Su Kexi's brief words carried a whirlwind of emotions—three parts sorrow, three parts melancholy, three parts reluctance, and one part "If you dare say it was me, I'll hang myself at your doorstep."
Shen Nian immediately shook his head in denial. "How could that be? Though Teacher's guidance hasn't been much, I’ve always liked you."
"?"
That somehow made it worse.
So I really am disliked by my student... What a failure as a teacher...
I’ll go downstairs to buy water. The teaching building has no elevator, and I don’t feel like taking the stairs either.
"Why would Teacher think that?" Shen Nian asked curiously.
"Because... you talked to all the other teachers except me..." As she spoke, Su Kexi even sounded a little aggrieved.
Shen Nian understood now!
Ah, so it’s possessiveness, huh? Got it, got it.
"Oh, that’s because I saw you were busy with your PowerPoint and didn’t want to disturb you."
"O-oh, I see."
Seeing Shen Nian’s earnest expression, Su Kexi felt a bit better.
So it wasn’t that the student hated her—just her own overthinking.
"Then you can ask me now."
"Teacher, what was your college entrance exam score?" Shen Nian recited flatly.
Honestly, no one cares about your exam score. My task here is done; all that’s left is to kill an hour in the office.
"Six hundred fifty-seven."
"Oh."
"By the way, about that thing with 'On the Faults of Qin'—I was just saying it. I didn’t actually expect you to copy it."
"Don’t worry, Teacher. I figured you didn’t mean it, so I didn’t write a single word."
Even if I had been serious, you still wouldn’t have done it, right, kid?
No one but Shen Nian could make skipping homework sound so righteous.
Su Kexi smiled wryly. Shen Nian was still the same old Shen Nian. Guess she’d just been overthinking again.
With the conversation dead, Shen Nian buried himself in studying. During the second evening self-study session, a notification popped up—mission complete. Shen Nian bolted back to the classroom.
After class, Chen Dong immediately turned around. "You spent a whole period in the office and came back with a row of Wangzai milk?"
"How did you know Teacher Yan Yuzhu gave them to me?"
"Who even asked you?"
Shen Nian tossed one to Chen Dong and drank one himself.
After school, Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun walked out together. Under the dim streetlights of the campus path, a few mosquitoes buzzed, stretching their two shadows long and slanting.
"That milk was from Teacher Yan?"
"How’d you know?"
"I overheard you talking."
"Couldn’t be helped. The teacher insisted on giving it to me—wouldn’t take no for an answer. What can I say? I’m just too outstanding. Finished my study plan in no time."
"Wow, impressive," Xia Yanchun deadpanned.
"Too kind, too kind," Shen Nian replied with exaggerated modesty.
Back home, Shen Nian tossed his bag aside and grabbed the remote. He pressed it—nothing. The AC was dead.
In disbelief, he tried using his phone as a remote. Yep. The AC had officially kicked the bucket.
It was working fine yesterday, damn it.
Thirty degrees at night—how am I supposed to live without AC?!
He considered crashing in Shen Yue’s room, but her door was shut tight. She was definitely dead asleep, and since she had work tomorrow, Shen Nian decided not to bother her.
He dug out an ancient mini-fan from the storage room, plugged it in, and hit the switch. The blades spun twice before making a sound like a Transformer mid-shift—then died completely.
Shen Nian’s room faced the sun. Even at night, the walls radiated heat. Opening the window did nothing; the room was a literal sauna.
Autumn was being way too affectionate. Shen Nian couldn’t take it. Lying in bed, sticky and sweaty, he couldn’t focus, let alone sleep.
No AC? Shen Nian would perish.
Luckily, Shen Nian had Xia Yanchun. Their so-called "mortal enemies" dynamic was just a front—she was, at heart, a sweet and adorable girl.
Shen Nian pulled out his phone and sent her a QQ message.
[Shen Nian]: Baby.
Xia Yanchun had just stripped for a shower when she saw the message. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
[Xia Yanchun]: ?
[Shen Nian]: I think we should call a truce. I’m tired of the fighting. Let’s acknowledge what we really are—not rivals, but childhood friends who are the closest, okay?
Xia Yanchun knew Shen Nian too well. This long-winded spiel? He was definitely up to something.
Her almond-shaped eyes glimmered as her lips curved.
[Xia Yanchun]: You wish.
[Shen Nian]: ?
Not following the script?
Crying. Ten years thinking my tsundere childhood friend just secretly liked me, but she actually hates me.
[Shen Nian]: Come on, remember the good times. I even gave you lollipops.
[Xia Yanchun]: And then you stole my peanut candy this summer.
[Shen Nian]: Got proof?
[Xia Yanchun]: You admitted it.
[Shen Nian]: Date, time, exact second? Can’t name it? Then it didn’t happen.
[Xia Yanchun]: (Eagle Brother Amogus.jpg)
[Xia Yanchun]: What do you want?
[Shen Nian]: Open up. FBI.
[Shen Nian]: My AC’s broken. Let me crash at your place tonight. You wouldn’t let your best childhood friend die of heatstroke, right?
[Xia Yanchun]: Perfect. Tell your mom you love Orléans roast chicken. I’ll feast at your funeral.
[Shen Nian]: I’ll just sleep on the floor. No snoring, no grinding, and definitely no weird stuff while you’re asleep. Don’t make me beg.
[Xia Yanchun]: Wow, "the lady doth protest too much."
[Shen Nian]: Please.
[Xia Yanchun]: Should’ve begged sooner. Wasted my time.
One minute later—
[Shen Nian]: Hello? Why aren’t you opening the door?
[Xia Yanchun]: I never said begging would make me open it.
[Shen Nian]: Monster monster monster monster monster! Evil woman evil woman evil woman!
[Shen Nian]: I’ll hang myself at your door, haunt you as a ghost, peek at you showering and sleeping, and lurk behind you every time you check the mirror—just hovering over your shoulder, watching.
[Xia Yanchun]: Madge.
Xia Yanchun pressed her lips together, eyes crinkling with amusement before she burst into soft laughter, the sound light as spring breeze echoing in the bathroom.
Nothing better than seeing Shen Nian seething but powerless against her.
Felt like all the day’s frustrations had melted away. Shen Nian deserved every bit of this.
[Xia Yanchun]: Fine, come over.
After sending the last message, Xia Yanchun set her clothes aside and padded to the door, leaving it slightly ajar.
Soon, the door across the hall opened, and Shen Nian slipped inside.
Before entering: I am but a humble worm.
After entering: Shurima, your emperor has returned!
"You bitch, Xia Yanchun! You played me!" Shen Nian plopped onto the sofa like a king, legs crossed, fuming.
Xia Yanchun, your lord and master has arrived!
"Be grateful I even let you in. Keep acting up, and I’ll kick you out."
"Pfft. Easier to invite a god than send one away." Shen Nian smirked. "You really think I’m leaving now?"
"..." Xia Yanchun had no retort. The moment she let him in, she’d known this would happen.
Who is Shen Nian? She knew him all too well. If she couldn’t foresee this, then all the traps he’d set for her in the past would’ve been for nothing.
A nemesis is the enemy who understands you best. You might not know my depths, but I sure know your lengths (referring to strengths and weaknesses).
"Is your AC really broken?"
"Yeah, my sister’s asleep. Rather than bothering her, I figured I’d bother you instead."
"You’ve got a death wish, Shen Nian!"
Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato’s request for 3 million+ daily visits overloading the servers, we now recommend switching to other top-tier sources.
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.
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?!
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.”
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…
