When Li Zhiyi slipped out of Chen Zhi's embrace, her fair, clean face was flushed red. There were quite a few students passing by, and the hearts of several boys broke at the sight of this scene.
"Okay, so many people are watching."
Li Zhiyi lowered her head, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.
Chen Zhi hadn't hugged her enough, but he also knew this girl was thin-skinned. He let go, naturally taking her soft little hand, his thumb gently stroking the back of her hand. "Let them watch. Is it a crime to hug my childhood sweetheart? Great Lawyer Li?"
"I haven't become a lawyer yet..." Li Zhiyi muttered softly, but she didn't break free, letting him hold her hand.
"I'm hungry, let's go eat." Chen Zhi waved his big hand. "I heard the cafeteria at Renmin University is pretty good. I'm going to try it today."
"Yeah! The braised pork in the East District cafeteria is especially delicious. If you go late, it'll be gone."
The two walked side by side into the campus. Li Zhiyi deliberately walked very slowly, her shoulder occasionally brushing against Chen Zhi's arm.
Entering the cafeteria, it was exactly mealtime, and it was packed with people.
Li Zhiyi followed closely behind Chen Zhi, only later remembering that this was her territory, and actively ran to line up for food.
"Chen Zhi, sit here and wait for me, I'll go get the food. Do you want braised pork or sweet and sour pork ribs? The braised prawns here are also quite good."
Li Zhiyi had Chen Zhi find a seat to sit down, while she took her campus card printed with her ID photo and squeezed into the crowd getting food.
Chen Zhi found a seat by the window and watched Li Zhiyi weaving through the crowd.
Since this girl arrived at Renmin University, she seemed a little livelier than when she was in Jiangcheng.
It seemed her teacher really treated her well.
Before long, Li Zhiyi came over carrying two trays.
Good heavens, they were packed full of heavy meat dishes.
A portion of braised pork, a portion of braised prawns, a stir-fried choy sum, two bowls of rice, and two bottles of chilled Beibingyang soda.
"Eat up, this braised pork is so delicious, fatty but not greasy."
After sitting down, the first thing Li Zhiyi did was pick up a large piece of braised pork and put it into Chen Zhi's bowl.
Chen Zhi took a bite, and his eyes lit up. "It really is good."
Hearing his praise, Li Zhiyi's eyes curved into a smile.
"I knew you would like it."
Having gained some energy after a few bites, Li Zhiyi's chatterbox opened up. Perhaps because she hadn't seen Chen Zhi in so long, she was eager to share everything that had happened recently with him.
"Chen Zhi, did you know? My current mentor, Professor Wang, is amazing in the legal field."
A grain of rice was stuck to the corner of Li Zhiyi's mouth, and her eyes were sparkling.
"I'm really so lucky. When school started, the senior sister guiding me said I had a steady personality and recommended me to attend a mock trial hearing."
"Then I met my current mentor. He's a highly respected old professor in the law school, surnamed Yang. Professor Yang is really good to me; he invites me to any topics and projects, letting me sit in the back row to listen."
"He even took me to the Supreme Court. Although I just sat at the very back to listen to the trial, I saw many names I had previously only seen in textbooks."
When Li Zhiyi talked about her major, her whole person seemed to glow.
"A couple of days ago, he also took me to an academic seminar and introduced me to many famous professors. Everyone praised me for taking careful notes, but I was actually just afraid of missing the key points the teachers mentioned."
Chen Zhi shoveled rice into his mouth while listening attentively.
"I feel like I'm dreaming. I used to think the universities in the capital were so far away from me, but now I can actually sit here and listen to those big shots speak."
As she spoke, Li Zhiyi placed a peeled prawn into Chen Zhi's bowl.
"Chen Zhi, eat more."
"Look at you, you've lost weight." She looked at Chen Zhi's dark circles with some heartache. "Is starting a business very hard?"
Chen Zhi felt guilty in his heart.
Hard my ass.
Half of these dark circles were from staying up late dealing with computing power and graphics card cooling issues, and the other half were purely from being exhausted while talking on the phone for hours with Lin Wanwan while also dealing with Pei Ningxue's flirting.
But of course, he couldn't tell the truth directly.
"It's alright. In order to let you become a wealthy wife in the future, this little bit of hardship is nothing," Chen Zhi mumbled indistinctly, stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
Li Zhiyi's face reddened, and she looked down, poking at the rice in her bowl. "Who wants to be a wealthy wife? I can make money to support you myself."
She paused, her voice suddenly growing quieter.
"I'm so lucky to meet such a good teacher and get into such a good school."
She lifted her head, her sparkling eyes staring at Chen Zhi for a moment, then her voice suddenly dropped.
"But meeting you is even luckier."
Chen Zhi didn't hear clearly and instinctively asked, "What?"
Li Zhiyi quickly lowered her head to eat, her small face slightly red.
"Nothing! I was saying these prawns are quite fresh, eat quickly."
She buried her head in her food and said no more.
After eating, Li Zhiyi took the initiative to clear the trays, refusing to let Chen Zhi lift a finger.
Li Zhiyi, oh Li Zhiyi, you're treating me so well, are you trying to spoil me into a useless person?
...
Walking out of the cafeteria, the wind outside carried a hint of coolness, and the streetlights on campus had already lit up.
"Chen Zhi, let's go for a walk by Yishao Pool, it's quite pretty there at night."
The two strolled through the Renmin University campus, the paths lined with couples of students.
In college, everyone started dating openly, and although the college campus at night had streetlights, it wasn't particularly bright.
So many young couples would choose to take walks in the dimly lit college campus at night.
From time to time, there would be a couple deeply in love cuddling together on a roadside bench.
The dim environment made it very convenient for young couples to be intimate.
Li Zhiyi kept her hands behind her back, her head lowered as she looked at the tips of her shoes.
She walked very slowly, as if she wanted to stretch this walk out indefinitely.
"Chen Zhi."
Walking up to a bench, Li Zhiyi suddenly stopped and turned to look at him.
"What's wrong?"
"You suddenly came looking for me today... Is there something going on?"
She raised her eyes, those clear pupils seemingly able to see through a person's heart.
Chen Zhi's heart skipped a beat.
This girl's mind was too sensitive.
In the past, when Chen Zhi looked for her, it was mostly because there was something he needed her help with. Over time, she seemed to have gotten used to only seeing him when Chen Zhi "needed" her.
But today, Chen Zhi really didn't have any utilitarian purpose.
If he had to name one, it was simply that after sorting out the company's major affairs, he just wanted to come and see this silly girl.
"Can't I come looking for you if nothing's wrong?"
Chen Zhi reached out and tucked her wind-blown bangs behind her ear. His fingertips brushed against her earlobe, making her shrink her neck.
"It's just that I haven't seen you for too long, and I wanted to come see you," Chen Zhi said in a rarely serious tone. "And by the way, to see if there are any blind guys daring to poach my girl."
"Of course not..."
Li Zhiyi pursed her lips in a smile.
"I told them I have a childhood sweetheart who I've been with since we were little, so they don't dare approach. And... I read books in the library every day, and I don't pay attention to them anyway."
"That's good." Chen Zhi smiled, gently pinching her soft cheek. "If you ever run into any issues, you must tell me. Don't try to shoulder everything on your own. I might not be ridiculously rich right now, but I still have more than enough to help you smooth out a few troubles."
Without the power to manipulate capital, one couldn't truly be considered ridiculously rich. There was no flaw in that logic.
Li Zhiyi nodded obediently.
Looking at her docile demeanor, Chen Zhi suddenly felt an itch in his heart.
Li Zhiyi had applied a very thin layer of lip gloss today. Under the streetlights, her pink lips glistened with a dewy shine.
Chen Zhi's mind couldn't help but wander off track.
Lin Wanwan's lips tasted like strawberries when he kissed her, sweet and sugary.
Pei Ningxue's tasted like cherries, and she always liked to turn the tables and bite him.
He wondered what Li Zhiyi's lips tasted like.
Judging by her well-behaved appearance, it would probably be a faint, gentle flavor, right?
Chen Zhi's Adam's apple bobbed, and his gaze grew deep.
He took a step forward, closing the distance between them.
Li Zhiyi obviously sensed the shift in the atmosphere, and she held her breath.
She didn't pull away; instead, she tilted her chin up slightly, as if waiting for something.
That inviting look, leaving herself entirely at his mercy, was simply a severe test of Chen Zhi's self-control.
Happy New Year! Wishing everyone peace and smooth sailing, and may you all make a fortune in the coming year!
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!
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!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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?!
