng said simply. “But let’s try to do it on the weekend.”

"Hehe, I know~" Xu Youyu liked this about her dad; from childhood to adulthood, he almost never interfered with her choices.

Even when it comes to writing online novels, Xu Youyu is well aware that even if she confronts her father directly in high school, Xu Rongsheng would most likely still agree to let her create.

However, Xu Youyu was too embarrassed to tell Xu Rongsheng about the content.

"Buying a house is fine, but try to buy a cheaper one," Cui Suling instructed from the other side. "Are all the houses in Tianlu Yaju here as big as Li Luo's?"

"That's not it." Xu Youyu blinked, then looked at Butler Liu standing to the side and quickly asked, "Butler Liu, what other types of rooms are available here?"

"Tianlu Yaju is a villa-type community, but it comes in three different sizes," Butler Liu quickly replied when asked.

"The first type, which is also the rarest in the community, consists of five super-large villas located closest to Ningshan."

"The second type is a villa of normal size like Mr. Li's."

“Besides this villa, there are two rows of townhouses behind our villa. They are smaller, about half the size of ours, but still quite spacious for ordinary housing.”

"Oh?" Xu Youyu raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "There's such a saying?"

Previously, when Li Luo was looking at houses, he basically only looked at the second type. Li Luo did know that there were also townhouses, but he naturally wouldn't be aiming for that.

Therefore, Xu Youyu had no idea about this at all.

Upon hearing this, his eyes lit up, and he said to Cui Suling, "Mom, didn't you say yesterday that the villa was too big and creepy? How about we buy a townhouse instead?"

"Aunt Yuan and Uncle Ying are also two people. I'll ask Aunt Yuan for her opinion later. If they're also willing to buy a townhouse, we can become neighbors."

“We can also break through the wall,” Yan Zhusheng suddenly added, “and become a family.”

Upon hearing this, Li Luo, who was eating nearby, coughed twice.

Fortunately, neither Cui Suling nor Xu Rongsheng took it too seriously. They just smiled and nodded, thinking that Yan Zhusheng was just joking.

Soon after everyone had breakfast, Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling took their leave first.

However, after Li Luo escorted them to the basement, Xu Rongsheng waved to Li Luo, signaling him to come to the car.

Then, Xu Rongsheng took a book out of his car and handed it to Li Luo.

Li Luo was taken aback for a moment, and then Xu Rongsheng said, "Is today your birthday? Your Aunt Cui and I didn't prepare anything, so we'll just give you a book. We hope you like it."

Li Luo reached out and took it, smiling, "Of course I like it, thank you Uncle Xu."

"Okay, we're leaving now." Xu Rongsheng patted Li Luo on the shoulder, then got into the car with Cui Suling. After opening the car window to say goodbye to Li Luo again, he drove out of the underground parking lot.

Li Luo watched the car leave, then walked back while glancing down at the book Xu Rongsheng had given him—"The Little Prince."

This book is a common recommended book during student days, but Li Luo never liked reading extracurricular books when he was in school, so he had never read it and didn't know what it was about.

When they returned to the first floor, Ying Chanxi and the other two had already come down from the third floor with their things for class.

Seeing the extra book in Li Luo's hand, Xu Youyu immediately asked curiously, "The Little Prince? Where did you get this book?"

"It's a birthday present from your dad." Li Luo held it up and shook it, then chuckled and asked, "Is there some deeper meaning to it?"

"You haven't seen it?" Xu Youyu fell into deep thought for a moment.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Li Luo's heart skipped a beat when he saw her expression.

"It's nothing, I guess he just gave you a book to read." Xu Youyu coughed, composed himself, and waved his hand, saying, "What deeper meaning could there be?"

At this time, Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing had already gotten up and were having breakfast in the restaurant, while Lin Xiuhong and Li Guohong sat and chatted with them.

Li Luo was about to take the three girls out for a morning run, so he first greeted Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing at the restaurant.

"Are you heading out?" Yuan Wanqing asked with a smile as she saw Li Luo.

"Okay." Li Luo nodded in response, "Going to school for a morning run."

"Dad," Ying Chanxi suddenly interjected, pointing to the book in Li Luo's arms, "Look, Uncle Xu gave Li Luo a birthday present, shouldn't you reciprocate?"

Ying Zhicheng was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect his daughter to be so siding with outsiders.

Ying Zhicheng felt a sharp blow to his heart from Ying Chanxi's words. He took a deep breath and quickly thought of what he should give her.

But at this moment, Yan Zhusheng gently nudged Ying Chanxi to help Ying Zhicheng out of the predicament, saying, "Dad, no need. Didn't you already send it yesterday? I think that's enough."

"What did you say?!" Ying Chanxi blushed deeply upon hearing this and quickly covered Yan Zhusheng's mouth. "If you can't speak properly, don't talk nonsense!"

"Ugh... I didn't say anything wrong... Ugh..." Yan Zhusheng struggled weakly, but Ying Chanxi pushed her away from the living room.

Watching the two girls playfully bickering, Lin Xiuhong chuckled and shook her head, saying, "Their relationship is getting better and better."

"So what gift did you give?" Li Guohong asked his brother curiously. "How come I didn't know?"

"Cough cough cough..." Ying Zhicheng coughed violently, waving his hands repeatedly, "It's nothing, nothing, just some... trinket."

Yuan Wanqing blushed slightly, covered her mouth to suppress a laugh, then looked at her daughter and glared at Zhu Sheng, telling her to keep quiet. At this moment, Xu Youyu quickly changed the subject, chatting with Yuan Wanqing about the row villas.

Yuan Wanqing didn't care about this, after all, the townhouse was big enough, more than enough for her and Ying Zhicheng to live in.

So she nodded in agreement and said to Butler Liu, "Then I'll trouble Butler Liu to keep an eye out for available rooms for us?"

“No problem.” Butler Liu bowed slightly. “I will send the information to you both this weekend.”

"Then we'll be going now." Li Luo gestured for the three girls to leave, then said to Ying Zhicheng and Yuan Wanqing, "You two enjoy your meal."

After saying goodbye to each other, Li Luo and the other three headed towards the basement.

On the way, Ying Chanxi was still complaining to Yan Zhusheng: "Can you please not say such things in front of your elders? It's so embarrassing!"

“Sister, you don’t understand,” Yan Zhusheng said seriously. “It’s about getting Mom and Dad used to it, so that there’s a greater chance they’ll agree to us being together in the future, just like…”

"Like what?" Ying Chanxi asked, squinting her eyes.

Yan Zhusheng's gaze fell on Ying Chanxi, then quickly shifted away: "It's nothing."

"Zhusheng, you can drive yourself," Li Luo said. "Xixi, you'll drive yourself too? You don't seem to have class today, right?"

"Hmm." Ying Chanxi nodded gently. "I'm going to the company in a bit. Are you and your senior going to class?"

"Let's go to the online literature elective class." Xu Youyu grabbed Li Luo's arm. "Then Li Luo can ride in my car?"

Upon hearing that it wasn't Yan Zhusheng's car, Ying Chanxi became less resistant and nodded in agreement.

Yan Zhusheng was a little unhappy and said to Li Luo, "I have to go to class on the other side of the river after my run. I won't see you all morning. Can you sit here with me?"

"It's only been one morning," Xu Youyu said, holding Li Luo's arm. "Don't be so stingy, Zhusheng."

"Senior, you're older than me, so please let me have a turn," Yan Zhusheng said innocently, blinking her eyes.

“You’re younger than your senior, so you should behave,” Ying Chanxi said to Xu Youyu from the side. “Don’t talk so much, let’s drive.”

At this moment, the power of the Ningshan Campus alliance overwhelmed everything.

Seeing that there was little hope, Yan Zhusheng pouted, turned around, and got into her car.

Xu Youyu happily gave Ying Chanxi a high five, then said with a grin, "After running, I still have to wait until ten o'clock to go to class."

"Li Luo will definitely go to the company to check on things, right?"

"I'll ride in Xixi's car then."

"Mhm." Ying Chanxi nodded repeatedly, then smiled happily and scurried into her car.

Li Luo remained silent throughout, letting the three of them handle it themselves and obediently accept their assigned fate.

Soon, the three girls drove their cars out of the underground parking lot of Tianlu Yaju and entered the south gate of Qianjiang University in a few minutes, finding parking spaces next to the playground.

Following Li Luo and the other two to the starting point of the morning run at the South Gate, Xu Youyu looked at the large number of people jogging and sighed softly.

"I'm going to have another brush with death..."

"If you came here every day, you wouldn't say things like that," Li Luo retorted from the side. "Let's go."

After the four people scanned their faces at the starting point, they started running slowly.

After running a two-kilometer lap along the morning running route, Xu Youyu was already out of breath and was panting heavily as she hugged Li Luo's neck.

I grabbed a quick breakfast at the school cafeteria and used the time to regain my strength.

Xu Youyu, who was resting on the table, turned to Li Luo and asked, "By the way, Butler Liu hasn't mentioned it to you yet, has he?"

"What did you mention?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"Regarding the birthday arrangements," Xu Youyu chuckled, "I briefly explained the plans for your birthday to Butler Liu. After your morning classes, just follow our schedule."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo immediately became alert and turned to look at Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng.

Ying Chanxi blushed slightly, too embarrassed to meet Li Luo's gaze, while Yan Zhusheng had an eager expression on her face.

Seeing this, Li Luo knew that this birthday was probably not simple.

"What are you preparing now?" Li Luo asked helplessly. "Don't do anything too abstract."

"Don't worry~" Xu Youyu patted Li Luo on the shoulder to comfort him, "You're the birthday person, so we'll definitely plan and arrange things with the primary goal of making the birthday person happy."

"All you need to do is enjoy yourself."

"Leave the rest to us."

Li Luo: "...The more you say that, the more uneasy I feel."

"We're not devils," Xu Youyu said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Then tell me what arrangements you're making first."

"Wouldn't it be less of a surprise if I told you?" Xu Youyu shook her head repeatedly. "Anyway, you'll find out this afternoon. Don't worry, it will definitely make you very happy!"

“That’s right, that’s right.” Yan Zhusheng nodded repeatedly. “My senior and I spent a lot of effort to convince my sister. You just enjoy it.”

What kind of things require a lot of effort to convince Xixi?

Upon hearing this, Li Luo couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

But when Li Luo thought about all the things Xu Youyu had done for his birthday a few years ago, he started to look forward to it again.

Hmm... this time it can't be much worse than the previous times, right?

That's quite something.

Thinking this, Li Luo's gaze shifted to Ying Chanxi, and he began to look her up and down.

"What are you looking at..." Ying Chanxi became even more embarrassed by his gaze, her face flushed red as she raised her hand to block his view. "Don't look!"

"I was just looking, why is your face so red?" Li Luo couldn't help but find it amusing. "Is it really some kind of embarrassing arrangement?"

"Don't ask anymore..." Ying Chanxi muttered softly, "You'll find out when the time comes anyway."

(End of this chapter)