"Mengli? I see."
Seeing Shen Mengli suddenly avert her gaze, Ye Feng felt inexplicably nervous and stood up abruptly from his seat.
But at that moment, Shen Mengli reached out and clutched the corner of Ye Feng's clothes again.
"Shen... Mengli?"
"Um... well..."
Hearing Ye Feng suddenly address her like this, even though she had prepared herself, Shen Mengli's words became hesitant. Although her expression and face showed no signs of embarrassment, when she sensed that Ye Feng was about to leave, she anxiously held onto him.
"Ye... Mr. Ye Feng, you haven’t told me how I should address you yet."
"Ah... sorry. As for how to address me, just call me Ye Feng. Calling me 'Mr.' feels a bit strange."
"Is that so?"
Shen Mengli suddenly glanced at the teddy bear in her arms and immediately blurted out,
"Xiao Feng!"
"W-what?"
"Can I call you Xiao Feng? I want to call you Xiao Feng."
"This nickname?"
Ye Feng hadn’t expected Shen Mengli to address him like this. Shen Mengli was probably the only one who would do so.
"This nickname is fine."
"Mm, so Xiao Feng, you’re agreeing, right?"
"Of course, it’s fine. But Mengli, can you tell me why you chose this nickname?"
Shen Mengli looked down at the teddy bear in her hands, then raised her head to gaze at Ye Feng. "This... I won’t tell you."
......
On his way home, Ye Feng’s mind kept replaying the memories of his time with Shen Mengli that day. Although Shen Mengli’s expression remained calm when he left the welfare center, he could clearly sense a newfound liveliness in her demeanor.
She should be fine now, right?
Ye Feng touched the disinfectant tablets in his pocket. Even though he seemed to have talked Shen Mengli out of her suicidal thoughts today, he still couldn’t shake off his worries. What if Shen Mengli was just putting on a front to appease him? Maybe he should keep an eye on her just to be safe.
With that thought, Ye Feng turned around and headed back toward the welfare center.
He didn’t dare to rely solely on his instincts to judge such matters, especially when it involved a living, breathing life.
"Mengli, what did Mr. Ye Feng talk to you about today?"
During dinner, the director, seemingly on purpose, brought her bowl over and sat down beside Shen Mengli. Her eyes carried a hint of amusement. After all, she had noticed something unusual when she saw Shen Mengli tugging at Ye Feng’s clothes earlier.
Based on her years of understanding Shen Mengli, the usually quiet girl had always been unflappable about everything. But Ye Feng’s appearance had changed her in many ways.
From the director’s perspective, Shen Mengli now seemed more like a living, breathing person rather than an emotionless doll.
"Di... Director, what are you talking about! Xiao... Mr. Ye Feng just discussed Wenwen’s situation with me. He didn’t say anything unnecessary."
"Sigh, Mengli, you’ve grown up. You’ve even learned to lie to me, the director. It breaks my heart~"
The director put on a tearful expression, which made Shen Mengli, who was never good at lying, feel even guiltier. But at the same time, a strange sense of shyness welled up inside her.
"R-really, I’m not talking to you anymore, Director! I... I’m full!"
Shen Mengli put down her bowl and chopsticks, pushed her wheelchair, and headed toward the hallway. Watching this scene, the director couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle softly.
Mengli has finally grown up. It seems like everything is moving in a positive direction.
"Phew..."
Shen Mengli pushed her wheelchair to the familiar garden, reached out, and patted her cheeks. Her heart felt like a tangled ball of yarn, chaotic and restless.
What... what’s wrong with me? I’ve never felt this strange before. What on earth is going on...
Xiao Feng has already left. I wonder when he’ll come back next.
Shen Mengli’s mind gradually filled with images of Ye Feng. Suddenly, as if realizing something, she shook her head vigorously, as if trying to shake something off.
W-what’s happening? Why does my heart race whenever I think of Xiao Feng? It must be some kind of curse! I must have fallen under some strange spell!
After a while, Shen Mengli calmed down and sat in the pavilion, staring at the blooming flowers in a daze.
Just then, a figure approached her.
"Hmm?"
Shen Mengli turned her head and saw that it was the director.
"Director? Why are you here?"
The director, wearing a gentle smile, sat down beside Shen Mengli. Under Shen Mengli’s puzzled gaze, she took her small hand and said softly, "What? Can’t I come to see the child I raised with my own hands? Or do you wish it was Mr. Ye Feng who came to see you instead?"
"Of course not, Director! Stop teasing me! I was just curious why you followed me here."
Shen Mengli’s voice grew softer, and her eyes wandered aimlessly.
"Alright, alright, let’s just say I overthought it."
The director patted Shen Mengli’s hand, but then her tone shifted as she brought up another topic.
"Mengli, actually... there’s something I want to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Mengli, you’ve been an adult for quite some time now, haven’t you?"
"Ah... yes."
"Sigh."
At this point, the director tightened her grip on Shen Mengli’s hand. Her expression showed reluctance and pain as she prepared to say what came next.
"I... I’m sorry, Mengli. Before I say anything else, I need to apologize to you."
"Director, what are you..."
Although Shen Mengli didn’t understand why the director was saying this, she could see the deep sorrow and reluctance in her expression.
"The truth is, I’ve been hiding something from you. Once the children here reach adulthood, they must leave the welfare center. The center doesn’t have the right to continue caring for them."
The director’s voice even carried a hint of a sob. She knew what her next words would mean for Shen Mengli, but she had no choice but to say them.
"Because I couldn’t bear to let you go, Mengli. And if you were to leave, you’d likely be sent to a center for people with disabilities. I have no idea whether that place is good or bad. To keep you here, I broke the rules of the welfare center. But if this continues, it’s only a matter of time before it’s discovered. When that happens, the entire welfare center will face serious consequences..."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
