"She's actually quite unreasonable."
"I met her at noon. She said I was cute, said she liked me."
"At the time, I just thought it was the kind of compliment girls give each other."
"But that very night, I realized that wasn't the case at all."
Tao Yaoyao fell silent. The rushing river water washed against the sand on both banks, making a comforting noise.
She silently recalled that night when she was half-coaxed, half-forced. After a good while, Tao Yaoyao continued:
"After that, she did a lot for me."
"She helped me teach a lesson to the girls who ganged up to ostracize me."
"She gave me lots of gifts, gave me a lot of money, and made my life fly from the mud straight into the clouds in an instant."
"She pulled me out of hell."
"So I would be willing to do anything for her..."
Tao Yaoyao's voice was very soft, yet it carried an unquestionable finality.
"Oh."
"Right!"
Tao Yaoyao seemed to suddenly remember something.
She turned her head to look at Lin Yu, who hadn't interrupted the whole time, revealed a sweet smile, and said in a brisk tone:
"I think you would understand me, right?"
"Just like you and Tang Manman. Xu Mingyao is my Lin Yu."
"Tang Manman would be willing to give her all for Lin Yu..."
"Cut the fucking bullshit."
Lin Yu, who had been listening silently until now, finally couldn't help but speak up. His voice was as cold as the water in the long river before them.
Tao Yaoyao's voice came to an abrupt halt. He finally turned his head to look at her, his dark eyes, sprinkled with a layer of moonlight, exceptionally icy.
"I would never push my own woman out to be used as a tool."
Tao Yaoyao froze for a moment. Immediately after, the light that had just lit up in her eyes quickly dimmed.
She silently turned her head back, looking at her wet shoes, and said softly:
"I'm sorry."
Lin Yu had mercilessly torn away the fig leaf Tao Yaoyao had draped over herself.
Tao Yaoyao knew that the feelings between her and Xu Mingyao couldn't be called love.
She relied on her money and status, and was grateful for the help—though hardly gentle—she had once given her.
As for her forcibly twisted sexual orientation, rather than feeling indifferent, Tao Yaoyao felt mostly numb inside.
Physical reactions were unavoidable.
It was like hearing a very vulgar, terrible joke. Even though you didn't find it funny and were even a bit disgusted by its vulgarity.
You would still be physiologically amused and laugh out loud because of its clever setup and punchline.
She had been listening to terrible jokes like this all along.
Whether she found them funny or not didn't matter anymore.
She laughed anyway.
So be it.
And what about Xu Mingyao?
She might also be dependent on her. After all, she was her exclusive plaything that she kept by her side almost all the time. When she was happy, she would share it with her; when she was angry, she would take it out on her...
But in her heart, there was almost nothing but that woman she longed for but could never have.
It had been so many years.
Had she ever let her into her heart, even just a little bit?
Tao Yaoyao didn't know.
But she knew that the relationship between her and Xu Mingyao was not love.
Instead, it was a deformed, twisted, and complex emotion.
This cruel reality was like a brazier full of burning charcoal. Even if Tao Yaoyao didn't touch it, or even avoided facing it, she still couldn't escape the heat it radiated.
Tao Yaoyao didn't want to face it, so she had picked up an exquisite lid to cover up these scorching coals.
But just now, Lin Yu had ruthlessly snatched it away.
Because that love belonged to him and Tang Manman.
She and Xu Mingyao didn't have that...
...
"Tell me."
Lin Yu turned his head back, took a deep breath, and continued looking at the long river shimmering with moonlight not far away. He said coldly:
"Out of all the things we've been through, how much of it was deliberately arranged by you two?"
Tao Yaoyao blinked. After a brief recollection, she gave a rough answer.
"About a third or a fourth."
Speaking of this, Tao Yaoyao unconsciously revealed a knowing smile.
"Most of those things weren't planned by me."
"Maybe there really is a strong affinity between us."
Tao Yaoyao's heartfelt words almost made Lin Yu blow his top.
Don't give me that bullshit about destiny and fate, I clash with that crap!
"What about today?"
Lin Yu turned his head and stared into Tao Yaoyao's eyes, not giving her any chance to lie.
"Was it an accident, or did you arrange it?"
Tao Yaoyao looked hesitant. After a slight pause, she spoke the truth.
"Today was an accident."
"I didn't expect Hu Hao to do something like that either."
"But everything was still within my control."
"In S City, as long as I mention my relationship with Xu Mingyao, those people would immediately switch sides and stand with me."
Hearing this, Lin Yu suddenly remembered what Tao Yaoyao had said right before falling into the water.
Looking at it this way, it seemed Tao Yaoyao really hadn't been harmed by Hu Hao.
"Heh."
Lin Yu suddenly scoffed.
At a time like this, why was he still thinking about these things?
Looking at Tao Yaoyao's beautiful face under the moonlight, Lin Yu silently weighed each matter in his mind, trying to determine how he should get revenge on her and that damn woman.
Scenes from the past flashed through Lin Yu's mind like a slideshow.
The feelings from that time traveled through the memories, crossing time, crashing wave after wave against the hatred in Lin Yu's heart—a hatred that was already built on shaky ground.
Gradually.
Lin Yu felt a bit tired.
He withdrew his gaze, stood up, and looked at the cold moonlight scattered across the ground before him. He warned coldly:
"Go back and tell that damn woman to behave herself."
"If she dares to pull any more disgusting stunts to sicken me."
"I'll make her end up begging on the streets."
With that said, Lin Yu turned around and looked down at Tao Yaoyao. Facing her upturned, exquisite face, Lin Yu asked without a trace of warmth in his expression:
"You should know Qing Mo, right?"
The night breeze blew past, bringing with it the rustling sound of leaves.
Tao Yaoyao lowered her head and nodded gently.
"I see."
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
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!
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
