Chapter 43
At four in the afternoon, Pei Susu had already left. Gu Ran familiarly walked through the back door and entered the young girl's bedroom.
The girl sitting at the desk studying didn't even turn her head; her beautiful eyes simply rolled quietly.
Without going to sit at the desk, Gu Ran had a clear goal and sat on the edge of the soft bed.
Leaning back, he rested his head on a panda plushie's head and looked at the girl's back, speaking lazily.
"Ye Zhenzhen, Lao Gu just called to say they are staying in our hometown for dinner, so we have to figure out our own dinner tonight."
"Call me sister!"
Ye Zhenzhen, who was working on practice problems, didn't even think and instinctively fired back.
This guy never showed any respect for his elders, making "call me sister" almost a habit for her.
After finishing the math problem in front of her, she finally turned her head, preparing to ask what they should eat for dinner.
But in the next second, her delicate eyebrows immediately shot up.
"Gu 'Dog' Ran, get up right now!"
"Why?"
Gu Ran didn't move, replying lazily with narrowed eyes.
Taking a deep breath, the faint scent of osmanthus lingering at the tip of his nose made him relax more and more, and his eyelids grew heavier.
He should figure out a way to bring his bear plushie back to soak up the scent. The bear sitting in his room right now was almost completely out of its osmanthus fragrance.
"You've completely squashed my panda's head!"
Yanked up by her, Gu Ran sat up in a daze. Watching the girl affectionately pick up the panda and massage it to restore its squashed head to its original shape, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth and mutter.
"Ye Zhenzhen, you're stingy to the bone."
"Pfft!"
Turning her head to spit at him, Ye Zhenzhen carefully placed the fluffed-up panda doll to the side. Then, she rolled her eyes at the person next to her and grabbed her own pillow, handing it over.
"So where are we eating tonight?"
Gu Ran took the pillow with some surprise, not expecting this unexpected bonus.
Smelling the rich osmanthus fragrance, he quickly lay down, closed his eyes, and mumbled drowsily, "Don't know. I'm sleepy, gonna nap for a bit..."
As soon as his voice fell, only his even breathing remained in the room. In less than three seconds, his light snoring sounded.
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
She waved a hand in front of his face. Finding that this guy was indeed fast asleep, Ye Zhenzhen's mouth twitched, and a hint of helplessness appeared on her usually calm face.
How could he be this tired?
Was he out fighting wolves in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?!
Staring at his features for a moment, Ye Zhenzhen got up, grabbed a blanket, and gently draped it over him.
She took a few more glances before turning back to her desk to continue her exercises.
...
The sun gradually set in the west. The room grew quieter, with only the rustling sound of a pen tip gliding across scratch paper.
When Gu Ran woke up, he found the room had gone dark. The main lights weren't on; only a small desk lamp glowed faintly in front of the study desk.
Turning over gently, he touched the blanket covering him, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
But looking at the unlit room and the blanket on him, his smile suddenly froze on his face.
This girl... was she really raising him like a son?!
Letting him use her pillow, sleep on her bed, cover himself with her blanket, showing absolutely no guard against him, and even just turning on a small desk lamp to study for fear of disturbing his sleep...
Was this... a mother-type sister???
For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He rolled out of bed, folded the blanket, and placed it on the bed. He walked over and gently tapped the desk.
"Why didn't you turn on the light? This little desk lamp isn't bright enough..."
Ye Zhenzhen, who was deep in thought, was startled by his voice. Patting her chest lightly, she said, "You're awake. It's fine, I only have these few questions left."
Gu Ran leaned his head over to take a look and found there were three multiple-choice questions left. He nodded and said, "Then once you're done, we'll go out to eat."
Ye Zhenzhen calmly nodded in agreement, then quickly lowered her head to continue working on the problems.
Gu Ran, on the other hand, lay back down on the bed. He took a deep breath, feeling refreshed.
He had to admit, sleeping on a young girl's bed yielded surprisingly high-quality sleep, coming with a natural, fragrant sleep-aiding effect.
He thought for a moment, got up, went back to his room to fetch his little bear plushie, placed it at the head of her bed, and nodded in satisfaction.
The girl, who was checking her answers, noticed his actions and asked in confusion, "Why did you bring it back? Are you returning it to me?"
"In your dreams. I just brought it back to recharge its scent. I'll take it back in a couple of days."
Recharge its scent?
Hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen frowned slightly and asked doubtfully, feeling that this recharging scent didn't sound like a good thing.
"The osmanthus fragrance!"
Gu Ran shrugged and replied very naturally.
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
She knew it, no ivory comes from a dog's mouth!
She glared at him in embarrassed annoyance, silently cursing him as a pervert in her heart.
Ignoring the big idiot with a faulty brain circuit, she turned her head and continued checking her answers.
...
The two of them wrapped themselves in winter clothes and stepped on the snowy road, making crunching sounds.
It was completely dark now, and the streetlights had come on.
It was said that tonight's fireworks show was from half past seven to eight o'clock, but even though it was only six o'clock now, some people had already started celebrating.
Looking at the fireworks blooming on the horizon, the colorful lights illuminated the girl's face.
Ye Zhenzhen paused slightly, unable to help but look at the gorgeous fireworks in the distant sky.
Gu Ran also stopped, looked up, and then turned his head to look at the girl's face, which was dyed red by the glow. He smiled and asked.
"Want to go see the fireworks after dinner tonight?"
Hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen raised her eyebrows and asked back with some pleasant surprise, "Where is it?"
"Just over by the People's Square."
"But... but shouldn't we go back to study?"
Amidst her joy, Ye Zhenzhen unconsciously began to worry, always feeling that wasting time instead of studying was a great sin.
Hearing this, Gu Ran speechlessly tugged at her high ponytail and asked curiously, "Big sis, it's just a half-hour firework show, does that little bit of time really matter? Besides, all you know is studying every day, don't you get tired?"
Slapping away the hand pulling her ponytail, a solemn expression rose on her usually calm face. She frowned slightly and started nagging again.
Hearing her say that she needed to study hard to strive to be a social elite, Gu Ran couldn't help but be curious. For this girl who loved learning as much as her own life, what exactly counted as an elite in her eyes?
Hearing his question, Ye Zhenzhen's voice paused, and ripples appeared in her cold, clear eyes.
What is an elite?
After thinking for a moment, she answered using the words her teacher had taught them: "It's when you gather everyone together, put them through layers of filtering and screening, and those who remain are the elites!"
Gu Ran, however, blinked his eyes and said with a dumbfounded look, "After going through layers of filtering and screening, aren't the things left over just the dregs?"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
What is going on with this guy's brain circuit every day?
But...
What he said actually seemed to make quite a bit of sense...
Subsequently, the two engaged in a heated discussion about whether the things left after screening were elites or dregs.
The innocent young girl had no idea that at this moment, she was being led down a path of no return...
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."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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.
