Seeing that Lin Yu enjoyed the meal, Xia Muzhu felt happy as well.
She tucked the strands of black hair clinging to the side of her face behind her ear, then pulled a tissue from the box to dab the light sweat on her forehead. She explained to Lin Yu,
"I added some pork belly and two cans of beer while stewing the fish."
"My friend said this helps remove the fishy smell and enhances the flavor."
"It's my first time cooking fish this way."
"Really good," Lin Yu mumbled through a mouthful of rice, raising a thumb without looking up, praising generously,
"Amazing!"
"So delicious!"
"Eat more if you like it."
Xia Muzhu’s eyes curved into crescents, but the look she gave Lin Yu wasn’t just filled with warmth and tenderness. Unbeknownst to even herself, her gaze had gradually grown somewhat... infatuated.
Lin Yu finished one bowl of rice, then another, and didn’t stop until he had emptied three bowls, leaving only the fish head and bones on the plate. Finally, he set down his chopsticks and straightened up, satisfied.
"Sis Muzhu, this fish is incredible!"
"Best in the world—"
Mid-praise, Lin Yu suddenly noticed the change in her expression.
At some point, her fair skin had flushed that enticing shade of pink again, and her eyes had taken on an unusual haze—glistening, almost liquid with desire, as if her gaze could tangle into silk.
"Sis Muzhu?"
"Are you okay?"
Lin Yu grew concerned.
The air conditioning was running, and the living room wasn’t hot. There was no reason for her face to be so red.
"Wh-what about me?"
Xia Muzhu seemed flustered, as if caught thinking something improper.
"Your face is burning up."
"Are you coming down with a fever?"
Lin Yu studied her obviously abnormal complexion, worry creeping into his voice.
"I..."
Xia Muzhu instinctively touched her cheek and immediately registered the unnatural heat.
Her guilt became even more palpable. She hunched slightly, not daring to meet his eyes.
"P-probably."
"I... I should rest in my room for a bit."
"Keep eating."
After hurriedly tossing out those words, she fled to her bedroom like a startled rabbit.
Left alone at the table, surrounded by an array of dishes, Lin Yu hesitated—should he stay or go?
After a moment’s thought, he decided to clear the table first.
Sis Muzhu seemed unwell.
Better not trouble her further.
While tidying up, he took a moment to boil water—she might need it for medicine later.
Lin Yu worked efficiently, soon finishing the cleanup.
As he waited in the kitchen for the water to boil, a sudden wave of heat surged through him.
The scorching sensation came swiftly, overwhelming him before he could react.
At the same time, his mind grew foggy.
His usually sharp thoughts now felt sluggish, as if rusted over.
Before he could process what was happening, an even fiercer wave of heat crashed over him, accompanied by a dizzying rush that made his head spin.
In an instant, his legs threatened to give out.
He grabbed a nearby stool and sat down, barely managing to steady himself.
Wiping his forehead, his hand came away drenched.
Lin Yu stared at the sweat coating his palm. He should have realized something was wrong.
But his current state left no room for rational thought.
He sat motionless on the stool, silently waiting for the kettle to whistle.
Every now and then, he wiped his forehead again, each time collecting another palmful of sweat.
The kitchen was quiet, save for the growing rumble of boiling water, which drowned out his ragged breathing.
His mind was a haze. Even when his body reacted in an unmistakable way, he merely glanced down, then looked away, fixating blankly on the bubbling kettle without a single coherent thought.
Once the water boiled, instinct drove him to carry out his earlier plan—
Deliver the water to Xia Muzhu, then leave.
Gripping the cup’s handle, he walked to her bedroom door.
His foggy mind forgot to knock. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Xia Muzhu sat propped against the headboard. Perhaps due to the heat, she had shed her thin outerwear, leaving only a generously sized undergarment—the kind rarely found in stores—struggling to contain the soft, ample curves beneath.
Spotting Lin Yu, she froze for a second before snapping back to reality. She hastily pulled the blanket over herself, her already flushed face turning crimson.
Lin Yu stared at her, his mind blank. He moved slowly to the bedside and set the cup on the nightstand.
But after placing it down, he didn’t leave. He didn’t even remember what to say.
Xia Muzhu clutched the blanket to her chest, shielding most of her exposed skin—yet it did nothing to quell the fire raging inside Lin Yu.
Just the sight of her smooth shoulders and the sliver of skin that escaped concealment was enough to make his breath hitch and his pulse roar.
He didn’t speak. His intentions were laid bare in his gaze, unmistakable and unrestrained.
He didn’t pounce. Instead, he inched closer—first stepping to the bed, then kneeling with one knee, then the other.
Then, his body gradually leaned over her.
In Xia Muzhu’s blue eyes, fear and desire swirled together.
She didn’t stop him. She didn’t tighten her grip on the blanket. She only retreated, arching back as he pressed down, until her back met the mattress with nowhere left to go.
Lin Yu continued descending. When they were close enough to feel each other’s breath, Xia Muzhu finally succumbed to her fear.
She pressed a trembling hand against his chest, her voice frail and pleading—
"Don’t."
The word made him pause.
Then, in the next instant, Lin Yu crushed his lips against hers.
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.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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?!
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!
