Chapter 76
Ye Zhenzhen: "!!!"
What was this guy trying to do?
Hearing Gu Ran take the initiative to call her Sister, the young girl was immediately startled and subconsciously looked around for Ye Shulian's figure.
Realizing they had already left the house, she breathed a sigh of relief. But then, recalling this guy's past misdeeds, she couldn't help but get angry.
"What do you want!"
She kicked him lightly, her nose twitching slightly before she shot him a glare.
A flattering smile appeared on Gu Ran's face as he leaned closer to her and asked, "How much money do you have right now?"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
Good grief, so that was what he was after!
Rolling her beautiful eyes, the girl turned around and walked away, showing she had no interest in discussing this topic with him.
Was he joking? Was the little treasury of a penny-pinching girl something a stinky younger brother could just ask about?
"Hey, hey, don't be so stingy. Tell me."
Gu Ran quickly caught up, persistently nagging, "I have a project worth hundreds of millions here, do you want to invest in it?"
"No!"
The girl refused cleanly and decisively, wanting to completely extinguish this terrible idea of his.
But she never expected that as soon as she said this, Gu Ran would become even more excited.
"You won't invest? That means you really do have money!"
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
Kicking him in a fit of pique, she said crossly, "What are you trying to do? Are you already eyeing your sister's dowry?!"
Dowry?
His dear sister was indeed far-sighted. She was only eighteen this year and had already started saving up for her dowry, completely leaving her peers in the dust. She really couldn't lose at the starting line, huh?
However...
If he managed to become even closer to her, wouldn't this dowry eventually be his?
Therefore...
Using it a little early wouldn't be a problem, right?
Gu Ran blinked and continued to comfortably trick... persuade her: "Hey, don't be in such a hurry to refuse. My project is a small investment with big returns and low risk!"
Unable to stand this guy buzzing in her ear like a fly, the girl stopped, took a deep breath, and forcibly held back the urge to hit him as she said:
"Do you think I look like an idiot?"
"What are you saying? What kind of talk is that! You are obviously my good sister!" Gu Ran retorted, feigning exasperation.
Ye Zhenzhen: "..."
Great, just great. Now she was a good sister again.
Sure enough, the most untrustworthy thing in this world was a man's mouth.
What a jerk!
She lightly kicked him again, flipped her hair, and turned to leave. She didn't dare stay a second longer, afraid she might actually be fooled by this guy's nonsense.
"Hey, slow down, just listen to me..."
Gu Ran hurriedly followed and changed his pitch, finally managing to move the girl whose heart had been as hard as stone.
"You will give me a massage, fifty an hour?"
Ye Zhenzhen asked tentatively, her beautiful brows furrowing slightly without her realizing.
"Yeah, yeah. And I will help you wash clothes. Ten for small items, twenty for large ones."
Gu Ran nodded obediently, revealing a smile like a creepy uncle trying to abduct a little girl.
Seeing the excited smile on his face, Ye Zhenzhen's mouth twitched. She shot him a sideways glance, then let out a soft snort, followed by a faint smile.
It seemed like a sneer, yet also like a mockery.
His scheming was so loud that the abacus beads were practically bouncing off her face!
He even wanted to wash her clothes. Ten for small items? What small items?
Her underwear?!
What a pervert! His ulterior motives were completely exposed!
So this was the so-called killing two birds with one stone, taking advantage of her while also making her money?!
"How about I give you a massage? Fifty an hour!"
The girl rolled her eyes at him and then spoke.
She thought she could turn the tables on him, but Gu Ran nodded heavily. "Alright, it is a deal!"
A massage from a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl for only fifty an hour? Where else could you find that!
The boy's resolute tone made it seem like he was terrified she would back out.
But hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen immediately felt a bit of regret, inexplicably feeling like she had lost out.
"N-no way!"
Ye Zhenzhen pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and said, "Y-you massage me."
"Fifty an hour?" Gu Ran raised an eyebrow.
"Pfft, in your dreams!"
The blushing girl spat at him, then gave him a highly charming eyeroll.
He sure knew how to dream!
Fifty bucks an hour? What kind of shady business was he running?
Did he not know that the penny-pinching girl's little treasury was saved up bit by bit?
Every semester's scholarship, every year's New Year's lucky money, she could not bear to spend any of it and had saved it all.
Her family's financial situation had been poor since she was young, so she valued money very heavily.
Spending fifty bucks on a massage was something she would not even dare to imagine.
"Then how much?"
Hearing this, she pursed her lips, struggled internally for a long time, and finally stated a price she could accept.
"An hour... f-five bucks."
Gu Ran: "???"
What the heck?
Did he hear that right?
After confirming repeatedly and realizing this girl was being completely serious, his mouth could not help but twitch.
Good grief, so she was the truly hidden, skin-flaying stingy boss!
In the future, the position of the company's financial director would definitely have to go to her. He could guarantee they would never suffer a loss. She might even find a way to make a profit while paying the employees' salaries!
In the end, however, he still accepted the price.
After all... who gives a beautiful girl a massage just to make money!
Of course, during this process, the crafty and cunning a certain Mr. Gu acted extremely reluctant. The two bargained back and forth, wasting a lot of breath.
Because only in this way would the girl feel like she had gotten a good deal and overlook his ulterior motives.
Anyway, his own New Year's money was barely enough to hire an artist, so there was no rush to covet this girl's little treasury just yet.
The two of them joked and messed around all the way to Pei Susu's house.
Standing downstairs, watching the two of them practically glued together, she rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky.
Just this?
Sister and brother?
Who were they trying to fool!
Looking at the shy expression on Ye Zhenzhen's face, she curled her lips, waved at Gu Ran, and said in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Brother Gu Ran, Happy New Year!"
Gu Ran: "!!!"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
As her voice fell, the sister and brother had completely different thoughts.
Gu Ran's body shuddered. He did not think this was manipulative behavior at all; clearly, she was just an understanding and sweet younger sister!
The way she called him brother... Oh my, it was so sweet...
Ye Zhenzhen cast a sidelong glance at the boy beside her. Seeing the irrepressible curve of his lips, she could not help but raise her foot and kick him.
"Look at you!"
Hearing this, Gu Ran immediately rubbed his face, put away his smile, and said seriously, "Sister Pei Susu, Happy New Year to you too!"
Ye Zhenzhen: "???" x2
Noticing her best friend's darkening expression, Pei Susu laughed happily and trotted over, about to wrap her arms around Gu Ran's arm.
But just as she reached his side, the aloof girl grabbed her and pulled her away. Regardless of whether she wanted to or not, she forcefully started talking to her.
Listening to Ye Zhenzhen's stiff topics, Pei Susu pouted and turned her head to look at the boy on the other side, but her head was immediately forcefully turned back.
Gu Ran rubbed his nose and silently followed behind them, not daring to say another word.
He just felt that the atmosphere was somehow not quite right...
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.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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.
