Su Qi took another glance at that plate of suspiciously colored "culinary masterpiece."
Liu Yuan's cheeks instantly burned scarlet.
She would have preferred it if her brother had just bluntly called it disgusting—that would have been easier to swallow.
Though... the reality wasn’t far off.
She had been a flustered mess in the kitchen—adding salt, then panicking and diluting it with water, vaguely channeling the infamous "too much salt? add water; too much water? add salt" cycle.
Then she tried sprinkling in sugar for umami, only to forget to turn down the heat...
"I-I'm sorry, Master..." Liu Yuan's voice was barely louder than a mosquito's hum. "I... I messed up..."
The pair of fluffy fox ears atop her head drooped dejectedly, swaying slightly with her movements.
Su Qi didn’t immediately respond to his sister’s apology.
He set down his chopsticks and pulled out a chair.
Standing had become too taxing; leaning back slightly, he crossed his legs and settled into a more relaxed posture, his gaze fixed on her.
"You spent the whole afternoon on this?"
"Mm!" Liu Yuan jerked her head up, as if grasping at a chance to redeem herself. "I read tons of recipes! And—and I practiced my knife skills for ages! Even though... the results weren’t great..."
Her voice trailed off, her confidence withering by the second.
"Is that so?" Su Qi’s tone remained neutral.
No praise for effort. No consolation for failure.
That very calmness unsettled Liu Yuan even more.
She’d rather he either pointed out her mistakes outright or reassured her that she’d do better next time.
But this... what even was this?
"Brother, I—" Liu Yuan bit her lower lip.
But Su Qi cut her off.
"What ‘brother’?"
"You’re quite the smooth talker for a little fox."
"Weren’t you the one who said you’d do anything if I took you in?"
Liu Yuan: "!!!"
Oh right! They were roleplaying!
So it wasn’t that Su Qi was being unnervingly calm—he’d instantly picked up on her cue and slipped into character!
Her role was that of a homeless, gravely injured fox spirit.
She couldn’t back down over something this trivial!
Her mind raced.
No script, just improv.
"The dinner was a failure... b-but I can still repay you in other ways!"
Her voice regained some of the desperate eagerness of a wounded fox cub trying to prove her worth to her master: "Just give the order!"
The moment those words left her mouth, Liu Yuan felt her shame tolerance plummet—another side effect of the "Fox Wife" persona she’d adopted.
Normally, such a submissive plea would’ve been impossible for her to voice.
But now? It didn’t feel so unthinkable.
She even straightened her posture slightly, meeting Su Qi’s gaze with wide, slightly misty eyes—doing her best to radiate ‘adorable obedience.’
Su Qi studied her.
The fox ears atop her head twitched faintly with her shifting emotions.
That look, paired with her hesitant yet eager-to-please tone...
Su Qi adjusted his seating position again.
This chair must be defective—why did it suddenly feel so warm?
"What can you do, then?" he asked.
"I-I can..."
Liu Yuan blanked.
What could she do?
Play mobile games? Did that count?
Studying?
Not exactly "repayment" material.
Surely her master wouldn’t assign "get into XX University" as a task.
Housework?
She wasn’t... particularly skilled at that either.
Aside from the somewhat salvageable tomato-and-egg stir-fry, the rest...
Her face flushed deeper.
Was she really... that useless?
A wave of dejection hit her.
"I... I can learn!" she blurted, seizing the lifeline. "Whatever Master wants, I’ll learn! I’m a quick study!"
For emphasis, she nodded vigorously, her fox ears bouncing in sync.
Su Qi’s eyes lingered on those ears for a beat.
"Is that so." His voice stayed flat. "Then start by cleaning this up."
He gestured at the table’s spread of "culinary disasters."
"Huh?" Liu Yuan blinked.
That’s... it?
Just clearing the table?
She’d assumed, given the "master and servant" dynamic, the request might’ve been... well... more.
Like a back rub? A massage? Or... other things?
Her brain unhelpfully supplied some decidedly NSFW imagery from her "educational materials."
"Yes, Master!"
Though anticlimactic, she sprang into action, swiftly gathering plates and utensils.
Her "Spirit Fox Steps" granted her unnatural grace—now repurposed for efficiently stacking dishes without a single clatter.
Su Qi remained seated, watching his sister work.
She dumped the "failures" into the trash with meticulous care, her movements tinged with... something like regret?
Probably mourning her wasted afternoon.
He didn’t rush her. Didn’t offer help.
Just observed in silence.
Sigh... Letting her efforts go to waste felt harsh, but Su Qi wasn’t suicidal enough to stomach those dishes for the sake of indulging his foolish little sister.
Eating that would be lethal.
"M-Master, all done!" Liu Yuan wiped her hands and trotted back, tail swishing behind her.
"Mn." Su Qi stood.
He wasn’t exceptionally tall, but she was short enough to need to tilt her head up to read his expression.
Which, as usual, gave nothing away.
"The kitchen?" he prompted.
"The... kitchen?" Liu Yuan faltered. "That needs cleaning too?"
Then she recalled the warzone she’d left behind—spilled condiments, greasy stovetop, the sink piled with practice cookware...
"Right! On it!" She spun toward the kitchen.
"Wait." Su Qi stopped her.
She froze mid-step, turning back.
"That outfit’s impractical, no?"
His gaze swept over her.
Visually striking, yes—but hardly suitable for scrubbing grease.
Liu Yuan looked down at herself.
Oh. Right.
"S-So should I change?" she ventured.
"Mn. Go."
With permission granted, she dashed off to her room.
Only once she’d disappeared did Su Qi head to the kitchen.
Predictable chaos greeted him.
He turned on the faucet and began washing the tower of dishes.
Liu Yuan returned quickly, now wearing one of Su Qi’s oversized white shirts—though the fox ears stayed firmly in place.
(Minimal requirements for maintaining the "Fox Wife" persona, after all.)
Su Qi turned around upon sensing movement behind her.
Su Qi: ???
Is this outfit really more convenient?
Well... in a way, I guess it is kind of convenient...
But...
What on earth did my stupid little sister eat today to grow such a bold attitude?
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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."
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.”
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
