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?"
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.
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
