After washing her hair, Bai Yuyou sat in front of the mirror while Aunt Li stood behind her, blow-drying the young girl's hair. Holding her chin thoughtfully, Aunt Li seemed to be studying how to style it.
"Hmm..."
Ye Shuang, who was nearby, chimed in, "Fugui, even you can't figure it out?"
"Annoying! Who said I can't? It's just that this child's natural beauty is already flawless."
"So?"
"What I mean is, she doesn’t even need much styling—she’s stunning as is." Aunt Li smiled. "A perfect piece of jade loses its essence with every unnecessary carve."
As she spoke, she carefully trimmed away the singed ends of Bai Yuyou’s hair and tidied up the layers.
"Hair of this length and quality is rare these days. It could fetch a good price... Back when I was an apprentice at the salon, I’d always try to lure in people with long hair just to keep their cuttings for resale. Apprentices didn’t earn much back then—just a few hundred..."
"Ohoho, just teasing, dear. You look much better keeping your long hair."
Watching Li Fugui chatter away like an old gossip, Ye Shuang wasn’t fazed. He pulled out a cigarette, but before he could even light it, a slow, singsong voice drifted over.
"Little Shuang-shuang~ No smoking in the shop, okay~~~~~~~"
Ye Shuang’s lips twitched. Through the mirror, he saw both Bai Yuyou and Aunt Li staring at him.
"Fine." He reluctantly put it away.
"You should quit soon, you know," Aunt Li added.
"Easier said than done." Ye Shuang chuckled.
"At least think about others when you smoke. Secondhand smoke is no joke." She gestured toward Bai Yuyou. "Would you really let such a lovely girl breathe in that smell?"
"Got it," Ye Shuang conceded.
Aunt Li returned to styling Bai Yuyou’s hair with delicate precision, mostly refining her natural look—thinning out the bulk slightly and reshaping her heavy bangs to frame her face better.
Half an hour later, Aunt Li set down the scissors and brushed away stray strands with a sponge. "All done."
Ye Shuang glanced over and paused for a few seconds before smiling faintly. "Not bad."
At first glance, Bai Yuyou’s haircut didn’t seem drastically different—same style, just subtly polished. Yet those minor tweaks to the ends and bangs transformed her entire aura.
Her beauty was flawless from every angle, just as Li Fugui had said—like a perfect jade that needed no carving.
"Absolutely gorgeous," Aunt Li couldn’t help but gush.
Bai Yuyou didn’t seem to grasp the concept of beauty, but as she studied her reflection, she sensed something had changed.
"With looks like this, you could easily debut in a talent show." Aunt Li shot Ye Shuang a meaningful look. "That’s your expertise, isn’t it?"
Ye Shuang ignored the hint and replied flatly, "Maybe later. She’s old enough to decide for herself."
"Since when did you turn into such a dad?"
"..."
After the haircut, Ye Shuang asked, "How much? Must be pricey for your personal service."
"Fifty thousand."
"Discount. Five bucks."
"Ugh, fine, five it is." Aunt Li giggled behind her hand, then turned to Bai Yuyou, admiring her like a masterpiece. "Sweetie, what’s your relationship with him?"
Bai Yuyou tilted her head slightly.
"Married."
Ye Shuang nearly choked.
"Oh?" Aunt Li’s eyes gleamed with mischief, as if she’d struck gossip gold.
"We’re not married." Ye Shuang pinched Bai Yuyou’s cheeks and stretched them sideways, worried she’d spin more tall tales.
"But... we sleep together..." Bai Yuyou turned to him. "You said married couples sleep together..."
"Little Shuang-shuang~ Let’s have a chat about this ‘sleeping’ business, hmm?" Aunt Li swooped in, slinging an arm around Ye Shuang with glee. "Ohohoho!"
Ye Shuang massaged his temples.
After leaving the salon, Ye Shuang took Bai Yuyou around the mall to pick up some daily necessities.
Her already striking appearance, now subtly enhanced, drew countless gazes—though the girl herself remained oblivious, quietly holding Ye Shuang’s hand as they walked.
"Everyone’s looking at you," Ye Shuang remarked with a smile.
"Why?"
"Because you’re beautiful." He nudged her gently. "Chin up. Be confident."
The warmth of his hand seemed to embolden her. Bai Yuyou lifted her face, her porcelain features and cool demeanor leaving onlookers spellbound.
"Keeping your head down might protect you, but only by looking up..." Ye Shuang brushed his fingers through her hair,
"...can you see the path ahead."
Bai Yuyou turned, her gaze lingering on his face.
"Why are you staring?"
"How do we become married?" The question caught Ye Shuang off guard. After a pause, he softened.
"When you’re truly independent—when you can face hardships with courage."
"Then we’ll be married?"
"Yeah."
"Will married couples stay together forever?"
"Yes."
But there was more Ye Shuang left unsaid. By then, Bai Yuyou would surely understand what marriage truly meant.
And he could rest easy.
...
Back home, Ye Shuang busied himself cooking dinner, having bought extra ingredients after learning Bai Yuyou’s appetite.
"I’ll help," she offered, trailing behind him.
"You’ve had a long day. Go rest," he said.
Bai Yuyou stood firm, her luminous eyes fixed on him. "Being independent... means becoming married sooner..."
Ye Shuang blinked, then laughed. "Alright, I’ll teach you how to use a knife today."
After demonstrating, he handed her the blade. "Your turn."
Bai Yuyou gripped the knife, raising it high—the glint of steel paired with her deadpan expression looked downright murderous.
"You idiot, that’s not how you hold a knife!"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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.”
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
