Feeling the softness on his back, Shen Yi gently pinched her thigh as a form of punishment.
The two of them laughed and playfully walked to the car.
Shen Yi patted her bottom and said,
"Aren’t you getting down yet?"
Fu Nanzhi tightly wrapped her arms around Shen Yi’s neck, shaking her head repeatedly,
"I’m not getting down."
"If you don’t get down, I’m going to tickle you."
Shen Yi grinned mischievously, reaching out to her sensitive spot as if to tickle her.
"I surrender, I surrender, I’m getting down."
Fu Nanzhi, extremely sensitive and afraid of being tickled, quickly jumped off Shen Yi in fear.
Whether in this life or the last, Fu Nanzhi’s greatest fear was Shen Yi tickling her.
The two of them got into the car and drove out of the parking lot.
As they reached the intersection, Shen Yi turned to her and said,
"Drop me off up ahead. You should head back early so Mom doesn’t worry."
Fu Nanzhi stubbornly shook her head and refused,
"No way. At least let me take you to the door."
Shen Yi chuckled,
"I’m a grown man, I’m not going to get lost."
"But I still want to take you."
Fu Nanzhi stood her ground.
However, no matter how far she took him, there would always be an end to the journey. The car stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood.
Shen Yi got out of the car, and Fu Nanzhi followed suit.
"Honey, wait a second."
She walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk.
"These are the clothes I bought for you last time. The package has already arrived."
"Take them back and see if they fit."
Fu Nanzhi had already unpacked quite a few of the packages, all from her recent online shopping spree.
Shen Yi looked down and saw that there was indeed a lot—everything from underwear to clothes and shoes—Fu Nanzhi had bought him a complete wardrobe.
"How am I supposed to wear all this?"
Shen Yi rummaged through the items and picked out two sets, holding them in his hands.
"That’s enough. I’ll take these. You can put the rest in the wardrobe."
His place was too small, and carrying so many clothes back would be a burden. Besides, he wouldn’t be staying there for long, and moving back and forth would be a hassle.
"Thanks, sweetheart. Come here, give me a kiss!"
Fu Nanzhi happily leaned in, offering her cheek.
"Alright, I’m heading back. You should go home too, and send me a message when you get there."
"Okay..."
Fu Nanzhi hesitated, taking a few steps but constantly looking back.
Shen Yi stood on the curb, watching her and said,
"In a couple of days, I’ll go with you to have dinner at your place. We can’t keep avoiding Mom. We can’t become fat in one bite, so we’ll take it slow."
Fu Nanzhi started the car, rolled down the window, and replied,
"Got it. Bye."
Shen Yi waved at her.
He watched until Fu Nanzhi turned the corner and disappeared from sight before heading home.
The motion-sensor light in the hallway turned on.
Shen Yi lived on the fourth floor. Since it was an old neighborhood, there was no elevator, but fortunately, the building wasn’t too tall, so climbing the stairs wasn’t too strenuous.
As he reached the third-floor landing, he heard the sound of something heavy being dragged.
Looking up, he saw a woman struggling to carry a suitcase up the stairs.
He didn’t try to hide his footsteps, and the woman turned around upon hearing him. Their eyes met.
Shen Yi was facing the light, while the woman’s face was hidden in the shadows, her hair cascading down, making it hard to see her features.
Just as Shen Yi was about to ask, she suddenly spoke, her voice clear and melodious,
"What are you staring at? Aren’t you going to help?"
The voice made Shen Yi pause, and he exclaimed in surprise,
"Cheng Jun?!"
"What are you doing here?"
Cheng Jun handed the silver suitcase to Shen Yi, finally catching her breath,
"Why can’t I be here?"
She wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead. The lack of an elevator in the neighborhood had really worn her out.
Her slender arms and legs weren’t built for heavy lifting, and she had struggled to get the suitcase up the stairs.
Shen Yi took the suitcase and effortlessly lifted it with one hand as he walked, asking,
"Which floor?"
"Fourth floor."
"Fourth floor?"
Shen Yi frowned and followed her, only to see her stop at the fourth floor.
Cheng Jun rummaged through her shoulder bag for the keys and unlocked the door.
Shen Yi’s sense of unease grew stronger.
The room she had just entered was directly across from his own apartment. In other words, Cheng Jun had moved in right across from him.
As the door opened, the layout appeared quite spacious, roughly 80 to 90 square meters.
The owner had clearly renovated the place, as it was fully furnished with all the necessary furniture.
The unit faced a better direction and had a larger layout compared to Shen Yi’s place, which had been partitioned for rental purposes. This one was likely the owner’s original residence.
Cheng Jun walked in, and Shen Yi followed, helping her push the suitcase inside.
Standing in the living room, Shen Yi watched as Cheng Jun looked around, his confusion reaching its peak. He asked,
"Why... why did you move here?"
"Guess."
"I’m not going to guess."
Cheng Jun glanced at Shen Yi, her hands behind her back as she paced around the room,
"I had a fight with my family, so I moved out. Is that not allowed?"
Shen Yi wasn’t entirely convinced by her explanation,
"I believe you had a fight, but with your standards, would you really live here?"
"What’s wrong with this place?"
Cheng Jun tapped the table and ran her hand over the sofa as she replied,
"It keeps the wind and rain out, there’s food and drink, a place to sleep. I’ve lived in worse places before."
Shen Yi knew what she was referring to. After all, could anything be worse than the environment during the apocalypse?
She might be a young lady, but she didn’t have the airs of one.
However, Shen Yi didn’t believe it was a coincidence that she had moved in across from him, so he decided to ask directly,
"How did you know I live here?"
Cheng Jun smiled lightly and said,
"Is it really that hard to find you?"
Hearing this, Shen Yi realized he had asked a pointless question. In this city, it really wasn’t difficult for her to find him.
At least, finding his address wasn’t hard.
"Alright, I need to start unpacking."
Cheng Jun walked Shen Yi to the door.
"Thanks for the help."
As the door closed, Shen Yi returned to his own small apartment.
Sitting on the sofa, he felt a headache coming on. She really had a way of keeping things quiet until the last moment.
He had just been thinking about her earlier in the day, and before the day was over, she had moved in right across from him.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, Shen Yi couldn’t really complain.
He couldn’t very well tell her to her face that she couldn’t live near him—that would be too narcissistic.
Setting his thoughts aside for the moment, Shen Yi got up and hung the new clothes from the bag to prevent them from getting wrinkled.
He then went to wash up and do his laundry, as the smell of hotpot still lingered on him.
Afterward, he sat down at the table and turned on his computer to download some study materials.
He had already used up his daily quota, so he was preparing for tomorrow’s simulation session.
With the internet, he could easily find everything he needed, saving him the trouble of buying books.
Halfway through his research, he heard a knock at the door.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
Shen Yi walked over and opened the door, unsurprised to find Cheng Jun standing there.
She was wearing a white T-shirt and hot pants, her long, fair legs as striking as a pair of chopsticks.
Her long hair was loose, and her cheeks were slightly flushed, her entire body exuding a fresh, clean scent, clearly having just showered.
She handed him a small paper bag and said,
"Here, a thank-you gift for today."
Shen Yi took it and saw that it contained some homemade cookies.
"So? Aren’t you going to invite your neighbor in for a visit?"
Cheng Jun raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
