Shen Jiuyi noticed the displeasure in Lin Yu's expression.
She added another sentence:
"I just thought that even if I asked, you wouldn’t tell me the truth."
"Telling you so much about Yao Yao was a way of 'striking first.'"
"I don’t expect you to be particularly 'good,' but I hope you’re not outright 'evil.'"
Lin Yu: "..."
So this is what a high-IQ girl is like?
She rambled in circles, only to sum it up with this one line—leaving Lin Yu with a chill down his spine.
Shen Jiuyi…
On the surface, she seemed scatterbrained, blurting things out without being asked.
Yet, deep down, Lin Yu sensed there was more to it.
Lin Yu replied as casually as he could:
"Why wouldn’t I tell the truth?"
"Jiuyi-jie, aren’t you overthinking this?"
Shen Jiuyi paused her tea-drinking, suddenly standing up.
She leaned across the table, locking eyes with Lin Yu:
"In the years of Jia and Ji, Bing leads the way..."
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Damn it!
This woman!
If she had said this ten minutes ago, Lin Yu wouldn’t have had a clue what she was talking about.
But now…
[Purple Star Astrology] had already been integrated into Lin Yu’s skill set.
Every theory and application was etched into his mind.
Shen Jiuyi’s seemingly random phrase was the first line of the "initiation mantra" in Purple Star Astrology.
Using this to test whether Lin Yu understood the system was like using a cultural reference to gauge someone’s background.
He’d acquired the skill too soon!
Now…
Should he pretend ignorance?
But even the slightest shift in expression might give him away—this girl seemed to see through everything.
If she caught him deliberately playing dumb, wouldn’t that just confirm her suspicion that he was dishonest?
Steadying himself, Lin Yu spoke:
"In the years of Yi and Geng, Wu takes the lead."
Shen Jiuyi remained unreadable: "I retract my earlier impolite doubts. Thank you for your honesty."
Lin Yu: "..."
Originally, Lin Yu hadn’t paid Shen Jiuyi much attention.
But this feeling of being anticipated and manipulated was seriously grating on him.
This woman was playing with fire!
Shen Jiuyi didn’t sit back down. Instead, she remained standing, staring at Lin Yu for a long time.
Lin Yu couldn’t take it anymore and snapped:
"Shen Jiuyi, you’ve tested me, we’ve talked."
"If you think I’m unreliable, just tell Yao Yao-jie to keep her distance."
"What’s with the staring? Treating me like a criminal?"
Shen Jiuyi shook her head calmly:
"I won’t interfere with her, nor is it necessary."
"You’re not a prisoner, but you wouldn’t understand the impulsiveness of someone released from confinement. Stopping her would only backfire."
"Right now… I have a personal matter I’d like to ask for your help with."
At the same time, the system’s voice chimed in:
[Ding!]
[Time-limited mission issued: Host has mastered the art of divining fate through celestial observation. Please promptly perform a destiny analysis for a lost sect member and guide them back to the fold!]
[Time limit: 72 hours.]
[Reward: 100 Sect Contribution Points, 200 Spirit Stones, 1 free system shop draw.]
Lin Yu kept his expression neutral, but inwardly, he already knew what Shen Jiuyi was about to ask.
Purple Star Astrology was a form of fate-reading, and while it didn’t strictly forbid self-divination,
after fully absorbing Shen Jiuyi’s skills, Lin Yu knew their tradition upheld the rule: "Read others, never yourself."
Shen Jiuyi, seemingly detached like a monastic nun,
surprisingly, had worldly troubles of her own.
With this mission now active…
Once completed, he’d probably get to see Shen Jiuyi’s full character profile.
"What’s this personal matter of yours?"
Lin Yu feigned ignorance, waiting for Shen Jiuyi to spell it out.
Shen Jiuyi stepped away from the table, standing before Lin Yu.
Her tone was noticeably more polite now:
"After our transaction is done, could you spare some time to perform a destiny reading for me?"
"This is a private request. If you have conditions or fees, name them."
Lin Yu studied her:
"Earlier, you analyzed Yao Yao-jie’s fate with such confidence."
"You’re clearly no amateur fortune-teller."
"Shouldn’t you be able to roughly deduce your own destiny just by running through your birth chart in your head?"
"Have you really never once tried? Not even a little?"
Shen Jiuyi shook her head:
"Before my grandmother passed, she told me never to use it on myself."
"I trust her, so I’ve never even considered it."
Lin Yu: "..."
Just how disciplined do you have to be to never even entertain the thought?
What an extreme person!
Lin Yu: "Let’s leave it for today. I’ll think it over and maybe reconsider another time."
Shen Jiuyi: "Thank you, Lin Yu. That’s all I wanted to say."
Lin Yu: "..."
He’d half-expected to see disappointment or regret on her face.
But this?
That’s it?
Does this girl even have emotions?
Well, the mission had a 72-hour window. He’d let her stew for a bit.
Let’s see who cracks first!
After their conversation,
Lin Yu stepped outside and found Shen Buyao waiting by an empty stall.
"We’re done. You can go in now."
Hearing Lin Yu’s voice, Shen Buyao jumped up, her expression curious:
"What did that big cow talk to you about for so long?"
"Was she badmouthing me?"
Lin Yu played it cool:
"No one was badmouthing you. She just asked what kind of girls I like, stuff about my personal life."
Shen Buyao: "That’s it?"
Lin Yu: "Yeah, that’s it."
Shen Buyao’s eyes sparkled mischievously: "And? What’d you say?"
Lin Yu shrugged, deliberately vague:
"I told her my parents passed away, so it’s just me and Aunt Qimeng, who took me in."
"I’m studying at Pingchuan University, usually—"
He knew what Shen Buyao wanted to hear but avoided it.
He expected her to press him impatiently,
but instead, she listened intently, even muttering along as if memorizing.
Back when they lived under the same roof,
they’d barely interacted.
Now, it seemed like she was seizing the chance to get to know him properly.
When Lin Yu trailed off,
Shen Buyao kept prodding:
"You were just talking about your major—why stop?"
"So your future career is in TV program planning?"
Lin Yu: "..."
She’s genuinely curious?
"Yao Yao-jie, I just remembered—Jiuyi-jie said we should go in and finish the transaction first. Business before pleasure."
Shen Buyao clapped her hands:
"Right! Almost forgot about that!"
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!"
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.
