Chapter 177
The night breeze was slightly dry, and the sound of cicadas rose and fell in the old residential complex, yet it couldn't drown out the young man's clear, laughing voice.
Gu Ran couldn't resist raising his hand to ruffle the stubborn tuft of hair sticking up on top of Ye Zhenzhen's head.
It felt great, soft and fluffy, like petting a little puppy.
"College is just a platform to give you connections and a way of thinking. You won't know if you like it until you try."
He paused, his gaze falling on the girl's somewhat bewildered face, and his tone took on a bit more seriousness. "If you like it, then go be an angel in white. Healing the wounded and rescuing the dying is pretty cool. But if you ever feel tired, or if you ever feel wronged one day..."
Gu Ran's lips curled up slightly into a natural, wicked smile that looked exceptionally dazzling under the streetlight. "Then just change your way of life."
"Change my way of life?"
Ye Zhenzhen blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings. "I'm studying medicine. What else can I do if I don't become a doctor? I'm not like you, with a head full of bright ideas, able to make money from games."
"Then just stay at home, count money, and be the boss's wife," he said with absolute confidence, as if this were a matter of course.
"..."
The girl froze for two seconds, and then her cheeks flushed completely red, as if they were on fire.
She spat out in embarrassment and annoyance, "Who wants to be your boss's wife! Gu Ran, you're shameless!"
Scolding aside, the heavy stone that had been weighing on her heart for days inexplicably lightened at this moment.
It was as if someone had lit a lamp for her in a pitch-black wilderness, telling her: don't be afraid, you have a way out.
Seeing her brows relax, Gu Ran chuckled and pulled his phone out of his pocket with one hand.
After unlocking it, he tapped into the transaction text messages sent by the bank.
"Come on, Dr. Ye, we need to look at things with a long-term perspective."
Saying that, he leaned closer to the girl and shoved the screen right in front of her eyes. "Look, this is your boyfriend's true strength."
On the screen, dense records of incoming and outgoing transactions overlapped.
Ye Zhenzhen subconsciously glanced at it.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...
So many zeros again!
Just the few transfers from today alone added up to a number greater than the combined salary of an ordinary worker over several years!
"This..." Her small mouth fell open slightly, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.
Gu Ran took back his phone, casually spinning it at his fingertips, his tone relaxed. "Never mind studying medicine, even if you suddenly get the urge to go plant potatoes on the moon in the future, I can book the place for you and hire a few aliens to loosen the soil while I'm at it."
"Braggart!" The girl snapped back to reality and rolled her eyes at him.
The next second, her motherly sister persona came back online, and she began earnestly lecturing the young man, telling him that he shouldn't spend money recklessly just because he had it, and that he needed to save up to marry a wife...
Gu Ran remained noncommittal to this. His gaze swept over her unscrupulously, his eyes gradually deepening.
"Besides, I think studying medicine is pretty good."
His Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice dropped a few octaves, carrying an indescribable undertone. "A white coat, a stethoscope... paired with gold-rimmed glasses and a medical record book in hand..."
Gu Ran leaned in slightly, getting close to the girl's ear, his warm breath fanning against the hollow of her neck. "Yeah, it has a very... ascetic vibe to it."
"Boom—"
Ye Zhenzhen's words hitched. She felt a jolt of electricity shoot up her spine straight to the top of her skull, turning her whole body numb.
She instantly realized what this dog-like bastard was thinking about!
That little bit of being moved from just now was immediately fed to the dogs!
"Gu 'Dog' Ran! Clean out the dirty trash in your head!" The girl, dying of embarrassment and indignation, raised her hand to pinch his arm.
"I'm innocent! I'm praising your intellectual beauty! This is the highest compliment for an intellectual!" Gu Ran dodged and begged for mercy, smiling like a cat that had stolen a fish.
The two of them joked and roughhoused along the way. The dim yellow streetlights stretched their shadows long, occasionally overlapping, making them look exceptionally intimate.
Soon, they arrived at the bottom of her apartment building.
The old iron gate was half-open, and dim light seeped out from the stairwell.
Just as Ye Zhenzhen reached out to pull the gate, Gu Ran's voice suddenly came from behind her, "Hurry up these next two days and get your driver's license before school starts."
"Ah?" Ye Zhenzhen paused and turned back in confusion. "Why the rush?"
"When we get to Qinglin, I plan to buy a car first."
"Buy a car?!"
These three words were like a depth charge, exploding once again in the calm lake of Ye Zhenzhen's heart.
In this era, for an ordinary family, buying a car was definitely a major event that required several family meetings and even dipping into years of savings.
It was a luxury item one would only dare to think about after working for many years.
The impact of this was even greater than that pile of zeros from just now.
After all, numbers were just numbers, but a car was a real, tangible big-ticket item.
The girl widened her eyes. "Buying a car right when you start college? Isn't that... a bit too high-profile?"
"Don't worry, it's just needed for company business. Besides, as the boss, I can't exactly take a taxi to the company every day."
Saying that, Gu Ran took another step forward.
He directly invaded Ye Zhenzhen's safe distance, forcing her back against the cold iron gate.
"Thump."
A soft sound.
A classic wall-pin.
Ye Zhenzhen's back pressed against the freezing iron railings, but right in front of her was the young man's warm, broad chest.
The pleasant scent of mint on him lingered at the tip of her nose, mixed with the unique sweltering heat of the summer night, enveloping her entirely.
Gu Ran leaned down slightly, planting his hands on either side of her, once again trapping her firmly in his embrace.
For some reason, ever since they confirmed their relationship, he always had the urge to pull the girl before him and mold her right into his body.
The originally spacious entrance to the building now felt cramped and ambiguous.
He lowered his head, his dark eyes locking tightly onto the girl's flustered gaze.
"The company will be in Qinglin in the future. It'll be inconvenient to run business without a car. And..."
He paused on purpose, his gaze slowly shifting downward, landing on her eyelashes that were trembling slightly from nervousness, before sliding to her bright red lips.
His warm breath fanned against her sensitive ear, stirring up a flurry of fine shivers:
"With a car, future dates will be convenient, too."
Ye Zhenzhen's heart beat like a drum, feeling as if it would smash through her chest and jump out.
She forced herself to stay calm, pressing her hands against his chest in an attempt to push away this source of danger, and whispered her retort, "Taking... taking the bus works for dates too! We can look at the scenery, it's environmentally friendly, and there's air conditioning..."
"That's not the same."
Gu Ran chuckled softly, extending a finger and waving it gently in front of her.
"There are some things you just can't do on a bus."
His gaze landed on her bright red lips without any evasion, his implication clear.
"But doing them in a car... is very convenient."
Hearing this, the girl froze, her brain going blank for a brief moment.
Some things?
What things?
She subconsciously looked up, crashing into a certain someone's eyes that were brimming with teasing and profound meaning.
In a flash of lightning, certain not-safe-for-work images frantically spammed her mind like a barrage of bullet comments.
An enclosed space, dim lighting, rapid breathing...
A few seconds later, the girl's pretty face instantly flushed completely red, even her translucent earlobes looking as if they were about to drip blood.
"Gu Ran! You... you hooligan!"
This bad seed!
His head was entirely filled with this kind of trash!
"Pervert! Creep! You're shameless!"
The young girl was so ashamed and angry she could die. Without knowing where her strength came from, she shoved the young man in front of her away, turned around, pulled open the apartment building door, and ran.
No matter how you looked at it, her retreating figure screamed of someone fleeing in panic.
She ran so fast that she even stumbled at the bottom of the stairs.
"Slow down, don't trip!"
Gu Ran stood where he was, watching her slender figure disappear around the corner of the stairs. He didn't chase after her.
"Tsk, shy already?"
He let out a low chuckle. "If I actually buy a car in the future, won't she just faint from embarrassment?"
This girl was still too innocent.
But that was fine.
They had plenty of days ahead of them. He had all the time in the world to teach her slowly, to devour this little white rabbit bite by bite.
...
Upstairs, Room 302.
Ye Zhenzhen rushed into her home panting heavily, her heart still throwing a wild dance party in her chest.
Closing the door with a loud bang, she leaned her back against the wooden panel, gasping for air. She felt as if all the blood in her body was rushing to her face.
The look in that bastard's eyes just now... it was too hot.
She felt like she was going to melt...
Just as she finished changing her shoes, before she even had time to calm down, she bumped right into Ye Shulian, who was walking out of the kitchen holding half a watermelon.
"Zhenzhen? Why are you just getting back? Where's Gu Ran?"
Ye Shulian stopped in her tracks and looked at her daughter suspiciously.
With just one glance, she immediately noticed something was off.
Her cheeks were flushed red, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her hair was a bit messy.
The most crucial point was her lips... were they swollen?
As an experienced woman, Ye Shulian's eyelids twitched violently.
Furthermore, these two kids were usually inseparable. Why was her daughter running back all alone and in such a panic today?
Gu Ran was nowhere to be seen.
Could this silly girl... have ditched Gu Ran and sneaked off on a date with some other boy?!
At the thought of this possibility, alarm bells instantly rang in Ye Shulian's head, and the watermelon in her hands suddenly lost its appeal.
"Ah? He... he's right behind me!"
Ye Zhenzhen didn't dare to meet her mother's eyes at all. Feeling guilty, she lowered her head and pretended to organize the shoe rack. "It... it was too hot outside, so I ran back first! Um... I'm a little sleepy, I'm going to bed!"
After saying that, she bolted into her bedroom as if a vicious dog was chasing her.
Bang!
The bedroom door was slammed shut, and the sound of the lock clicking into place could even be heard.
Ye Shulian stood in the living room, took a bite of her watermelon, furrowed her brows, and looked at the wall clock.
Ten thirty.
There was definitely something wrong with this girl!
That panicked look clearly meant she was hiding a guilty conscience!
...
Inside the bedroom.
The lights were off. Only the moonlight from outside the window spilled onto the pink bedsheets.
Ye Zhenzhen leaned against the door, covering her burning cheeks with both hands, her heart about to leap out of her throat.
That scoundrel!
His head was full of... those dirty things!
"Ahhh! Gu Ran, you huge pervert!"
The young girl let out a low cry of embarrassment and annoyance, threw herself onto the bed, and pulled the blanket over herself, wrapping up tightly like a silkworm cocoon.
The bed was filled with the fresh scent of laundry detergent, giving her a familiar sense of security.
As the wave of extreme shame slowly faded, the girl hiding in the dark blankets, whose words said one thing but whose body felt another, couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth curl up into a sweet smile she didn't even notice herself.
"Is it... really convenient in a car?"
Unconsciously, this thought popped into her head again.
The next second, Ye Zhenzhen buried her face in her pillow and let out a shy cry that sounded like a whimpering kitten.
Ye Zhenzhen, you are so shameless!!!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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."
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.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
