The salesperson took Shen Nian, Shen Yue, and Xia Yanchun for a drive of seven or eight kilometers down the road, explaining the features as they drove. He looked quite professional.
He spoke so well that Shen Nian was tempted to place an order right then and there.
But buying a car still had to follow the proper procedure. Only after the model, color, and configuration were finalized would they move on to the contract phase.
They all looked over the contract together. Xia Yanchun, in particular, was terrified that Shen Nian might accidentally get scammed out of a lot of money, so she read through it inside and out with extreme care. Whenever she saw something she didn't understand, she pointed it out and asked the salesperson, who answered every question one by one.
However, because the dealership only had the model Shen Nian wanted but not the right color, there was an additional ordering process before they could inspect and pick up the car, which required a wait of a week or two.
These were minor issues.
After a busy afternoon, the group finally came out of the shop at three o'clock.
"Wasn't that a bit hasty? I thought buying a car would require a long time of careful selection, followed by tons of paperwork," Xia Yanchun muttered softly as she walked beside Shen Nian.
She had seen plenty of news in the past about hidden traps in car contracts and thought buying a car would involve some sort of scheming drama. But the actual car-buying process was quite different from what she had imagined.
Come to think of it, such a famous major brand probably wouldn't resort to messy little tricks...
"It wasn't hasty at all." Shen Nian naturally took Xia Yanchun's small hand and laughed. "You only think it was fast because I made preparations in advance. I've been preparing to buy a car for a long time, okay?"
"Should I buy one too...?"
"What are you buying!" Shen Yue couldn't sit still and shouted. "If you two kids both buy cars and I don't, I can't even imagine how much pressure I'll be under during the New Year! Little Chun, you are not allowed to buy a car. You can only buy one after I do."
"Hehe, Sister Shen Yue, I'm just saying. I don't have any plans to buy a car yet."
"That's good, that's good."
The five of them ate out together. At five in the afternoon, Shen Shi and Chen Minyue hurried back early; otherwise, once it got dark, some potholed sections of the road would be hard to see and difficult to navigate.
At night, nine o'clock.
Shen Nian stuffed his admission letter, graduation certificate, ID photocopies, and all the other documents needed for registration into a plastic folder.
He was going to report to the school tomorrow. He didn't know if the class... or rather, the counselor, would be easy to talk to.
Since they were students in the same college, even if Xia Yanchun didn't say it, Shen Nian could guess that she had definitely made plans with Li Shiyan for tomorrow.
Shen Nian actually wanted to invite Chen Dong and Ma Mingfan too, but those two guys wouldn't arrive until the afternoon, and Xia Yanchun wanted to register early to leave some time to organize her single dorm room.
After confirming nothing was left behind, Shen Nian left his room. He told Shen Yue in the living room that she didn't need to leave the door unlocked for him, and then slipped into Xia Yanchun's house across the hall.
Having a key was convenient; he could go in whenever he wanted without knocking.
Xia Yanchun's living room was filled with the pleasant scent of body wash. The bathroom light was still on, so it seemed she had just finished taking a shower.
The young girl was standing in front of the sink, gurgling and brushing her teeth, not even bothering to acknowledge Shen Nian when he walked in.
"Have you packed the things you need for tomorrow?" Shen Nian leaned against the sink, staring at her soft little face.
Xia Yanchun nodded her little head, rinsed the foam from her mouth with a splash of water, and started applying facial cleanser. A beautiful girl's pre-sleep skincare routine was absolutely essential!
"Have you got your things sorted?"
"I came over right after I finished."
"Front and back photocopies of your ID, and the photocopies for your parents—did you bring them all?"
"Brought them, brought them. I was very careful."
"That's good. Otherwise, having to come all the way back to get things tomorrow after we get there would be a huge hassle... By the way, I made plans with Shiyan to go register together tomorrow."
"I guessed as much." Shen Nian pressed against Xia Yanchun's back, burying the tip of his nose into the girl's hair, and smiled softly. "You two have such a good relationship. As expected of desk-mates for three years. I acknowledge the bond between you two."
Xia Yanchun hummed proudly.
She now strongly agreed with that saying of Shen Nian's. How did it go again?
The three of them living their days well was more important than anything else.
Both Shen Nian and Li Shiyan proactively kept their boundaries, so there was absolutely no need to worry about any melodramatic nonsense. With her favorite partner and her absolute best friend, Xia Yanchun felt she was a complete winner in life!
"Hug me." Xia Yanchun threw herself into Shen Nian's arms, holding her hands open.
She waited until Shen Nian gently wrapped his arms around her waist before tightly hugging him back, refusing to leave his embrace.
Shen Nian had no choice but to carry her into the bedroom. He turned off the living room lights along the way, hooked his foot around the door, and closed it with a click.
Tossed onto the bed, Xia Yanchun immediately wrapped herself tightly in a small blanket, staring unblinkingly at Shen Nian with her dark, almond-shaped eyes.
"...Why are you looking at me like I'm going to do something to you?"
"Don't you want to do something to me?"
"Is that something you should be saying?" Shen Nian scratched his cheek, delivering the most improper words with the most serious expression and tone. "You've had it really rough inside my head."
"Then I used the right look. I've always been a good judge of character."
"What kind of talk is that? It sounds terrible."
Shen Nian hovered over her, supporting his weight with his arms and legs above Xia Yanchun. His fingertips caressed the girl's tender little face, and he couldn't help but laugh.
Xia Yanchun blushed and buried herself deeper, refusing to let Shen Nian kiss her.
Shen Nian wasn't annoyed. He pressed against Chunbao's forehead, and it wasn't long before he got his way.
The warm, moist sensation domineeringly occupied both of their minds. Shen Nian felt carefree. After their lips parted, he reached out and turned off the light.
They had to wake up early tomorrow, so it was better to sleep early tonight.
The two weeks of military training would probably require waking up very early, so Shen Nian had to help Xia Yanchun adjust her sleep schedule in advance.
Otherwise, given Xia Yanchun's lazy habit of lying in bed for half an hour after waking up before finally getting up, she would probably be so sleepy on the first day of military training that she wouldn't even be able to stand properly in formation.
"Chunbao, I'll get breakfast for you tomorrow."
"Mhm."
"Good night."
"Are we going to sleep now?" Xia Yanchun blinked her almond eyes.
"We have to sleep early. Aren't you planning to adjust your sleep schedule?"
"True... Then let's start adjusting our schedule today. I need to get used to waking up at seven from now on."
"Just having that thought already puts you ahead of ninety percent of college students. As expected of my Chunbao."
"Do you love it?"
"I love it, I love it."
"You love it...?" Xia Yanchun hugged Shen Nian, rubbing her little face against his chest as she whispered softly.
"Then I love you too."
Shen Nian had originally planned to just go straight to sleep.
But with Xia Yanchun snuggling against him so wantonly in his arms, he soon began to feel unnatural.
Xia Yanchun looked up at Shen Nian and pointed playfully.
"Hehe, someone's not being well-behaved."
"What are you mumbling about? Go to sleep."
"You don't want to?"
"We're sleeping early today. Starting today, I'm going to be an aloof, abstinent male god and capture the hearts of a few super cute senior girls at school. Are you ready to become the public enemy of all the girls in the school?"
"Crazy, starting to daydream in the middle of the night?" Xia Yanchun's eyes curved in a smile as her fingertips lightly scratched against Shen Nian's body.
"How is it a daydream? Your Nianbao is very good-looking, okay?"
"I see the lust, but where are the looks?"
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...
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…
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
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.”
