"Aunt Ruxue, I actually have a question that I've been curious about for a while..."
"What exactly is your relationship with Maomao?"
"Is she adopted? Or is she a relative's child?"
This had always puzzled Lin Yu.
Today, he had laid his "cards on the table" first, giving him the courage to ask her to reveal hers.
Du Ruxue glanced at Lin Yu, slightly intrigued, and countered:
"Didn’t you ask Maomao about this?"
Lin Yu shook his head: "..."
Well...
It wasn’t like he couldn’t ask, right?
People who are overly mature tend to overcomplicate things.
Especially when it involves someone else’s privacy.
Would asking be too intrusive? Would it make her uncomfortable? What if she didn’t want to answer? What if it brought up painful memories?
After some thought, he realized that if he had asked Maomao directly, she probably would have answered.
Du Ruxue replied:
"Maomao... is a child who survived an earthquake."
"Her parents shielded her with their bodies when the house collapsed."
"Somehow, this little ten-year-old girl miraculously survived."
"I saw the news while abroad and was deeply moved by her parents’ sacrifice."
"After returning home, I found her locally and adopted her."
Hearing this, the mystery in Lin Yu’s heart was finally solved.
So, in a way, Maomao’s background was quite similar to his own.
The only difference was the timing of their adoptions—his had come a bit later.
But the pain of losing parents was something neither of them could escape.
After listening to Du Ruxue’s explanation, Lin Yu fell silent for a moment.
He thought to himself that an adult’s discretion in avoiding such questions was still necessary.
If he had asked Maomao directly, wouldn’t that just be reopening old wounds?
"I see, so that’s how it is..."
"Aunt Ruxue, do you still plan to take Maomao back soon?"
"If this question is too personal, you don’t have to answer."
Without hesitation, Du Ruxue turned the tables:
"If you thought I wouldn’t answer, you wouldn’t have asked."
Lin Yu: "..."
Ugh.
Sharp intuition indeed.
Lin Yu had to admit that the atmosphere now felt more relaxed.
After answering one somewhat private question, asking another slightly more intrusive one seemed easier to accept.
Du Ruxue pulled out her phone and started scrolling.
Lin Yu sat quietly beside her, waiting.
Did she need her phone to help answer this question?
Or was there something stored on it that she wanted to show him?
After waiting at least two minutes, Du Ruxue finally turned the screen toward Lin Yu.
On the webpage displayed was...
A list of food vendors at Wanda Plaza!
Lin Yu’s eyes widened: "???"
Du Ruxue asked, sounding conflicted:
"What do you think we should eat after shopping at Wanda Plaza?"
"You know Pingchuan better than I do—any recommendations?"
She looked at Lin Yu expectantly.
Lin Yu: "..."
Oh.
So she just wasn’t going to answer, huh?
What kind of eccentric personality was this?!
At least saying "I’d rather not say" would have been acceptable!
He had been waiting in anticipation for nothing.
This seamless topic shift—who could even react in time?
"I... I’m fine with anything."
"I don’t go to Wanda Plaza often..."
As if he could even eat now—he was too annoyed to be hungry!
So the two aunts had decided to go to Wanda Plaza, huh?
Pingchuan didn’t have many high-end shopping malls.
The last time Lin Yu had been there was when he took Aunt Qimeng shopping.
Aunt Qimeng herself never went there otherwise.
Thinking about it...
After their late-night conversation the previous evening,
she must have learned about Aunt Ruxue’s income level and didn’t want to take her to a less impressive place.
For Lin Yu, it didn’t matter either way.
Today, he only had one role to play...
The bag-carrying lackey!
---
An hour later.
At the entrance of Wanda Plaza.
The three of them stepped out of a taxi and walked inside.
Before leaving, Lin Yu had wondered—
Would a high-powered businesswoman like her really have a luxury car and chauffeur pick them up?
But no.
She had chosen to take a taxi with them, keeping things surprisingly low-key.
The two aunts walked arm in arm ahead, their closeness unmistakable.
Lin Yu followed closely behind, struggling to keep up.
Were women always this fast when shopping?
Could they even see what was around them, or were they just charging forward blindly?
"Hey, handsome! It really is you!"
"I thought I was seeing things at first!"
Lin Yu turned at the sound of someone calling him "handsome."
Wait, wasn’t this...
The saleswoman from the bridal shop?
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Ahead, Chen Qimeng and Du Ruxue turned at the voice.
One look nearly gave Chen Qimeng a heart attack.
Chen Qimeng: "!!!"
How could they run into her again?!
Du Ruxue glanced at Chen Qimeng and asked curiously:
"Dream, do you and Xiao Yu know this mall employee?"
Instinctively, Chen Qimeng’s self-preservation kicked in.
She wanted to deny knowing her.
But unfortunately—
The saleswoman’s cheerful wave came faster than her reply.
And Chen Qimeng was far too polite.
If someone greeted you with a smile, how could you just ignore them?
That would be so rude!
Forcing a smile, she waved back.
But she remained frozen in place, not daring to bring Du Ruxue any closer.
"W-well, you could say we know her."
"She’s a salesperson we met while shopping here before."
"She’s... nice."
Du Ruxue was far too sharp.
And right now, her primary personality was in full control.
She didn’t miss a single trace of Chen Qimeng’s discomfort.
If this saleswoman was truly as "nice" as Dream claimed,
why was she acting so awkward?
Unless...
This woman’s very presence was something that embarrassed Dream.
From her angle, Du Ruxue could see Lin Yu’s profile clearly.
Instead of pressing Chen Qimeng, she focused on his reaction.
The intensity of her gaze made Lin Yu feel like his face was on fire!
Even from a few meters away,
he could hear the uncertainty in Aunt Qimeng’s voice.
Aunt Qimeng!
You’re losing your cool!
Aunt Ruxue didn’t know the saleswoman—there was no need to act guilty!
If she had just responded calmly, they could’ve brushed it off.
After all, once the saleswoman started talking to Lin Yu,
she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to chat with Aunt Qimeng.
But now?
Aunt Ruxue’s curiosity was definitely piqued!
---
(Bonus chapter complete! More updates tomorrow. If you have time, please consider voting with free "power stones"—thank you all!)
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.”
. 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!"
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!
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.
