Chapter 70
After helping Ye Shulian carry the sleeping Lao Gu back to the bedroom, Gu Ran clapped his hands and sighed softly.
So much for going out to set off fireworks tonight. How could they when he was sleeping like a log?
"Alright, Xiao Ran, let's go out. Just let your dad sleep."
Ye Shulian carefully helped Lao Gu take off his clothes, wiped his face clean with a towel, and turned to say this to him.
Gu Ran nodded with a face full of envy and walked out of the bedroom with a sigh.
Seeing the virtuous young girl rolling up her sleeves and clearing the dishes, his feelings of envy instantly weakened quite a bit.
Setting everything else aside, if he ever drank too much in the future, given her motherly older sister attributes, Ye Zhenzhen would likely take care of him just like this too.
However, unlike Aunt Ye's mindset, perhaps...
This girl would probably feel more like she was taking care of her son.
After all, he was just a younger brother...
Then, thinking about how Ye Zhenzhen would get married one day and treat her future husband with the same gentle consideration as Ye Shulian, Gu Ran felt a sudden pang of discomfort in his heart.
It was strange, but it felt just like jealousy.
Being jealous of the girl's future husband!
But it was just a fleeting thought, because he couldn't exactly stop the sister who cared for him from getting married just to monopolize her...
Wait!
Gu Ran's eyes suddenly lit up as he found a blind spot.
If Ye Zhenzhen married into the Gu family, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?!
In the past, he only had a joking mindset, just teasing the cute girl, but now he was actually treating it as a serious matter with a very earnest attitude.
How about...
Actually making their families even closer through marriage?
He cast a meaningful glance at the virtuous girl.
Noticing his gaze, Ye Zhenzhen instantly felt her hairs stand on end and a chill run down her spine.
Why were this guy's eyes practically glowing?
She furrowed her pretty brows and glared back at a certain someone. "Wh-what are you looking at? Hurry up and come clear the table."
"Ah, alrighty."
Hearing this, Gu Ran quickly stepped forward to clear the table, wearing a slightly sycophantic smile that earned him a bashful, reproachful eye-roll from the girl.
Watching their interaction, Ye Shulian chuckled softly.
The fact that the two children of this blended family didn't have any discord was the most comforting thing of all.
This New Year was truly wonderful; after all, a harmonious family prospers in everything...
...
After clearing the table, Gu Ran helped wash the dishes, and then, urged by Ye Shulian, he and Ye Zhenzhen carried the fireworks out the door.
Walking along the road hung with lanterns, he looked up at the sky, watching the ceaseless fireworks, and gently came to a halt.
The girl beside him, with her hands behind her back, followed him step by step, stretching out her foot to step on his shadow, having the time of her life.
Seeing him stop, Ye Zhenzhen couldn't halt her steps in time and bumped her head right into his back.
"Gu 'Dog' Ran! Why did you stop so suddenly?"
Rubbing her nose, she bashfully stretched out her little foot and kicked a certain someone's calf.
Without retorting, Gu Ran turned around, stared at the girl in front of him, and a gentle smile appeared on his face. "Ye Zhenzhen, Happy New Year."
Made somewhat bashful by his sudden display of deep affection, the girl slightly pursed her lips.
Ripples formed in her clear, cool eyes. She looked at the boy, and a blush uncontrollably crept onto her cheeks.
"Wh-why are you saying this all of a sudden? D-didn't we just say it earlier? A-and also, you need to call me older sister!"
As she spoke, Ye Zhenzhen felt like she had nowhere to put her little hands, so she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Earlier was earlier, now is now. I just wanted to say it to you alone right now."
Gu Ran's tone was overly gentle, making the girl, who always thought he was a bit cheeky, feel somewhat unaccustomed. Her pretty face was covered in a rosy flush, and for a moment, she didn't know what to do.
"Y-you... don't say weird things. Hurry up and go set off the fireworks."
Ye Zhenzhen gradually started to stutter, her face turning redder and redder, looking as if it might bleed.
Pushing Gu Ran's head aside, she continued, "H-hurry up and go. I want to see the fireworks."
Being pushed forward, Gu Ran turned his head to look at the blushing girl and chuckled, deliberately asking, "What's the rush? I still have things left to say."
Ye Zhenzhen's face grew even redder, and the speed at which she pushed him forward gradually began to increase.
"I-I am in a rush. Where do you get so many words from? If you really want to talk so much, go home and write an essay later. I'll see exactly what you haven't finished saying."
Gu Ran: "..."
Woman, thy name is viciousness!
...
On the night of New Year's Eve, the roar of firecrackers echoed everywhere. Even the cold winter wind was permeated with a lively and festive atmosphere.
Finding an empty spot in the small plaza, Gu Ran set up the fireworks. Then, he glanced back at the hiding girl and gently curled up the corners of his mouth.
"Ye Zhenzhen, I'm setting them off!"
Shouting the girl's name loudly instantly attracted the gazes of the people around them, causing the blush that had just faded from the girl's face to surge back up again.
"H-hurry up!"
Glaring at him in bashful annoyance, Ye Zhenzhen pulled her head back and hid her pretty self behind the fitness equipment, as if only this could give her a slight sense of security.
Otherwise, being with this guy often gave her the feeling of streaking and suffering social death.
Bang!
As the first firework shot into the sky, Gu Ran also ran back.
"Gu Ran, Gu Ran, look!"
Watching the fireworks they had lit themselves go off always felt somewhat different from watching others.
Ye Zhenzhen's face brimmed with an excited smile as she reached out her little hand, repeatedly patting his shoulder and speaking excitedly.
But at this moment, Gu Ran wasn't looking at the fireworks. Instead, he turned his head to look at the girl beside him, a trace of imperceptible deep affection revealing itself in the depths of his eyes.
The spent fireworks in the sky fell like starlight sprinkled from the Milky Way, twinkling with residual light.
As each one fell, another rose. Sparks ignited, bursting forth with a dazzlingly brilliant light that illuminated the entire night sky.
"Squint your eyes a little, be careful not to let the falling ash get into them."
Hearing his voice, Ye Zhenzhen obediently squinted her eyes. But then, feeling that being so obedient didn't match the domineering aura of an older sister, she turned her head and haughtily raised her chin.
"It won't!"
Just as she finished speaking, a spent piece of ash fell right onto the girl's head.
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
Seeing this, Gu Ran chuckled softly. He subconsciously reached out to help her pick it off, and the girl cooperatively leaned toward him, slightly lowering her head.
Seeing this incredibly harmonious scene, Gu Ran raised an eyebrow, feeling that it was a bit abnormal, yet at the same time completely normal.
Feeling that the atmosphere was a bit ambiguous, his brain short-circuited. He took the ash he had just picked off and put it right back, rubbing the girl's hair while he was at it.
"Ye Zhenzhen, you sure are self-aware. Pick it off yourself!"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
Is he a dog?!
He took it off, and then put it back on her. Is this something a human would do?!
Biting her silvery teeth, she slightly clenched her little fists. Her eyes were full of indignation. Narrowing her beautiful eyes, she raised her hand high, full of threatening intent.
It was the New Year; he had better not force her to get physical!
"Hey, hey, it's no big deal. Don't get mad, don't get mad."
Seeing this, Gu Ran immediately gave in. He carefully picked off the debris and thoughtfully smoothed the girl's hair.
"Hmph!"
Seeing how tactful he was being, Ye Zhenzhen lifted her chin and gave him a gentle kick.
After finishing with the fireworks, Gu Ran looked around and asked, "Ye Zhenzhen, do you want to go play with some fairy wands?"
Fairy wands?
It was obvious the girl had no idea what the term meant, so Gu Ran had to explain it to her.
"Um... fairy wands, as the name suggests, are... things that fairies play with..."
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
Why did it feel like this guy was saying weird things again!
Before Gu Ran could finish speaking, she kicked out at him, interrupting his nonsense.
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."
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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.
