Ye Shuang didn't seem at all surprised by An Shiyu’s blunt reply.
If it had become something like an alarm clock, then the lab incident was probably a deep concern for An Shiyu. On top of that, her parents had also passed away in an accident.
Ye Shuang observed An Shiyu for a while. After confirming there was no clock to be found, he gave up on asking further.
Since he couldn't find it, he might as well leave it to fate.
After all, he couldn't just walk in there himself.
…
Before he knew it, it was Friday.
During breakfast, since he had arranged to have dinner with Chen Qin and her relatives, he mentioned to Bai Yuyou, Keke, and Yezi that he wouldn't be home for dinner.
"Should we save some food for you?" Keke asked.
"No need." Ye Shuang shook his head with a smile.
"Alright."
After breakfast, Ye Shuang hurried off to work, leaving Keke and Bai Yuyou to handle the dishes. Yezi was helping too, wiping the dining table with a small cloth.
Clink, clink. The faint sound of dishes knocking together rang out as Bai Yuyou rinsed the greasy plates under the faucet. She seemed lost in thought, so much so that she didn’t even notice the water splashing onto her clothes.
"Oh, Yuyou, what's wrong?" Tang Keke quickly walked over when she saw Bai Yuyou’s damp clothes. "Your clothes are wet. Go change quickly."
"Yeah." Bai Yuyou snapped back to reality.
After changing into a dry outfit, Tang Keke had already finished cleaning the kitchen. She used to never do housework back at home, but ever since moving in here, she had become much more diligent. Maybe it was because she felt a bit guilty about crashing here for free, so she pitched in with some chores.
"Yuyou, you were spacing out just now. I called you but you didn’t react," Keke asked.
Bai Yuyou glanced down at her school skirt and answered softly,
"I’ve been seeing Ye Shuang less often lately."
"Don’t we see him every day?"
"The time is shorter." Bai Yuyou replied.
"That’s true, but there’s no helping it. Sister Chen Qin is pregnant now," Keke nodded. It seemed like ever since Sister Chen Qin started taking it easy for the pregnancy, Ye Shuang had been getting busier.
Sometimes he even had to travel out of town, though not too far. But by the time he got home, it was already late, around eleven or twelve at night.
"I want to help Ye Shuang," Bai Yuyou said.
"Oh, it won’t be long now. Summer break is almost here, right after the school festival... and then we’ll move up a grade." Tang Keke tried to comfort her.
"Don’t rush, Yuyou. You haven’t even graduated yet. Once you do, you’ll definitely be able to help Ye Shuang."
"What if Ye Shuang doesn’t need me?" Bai Yuyou suddenly said.
"That won’t happen."
Tang Keke thought Bai Yuyou was overthinking things, but she could understand. After all, a girl in love always worries about losing what she has.
In a way, her brother’s sins ran deep.
…
On the other side.
By noon, Ye Shuang had finished handling some company affairs and decided to leave early to head to the Chen family home.
"Huh? You’re clocking out at noon?" An Shiyu was surprised when she heard the news. Ye Shuang never used to leave early.
"I made plans with Chen Qin to meet her family elders and relatives," Ye Shuang explained briefly.
"You weren’t this eager when meeting my family, and you were even late," An Shiyu muttered under her breath.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing." An Shiyu looked away. "You’re always late, so going early is the right call."
Ye Shuang got the feeling that her words carried a hint of jealousy.
"I should get going now."
"Oh."
After leaving the office, Ye Shuang headed to the parking lot.
Since it was still work hours, the lot was almost full. He opened the car door, got in, and started the engine.
"How long will it take to get there? The Chen residence?" A voice from the passenger seat asked as An Shiyu buckled her seatbelt.
"First to the Chen place; the family dinner is in the evening." Ye Shuang answered automatically, then froze and turned to look beside him.
"Drive, why are you staring at me?" An Shiyu blinked her big, round eyes. "Even if I’m adorable, doesn’t mean you can stare while driving."
"..." Ye Shuang was silent for a moment. "When did you get in the car? And why are you following me?"
"How rude. I worked with you all morning, and I don’t even get to grab a meal together?" An Shiyu had just finished speaking when a voice came from the back seat.
"Yeah, yeah, so stingy," another voice chimed in.
Ye Shuang turned around and saw Anshi Yi munching on a snack, wearing her school uniform—clearly having ditched class to come here.
"And when did you get in?!"
"Ninja skills. Amazing, right?"
"Is that your catchphrase?!"
"You're so loud. Having a meal with us won’t interfere with your plans," Anshi Yi waved dismissively. Seeing Ye Shuang staring at her, she tugged at her school skirt. "Take a look, you cheapskate."
"Who wants to see that?" Ye Shuang had barely finished speaking when he noticed a familiar clock peeking out from under the lifted hem of her skirt.
Ye Shuang: "..."
Wait.
You have a clock too?
But Anshi Yi had already let the skirt fall back down. Seeing Ye Shuang still staring intently, she blinked her pretty eyes and tentatively lifted it a little more.
When she saw that he wasn’t looking away, she said to An Shiyu, "Look at him, just staring. He wouldn’t dare to do it with Uncle even if he wanted to. Weak."
An Shiyu was speechless.
When it came to actually doing it, this one would be scared to tears. But now he was so obsessed with that piece of cloth. Was he really some kind of fetishist?
"Oh, well," An Shiyu sighed.
"What is it about him that I even like?" Anshi Yi, acting as An Shiyu’s inner voice, almost got elbowed for it.
Ye Shuang snapped out of it and coughed dryly, aware of how awkward he looked.
He tried to compose himself. "I was just spacing out just now. Would you believe me?"
"Spacing out? Every time you look, it’s spacing out?" Anshi Yi smirked. "I get it."
"This thing can stun-lock Uncle."
As she spoke, she lifted her skirt again to show him.
But she quickly pressed it down. "Give me ten thousand in allowance, and you can look all you want. Deal?"
"Like hell I’d pay just to see that."
But as Ye Shuang said it, he thought to himself: if spending ten thousand could get him back to the lab, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
If it could change certain things.
But did he really have the courage to go back?
Seeing Ye Shuang lost in thought, staring at her skirt, Anshi Yi raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Maybe Uncle has been feeling a little unsatisfied lately?
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…
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.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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.
