A flicker of surprise crossed Lin Yu’s face, but once he realized there was a gift involved, he quickly smiled and took the scarf. However, after just a glance, Lin Yu couldn’t help but smirk at how ugly the scarf was.
“No way.”
“Where did you buy this scarf?”
“This ugly?”
Lin Yu spread out the scarf to see it in full.
The scarf was a dull yellow, with a simple pattern—just a basic cross-stitch knit. But even in this most basic stitch, there were plenty of mistakes. The edges weren’t even straight. Clearly, whoever knitted this was a complete novice.
Still, the material felt pretty good to the touch, so the yarn itself was of decent quality.
Another notable detail was that at each end of the scarf, there was a small brown bear’s head sewn on, which looked quite cute.
“T-This isn’t ugly, right?”
Gu Yue tried to defend the scarf, but her voice was hesitant and lacked confidence.
“Ugly? You really think this isn’t ugly?”
Lin Yu unfolded the scarf again and held it up right in front of Gu Yue, making sure she could clearly see the whole thing. Then he asked again:
“Take a good look and tell me if it’s ugly or not.”
Gu Yue stiffened her neck, clearly wanting to argue back, but faced with this hideous dull yellow scarf, she quickly lost her nerve.
Seeing Gu Yue no longer resisting, Lin Yu put the scarf down and examined it from different angles. Curiously, he asked:
“Where did you get this scarf from?”
“Did the manufacturer purposely make it look like this?”
Under Lin Yu’s relentless teasing, Gu Yue’s forehead grew more and more furrowed. Finally, unable to hold back, she blurted out the truth.
“I knitted it myself!”
“Ah?”
Lin Yu’s mouth dropped open in shock, his expression one of pure surprise. But soon, he realized the deeper, more subtle meaning behind the scarf, and the smile on his face vanished faster than snowflakes in boiling water.
Seeing Lin Yu’s smile disappear, Gu Yue showed no sign of panic. Instead, in a very natural tone, she huffed angrily:
“I made one for my dad, one for my mom, and one each for my two best girlfriends.”
“They didn’t say anything, but you just keep calling it ugly!”
“You’re so mean!”
“I should’ve just thrown away the leftover yarn.”
“That would’ve been better than making one for you!”
Gu Yue crossed her arms, turned her face away, and wore a classic “I’m mad and not talking to you” expression.
Hearing Gu Yue’s half-explanation, half-complaint, Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief inside. Then, grinning sheepishly, he said:
“Oh, come on.”
“I didn’t even know you made it at first.”
“If you’d told me earlier it was your handiwork, I’d have lied through my teeth and praised it just like your parents and friends did.”
“You!”
Gu Yue snapped her head back around, glaring at Lin Yu angrily. Lin Yu could almost hear her grinding her teeth.
“Heh heh.”
Lin Yu chuckled, picked up the ridiculously ugly little bear scarf, and stood up.
“Alright, alright.”
“I’m gonna head out now.”
“I’ve got some things to do later.”
“Wait!”
Gu Yue stopped Lin Yu and held out a soft, pale hand toward him.
“My New Year’s gift?”
Lin Yu paused for a moment, then quickly caught on and blinked at her.
“Haven’t I already given it to you?”
“When did you give it to me?”
A flicker of confusion sparkled in Gu Yue’s eyes as she asked, genuinely puzzled.
Lin Yu nodded toward the red dinosaur plush toy resting on the sofa and said,
“Isn’t this it?”
Gu Yue turned her head to look at the red dinosaur, then back at Lin Yu. Her expression was off—like something felt wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what.
Seizing the moment, Lin Yu quickly got up, waved goodbye to Gu Yue, and said,
“Bye-bye. Happy New Year in advance!”
Like the wind, Lin Yu slipped away, leaving Gu Yue alone on the sofa, staring blankly out the window at the fireworks display that was still going on.
“Is it really that ugly?”
“...”
Before Gu Yue could sink into sadness, a voice called out and interrupted her.
She turned her head to see Lin Yu half-leaning out the café door, tilting his head curiously.
“Is this fireworks show only at six o'clock?”
Gu Yue shook her head.
“No, there’s one at eight, and another at ten.”
“The last one’s at midnight. I heard that’s the biggest and the best.”
“Okay!”
Lin Yu flashed an ‘OK’ hand gesture, then disappeared without looking back.
Gu Yue gazed absentmindedly toward the café entrance for a while. When she realized Lin Yu was gone, she turned back to the window, hoping to catch more of the unfinished fireworks show.
But when she looked out again, the sky had returned to its pitch-black night, with the white smoke from the fireworks already dissipated into the air, vanished without a trace.
Gu Yue stared at the night sky for a moment longer, then turned back, feeling a wave of disappointment.
Bored, she looked down at the still-warm coffee and the delicate pastries on the table, but her appetite had completely disappeared.
She turned her head away, and her gaze quickly landed on something interesting.
She picked up the plush toy that Lin Yu—no, the claw machine god had bestowed with divine luck—had just caught. Gu Yue’s beautiful eyes lit up instantly.
Holding the dinosaur plush close, she faced it and huffed angrily, pretending to be fierce as she spoke to the red dinosaur,
“You’re a bad dragon!”
“You’re a bad dragon too!”
As she spoke, Gu Yue suddenly laughed. She stared at the red dinosaur in her arms for a while longer, then shifted her gaze to the row of triangular spikes along its back, up to the ones on its head.
She reached out and playfully flicked the red spikes on the plush’s head from side to side, grinning mischievously.
“I wish these were yellow instead...”
“...”
...
Under the streetlamp, a girl wrapped in a padded coat hugged herself, standing at the corner, looking expectantly down the street.
A cold winter breeze blew by, carrying a few snowflakes that clumsily drifted into the warm white glow of the streetlight.
Under the bright lights, countless tiny snowflakes shimmered like scattered diamonds, casting a dazzling glow around the girl standing right beneath the streetlamp.
At a glance, the stunningly beautiful girl seemed like a charming princess straight out of an anime, breaking through the dimensional barrier to radiate her magical aura in this cold, three-dimensional world.
She was so breathtakingly beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
From inside the car, Lin Yu caught this scene through the window mirror and was momentarily stunned by her beauty.
But very quickly,
the thought that such a gorgeous girl actually liked him made Lin Yu so overwhelmed that he almost had snot bubbles coming out of his nose!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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!
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
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?!
