Chapter 168
At six in the morning, while the sparrows outside the window were still chirping as if calling back souls, Ye Zhenzhen was already practicing mysticism in front of her wardrobe.
Hanging in front of her were two identical dark blue floral cotton-linen dresses.
She closed her eyes and grabbed blindly.
Leaving it to fate.
...
Pushing open her bedroom door, the aroma of millet porridge wafted into her nose.
Gu Xiangcheng sat steadily at the head of the table. Although his dark circles were heavy, his official airs had completely dissipated, and he looked as relaxed as if he had just won the lottery.
Gu Ran came out of the kitchen carrying dishes. His gaze swept over the blue dress on the young woman, and he was momentarily stunned.
Was this girl really that bold?
The dress bought in Wuzhen—she didn't wear it earlier or later, but insisted on wearing it right after their parents came back?
Did she just enjoy this kind of immoral thrill???
"Awake? Wash your hands and eat."
The next second, his tone was entirely upright, as if he hadn't been the one calling her "baby" last night.
"Uncle Gu, Mom, morning." Ye Zhenzhen pulled out a chair and guiltily buried her head in her porridge.
"Oh my, this dress is absolutely stunning!"
Ye Shulian held a glass of milk, her eyes full of amazement. "I told you this color suits you. And the flowers on the hem, they look like... the girl in Dai Wangshu's 'Rainy Alley'."
"That was a lilac, this is a daisy," Gu Xiangcheng corrected strictly, then nodded in satisfaction. "It looks gentle and quiet."
Gentle and quiet?
The young woman forced a laugh, but no matter how you looked at it, her smile seemed guilty.
"Eat while it's hot."
A plate of pan-fried dumplings was pushed in front of her, and long, slender fingertips brushed against the back of her hand.
It felt like an electric shock.
The girl's hand trembled, and her spoon knocked against the edge of the bowl, making a crisp "ding" sound.
Looking up, she saw a certain someone putting a dumpling into Gu Xiangcheng's bowl with a look of perfect filial piety, not even sparing her a glance from the corner of his eye.
Pretend, keep pretending!
"Ahem." Gu Xiangcheng cleared his throat, made a tactical pause, and activated his leadership speech mode.
Everyone fell silent.
"I have an announcement. The municipal committee's talks have concluded. Given the special circumstances in County A, the city and the county have decided to let me temporarily take charge of the comprehensive work of the county bureau."
Gu Xiangcheng tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth, saying breezily: "Acting Bureau Chief. The official red-headed document will be issued in the next couple of days."
The air was quiet for two seconds.
"Ah!" Ye Shulian slapped the table and stood up. "Lao Gu, is it really settled? The top boss?"
"Acting, acting," Gu Xiangcheng feigned modesty. "It still depends on the assessment."
"Then we must celebrate such good news! I'll make a great meal tonight, and we can also celebrate the kids successfully finishing their college entrance exams!"
In this small, bureaucracy-oriented county town, the title of Public Security Bureau Chief carried immense weight.
It was a solid section-chief level position, and could even be highly matched to a deputy county level.
Unlike in later years, where it was natural for the chief to concurrently serve as deputy county head.
Nowadays, whether a chief could get the deputy county rank depended entirely on personal ability and background.
Ye Zhenzhen was genuinely happy. "Congratulations, Uncle Gu!"
Only Gu Ran was excessively calm.
"Dad, congratulations. The responsibility is heavy, so take care of your health and don't push yourself too hard."
Gu Xiangcheng looked at his son's placid face. His little desire to show off fell flat, but on second thought, he felt gratified.
In the past, this kid would have been clamoring for money by now. His current unfazed demeanor showed some depth and the bearing of a great general.
"You kid, you really can keep your composure. Alright, let's eat."
The atmosphere at the table was lively, and Ye Shulian was enthusiastically planning an imperial feast for the evening.
Right at that moment.
Under the table.
A foot wearing a slipper, like a slippery swimming fish, stretched over silently.
First, it tentatively touched Ye Zhenzhen's calf.
The young woman stiffened all over, almost choking to death on the dumpling in her mouth.
She subconsciously pulled her leg back and looked across the table in horror.
Gu Ran was holding his bowl and drinking porridge, looking straight ahead.
Seeing her dodge, the foot intensified its efforts and directly hooked around her ankle.
Insteps touching, body heat transmitted through the thin socks, and it even rubbed against her ankle bone mischievously.
For a moment, the young woman felt like her head was going to explode.
Uncle Gu was right next to them!
If he just looked down, they would be caught red-handed carrying out their secret affair!
"Zhenzhen, why is your face so red?" Ye Shulian asked sharply.
"Ah? Nothing... the porridge is too hot!" Ye Zhenzhen buried her head in her bowl, her voice trembling.
"Drink slowly," Gu Xiangcheng said cheerfully.
Under the table, Gu Ran's foot slid an inch up her calf.
That numbing and taboo electric current made the young woman's toes curl tightly against the soles of her shoes.
Intolerable!
Gritting her teeth, she took advantage of the elders' inattention, aimed at the offending foot, and stomped down hard!
She used a hundred percent of her strength, aiming for mutual destruction.
"Hiss—"
A soft intake of breath came from across the table.
Gu Ran raised his eyebrows slightly and finally looked at her.
The young woman's eyes held a humiliated and angry warning: Move again and I'll chop off your paws!
The young man's eyes held a triumphant smile: If you break it by stepping on it, you'll have to take responsibility.
"Gu Ran, what's wrong?" Gu Xiangcheng asked.
"Nothing." Gu Ran withdrew his foot without changing his expression, his facial management scoring full marks. "I bit my tongue."
"By the way, Zhenzhen, why is there a bouquet of flowers in your room?" Ye Shulian asked casually, as if she had just remembered.
Ye Zhenzhen: "!!!"
The young woman, who was busy battling a certain someone, suddenly froze. Her face instantly flushed red, and her eyes carried a hint of guilt.
"Ah, that... that was given to me by Pei Susu after the exams."
Ye Shulian processed this for a moment, then took a sip of milk. "Pei Susu? Oh, your little friend. She even gave you red roses..."
"Yes, yeah."
Hearing this, Ye Shulian asked no more, and the battling siblings didn't dare to act rashly again.
...
After breakfast, Bureau Chief Gu went to take up his post full of energy, while Ye Shulian hurriedly went out to buy groceries.
Only the two "left-behind children" remained at home.
Ye Zhenzhen went into the kitchen to wash the dishes to cover up her embarrassment, the water splashing loudly.
Suddenly, a warm chest pressed up against her back.
Gu Ran rested his hands on the marble countertop, enclosing her in his arms.
"What... are you doing!"
The young woman was so startled that her hand trembled, but the plate was caught by Gu Ran's quick reflexes.
"Don't move, you're washing the dishes."
"Ye Zhenzhen, that stomp just now almost broke my foot!"
"Bah, serves you right. Who told you to act like a hooligan!" the young woman retorted without looking back.
Gu Ran tilted his head, his nose brushing past the rim of her ear. "By the way, you really dared to wear this dress."
The young woman paused. Just as she was about to explain that Ye Shulian had also bought her one, she heard the young man add, "But it looks very nice."
"Really?"
"Of course. Just look at whose girlfriend you are."
"Ah, you're asking for death!"
Hearing this, the young woman was embarrassed to death and quickly covered his mouth with her hand.
Gu Ran took the opportunity to kiss her palm.
"Mmph!" Ye Zhenzhen retracted her hand like she had been electrocuted, her face red enough to bleed.
"Alright, I won't tease you."
Gu Ran picked up the washed bowls and turned around, a smile playing on his lips. "Dr. Ye, hurry up and get ready. We're going out to practice driving in a bit."
...
5:00 PM.
The siblings returned from their driving practice, walking through the door with plenty to show for it.
Gu Xiangcheng sat on the sofa wearing his glasses, holding the newly delivered evening newspaper.
The TV was playing a news replay, painting a picture of peaceful and quiet times.
"You're back?" Gu Xiangcheng was in a good mood. "How was the driving practice?"
"Not bad, but parking in reverse still needs practice." Gu Ran lied through his teeth as he casually took the young woman's handbag.
"Get your license soon so I can enjoy some perks too, and have a driver when I go out in the future."
After speaking, he shook the newspaper and was about to turn the page when his gaze suddenly locked onto a striking headline in the supplement section.
His brows furrowed.
"These days, the media will write anything just to grab people's attention."
Lao Gu shook his head, offering a professional critique. "Look at this headline: 'Eighteen-Year-Old Genius Boy Develops Game Just to Save Terminally Ill Father'."
Gu Ran, who was in the middle of changing his shoes, suddenly froze.
A chill shot straight up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Gu Xiangcheng continued reading, "The article says the father is a veteran police officer who fell ill from overwork. Now he's lying on his deathbed, and the family had to sell their house and car... Tsk tsk, it breaks the heart of anyone who hears it and brings tears to the eyes of anyone who reads it."
"What's this game called again... Temple Run?"
"Pfft—!"
Ye Zhenzhen, who had just walked over to the coffee table and was taking a sip of water, nearly spat it all over the boy next to her.
The girl coughed violently and looked at Gu Ran in horror, her wide eyes filled with absolute shock.
Is this your doing?!
Standing to the side, Gu Ran broke out in a cold sweat.
That was a sponsored article he had asked Li Sinan to hire ghostwriters for, all to counter Penguin's public opinion war!
To make it convincing, they went all-in on a sob story marketing strategy, making it as tear-jerking as humanly possible.
Who would have thought this thing would actually make it into the local evening paper!
And be read by the subject himself!
Damn it, did the A County Evening News run out of things to write about?!
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.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
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.”
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."
