"Alright, thank you." Ye Shuang handed the guitar back to the sales assistant nearby, then turned to the girl beside him. "So, how was it?"
Bai Yuyou reached out and tugged at the hem of Ye Shuang's clothes, her eyes fixed on him. "Ye Shuang... you're sad."
Ye Shuang paused for a moment before smiling faintly and ruffling her hair. "Silly, it's just a song. I'm not sad."
"Oh."
Bai Yuyou thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Want to learn... this."
"Not the piano anymore?" Ye Shuang asked. After all, the girl still had her studies to focus on—she couldn’t juggle both piano and guitar.
"This..." Bai Yuyou nodded.
"Want to sing... for Ye Shuang."
Ye Shuang couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of this little airhead—stumbling over her words—singing for him. It sounded amusing, but he still asked again to confirm. Once she gave a firm answer, he said,
"Alright, then pick a guitar you like here."
After all, passion was what mattered most. If Bai Yuyou had truly taken an interest in the guitar, Ye Shuang wasn’t going to force her to stick with the piano.
The 10,000-yuan cat bed could wait.
"We have guitars at every price point here. Please take your time choosing," the sales assistant said with a smile.
Bai Yuyou scanned the dazzling array of guitars before her gaze settled on a natural wood-colored one in the middle. Sometimes, instruments seemed to possess a kind of magic—under the glow of the lights, they called out to the person they were meant for.
"That’s a limited-edition Gibson series guitar, made of spruce and mahogany. The price might be a bit steep," the sales assistant explained when she noticed Bai Yuyou’s interest.
"Expensive..." Bai Yuyou had no real concept of money. With assets totaling over ten million, she had never developed a clear sense of financial value.
When the sales assistant asked for confirmation, Bai Yuyou turned to Ye Shuang.
At that moment, Ye Shuang glanced at the price tag—
[39,999]
Hmm...
A guitar costing nearly 40,000 yuan was bound to warrant a second thought, especially since he’d just spotted some "firewood-grade" guitars selling for a few hundred in the same store. But for Ye Shuang, shelling out tens of thousands for a guitar wasn’t an issue.
After all, it was Bai Yuyou’s money.
"We’ll take this one. Please get it down for us," Ye Shuang said with a smile.
The sales assistant blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting such a quick decision. She gave Bai Yuyou an envious glance before nodding. "Of course."
"Do you need a case for it?"
"No need. Just pack it in the original guitar bag," Ye Shuang said. Soon, the sales assistant carefully took down the guitar and packed it up.
After paying, Ye Shuang handed the guitar bag to Bai Yuyou. "Here, put it on. Let me see."
Bai Yuyou didn’t quite understand but obediently slung the bag over her shoulders—
The guitar was heavier than she expected, making her wobble slightly as she adjusted to the weight. When she finally had it secured, the length of the guitar nearly dwarfed her small frame.
"Whoa, guitar girl. Nice." Ye Shuang couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up at the sight.
Meanwhile, Bai Yuyou gripped the strap with one hand, the guitar strapped to her back as she tilted her head slightly, expression blank. She didn’t quite get what Ye Shuang was so excited about.
After leaving the guitar store, Ye Shuang was considering whether to check out pianos next when he noticed a familiar figure standing at the entrance. The woman stood with her arms crossed, the faint glow of dusk casting shadows over her face, making her expression unreadable.
Seeing Zhao Mengyao waiting there, Ye Shuang paid her no mind and simply tightened his grip on Bai Yuyou’s hand, ready to walk past.
"Ye Shuang, stop!" Zhao Mengyao’s voice rang out, but Ye Shuang ignored it, continuing forward—though Bai Yuyou slowly turned her head, realizing the woman shouting at Ye Shuang matched the one from the photo at the aquarium.
Ye Shuang’s... ex-girlfriend.
"Ye Shuang..." Bai Yuyou murmured softly.
"Don’t mind her," Ye Shuang said calmly.
The sharp click of heels echoed as Zhao Mengyao hurriedly stepped in front of them, her expression a mix of frustration and hurt. "Why are you ignoring me?"
Ye Shuang looked at the woman blocking his path and smirked mockingly. "Seriously? What gives you, a traitor, the right to stand in my way like this? Your audacity?"
"I—I didn’t betray you!" Zhao Mengyao argued. "I told you, I’ve always liked him..."
Ye Shuang gave her a cold glance. "So you just took all my kindness for granted, then ditched me at our engagement party to run to that guy?"
"Just because I liked the way you treated me doesn’t mean I had to give you my heart!" Zhao Mengyao retorted, her voice growing more aggrieved. "And he was sick at the time—he needed someone to take care of him! I was the one who got hurt here. Why are you making things difficult for me?"
Ye Shuang scoffed and shook his head. "Whatever. You could claim the sun rises at midnight for all I care. Our story’s long over, Miss Zhao. Now, kindly move out of our way."
"And how dare you act like this? You—you moved on just fine too!" Zhao Mengyao shot back, pointing accusingly at Bai Yuyou. "Who is she?!"
Bai Yuyou blinked before answering matter-of-factly, "We’re married."
"Hah." Zhao Mengyao let out a derisive laugh.
Ye Shuang had no intention of engaging further. Giving Bai Yuyou’s hand a reassuring squeeze, he stepped around Zhao Mengyao to leave.
But then, as if possessed by some inexplicable impulse, Zhao Mengyao suddenly rushed forward again—this time blocking Bai Yuyou directly. "You probably don’t know this!"
Bai Yuyou: "?"
"Zhao Mengyao, don’t make me slap you," Ye Shuang’s voice turned icy.
Zhao Mengyao smirked. "Miss, your ‘husband’ has another woman! Chen Qin, the young lady of the Chen family—ever heard of her?"
"Who knows, maybe you’re just the side chick!"
"Giggle, giggle, giggle."
She laughed triumphantly, as if she’d just played some masterstroke, her expression bordering on manic.
But her laughter soon died when she realized Bai Yuyou’s face remained completely unchanged—not even a flicker of emotion.
A few seconds later, Bai Yuyou turned to Ye Shuang and asked, "What’s... a side chick?"
Zhao Mengyao: "..."
Is this girl an idiot?
Or just painfully naive?
"A side chick is someone who ruins the relationship between two people," Ye Shuang explained patiently.
Bai Yuyou nodded in understanding. "Oh."
She then turned back to Zhao Mengyao, her calm, fathomless eyes meeting the other woman’s as she spoke earnestly, "It’s okay. Me and Chen Qin-jie... sleep with Ye Shuang at night. We get along well... no ruining."
Zhao Mengyao: "?"
You people are wild.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
