Chapter 69 - 68: He Knows I Like Him?

Chapter 69: Chapter 68: He Knows I Like Him?

After all, as the author, he wanted to see the show go into production more than anyone.

Hearing this, his mom’s face broke into a surprised smile. "Really? That’s wonderful."

As a mother, she was truly proud of her son.

Yan Xici, who was in the middle of eating, was also clearly stunned by the good news.

She even forgot to slurp up a noodle hanging from the corner of her mouth. Her long eyelashes trembled as she looked at Xiao Ran with delighted surprise. "That’s fantastic!"

After speaking, she seemed to think of something else and declared with conviction, "Don’t worry, Brother, I’ll definitely help you take good care of Auntie!"

’She was Brother Xiao Ran’s good helper, after all.’

’When it came to things like this, she was one hundred percent committed!’

At her words, Xiao Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It wasn’t as if his mom was seventy or eighty and couldn’t get around; she could take care of herself.

He pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Actually, don’t you like gardening? My mom does too. You two could have a nice chat about that in the evening when you have time."

His mom loved flowers, and the girl loved flowers too.

He felt that the two of them should have plenty to talk about on that topic.

"Okay!" The girl’s voice was full of energy when she spoke.

Just looking at her gave off such a vibrant, energetic feeling that Qiu Yuru couldn’t help but sigh. ’It’s great to be young.’

’She was so likable!’

After the meal, the two of them headed toward the university.

After dropping Yan Xici off at her academic building as usual, Xiao Ran rode his electric scooter skillfully toward the library.

He had just reached the third floor when he saw Old Zhang, sitting in his usual empty seat at the front desk, eating breakfast.

Xiao Ran greeted him with a grin. "Morning, Uncle Zhang."

"Morning." Uncle Zhang nodded. "Have you eaten?"

"I have. My mom’s here. I had a big bowl of authentic spicy noodles first thing in the morning!"

Although he said it with a complaining tone, anyone could hear the happiness in his voice.

It was almost like he was showing off.

"It’s a blessing to have a mom, unlike some of us..."

Uncle Zhang lamented for a moment before lowering his head to continue eating his breakfast.

Xiao Ran walked over to his workstation, skillfully took his laptop out of his backpack, and plugged it in.

’Today is the first test run. It went up on the recommendation list right at midnight last night.’

’To be honest, I’m a little nervous.’

’After all, the Urban genre is the epitome of a rat race.’

He opened his author dashboard and checked his stats. The number of collections wasn’t bad; with less than 60,000 words, he already had over 3,000 collections.

But all authors knew that collections were about as reliable as a player’s promises.

For every thousand collections, you might only get two hundred concurrent readers.

It was a frustratingly low ratio.

However, to successfully make it to the second round of recommendations, he needed at least five hundred concurrent readers.

This was why the Urban genre was so hyper-competitive—a four-day recommendation period demanded five hundred concurrent readers.

Don’t have them?

Then sorry, next in line.

Many good books, simply because of their low word count, were shelved by readers waiting for more Chapters to accumulate. This ultimately led to a lack of concurrent followers, and they were tragically eliminated.

He looked at the other books that had gone up on the recommendation list at the same time as his.

Honestly, Xiao Ran was a little panicked.

After all, the others were at 100,000 words, and one was even at 150,000.

He was the only one with just 60,000 words.

It was, frankly, a pitifully small number.

Although the situation was unfavorable and he even had a slightly ominous premonition, the mature and calm Xiao Ran wasn’t planning on padding his word count.

Instead, he was prepared to leave it to fate!

’After all, the word count difference is just too big.’

’To catch up, I’d have to add sixty or seventy thousand words at a minimum.’

’Besides, even if I did add them, some readers would just continue to let it pile up anyway.’

They prefer to start reading a book when it reaches four or five hundred thousand words. After all, following a story for just a few thousand words a day isn’t satisfying, and it’s easy to get frustrated and angry when you hit a cliffhanger.

Based on this analysis, Xiao Ran decided to wait and see before making a move.

Having made his decision, he opened the Chenggua writing app and got back to work.

The shameless guy actually already had a 100,000-word backlog. In other words, while readers were still enjoying the subtle, ambiguous flirtations between the main couple, he had already written up to the confession scene.

It was a major climax, but the more climactic the scene, the harder it was to write.

It required a very, very delicate writing style. Even a single glance, a single movement, or the slightest hint of a thought had to be written with flavor.

He had originally planned to chat with Yan Xici in the evening when he was free, but unexpectedly, she had gone to bed early yesterday due to low blood sugar.

This meant he hadn’t been able to ask his questions and still couldn’t figure out how to write the female lead’s mindset.

He frowned. ’Forget it, I won’t write right now.’

’There’s no rush to get it done this morning. I’ll wait until I see her at lunch and ask her properly then.’

He shook his head and closed his laptop.

With a rare, quiet morning, Xiao Ran didn’t stay idle. He got up and began to wander among the rows of bookshelves behind him.

He pulled out books that were placed improperly or out of order, tidied them up, and put them back.

In other words, no matter how quiet it was, he hadn’t forgotten that he was a librarian.

Some work still had to be done.

...

Meanwhile, the girl, whose classes had just ended, checked the time on her phone. It was ten-thirty; her morning classes were over for the day.

Although she was getting along very well with Auntie, she had no intention of going home alone. After all, she felt more at ease when she was with Brother Xiao Ran.

She didn’t have anything else to do anyway, so after some thought, the girl hugged her books and went straight to the library.

’I’ll study while I wait for Brother Xiao Ran to get off work.’

’Yep, that’s the plan!’

With that thought, the girl walked toward the library and went directly to the third floor.

Then she picked a relatively quiet seat and sat down.

The girl was wearing a white chiffon dress today, which made her look especially ladylike.

Her soft, smooth hair was draped casually over her shoulders, and the sunlight shining on it made it look even more lustrous.

Her already fair skin was enhanced by the sunlight, making it look as smooth as fine jade. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Xiao Ran happened to be wandering around the bookshelves when he inadvertently spotted the girl sitting in the corner.

She was sitting in a patch of sunlight. After carefully turning a page of the book on the table with her small, fair hand, she began to write and do calculations.

There weren’t many people in the library at this time; it was sparse and the atmosphere was very quiet. A strong scholarly air filled the room as soon as one walked in.

Seeing the girl had arrived, Xiao Ran’s spirits instantly lifted.

He stopped what he was doing, walked over quickly, and sat down opposite her with great enthusiasm, whispering, "What brings you here?"

’I was just thinking about her, and here she is, delivered right to my doorstep.’

Seeing Xiao Ran, a sweet smile spread across the girl’s rosy lips, revealing a row of neat, cute little white teeth.

The tiny specks of light in her eyes twinkled, as if they held a handful of crushed stars.

"I came to study, and to wait for you to get off work~"

Her voice was like a little kitten’s—sweet, soft, and cute.

It made Xiao Ran’s heart tremble for no reason.

’This girl... why is she smiling so beautifully at me for no reason?’

’I’m a little lost for words.’

Xiao Ran cleared his throat and then looked at her with a serious expression. "Perfect. I have a question for you."

Seeing his serious look, the girl’s long eyelashes trembled, and she felt an inexplicable nervousness in her heart.

"Tell me, Brother."

Xiao Ran swallowed. "I just wanted to ask you... when you like someone, what do you do?"

Seeing the earnest, eager look in his eyes, the girl’s chest instantly tightened!

Her small hands, resting on her book, tensed slightly. Her lustrous, pretty nails turned from their usual rosy pink to a faint white.

’Why would Brother Xiao Ran ask me that?’

’Could it be... that he knows I like him?’