Ghost Market Street, Treasureless Pavilion.
After parking the car in the underground lot and stepping out,
Shen Buyao felt like every step was a struggle.
Damn Lin Yu!
Couldn’t he have shown some restraint?
Didn’t he know she was coming back tonight and had to open the shop at Ghost Market Street?
Of course,
running the shop wasn’t the scary part.
The scary part was facing the Big Cow!
For as long as she could remember,
every time Shen Buyao lied or hid something out of guilt,
Shen Jiuyi would sniff it out immediately.
Not only that,
she could even piece together the truth just from Shen Buyao’s wording.
It wasn’t that sleeping with Lin Yu was something she couldn’t tell Shen Jiuyi.
She just didn’t want her to know.
That after their very first date, she hadn’t kept her pants on.
At the very least,
she should’ve waited till their fourth or fifth date before admitting they’d slept together.
That was the normal pace for couples, right?
Shen Buyao wasn’t entirely sure herself.
All her "knowledge" came from the internet.
Arriving at the shop entrance,
Shen Buyao patted her cheeks, loosening the tension in her face.
Don’t panic, don’t panic…
No matter how much the Big Cow suspected or what questions she asked,
Shen Buyao had one golden rule:
Deny till death!
After steeling her resolve, she swung her arms with exaggerated nonchalance and strode into the shop.
The moment she entered, she spotted Shen Jiuyi lounging in a chair in the main hall.
"I’m back, Big Cow!"
"Did you eat yet? Or were you so helpless without me you couldn’t even feed yourself?"
Shen Buyao sauntered over with exaggerated flair.
Spotting the full glass of water in front of Shen Jiuyi,
she snatched it up with feigned brattiness and downed it in one go.
What’s with that look on the Big Cow’s face?
Grief? Melancholy? Resentment?
Why does she look like she’s the one who lost something today?!
Already prepared with counterarguments,
Shen Buyao resorted to a tactical water break, buying time to avoid verbal sparring.
As soon as she finished drinking, Shen Jiuyi asked out of nowhere:
"How’d it taste?"
Shen Buyao’s eyes widened. "???"
"What do you mean? It’s just water!"
"Unless you slipped something in it?"
Shen Jiuyi replied with eerie calm:
"Mhm. I did. Morning-after pills."
Shen Buyao: "…"
"!!!"
"Goddammit—!!"
"Gag…"
For a second, Shen Buyao considered playing it cool.
But then it hit her—
knowing the Big Cow’s unhinged personality, she might’ve actually done it!
Who the hell takes morning-after pills so casually?!
"Alright, stop gagging."
"I was just messing with you."
"Though your reaction suggests you want to get pregnant."
Shen Buyao slowly pulled her fingers out of her mouth,
murder in her eyes.
Right now,
she couldn’t tell which was the real joke:
the pills being in the water, or not being in the water.
She’d prepared for countless ways Shen Jiuyi might grill her.
But never in her wildest dreams did she expect
the conversation to take this turn!
Thrown completely off balance, she had no idea how to respond.
Well… freaking out over possibly ingesting morning-after pills was a normal reaction, right?
Stick to the original plan—double down!
"Big Cow, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
"You think any woman wouldn’t freak out over that crap?!"
"Listen, if you’re gonna judge me, I just took Lin Yu to check out the old house."
"Pregnant? Don’t even joke about that, you hear me?!"
"Cough…"
Shen Buyao touched her throat and asked again with lingering unease:
"You really didn’t put any in, right?"
"If I dared to, you’d better believe I’d pay you back with something way stronger!"
Shen Jiuyi remained silent.
It seemed she had no intention of continuing the discussion on this matter.
However.
Just as Shen Buyao was about to let her guard down—
Shen Jiuyi suddenly blurted out:
"Buyao, I think we should be honest with each other about everything."
"Just like how I never hid Old Liang’s whereabouts from you."
Shen Buyao: "..."
Oh no!
The emotional card!
Since when did this big cow start playing moral blackmail?
Wasn’t she always the type to deduce the truth from answers?
Now.
She’s resorting to such shameless tactics?
Shen Buyao’s heart wavered:
"W-what exactly do you want to ask?"
"Stop beating around the bush with all this nonsense."
"If I have no morals, you can’t blackmail me!"
Shen Jiuyi stood up and walked to the table.
Right in front of Shen Buyao, she pulled a pill-shaped object from her pocket and dropped it into an empty glass.
Then.
She picked up the water pitcher, poured half a glass, and asked coldly:
"I’ll only ask this once. If you lie or refuse to answer, I won’t ask again…"
"Did he bring one today?"
Shen Buyao: "!!!"
"I’ll bring you—"
Before the curse could fully leave Shen Buyao’s lips,
the glass with the pill was thrust in front of her.
Shen Jiuyi’s gaze was icy, her voice razor-sharp:
"I’m not joking. I just want the truth."
"You…"
"Do you really want to bring a child into this world, only for them to suffer the same childhood as yours?"
"The pain of growing up without a father—no one understands it better than you."
"Do you think Lin Yu’s fate can withstand how many more times?"
Every word Shen Jiuyi spoke was deadly serious.
And.
It struck right at Shen Buyao’s deepest wounds.
Growing up without a father by her side,
even though her mother and grandparents had given her endless love,
a gaping void of paternal care still lingered in her heart.
Back then,
the reason Shen Jiuyi discouraged Shen Buyao from getting too close to men
was partly due to fate,
but also because Shen Buyao couldn’t tell what truly made a good man.
Countless real-life examples had proven it:
Girls who lacked a father’s presence from childhood to adolescence
often grew up too trusting of men once they entered society.
This was something Shen Jiuyi had laid bare to Shen Buyao before.
On the surface, Shen Buyao had brushed it off with a defiant, "I’m a great judge of character!"
But deep down,
she had no confidence at all.
"Buyao, do you really think I’d ever harm you?"
Seeing the confusion in Shen Buyao’s eyes,
Shen Jiuyi pressed on.
Her tone hadn’t sharpened,
yet the words sent a shudder through Shen Buyao.
Her gaze drifted for a long moment before she slowly raised her hand,
reaching for the glass Shen Jiuyi held out…
But then—
Shen Jiuyi abruptly pulled the glass back and downed the water and pill in one go.
Shen Buyao: "???"
Shen Jiuyi: "Gulp, gulp…"
Shen Buyao: "Y-you… what was that?"
Shen Jiuyi: "Lunch with Old Liang was a bit greasy. A digestive pill might help."
Shen Buyao: "…"
Shen Jiuyi: "…"
Shen Buyao lunged forward fiercely:
"You damn cow, I’ll fucking kill you!!"
Shen Jiuyi had anticipated this, effortlessly dodging around the hall’s pillars like the Emperor of Qin evading assassins, all while taunting:
"Buyao, are you so overwhelmed with pleasure that you’d silence your own aunt? I never forced you to admit anything."
"Relax, Lin Yu won’t die trapped in there, and he definitely won’t kick the bucket later."
"I’m dying to know—what kind of moans are we talking about? Traditional Chinese style or full-on Western?"
...
(First update today! There’ll be bonus chapters later, folks. Take a sec to check out an ad—thanks a million!)
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!
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.”
] [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!"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
