Chapter 58
It was a new day. Gu Ran woke up in the morning and pulled the lazy girl out of bed. The two went out and ran two laps around the riverbank, breathing in the cold wind, before heading home.
After returning home, Ye Zhenzhen's face carried a post-workout flush. Her pretty face looked radiant, showing much more liveliness compared to her previous lifelessness.
Ye Shulian saw her daughter's changes and felt deeply grateful.
The old Ye Zhenzhen felt very similar to Gu Xiangcheng; both constantly had poker faces.
Although she was very obedient and well-behaved, and studied hard and seriously, she lacked youthful vigor.
Every day she wore an indifferent expression, and once she got home, she only knew how to lock herself in her room to study.
But now, with Gu Ran around, everything was developing in a good direction.
"Kids, time to eat!"
Placing the breakfast on the table, she called out toward the bathroom, where the two were pushing and shoving each other, fighting for space to brush their teeth.
"Ye Zhenzhen, you dawdled so much in the shower, and you actually didn't brush your teeth?"
"Mind your own business, I just want to brush them now!"
The girl spat out the white foam from her mouth, glared at a certain someone in the mirror, and continued to squeeze sideways.
"You can brush later. I'm the older sister. Haven't you heard the story of Kong Rong giving up the bigger pear?"
Gu Ran was equally unyielding, squeezing right back. "Hey, what a coincidence, I really haven't!"
"Gu 'Dog' Ran!"
"Your grandpa is right here!"
"You..."
Neither gave an inch as they fought to finish brushing their teeth together before coming out for breakfast.
This morning Lao Gu was free, so they got a dedicated ride.
At the school gate, after getting out of the car, Ye Zhenzhen obediently waved goodbye to Gu Xiangcheng in the driver's seat.
"Goodbye, Uncle."
Gu Xiangcheng nodded in gratification, waving back with a smile.
The more he looked at her, the more pleased he felt, which conversely made his own son look like an eyesore.
He glanced at Gu Ran, who had his hands in his pockets, his school uniform unzipped, and bangs almost reaching his eyebrows. With that lazy look, how did he resemble a student at all?
"Study hard at school, and listen to your sister."
Gu Ran hadn't acted up in quite a while, so Lao Gu slowly started to discipline him again. After all, unless a parent's heart was truly dead to it, no one would just let their child rot away.
"Relax, relax, I know. Hurry up and go to work, drive safe."
Gu Ran yawned and waved his hand.
Seeing this, Gu Xiangcheng sighed helplessly, feeling that the road to disciplining his son was still long and arduous.
Turning his head to look at the perfectly well-behaved Ye Zhenzhen, a smile unconsciously floated onto his face again.
Perhaps for parents, the most popular type of child was exactly like her.
The classic "other people's child."
"Zhenzhen, don't tire yourself out too much at school, take care of your health."
"Okay, Uncle. You take care at work too."
After a few brief pleasantries, Gu Xiangcheng drove off to his workplace.
Gu Ran simply snatched Ye Zhenzhen's backpack and turned toward the teaching building.
"Let's go, kiss-ass."
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
She furrowed her brows slightly, stretched out her small foot to give him a light kick, and wrinkled her nose, saying, "Who are you calling a kiss-ass!"
Gu Ran gave her a sidelong glance and reached out to knock the girl on the head.
"Ye Zhenzhen?"
"What!"
Ye Zhenzhen clutched her head and kicked him again.
"Do I look that stupid to you?"
"Hmph~"
Ye Zhenzhen tilted her head up. After kicking him, she put her hands behind her back, tossed her hair, and took the lead walking forward.
But a moment later, the smile on the girl's face vanished instantly, reverting to her usual indifferent expression. She looked like a goddess from the highest heavens, completely apathetic to everything in the mortal realm.
"Good morning, Student Gu!"
Just as they reached the teaching building, Li Sinan, who was clocking in, saw Gu Ran and greeted him with a smile.
Then, seeing Ye Zhenzhen beside him, she smiled as well. "Good morning to you too, Student Ye Zhenzhen!"
Being addressed directly, Ye Zhenzhen's good-student persona kicked in. She nodded with a reserved smile.
"Hello, teacher."
"Hurry along to class."
Li Sinan nodded back with a smile, then looked at Gu Ran. "Student Gu, you did very well on your English exam this time. Keep up the good work~"
Hearing this, Gu Ran laughed it off, subconsciously acting humble.
Watching the two catch up like old friends, treating her entirely like an outsider, Ye Zhenzhen pouted and turned to head upstairs first.
At the same time, she silently grumbled in indignation.
Hmph, pig!
He can't even walk straight when he sees a pretty female teacher, completely forgetting his older sister!
Gu Ran also noticed the girl going upstairs. After exchanging a few more words with Li Sinan, he hurriedly followed.
Seeing the indifferent expression hanging on Ye Zhenzhen's face again, he strangely reached out and patted the girl's shoulder.
"Why are you walking so fast?"
Ye Zhenzhen didn't even turn her head. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Who knows which sister has tied up my brother's heart? Why should I stay there and be a third wheel?"
Gu Ran: "???"
Why is she doing the Lin Daiyu literature routine again?
Also, what's with the thick sourness in the air?
Could this be the legendary possessiveness an older sister has over her younger brother???
...
...
After dropping the Daiyu-esque girl off at her class, Gu Ran carried his backpack back to his own seat.
Just as he sat down, Ye Jinliang walked over with a face full of resentment and sat in the empty seat next to him.
"Brother Ran, is the school beauty sister's tutoring really that useful?"
After taking more than ten days of tutoring at home, he eagerly participated in the first mock exam, and his grades had shown obvious improvement.
Especially in English, through his unremitting efforts, he actually scored a high mark of 89, just one point away from passing.
Although it seemed low, compared to his previous scores of forty or fifty, it was already a vast improvement.
When his dad found out about the score, he grinned from ear to ear and directly rewarded him with five hundred yuan.
But his smug mood vanished without a trace the moment he heard about Gu Ran's score.
146 in English?!
Is that even a score a human could get?!
Gu Ran: "???"
Faced with the chubby boy's tone, which sounded like a neglected wife, Gu Ran looked bewildered, not quite understanding what he meant.
Once he figured out the chubby boy was talking about his grades, Gu Ran scratched his head and said knowingly, "Well, you see, three points are destined by heaven, seven points rely on hard work, and the remaining 140 points... all depend on your effort."
Ye Jinliang: "???"
Are you just talking nonsense here?
"You little punk, spit it out, did you secretly practice some cheat manual?"
Ye Jinliang wrapped an arm around his neck and angrily interrogated him.
Gu Ran laughed and broke free, quickly saying, "I really didn't. Maybe I just suddenly had an epiphany and learned a bit faster. But the most important thing is still hard work."
After comforting his suffering bro for a long time to calm him down and encouraging him to keep up the good work, Gu Ran began his study journey for the day.
......
Today was the 24th day of the 12th lunar month. With only six days left until the Spring Festival, a lively atmosphere could already be seen everywhere on the streets.
In 2010, the New Year spirit was very strong.
Especially in this kind of small county town, where many people worked away from home. Whenever this time of year arrived, wandering workers would rush back to their hometowns in droves, adding even more of a bustling, lively vibe to this small city.
Gu Ran sat at his desk by the classroom window, turning his head to look out at the sports field. Even the school had started bringing in workers to hang up red lanterns and put up red Spring Festival couplets...
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
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.”
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."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
