The Jiang Residence.
Jiang Yunlu had just returned home when Jiang Chengshan emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron.
"Sweetie, take a break and have some juice. Dinner will be ready soon."
Jiang Yunlu responded with a sweet "Okay" before settling on the couch and turning on the TV.
Even wealthy families watch TV.
A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice sat on the table, clearly prepared by Jiang Chengshan in anticipation of his daughter's return.
When Jiang Chengshan brought out the dishes, he said, "Go wake your aunt for dinner."
"Auntie hasn't gotten up yet?"
"Pfft, you know how she is."
Jiang Yunlu got up and knocked on the door.
After several raps, the door finally opened.
A woman in a silk nightgown, still bleary-eyed, looked at Jiang Yunlu.
"Oh, little Yunlu’s back already? Did I really sleep that long?"
Jiang Chengyue scratched her head.
Jiang Yunlu smiled. "I didn’t have evening self-study today. Hurry and get ready, Auntie. Dinner’s waiting."
Jiang Chengyue yawned, nodded, and went to freshen up.
Soon, the three of them were seated at the dining table.
As Jiang Chengshan served Jiang Yunlu some food, he asked, "Did you have fun at the school sports meet today?"
Jiang Yunlu sighed in frustration. "I thought I was pretty fast in the 100-meter dash, but the track athletes were way faster than me."
"Of course they were," Jiang Chengyue chimed in between bites. "That’s their future career, and they’ve got the talent for it. But hey, sports meets are about having fun, right?"
Yet Jiang Yunlu’s mind wandered back to the moment she was lifted—how her heartbeat had raced even faster than during the sprint.
"Hey, eat up. What’s on your mind?" Jiang Chengyue waved a hand in front of Jiang Yunlu’s face.
Jiang Yunlu shook her head.
"Just thinking about the race. But it’s over now."
She had also signed up for the 200-meter dash, outperforming the casual runners but still losing to the track stars.
Still, Lin Mo had watched her the entire time.
She felt he cared about her—but how much?
Her intuition told her that if she confessed now, he’d reject her.
Jiang Chengyue noticed her niece’s troubled expression but decided not to pry in front of her brother.
Knowing him, he’d probably hire someone to "take care" of the boy in question.
So after dinner, Jiang Chengyue didn’t leave. Instead, she slipped into Jiang Yunlu’s room.
"Auntie, what’s up?"
Jiang Yunlu’s desk was cluttered with study guides and reference books.
"Studying, huh, little Yunlu?"
"Yeah. My last exam results weren’t great. I need to work harder."
"You don’t have to push yourself too hard. If you’re leaning toward science, just focus on those subjects."
"But..."
But I want to get closer to him.
"You want to get closer to him, don’t you?" Jiang Chengyue chuckled.
Jiang Yunlu whipped her head around.
"Auntie! You... you..."
"Can read minds?"
"Who needs mind-reading? I’ve been a girl your age too, you know. Don’t forget, your aunt once had a crush on a top student."
Truthfully, Jiang Chengyue had been keeping tabs on Lin Mo. His second-place ranking in the entire school had surprised her—he was even more impressive than her old crush.
But right now, she was more concerned about her niece.
"Spill it. What happened today?"
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yunlu finally opened up.
She hadn’t spoken to Zhou Youbai in a long time. After getting dumped, Zhou had spiraled into self-destructive behavior, and Jiang Yunlu, being the rational one, had kept her distance to avoid getting dragged down.
That left her with very few people she could confide in.
Thankfully, her aunt was one of them.
"Actually... I thought about giving up on him today."
Jiang Chengyue raised an eyebrow.
"Thought about it, but didn’t, huh?"
"Yeah. During the 100-meter dash, my mind was a mess. Just as I was ready to let go, I tripped—and he rushed over and caught me."
Jiang Chengyue could easily picture the scene.
"And now you’re head over heels for him."
Jiang Yunlu’s face flushed instantly.
"N-not really! It’s just... I feel like..."
"Like there’s still hope, right? Like you can hold on a little longer."
Spoken like a true veteran.
But Jiang Yunlu lifted her gaze slightly.
"I think... I should at least confess before deciding whether to give up."
"Hmm. You’re chasing an answer, but you’re scared, aren’t you?"
Jiang Chengyue spoke as if they were peers, discussing Jiang Yunlu’s feelings openly.
"So why not just confess? Maybe he’ll choose you."
Jiang Yunlu shook her head.
"Because I feel like if I confess, he’ll reject me. Or... he’d reject anyone. He doesn’t even care if we walk away."
"Ah, a woman’s intuition. If that’s what you sense, it’s probably true. But like I said, you’re still young. Puppy love isn’t forbidden, but I wouldn’t recommend it."
Jiang Yunlu pressed her lips together. She hadn’t really planned on dating in high school anyway.
But...
------Let’s call this a divider------
After dinner, Lin Mo dusted himself off.
"I’ll leave Chu Miaomiao here for now. I’ll come back up when her mom calls."
Girls should spend more time with girls—it’s better than being too introverted.
So Lin Mo headed back downstairs to his rented place, catching up on international news and playing a couple of games.
Not League, though—he was into Landlords.
"You think you can beat me with just seventeen cards?!"
Airplane!
Six hundred and forty thousand Happy Beans vanished in an instant!
"GAHHH!!!"
Mid-game, his phone buzzed with a message—a name and an address.
Lin Mo read it, deleted it, and went back to his cards.
He kept playing until Chu Lintian called.
"Hey, Sis Chu."
"I’m here to pick up Miaomiao. Wanna join us for late-night snacks?"
"Nah, Miaomiao’s playing at my landlord’s place. I’ll bring her down."
"Alright, I’ll wait at the intersection."
After hanging up, Lin Mo dashed upstairs and rang the doorbell.
Auntie Zheng opened the door.
Seeing no sign of Chu Miaomiao or Xie Yuling in the living room, Lin Mo called out toward Xie Yuling’s room.
"Mom’s here to pick up the kid, Teacher Xie. Hand over the little hostage."
The door opened, revealing Chu Miaomiao—her eyes red and puffy.
Lin Mo shot Xie Yuling a look. "You bullied a kid?"
Xie Yuling playfully punched his arm and pulled Chu Miaomiao close. "Miaomiao, this is our little secret. Don’t tell Lin Mo, okay?"
Chu Miaomiao nodded vigorously, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
"I won’t tell him! It’s a sisterhood secret!"
Oh really? Trying to hide things from me, the mighty Lin the Immortal? Just wait till we’re downstairs—I’ll use Soul Search on you!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
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.”
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
