Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 858 I need to tell Xixi and Zhusheng

"Why did you suddenly decide to invite me to your house?" Li Luo said with a chuckle. "I remember your house is in..."

"It's next to West Lake," Potato said. "It's only a 20 or 30 minute drive there from here."

"Sure, I don't have anything to do this evening anyway." Li Luo pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Although he had already promised Xixi and Zhusheng that he would go home early, it was Tudou who had invited him. Tudou had been a great help to him at the Writers' Association, so he naturally had to give him face since he had been invited.

It would be somewhat inappropriate to refuse an invitation on the first try.

But Potato was clearly not just inviting him. After Li Luo agreed, he smiled and said, "Actually, there's a favor I need you to do for me."

"What's wrong?" Li Luo asked curiously. "You can just tell me directly."

"It's nothing major," Potato said, waving his hand. "Actually, it's just that the provincial writers' association, together with the provincial online writers' association and the Ministry of Education, held a youth literature competition a few months ago."

"They set up a track for online literature creation by college students and invited me to be one of the guests at the awards ceremony."

"But I forgot about it in the middle and didn't remember the time of the awards ceremony. In the end, I also promised my wife that I would go on a trip with her."

"Well, the timing just happened to clash, so..."

"Oh, I see," Li Luo said with a smile. "So spending time with your wife is more important, and you want me to go to the awards ceremony as a guest in your place?"

"Ahem, that's right." Potato chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with the Provincial Writers Association. I just need to let them know. The main problem is with the Ministry of Education. They insist on having a high-profile guest."

"After all, this is the first time I've organized a competition related to online literature. It would be a bit inappropriate for me to quit halfway through, and it would be easy to offend people."

"There's no suitable candidate for me right now, so you're the best person to replace me."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo immediately teased, "How could I be qualified to compare with you? It's fine to take your place, but will the Ministry of Education agree?"

"That's why I'm letting you know in advance," Potato said. "If you agree, I'll ask Secretary Cao during the meeting this afternoon and contact the people at the Ministry of Education."

"I don't have any problems on my end," Li Luo nodded in agreement. "But when is the awards ceremony?"

"Tomorrow," Potato said. "The Provincial Writers Association has a routine meeting in the morning, and the awards ceremony for the Youth Literature Competition is in the afternoon."

"Oh." Li Luo nodded. "That's certainly possible. I'm fine."

"Then it's your choice!" Potato patted Li Luo on the shoulder with a happy look on his face. "The other bastards didn't agree to me. They all made excuses to refuse. You're the only one who's really helpful."

"Who are the others?" Li Luo asked with a strange expression.

"Ahem... let's not talk about it." Potato coughed and brushed it off, then said, "If we're really talking about it, you're more qualified than the rest of them."

"After all, you are now a rising star under Wenyue. Once the copyright of 'Da Qian Patrol Night Division' is sold, you will probably be promoted to the top group of authors in their group immediately, and you will definitely be the most favored one."

"What do you mean by that?" Li Luo asked, somewhat curious.

"Actually, there's always been an idea from the higher-ups regarding online literature: to idolize writers," Potato chuckled dismissively. "But, well, most of us writers are homebodies, completely unsuitable for this kind of thing."

"You're so young, so talented, and so handsome. I think you're a perfect match."

"To be honest, if Wen Yue were really willing to package you up and promote you, you would definitely be an idol-level writer."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo immediately twitched the corner of his mouth: "I feel like you're insulting me. Let's forget about idols."

"I was just saying," Potato said with a smile. "Anyway, it's decided. Thank you so much for saving me from a tight spot."

"The leaders of the Ministry of Education haven't agreed yet."

"If it's you, there's absolutely no problem." Potato patted Li Luo on the shoulder again, even more confident than he was.

After finishing their meal, the three returned to the Provincial Writers Association to prepare for the afternoon meeting.

The meeting started promptly at 1:30 p.m.

Li Luo first found Xu Youyu's seat sign, and after discussing it with the others, successfully moved her seat to be next to him.

Although Li Luo is now a council member of the provincial online writers' association and vice chairman of the municipal online writers' association, he is still just an ordinary member of the provincial writers' association and does not hold any special position.

In recent years, online writers have received increasing attention from the mainstream perspective, but their ability to gain significant status in official circles remains quite limited.

However, the emergence of provincial-level online writers' associations is already a huge step forward.

"You promised to attend the awards ceremony for that youth literature competition tomorrow, so you have to come over again tomorrow, right?" Xu Youyu asked Li Luo in a low voice as she sat down next to him.

“Yeah,” Li Luo nodded in agreement. “Anyway, I don’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so it’s fine for me to come and take his place. Do you think there’s a problem?”

"There's no problem. After all, they've helped us a lot. Now that they're in trouble, it's only right that you help them out," Xu Youyu said with a smile. "It's just that I didn't expect time to fly by so quickly."

"How did you suddenly have this realization?" Li Luo asked with a chuckle.

“After all, three years ago, we were just sitting at a small essay contest award ceremony waiting to receive our awards,” Xu Youyu said with a grin. “But three years have passed, and someone has grown into a big shot who has to present awards to others.”

Hearing this, Li Luo smiled slightly: "When will the 'Early to Bed Master' also try his best to be an award presenter for others?"

"I'm still a long way off." Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at him. "Also, don't call me the 'Early to Bed God,' it sounds like some kind of Taoist priest who's trying to fool people."

“Then I can only call you the Sleepy God.” Li Luo said, suppressing a laugh. “The nickname Zhu Sheng gave is quite fitting.”

"Tsk." Xu Youyu clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, but he really couldn't think of a more suitable way to address him.

If only I had chosen a better pen name back then! Who knew that the pen name I picked out casually would actually accompany her as she rose through the ranks and earned her the title of "Master"?

The two were still bickering secretly during the meeting, but the meeting progressed steadily, and finally they reached the preliminary stage of finalizing the quotas for the China Writers Association.

The Qianjiang Provincial Writers Association is one of the most well-known and influential associations in China, so it can recommend a relatively large number of people each year.

However, because there are so many talented literary people, the competition is also quite fierce.

However, none of this has much to do with Li Luo.

Given his current achievements and influence, he would undoubtedly be the undisputed choice if he were to participate in the competition.

Therefore, in the initial discussions, the name "Reignition" stood out and was officially finalized.

As more and more candidates were finalized, only two or three spots remained, which sparked a heated debate at the meeting.

However, this has little to do with Li Luo.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he took out his phone again and sent a message to Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng.

[Li Luo]: Potato Boss invited me to his house for dinner tonight, so I might have to go home a little late.

I copied the message and sent it to the two girls.

A short while later, he received a reply. [Ying Chanxi]: I know. Since they invited you, you definitely have to go.

[Ying Chanxi]: But if he invites you to drink, don't drink too much, take care of your health.

[Ying Chanxi]: Also, try to come back as soon as possible. I'll be waiting for you at home.

[Li Luo]: Okay, I understand.

Although Ying Chanxi always liked to keep an eye on him, she was always very reasonable in such matters and would never make a fuss.

After settling things off with Xixi, Li Luo opened Yan Zhusheng's message box.

[Yan Zhusheng]: Then could you ask if I could come along as a guest?
[Li Luo]: Sister Yu and I both write online novels, so it would be a bit abrupt for you to join us.

[Li Luo]: Be good, wait for me at home, go have dinner with your sister.

[Yan Zhusheng]: Oh.

[Yan Zhusheng]: Then you have to spend more time with me tomorrow.

[Li Luo]: I probably can't come tomorrow either. I promised someone I'd come here to attend an awards ceremony.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Unhappy.

[Li Luo]: So how can we make Zhu Sheng happy?

[Yan Zhusheng]: You have to spend the whole day with me the day after tomorrow.

[Li Luo]: Okay, I promise you.

[Yan Zhusheng]: That's a promise.

[Li Luo]: It's a deal.

After dealing with Zhu Sheng, Li Luo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He then couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion, wondering what he had done to deserve meeting such three wonderful girls.

I don't know how most people find girlfriends. Just dealing with one is much more difficult than dealing with three.
The meeting continues.

After finalizing the quota for the China Writers Association, we dealt with some other matters.

Li Luo and Xu Youyu listened in and whispered among themselves, chatting idly, and time passed quickly.

The meeting officially ended at four o'clock in the afternoon.

However, Li Luo was not in a hurry to leave. He was soon called over by Tudou and Director Li and met a very energetic middle-aged man.

"Long time no see." The middle-aged man looked at Li Luo with a smile and looked her up and down. "The last time I saw you, you weren't this tall. You've grown taller again."

"Hello, Secretary Cao." Li Luo greeted him with a smile. "High school is indeed a long time, but Secretary Cao, you still look as young as you did back then."

"Oh, that's too much," Secretary Cao said with a smile. "I'm getting old, look at all these gray hairs."

After exchanging pleasantries, Secretary Cao got back to the main topic and said to Li Luo, "Li Hu just told me that since it's you, there shouldn't be any problem with you taking his place as a guest."

"In fact, it's more relevant to the topic."

"After all, it's a youth literature competition, and there's also an online literature track. You, a platinum writer who's currently in college, are obviously the perfect fit."

"Not at all," Li Luo said modestly. "I guess many of the contestants grew up reading Potato's books. They might be disappointed to see me being the one to present the award."

"Are you pointing at me?" Potato laughed and pointed at Li Luo, jokingly saying, "Usually people compliment me on how young I am, but you're here to say I'm old in a different way, huh?"

“These are all my true feelings,” Li Luo chuckled. “After all, I grew up reading your books.”

After a few words of conversation and laughter, Secretary Cao said, "Then it's settled. Li Luo will also get a spot in the China Writers Association."

"There's a routine meeting tomorrow morning. Since Li Luo is going to attend the awards ceremony, let's take the meeting with him as well."

“I heard from Director Li that you plan to apply for a work symposium. This matter also needs to be confirmed and approved at the meeting. It will be more convenient if you are present.”

“Okay, no problem.” Li Luo nodded immediately upon hearing this. “I will definitely be there tomorrow morning.”

With Secretary Cao speaking up, the symposium on the works is clearly a done deal.

Li Luo was completely relieved and saw Secretary Cao out of the meeting hall, saying goodbye at the main entrance.

Then Li Luo took Xu Youyu and followed Tudou downstairs to the underground parking garage. He then drove after Tudou's car and headed towards his home.

evening.

After a lively dinner with plenty of drinks, Li Luo, who had been given a lot of alcohol by Tudou, was clearly unable to drive.

Originally, Li Luo wanted to go back after dinner, but Tudou dragged her to the study.

“You told me before that I could do live streaming on Douyin, so I got a whole set of live streaming equipment, but I haven’t figured out exactly how to do it yet.”

"Since you're here today, can you give me some advice?" Tudou pulled Li Luo to sit down in the study and asked him for the secrets to starting a live broadcast.

Seeing that the two were chatting happily, Potato's wife pulled Xu Youyu upstairs, picked out a guest room for them, and said very considerately, "It's already very late, why don't you two stay here tonight? You can go to the Writers' Association meeting tomorrow, so you won't have to travel back and forth."

Xu Youyu blinked at the guest room, then smiled brightly: "Okay, thank you, sister-in-law~"

After tidying up the guest room, the two women went downstairs to the study and saw two grown men fiddling with a computer.

Tudou's live stream lasted for an hour, featuring Li Luo, which caused quite a stir in the online literature community.

The amusing story of the two doing a live stream together is being spread across various online literature groups, forums, and message boards, sparking countless discussions.

As for Li Luo, one of the two main characters, after the broadcast ended on Tudou, he stretched and was about to take Xu Youyu home.

As a result, Xu Youyu dragged him upstairs to the guest room, leaving him completely bewildered.

"What does it mean?"

"My sister-in-law thought it was getting late and asked us to stay here for the night," Xu Youyu said to Li Luo, blinking her innocent big eyes. "You've been drinking, and my driving skills aren't great, so let's not drive at night, okay?"

Li Luo: "This... I feel like my alcohol has dissipated quite a bit, or..."

“That won’t do. You can’t drive after drinking.” Xu Youyu shook her head, moved closer to Li Luo, and suddenly had a plastic square in her mouth. She pushed Li Luo to lie down on the bed and said with a smile, “Xi Xi and Zhu Sheng aren’t here. I won’t let such a good opportunity pass me by.”

"Wait... I need to send a message to Xixi and Zhusheng first."

“Sure.” Xu Youyu smiled. “You post yours, I’ll do mine.”

(End of this chapter)