Chapter 310
Ye Zhenzhen was just about to retort when a long, slender hand suddenly reached in from the side and snatched her phone away.
Gu Ran held the phone, his tone perfectly natural without a single flaw:
"Aunt Ye."
"I've already come to get Zhenzhen. She just woke up and is still lazing in bed."
"You two go ahead and soak in the hot springs—no need to wait for us. Since we chose different therapeutic pools, we're not even in the same room anyway."
Hearing the shift in the young man's address, Ye Shulian couldn't help but smile like a doting aunt.
She instantly felt that being force-fed a mouthful of lovey-dovey PDA wasn't so bad after all.
"Alright, alright. You young folks arrange things yourselves. I'll head over with your father!"
At the sound of the dial tone from the phone, Ye Zhenzhen snapped fully awake.
Right!
They were on vacation!
But...
How did she remember locking the door?
The girl shot upright in bed, her gaze darting back and forth between Gu Ran and the tightly shut door.
"How did you get in?!"
Gu Ran casually tossed the phone back onto the sofa, showing no intention of explaining.
"The night is short, Dr. Ye. Do you really want to waste time on trivial questions like 'how I got in'?"
He bent down slightly, leaning close to her stunned face, a mischievous smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
"If you keep dawdling, you'll miss out on the private hot spring with a view that's unique to this mountain resort."
Seeing his smug yet irresistible expression, Ye Zhenzhen's mind raced, and she immediately started spinning a dramatic scenario in her head.
This sneaky bastard must have secretly gotten another room key and snuck into her room late at night.
It had to be because he was utterly captivated by her charm and couldn't wait another second to see her!
With that thought, Ye Zhenzhen secretly gleamed. Her earlier sulking and wild suspicions instantly transformed into playful arrogance.
She stood up from the bed, smoothed out her slightly wrinkled clothes, and gave a light hum.
"Then hurry up and lead the way~"
She lifted her chin slightly, like a proud little peacock.
"Since you're so sincere about it, big sister here will graciously agree to soak in that so-called private hot spring."
The two took a private elevator down to the first floor's hot spring area, walked through a corridor lined with red lanterns, and stopped in front of a room with an antique, elegant design.
Gu Ran swiped the door open, and a warm mist laced with a faint sulfur scent rushed out to meet them.
Inside, the room offered excellent privacy.
A massive hot spring pool was built from natural bluestone, surrounded by artificial rock formations. As steam rose, the warm yellow lighting made it feel as if they had stepped into a surreal wonderland.
Ye Zhenzhen was wrapped in a thick white bathrobe, clutching the robe's sash. She was about to slip behind a folding screen to undress and get into the water.
But just as she took two steps, she heard the sharp click of the door locking behind her.
Turning around, she saw that not only had Gu Ran followed her inside, but he had also securely locked the heavy wooden door!
"You... what are you coming in here for?"
She gripped the collar of her bathrobe tightly, her voice trembling with nervousness.
Her tension wasn't just about modesty—the hot springs were all on the first floor, and Uncle Gu and her mother were definitely around. How mortifying would it be if they got caught?
A stepdaughter and her stepbrother sharing a private bath?
"This is a private hot spring. Aren't you supposed to go to the men's section next door?!"
Gu Ran walked over to the pool edge with an air of entitlement, slowly and deliberately undoing the belt of his black robe right in front of her.
"Dr. Ye, do you have the wrong idea about what a private hot spring means?"
He casually tossed his robe onto a nearby lounge chair, revealing his well-defined abs and broad shoulders.
"A private spring means the two of us soaking together. Otherwise, why would I spend a fortune booking this room—to sit here and meditate?"
With that, he stepped his long legs straight into the warm water and settled down, leaning against a rock formation at the edge.
The water level barely reached his chest. Under the soft yellow light, his skin glistened with a tension-filled, water-kissed sheen.
Ye Zhenzhen stood on the side, staring at the incredibly fit young man in the pool. Her cheeks burned so fiercely that even breathing became difficult.
She hesitated, refusing to take off her robe, her eyes darting around awkwardly before fixating on a bluestone slab at the pool's edge, pretending it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
Seeing her reluctance, Gu Ran's eyes gleamed with playful mischief.
"Dr. Ye, if you don't come down soon, I'll have to come up and fetch you myself."
"Besides, it's not like we haven't seen each other without clothes before. What's there to be shy about?"
He deliberately dragged out his words, his voice dripping with teasing.
Ye Zhenzhen gritted her teeth and was about to spin around to hide behind the screen when her wrist was suddenly grabbed firmly.
Gu Ran had already risen from the water, stepping over the pool's edge, and yanked her right in front of him.
"Since Dr. Ye is so shy, let me do the honors."
He reached out, grabbed the collar of her thick bathrobe, and peeled it down her rounded shoulders, tossing it carelessly to the ground.
Before Ye Zhenzhen could even let out a startled cry, Gu Ran bent down, scooped her up, and carried her straight into the warm spring water.
Splashes radiated around them as they settled in.
The sudden loss of balance sent her heart racing. The water's buoyancy left her with no leverage, forcing her to cling even tighter to Gu Ran's shoulders.
The spring water rose past her collarbone, its warmth enveloping her entire body, but it was nothing compared to the searing heat of Gu Ran's hand pressed against her waist.
She was wearing a eye-catching canary-yellow halter top and shorts underneath, with a thin layer of translucent white gauze draped over them.
Now soaked through, the gauze clung to her fair skin, highlighting her curves to breathtaking effect, like a spotlight on her figure.
In the dim, intimate lighting, the faint hint of canary yellow had an overwhelming visual impact.
This sight made the young man's rationality dance on the edge of madness.
Ye Zhenzhen was so embarrassed she wished she could dive underwater and vanish. But with nowhere to escape, she buried her burning cheeks deep into the crook of Gu Ran's neck, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Holding her close, Gu Ran leaned back against the pool's edge, quietly savoring the soft warmth in his arms.
Through the soaked gauze, he could clearly feel her delicate body pressing tightly against his.
The heat of their skin meeting made his throat tighten.
His hand slid along the slender curve of her waist, pulling her even closer, until the already minimal space between them dissolved completely.
Ye Zhenzhen could clearly hear the powerful thumping of Gu Ran's heartbeat.
It was unnervingly fast—each beat pounding heavily against her eardrums.
She tried to squirm, attempting to pull away from his embrace, but his arms held her like iron clamps, leaving her completely immobilized.
"Don't move."
Gu Ran's voice was lower and hoarser than before, laced with suppressed desire. His fingers on her waist tightened slightly.
Ye Zhenzhen stiffened. After their many shared experiences, she couldn't ignore the clear physical reaction pressing against her.
This... this was too much!
Pressing her lips together, she mumbled softly:
"Gu Ran, you... you need to calm down. We'll get caught..."
Gu Ran lowered his head to look at the young girl curled up in his arms like a frightened quail, a helpless, bitter smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Sigh...
Of course, he knew they were out in public.
He had only meant to tease her, but in the end, it backfired—he had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the grain.
He ground his molars, struggling to calm the heat surging through his body.
His eyes, fixed on the girl, grew darker, deeper than ink.
He leaned down, pressing his thin lips almost against her ear, which was flushed crimson.
"Then let go... don't hold so tight..."
His hot, ragged breath spilled entirely onto her sensitive neck, scorching her and making her tremble in his arms.
"If you don't let go soon, I'll have to follow through with whatever's going on in that head of yours."
Ye Zhenzhen shuddered, quickly slipping out of his arms, and scolded him with a playful pout.
"Shameless..."
Gu Ran raised an eyebrow. "Huh? (⊙_☉)?"
He hadn't said anything—she was the one letting her imagination run wild—so why was she cursing him out??
...
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."
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.
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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.
