"Mom!"
Seeing her mother's eyes widen with anger as she stormed toward the house, Tang Qinqin knew things had taken a turn for the worse.
She hurried after her mother, wanting to say something more, but the moment she tried to call out again, Tang Yun cut her off sharply.
"Shut up!"
Tang Qinqin flinched at the shout. Faced with her mother's fury, she didn’t dare say another word, sticking close behind her, afraid the situation might spiral out of control.
Once they were back inside, Tang Qinqin noticed her older sister was already in bed.
Curled up under the blankets, she looked peaceful, as if she’d already fallen asleep.
Her heart leaped into her throat as she watched her mother stride over to her sister’s bedside.
She was terrified her mom might do something irrational in her anger.
After all, her sister had already been through enough today...
But to her relief, her mother just stood there, her expression dark, breathing heavily from rage—yet she didn’t take any further action. Tang Qinqin exhaled slightly in relief.
It was clear her mother was furious with her sister this time.
But Tang Qinqin was also burning with curiosity.
How had her sister’s grades dropped so badly?
The decline was shocking.
No wonder Mom was so mad...
...
After a while, when her mother’s breathing had steadied, Tang Qinqin relaxed a little.
Just as she thought the night would pass without incident, her mother suddenly reached out and gently shook her sister’s shoulder.
Tang Qinqin’s stomach dropped. She was about to speak up and try to calm her mother down when she heard her say softly:
"Manman, get up and eat something before you sleep."
Her sister stirred awake, struggling to open her eyes before closing them again. Her voice was muffled as she mumbled:
"I’m not hungry."
"Even if you’re not, you should eat a little. You’ll be hungry later if you don’t."
Her mother continued coaxing gently.
This time, her sister didn’t even open her eyes. She shook her head faintly and whispered:
"Don’t wanna eat."
Her mother seemed at a loss. With a helpless sigh, she looked up and said:
"Let’s go eat, then."
"Mm-hmm."
Tang Qinqin nodded eagerly, inwardly relieved.
At least Mom didn’t yell at her sister. That would’ve broken her heart even more...
...
After a tense but hearty dinner, Tang Qinqin tiptoed back to their shared bedroom and carefully slipped into bed.
Winter nights were always eerily quiet—so quiet that even breathing sounded loud.
Tang Qinqin lay awake, staring at her sister’s back. The same question from earlier resurfaced in her mind.
What had happened to her sister?
How had her grades fallen so hard?
Was she being bullied at school?
Or was there some other reason?
Frowning, Tang Qinqin had no clues to go on, leaving her to speculate wildly.
Time crawled by, the night deepening, but Tang Qinqin remained wide awake.
Beside her, her sister seemed trapped in a nightmare—her breathing uneven, occasionally letting out soft, distressed whimpers, as if on the verge of tears.
Tang Qinqin hesitated, wondering if she should wake her sister to pull her out of the nightmare, when suddenly, she heard her sister mumble something incoherent.
The words were too slurred and quick for Tang Qinqin to catch.
She shifted slightly, scooting closer to her sister.
Feeling the warmth radiating from her, Tang Qinqin instinctively held her breath, straining to listen.
"Lin Yu..."
"Don’t go..."
!!!
Tang Qinqin’s eyes widened in shock at the tearful, muddled words.
But soon, shock gave way to blazing fury.
Lin Yu!
That damn Lin Yu again!
She gritted her teeth in anger.
So, he’s the reason my sister’s like this?!
That bastard!
That absolute jerk!
How dare he hurt my sister like this?!
I won’t let him get away with this!!!
...
...
"Achoo!!!"
Kneeling on his bed, Lin Yu rubbed his nose with his index finger.
Why had he been sneezing so much lately?
He couldn’t make sense of it, so he blamed it on fate—something else he couldn’t understand.
Might as well pin everything on it.
Worthless thing.
Setting down the tape, he leaned closer to the window, checking the gaps he’d sealed to ensure no more chilly drafts could sneak into his poorly heated room. Satisfied, he stripped off his clothes and burrowed under the covers.
Homework was done, but it wasn’t bedtime yet, so he naturally picked up his phone and started scrolling.
For some reason, nighttime always brought out an abundance of live-streaming dancers.
Each one more alluring than the last, their moves growing bolder by the second.
Occasionally, he’d stumble upon a particularly well-endowed streamer, and the way they moved was enough to make him regret paying that hefty heating bill.
Damn it.
Why waste money on warmth when he could just watch this?
This kind of heat was way more intense than any radiator.
Just as he was getting engrossed, a barrage of text messages flooded in.
Watching the notifications pile up, he absentmindedly tapped to open them.
Three Virtues Student:
...
A string of emojis from Gu Yue greeted him. Lin Yu replied with a single question mark.
Dragon Overlord: ?
Three Virtues Student: Bro!
Three Virtues Student: My mom gave me 500 bucks as a reward for improving my grades this time!!!
?
Now it was Lin Yu’s turn to be baffled.
Rewarded for not passing a single subject out of nine?
What kind of mom was this?
Way too easily pleased.
Dragon Overlord: You got money for THAT?
Dragon Overlord: Jealous.
Three Virtues Student: Hehe. (oˇ?ˇo)
Three Virtues Student: It’s ‘cause my school ranking went up!
Three Virtues Student: Bro, you free this weekend?
Three Virtues Student: Let me treat you to a meal?
"Hmm..."
Lin Yu rolled his eyes, thinking it over. Realizing he had nothing planned, he typed out his reply.
Dragon Overlord: Sure.
Three Virtues Student:
Three Virtues Student: Saturday morning, then.
Three Virtues Student: Don’t bail.
Dragon Overlord: Sure.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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!
