"Take this."
"What is it?"
Before Dongfang Zhixia could respond, Ye Cheng had already tossed the item over—something limp, cold, and squirming.
A snake.
Dongfang Zhixia: "???"
"Ah—!"
The moment Dongfang Zhixia caught the snake, she flung it away. Ye Cheng reacted swiftly and snatched it mid-air.
"President, what are you doing? If this thing bites you, we’ll need this 'spicy strip' to find the antivenom later. Neither of us knows what kind of snake this is. If it slithers away, do you really think we’ll have the luck to catch it again?"
Ye Cheng’s tone was exasperated.
Dongfang Zhixia knew all this, of course. But knowing and acting were two entirely different things.
Snakes were something most people feared.
Only a weirdo like Ye Cheng could casually refer to it as a "spicy strip" without a hint of fear. He even tied the snake in an artistic knot—one with a distinctly Japanese flair.
Frankly, the snake now looked somewhat indecent.
Strangely suggestive, even.
Dongfang Zhixia knew she was in the wrong but refused to let Ye Cheng have the upper hand. She muttered defensively,
"Of course I know that! But you threw it at me out of nowhere—anyone would be startled!"
"Alright, then hold it properly, President. I need to carry you now and don’t have any free hands."
Ye Cheng wasn’t lying.
He had briefly considered draping the snake around his neck but quickly dismissed the idea, fearing he might experience a "boa constrictor’s embrace."
So, the task fell to the president.
Seeing the neatly tied "spicy strip" Ye Cheng handed over, Dongfang Zhixia’s eyes flashed with terror.
"Oh no, oh no. Could it be that our mighty president is scared of snakes?" Ye Cheng feigned shock.
Dongfang Zhixia: "..."
"Shut up! Who’s scared? Not me!"
Dongfang Zhixia was stubborn by nature. Losing face, especially to Ye Cheng, was out of the question.
She grabbed the snake firmly, its cold, slithering body coiling around her wrist the moment she touched it. The eerie sensation sent shivers down her spine, but she clenched her teeth and held on.
"Is that all? Let’s go. We’re wasting time."
Her voice trembled, as did her body.
The only thing still firm was her mouth.
Exactly the reaction Ye Cheng wanted. He hoisted her onto his back and began descending the mountain.
......
"Miss! Miss, where are you?"
The petite secretary panted heavily, exhausted after just a few steps.
In a way, she was "carrying extra weight" uphill, so her fatigue was understandable.
But in Dongfang Zhixia’s eyes, it was just useless flab!
Suddenly, the secretary squinted, spotting something in the distance. After a moment of scrutiny, her face lit up with joy.
"Miss!"
But her delight was short-lived.
Her expression froze as she saw her young mistress being carried down the mountain by a shirtless man.
The secretary’s pupils shrank.
Her mind instantly conjured a series of scandalous, pixelated scenes—none of them appropriate for public viewing.
Her face paled. "Will Miss silence me to keep this secret?"
Panicked, she clapped a hand over her mouth, then switched to covering her eyes, muttering under her breath.
"I didn’t see anything. I know nothing. Wuwuwu..."
From Ye Cheng’s back, Dongfang Zhixia glared at her airheaded secretary, irritation flaring.
"Get over here! What are you standing around for?"
"Ah? Oh..."
The secretary flinched at her mistress’s sharp tone, turning around but keeping both hands firmly over her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Dongfang Zhixia frowned, a question mark practically floating above her head.
The secretary stammered, "I—I didn’t see anything, Miss."
Dongfang Zhixia: "???"
"President, your secretary must’ve funneled all her meals straight to her chest. How is she all body and no brain?"
Ye Cheng shook his head and nudged the eye-covering secretary.
"Your Miss got bitten by a snake. Her foot’s swollen like a pig’s trotter, and you’re pretending not to see it?"
"Huh?"
Confused, the secretary lowered her hands and finally noticed the dark, swollen bite marks on Dongfang Zhixia’s foot.
"AHHH!!"
"Miss! Wuwuwu... What happened?!" Her eyes welled up instantly, her face a picture of distress.
Dongfang Zhixia: "..."
This idiot.
"Stop crying and get your Miss to a hospital. You’ll have plenty to cry about if she kicks the bucket." Ye Cheng sighed.
Fortunately, the secretary wasn’t completely hopeless.
A quick call on her emergency line summoned a swarm of doctors and bodyguards—along with a stretcher—within five minutes.
Ye Cheng handed the prickly young mistress over to the medics, swiped a jacket from a bodyguard, and slipped away unnoticed.
A true unsung hero!
Doing good deeds without expecting rewards—society needed more positive role models like Ye Cheng!
...Or so he’d like to say.
In reality, he was afraid the president might come to her senses and have him detained if he lingered. Then he’d really be stuck.
Ye Cheng wasn’t naive enough to think today’s incident would magically warm her up to him.
Come on, this wasn’t some cheesy novel where rich heiresses fell for nobodies after one rescue.
That was just delusional wishful thinking—the kind that got you chopped into mincemeat.
Tonight’s mess was technically his fault, even if it was an accident. Still, he’d sucked out the venom and carried her down. That should balance the scales, right?
Surely the president wouldn’t hold a grudge over this?
...Right?
Ye Cheng stretched, humming a tune as he strolled back to his dorm.
Exhausted. Time to sleep!
......
Meanwhile, in the girls’ dormitory.
"Miss, I’ve sent you the files." A pleasant female voice came through the phone.
"Mm. Got it. Rest early." Shen Qinghan was about to hang up.
"Miss... the family head hopes you’ll visit home..." The voice hesitated, laced with unease, as if bracing for rejection.
Shen Qinghan sighed. "I know. I’ll go back in a couple of days. I’m busy now."
"Thank you, Miss!" The voice brightened instantly.
After hanging up, Shen Qinghan opened the files on her phone.
"Ye Cheng, eighteen years old..."
【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.)
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
