"Damn it, why is it me again?!" Ji Bo cried out to the heavens upon hearing his room was a standard twin.
The others looked at him with gleeful schadenfreude and laughed. "Haha, having a room at all is pretty good! Besides, Brother Ma's standard rooms here are definitely quite nice."
"That's right, that's right, buddy. The standard rooms here aren't as bad as you think. They're actually better than most inns. You'll see when you go check your room later."
"It's not about the room. It's mainly about why my luck is so terrible. A twenty percent chance and I still hit it? I'm furious!"
Zhang Ziming gave him an impatient pat. "As if my luck is any better. Let it go. Let's go to our rooms and drop off the luggage~"
"Let's go, let's go~"
Apart from Ji Bo, who was less than thrilled, the rest of the group picked up their bags, large and small, and walked towards the rear courtyard, chatting and laughing.
Just then, Zhong Qing stealthily approached Su Yang and called out, "Su Yang."
"What's up?"
"Nothing. Just wanted to say your name." Zhong Qing followed beside Su Yang, her hands clasped behind her back, hopping slightly with each step.
"Which room is yours?" Su Yang asked.
"I booked a suite too, in the same courtyard as you~"
"Oh, what an incredible coincidence~"
"There's an even bigger one~"
"What is it?"
"What's your room number again?" Zhong Qing looked up at Su Yang and asked.
Su Yang glanced at his key card. "12."
"Giggle, that's perfect. Mine is 11, right next door to you~"
"Incredible~"
As they were talking, Meng Qianyu saw them and darted over. "What are you two chatting about?"
"Nothing much, just idle talk. By the way, Qianyu, what's your room number?"
"Orchid-38."
"Oh, I see. You should probably head to the right then. We're not in the same courtyard."
"Hmph, annoying. I don't know how my brother booked the rooms, scattering everyone so far apart," Meng Qianyu said with a displeased look.
"It's fine. We're all in the same inn anyway. It's not that far."
As they chatted, they arrived at the rear courtyard. The entire inn consisted of five courtyards. The room where they had just checked in was part of the front courtyard.
Besides the check-in area, the front courtyard also housed two restaurants, a gym, a mahjong room, and some other recreational spaces.
Walking out from the reception area and crossing a small flagstone path led to the guest room area in the rear, composed of four courtyards.
These four courtyards were named after the "Four Gentlemen": Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum. The Plum and Bamboo courtyards were on the left side of the front courtyard, while the Orchid and Chrysanthemum courtyards were on the right.
The space between the four courtyards was a relatively large small garden with some outdoor recreational facilities.
Upon reaching the fork in the path after the flagstones, Meng Qianyu looked at Meng Wenzhou with reluctance. "Brother! You're so annoying! I don't want to go over there. I want to stay in the same area as Brother Su Yang!"
Meng Wenzhou smiled helplessly. "It was agreed upon. You chose the room yourself, so what can we do?"
"That's right, Qianyu, I'm with you~" Tang Ziyun came over, linking arms with Meng Qianyu to comfort her.
"Hmph, for the next city, I'll book the rooms for everyone~ I won't let my brother do it. He splits us up too much."
Meng Wenzhou laughed. "What does that have to do with me? The inn only had these rooms left~"
"Don't want to talk to you. Let's go, Sister Ziyun~" Meng Qianyu shot Meng Wenzhou a glare and pulled Tang Ziyun, leading the way towards the courtyard on the right.
The others exchanged amused glances. Meng Wenzhou looked at Su Yang and the others. "Let's go to our rooms to drop off our things and take a quick rest. Later, we'll go explore the old town~"
"Ok!"
Su Yang agreed and, along with Pan Ning, Su Qingci, and Zhong Qing, headed to the left.
After walking a short distance, they came across a flight of five steps. Seeing this, Su Yang quickly stepped beside Pan Ning and Su Qingci and took their suitcases from them.
"I've got it, I've got it~"
Pan Ning said nothing, simply stepping aside to let him pass. Su Qingci smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Su Yang~"
"No need to thank me. It's a small thing."
As he spoke, Su Yang lifted a suitcase in each hand and quickly climbed the steps. He hadn't brought a suitcase from the car, only a backpack for clothes.
Seeing Su Yang handling both suitcases, Zhong Qing stepped forward. "Su Yang, let me carry your bag for you~"
Su Yang shook his head with a smile. "No need, it's not heavy~ Let's go."
"Alright then~"
Since Zhong Qing had checked in first, she knew the way and led the three of them.
Soon, the four arrived at the courtyard named Bamboo.
The courtyard had three stories, built in an encircling style around a central, not very large, square open space.
Sunlight poured down from above, casting a golden hue on the ground.
Pan Ning's room was on the third floor, Su Qingci's on the second, and Su Yang's on the first. The three rooms were on three different sides of the courtyard, but each floor had connecting corridors, which was manageable.
After helping Su Qingci carry her suitcase to the second-floor stair landing, Su Yang smiled and said, "Little Su, go rest in your room for a bit."
Su Qingci looked at Su Yang for a second before nodding. "Okay~"
Then Su Yang picked up the other suitcase and headed for the third floor.
Reaching the third floor, Pan Ning took her suitcase. "You're on the first floor?"
"Yep~ I'm tired. Let me grab a drink of water in your room first~"
Zhong Qing hadn't followed them up. After entering the courtyard, she had gone to her room first.
"Let's go." The two of them wheeled the suitcase to Pan Ning's room door.
Pan Ning took out her key card, opened the door, and walked in.
Su Yang quickly followed. Upon entering the room, a gentle breeze wafted in from a balcony filled with plants and flowers.
"Wow, not bad at all~" Su Yang said with a smile.
The entire room consisted of a small living room with excellent natural light, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a large balcony.
The living room connected to the balcony, which was lined with a circle of colorful potted plants and flowers. In the center were two wicker chairs and a small tea table.
From the balcony, one could overlook more than half of the old town. The environment was superb, and the view was excellent~
"The view from your room is really great~" Su Yang walked onto the balcony to admire it, speaking with satisfaction.
After putting her suitcase in the bedroom, Pan Ning came out, picked up a bottle of water, walked over, and handed it to him. "Weren't you thirsty?"
"Oh, right." Su Yang took it, opened it, and took a sip.
Pan Ning sat down on a chair by the balcony. "What are you planning to do about this girl?"
"You mean Zhong Qing?"
"Mhm~"
"Let her hang out with us for now. I'll talk to her later. When we head to the next stop, she can go back to Haicheng."
"Buy her a plane ticket back then~"
"Huh?" Hearing this, Su Yang was taken aback and replied, "That's no problem, but why would you say that?"
"Whatever the reason, she flew all this way specifically to find you. The least you can do when she goes back is reimburse her for the ticket."
"Of course, that's no problem~"
"But..."
"But what?" Su Yang looked at Pan Ning and asked.
"I have a feeling she won't leave. She'll definitely want to stay with us."
"That's probably not possible, right? Our trip was planned in advance. Hers was a spur-of-the-moment decision. After playing in Licheng for a couple of days, she'll probably go back."
"She definitely won't leave. It's fine, having one more person doesn't matter anyway. I think her personality is actually quite good. We can just consider it making a new friend."
"Let's leave it at that for now. Later, I'll go confirm with her and see what she says."
Pan Ning nodded. "Go put your things away now. I'm going to use the restroom~"
"Okay." Su Yang agreed, then leaned down to give Pan Ning a quick kiss before darting off.
...

his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!

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.”

to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”