Does the taste of the food matter when dining in a shopping mall?
Not at all.
If you really want to try local specialties, who would choose to come to a place like this?
For a mall to boost revenue, what matters is table turnover.
Simple, fast, and decent enough in taste—that’s all it takes to qualify as a decent mall eatery.
Du Ruxue asked Chen Qimeng for a recommendation, putting her in a tough spot.
Chen Qimeng rarely ever dined here.
Which place was good, which had a nice ambiance, which was suitable for chatting…
Chen Qimeng had no clue about any of it!
She could only look at Lin Yu with pleading eyes.
Lin Yu immediately stepped in and said,
"Aunt Ruxue, we hardly ever come to Wanda Plaza."
"But I know a chain hotpot place with great service."
"How about we go there?"
"It’s straight ahead, the one at the end."
"Hotpot… what does everyone think?"
What to eat didn’t matter much to Lin Yu.
He only needed to consider where they could chat quietly.
The hotpot place he mentioned was a bit pricey for students.
But at least it guaranteed they wouldn’t run into any acquaintances.
Otherwise, they might bump into someone like Xiang Tiange right after sitting down.
Good grief, no wonder he’s not paying attention to Xiao Chi—he’s got someone else by his side~
How awkward would that be?
Chen Qimeng: "Xiao Yu’s suggestion is great. It’s been a while since I’ve had hotpot."
Du Ruxue: "Fine by me, no objections."
Maomao: "Mm, I’ll go with everyone."
...
Before long.
At a four-seater in [a certain hotpot chain].
"Say goodbye to all your troubles~ Say hello to all your happiness~"
"Dear~ dear~ Hap-py Birth-day to you!"
"Make every day wonderful~"
Chen Qimeng and Du Ruxue were busy ordering.
Lin Yu hummed the tune under his breath.
Every time he came to this hotpot place, if he didn’t hear this song, it felt like a wasted trip.
Too bad it was still 2014.
This chain hadn’t rolled out its birthday singing program yet.
Even The Birthday Song hadn’t been written!
The hummer had no ulterior motives, but the listener read too much into it.
Maomao, sitting beside Lin Yu, stared at him intently, her eyes brimming with unspoken words.
Lin Yu: "What’s up?"
Maomao: "I’ve never heard that song before. What’s it called?"
Lin Yu: "..."
From Maomao’s expression, Lin Yu could guess—
She wasn’t actually curious about the song!
She was worried it might turn into a "test question" someday, leaving her clueless!
She’d even take an interest in a random tune someone hummed.
Yet she couldn’t recognize such an easy route?
Lin Yu studied her for a moment before whispering:
"Ohhh~"
"So Maomao hasn’t heard this song? That makes things easier next time!"
"Such a secret—why would I tell you?"
His teasing tone dredged up Maomao’s memories of their last defeat…
Maomao glanced at the two aunts across the table.
Making sure they were engrossed in ordering with the server,
she mustered the courage to lean closer to Lin Yu and say:
"Ah Bin, I watched…"
Lin Yu: "!!!"
She actually went and watched it?
Fine, she watched it—but why bring it up here?
Did she want a medal or something?
If the aunts asked what they were talking about, could her terrible lying skills even cover it?
Even so.
Lin Yu couldn’t suppress his curiosity…
"And then?"
Maomao murmured faintly:
"Yu, I suggest… you watch less of that stuff."
Lin Yu: "..."
He asked for her thoughts.
She advised him to reform.
It wasn’t like he watched much anyway!
Wasn’t this just…
teenage hearsay among peers?
Back then, a single thick novel could be torn into a dozen parts for alternating reading.
He definitely wasn’t the originator, just one of the relayers.
Lin Yu knew this wasn’t the time or place for a deep discussion.
He’d have to wait until after dinner to properly explain things to Maomao.
Before the hotpot arrived, the four chatted about light topics—
mostly the two aunts’ shopping experiences that day.
The real conversation only began once they started eating…
"Maomao, is there anything you’d like to say to me?"
Du Ruxue’s question came out of nowhere.
Maomao, who was scooping a fish ball, nearly dropped her spoon into the pot.
She stiffened as if facing a crisis, about to stand up and speak—
but Du Ruxue’s gaze pinned her back down before she could rise.
Lin Yu, sitting beside her, could clearly sense her tension.
Yikes!
Was the interrogation starting now?
He thought they’d gotten through the day without this.
Turns out…
what’s coming will come.
Too brutal!
Lin Yu wanted to mediate, but there was no opening.
Aunt Ruxue had singled out her "younger daughter."
What right did he have to interrupt?
He could only shoot Maomao a good luck look and wait for her response.
After a long pause, Maomao finally spoke:
"I’m sorry, Aunt Ruxue."
"I should’ve discussed moving into Aunt Qimeng’s apartment with you first."
"It was wrong of me, and I deserve to be punished… I’ll accept any punishment willingly."
Her head was bowed, hiding her expression.
But the way she said "willingly" made it clear she was anything but.
Silence followed.
Du Ruxue acted as if she hadn’t heard, continuing to eat unhurriedly.
Chen Qimeng nudged her lightly with an elbow.
In Lin Yu’s [Aunt Database], this kind of interruption was strictly forbidden!
It wouldn’t serve as a reminder—it might even provoke Du Ruxue’s irritation.
Maomao’s half-hearted apology clearly hadn’t hit the mark.
At the very least,
it didn’t satisfy Du Ruxue.
Her silence meant she expected Maomao to keep talking.
Qimeng shouldn’t have touched her!
But then again…
when it was Qimeng doing the nudging, all rules seemed to vanish.
Du Ruxue finished chewing, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and finally addressed Maomao:
"The mistake’s already made. Punishing you won’t turn back time."
"Tell me what you really think, Maomao…"
"How do you like Qimeng’s apartment?"
"Are you planning to stay for a few days, or settle in long-term?"
Maomao looked up at her, startled.
When Aunt Ruxue first questioned her, she’d felt like she was back under her strict household rules.
But now…
Aunt Ruxue was actually asking for her opinion?
Was this a dream?
...
(Second update for today. More coming soon!)
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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!
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?!
