Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 872 Tying the Fathers-in-Law to the War Chariot

The alarm clock rang precisely at nine o'clock.

Li Luo slept for less than six hours and felt a little unsatisfied when she opened her eyes, but when she thought about Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling coming to visit this morning, she immediately got out of bed.

At this moment, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng were still fast asleep in bed, looking like they were exhausted from staying up all night.

Looking at Xu Youyu sleeping beside him, Li Luo reached out and gently pinched her cheek. Seeing her furrow her brows slightly and mutter a few words unconsciously, he smiled and let go.

Since Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling weren't going to arrive that early, Li Luo decided to let the three of them sleep a little longer.

So Li Luo carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake the three girls. After changing her clothes, she tiptoed out of the room and gently closed the door.

After washing up in the bathroom across the street, he went downstairs and had a simple bowl of congee to tide him over before lunch.

Just as he finished lunch, he heard the sound of a car coming from the courtyard downstairs.

Upon hearing the voice, Li Luo was startled and immediately stopped eating. She quickly went to the balcony and saw Xu Rongsheng's car drive into their yard.

This made Li Luo's heart skip a beat, and he was about to turn around and go upstairs, but Lin Xiuhong stopped him again.

"Is it your Aunt Cui and the others?" Lin Xiuhong pulled Li Luo to a stop, glanced out onto the balcony, and then said, "Come on, come on, let's go down and greet them."

"Um... I need to use the restroom..." Li Luo said in a low voice, looking guilty.

"Why do you need to use the toilet?" Lin Xiuhong rolled her eyes at him. "Would it kill you to hold it in? Look, they've already gotten off the bus and brought so many New Year's goods. Hurry up and go down and help them carry them."

"……Fine."

Li Luo suppressed the guilt and worry deep in his eyes, and walked downstairs with slightly heavy steps to greet Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling. After greeting them, he reached out and took the New Year's gifts from Cui Suling's hands.

"Look at you two, you came all this way, and you even brought so much stuff." Lin Xiuhong stepped forward and took Cui Suling's arm, saying with a smile, "You Yu brought a lot yesterday, what else do you two need to bring?"

“It’s the same as bringing something when you visit,” Cui Suling replied with a smile. “It’s just some food and drinks, you can keep it.”

At this moment, Li Guohong also rushed over from the neighboring courtyard, greeted Xu Rongsheng, and the group went upstairs together to put the New Year's goods on the second floor.

Li Luo then helped carry Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling's suitcases upstairs, and Lin Xiuhong took the initiative to lead them upstairs: "The rooms have been prepared for you. Let me show you. They are the same rooms as when you came before."

Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling had visited this place a couple of years ago, so they were quite familiar with the place and followed Lin Xiuhong upstairs.

Seeing this, Li Luo quickly followed, afraid that Lin Xiuhong might suddenly decide to show them around her bedroom or something.

Although the possibility is slim, it's still best to take precautions.

There were three girls lying in his room. If they saw him, this bomb would explode prematurely.

Although he had already planned to confront them in the past two days, such an unexpected explosion was still undesirable, as the impact of this scene was too great for Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling.

For the sake of their hearts, we should be more careful.

So Li Luo followed behind to the third floor. He watched as Lin Xiuhong led Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling into the bedroom next to his and they settled down. Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But after they settled in, Cui Suling asked curiously, "By the way, which room did Youyu sleep in?"

"The three girls are all at Xixi's house," Lin Xiuhong said with a smile. "There are spare rooms there, enough for them to stay in."

"So she's still sleeping in?" Cui Suling clicked her tongue. "It's already past nine o'clock, and she still doesn't know how to get up earlier. Is she still sleeping? Which room is she sleeping in? I'll go wake her up."

“Ahem… Aunt Cui, maybe we should just forget about it.” Li Luo quickly stopped her. “We went to the temple to pray for blessings together last night, and we didn’t go to sleep until 3 a.m. Let them get some more sleep.”

"Is that so?" Cui Suling was taken aback.

Lin Xiuhong, who was standing next to her, chimed in, nodding and saying, "Indeed, the children must have been exhausted last night. They should get some more sleep. We can wake them up at lunchtime."

"Hmm." Xu Rongsheng seemed to have figured something out. He glanced at Li Luo and nodded in agreement, telling Cui Suling not to interfere. "That's fine. Suling was just saying on the way that she hasn't played mahjong for a few days and her hands are itching. Why don't you go downstairs and play a couple of rounds?"

“Yes, yes, yes.” Lin Xiuhong smiled and took Cui Suling’s hand, then walked outside. “Let’s play mahjong for a while, and then we’ll have lunch together.”

Seeing this, Li Luo immediately followed, secretly letting out a long sigh of relief.

But just as they walked out of the corridor and the people in front of them had already stepped into the stairwell, Li Luo's bedroom door was suddenly opened.

Wearing pajamas and rubbing her eyes, Xu Youyu groggily walked out of the room. When she saw Li Luo at the door, she instinctively grinned foolishly, "Hehe~ Honey~ Good morning~"

As she spoke, she hugged Li Luo's neck, completely oblivious to the elders standing in the stairwell. She snuggled against Li Luo, saying in a spoiled tone, "I can't walk anymore, carry me to wash my face~"

Li Luo stood there stiffly, turning to look at the three elders in the stairwell. Feeling the softness and elasticity of her chest, she gave an embarrassed smile, unsure of what to do with her hands.

Lin Xiuhong glanced at her son, then at Xu Youyu nestled in Li Luo's arms. Her face showed surprise at first, then realization, and then a little embarrassed as she secretly looked at Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling. Seeing that they didn't seem too excited, she felt a little relieved.

At this moment, Cui Suling didn't show any anger. Instead, she couldn't help but smile, feeling extremely comfortable watching Li Luo and her daughter being so affectionate.

As expected of her daughter, she has a real talent for stealing men.

Cui Suling nodded with great satisfaction, quite pleased with the development.

Xu Rongsheng remained calm, as if he had expected this. After glancing at it a few times, he looked away and said indifferently, "Then Li Luo, please help Youyu wash up first. We'll go downstairs now."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo felt the soft body in his arms suddenly become even stiffer than himself.

Xu Youyu, leaning against Li Luo's chest, seemed to be in disbelief, yet had no choice but to believe it, and slowly turned her head away.

When her gaze met that of the three elders, she couldn't help but scream. She quickly broke free from Li Luo's embrace and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

Cui Suling and Lin Xiuhong exchanged a smile, then left without further comment and went downstairs to play mahjong.

Xu Rongsheng waved to Li Luo and then followed him downstairs.

After watching the three elders leave, Li Luo went to the bathroom door and, suppressing a laugh, knocked: "May I come in? They're all gone." "Don't bother me!" Xu Youyu shouted angrily from inside the bathroom, "I don't want to see you right now!"

That's what they said, but when Li Luo turned the doorknob, she discovered that Xu Youyu hadn't locked the door at all.

So he pushed open the door and saw Xu Youyu squatting facing the wall, his hands cupping his face as he reflected on his mistakes.

Upon seeing this, Li Luo couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"You're still laughing?!" Xu Youyu covered her face and squirmed a few times before finally managing to ease her embarrassment. "Stop laughing!"

"Okay, okay, I won't laugh anymore." Li Luo suppressed her laughter, walked over to Xu Youyu, squatted down, put her arm around her shoulder and patted her gently to comfort her, "Anyway, it's not the first time, what's there to be embarrassed about?"

"Think about it, three years ago when we went to the essay award ceremony, didn't you also open my door and say some very embarrassing things, which Uncle Xu overheard?"

"I think your dad is used to it, so what do you have to be shy about?"

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Xu Youyu was furious when she heard this. She finally let go of her hands that were covering her face, glared at Li Luo angrily, and couldn't help but stand up and kick him. "You didn't even remind me, and I ended up saying so much!"

"How was I supposed to know you'd be so groggy right after waking up?" Li Luo said innocently, reaching out to pull Xu Youyu into her arms. "You usually don't get up at this time, so why are you up this time?"

"Did you forget that I set an alarm for 9:30?" Xu Youyu leaned against Li Luo's chest, looking up with a resentful expression. "The alarm woke me up just now. I thought my parents might be arriving soon, so I quickly got up to wash and get ready, but who knew they were already here."

"Then there's nothing I can do." Li Luo said helplessly. "Anyway, it's already happened, so you might as well be a little thick-skinned."

"Hmph! You think I'm like you, with a skin thicker than a city wall?" Xu Youyu gave him a headbutt, then said with a look of utter despair, "I feel like I was already dead just now."

"Then what's in my arms right now?"

"He's just a walking corpse."

"Really?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll give it a try."

"What are you trying?!" Xu Youyu slapped his hand away impatiently, turned around and broke free from his embrace, walking to the sink. "I want to brush my teeth!"

"Please~" Li Luo walked to the side, squeezed the toothpaste for her, and handed it to Xu Youyu.

After Xu Youyu finished brushing her teeth, Li Luo had already prepared hot water so she could wash her face comfortably.

After washing up, the two returned to Li Luo's room, woke up Xi Xi and Zhu Sheng on the bed, and reminded them not to go downstairs directly, but to call home first and then come over from that courtyard.

Afterwards, Li Luo led Xu Youyu downstairs and sat on the sofa. While watching Lin Xiuhong and the others play mahjong, he chatted with Xu Rongsheng and Li Guohong on the sofa.

Xu Youyu felt a little embarrassed and didn't dare to sit with her father. Instead, she sat with Li Luo in the corner of the sofa furthest away from the others.

However, for the elders, it was normal for Li Luo and Xu Youyu to be in love and sleep in the same bed at night.

After all, Xu Rongsheng and his wife already knew that the two children had slept together, so they didn't care about this little thing.

In their view, with such a good relationship between the two families, it was only natural that Li Luo and Xu Youyu would have a relationship, especially since they had just been acting so intimately.

It's a foregone conclusion that the two families will become one in the future.

But Li Luo felt a lot of pressure. When he thought about what he planned to do in a few days, he felt a strange sense of guilt when facing Xu Rongsheng and Cui Suling.

Fortunately, neither Xu Rongsheng nor Cui Suling noticed anything unusual about him. One was playing mahjong with Lin Xiuhong, while the other was sitting on the sofa chatting with Li Guohong.

Not long after, Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng came over from next door, followed by Ying Zhicheng.

So the three girls gathered around the mahjong table to watch Lin Xiuhong and the others play mahjong, and casually washed some fruit and poured some tea, being well-behaved and docile.

The sofa area became the domain of a few men. The four of them sat there, watching TV and chatting about recent hot topics, and time flew by.

"Uncle Xu, you're probably staying for a few more days this time, right?" Li Luo asked. "When does Qian Da start work?"

"I've already paid my respects to all the relatives I need to visit before Lunar New Year's Eve," Xu Rongsheng said simply. "I should be able to stay until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year before going back. After that, I need to go back to the university to continue working on the research center."

"Research center? What research center?" Ying Zhicheng asked curiously. "Aren't you a professor in the Faculty of Arts?"

"Yes, it's mainly research aimed at the employment prospects of liberal arts students after graduation," Xu Rongsheng said simply. "Li Luo has been a great help. I plan to apply for approval after the start of the semester this year. If the results are good, there may be an opportunity to apply for provincial-level research center project resources."

"Then Uncle Xu will become the dean of the School of Literature at Qianjiang University," Li Luo said with a smile.

"That's impressive!" Li Guohong exclaimed. "A dean of an academy! You'll have to treat us to a meal then."

"That's really impressive." Ying Zhicheng nodded in agreement. "If they can be promoted to dean, they should be able to move up to a position on the school committee after stepping down from the dean position?"

"These are all uncertain things, it's not that easy to say." Xu Rongsheng waved his hand with a chuckle. "My chances of winning the election aren't very high. The other vice dean has a better advantage than me, so it's still hard to say."

"In short, I will definitely cooperate fully," Li Luo said with a smile. "I have a lot of ideas about employment for liberal arts students, including specific scholarships and grants, and I have prepared them all."

"Oh, by the way." After saying that, Li Luo looked at Ying Zhicheng across from him, "Speaking of which, the copyright of my novel 'The Great Qian Night Patrol' is also under negotiation."

"If all goes well, we might actually be able to get a certain percentage of the investment. Uncle Ying, didn't you say before..."

"Really?" Ying Zhicheng's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Will Tencent agree?"

"Let's give it a try, there's still a chance," Li Luo said. "Xi Xi has been negotiating recently, and with pressure from iQiyi and Youku, I feel there's a good chance of a deal being reached."

"If it really works out, I can use this opportunity to help you acquire a portion of Huayue Film & Television's shares." Ying Zhicheng's eyes were burning with excitement, his heart pounding at the thought of having the chance to completely control the company.

Looking at Ying Zhicheng, who was eager to try, and Xu Rongsheng, whose eyes were full of expectation, Li Luo also took a deep breath.

Li Luo went to great lengths to get his beloved father-in-law onto the bandwagon of shared interests.

(End of this chapter)