I had originally planned to buy a massage chair for Shen Shi, but not anymore.
Time to slip away.
"Uncle, I'm going to find Xia Yanchun."
"Mm."
Shen Nian wandered around like an idler, strolling here and there.
Wen Zhining was sitting on the first floor watching the rain. Seeing Shen Nian go upstairs, she merely smiled.
Sigh, both kids were grown up now. Sometimes, she really wanted to sneak a peek at what they were up to when they were alone on the third floor.
She wanted to so badly!
But that would be too disrespectful.
You can't have your cake and eat it too; it was better to give the kids enough private space.
She hoped they would have some sense of propriety. Even if they really started dating, holding hands was fine, but they shouldn't go any further!
Shen Nian went up to the third floor, which was Xia Yanchun's private floor.
The main lights were bright, and there was a faint fragrance in the air. The bathroom door was shut tight, with the sound of splashing water and the occasional lovely voice of the young girl coming from inside.
The bedroom door was open, so Shen Nian simply lay down on the bed to wait for her.
There was a familiar bell toy on the desk. He wondered if it had been taken out while packing and forgotten to be put away.
It was perfectly clean without a speck of dust. Shen Nian pressed it, but there was no response. He then took the batteries out of the air conditioner remote and put them into the bell, but it still didn't react.
...After being kept for so long, the toy had finally broken down after the system's task was completed.
He would never again hear the sound of the tiny Xia Yanchun baring her fangs and brandishing her claws, threatening to eat him.
Shen Nian felt a sense of loss. He pressed it a few more times to himself, thinking about taking it apart to fix it.
Click.
The bathroom door opened, and Xia Yanchun came out clutching her clothes. Her hair was bundled into a bun at the back of her head, and the sleeves and pant legs of her pajamas were rolled up. The girl fresh out of the bath looked like a lotus rising from the water, her skin glowing with tenderness.
Xia Yanchun lazily returned to her room and was startled to see someone on her bed.
Seeing Shen Nian playing with the toy bell, Xia Yanchun felt a bit shy. She snatched it back with one hand, hugged it to her chest, and huffed, "What are you doing coming over without a word? It's very impolite to casually touch a girl's things!"
"This thing is broken."
"It's better that it's broken!" Xia Yanchun wished this toy would break.
It contained her dark history. It would be best if all her dark history completely disappeared!
"It's not good that it's broken. I can't hear your childhood voice anymore."
"You're not allowed to listen."
"Leave it with me. I'll see if I can fix it later."
"No way."
"You little Haji-Chun..."
Right in front of Shen Nian, Xia Yanchun hid the toy bell in the drawer under her wardrobe.
How could she let Shen Nian take it to fix it? If it was fixed, this guy would definitely play it for her every day and definitely wouldn't return it.
"So what did you come looking for me for, without making a sound?" Xia Yanchun began to let her hair down, standing in front of the bed and looking down at Shen Nian.
"I missed my Chun, Chunbao."
"Eww, gross."
"Chunbao."
Shen Nian pulled Xia Yanchun into his arms, rubbed against her fragrant body, and said softly:
"Do you have anything else to do? If not, want to go hang out at my place?"
"..."
Why did this feel like a big bad wolf abducting a little white rabbit?
Of course, Xia Yanchun didn't think of herself as a little white rabbit. Hadn't he heard that in the vast heavens and earth, she, the big sister, was the greatest?
Xia Yanchun turned her head, not letting Shen Nian rub his face against hers, her voice soft and sweet.
"What would we do at your place?"
"Just look around."
Xia Yanchun looked at the large hand that had somehow crept up her waist and was gently stroking up and down, and blinked.
He dared to do this in her room; Xia Yanchun couldn't even imagine how bold Shen Nian would be if they went to his room!
"I'm not going. I feel like you're up to no good."
"Am I that kind of person?"
"Hard to say."
Shen Nian laughed out of exasperation. He really just wanted to abduct Xia Yanchun to his house to see if he could complete the task.
What if his house was the starting point in the system's task?
Since Xia Yanchun wasn't going, Shen Nian wasn't in a hurry either. The system task didn't have a time limit anyway.
Did Haji-Chun think that if she didn't go to his place, he wouldn't come looking for her to play?
Shen Nian pressed against Xia Yanchun, pulling her closer into his embrace. He pinched her nose, making Xia Yanchun's face flush red, leaving her feeling completely flustered.
"Mmm..." Xia Yanchun gently pushed Shen Nian's chest, separating from him a little. "Aren't you afraid my parents will suddenly come up?"
"Then I'll just say you've already fallen for me, and I, wanting to take care of your feelings, could only reluctantly agree to be with you."
"Who... who likes you? And you've got it backwards!"
"It makes no difference."
"There's a huge difference! You're not allowed to say that!"
"Then what should I say?"
Xia Yanchun pouted, looked up to think for a moment, and gestured with her fingers, saying seriously, "You should say that you like me, and after you pursued me for a long time, I reluctantly decided to give it a try with you..."
Halfway through, she suddenly realized what she was saying and shook her head. "No, no, we can't be seen. Hurry up and get away from me!"
"Your parents haven't come up."
"Even... even so, we have to be careful and cautious..."
To avoid being discovered, one had to listen carefully to the sounds at the staircase, which was a piece of cake for Shen Nian, who had Agility +3.
Auntie Wen and Uncle Xia wouldn't sneak up quietly like thieves, right? If they really did that, Shen Nian would be out of luck, and if they were caught, it would be an explosive situation.
"Okay, okay, careful and cautious."
Shen Nian rubbed Xia Yanchun's hair. When he said careful and cautious, his voice even dropped a bit, truly acting like a thief.
Even if they confessed to Uncle, Auntie, and their parents, Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun would still be this cautious. Shen Nian's skin wasn't thick enough to be affectionate in front of others, and not to mention Xia Yanchun, holding hands outside was her limit.
...
At midnight, the heavy rain chose to stop for the night.
The clouds had thinned out quite a bit, revealing a few of the brightest stars.
Hardly any pedestrians could be seen on the road. Probably no one liked walking on wet streets, and even cars were scarce.
The rain stopping was a good thing. According to the weather forecast, the next two days should be sunny.
Wearing slippers, Xia Yanchun gently opened the balcony window. Afraid of the cold, she didn't step out but only quietly peeked outside from behind the window, and then glanced at the side.
The adjacent balcony was empty.
She was dead tired. If Shen Nian didn't come over soon, she was going to lock the window and go to sleep!
Xia Yanchun puffed out her cheeks to herself, left a small gap in the balcony window, and ignored it, lying back under the covers.
Riding in a car all day was exhausting. If she didn't sleep, she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.
Not long after lying down, Xia Yanchun heard a faint noise from the balcony. Her heartbeat quickened as she stared intently in that direction.
Slide, slide...
The balcony window was gently pulled open. Shen Nian climbed over with practiced ease, locked the window without a word, lifted the cotton blanket, and slipped entirely inside.
"Whoo." Shen Nian poked his head out from under the covers and rested it on Xia Yanchun's arm. "Isn't it pretty warm in here? I hereby appoint you as the Grand Marshal of Bed Warming. From now on, you're in charge of warming the bed."
"Then who is the Empress?"
"Whoever sleeps next to me is the Empress."
"Tch, I don't care about that." Xia Yanchun nuzzled into Shen Nian's embrace. When Shen Nian wasn't around, her hands and feet were always cold.
It had to be Shen Nian.
Her hands and feet had already taken on Shen Nian's temperature.
Xia Yanchun looked like she was about to melt. Who else could understand the sheer salvation of being held by someone so warm on such a freezing cold day?
"Mhm." Xia Yanchun arched her body, pecked Shen Nian on the lips, and nuzzled his cheek. "I'm going to sleep."
"Go to sleep."
"Good night... Make sure you climb back out the window early tomorrow. I'm worried my mom will wake me up for breakfast at noon."
"I know. As if anyone else sleeps in until noon like you do."
"Hmph, I'll smack you."
"..." Shen Nian narrowed his eyes, his heart feeling completely at peace, and he couldn't resist kissing Xia Yanchun on the forehead.
Perhaps not wanting to let Shen Nian do whatever he pleased, Xia Yanchun lazily rolled over. If Shen Nian wanted to kiss her now, he would only end up kissing a mass of hair.
Shen Nian wasn't annoyed. This position was better for sleeping anyway. He naturally wrapped his arm around Xia Yanchun, slipping his hand under the hem of her shirt until his palm rested on the girl's soft lower belly.
Xia Yanchun didn't mind it at all. In fact, she kind of enjoyed it, a cozy feeling bubbling up in her heart.
...
? Why was Shen Nian's hand creeping higher and higher?
Not good!

he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...

transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!

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…

to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”