"Mm."
Xia Muzhu gave a slight nod, her gentle face forcing a somewhat stiff smile in response to Lin Yu's earlier greeting.
Compared to adults who were better at masking their emotions, Xia Yueshan had no such reservations.
His little face was dark with displeasure, his eyes glaring fiercely at Lin Yu, clearly broadcasting his resentment—how dare this guy wrong his sister?
Ignoring the meddlesome kid who understood little but interfered much, Lin Yu instead felt the weight of Tang Manman's questioning gaze beside him. The awkward tension in the air was palpable, so he tried to lighten the mood by introducing the two parties:
"Manman, this is Xia Muzhu—Sister Muzhu. She’s someone I know, a really kind person who’s helped me a lot before."
To his surprise, the introduction only made the atmosphere worse.
Tang Manman, arms full of plush toys, had lost her earlier cheerfulness, her usual liveliness replaced by silence.
Across from them, Xia Muzhu’s reaction was even more strained. When Lin Yu mentioned how much she’d helped him, her lips twitched visibly. Her gentle brows furrowed slightly, and the smile on her face grew increasingly forced—as if it took tremendous effort just to maintain that soft, polite expression.
Lin Yu had no idea what had gone wrong, but a sinking feeling told him he’d messed up. He licked his lips nervously, unsure how to salvage the situation.
Just as the awkwardness reached unbearable levels, Xia Yueshan suddenly spoke up:
"Why didn’t you introduce me to her?"
Lin Yu turned to the boy, a surge of gratitude welling up in his chest.
Good kid!
I haven’t spoiled you for nothing!
You actually stepped up to save your big bro from this mess.
I knew I could count on you!
Facing Tang Manman, whose smile had all but vanished, Lin Yu chuckled and said,
"This is Xia Yueshan, he’s—"
Seizing the moment, Xia Yueshan loudly cut in:
"I’m his brother-in-law!"
"Whoa—"
A wave of murmurs and gasps rippled through the cinema lobby. Moviegoers waiting to enter turned to each other, eyes alight with gossip, their excitement momentarily overshadowing the film they’d come to see.
Who needs scripted drama when you’ve got real-life entertainment like this?
Under the scrutiny of so many onlookers, Lin Yu burned with embarrassment and frustration—though a small part of him was weirdly envious.
Dammit.
Can I just sneak out and join them?
I love watching drama, but I don’t wanna be the drama!
Before Lin Yu could react, Xia Muzhu frowned and gently scolded her brother,
"Yueshan, stop talking nonsense."
Xia Yueshan pouted but didn’t push further.
"Kung Fu Panda 4, 11:30 screening—please proceed to the ticket counter if you haven’t checked in yet," a sweet-voiced staff member announced over the speakers.
But hardly anyone paid attention. All eyes remained fixed on the four figures by the claw machine.
Who cares about a movie when there’s juicy gossip unfolding right here?
Hearing the announcement, Xia Muzhu glanced at her ticket—the 11:30 showtime matched. She raised it slightly and waved at Lin Yu with a smile.
"The movie’s starting. We’ll head in first."
Lin Yu nodded eagerly.
"Sure. See you later, Sister Muzhu."
Then, his tone shifting from warm to thinly veiled menace, he added,
"And goodbye to you too, Xia Yueshan!"
Better hope I don’t catch you alone later.
Or you’re in for a world of trouble.
The last part went unspoken, simmering in Lin Yu’s thoughts.
As Xia Muzhu and her brother walked toward the ticket counter, Lin Yu checked his own ticket—also for the 11:30 screening.
After dropping off the plush toys at the storage counter and deliberately stalling to avoid another awkward encounter, he finally led Tang Manman toward the theater entrance, stopping first to buy popcorn and sodas for further delay.
While lining up, Lin Yu shot a grateful glance at the sweet-voiced staff member—only to notice she looked upset, her eyes reddened as if she’d been wronged.
Just as he wondered what happened, a middle-aged woman ahead snatched her ticket back rudely and grumbled,
"Terrible timing to speak up."
The girl’s face fell even further.
Ah. So that’s why.
Under her resentful stare, Lin Yu ducked his head, took their tickets, and hurried Tang Manman into the theater hallway.
Once inside, he scanned the crowd and sighed in relief—no sign of Xia Muzhu or her brother.
Turning to Tang Manman, who still seemed downcast, he hesitated before explaining,
"There’s nothing between me and Sister Muzhu."
"Her brother just likes stirring up trouble."
"He’s young and clueless, always playing matchmaker where there’s none."
"Don’t take it seriously, okay?"
At his words, Tang Manman lifted her head, her peach-blossom eyes brightening instantly, as if happiness had flooded back in a heartbeat.
Lin Yu was baffled—how is she this easy to cheer up?
But he didn’t dwell on it. As long as she was happy.
Clutching the popcorn buckets, he led the way, alternating between checking their ticket and squinting at the theater numbers overhead.
Behind him, Tang Manman followed obediently, a soda in each hand, her pretty eyes crinkling with joy.
He explained it to me~
He cares!
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?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
