Chapter 56
Nighttime.
Ye Zhenzhen crouched at the kitchen door, her ten slender fingers moving nimbly as she peeled plump cloves of garlic one by one.
This glorious and great task of peeling garlic had officially been transferred from Lao Gu to Comrade Ye Zhenzhen, who gladly accepted it.
Ye Shulian was currently busy making dumplings, while Lao Gu helped out on the side. The family of three huddled in the kitchen, looking very warm and cozy.
The only dog in the house, however, was squatting in his own room, testing the final version of Temple Run.
Except for the art resources and voice acting that had yet to be added, all development tasks were complete.
After nearly two months, using only a little over half an hour of free time each day, he had finally finished it.
While testing the game, he browsed Tieba and QQ groups.
However, most of his attention was focused on Tieba. In this era, Tieba was still the main gathering place for internet surfers.
Especially the university forums, which had a constant twenty-four-hour resident population.
Therefore, his eyes were mostly fixed on the local art academy's Tieba.
He had posted a thread looking for a part-time artist, but because his settlement cycle was very long, very few people showed interest.
He also wanted to pay wages quickly, but he had no choice—he really had no money.
While he was at his wits' end, scrolling through Tieba, Ye Zhenzhen pushed the door open and walked in, having finished peeling the garlic.
Humming softly, the young girl walked up behind him with her hands behind her back.
"It's one thing not to work, but you're hiding in here playing on the computer," Ye Zhenzhen wrinkled her nose slightly, leaning over to whisper.
"Who's playing? I'm doing serious business."
Smelling the faint scent of osmanthus at the tip of his nose, Gu Ran's mind cleared up.
Gently rubbing his temples, his headache was instantly relieved a lot.
He had to admit, this was literally a case of sister cures the illness!
He needed to find time to get the little bear back; it should have absorbed enough of her scent by now.
"Serious business?"
Ye Zhenzhen tilted her head, getting closer to the screen to take a careful look.
The girl hadn't tied her hair up in a high ponytail. Her black hair flowed down like a waterfall, and a playful strand curled up, brushing against his face.
It tickled a bit, so Gu Ran couldn't help but reach up to scratch it, but he accidentally brushed the back of his hand against the girl's cheek.
There was no exquisite coincidence or romantic atmosphere, only a delicate scolding.
"Gu 'Dog' Ran!"
Ye Zhenzhen immediately bounced back and retreated, covering her cheek with her hand and glaring at him in shy anger.
She couldn't understand how this guy dared to touch her face in broad daylight.
Was he really not afraid that she would call for Uncle Gu!
Gu Ran: "..."
His hand that had scratched his face was still hovering in the air. He twitched the corner of his mouth awkwardly and said speechlessly, "I was just scratching my face and accidentally touched you. What are you barking for?"
Hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen widened her eyes. What was she barking for? Would she bark if he hadn't touched her face...
Wait, what kind of phrasing was that? What was she barking for?!
Was she a dog?
What kind of wording was that!
Glaring at him again in shy annoyance, Ye Zhenzhen blushed and said, "Let's go, it's time to eat."
With that, she fled out of the room like she was escaping and entered the kitchen.
Ye Shulian was plating the dumplings and didn't notice her expression, but Lao Gu, who was waiting to carry the plates, immediately saw her flushed cheeks and hurried steps.
She just went to that boy's room for less than three minutes, how did her face get so red?
He couldn't help but feel suspicious, but his face showed no change. Instead, as usual, he cheerfully asked Ye Zhenzhen to help carry the plates.
Gu Ran appeared leisurely right after, bringing all the dishes for dinner to the table before the family of four finally took their seats.
As the head of the family (which Gu Ran considered to be temporary), Gu Xiangcheng naturally raised his wine glass and said a few words.
Listening to Lao Gu chattering away, bringing his workplace rhetoric back home, Gu Ran felt a bit speechless, but he wouldn't be so ignorant as to ruin the moment.
Changing his usual style, he listened attentively today, but the more he listened, the stranger he felt.
When Lao Gu mentioned that they were now a new family, helping each other, not blood relatives but better than blood relatives, he keenly noticed that Lao Gu glanced at him several times.
What did that mean?
Did he think he wasn't getting along well enough with the others?
Fine then, from now on, he would definitely treat Ye Zhenzhen even better and turn her into a blood relative!!!
Gu Ran gave Lao Gu a knowing look. Noticing his gesture, Gu Xiangcheng nodded in satisfaction and ended his speech.
During the meal, listening to Ye Shulian and Gu Ran chatting lively with a very harmonious atmosphere, he also couldn't help but want to join in.
After pondering for a moment, he paused and decided to show some concern for his son's studies.
"I heard the first mock exam is over. How did you do?"
As soon as he spoke, Ye Shulian's smiling face instantly froze. She then reached out, pinched his thigh, and rolled her eyes at him.
They were having a perfectly good meal, why bring up grades? Wasn't it better to just be happy during the holidays?
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lao Gu also realized he had misspoken. They had agreed not to meddle with the boy's studies, but he still couldn't control his concern.
"Um... not much, just over five hundred," Gu Ran replied casually with a straight face, pretending to be nonchalant.
Ye Zhenzhen, who was mixing the dumpling dipping sauce on the side, couldn't help but roll her beautiful eyes at him.
Childish!
Hearing this, Lao Gu nodded and said comfortingly, "Mhm, it's fine, five hundred... How much did you score???"
Halfway through his sentence, he realized it wasn't the usual two or three hundred points, but over five hundred, making him momentarily think he had misheard.
Gu Ran smiled and replied while eating a dumpling, "Over five hundred, not high, not high at all~"
Gu Xiangcheng: "..."
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
Give him an inch, and he takes a mile.
Ye Zhenzhen kicked off her slippers, stretched out her small foot, and gave his calf a kick.
But the latter immediately responded by clamping his legs together, trapping her foot between them.
With her small foot controlled, Ye Zhenzhen couldn't pull it back for a moment, and a blush slowly crept up her pretty face.
She was sitting on Gu Ran's right. After her leg was clamped, she had to sit turned towards him.
In order to keep her upper body straight, she could only twist her waist as much as possible.
Poking Gu Ran's waist repeatedly with her small hand, she bit her lip, lowered her head, and murmured.
"You... let go!"
Gu Ran pretended not to hear and proudly raised his head to answer Lao Gu's question.
"I really scored over five hundred. If you don't believe me, ask Ye Zhenzhen."
Saying that, he reached out and gently nudged the girl who was murmuring with her head down, "Right?"
"Show some respect, call her older sister."
Gu Xiangcheng glared at him first before looking at Ye Zhenzhen.
Gu Ran: "..."
Great, he had found the source!
The phrase call me older sister that Ye Zhenzhen always had on her lips was actually learned from here. No wonder the tone sounded so familiar.
Hearing herself mentioned, the girl quickly raised her head and nodded, slightly flustered. "Y-yes, Uncle Gu, Gu Ran scored five hundred and twenty-six points on this exam."
Gu Xiangcheng: "???"
Five hundred and twenty-six?
Was this a score his son could achieve?
He glanced at him suspiciously. Seeing this, Ye Zhenzhen quickly added, "There's no inflation; it's the result of his own hard work."
Seeing Ye Zhenzhen vouch for him, Gu Xiangcheng finally believed it.
Although he still found it incredible, he couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face. He picked up the glass in front of him, downed it in a single gulp, and repeatedly exclaimed, "Good, good..."
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."
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.
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.”
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
