The next day, Sunday.
The morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the curtains, bouncing playfully into the room.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of the alarm clock, Gu Ximan slowly opened her sleepy eyes, only for her eyelids to droop halfway and then, as if pulled by some invisible force, gradually close again.
"Mmm..."
She let out a soft, unconscious whimper, her voice sweet and lazy with the remnants of sleep.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, her eyes snapped open.
She sat bolt upright.
Today was an important day—she and Lu Xuexue were going to tail her annoying big brother to see if he was really going on a date with Shu Ning.
As a top-tier brother-con, Gu Ximan had spent the entire week keeping a close eye on the interactions between her annoying big brother and Shu Ning.
But she hadn’t noticed anything particularly suspicious.
Aside from cooking together, the two didn’t seem to have much interaction otherwise.
Still, she couldn’t afford to be careless.
After all, both of them were way too dazzling—one handsome and sunny, the other beautiful and gentle. Who could guarantee that some strange feelings wouldn’t sprout between them after spending so much time together?
"Xiao Man, are you up yet?"
Just then, Gu Luo’s voice sounded from outside the door.
"I’m awake!"
Gu Ximan immediately jumped out of bed, stuffed her tiny feet into her slippers, and scurried over to open the door.
"Ta-da!"
The moment the door swung open, she pulled a silly face, forcefully tugging her lower eyelids down and sticking out her pink tongue mischievously.
Her cold tea-brown hair was slightly disheveled from sleep, cascading messily over her shoulders, but it somehow added to her innocent, fairy-tale charm—like a little sprite who’d just stepped out of a storybook.
However, the smile on Gu Ximan’s face froze the instant she saw who was standing outside.
Her annoying big brother stood there with a resigned expression, while Luo Shuning covered her mouth, stifling a laugh.
"Ahem..."
Gu Ximan quickly coughed to mask her embarrassment.
Having spent so much time with Gu Luo, many of her little mannerisms had unconsciously rubbed off on her—like this habit of coughing to hide awkwardness.
Luo Shuning took a step forward, gently smoothing Gu Ximan’s messy hair with her hand as she chuckled. "Little sister is so adorable."
"Of course I am."
Gu Ximan had always believed she was the cutest little girl in the world.
Then, she turned her gaze to Gu Luo, blinking her big eyes rapidly.
It took Gu Luo only a second to understand what this little gremlin was hinting at.
He immediately clapped his hands in exaggerated praise. "Xiao Man is so amazing today! She woke up all by herself—didn’t even need me to call her!"
"Hmph!"
Hearing this, Gu Ximan instantly lifted her chin proudly, her face glowing with satisfaction.
Even though she knew such praise was a little childish, she absolutely loved hearing her annoying big brother compliment her. Every time, it felt like eating honey—her heart swelled with sweetness and happiness.
This was something she often bragged about to Lu Xuexue.
Even though her mother had left when she was very young, and her stepfather was rarely home, she never felt a lack of love.
Because she was a lucky little girl who got praised by her big brother just for eating her meals on time.
Seeing her reaction, Gu Luo couldn’t resist teasing her. "Huh, that’s weird. Comrade Xiao Man isn’t being tsundere today? That’s rare."
"I’m not tsundere at all!"
Gu Ximan immediately retorted, her eyes involuntarily flicking toward Luo Shuning, who was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Gu Luo. She huffed, "Annoying big brother is just a hopeless sister-con."
She would never admit to having tsundere tendencies. Besides, there was now a rival in the house.
Gu Ximan was well aware of the dangers of being tsundere—after all, as a seasoned anime fan, she’d seen way too many female characters whose lives were ruined by tsundere behavior.
Lesson learned!
After a pause, she stretched lazily and then asked, feigning nonchalance, "By the way, where are you and Ning-jie going to buy clothes today?"
Hearing this question, Gu Luo finally noticed the critical point.
Right, he hadn’t even asked Luo Shuning where they were going shopping.
His focus had been entirely on the fact that this was an outing for just the two of them.
Suddenly, a realization struck him.
No way...
"Caizhou Commercial City, of course," Luo Shuning replied with a smile. "That’s where everyone in Caizhou goes for clothes. It’s just a shame little sister has to buy figurines today—otherwise, we could all go together."
Her words sounded regretful, but her smile told a different story.
"That place is pretty far, and everything there is super expensive," Gu Ximan pointed out.
"It’s fine," Luo Shuning said lightly.
Hearing the destination, Gu Luo’s lips twitched.
No wonder Luo Shuning hadn’t mentioned where they were going either—she’d just assumed it was Caizhou Commercial City.
Which meant Luo Shuhe had done this on purpose.
Yesterday, she’d dragged him around all day without buying a single thing.
Turns out, she’d been setting a trap here.
Gu Luo mentally kicked himself. Why hadn’t he just asked beforehand?
No—even if he had, that little devil Luo Shuhe would’ve forced him to go anyway.
This was part of their agreement, after all.
This move was nothing short of a masterful open scheme.
Still, it wasn’t the end of the world.
He still had two ways to fix this.
"Uh… Shuning, how about we go somewhere else?" Gu Luo suggested awkwardly, forcing a stiff smile.
"Hmm? Why?"
"Well…" Gu Luo scrambled for an excuse but came up empty. Finally, he said, "The clothes there are way too overpriced. It’s not worth it. Let’s just pick another place."
"It’s fine, big brother, don’t worry about it," Luo Shuning reassured him, assuming he was concerned about her spending money on him. A gentle smile graced her lips.
"I have quite a bit of pocket money saved up, and I hardly ever spend it anyway. I’d be happy to spend it on you."
After a pause, as if realizing how forward that sounded, she quickly added, "Besides, we should get something for little sister too. The quality at Commercial City is the best."
Hearing this, Gu Luo was at a loss for words.
Great.
Both the little devil and the little angel were forcing their love on him.
Was this the confidence of a rich girl?
Meanwhile, Gu Ximan couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy at such lavish talk.
Not because Luo Shuning had money—but because she wanted to spoil her annoying big brother too.
She imagined throwing wads of cash in his face and then stepping on him with her tiny feet. Just the thought made her giddy.
Though they were now Luo Liang’s stepchildren, their allowance still came from Gu Feng—nothing had really changed.
"Ning-jie, how much pocket money do you usually get?" Gu Ximan finally couldn’t resist asking, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Well…" Luo Shuning thought for a moment before answering softly, "Since it’s linked to my mother’s card, it resets to 100,000 yuan at the start of each month."
"Wha—wha-wha-wha… how much?!"
At the mention of 100,000, Gu Ximan was so shocked she could barely speak.
Meanwhile, Gu Luo was equally stunned.
A hundred thousand?
A hundred thousand in pocket money every month?
Most ordinary people would be lucky to earn that much in a year.
And that’s earnings, not savings.
Luo Shuning then explained, "But we definitely don’t spend that much. Usually, I just buy groceries."
"Shuhe and Shuling aren’t the type to splurge either."
Hearing this, Gu Luo immediately recalled Luo Shuhe’s extravagant spending on gun skins.
That didn’t seem like the behavior of someone who was frugal...
"Oh, by the way, I’m not sure if Mother will link the card for my brother and sister, but it’s fine. I can’t possibly spend all of mine anyway—we can share it."
At Luo Shuning’s generous offer, Gu Luo and Gu Ximan both waved their hands in refusal almost simultaneously.
"No need, Shuning. Our pocket money is enough."
"Yeah, yeah, a hundred thousand is way too much," Gu Ximan chimed in, shaking her head like a rattle-drum.
Luo Shuning nodded. "Alright then."
......
After breakfast, Gu Ximan hurried out the door, her steps light with excitement as she thought about her plans with Lu Xuexue.
Gu Luo and Luo Shuning cleaned up the dishes before leaving the house as well.
Today, Luo Shuning wore a sky-blue dress that perfectly accentuated her graceful figure.
Paired with a pair of delicate high-heeled sandals, every step she took exuded elegance and charm.
Meanwhile, Gu Luo’s outfit was more youthful and vibrant compared to yesterday’s casual look.
Even his hair was neatly styled, making him appear sharp and strikingly handsome.
"Brother, I’ll call a ride on my phone then," Luo Shuning said with a smile, waving her phone in the elevator.
"Sure. The city train to downtown is way too crowded," Gu Luo replied, unconsciously recalling yesterday’s packed train ride with Luo Shuhe.
"Yeah. Honestly, it’s always me dragging Shuhe onto the train, but the moment it gets crowded, she absolutely refuses to ride," Luo Shuning said with a laugh, her tone tinged with fond exasperation.
Gu Luo paused.
Wait, so who was the one who squeezed onto the train with him yesterday?
No way...
Would the little devil really go that far?
Alright, alright—so he’d been walking right into her trap the whole time, completely unaware.
As the elevator descended, they soon reached the first floor and stepped out side by side.
Curious, Gu Luo asked, "Shuning, why do you usually take the train, anyway?"
Luo Shuning smiled and held up two fingers. "First, traffic in Caizhou is terrible. Second, I love watching the scenery rush by outside the window."
"Makes sense," Gu Luo nodded.
It was true—Caizhou’s traffic was a nightmare.
Even when he and Ximan had arrived late at night on their first day, they’d been stuck in a jam for ages.
After a brief pause, Gu Luo asked another question. "Shuning, there’s one more thing I’m curious about."
"What is it?"
"At school, not many people know that Madam Luo is your mother, right?"
Luo Shuning nodded. "Yeah, only some of the school administrators know."
No wonder.
No wonder Qu Meimei had been so bold, constantly picking on Luo Shuning.
"If Qu Meimei and her friends knew, I wonder how they’d react," Gu Luo said, half-amused, half-exasperated.
From what he’d learned over the past few days, he now understood the significance of the Luo family’s Luoshen Group.
It was a titan in the business world—an absolute top-tier powerhouse.
It just went to show that even among the wealthy students at Guangya Academy, the gaps could be vast.
And well, where there’s a forest, there’s all kinds of birds.
After his undercover observations, Gu Luo had realized that Qu Meimei and her clique were simply jealous of Luo Shuning. Even though they knew the rumors were false, they still used them as an excuse.
Some women were truly terrifying.
"I have to thank you for that, Brother. If it weren’t for you, she’d probably still be bothering me," Luo Shuning said with a gentle smile.
"So, Shuning, why did you put up with her for so long?"
"Well..." Luo Shuning sighed softly but then explained her situation with Department Head Feng Duo.
Hearing this, Gu Luo’s brows furrowed tightly.
So that was it.
Now it all made sense.
The little angel was just too kind.
Feng Duo’s behavior was also a form of bullying—arguably even worse.
Gu Luo sighed inwardly. There were still things he wanted to ask.
Like why Luo Shuning referred to Luo Liang as "Mother"—a respectful but oddly distant term.
Or why so many of her habits didn’t match those of a typical heiress.
What kind of wealthy young lady chose to ride trains or take taxis, let alone cooked every day?
Add in Madam Luo’s cold demeanor and Luo Shuning’s sudden withdrawal from the public eye years ago...
It was hard not to connect the dots.
Well, there’d be time for that later. For now, they had to get through the school festival.
Gu Luo was slowly piecing together what Qu Meimei was planning for the performance day.
......
......
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?!
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.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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!
