In the kitchen.
Ning Qingcheng leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, staring straight at Lin Mo. Her scrutinizing gaze seemed as if it wanted to see right through him from the inside out.
"Brother, you never told me I had so many sisters-in-law."
Her voice was cold, carrying a trace of barely imperceptible mockery.
It had to be said, Ning Qingcheng was truly blunt.
He touched his nose awkwardly, avoiding her overly sharp gaze, and looked down to arrange the cake box.
"Ahem, this matter... is a bit complicated."
"Complicated? I think it's just you being a philanderer," Ning Qingcheng exposed him mercilessly.
Lin Mo sighed and simply stopped pretending. He looked up to meet her gaze, his tone taking on a bit more seriousness: "I never intended to let any of them down."
This confession made Ning Qingcheng angrier than any excuse could have.
Her chest heaved with anger. She glared at Lin Mo for a long time before finally squeezing out three words through her gritted teeth.
"You absolute scumbag!"
Before her voice even faded, she turned and walked away.
Lin Mo didn't plan to explain much more, and subsequently placed the cake into the refrigerator.
Cutting the cake was the main event. Since they had a cake, the sense of ceremony had to be maxed out.
Just as Lin Mo came out of the kitchen, he bumped into Jiang Yunlu. Like a curious kitten, she was on her tiptoes, sneaking toward the door of his room.
Her peeping appearance was extremely cute.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Lin Mo spoke up suddenly. His voice wasn't loud, but it successfully made Jiang Yunlu tremble all over like a startled rabbit.
"Trespassing into a boy's bedroom is a felony, you know."
Jiang Yunlu spun around abruptly, her pretty face instantly turning as red as a ripe apple; even the roots of her ears were burning.
With her hands behind her back and her fingers twisting together nervously, she stammered an explanation: "N-no... I was just taking a casual look."
Her eyes betrayed her, though, as her gaze couldn't help but dart back toward the room.
The room in Lin Mo's rented apartment was very ordinary and virtually empty, but this was his home, the place where he had grown up.
To Jiang Yunlu, this place hid the eighteen years of Lin Mo's life that she had never been a part of.
Every object could hold a story.
Seeing her conflicted look of wanting to enter but not daring to, Lin Mo felt amused and deliberately put on a stern face.
"Go in if you want to, stop dawdling. However, you have to follow the rules."
Jiang Yunlu froze for a moment, then a light flashed in her eyes as she asked tentatively, "What rules?"
Lin Mo cleared his throat, adopting the demeanor of a commanding officer, and held back a smile as he said, "Report in!"
Jiang Yunlu instantly understood. Her tense lips suddenly bloomed into a smile, her eyes curving like crescents.
Imitating what she had seen on TV, she clumsily brought her heels together and raised her hand in a rather non-standard salute.
"Reporting to Officer Lin! I request permission to enter and inspect your room!"
Her voice was crisp, carrying the unique charming naivety of a young girl.
"Granted." Lin Mo waved his hand grandly. "Go on, just don't mess up my room."
With that, he turned and walked toward the living room to entertain the others.
Behind him, having received her pardon, Jiang Yunlu felt as if her heart had been filled with honey, sweet and delightful.
She took a joyful, deep breath and, as if performing some sacred ritual, carefully stepped into Lin Mo's room.
As soon as she entered, she headed straight for the desk.
Her goal was clear: love letters!
Unfortunately, she didn't possess divine sense like Xie Yuling and could only use the most primitive method, searching around with her own two eyes.
The desk was very clean, without even a few books on it.
She then turned her gaze to the adjacent bookshelf, which held neatly stacked rows of comics and novels, from Six Dragon Balls to Dragon Raja, all favorite reads of young men.
The lower shelves were piled with worn middle school textbooks and stacks of test papers.
Unwilling to give up, Jiang Yunlu acted like a detective on a treasure hunt, pulling open drawers and checking every corner.
Alas, let alone love letters, there wasn't even a single small note with ambiguous words on it.
Finally, her eyes landed on a locked wooden box under the desk.
Hmm? A diary?
If Lin Mo knew what this girl was thinking right now, he would definitely laugh out loud.
What era was it?
What serious person writes a diary?
Locked inside were his former prized possessions: a few limited edition Yu-Gi-Oh cards.
In the living room, Xie Yuling was petting the cat. Hajimi was lying on her lap, emitting satisfied purring sounds from its throat.
Xie Yuling casually stroked the cat's fur while glancing at the approaching Lin Mo, speaking in a mild tone.
"This Hajimi is really cute. It's a pity I don't have one."
Silly girl, acting all passive-aggressive, who was she talking about?
Anyone could hear the slight sourness in her tone.
Lin Mo didn't stop walking; he simply shifted his thoughts.
"Thump."
An invisible strand of divine sense accurately flicked against Xie Yuling's smooth forehead.
The force wasn't great, but it brought a sudden, unexpected sting.
"Ouch!"
Xie Yuling cried out in surprise, instinctively covering her forehead. She glared at Lin Mo, both angry and annoyed, a bit of moisture welling up in her eyes.
Lin Mo walked up to her and said slowly, "What you have is much more than just a Hajimi."
As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out his hand.
"Meow!" That Hajimi seemed to understand the summon. It instantly sprang up from Xie Yuling's lap, leaped with agile grace, and landed steadily in Lin Mo's arms, even affectionately rubbing against his chin.
Xie Yuling looked at her empty lap, then at the traitorous little cutie in Lin Mo's arms, her lips pressed tightly together.
In the corner, Chu Miaomiao, who had been quietly drinking tea, watched the cat jump into Lin Mo's arms. The fingers holding her teacup trembled slightly, almost spilling the tea.
She quickly lowered her head as a blush quietly spread across the roots of her ears.
This entire scene fell into Ning Qingcheng's eyes.
She observed this girl named Chu Miaomiao. She was simply too well-behaved, like a greenhouse flower in dire need of care. A single joke from someone could probably make her blush for half the day.
Xie Yuling snorted softly in her heart and didn't pursue the matter of the forehead flick anymore. Lin Mo was right; what she had gained was far more than just a cat. So, she shifted her gaze toward Lin Mo's room.
That Jiang Yunlu definitely wanted to sleep on Lin Mo's bed again.
Sure enough.
Jiang Yunlu walked out of Lin Mo's room looking perfectly satisfied, holding a comic book she had just swiped from inside, flipping through it as she walked.
"Lin Mo, I hid my gift in your room! We agreed, you can only look for it after I leave!"
She grinned and plopped down right next to Ning Qingcheng, acting exceptionally familiar.
Watching Jiang Yunlu's maneuvers, how could Xie Yuling sit still?
She patted the cat hair off her legs, stood up from the sofa, and slightly raised her chin.
"If that's the case, then I'll hide mine in your room too."
With that, she stepped forward and walked straight toward Lin Mo's room.
"Alright, alright, my room is turning into a trendy tourist spot." Lin Mo didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he was enjoying it nonetheless. He deliberately retracted his divine sense; otherwise, this treasure hunt game would lose all its fun.

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.”

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!