As soon as Lin Qingyan saw the delivery person, she remembered that today was her birthday.
Every year on this day, the same delivery person would bring her a birthday cake.
It must be Little Li ordering the cake for her again.
Lin Qingyan walked over.
"Are you Miss Lin Qingyan?" the delivery person asked.
"I am," Lin Qingyan replied, taking the receipt from the delivery person and signing her name on it.
Then she handed the receipt back.
The delivery person smiled and said, "Miss Lin, your younger brother really loves you."
"Yes," Lin Qingyan said with a faint smile. "Little Li has always been like this—full of surprises."
"Little Li?" The delivery person frowned. "Miss Lin, do you have two younger brothers?"
Lin Qingyan instinctively wanted to correct him—she only had one brother.
It had almost become second nature to her.
But then, the diary Lin Xuan had written flashed through her mind, and the words died in her throat.
"Yes, I have two brothers," Lin Qingyan nodded, puzzled. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, Miss Lin," the delivery person explained, "this cake wasn’t sent by the brother you mentioned."
Lin Qingyan froze. "Not Little Li? Then… was it Lin Xuan?"
"That’s right, it was him!"
The delivery person pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to her. "He left this when he placed the order."
Lin Qingyan stared at the writing on the paper—Lin Xuan’s name, the delivery address, and her phone number.
It was unmistakably his handwriting.
So, this cake really was from Lin Xuan.
"Then… were all the previous cakes also from him?" Lin Qingyan grabbed the delivery person’s arm urgently.
"Yes, he always asked my father to make them," the delivery person confirmed. "My father owns the bakery. Lin Xuan would come every two years, pay for two cakes in advance, and ask us to deliver one to you on your birthday."
"Oh, and the designs on the cakes? He sketched them himself. He always reminded us, over and over, not to put peanuts in because you’re allergic. He was incredibly meticulous."
"And when he was just a teenager, he didn’t have much money. The cash he used to pay for the cakes was all saved up—coins and small bills, stuffed in a little box."
At this, the delivery person frowned slightly.
Given how wealthy their family seemed—where allowances were probably tens of thousands a month—why did he have to scrape together loose change like that?
Lin Qingyan’s throat tightened unbearably.
She took the cake and walked back home in a daze.
"I was wrong… I was so wrong," she murmured to herself. "It wasn’t Little Li. It was Lin Xuan. He was the one who sent me cakes every year."
She had always assumed it was Little Li.
Lin Qingyan placed the cake on the coffee table and opened the box.
A rich, sweet aroma filled the air.
On top of the cake, written in frosting, were the words: "Happy Birthday, Second Sister."
Lin Qingyan scooped a bite with a spoon and brought it to her lips. But instead of sweetness, all she tasted was bitterness.
"Lin Xuan… I’m sorry."
"Second Sister misunderstood you all this time."
How could she have hurt such a kind younger brother?
When Lin Qingwan came downstairs, she found Lin Qingyan sitting on the sofa, mechanically eating cake.
Tears streaked her entire face.
Lin Qingwan sighed and sat beside her.
Lin Qingyan had eaten too much cake too quickly—suddenly, she felt sick.
"Ugh—" She doubled over, retching.
"Second Sister, stop. Don’t eat anymore," Lin Qingwan said softly, wiping the cake from Lin Qingyan’s mouth and hands.
"Elder Sister…"
Lin Qingyan collapsed into Lin Qingwan’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Elder Sister, do you know? I misunderstood Lin Xuan. I thought he was disgusting for sneaking into my bed, but… he was just staying up all night to take care of me when I had a high fever."
"And he was the one who encouraged me when I was at my lowest."
"He sent me cakes every year, and I thought it was Little Li!"
Lin Qingyan broke down completely.
"He treated me so well, and I treated him like that. I’m horrible, Elder Sister."
Lin Qingwan didn’t know what to say.
After all, she, too, had misunderstood Lin Xuan. She had been one of those who ignored him.
His heart had grown cold toward their family, and she was partly to blame.
"Elder Sister, what do we do now?" Lin Qingyan clutched Lin Qingwan’s arm. "Lin Xuan hates us now. He doesn’t want to come back."
"It’ll be okay," Lin Qingwan reassured her, stroking her hair. "Lin Xuan has always been understanding. He’ll come back eventually."
"Elder Sister!"
Lin Qingyan suddenly tensed. "We need to reschedule the release of 'Heavenly Fate.' If it airs at the same time as Su Corporation’s drama, Lin Xuan will think we’re trying to sabotage him. He’ll resent us even more!"
"No. We won’t change it."
Lin Qingwan shook her head. "Second Sister, right now, Lin Xuan is being manipulated by that woman. He’s distancing himself from us."
"If we want him to come back, we have to push him. Otherwise, he’ll never return."
To her, Lin Xuan was just that woman’s plaything.
She wanted him back in the Lin family—partly to make amends, but also because only then could they protect him from that woman’s influence.
Lin Qingyan frowned deeply at her elder sister’s words.
Would this… really work?
That day, Lin Xuan didn’t go to class.
Noticing that Su Hua hadn’t been eating well the day before—perhaps because of the weather—he decided to cook lunch for her.
At noon, he arrived at Su Corporation with the meal.
Jiang Qing entered the CEO’s office.
"President Su," she said respectfully.
Su Hua’s aura was icy as she fixed her gaze on Jiang Qing. "This had better be important."
Jiang Qing remained unfazed.
"Young Master Lin has brought lunch for you."
The moment those words were spoken, the coldness around Su Hua vanished.
The executives in the room, who had been delivering reports, brightened visibly.
Their savior had arrived.
Su Hua closed the file in her hands and tossed it back to them.
"Go revise this proposal. Bring it back to me this afternoon."
"Yes, President Su!"
The executives exhaled in relief.
As they left the office, they couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.
"Young Master Lin is our guardian angel."
"Honestly, he’s the only one who can handle President Su."
"We’d better stay on his good side."
As they stepped out, they nearly bumped into Lin Xuan, who had just exited the elevator.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
