"Wake up! Wake up!"
A sharp pain shot through the tip of her nose, and only then did Jiang Xin slowly stir from the darkness.
She opened her eyes, muttering in utter confusion.
"Th-... Where is this? Wasn't I at home waiting for my hubby to come back?"
"Are you crazy?"
Ye Shu propped her up with one hand on her waist, sighing helplessly. "You fainted earlier because you got too emotional. This is an inn."
"An... an inn?"
Jiang Xin looked up blankly, only to see Xia Hanmo sitting half-upright beside her, her pretty face flushed crimson, head lowered, ears so red they looked ready to drip blood, not daring to say a word.
The memories from moments ago came flooding back like a tide.
She remembered. She remembered everything now.
She had whipped out the blood-stained bedsheet just to one-up that Xia Hanmo woman—and that heartless man had seen it all! Every last bit of it!
Her reputation. Her dignity. Gone.
She couldn't show her face in public anymore.
How was she supposed to hold her head up in front of that heartless man from now on?
At that thought, grief welled up in Jiang Xin's heart, tears glistening in her eyes as she wailed, "This place... is basically hell!"
Ye Shu: ".........."
Looking at his drama-queen of a foolish wife, he truly had no idea what to do with her.
"Alright, cut the theatrics. It's not like it's a big deal."
"No, it IS a big deal."
Jiang Xin shook her head tearfully, burying her face into his chest, sobbing, "I can't show my face anymore... waaah..."
The others: "........."
Seriously, wasn't this shameless woman just using this as an excuse to fish for sympathy from that heartless man?
Such heavy scheming!
Of course, Ye Shu wasn't about to indulge her.
He rummaged around on himself with his right hand, then pulled out a blood-stained bedsheet, waving it in front of Jiang Xin's eyes.
"Look here. What's this?"
"Th-... This is?"
Jiang Xin looked up, and her face instantly turned red.
Wasn't this the blood-stained sheet from her and that heartless man's first night? How did he have it? He must have picked it up earlier.
"Give it back!"
She quickly reached out to grab it, but Ye Shu dodged her nimbly.
Holding the sheet with one hand, he wagged the other at Jiang Xin with a grin. "Still going to throw a tantrum? Still going to hunt for mistresses?"
"No more, no more!" Jiang Xin agreed in a rush. "Just give it back to me!"
Hearing that, Ye Shu nodded in satisfaction and handed the sheet back to her. Jiang Xin carefully took it, tucked it close to her body, then lowered her head and fell silent, face red.
She looked exactly like Xia Hanmo beside her.
Clearly, after what had just happened, those two were too ashamed to show their faces for the time being.
"There we go, that's better~"
And just like that, he'd dealt with three women in a flash.
Ye Shu nodded with satisfaction.
This just proved he had a real talent for keeping the balance, didn't it? At this rate, sharing one big bed wasn't just a dream.
He turned around and looked toward the window sill.
There sat his last, most difficult, and most troublesome one: Liu Ruyi, the Demon Sect's Holy Maiden.
To be perfectly honest, he really didn't want to be tied to her.
That was exactly why he'd faked his own death to get away.
"What's this? From the look in your eyes, sounds like you're not exactly glad to see me?"
Liu Ruyi raised an eyebrow.
Ye Shu said nothing, because he truly didn't know how to face this woman.
"Is she really your wife?" Jiang Xin suddenly leaned in and whispered, since the way he acted didn't seem at all like an ordinary married couple.
"Yes." Ye Shu replied with complete calm. "With lanterns strung and celebration, properly wed, bowed to heaven and earth, drank the nuptial cup. When you and I first met, that bridal robe I wore—she hand-stitched it for me when I married her."
"Oh..."
Hearing that, Jiang Xin lowered her head, looking a bit dejected.
"You don't need to feel inferior." Ye Shu turned and gently ruffled her hair, chuckling. "Aren't you also my wife?"
"That doesn't count as formal at all." Jiang Xin pouted, but the upward curve at the corner of her lips already gave her away.
"You don't need to fight over any of this."
Seeing all the women gathered together, Ye Shu stood up. His gaze swept across everyone present, his tone steady and forceful.
"In my eyes, you are all the same."
"I know love isn't fair. I am your one and only, but you are not my one and only. But I'm sorry, that's just the reality, and I told you all long before."
Scummy.
That speech was scummy to the extreme.
But when he said those words, Ye Shu did so with a clear conscience.
Because as he'd said, before every relationship was established, he had informed each of them of his circumstances up front. There was no hiding, no deception.
The only person he'd truly wronged in his life was Lin Qingxue.
But that had involved factors beyond his control. So Ye Shu wasn't going to wallow in self-pity. Whatever responsibility he had to bear, he'd bear it. Whatever explanation he owed, he'd give it.
He was scummy.
But he was scummy openly, scummy with a clean conscience!
"Should I give you an award or something?"
Liu Ruyi, perched on the window sill, let out a jeering laugh. "Aren't you just so impressive?"
Ye Shu turned back at those words, looking at her calmly.
"Only you are different."
"I don't love you."
Click—
The moment those words left his mouth, Liu Ruyi's smile froze on her face. Her fingers tightened slightly as she glared coldly at Ye Shu. "What did you say?"
"I said, I don't love you."
Ye Shu repeated himself.
"Liu Ruyi, I am grateful to you. I pity you. I can spend a long time keeping you company. I can be your husband. But I do not love you."
"........."
Silence. A dead, suffocating silence.
The night was still.
The room was eerily quiet.
Everyone held their breath, staring at Ye Shu, their eyes filled with disbelief. Though they didn't know the full story, the fact that he'd unleashed the "I don't love you" technique meant this Liu Ruyi really did hold a heavy place in his heart.
The little beast curled up by the bed, its purple eyes full of confusion.
Could something this melodramatic really happen to the teacher as well?
What concerned the women even more was Liu Ruyi's reaction.
Facing such a ruthless speech from Ye Shu, what would she do?
"Is that so?"
In just a moment, Liu Ruyi had already recovered her previous calm, composed expression.
She raised her chin, looking down at Ye Shu from above. "Remember? You owe me two favors."
Ye Shu nodded. "Of course I remember."
"Good."
Liu Ruyi suddenly rose to her feet, her crimson bridal gown whipping wildly in the night breeze like a proud, defiant rose. "Ye Shu, even if your heart is a block of ice, I, Liu Ruyi, will melt it with warmth. Even if it's a stone, I will crack it open."
"Now, I want you to fulfill my second favor."
"I want you to learn to love me."
With that, her figure vanished into the darkness of the night, leaving only a red silhouette behind.
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.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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!
