Chapter 127
Inside the milk tea shop, the air froze for a second.
A second later, reason snapped.
The string of sanity in Ye Zhenzhen's mind completely burned out. A mix of shame and anger instantly turned her into a bristling little wildcat. Throwing caution to the wind, she lunged forward, opening her mouth to bite down hard on Gu Ran's arm!
"Holy crap, you're actually doing it!"
Gu Ran's pupils shrank as he backhanded with precision, gripping the girl's slender wrist.
But he had underestimated the explosive combat power of someone on the verge of social death.
Using her momentum, Ye Zhenzhen charged forward. To absorb the force, Gu Ran stepped back, but his heel caught hard against the leg of a chair.
"Bang!"
He lost his center of gravity.
In a split second, the young man's first reaction wasn't to save himself, but to twist his body violently, pressing the person in his arms tightly against his chest and offering his own back to the cold floor.
Crash—splash!
Two cups of milk tea burst open on impact, sending ice cubes and tapioca pearls rolling all over the floor.
The world went quiet.
Everyone stared at the scene, dumbfounded:
The boy was sprawled awkwardly on the ground, while the quiet, pretty girl was currently straddling him... in a highly inappropriate position.
Ye Zhenzhen's brain instantly crashed.
Beneath her was the boy's solid chest, and in her ears was his overly powerful heartbeat.
The probing, teasing gazes around them hit her back like spotlights, burning hotly.
It was over.
Just let the world be destroyed, hurry up.
Send a missile and blow up the entire milk tea shop!
Just as she was as stiff as a board, the "flesh cushion" beneath her let out a muffled groan.
Then, a weak yet somewhat punchable voice sounded:
"Ye Zhenzhen... are you trying to... murder your own brother?"
He even deliberately stressed the words "own brother."
In an instant, the onlookers' eyes changed.
It went from "watching a young couple's drama" to "condemning a violent older sister."
Ye Zhenzhen almost choked on her breath.
Own brother? Brother my foot!
This jerk, even while lying on the ground he didn't forget to throw her under the bus!
Dying of embarrassment, she scrambled to get up, but the soles of her shoes were covered in slippery milk tea. Just as she propped herself halfway up—
Slip.
"Ah!"
Losing her balance once again, she crashed heavily right back down!
This time, Gu Ran firmly supported her lower back. His palm pressed against the fabric of her clothes, so hot it made her shiver.
"Be careful, my young lady."
The boy's breath brushed against her earlobe, carrying a barely noticeable hoarseness.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you two alright?"
The shop owner finally reacted, running over with a pained expression as he looked at the mess on the floor. "This..."
Just as Ye Zhenzhen wanted to find a hole to crawl into, the hand on her waist let go.
Gu Ran smoothly rolled to his feet, pulling her away from the "disaster zone" in the process.
The next second, he put away his casual, lazy smile. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he gave the owner a slight bow, his tone so sincere it was like he was a completely different person:
"Boss, I apologize. My sister was just messing around with me and didn't know her limits."
"The cleaning fee for the floor, plus any damage to the tables and chairs—tally it up, I'll pay for it all."
"Beep—"
Scanning the code and paying, all in one smooth motion.
Even before the waiter brought a mop, he had already bent down, using his long, slender fingers to pick up the large chunks of crushed ice from the floor and toss them into the trash can.
His movements were practiced and methodical, without a trace of the scoundrel-like demeanor from just moments ago.
Ye Zhenzhen stood blankly to the side, watching his back as he kept his head down to clean up the mess.
At this moment, he exuded an unfamiliar, reassuring sense of maturity.
This guy... could actually be this reassuring?
In that instant, the surging shame and anger in her heart quietly ebbed away, replaced by an indescribable, aching swell.
"What are you spacing out for? Let's go."
Having handled everything, Gu Ran straightened up and naturally reached out a hand toward her.
Ye Zhenzhen's eyelashes fluttered. Avoiding his hand, she lowered her head and quickly dashed out of the milk tea shop.
...
The walk from the shop to the bus stop was eerily quiet.
That suffocating element of ambiguity fermented in the air, making her feel even more at a loss than during the commotion earlier.
The screeching brakes of a bus pulling into the station broke the silence.
Ye Zhenzhen suddenly stopped in her tracks. With her back to him, she took a deep breath, as if she had made some sort of resolution.
She turned around, keeping her completely flushed little face stern, and glared at him fiercely:
"Gu Ran!"
"Hmm?" The boy stood with his hands in his pockets, his expression calm, showing neither joy nor anger.
"You are not allowed to mention a single word about what happened in the shop today!"
Ye Zhenzhen stiffened her neck, trying hard to make herself look more intimidating. "Also! From now on, when we're outside, you're not allowed to touch me! No holding hands, no grabbing my waist! Do you hear me?!"
She had to lay down the law!
If things kept going like this, the situation was going to completely spiral out of control!
She didn't want to wait for her mother to come back and point at her nose, scolding her for taking everything she could get and swallowing the entire Gu family whole.
Gu Ran didn't reply immediately.
He quietly looked at the girl, his ink-black eyes devoid of any emotion.
Just when Ye Zhenzhen thought he was going to argue back, the boy suddenly took a step forward.
The distance between them instantly closed, so close that she could see her own flustered reflection in the depths of his eyes.
Gu Ran leaned in slightly, getting close to her ear, and asked with a low chuckle, using a breathy voice that only the two of them could hear:
"So at home... it's fine?"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
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.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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."
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!"
