Mid-Autumn Festival, with a clear moon and sparse stars.
Today was special. The adults were in high spirits, chatting about who-knows-what, and by 11 PM, they still showed no signs of stopping.
Chen Minyue even brought out a deck of cards and set up a table, giving off the vibe of an all-night card game.
Shen Nian took a shower first and couldn’t be bothered to go back downstairs. Tossing his clothes into the washing machine, he lay on his bed scrolling through the class QQ group.
In the group, Su Kexi had posted a Mid-Autumn Festival greeting, sparking a flood of responses from everyone.
Speaking of QQ, Shen Nian nearly forgot—he quickly went to turn off the "mute notifications" setting for Ma Mingfan.
Sure enough, he got scolded.
Shen Nian sent a meme of a smug dragon in response, then muted Ma Mingfan again. That annoying pest was better off disappearing. Might as well enjoy the peaceful class group chat instead.
Just as he clicked back into the group, Su Kexi sent a "password red packet"—copy and send "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival" to claim your share. Shen Nian snagged 4 yuan out of the 100-yuan pot split among 50 people.
The luckiest winner was Li Shiyan, who grabbed 21.09 yuan.
Absolute legend.
One person took a fifth of the total.
It took four minutes for the red packet to be fully claimed. Chen Dong managed to snag a measly 0.02 yuan out of the 100-yuan pot—now that’s what you call authority.
[Ma Mingfan]: HAHAHAHAHAHA @Chen Dong (Tom Cat pointing finger.jpg)
[Chen Dong]: Who stole my share?
[Shen Nian]: @Li Shiyan My boss is asking you a question.
[Li Shiyan]: ???
[Shen Nian]: You took my boss’s red packet share. Hand it over. Actually, just transfer it to me, and I’ll pass it to Chen Dong later.
[Su Kexi (Homeroom Teacher)]: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone. Did you all eat mooncakes?
[Lin Xiyuan]: I got 2 yuan, nice.
[Lan Fukai]: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
[Chen Dong]: Can’t understand.
[Ma Mingfan]: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
[Chen Dong]: Now I get it.
[Chen Qiuyu]: Another year’s Mid-Autumn arrives—flowers in the cup, moon in the cup.
[Shen Nian]: Damn, you’re actually cultured?
Shen Nian officially acknowledged Chen Qiuyu’s status as a literary girl.
The red packet had lured everyone out of hiding—even the lurkers surfaced to wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn before vanishing again, while the usual chatterboxes kept doing their thing.
Shen Nian was thoroughly entertained. These people were pure comedy. He’d reward Chen Dong and Ma Mingfan with a slap each when school resumed.
Come to think of it, why was no one responding to the homeroom teacher? She seemed on the verge of crumbling.
Feeling bad, he decided to throw her a bone.
[Shen Nian]: @Su Kexi (Homeroom Teacher) Happy Mid-Autumn, teach.
[Su Kexi (Homeroom Teacher)]: Same to you @Shen Nian. Don’t forget your National Day homework—yours is getting special scrutiny when we’re back.
[Shen Nian]: This is how you repay kindness? Betrayed.
[Ma Mingfan]: HAHAHAHAHAHA I support the teacher’s crackdown. Investigate him thoroughly @Shen Nian.
[Su Kexi (Homeroom Teacher)]: You too @Ma Mingfan.
[Ma Mingfan]: ?
[Ma Mingfan]: Sorry, I was showering earlier. My little brother used my phone without permission. What were we talking about?
[Shen Nian]: HAHAHAHA!
Someone’s laughter had transferred to Shen Nian’s face, but he wouldn’t say whose.
Amid all the activity, one person was conspicuously absent—Xia Yanchun.
She’d sent a "Happy Mid-Autumn" to claim the red packet, then immediately went back to lurking. This girl, honestly.
Mid-Autumn calls for mooncakes, though.
Shen Nian grabbed two small mooncakes—one lotus seed paste with egg yolk, the other five-nut with roast pork. Gotta hand it to the sellers—they even included tiny forks for these palm-sized treats.
These mooncakes had actually been brought over by Xia Yanchun. Shen Nian deftly cut them into four pieces, snapped a photo, and sent it to her.
[Shen Nian]: What’re you up to? I’m eating mooncakes. (mooncake.jpg)
Half a minute later, [Xia Yanchun] replied: They’re so small, yet you still cut them? I just eat them whole. Since when are you so refined?
[Shen Nian]: Refined boys built different. A savage like you wouldn’t understand my sense of ceremony.
[Shen Nian]: Open your window. I’ll bring some over.
[Xia Yanchun]: My size-36 foot is about to meet your mouth—with shoes on.
[Shen Nian]: What’s with the last part? What are you imagining?
[Xia Yanchun]: Piss off.
Satisfied, Shen Nian felt even the five-nut mooncake tasted better now.
Gotta admit, these mooncakes were legit—looked fancy, tasted fancy. The price tag wasn’t entirely unjustified.
He slid open the balcony window and stepped outside, not climbing over to Xia Yanchun’s side but just leaning on the railing, alternating between bites of mooncake and stargazing.
He hadn’t done much homework today, treating it as a mini-break. Studying wasn’t exhausting, but if given the choice, who’d willingly pile more work on themselves? Admiring the moon was way better.
Peering down, he could see the four adults deep in their card game, the slapping of cards against the table loud enough to suggest they were summoning their martial souls.
Shen Yue had napped earlier and was still downstairs on her phone. Only Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun had retreated upstairs early.
Rustle.
The neighboring window slid open too. Xia Yanchun leaned halfway out, eyeing Shen Nian curiously. "Thought you were gonna climb over."
"Was planning to later."
"Have some shame."
The weather had been perfect these past two days—cool autumn breezes. Xia Yanchun hadn’t turned on her AC, leaving the balcony window slightly ajar for ventilation.
Hearing his window open, she’d assumed Shen Nian was actually going to pull a nighttime ambush. But after ages with no movement, she’d gotten curious about what nonsense he was up to.
"Here, have some."
Shen Nian happily offered the mooncakes. Only two pieces of lotus seed paste remained in the box—he remembered Xia Yanchun liked that flavor.
This girl had once pried the egg yolk out of his mooncake and eaten it herself. Utterly shameless. Certified villainess—unless she showed him her legs, there was no redeeming her.
Xia Yanchun picked up a tiny fork and nibbled on a piece, her lips moving delicately.
"Why’d you come out?"
"Can’t I enjoy the breeze?"
"Didn’t say you couldn’t. I’m here for the breeze too."
Xia Yanchun’s tone was indifferent as she finished the last piece.
Cleanup duty naturally fell to Shen Nian.
He swiftly tossed the trash and returned to the balcony. Truthfully, he hadn’t planned on cozying up to Xia Yanchun tonight—his threat to invade her balcony was just empty talk. If he’d really wanted to, he’d have done it already.
Now, though, he was reconsidering.
"Move. I’m coming over."
"No!" Xia Yanchun blocked him.
"Shh! You wanna get caught? Unless you’d like the whole downstairs to know I’m sneaking into your room?"
Xia Yanchun instinctively pressed her lips together, heart fluttering nervously. She glanced down—thankfully, her parents and the other adults were fully absorbed in their intense card game. As long as they didn’t yell, they’d probably go unnoticed.
Why did chatting with Shen Nian feel so illicit?
Then it hit her.
Had Shen Nian dragged her into his nonsense?
Even if they were just two people talking across the balcony railing, wasn’t that completely normal?
Even if someone saw them… so what? What’s weird about a conversation?
The most unsettling thing was actually Shen Nian calling out "Chunbao"—it gave her goosebumps. What kind of person does that?
"Heard you loud and clear, but stop shouting weird nicknames! What’s with this 'bao' nonsense?"
Xia Yanchun huffed, taking a deep breath as if trying to shake off that sneaky, guilty feeling. After a moment of silence, she decided to head to Shen Nian’s place.
"I’m coming to your room. Wait for me."
No balcony-hopping this time—she’d use the front door!
That ought to kill the sneaky vibe, right?
This was how her relationship with Shen Nian should be.
No more sneaking around—time to be herself again.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
igrating to the cultivation world for two hundred years, I've managed to lie low and reach the Nascent Soul stage. Only now does my golden finger arrive? ...
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
