This time, it was Gu Ximan’s turn to be hit by a nuclear bomb of shock.
What had she just heard?
What tradition?
Being the "smaller one"? What did that even mean?
A mistress?
A second wife?
Were they even living in the same era?
"Wait... wait a minute... Xuexue, what did you just say?" Gu Ximan wondered if the sheer embarrassment from earlier had caused her to hallucinate.
After all, even if the two of them were inseparable best friends, sharing the same man was beyond the pale.
"I said... Sister Ximan... I’m actually quite traditional. I’m willing to be the smaller one," Lu Xuexue forced out, doubling down despite the awkwardness.
Her white-stocking-clad legs curled into adorable question marks under the table.
"I... you..."
Gu Ximan’s brain was buzzing like a beehive.
She noticed the sunlight gilding the tips of Lu Xuexue’s hair, the hum of the air conditioner suddenly deafening, even the cloyingly sweet scent of lemon-scented hand cream on the nightstand—every sensory detail amplified tenfold by her shock.
Gu Ximan had imagined countless scenarios for today’s meeting with Lu Xuexue.
They might have a calm heart-to-heart, sharing their feelings. They might part on bad terms over irreconcilable differences. She’d even braced herself for accusations, for their friendship to shatter beyond repair.
But out of all possibilities, she’d never anticipated things taking such a bizarre turn.
"Sister Ximan, as long as you let me stay close to Brother Gu Luo, I’ll listen to you in everything. Really. You take the lead, I’ll follow," Lu Xuexue declared, her tone a mix of determination and pleading.
Right now, her priority was to stabilize Ximan.
No matter what, she couldn’t afford to compete with her.
The odds were stacked hopelessly against her.
Better to retreat strategically and aim for a happy ending for all.
As for Brother Gu Luo, Lu Xuexue would never willingly share him with another girl—unless that girl was her best friend, Gu Ximan. In that case, she could make an exception.
Worst-case scenario, the three of them could just live happily ever after together.
"Xuexue, do you even hear yourself right now?"
Gu Ximan was at her limit. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined her sweet, innocent best friend being this "traditional."
Willing to share a man.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry—or just cry some more.
Hearing this, Lu Xuexue nodded earnestly. "I know what I’m saying. It’s not illegal, you know."
"......"
Gu Ximan’s lips twitched violently, rendered speechless.
Oh Xuexue, if your lawyer parents knew you were applying legal knowledge like this, they’d be so proud... not!
"Please, Sister Ximan? Pretty please?"
Seeing Gu Ximan’s silence, Lu Xuexue grabbed her arm and started shaking it, dialing up the puppy-dog eyes to maximum.
She looked downright pitiful.
"This... this..."
Gu Ximan squirmed, wishing Lu Xuexue would just yell at her instead of subjecting her to this torture.
As the saying goes, you don’t hit someone who’s smiling at you.
Add guilt to the mix, and outright refusal became impossible.
Noticing Gu Ximan’s hesitation, Lu Xuexue’s eyes lit up. She pressed her advantage:
"Ximan, the line of girls who like Brother Gu Luo could stretch across Caizhou. If we team up, it’d be a classic case of one plus one being greater than two."
"Honestly, what guy would say no to having both of us, right?"
"Besides, we’re best friends."
With every word, Gu Ximan’s already sluggish brain short-circuited further.
At first glance, it almost made sense.
But upon closer inspection—
No.
No no no!
Gu Ximan shook her head, her expression a masterpiece of conflicted emotions.
"Let me think about this..."
Lu Xuexue immediately stood up, circled behind her, and started massaging her shoulders. "No rush, Ximan. Take your time. We’ve got all the time in the world."
"A week, a month—I’ll wait however long it takes."
This strategic retreat worked like a charm.
Gu Ximan, who’d planned to delay briefly before outright refusing, found herself tongue-tied again.
How could she say no when Xuexue was being this accommodating?
Aaaaaaaaaah—!
This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go!
After an internal struggle of epic proportions, Gu Ximan collapsed weakly into Lu Xuexue’s arms, murmuring with closed eyes:
"Just call me Ximan from now on."
Lu Xuexue’s heart plummeted. She panicked, thinking this was a rejection.
But then Gu Ximan added:
"As for what you proposed... I need time to consider it."
"But until I give my answer, you’re not allowed near Gu Luo without my permission."
Against all odds, the path forward suddenly cleared.
"Ximan, you’re the best!" Lu Xuexue squealed, her cheeks flushing with excitement as she planted a loud "Mwah!" on Gu Ximan’s face.
The hardest part was getting started.
But now that the first step was taken, the rest would follow naturally.
Lu Xuexue knew that in this game of love, securing Ximan meant securing Brother Gu Luo.
This was a strategy only she had discovered.
A masterstroke she dubbed—Leverage Ximan to Control Brother Gu!
............
............

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."

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?!

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.”

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!