Compared to Lin Yu's binge drinking, Xia Muzhu drank much less.
She was still not quite used to the taste of alcohol. Even though the sweet cherry flavor made it easier to swallow, she only took small sips.
So when Lin Yu could barely stand steady, she still had plenty of energy to clear the dishes and chopsticks from the table.
However, compared to the dishes, she cared more about Lin Yu.
Seeing Lin Yu swaying and barely able to stand,
she chose to help him back to the bedroom first before returning to clean up the dining table.
Helped back to the bedroom by Xia Muzhu, Lin Yu lay on the bed.
The alcohol brought a wave of drowsiness, washing over him like the tides of the sea.
Lin Yu's eyelids gradually grew heavy.
But he knew he couldn't fall asleep just yet.
They had eaten the food and drank the wine.
If he just went to sleep now, wouldn't it be like going to a Western restaurant, eating the complimentary bread, and leaving right after?
Lin Yu sniffled, forcing himself to muster up some energy.
No.
He couldn't disappoint Sister Zhuzi; he couldn't sleep yet.
Can't sleep...
Can't...
Sleep...
...
In a daze, he didn't know how long had passed until he suddenly felt the bed sink beside him.
Struggling to open his eyes, Lin Yu saw that Xia Muzhu had gotten into bed.
At this moment, Xia Muzhu also noticed Lin Yu groggily opening his eyes.
She gave a gentle smile, reached out to stroke his cheek, and asked softly,
"Did I wake you?"
"It's nothing."
"Go to sleep."
Saying that, Xia Muzhu withdrew her hand and lay down beside him.
By now, Lin Yu was genuinely so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open.
But he still had no intention of changing his plan.
He really couldn't do that!
How could he feed the stray cats outside until their cheeks were stuffed, while letting his adorable kitten at home go hungry?
That made no sense anywhere!
Driven by guilt and his responsibility as a boyfriend, Lin Yu reached out his sinful hand...
...
????
Lin Yu found his hand unable to move. Feeling it for a moment, he realized it was being held by Xia Muzhu.
"Rest."
Xia Muzhu turned over in bed, facing Lin Yu, and said softly,
"You probably haven't rested much these past few days, have you?"
"Get a good night's sleep tonight."
Lin Yu's groggy brain was instantly jolted awake by Xia Muzhu's words.
She, she...
What did she mean by that?!
It sounded absolutely, undeniably wrong!
Could it be that she knew something?
That shouldn't be!
Now that Qing Mo's goal had been achieved, she had no reason to leak the secret to anyone else. So what did Xia Muzhu mean by this...
...
Under the cover of night, Lin Yu tried hard to conceal the panic in his expression.
He secretly gulped, forced himself to calm down a bit, and tried to bluff his way through, saying,
"Ah, yeah."
"There, there have been quite a few things going on these past few days."
"It really has been a bit tiring."
"Actually, the main thing is the school. It's the end of the semester, and I can't go back, so there are just too many troublesome things."
Lin Yu yawned, pretending to be nonchalant, attempting to clear his name.
But looking at Xia Muzhu's gentle face that had lost a bit of its tenderness, Lin Yu knew he had been exposed.
"Sister Zhuzi, how, how did you know?"
Under Xia Muzhu's calm, almost chilly gaze, Lin Yu asked sheepishly.
"Idiot."
Xia Muzhu raised her hand, lightly poked Lin Yu's forehead with her finger, then withdrew her hand, and said with a hint of helplessness and exhaustion in her eyes,
"Did you think you hid it well?"
"Every time you come back, the perfume scent on you is different."
"Did you really think I didn't know anything?"
Lin Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately couldn't utter a word. It only turned into a bitter smile, tinged with a bit of self-deprecation.
Heh.
He actually thought he had been covering it up perfectly all this time.
So she had found out ages ago?
Damn it.
It seemed he could go be the new Joker in a deck of cards.
The thing he had wanted to confess was exposed without warning.
All the words Lin Yu had been brewing in his stomach completely vanished.
In the darkness, the two faced each other.
Xia Muzhu's gaze was sincere, while Lin Yu's eyes darted away.
Time passed between them, feeling exceptionally long.
Finally, it was Xia Muzhu who spoke first, breaking the silence.
"Lin Yu."
"Actually, I've thought about it for a long time, and I didn't know what attitude to take towards your relationships with others."
"But now I've figured it out."
"Lin Yu."
"I like you."
"I don't want to leave you."
"Anyway, in this world, the only people I care about are you and Little Shan."
"As long as we keep this a secret from Little Shan."
"And not let it affect his life."
"I can listen to you on everything else."
As she spoke, Xia Muzhu placed her hand on Lin Yu's face, gently stroking his cheek, her azure eyes carrying a unique tenderness.
Xia Muzhu revealed her innermost thoughts without any concealment.
At this point, Lin Yu also decided to no longer hide anything.
He immediately confessed everything...
...
Well.
Actually, not everything.
Lin Yu only confessed what had happened between him, Qing Mo, and Tang Manman.
And catering to Xia Muzhu's needs, Lin Yu made a tiny adjustment to the truth.
"Sister Zhuzi, actually, during the time I came to your house every day for free meals, I had already fallen for you. The reason I decisively wanted to distance myself from you later was that I was afraid you would encounter danger again because of my closeness..."
"..."
"I was really heartbroken at that time. It was only by holding back my reluctance that I made the decision to stay away from you..."
"..."
"If I didn't have this concern, I wouldn't have approached Tang Manman at all, nor would I have developed feelings for her, let alone all of this happening later. I can only say it's a trick of fate. In order to protect you, I ended up hurting you..."
"..."
"Actually, after that accidental mishap occurred, apart from guilt and self-blame, I also hid a bit of joy in my heart. Because of that, I could finally be with you, Sister Zhuzi. In fact, I had fantasized about this for a long time, but I always had reservations. This time..."
"..."
"After going to college, I looked forward to summer and winter every day, not because of the holidays, but because I could come back to see you..."
"..."
"Sister Zhuzi."
"Out of the three of us, you are the one I like the most."
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
