"Quite a rare sight, such an outdated model... Even scrap collectors wouldn’t want this, would they?" The phone shop owner, a cigarette dangling from his lips, squinted his meaty face as he examined the antique device in his hand.
Ye Shuang replied, "Price isn’t an issue. If you replace the battery, can it still turn on?"
"If it’s just the battery, then it’s manageable. Even though the model’s old, it sold well back in the day, so the batteries are rare but not impossible to find." The owner handed the phone back to Ye Shuang. "There’s important data inside, right? I can order a battery for you—leave me your number."
Ye Shuang left his contact details, paid a deposit, and walked out of the shop with the phone in hand.
Standing at the entrance, he patted his pockets and popped a candy into his mouth. "Really feels like a good time for a smoke right now."
Even so, he kept chewing the candy, letting the sweetness spread before finding a step to sit on and sorting through the tangled thoughts in his head.
"Whose number is this? If it’s someone from the Zhou family... logically, they’d use traditional characters more in texts, but I can’t rule that out either."
"Regardless, Yuyou’s kidnapping wasn’t an accident. For now, it’s better not to tell her." Ye Shuang didn’t want to hurt Bai Yuyou any further. Her life was finally improving day by day—it was best to let this brief peace last a little longer.
Shaking off his thoughts, Ye Shuang brushed nonexistent dust off his pants. For now, all he could do was wait for the flip phone to be repaired and see if there was anything else as valuable as that message inside.
After driving back to school, Ye Shuang returned to the Light Music Club’s stall, where Bai Yuyou and the others were gathered.
"Good morning, Mr. Ye!" Zhixia greeted him sweetly. "I heard you were busy with something earlier."
"Yeah, just had a few things to take care of." As he spoke, Ye Shuang noticed a certain girl standing stiffly behind the stall.
Bai Yuyou was wearing a light beige short-sleeved jacket over a white T-shirt and a plain pleated skirt—all picked out by Ye Shuang that morning. Since the school festival had no dress code, and the girl had a habit of randomly wearing his clothes, Ye Shuang often ended up styling her outfits himself.
Right now, she stood there, her face tense to the point where it almost looked like she was glaring.
"What’s this about...?"
"Yuyou said she wanted to try selling lemon tea, so she’s like this now," Tang Keke explained with a giggle.
"I see." Ye Shuang glanced over and smiled. "How many cups has she sold?"
"Eheh, none yet."
"Ah..."
Just then, two young guys approached the lemon tea stand, but after catching sight of Bai Yuyou, they exchanged a look and walked away.
"Huh? Why’d they leave?" Tang Keke craned her neck in confusion.
Soon, another customer came up. "Hi, I’d like a lemon tea, please."
Bai Yuyou gave a slight nod. "Eight..."
"How much?" The customer didn’t seem to hear her. Bai Yuyou’s lips moved again before she finally held up eight fingers.
Unsure if the message got across, she grabbed a pen and scribbled "8" on a scrap of paper.
"Never mind, forget it." The customer, unnerved by her icy demeanor, turned and left.
Bai Yuyou stood still, watching them go before quietly returning to her spot.
"It’s been like this since we started. For some reason, Yuyou’s lemon tea is unusually hard to sell," Tang Keke remarked.
"Hmm..." Ye Shuang stroked his chin.
After a moment’s thought, he walked over to Bai Yuyou, who looked a little dejected, her usual antenna-like strand of hair drooping.
"Ye Shuang... can’t sell," she murmured.
"Don’t know what to do." Her fingers fidgeted nervously, clearly at a loss.
Ye Shuang pinched her cheek lightly. "You’re trying too hard. You can’t stare at people like that."
"Too hard...?"
"Yeah." Suddenly remembering something, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a pair of plain glasses he used for his school nurse disguise.
After slipping them onto Bai Yuyou’s face, she blinked, touching the frames curiously.
"That should do it." Ye Shuang grinned. "Go on, try again."
"Oh?"
Bai Yuyou resumed selling, and this time, a few scattered customers approached. Eventually, she managed to sell her first cup.
"Success." She turned to look at him.
"Bro, why did putting on glasses suddenly work?" Tang Keke was baffled. She’d almost started wondering if Bai Yuyou had somehow offended the god of wealth in a past life.
Zhixia, however, seemed to catch on. "Mr. Ye, I think I get it. Is it because Yuyou’s too pretty?"
"Probably. Some shy guys wouldn’t dare talk to her otherwise." Ye Shuang chuckled. That was exactly what he’d thought—Bai Yuyou’s striking beauty and naturally distant aura, combined with her "icy" expression, made customers hesitate to approach.
Even those who did speak up would feel uneasy under her intense gaze and quickly leave.
"Wow, you’re amazing, bro. That makes total sense," Tang Keke said, impressed by his analysis.
Soon, Bai Yuyou relaxed completely and settled into her role as the stand’s poster girl.
Two hours later, after selling out all their stock of fragrant lemons, Bai Yuyou turned to Ye Shuang. "Ye Shuang... did it!"
"Come take a break." Ye Shuang, wearing an apron as he prepared the last cup of lemon tea, smiled warmly.
"Ye Shuang... want to walk around together." Bai Yuyou tugged at his sleeve. "Hungry."
"Alright, let’s get you something to eat." He glanced at Tang Keke and Zhixia. "You two coming?"
"Not me!"
"Same, you guys go ahead."
With that, Ye Shuang took only Bai Yuyou with him.
Since the entire street was lined with food stalls, it didn’t take long for Bai Yuyou to end up with an armful of snacks.
Watching her nibble daintily on a skewer, Ye Shuang suddenly felt that telling her the truth would be unbearably cruel.
"Made a mess again, huh?"
He pulled out a tissue, and Bai Yuyou obediently tilted her head up, eyes closed, letting him wipe her mouth.
"Ye Shuang, want some?"
"I’m not hungry."
"Oh."
After finishing the skewer, Bai Yuyou asked, "Ye Shuang, what did you do this morning?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
