Chapter 129
It felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air.
That phrase, "Is it okay... to do it at home?", paired with the boy's pitch-black eyes, had the destructive power of a nuclear explosion.
One second.
Two seconds.
"You pervert!"
Snapping back to reality, Ye Zhenzhen swatted his hand away. Like a startled rabbit with its fur standing on end, she spun around and darted into the apartment building.
Her footsteps were frantic and hurried, the motion-sensor lights flicking on floor by floor as she fled.
Gu Ran stood where he was, watching her retreating back as a smile spread across his eyes.
"She runs pretty fast."
What a coward!
Where was that rebellious and untamed attitude from a couple of days ago?
Please bring that back...
He shoved one hand into his pocket and followed her at a leisurely pace.
For the past few days, this naive girl had been putting on airs as the older sister for far too long. If he didn't give her a dose of strong medicine, how was he supposed to secure his status in the household from now on?
Third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor.
Bang!
The loud crash of the security door slamming shut echoed down the stairs.
Gu Ran raised an eyebrow, walked up to their door, pulled out his keys, and opened it.
In the entryway, there was only a pair of canvas shoes kicked off haphazardly.
The living room lights were off, and the girl's bedroom door was shut tight. Clearly, someone had drawn a line in the sand.
He had just finished changing his shoes.
"Ring, ring—!!"
The old-fashioned landline in the corner of the living room suddenly blared, sounding exceptionally piercing in the silence.
Almost instantly, the girl's bedroom door swung open with a whoosh.
Ye Zhenzhen leaned halfway out. Her face was as red as a tomato, but her eyes were as wary as if she were guarding against a thief. "Answer... answer the phone!"
Gu Ran shrugged, mentally mocking his cowardly sister once more, before walking over and pressing the speaker button.
"Hello?"
"Hey there, son! It's your dad!"
Gu Ran: "???"
Who the hell is this, claiming to be my dad right off the bat?
Where was his strict old man who always had a straight face every day?
The sound of crashing waves was loud on the other end. Gu Xiangcheng's voice was full of energy, carrying the excitement of someone slightly tipsy.
Gu Ran twitched his mouth.
Sure enough, love could make a man feel young again.
It seemed Auntie Ye had done a great job "enlightening" Old Gu...
"Old Gu, how much have you had to drink?"
"Drink what drink! This is pure, natural coconut water!"
Gu Xiangcheng was slurring his words a bit. "Oh, right, your Uncle Li just asked me what you scored on the exam, and I just remembered the results came out yesterday! How did it go? Did you check?"
Ye Zhenzhen had shuffled over by now, her ears perked up to listen, but she hit the brakes about two meters away from Gu Ran.
Maintaining a safe distance.
"Don't worry if you didn't do well," Gu Xiangcheng comforted him magnanimously. "A junior college isn't the end of the world. I looked into it for you. If we pull some strings, you can get into the police academy with around three hundred points this year..."
Gu Ran: "..."
Is this really my biological father?
He's definitely my biggest anti-fan.
Beside him, Ye Zhenzhen couldn't hold back and let out a snort of laughter.
"What are you laughing at!" Gu Ran glared at her, then spoke into the phone. "We checked. Ye Zhenzhen can go first."
He stepped aside to make room.
Ye Zhenzhen hesitated for a second before leaning closer to the receiver. "Uncle Gu, it's Zhenzhen."
"Ah! Zhenzhen!"
On the other end of the line, upon hearing Ye Zhenzhen's sweet voice, Gu Xiangcheng instantly pitched his voice higher, sounding as gentle as if he were coaxing a kindergartener.
"How are things? That little rascal hasn't been bullying you, has he? Did you check your score? If you didn't do well, Uncle will still provide for you!"
Gu Ran rolled his eyes.
Such a hypocrite!
Ye Zhenzhen shot Gu Ran a smug look and cleared her throat. "I checked. 704."
"How much?!"
A gasp came from the phone, followed closely by Ye Shulian's excited voice: "704? Thank the heavens, thank the heavens!"
Gu Xiangcheng was grinning from ear to ear. "Great! I always said Zhenzhen had what it takes to get into Tsinghua or Peking University, and sure enough, she's done our family proud! And... what about Gu Ran? Did he only score a fraction of that?"
Gu Ran snatched the receiver back and sneered. "Do you really look down on your son that much? If I scored a 400, would you be burning incense in gratitude?"
"I'd have to go burn it at the ancestral graves, because our ancestors would be working miracles."
Damn it!
Gu Ran took a deep breath, articulated every syllable clearly, and dropped the bombshell:
"697."
The other end of the line suddenly fell dead silent.
Even the sound of the waves seemed to have stopped.
For a full three seconds.
"What did you say?"
Gu Xiangcheng's voice became cautious. "Say that again? Did you hallucinate the 6 at the front?"
"697," Gu Ran repeated.
Clang!
The sound of a phone dropping to the ground.
After a flurry of chaotic noises, Gu Xiangcheng seemed to have sobered up. His trembling voice came through: "Are you serious?"
"Do you want my exam ID number so you can check it yourself?"
"No need! I believe you! I believe you!!"
The next second, Gu Xiangcheng shattered his long-standing strict image, erupting into a fit of hysterical laughter.
"Hahahaha! The Gu family ancestors are on fire! 697, you're guaranteed to get into the Public Security University or Renmin University! Let's see if that old geezer Li dares to show off his son's second-tier university to me again!"
Gu Ran: "???"
Old Gu still hadn't given up. He was solely focused on making him walk a pre-planned path in life.
But going to a political and law academy, graduating with a dad who was promoted to deputy bureau chief of the city, and having a ready-made promotion track just to become a local hotshot in a small county... what else was there?!
Could that make him the richest man in the country?
"Alright, stop howling," Gu Ran interrupted his dad's rant. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I need to sleep."
"Sleep?! With such great news!"
Gu Xiangcheng roared. "To celebrate the Gu family ancestors working miracles, I've decided—"
He paused, his tone as grand as an emperor ascending the throne.
"I'm going to take all 15 days of my annual leave at once! Your Auntie Ye and I are going to stay and play in Hainan for another half a month! Then we'll go check out some island. You two take care of each other at home!"
Gu Ran: "..."
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
Wasn't this way of celebrating a bit too reckless?
"We're staying that much longer..."
Ye Shulian's worried voice came through the phone, but she was immediately cut off by the drunken Old Gu.
"It's fine, it's decided! We're happy today!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Xiangcheng hung up the phone, completely forgetting to ask about their college application preferences.
"No, Mom..." Ye Zhenzhen had just started to speak.
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The busy tone echoed.
The living room plunged back into dead silence.
It was even quieter than when they had first walked in, and even more... eerie.
15 workdays?
Add in the weekends, and that was pushing almost a whole month?!
In other words, for a very long time, it would just be her and Gu Ran in this house.
A lone man and a lone woman.
Sharing the same roof.
Couple that with the fact that a certain someone had the audacity of a stray dog, Ye Zhenzhen felt like she was going to shatter into pieces.
Especially the lingering touch from the bus just minutes ago, and the phrase downstairs, "Is it okay to do it at home?" It shot down her spine like an electric current.
Danger signals were maxed out!
She turned her head mechanically.
Gu Ran was leaning against the telephone cabinet. At some point, a white plastic first-aid kit had appeared in his hands.
He lowered his head slightly, his bangs hiding his eyes, and gave the kit a shake.
Clatter, clatter.
The sound of pill bottles clinking together felt like some sort of countdown.
"Old Gu said..."
Gu Ran slowly raised his head, his pitch-black eyes gleaming with a light that made the girl tremble in fear.
"...we should 'take care of each other'."
He deliberately emphasized the words "take care of each other," his tone laced with a profound implication.
Ye Zhenzhen instinctively stepped back, her back suddenly hitting the cold wall.
"What... what are you doing?"
Gu Ran didn't answer. He simply closed the distance between them step by step.
His crisp, clean scent enveloped her once again.
With nowhere left to retreat, Ye Zhenzhen's heart pounded so wildly it felt like it might leap out of her throat. Her fingers dug fiercely into the hem of her shirt.
Half a meter away, he stopped.
He casually set the medical kit down on the cabinet.
The next second, he planted one hand against the wall.
Gu Ran leaned in slightly, bringing his gaze level with hers, completely trapping the panicked little rabbit within the confines of his arms.
"Did you forget something?"
He reached out with his other hand, his long, slender fingers gently hooking a stray lock of hair by her ear, toying with it absentmindedly.
"Back in the car, someone made a promise."
Gu Ran leaned close to her ear. His warm breath brushed against the side of her neck, sending a barrage of fine shivers down her spine.
"My back really hurts."
"We're the only ones home now. No one will bother us."
"So... isn't it time to fulfill your promise?"
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?!
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
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.
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."
