Gu Luo lounged comfortably on the sofa, savoring the fruit platter Luo Shuling had personally prepared for him. It was pure bliss.
Before he knew it, he was completely immersed in the warmth of his little sun, unable to extricate himself.
Truly, a doting younger sister was the best.
About twenty leisurely minutes passed before the clubroom door slowly creaked open again.
A boy walked in, his medium-length bangs slightly covering his eyebrows. He was slender, with a weary expression that gave off the aura of a melancholic youth.
"Hello, senior. Please follow me to the small meeting room," Huang Anlu stepped forward, speaking calmly and politely to the boy.
"Thank you," he replied softly.
"Brother, you come too." Luo Shuling approached and gently patted Gu Luo's shoulder.
"Okey-dokey." Gu Luo popped the last piece of dragon fruit into his mouth, relishing its sweet freshness, then stood up and followed the three into the small meeting room.
Though called a "small" meeting room, the space inside was surprisingly spacious.
A cozy sofa sat in the center, while lush potted plants adorned the corners, breathing life into the room.
"Senior, please sit here," Huang Anlu gestured to a seat before taking her place opposite him.
"Mm... okay..."
The boy responded quietly, his voice laced with exhaustion. He sat down and slowly lowered his head.
Luo Shuling fetched a cup of warm water from the dispenser and placed it on the table in front of him, smiling brightly. "Senior, have some water."
"Ah... thank you, junior." He took a small sip from the plastic cup before setting it back down.
"You're welcome!" Luo Shuling cheerfully waved her hand, then poured cups for Gu Luo and Huang Anlu as well.
Huang Anlu sat upright and cut straight to the point. "So, senior, what's troubling you?"
"Don’t worry, we’ll keep it confidential."
The boy fell silent for several seconds before speaking slowly. "It's... because of my girlfriend."
"Relationship issues?"
"...Yeah." He nodded faintly, as if the motion drained all his energy.
"Could you elaborate?"
The boy kept his head down, carefully choosing his words. "I... over something trivial, I yelled at her, called her crazy, a lunatic..."
His voice grew quieter, thick with guilt.
"If it was just over a small matter, then you might have violent tendencies," Huang Anlu offered her initial assessment.
"I..." The boy’s head drooped even lower, his hands gripping his hair in distress. "I want to apologize... but she’s been ignoring me..."
"Then maybe you could buy her favorite things as gifts and try again. No matter how you spin it, insulting her was wrong."
"Y-yeah... sorry for troubling you all."
Just as the boy started to rise, two hands simultaneously pressed down on his shoulders—one belonging to Luo Shuling, the other to Gu Luo.
The two exchanged a glance. Gu Luo was about to withdraw, but Luo Shuling beat him to it, stepping back with a playful wink.
Her message was clear—Brother, it’s your turn!
Gu Luo winked back before turning to the boy and speaking gently. "Senior, can I ask you something?"
"Mm... sure, go ahead."
"What exactly was the 'trivial matter' you mentioned earlier?"
"My girlfriend asked me... if she were disfigured one day, and another really beautiful girl started pursuing me, who would I choose..."
His voice was laced with exhaustion, as if the question had worn him down completely.
Gu Luo raised an eyebrow. Instead of asking about the boy’s answer, he zeroed in on something else. "Does she often ask you these kinds of 'what if' questions?"
"Yeah... all the time..." The boy nodded helplessly.
"And do you usually treat her exceptionally well?"
"I wouldn’t say exceptionally... but I do everything I can." A trace of bitterness flickered across his face.
"Mm." Gu Luo nodded, already forming a conclusion. "Senior, if I had to guess, she frequently uses these 'what if' scenarios to interrogate you, right? No matter how you answer, she either doesn’t believe you or isn’t satisfied."
"And once this topic starts, it drags on—sometimes half an hour, sometimes hours."
"Junior... how did you know?" The boy looked up, startled.
Gu Luo smiled faintly. "Simple. From the moment you walked in, you’ve been polite and composed. For someone like you to resort to cursing, you must’ve been pushed to your limit."
His expression then turned serious. "Senior, I think you two need to have a serious talk. Your relationship is unhealthy."
"To put it bluntly, she grinds you down with these little things, pushes you until you snap and lash out, then just watches you unravel. After that, she takes the moral high ground, accusing you of being unstable, of having issues."
"She frames everything as insignificant, then scatters these 'insignificant' things everywhere, leaving you to pick them up alone."
"She torments you with selfishness and indifference, all while playing the victim—the one you hurt."
"In the end, you’re the one at fault."
"You’re the unstable one."
"You’re even the abuser."
Each word struck the boy like a hammer to the chest.
Finally, Gu Luo sighed. "So whether she means to or not, this behavior is emotional manipulation—PUA."
"Senior, she’s the one who should be apologizing and reflecting, not you. You were just pushed to your breaking point."
"And if I’m not mistaken, this is your first love, right? That’s why you’ve given it your all, held nothing back."
"There’s nothing wrong with how you love. It’s not pathetic—it’s admirable."
"But... you’ve loved the wrong person. Some people just don’t deserve it."
The boy listened in stunned silence, his eyes flickering with realization.
He absorbed every word, as if a fog had lifted from his mind.
"Love should be mutual." Gu Luo waved at Luo Shuling, who immediately skipped over and sat beside him like an obedient little maid, massaging his shoulders with stars of admiration in her eyes.
"Shuling is my sister. I treat her well, and she treats me even better. Then I treat her even more well. That’s how a healthy relationship grows."
"Someone who truly loves you would never want to see you suffer."
Watching the affectionate scene before him, the boy’s confusion gradually cleared.
Then he stood up and bowed deeply to Gu Luo.
"Junior... thank you."
"It's alright. If you ever need any help in the future, you can always come to the Public Service Department." Gu Luo also stood up, reaching out to help the young man to his feet.
"Mhm!"
The boy nodded emphatically, thanked the three of them once more, and hurried away.
His retreating figure no longer seemed burdened, as if he had shed a heavy weight from his shoulders.
"Ah—! Brother, you're amazing!" Luo Shuling immediately threw herself into Gu Luo's arms, bouncing around like an excited little rabbit.
"Not at all. It's just easier to see things clearly from the outside. The person involved would feel very differently." As he spoke, Gu Luo couldn't help but think of the little angel and little devil in his mind.
That's how emotions are—everyone has their own struggles to bear.
Meanwhile, Huang Anlu, who had remained seated the whole time, silently picked up her cup and took a small sip, her expression unreadable.
............
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ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
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...
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!"
] [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!"
