At the dining table, Shen Yi held his bowl and said,
"The dishes today are a bit simple, hope you don’t mind."
"Didn’t have much time to prepare, but I’ll make it up to you all tonight."
Shu Yunyi picked up a piece of water bamboo and chewed it before replying,
"It’s fine. We don’t eat much anyway—four dishes are more than enough."
Cheng Jun chimed in,
"I don’t mind either. As long as it tastes good, that’s what matters. Definitely better than what I could whip up."
Usually, lunch was either eaten out or ordered in, so this rare homely atmosphere with home-cooked food was something she actually quite enjoyed.
Shen Yi laughed, suddenly feeling a little bashful at the praise, and quickly urged the three to focus on their meal.
Fu Nanzhi, however, remained quiet, quietly picking at the fish in front of her.
She couldn’t handle spicy food, so she hadn’t touched the stir-fried pork with peppers.
Noticing this, Shen Yi placed a piece of the dish in her bowl.
"These are bell peppers—not spicy at all. It’s savory, so don’t worry."
He was generally aware of the three women’s preferences and had been careful to avoid anything they disliked. So far, his cooking had been well-received.
But Fu Nanzhi’s silence wasn’t about the food. She was debating whether to share the news at the table.
When Shen Yi spoke to her, she immediately looked up, locking eyes with him. Though she didn’t say a word, her meaning was clear:
Should we tell them now?
Shen Yi understood instantly. He hadn’t expected Fu Nanzhi to be in such a hurry—he’d originally planned to bring it up later when everyone was free.
It wasn’t that now was a bad time, but lunch was short, and they all had work in the afternoon. Such important news might be better saved for later.
With that in mind, Shen Yi reached under the table and gently patted Fu Nanzhi’s leg, signaling her to stay calm.
Then he set down his bowl and chopsticks, cleared his throat, and said,
"There’s something... I need to tell you all."
The moment he spoke, Shu Yunyi and Cheng Jun turned their heads toward him, curious about what he had to say.
Under their combined gaze, Shen Yi felt a flicker of nervousness, but he quickly steadied himself and continued without pause,
"It’s good news."
"Nanzhi... is pregnant."
The words hung in the air for a second before Shu Yunyi and Cheng Jun exclaimed in unison,
"What?!"
They looked at Shen Yi, then turned to Fu Nanzhi, who was blushing slightly. The news hit them like a shockwave, leaving them momentarily stunned.
Fu Nanzhi? Pregnant? The idea sounded so foreign that it took a moment to sink in.
Shu Yunyi was the first to recover, asking skeptically,
"When did this happen? Was it during the check-up this morning?"
"Yeah," Fu Nanzhi replied softly, her voice a mix of joy and apprehension.
Seeing her expression, Shu Yunyi realized this wasn’t a joke.
Meanwhile, Cheng Jun choked on her food, coughing violently until tears welled up in her eyes.
Sitting beside Fu Nanzhi, she ignored her flushed face and grabbed Fu Nanzhi’s arm in disbelief.
"Nanzhi... I thought you couldn’t...?"
Her surprise wasn’t unfounded. Fu Nanzhi had a medical condition, and past signs had suggested as much.
Fu Nanzhi hadn’t hidden it before—both Shu Yunyi and Cheng Jun had their own children, while Fu Nanzhi only had Little Lingdang, whom she’d adopted.
Even Fu Nanzhi herself wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened and could only murmur vaguely,
"I don’t know the details either, but the blood test this morning confirmed it..."
"That’s wonderful! Congratulations, Nanzhi!" Shu Yunyi quickly offered her well-wishes, knowing how much Fu Nanzhi adored children. After all, she’d often helped with childcare in the past.
Now that her wish had come true, her happiness was immeasurable.
Cheng Jun’s smile soon turned genuine too. She wasn’t jealous—just utterly shocked by the news, which had left her momentarily speechless.
Fu Nanzhi’s relief was palpable. She’d worried there might be tension, but the two had accepted it so easily that she finally relaxed.
As the three women huddled together, fussing over Fu Nanzhi as if she were a treasure, Shen Yi quickly interjected,
"Let’s eat first. We can talk more afterward."
"Otherwise the food will get cold."
He then tempered their excitement slightly.
"Actually, it’s only been a week. We just happened to find out early—otherwise, we wouldn’t have known for at least another month."
After this little interlude, none of them had much appetite left. They absentmindedly took a few more bites before abandoning their bowls and gathering on the living room couch, whispering among themselves.
Shen Yi called after them, but they ignored him. When he asked them to help with the dishes, they all insisted they needed to take care of Fu Nanzhi, the expectant mother—their excuse so lofty he couldn’t argue.
With a resigned sigh, Shen Yi shook his head and started clearing the table himself.
What could he do? When they ganged up like this, he had no choice but to retreat.
After swiftly tidying up and drying his hands, he walked into the living room.
"What are you all talking about?"
The moment he appeared, their chatter stopped.
"Not telling you," Cheng Jun teased, sticking out her tongue before turning away.
"Yeah, go away. No eavesdropping on our secrets," Shu Yunyi added, lounging with one foot dangling in a slipper as she shooed him off.
Fu Nanzhi, sandwiched between them, hid behind a cushion, blocking Shen Yi from view.
Clueless about their little secret, Shen Yi snorted.
"Fine, don’t tell me. I don’t even care."
With that, he turned and walked away.
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.
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?!
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!
] [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!"
