Lin Ran was just about to start when Luo Yao stopped him.
"Ran, let me do it."
Lin Ran knew Luo Yao intended to give the production team a hard time, and a sly grin spread across his face.
"Then I'll assist you. Just follow my instructions."
"Alright."
The host watched and commented simultaneously.
"We can see Miss Luo Yao has taken out a rolling pin. It looks like they’re preparing to make the simplest noodle dish. Now, Miss Luo Yao is using the rolling pin to... mercilessly beat a fish to death?"
The host’s voice was laced with disbelief.
"Mr. Lin’s fish-cleaning technique is so professional—clearly, he’s done this often. Who would’ve thought someone as successful as him could also cook? Truly a domestic god."
"Alright, Mr. Lin has handed the fish to President Luo, who’s now pouring oil into the pan..."
"The fish is now stewing. As we can see, President Luo is also preparing a pot of mushroom soup. The slight curl of his lips suggests this might be the most delicious mushroom soup in the world—because it’s made with love."
Lin Ran chuckled inwardly. Just wait till they find out how cruel the world can be.
"Meow—"
A cat’s meow made Lin Ran pause. Sure enough, a pair of eyes peered through the flower bushes outside the kitchen window.
[Little Black: "I come back only to find you two plotting murder."]
[Lin Ran: "Must you phrase it so harshly? I believe Yao Yao will do just fine this time."]
[Little Black: "Let’s hope so."]
[Lin Ran: "Want me to save you a fish head or something later?"]
[Little Black: "If Luo Yao made it, I wouldn’t dare eat it."]
[Lin Ran: "Come on in and say that to my wife’s face."]
[Little Black: "They can’t see or hear me."]
Lin Ran was taken aback—he hadn’t known Little Black had this ability.
The rest of the process went smoothly—exploding pans, frying fish, adding water—followed by a period of waiting.
Miss Luo Yao, Mr. Lin Ran, how about a little game of unspoken understanding while we wait?
Lin Ran and Luo Yao exchanged glances.
Synergy—did they even have that?
Probably not.
"Sure," Luo Yao replied. She was curious to see if they shared any unspoken understanding at all.
So, Lin Ran and Luo Yao sat back-to-back on two chairs.
Luo Yao leaned against Lin Ran, feeling an overwhelming sense of security.
Just like before—she leaned on him, and he on her.
Here's how it works: I'll ask some questions, you'll write down your answers, and we'll see how well they match. Some couples have great synergy, others not so much—but it doesn't reflect their relationship," the host explained.
"First question: Where did you first meet?"
A bombshell right from the start.
Lin Ran and Luo Yao wrote simultaneously, then raised their boards.
Lin Ran/Luo Yao: [Woods/Forest]
[Damn, that’s bold! First meeting and they went straight into the woods?]
[Couldn’t it just mean they met in a forest...? Okay, fine, not doing anything there would be a waste.]
The host finally smiled. This segment wasn’t a disaster—in fact, it was going well.
[Little Black: "Oho, the woods, huh?"]
Host: "Ah, I see. Second question: What was the most meaningful thing you did when you first met?"
[Damn, Liu Yishou, you’ve got guts asking that.]
[Sis Liu, you’re literally speaking for the entire internet.]
Lin Ran and Luo Yao wrote without hesitation and raised their boards.
Lin Ran: [Watched the stars] / Luo Yao: [Watched the stars]
[They remember it so clearly—who dares say they’re not in love?]
[Was this ‘star-watching’... wholesome?]
[Host, quick—ask when they first met!]
The host was surprised too. They remembered it so vividly—it couldn’t have been too long ago. So, she obliged with the third question.
"Since you both remember so clearly, it must be a recent memory. Third question: When did you first meet?"
Lin Ran hesitated. This question was tricky.
Saying he met Luo Yao at twenty wasn’t wrong, but neither was saying they’d known each other since childhood.
While Lin Ran pondered, Luo Yao had already written her answer.
"Mr. Lin?" the host prompted, worried he might not answer. If Luo Yao got upset, it could turn into a live broadcast disaster.
After all, she’d spent all of yesterday researching Luo Yao’s temperament.
Lin Ran finally wrote his answer, and they raised their boards together.
Lin Ran: [Childhood]
Luo Yao: [When we were kids]
The internet exploded.
[Wait, I thought this was some sugar daddy drama—turns out they’re childhood sweethearts?!]
[So Lin Ran wasn’t being kept—they’re the real deal.]
[I admit, my mind went straight to the gutter.]
[Childhood love is the most enviable kind. Ugh, so sweet.]
Meanwhile, aside from netizens, many people who knew them personally were also watching the livestream.
Including Wu Zhishang, Lin Tianba, Liu Yuemei, Lin Jian, Ye Lingling, Zhao Miaomiao, Zhang Xiaolong, Zhang Xiaonuan, Lv Jian, Shen Jingbing, Chen Xiao, Chen Qingtian, Chen Nianshi, Chen Nianlun, Chen Zhima, Su Jianguo, You Qingnan, Yi Siyin, Yi Buhao, Shi Nanci, Pei Qianqian, Zhang Xinyan, Brother Dao, and more (this isn’t filler—just a refresher on the characters).
The Lin Tianba household was stunned.
Liu Yuemei: "Honey, did Lin Ran know Luo Yao since they were kids?"
Lin Tianba: "How would I know? That brat kept something this huge from me?!"
Lin Tianba was furious. If Lin Ran had told him earlier about knowing Luo Yao, Suran Group would’ve climbed even higher. He could’ve broken into the upper echelons of society!
Instead, they were practically homeless now.
Lin Jian stood frozen, his face twisted with envy and hatred.
Finally, he realized why he’d lost—Lin Ran’s deception.
Lin Ran had played the weakling all along, when in truth, he’d known Luo Yao for years. He’d just never revealed it.
He was too good at pretending. What a hypocrite—no familial loyalty at all.
In the underground entertainment city, the program played on a giant screen. All the guests watched, including the Liu family’s three troublemakers.
"That little bastard Lin Ran—what kind of luck does he have? Childhood sweethearts with Luo Yao?!"
"So our plan to make Lin Ran marry Ruxue..."
"Actually, it’s not impossible. If we’re talking childhood connections, Ruxue has the upper hand. Luo Yao can’t compete."
The family had now reached a dead end, with Liu Yuemei no longer caring about them. After enduring the harsh blows of society, they began to think of Lin Ran—the one who could also pull them out of their misery.
"What are you three doing here? Shouldn’t you be scrubbing the toilets?"
Liu Ritian: "The toilets are already polished to a shine."
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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.
