Struck by Jiang Yangmei's harsh words, Ye Mengfu's expression turned desolate.
She couldn't help but reflect on her life after graduation.
Even if Jiang Yangmei hadn't deliberately sabotaged her back then,
would she have truly excelled at the job she landed?
Apart from painting, it seemed she was good at nothing else...
Painting was all she could do—and the only thing she did well.
She simply didn’t understand the "social niceties" Jiang Yangmei had spoken of.
Someone like her might never become a renowned artist.
Ye Mengfu's breathing gradually quickened, the light in her eyes dimming.
For someone so sensitive, once self-doubt took root,
the abyss beneath her feet felt bottomless...
"Little Fufu? Little Fufu!"
Ye Mengfu: "Huh? I—I'm here."
Hearing Lin Yu's voice, Ye Mengfu snapped out of her thoughts.
What an idiot she was.
Here she was, lost in her own head while standing right beside Lin Yu.
Before they entered the museum, he’d even reminded her—
This was their first date!
How could she let her rotten mood ruin it?
She had to cheer up. She absolutely had to...
Ye Mengfu repeated this to herself, desperately trying to steady her emotions so they wouldn’t affect Lin Yu’s mood.
But she was no social butterfly skilled at pretending.
The harder she tried, the more her cheeks flushed.
Lin Yu saw right through her strained attempt to force a smile.
Gently, he pulled Ye Mengfu toward a temporary seating area around the corner.
"Little Fufu, this is the gift I prepared for you today!"
"Take a look—do you like it?"
With that,
Lin Yu handed her a box of Goubuli pastries.
Ye Mengfu froze as she accepted it: "???"
Goubuli... as in the buns?
Wait, no.
It was pastries.
This gift had completely blindsided her.
It was nothing like Lin Yu’s usual style.
Was there some hidden meaning?
Goubuli...
Was he telling her to ignore Jiang Yangmei’s deliberate jabs?
But that couldn’t be.
He couldn’t have known they’d run into her classmate today when he prepared the gift.
It must’ve just been that Goubuli-brand pastries were delicious.
So,
Lin Yu wanted to share them with her.
That had to be it.
[Ding!]
[Masterful move! Sharing a worldly delicacy with your cultivation partner, deeply touching her heart!]
[Reward: 50 spirit stones.]
"Thank you... I’ll make sure to finish it all myself later."
"It looks... really tasty. I love it."
Ye Mengfu cradled the box, studying the illustrations and text on the packaging.
She wanted to see what kind of pastries were inside.
Lin Yu ruffled her hair, grinning.
"Why do I get the feeling our Little Fufu isn’t entirely satisfied with this gift?"
Ye Mengfu jerked her head up, shaking it vigorously.
"No, really!"
"I... I love everything you give me."
He didn’t need the system’s prompt.
Just seeing the pure, unguarded look in her eyes told Lin Yu she wasn’t lying.
This silly girl.
Even if he gave her a lollipop as a gift,
she’d probably cherish it with all her heart.
The more considerate she was,
the more it tugged at his heartstrings.
The foul mood "Mountain Ogre" had stirred up had even robbed Lin Yu of the chance to give a proper gift.
But for now,
he just wanted to see Little Fufu smile again.
"Little Fufu, have you heard the story behind ‘Goubuli’?"
Lin Yu asked, tilting his head.
Ye Mengfu nodded, glancing at the box.
"I’ve heard of Goubuli... the buns."
"I didn’t know they made pastries too."
Perfect. This was his opening.
Lin Yu continued softly,
"When I was little, anytime someone mentioned Tianjin, they’d bring up Goubuli buns. They were supposed to be amazing, but I never got to try them."
"But every time, I’d get hung up on one thing."
"How could dogs possibly ignore buns? That’s nonsense, right?"
"‘Even a meat bun thrown at a dog won’t come back’—isn’t that the saying?"
"If even dogs wouldn’t touch them, how could they taste good?"
This wasn’t a question unique to Lin Yu.
Ye Mengfu listened intently, nodding like a chick pecking at rice.
She waited eagerly for him to unravel the mystery,
like a diligent student hanging on a teacher’s every word.
"Years later, I finally learned the truth."
"The guy who made the buns had a childhood nickname—‘Gouzi’ (Little Dog)."
"While working, he’d get so focused that he’d ignore customers."
"So people started saying,"
"‘Gouzi? Gouzi! Hey! This Gouzi won’t even acknowledge us!’"
[Ding!]
[Masterful move! Unrestrained humor is key to bonding with your cultivation partner, further closing the distance between you!]
[Reward: 50 spirit stones.]
Lin Yu’s animated storytelling, complete with exaggerated gestures,
instantly drew laughter from Ye Mengfu.
The gloom trapping her earlier seemed to dissipate under his playful antics.
Gazing at her, Lin Yu thought—
This unguarded, genuine smile of hers was truly beautiful.
Noticing his stare, Ye Mengfu shyly bit her lip, suppressing her grin.
"So that’s why it’s called Goubuli..."
"It’s... really funny."
Seeing her cautious expression,
Lin Yu instinctively reached out, brushing his fingers against her cheek.
Ye Mengfu didn’t pull away. She understood—
Lin Yu had noticed her low spirits and deliberately cracked jokes to cheer her up.
Thanks to him,
her heart felt lighter now.
But Jiang Yangmei’s piercing words still lingered, hard to shake off.
"Now, what’s the lesson here?"
Lin Yu suddenly shifted tones, adopting a quizmaster’s demeanor.
Caught off guard, Ye Mengfu blinked in confusion.
"Huh? The lesson...?"
She’d assumed Lin Yu was just being silly to make her laugh.
The idea of a deeper meaning hadn’t crossed her mind.
Now put on the spot, she had no answer.
Lin Yu pinched her cheek lightly, glanced at the gift box in her hands,
then met her eyes with warmth.
"Little Fufu, what I’m trying to say is..."
"Even if you’re the type who keeps to yourself, as long as you focus on perfecting your craft—just like making those buns—you’ll shine eventually. People will notice."
Ye Mengfu stood frozen, her eyes shimmering.
Only now did she grasp
the true weight behind this gift.
She fought to steady her expression,
but tears spilled anyway—
plink, plink—falling one by one...
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
