After gathering Ye Feng's clothes and bringing them to the bedside, Shen Mengli handed them over to him.
"The clothes are all washed and clean now, Xiao Feng. You should put them on quickly."
"Alright."
Just as Ye Feng was about to take the shirt from Shen Mengli's hands, he noticed his coat was missing. Realizing this, Shen Mengli hurriedly explained.
"Xiao Feng, your coat was already torn beyond repair, so I disposed of it. I’m really sorry for not discussing it with you beforehand."
"I see."
Unaware that Shen Mengli had used his coat to fabricate evidence of his death, Ye Feng simply nodded and put on his shirt. Just as he was about to ask Shen Mengli to step out for a moment, a soft figure pressed against him.
"Mengli?"
"Didn’t you say earlier that it was inconvenient without a shirt on? Now that you’re dressed, I can hug you as much as I want~"
"So this is what you’ve been scheming all along."
"Of course! I... I’ve been thinking about you all this time~"
Ye Feng couldn’t help but poke Shen Mengli’s forehead in exasperation, but seeing how content she looked, he let her be. Coincidentally, there was something he wanted to discuss with her.
"By the way, Mengli, have you informed the headmistress since you’ve been staying here? When I spoke with her recently, she was really worried about your disappearance."
"I did consider letting her know I’m safe, but in a place like this, sending a message out is either too difficult or risks being discovered by others."
In truth, Shen Mengli had already discussed this with the headmistress back at the orphanage. The reason the headmistress hadn’t told Ye Feng about Shen Mengli’s planned disappearance was largely because she preferred the two of them to be together.
"I see... Still, I think we should let her know. What do you think?"
"Of course! I’d love to tell her I’m safe and that I’m with you, Xiao Feng. But for now, I think we should stay hidden. I don’t want those awful women to take you away from me again!"
As she spoke, Shen Mengli buried her face deeper into Ye Feng’s chest, as if afraid someone might snatch him away.
"Alright, you’re right. I just didn’t want the headmistress to worry. We’ll find a way to contact her once things settle down."
"Mhm! Xiao Feng is the best—I love you the most~"
"Ahem... Mengli, could you step out for a bit? I’d like to get dressed and move around."
Ye Feng awkwardly gestured to the pants beside him, hinting that she shouldn’t make this harder for him.
"Hmph... We’ve been living together for so long now. Why are you still so shy about these little things?"
"Well, it’s just not proper. Imagine if I were watching while you changed clothes—wouldn’t you feel..."
"I’d love that!"
"Love your head!"
Shen Mengli’s playful reply left Ye Feng at a loss. Finally, he resorted to pinching her soft cheeks between his fingers.
"Mmph... Nngh..."
Under Ye Feng’s relentless teasing, Shen Mengli eventually surrendered, and he finally released her.
"If you’d just admitted your mistake earlier, you wouldn’t have suffered like this. Now that you’ve lost, hurry up and step outside."
"Hmph!"
Rubbing her reddened cheeks, Shen Mengli shot him a glare before stomping out of the room, muttering under her breath.
"Fine, I’ll leave. Xiao Feng just loves bullying me."
"......"
Watching her adorable antics, even Ye Feng couldn’t help but chuckle. Quickly dressing in the clothes laid out by the bed, he carefully stood up.
Having not walked in a while, Ye Feng stumbled slightly but managed to steady himself. Just as he was adjusting to standing, a slender arm looped around his, and he turned to see Shen Mengli—who had just left—now back at his side.
"Mengli? You..."
"I told you to be careful! What if you’d fallen just now? Good thing I secretly—I mean, good thing I noticed in time!"
"Just ‘noticed in time,’ huh?"
"Same difference! The point is, your health is what matters!"
With that, Shen Mengli guided Ye Feng to a wooden chair, poured him a cup of hot water, and handed it to him.
"You’re all I care about, Xiao Feng. You can’t afford to get hurt. As long as you’re safe, nothing else matters."
"I know you mean well, Mengli. Look, I’m already recovering bit by bit."
"But you still shouldn’t push yourself like that! I promised I’d take good care of you."
Moving behind him, Shen Mengli gently rested his head against her stomach.
"From now on, no matter what you do, be careful, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you. I just want us to be together, safe and sound."
Touched by her concern, Ye Feng nodded solemnly. After finishing the water, he extended a hand to her.
"Then I’ll leave it to you for now, Mengli."
Shen Mengli brightened instantly, gripping his hand tightly.
"Leave it to me!"
......
"Young Mistress, are you sure this is alright?"
Ah Fu watched Xie Yuyan—seated on the sofa in the manor’s hall, sipping coffee—with visible concern, whispering his doubts to Li Mucheng.
"Don’t worry, Ah Fu. Xie Yuyan may still have some shadows in her heart, but she’s sharper than anyone. She knows what’s most important right now and won’t act recklessly."
"Understood..."
Li Mucheng motioned for Ah Fu to withdraw, then walked over and sat across from Xie Yuyan.
"How are you feeling? Any discomfort?"
"I’ve sorted myself out. I’ll adjust soon enough."
Xie Yuyan pursed her lips, setting down her coffee cup before adding a few sugar cubes.
"Good. Yu Xin will be here shortly. Let’s keep any unnecessary conflicts at bay during our discussion, alright? The bigger picture comes first."
"I know. I’ll keep my emotions in check. After all the mistakes I’ve made, I won’t run from them."
"......"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
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…
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...
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
