After Shu Yunyi left, Shen Yi wiped down the cleaned table.
Women are generally tidier than men, but there are exceptions—some are neat to the point of obsession, while others are as messy as a garbage dump.
Shen Yi fell somewhere in between. He cleaned up when things bothered him but didn’t obsess over perfection.
After mopping the entire apartment, he nodded in satisfaction.
Leaving the floor to air-dry, he closed the door behind him and headed out.
Once off campus, Shen Yi drove straight to the DMV. His temporary license plates had been in use for quite a few days, and now that he’d won the license plate lottery, it was time to get permanent ones.
After gathering all the necessary documents and working through the process, he finally finished everything by noon.
The plate number was nothing special—no rare or coveted sequences to speak of.
Shen Yi simply picked one that looked decent—357—and called it a day.
Driving back to his neighborhood, he grabbed a quick bite downstairs before returning home.
He still had work to do for the day. Yes, Shen Yi now treated the daily refreshes in the simulator as his mission.
The earnings came effortlessly, and he was quite satisfied with the arrangement.
Though taking over Jinheng from Fu Nanzhi could grant him financial freedom, it would take time, and more importantly, it was exhausting. Being a lawyer was all about networking, and the higher up the ladder you climbed, the more socializing it required—something Shen Yi had firsthand experience with.
Running an online account could also generate staggering profits, even enough to last a lifetime in just a few years. But turning a creative hobby into a job was far from enjoyable—constantly brainstorming ideas, ensuring the scenery was picturesque, the music fitting, the editing polished, and the content authentic. It was a surefire way to stress yourself bald.
Shen Yi spent two and a half hours completing his daily task, adding another hundred thousand or so to his account.
For several days in a row, he holed up in his rented apartment, barely stepping outside except for meals and his jogging routine. Every time the simulator refreshed, he immediately matched targets, aggressively stacking up earnings.
During this time, Shen Yi made a habit of glancing at the apartment across from his whenever he opened the door.
True to her word, Cheng Jun hadn’t been back—he never once saw that door open. It seemed she really hadn’t returned to stay here.
Fu Nanzhi had also been acting mysteriously lately. Aside from their usual daily messages, she no longer took the initiative to see him as often as before.
Whenever he asked, she’d dodge the question, mumbling something about a "surprise" and forbidding him from prying.
The only person he occasionally visited was Shu Yunyi, though she wasn’t thrilled about him dropping by too often, complaining that it disrupted her workout routine.
Ironically, Shen Yi—who had once been swamped and worried about spreading himself too thin—suddenly found himself with an unusual amount of free time.
But just as the saying goes, speak of the devil and he shall appear. That evening, right after finishing a simulation, Shen Yi received a message from Fu Nanzhi:
"Dress nicely and come pick me up at the company."
Setting his phone down, Shen Yi mused,
"Is this the so-called surprise?"
"Dress nicely" was a bit vague—he wasn’t particularly fashion-savvy.
Still, wearing something Fu Nanzhi had picked out for him couldn’t go wrong. He trusted her taste.
Checking the time—just past six—he still had a little while. After a quick shower and change of clothes, he drove to Tiancheng Corporation.
Pulling into the underground garage, he texted Fu Nanzhi to let her know he’d arrived.
Since he’d already resigned from Tiancheng, he no longer had an employee card to swipe in. Registering as a visitor would be too much hassle, so he decided to wait in the car.
Before long, the sharp click of heels echoed in the distance.
Shen Yi looked up to see Fu Nanzhi striding toward him, her bag slung over her shoulder and a bright smile on her face.
She slid into the passenger seat, fastening her seatbelt as she chirped,
"Hubby, let’s go—Songping Garden."
Shen Yi rested his hands on the steering wheel, puzzled.
"Pinghu? You’re going home?"
"Yep!"
Fu Nanzhi turned to him, beaming with pride.
"Report! After Comrade Nanzhi’s relentless efforts, the organization has decided to invite you over for dinner today!"
Shen Yi blinked, then immediately understood. Their "organization" could only refer to one person—Fu Nanzhi’s mother, Ji Shulan.
His expression shifted to surprise, and he grinned as he praised her,
"Seriously? You’re amazing! How did you get Mom to agree?"
Fu Nanzhi giggled, looking smug.
"I begged. After wearing her down with my persistence, she finally gave in."
"Mom doesn’t dislike you—she just thought everything happened too suddenly."
Then, with a sweet smile, she added playfully,
"Besides, hubby, you’re so incredible. I refuse to believe anyone could meet you and not adore you~"
Though Shen Yi had thick skin, even he felt a little embarrassed by the flattery. But love was blind, after all.
He waved it off.
"Alright, alright, stop—you’re gonna inflate my ego. I’m not that great."
"You are, you are!" Fu Nanzhi insisted, pouting.
As Shen Yi pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Pinghu Residence, he remarked confidently,
"So this is the surprise you mentioned."
"Not bad, Comrade Nanzhi. Not only are you skilled at persuasion, but your secrecy game is on point too."
Fu Nanzhi, who had been fiddling with her phone, paused. It took her a moment to respond, hesitating slightly.
"Uh… yeah. That’s right."
"This is… the surprise."
Shen Yi, focused on the road, chuckled.
"I figured. You’ve always been the type to quietly pull off big moves."
Fu Nanzhi didn’t elaborate, simply laughing along.
……
Ji Shulan had gone grocery shopping right after lunch.
The night before, Fu Nanzhi had pestered her relentlessly, shaking her arm so much she thought it might fall off, until she finally agreed to let this Shen Yi come over for dinner.
No matter how casually she’d agreed, in reality, she took it seriously.
After all, family upbringing mattered. Looking down on others or acting snobbish would only embarrass her daughter.
The Fu family was well-off but lived modestly—no luxury cars, no speculative investments, no gambling, and no excessive real estate purchases. The only indulgence was Old Fu’s hobby of collecting various styles of clocks.
Ji Shulan ran a tight ship at home, employing only one part-time housekeeper for basic cleaning.
Most tasks, like cooking, she handled herself.
After returning with the groceries, she started prepping the ingredients early.
Once she confirmed Fu Nanzhi’s schedule via text, she began stir-frying the side dishes.
"Nanzhi’s almost 28 now. Putting the past aside, she’s finally come to her senses. Any later, and she’d be considered an old maid."
Ji Shulan stirred the wok with a clear mind, though she couldn’t help but disapprove of modern dating attitudes.
Deep down, she knew that if Nanzhi was truly happy, no amount of resistance would change her mind—Old Fu understood that better than she did.
But as a mother, she couldn’t help wanting to vet things for her daughter.
In what felt like no time, Ji Shulan had two dishes ready when the sound of the door opening reached her.
"Mom, we’re home~"
Ji Shulan calmly plated the food, even managing an amused thought:
"At least she remembered to say ‘we.’ So she really brought him."
"Mom!" Fu Nanzhi called again.
Ji Shulan finally replied, "I heard you! I’m in the kitchen—find yourselves a seat!"
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?!
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.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
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!
