"A five-leaf clover? So that's what you've been looking for?" Ye Shuang and Fu Yao were walking home, and the young girl at his side was holding a green plant in her hand. It was the very common three-leaf clover, except the one in Fu Yao's hand had five full leaves, which was known as a five-leaf clover.
"Mm, I want to make it into a bookmark," Fu Yao nodded softly. She got a little flustered and carefully tucked the five-leaf clover away, slipping it into her notebook — after noticing Ye Shuang's gaze on her, she even held the notebook up to half cover her face.
"Does this look silly?"
Seeing Fu Yao's face so red it was practically steaming, Ye Shuang shook his head and laughed. He thought to himself that Fu Yao was still far too easy to fluster, her face turning as red as a little apple at the slightest thing.
"By the way, where's Ah Qin?"
"Her..." Ye Shuang thought for a moment. He guessed Ah Qin had gotten jealous earlier because he'd been so focused on looking for Fu Yao. With that thought, he could only say, "She went home early today."
"I see, that's great."
"Great?"
"N-no, it's not that, I..." Fu Yao used the whole notebook to block her entire face, looking just like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand.
Fu Yao was as timid as ever, soft as a fluffy marshmallow that anyone could give a little squeeze — of course, even at this young age she was already starting to show her gentle, caring side, but Ye Shuang had never paid special attention to that. After all, the timeline was different, their ages were what they were now, and on top of that, the thought of her as a friend who had passed on always made him feel a twinge of guilt.
As they walked side by side, Ye Shuang noticed Fu Yao inching closer to him, but the moment he turned his head to look, the young girl would take small, quick steps to pull a little distance away again, like someone who had just done something they felt guilty about.
"Ye."
"Hm?"
Fu Yao fumbled in her pocket for a moment, and finally pulled out a stack of loose bills.
"Here, this is for you."
Seeing Fu Yao suddenly holding money out to him, Ye Shuang was confused. "Why are you giving me money all of a sudden? You don't owe me anything, do you?"
It was a stack of small change, ones and fives. It looked like a lot at first glance, but it probably didn't even add up to fifty yuan total.
"You said yesterday you really liked that... uh, Aatrox, the one in that game you play that can revive itself," Fu Yao explained, trying her best to describe it clearly.
Aatrox...
Fuzzy memories stirred in Ye Shuang's mind. Back in middle school, he'd been really into playing League of Legends, and he had loved that Aatrox champion — the one that could come back to life and didn't even use mana.
He must have only mentioned it in passing to Fu Yao. After all, for a student, grinding 6300 in-game currency was way too tough, and forty-something yuan was a huge sum of pocket money, so he'd only ever daydreamed about getting the champion.
"This money..." Ye Shuang looked at Fu Yao hesitantly. It was obvious she'd pulled it straight out of her piggy bank.
"It's okay, I don't have anything to spend my savings on anyway," Fu Yao said in a tiny voice. She thought Ye Shuang was worried about having to pay her back, so she quickly shook her head.
"I don't need this. We might as well spend it on something nice to eat," Ye Shuang said, and before the young girl could let out a surprised exclamation, he took Fu Yao's small hand and placed all the money back in her palm.
After all, his inner self was far too old to care about that sort of thing anymore. Not to mention, in the future versions of the game, getting a champion was as easy as could be, there was no need to pay real money for it at all.
He remembered that Fu Yao did chores around her house to earn one or two yuan at a time. The thought of taking that hard-earned money to spend on a game made him feel like a total scumbag.
I'm really not a good person, he thought.
But then... he didn't remember this ever happening in his past life. Had going back to this earlier timeline caused the course of events to shift?
Just as Ye Shuang was lost in thought, Fu Yao suddenly froze up. He was still holding her hand, and her brain had completely short-circuited.
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Ye Shuang snapped back to his senses and let go immediately. Fu Yao just nodded with a tiny "mm" that was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, her face bright red.
She really is so soft, flusters at the slightest touch, Ye Shuang thought to himself. But now he was sure of what he'd sensed — it was only natural for a girl going through her first crush to have these little feelings, not to mention he was pretty good-looking.
Even when he thought about his own past, Ye Shuang saw it all a little like a spectator. He could never go back to thinking like a middle school kid when dealing with Fu Yao's feelings.
But he hadn't forgotten what he came here to do. Since the butterfly had already started flapping its wings, he didn't mind letting the storm blow even stronger. He looked at the young girl beside him and spoke up.
"Fu Yao, have you been fighting with Fugui lately?"
"Hm? No, not at all," Fu Yao didn't know why Ye Shuang was suddenly bringing that up, and answered softly.
"Good to hear... if he breaks anything of yours, can you come tell me right away? It's probably going to happen in the next few days," Ye Shuang said. "It might not even happen, but I just hope you'll let me know if it does."
Fu Yao had no idea what Ye Shuang was planning, but since he'd asked her that way, she nodded. "Okay, I will."
"By the way, can I come over to your house for dinner today?"
"Today?" Fu Yao was taken aback. "It's not the weekend, is that okay?"
It was a school day, so if he ate over at her place, it would be dark by the time he finished. By the time he got home and showered, it would be really late before he could rest.
Ye Shuang followed Fu Yao back to her house. They were childhood sweethearts after all, so they were already very familiar with each other's homes. The moment he stepped in, he saw Fugui open the door.
"Huh? What are you doing here? My dad pulled the plug on the internet, so I can't play online games," Fugui said, crossing his arms with a frustrated look on his face. "But I still have that Naruto vs Bleach single-player game. Wanna play later?"
"I didn't come here to play games, kid," Ye Shuang said as he took off his shoes by the door and neatly lined his sneakers up.
Fu Yao squatted down to find a pair of slippers for him. "Here you go, Ye."
"Thanks."
"Then what are you here for? To mooch off our dinner? My mom's cooking isn't even that good," Fugui complained.
"Who are you saying can't cook?" The next second, Fugui's ear was twisted hard. He yelped in pain, and Auntie Qiao appeared in front of Ye Shuang with a bright smile.
"Little Shuang, you're here! Tonight, I'll make you a nice pot of nourishing soup."
"Thank you, Auntie Qiao."
Auntie Qiao was dressed neatly and nicely, full of energy with a warm, kind smile on her face. She looked so different from the version of her Ye Shuang remembered from later years that he stared for a few seconds, before laughing at himself and shaking his head.
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.”
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…
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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.
