Li Zhiyi was taken aback.
Zhang Guifang was also stunned for a moment.
The words were out before she even realized what she'd said. But looking at this girl who had flown three hours in the middle of the night with her worthless son without shedding a single tear from start to finish, Zhang Guifang couldn't bear to let her suffer more heartbreak because of her son either.
"Auntie, it's not convenient for me—"
"What's not convenient about it?" Zhang Guifang cut her off. "It's past four in the morning. Where are you, a girl alone, supposed to find a hotel? Our place is small, but you can still rough it for one night."
Chen Zhi sat in his wheelchair, his head buzzing.
He glanced at the Lin family door next door, then at his own mother.
"Mom..."
"Shut up." Zhang Guifang shot him a glare without kindness. "I'm talking to Zhiyi."
Li Zhiyi hesitated for a moment before saying,
"Auntie, I really can just take a cab—"
"I'm not comfortable with you taking a cab to a hotel at this hour." Zhang Guifang pushed the wheelchair toward their own front door without looking back. "Come on, don't dawdle."
Li Zhiyi stood still for a few seconds before finally following.
When Chen Jun saw Chen Zhi in the wheelchair and Li Zhiyi standing beside him, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"How'd you get back?"
"Flew back."
"Flew?"
"Private jet."
Once inside, Zhang Guifang turned on the living room light.
A two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, neatly kept.
Zhang Guifang went to the bedroom and brought out a clean comforter, laying it on the sofa.
"Zhiyi, make do for the night."
Li Zhiyi took the comforter.
"Thank you, Auntie."
Zhang Guifang then fetched a new towel and handed it to her.
"The bathroom's at the end of the hallway. The water heater switch is the red button on the left."
Li Zhiyi nodded.
After giving these instructions, Zhang Guifang turned to look at Chen Zhi, who had been helped onto the bed by Chen Jun.
She stood at the doorway, seeming to want to say something but holding back.
In the end, she only left one sentence.
"Get some sleep first."
The door closed.
The living room fell quiet.
Li Zhiyi sat on the edge of the sofa, listening to Zhang Guifang whispering to Chen Jun in the next bedroom. She couldn't make out the words clearly, but occasional phrases like "worthless" and "what a disaster" slipped through.
She picked up her phone and opened the photo album.
The latest photo was taken two days ago at Wanliu Academy. Chen Zhi was sitting on the sofa, his left leg propped on the coffee table, a pair of chopsticks dangling from his mouth as he directed her to bring the soup over.
In the photo, he was still smiling.
Li Zhiyi stared at it for a while, locked the screen, and placed the phone face-down on the coffee table.
She didn't cry. Not from start to finish.
And she never would.
Chen Zhi lay in bed and pulled out the little box Lin Wanwan had given him from his pocket.
He turned the box over and over in his hands, but ultimately didn't open it. He put it back.
"If you open it, I will never see you again."
Just then, his phone buzzed.
It was a message from Dai Damao.
【Zhi ge, did you get back safe? There might be a supply chain issue on the Meizu side.】
Chen Zhi read it and replied.
【Talk tomorrow.】
Dai Damao responded instantly.
【Okay Zhi ge, get some rest. Oh, by the way, President Pei logged into the company intranet once this afternoon. She checked the financial report for about fifteen minutes and then logged out.】
She'd returned her shares, emptied her office, blocked him on WeChat—and she was still sneaking onto the intranet in the middle of the night to look at financial reports.
【Got it.】
Then he opened his text messages and scrolled to the two sent by Pei Ningshuang from an unknown number.
"Don't actually run yourself into the ground. No one's coming to collect your corpse."
Chen Zhi stared at this message and typed a line in the input box.
【I'm home. Were you checking the financial report today?】
He waited a long time but got no reply. She probably wasn't going to answer.
Chen Zhi placed the phone on his chest and closed his eyes.
After tossing and turning for over ten minutes, he still couldn't sleep. He sat up, leaning on the edge of the bed.
Using his crutches, he carefully shuffled to the door and opened it a crack.
In the living room, Li Zhiyi was curled up on the sofa, the comforter pulled up to her chin, her back to him.
Her breathing was steady, as if she were asleep.
Just as Chen Zhi was about to close the door, Li Zhiyi suddenly turned over.
"Why are you up?"
Chen Zhi leaned against the doorframe.
"Can't sleep."
Li Zhiyi sat up, the comforter slipping to her waist.
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
Chen Zhi was silent for a moment.
"Zhiyi, do you regret it?"
Li Zhiyi was taken aback.
"Regret what?"
"Being with me."
The living room was dark, with only the dim light of streetlamps coming through the window.
Li Zhiyi sat in the shadows for a few seconds.
"Do you want the truth?"
"Yeah."
"Sometimes I do."
Chen Zhi's throat tightened.
Li Zhiyi continued.
"Like today. When you made me wait downstairs while you went up to apologize to her."
"Standing there, I actually felt really awful."
"Not because you went to see her."
"But because I realized I even had to fight for the right to be jealous."
Chen Zhi's crutches tapped lightly against the floor.
"But I don't regret it."
"Why not?"
"Because regret doesn't help. I've already fallen for you."
Li Zhiyi said this with such a calm tone that it left Chen Zhi unsure how to respond.
She lay back down and pulled the comforter up again.
"Go back to sleep. You need to take your meds tomorrow."
Chen Zhi stood there for a moment.
"Zhiyi."
"Hm?"
"Thank you."
Li Zhiyi didn't answer.
After more than ten seconds, a very soft voice came from the sofa.
"If you really want to thank me, don't make me wait a year too."
Chen Zhi's mouth opened, but in the end he said nothing and closed the door.
He lay back down in bed.
Outside the window, the sky was lightening.
The dawn in Jiangcheng came a little earlier than in Beijing.
From downstairs came the faint sounds of a breakfast stall being set up.
Chen Zhi's mind was a tangled mess.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard slight noises coming from the kitchen.
Someone was boiling water.
Chen Zhi cracked an eye open and checked the time.
Five forty in the morning.
He struggled to sit up, grabbed his crutches, and hobbled over to the kitchen door.
Li Zhiyi was wearing Zhang Guifang's apron, cracking eggs at the stove.
On the cutting board beside her, the scallions were already chopped.
Hearing the noise, she turned her head and looked back.
"Go back to bed."
"What are you doing?"
"Making breakfast for Auntie." Li Zhiyi poured the egg mixture into a bowl and stirred it. "They let me stay the night. I can't just freeload."
Chen Zhi leaned against the doorframe, watching her busy herself in the kitchen.
Her hair was tied up in a casual ponytail, revealing a sliver of the nape of her neck.
"Zhiyi."
"Yeah."
"Don't be so good to me anymore."
Li Zhiyi didn't stop stirring the eggs.
"That's not for you to decide."
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
