Chapter 12: Over Thirty Rewards

Meanwhile.

In the room, Li Mu looked at the gift reward records from the writer’s dashboard, and his typing speed increased a bit.

Although it was just a one yuan gift, after the platform took its cut, he could only receive a few dimes in profit, but he still enjoyed it.

He inadvertently glanced at the person who rewarded him.

He knew it was Lu Xiaoxi giving him the reward.

After all, besides Lu Xiaoxi, no one else would use such a silly and cute name as “Little Stream Swallowing the Sea,” right?

He clicked on the homepage of “Little Stream Swallowing the Sea” and found it was a new account, which further confirmed his guess.

The phone rang.

It was his old man calling.

“Son, where are you?” As soon as he answered the phone, his father’s familiar voice came through.

“In my room, what’s up?”

“Um… whose room are you in?”

“?” Li Mu was stunned.

Did his old man lose his mind?

At this hour, who else’s room could he be in?

“Ah, can you speak properly? Let me take over.” His mother’s voice, Su Wen, came through the phone, “Son, are you getting ready to sleep?”

“Getting ready, Mom, don’t you have to work tomorrow? It’s almost midnight, and you’re still not asleep.”

“Isn’t this just me caring about you? Are you getting along well with Xiaoxi?” Su Wen deliberately lowered her voice.

“Pretty good.”

“You aren’t bullying Xiaoxi, are you?”

“What kind of question is that?” Li Mu’s eyes widened. Although he wasn’t a sage, he certainly wouldn’t have any inappropriate thoughts about Lu Xiaoxi.

Who was Lu Xiaoxi? She was someone he couldn’t stand, at least nine out of ten times.

Even if she came to him, he wouldn’t have any strange thoughts.

Why would his parents ask such things?

Li Mu felt a chill run down his spine.

Typical Chinese parents, not allowing dating in middle school, then immediately pressuring for marriage after graduation; Li Mu was no exception.

Hiss—

Could it be… they hoped for him to have a relationship with Lu Xiaoxi beyond just friends?

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

A girlfriend could be anyone, but it absolutely couldn’t be Lu Xiaoxi.

He didn’t even know why he was so resistant; just the thought of him and Lu Xiaoxi possibly developing that kind of relationship made him feel like ants were crawling all over him.

“Haha, as long as you aren’t bullying Xiaoxi, that’s good. Xiaoxi is all alone; you need to take care of her.”

“I’m also all alone; why don’t you let Lu Xiaoxi come take care of me?” Li Mu clicked his tongue, his long fingers rhythmically tapping on the keyboard.

This was a habit of his; he couldn’t continue a phone call without finding something to occupy his restless hands.

“You’re a boy; you need to be self-reliant, understand?”

“Mom, tell me how much phone credit I got for free.”

“Go away, anyway, I’ll say this: if Xiaoxi comes to me complaining that you bullied her, just wait to be punished.”

Listen to this; is this something a mother should say?

This shows she has no trust in him at all.

After a few more pleasantries, he finally hung up the phone.

A page of garbled text had already appeared on the computer.

After typing another chapter, Li Mu finally shut down the computer; he needed to adjust his daily routine.

School was starting soon, and he heard that college students had to be in class by eight in the morning. Days of waking up naturally like this were numbered.

Sure enough, Li Mu still hated school.

He lay on the bed, enjoying the air conditioning, shaking the dog tooth bracelet on his wrist.

Actually… living with Lu Xiaoxi wasn’t as uncomfortable as he had imagined.

At least he didn’t have to spend all day with a computer and phone.

Soon, even breathing sounds filled the entire room.

But next door, Lu Xiaoxi wasn’t so comfortable.

In her room, only the light from her phone illuminated the space. Lu Xiaoxi lay on her side, covered with a small blanket, constantly scrolling through her phone.

Although she was very reluctant, Li Mu’s novel was indeed quite good.

After reading the first chapter, she couldn’t help but read the second chapter.

After the second chapter, she couldn’t resist reading the third chapter…

Lu Xiaoxi rarely read novels, so she was reading quite slowly.

Every time she finished a chapter, she would send Li Mu a one yuan gift, then exit to check Li Mu’s reward notifications.

The little girl watched like this, occasionally laughing at the content of the novel, sometimes curling up her body and turning in a different direction, and she didn’t know how long it had been.

Until a beam of light shone through the window and landed on her blanket, she finally woke up.

She actually read all night?

It was already seven in the morning!

Anyway, she had nothing to do today; should she continue reading?

The little girl was conflicted inside.

“Lu Xiaoxi, aren’t you going to sleep?”

Li Mu’s voice suddenly came, and although it was soft, she still heard it.

Lu Xiaoxi was startled, quickly turned off her phone, closed her eyes, and lay still, pretending to be asleep, but her trembling eyelashes betrayed the fact that she was still awake.

Why was Li Mu looking for her at this time?

Wait, why was she pretending to be asleep in front of Li Mu? He wasn’t her parents and wouldn’t scold her for staying up late.

She couldn’t figure it out.

She felt like Li Mu would scold her, even though she didn’t know what right he had to scold her, but she was still scared.

It was like a child getting caught staying up late by an adult, afraid of being discovered, and no matter what, she had to pretend to be asleep.

Outside the door, Li Mu raised an eyebrow, uncertainly glancing at his phone.

On the phone was the writer’s backend, the reward records; he scrolled down, and a long list of rewards from “Little Stream Swallowing the Sea” appeared, with rewards every ten minutes, each time one yuan, the most recent reward was just three minutes ago.

He rarely woke up early today; he also wanted to see how much Lu Xiaoxi had rewarded him. For Lu Xiaoxi’s little savings, rewards over twenty yuan would be considered a financial disaster.

But from last night until now, “Little Stream Swallowing the Sea” had rewarded him over thirty times.

The platform didn’t have a timed gift function, so this girl must have stayed up all night.

Li Mu rubbed his forehead.

In fact, before they set off, Lu Xiaoxi’s parents had sent him a WeChat message asking him to look after Lu Xiaoxi…

Staying up late was bad for her health, so stopping Lu Xiaoxi from staying up late could also be considered a form of care.

He had just spoken, lowering his voice; if Lu Xiaoxi wasn’t asleep, she would hear him, and even if she was really asleep, he wouldn’t wake her.

However, he was sure that Lu Xiaoxi was definitely not asleep; the reward records couldn’t lie, and he guessed she was lying in bed pretending to be asleep.

The fact that she stayed up late reading his novel was, in a sense, a form of affirmation for him.

In a good mood, Li Mu decided to go out and buy a few meat buns, treating it as a thank you for Lu Xiaoxi’s more than thirty rewards.

……

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