Chapter 5
Bidding farewell to Little Fatty, whose face clearly said "I don't believe you," Gu Ran walked with brisk steps toward the "house" in his memory.
The reason he called it a house was that, in Gu Ran's heart, it could hardly be considered a home.
After all, whose home had an atmosphere that was terrifyingly oppressive?
This house was located in the county's newest and most impressive real estate development, Riverside Garden.
With three bedrooms and one living room, it was considered a very large layout for County A at this time.
As for the residential community's landscaping, in the words of an old man downstairs, "Hey, it's so good that it makes people envious. Standing inside the house, you can even see the river dam nearby. The scenery is simply unbelievably beautiful!"
The sight before him felt somewhat unfamiliar, because in his previous life, Gu Ran had lived here for less than two years in total.
This house was bought by Lao Gu with a mortgage during his sophomore year of high school, but after he went to college, he never came back.
The old house full of memories, however, had been sold by Lao Gu to supplement the family's expenses.
His maternal grandparents had long passed away, and the last place where he could reminisce about his mother had also been taken away.
Later, when he heard that Lao Gu's purpose for buying a new house was to remarry, the little flame of rebellion in his heart could no longer be contained.
So from then on, he never returned to this so-called "home."
Standing at the gate of the Riverside Garden community, Gu Ran felt a complex mix of emotions.
The brisk steps he had taken when leaving the school became increasingly heavy the closer he got, as if his feet were filled with lead. Every step forward required immense courage.
He paced back and forth for a long time, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.
Ultimately, he convinced himself to let go of that so-called youthful impulsiveness.
Burying his chaotic thoughts deep in his heart, he mustered the courage and took that difficult step toward the community gate.
The thought of his previous life, where his opposition had hindered Lao Gu's right to pursue happiness and left the old man all alone, filled his heart with guilt.
After gathering his thoughts, he relaxed, slowly walked into the community, and went upstairs.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw Lao Gu already sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.
Seeing him come in, Lao Gu gave him a faint glance, looking as calm as could be.
Although he didn't say a word, it felt like everything had been said.
For some reason, Gu Ran seemed to understand the look in his eyes.
This kid must have skipped evening self-study again!
Was that what it meant?
Staring at the newspaper in his hands, Lao Gu found that he could no longer take in a single word.
He sighed silently in his heart, feeling a bit ashamed toward his late wife.
Over the years, he had been so focused on work that he hadn't educated their child well.
He wanted to guide Gu Ran, but whenever the words came out, they always sounded like orders.
This incorrect way of communication only fueled Gu Ran's rebelliousness, and the father and son had argued plenty of times before because of his way of speaking.
By now, he was a bit reluctant to speak, afraid of starting another argument.
"You're back," he said somewhat sternly, as if being a father meant he had to keep a straight face.
Gu Ran felt a wave of daze. It seemed... like a very, very long time since he had heard Lao Gu's voice.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt the urge to cry.
He turned to look at Gu Xiangcheng on the sofa. Right now, Lao Gu's hair hadn't turned white yet, and there weren't many wrinkles on his face.
Wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, along with a white shirt and black dress pants, calling him Director Gu would not be an exaggeration at all.
Gu Ran stared blankly at Gu Xiangcheng's face. Unknowingly, his throat began to tighten, and his eyes grew slightly moist, but he quickly lowered his head and started changing his shoes, trying to hide his unusual behavior.
"Yeah, I'm back, Dad..."
His hoarse voice produced a muffled sound, and his words trembled slightly.
After he spoke, Gu Xiangcheng, holding the newspaper, was visibly stunned. He looked up in surprise at the figure by the door, his mood becoming inexplicably complicated.
This brat...
How long had it been since he had spoken to him so calmly...
Although he was surprised by the boy's change, his long-standing speaking habits made it hard for him to let his guard down.
Even though he wanted to ease the tension with his son, his words still carried a hint of strictness when they came out: "Hmm... haven't eaten yet?"
Gu Ran was already used to this kind of "reserve" from Lao Gu.
If Lao Gu were to speak to him gently one day, he would actually find it unnatural.
"Not yet," Gu Ran replied casually.
"I saved some food, go heat it up... Never mind, I'll go fix it for you. Go back to your room and study hard."
Halfway through his sentence, Lao Gu put down the newspaper and walked into the kitchen.
Even though he knew his son's grades were nothing to boast about, he still maintained the earnest expectations of a father.
"Okay, thanks, Dad," Gu Ran mumbled, speaking somewhat stiffly.
Hearing this, Lao Gu froze completely, standing there in astonishment. It took him a long while to recover.
But in the end, he replied expressionlessly, "Just focus on your studies."
This awkward conversation came to an end, and Gu Ran fled back to his room as if running for his life.
He pushed open the window in his room, stepped onto the small balcony, and rested his hands on the railing. Looking at the river dam in the distance, he took a deep breath of the fresh outside air.
It was a bit awkward, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help turning up.
It really wasn't that hard to talk nicely, was it!
He had no idea what he had been so stubborn about in his previous life...
He shook his head, went back to his desk, pulled out his chair, sat down, and braced himself to open his math textbook.
But it was still incredibly profound and obscure!
Even though his memory was top-notch now, math was truly a mysterious thing. If you didn't get it, you just didn't get it...
Five minutes...
Ten minutes...
Scratching his head in frustration, he slammed the book shut, silently calculating in his mind that he needed to find a tutor.
Otherwise, if he kept studying on his own like this, his math score wouldn't be much higher than in his previous life.
His foundation in math couldn't be described as poor; it was practically non-existent...
Patting his head, he opened his biology textbook instead.
As the arts subject among the sciences, he was still pretty good at getting high scores just by memorizing knowledge points...
Before long, there was a knock on the door, followed by Lao Gu's inherently strict-sounding voice from outside: "Food's ready, come out and eat."
He could tell that Lao Gu had deliberately tried to sound gentler, but the change wasn't very noticeable.
Gu Ran smiled faintly, put down his textbook, walked out of the room, and sat down at the dining table.
Lao Gu, who had already eaten, saw his son sit down, thought for a moment, and then served himself a little rice to sit with him.
Seeing the old man's unnatural movements, Gu Ran shook his head silently in his heart.
Even with the intention to mend their relationship, their long-standing antagonism made it hard for both of them to adapt to this long-lost harmony all at once.
Sigh, whatever, it's better to just act naturally...
Having made up his mind, Gu Ran lowered his head and started eating.
Come to think of it, this was the first time in over ten years he had eaten a meal cooked by Lao Gu. He wondered how it tasted...
The next second, the thoughts in Gu Ran's mind came to an abrupt halt, and his face gradually turned green.
He didn't know whether to keep chewing the food in his mouth or just spit it out outright.
Silently looking up at his elderly father, he ultimately forced himself to swallow it down to avoid hurting the man's pride.
If having this meal together today hadn't been a spur-of-the-moment decision, he would have suspected that Lao Gu had poisoned him in advance!
How could it possibly taste this awful?!
Sigh, this old man had lived all by himself in his past life. He really had it rough...
While Gu Ran's thoughts were running wild, Lao Gu, sitting across from him, pondered for a long time.
Seeing his son in a shockingly good mood tonight, he decided to seize this hard-won opportunity. After remaining silent for a good while, he tentatively spoke up, "This weekend, come with me to meet someone..."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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!
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.
