Xia Yanchun pouted, patted her butt as she got up from the chair, and glanced back at Huang Shengqi. "You can sit here."
With that, she dashed over to Shen Nian's side and plopped down on a plastic stool at the food stall.
"Did I say you could sit? Get up."
"I'm sitting. Auntie told me to treat this place like my own home."
"Talk about overstepping your welcome."
Huang Shengqi was dumbfounded. No one had told him the guy next door was Xia Yanchun's "little brother."
And clearly, they weren’t blood-related—yet they were this close.
Good thing he hadn’t acted rashly. His earlier exchange with Shen Nian hadn’t been confrontational, or he’d have made a complete fool of himself.
Even so, Huang Shengqi wasn’t exactly thrilled. This kind of intimate bickering, whatever the relationship between Xia Yanchun and this guy—whether he was a brother, a bestie, or the boy next door—left no room for him.
He smiled wryly, then turned and headed inside. Might as well play Naruto. The Will of Fire was better than chasing girls anyway.
Anyone who disagreed could eat a couple of Tailed Beast Bombs.
Outside, only Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun remained, chattering away.
Huang Shengqi? She couldn’t care less. As for "little brothers," Shen Nian was the only one who counted.
After all, he was the one who’d actually called her "sis."
Night fell.
The family gathering wrapped up quickly, and everyone returned home.
Shen Nian went inside to help clean up the dishes. Once they were done, Shen Yue dragged him back outside to admire the moon.
Both families were chatting happily under the night sky. Mid-Autumn Festival was all about gathering, talking, and playing cards.
Their families had been close for three generations—closer than many blood relatives. Their ancestors had been friends, and Shen Nian once heard Shen Shi say that if Uncle Xia had been a girl, they’d have been betrothed as children.
Arranged marriages like that were common in their grandparents’ era. These days, free love was the norm, and childhood betrothals were rare.
Otherwise, he’d have been stuck with that troublemaker Xia Yanchun.
Damn. That would’ve been a nightmare.
The adults talked among themselves, while the kids did their own thing. Shen Yue lounged on a plastic chair, scrolling through her phone. Xia Yanchun had been there earlier but had since disappeared.
Shen Nian opened his system tasks and rubbed his chin. The hidden mission was still there—he needed to find clues for the remaining two items.
Five points of Luck was seriously tempting.
With that much luck, he wouldn’t expect to win the lottery, but at least his Meituan coupons could stack higher.
Ideally, a full 25-off-20 deal.
If it couldn’t even do that, what was the point?
Crap. Now he was fantasizing about becoming a dark cultivator and stealing luck from little girls. That was something he’d genuinely crave.
Broke? Just spam Pinduoduo. Order 25-off-20 takeout every day. If all else failed, spend a little on claw machines and resell the prizes on Xianyu. Anyone who wouldn’t envy that was a saint.
"Cut some for everyone. Here’s watermelon!" Xia Yanchun emerged from the house carrying a plate of sliced watermelon, toothpicks sticking out, offering it to everyone.
Except Shen Nian.
"Hah, Xia Yanchun’s the best. Unlike someone in my family who wouldn’t even cut the honeydew in the fridge," Shen Shi praised her while throwing shade at Shen Nian.
This ungrateful son deserved it—he didn’t even treat his old man like his old man anymore.
Xia Yanchun covered her mouth and chimed in, "Exactly!"
"Are you an idiot? Dad’s just being polite, and you’re taking it seriously?" Shen Nian smirked, openly scolding Xia Yanchun in front of Wen Zhining and Xia Herui—standard procedure for him.
"Pfft."
"What if I wasn’t being polite?" Shen Shi said flatly.
"Calling the cops. Biological father colluding with outsiders to bully his own son—this counts as domestic abuse. I need 200 yuan to recover."
"HAHAHA!"
Everyone dug into the watermelon Xia Yanchun had cut. She finally made her way to Shen Nian, plopping into the empty chair beside him and nudging the plate closer so he could help himself.
Shen Nian propped his chin on his hand, inhaling the faint scent of her shower-fresh skin. "You showered?"
"Yeah, just a quick one."
The girl was in a good mood after her bath, not in the mood to bicker. Even when Shen Nian deliberately scooted his chair closer and shamelessly tucked her hair behind her ear in front of everyone, she couldn’t bring herself to get mad.
The night sky was clear, dotted with stars and a full moon—a picture of reunion. Shen Nian’s fingers were warm, brushing her ear and sending a ticklish shiver down her spine. Her hair wasn’t long, but it was soft, and the strands kept slipping over her face.
She always found it annoying, but Shen Nian fixed it for her multiple times a day.
She almost felt her heart flutter. Good thing her defenses were high—no way she’d fall for Shen Nian. Really.
"I’m sneaking into your room tonight. Leave the window open," Shen Nian whispered in her ear.
"No way."
"How bold!"
"What do you even want? I’m planning to read."
"Then I’ll read with you. Let’s grind till 2 a.m., then go for a run at dawn."
"Psycho." Xia Yanchun scowled.
What kind of maniac exercised early on a holiday? Sleeping in was the only correct choice.
Shen Nian was a certified villain, so of course he’d wake up early. Made sense.
Still, she had to admire his discipline—jogging every morning, even on breaks. She could never.
Had he always been this strict with himself?
Shen Nian reveled in her scolding, letting his hand "accidentally" rest on the arm of her chair, his pinky grazing hers.
"!"
She nearly jumped.
For a second, she thought he was about to touch her again. Her heart raced, and she barely stifled a yawn.
"Knock it off."
Xia Yanchun shot him a glare. She saw right through him—this was his slow-boil-a-frog tactic, testing her boundaries bit by bit.
She’d warn him not to waste his time. She was smart. Smart people didn’t play frogs. Someone else could be the frog—not her.
But if it was just this much… she could tolerate it. He was on the whitelist.
Because.
She’d always indulged him.
"What if I said it was an accident?" Shen Nian said solemnly, as if it were the truth.
"Oh, so you ‘accidentally’ moved closer, ‘accidentally’ reached over, and ‘accidentally’ brushed my hand? Why don’t you ‘accidentally’ buy a Xiaomi SU7 while you’re at it?"
"Good. You shouldn’t believe me, because I don’t either."
Shen Nian grinned. Xia Yanchun wasn’t mad. Success.
"Even r/Idiots wouldn’t take you."
"Insulting me? Sleep with one eye open tonight." Shen Nian pointed at her like a Husky declaring war.
"Hmph."
Xia Yanchun smirked triumphantly, basking in the safety of having four parents around. What could Shen Nian even do?
She straightened up, chest puffing slightly, the watermelon tasting sweeter than ever.
·
This makes up for yesterday’s update—5k words!
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orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
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.”
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...
