"Wanning is here." Li Qingxue looked toward the approaching figure and waved with a smile.
Hearing the voice, Lin Wanning quickened her steps with a bright smile. "It's my first time coming here—I thought I'd gotten the wrong place."
As she spoke, she handed fruit teas to Hu Yuying and Li Qingxue. "Brought these on the way."
"Thanks x2."
"You two are too polite." Lin Wanning's usually cool expression softened with amusement. "Try them and see if you like the flavor."
The three strolled through the park, forming a unique and graceful sight.
"This park is huge."
"There’s a bench up ahead—let’s sit for a bit."
Under the shade of the trees, the three sat on the bench, sipping their fruit teas while admiring the scenery and chatting.
Li Qingxue sent their online store’s design drafts to a friend via QQ.
"Alright, now we just have to wait." She shook her phone, showing Wang Rui’s "OK" sticker.
"Should we practice filming now? The setting here is perfect." Lin Wanning felt a flicker of excitement.
This was her first time venturing into business, and she took it seriously.
"Let’s give it a try?" Li Qingxue exited QQ and switched to her phone’s camera mode.
Hu Yuying glanced around—luckily, there weren’t many people nearby—and nodded eagerly.
"Who goes first?"
The three exchanged glances before settling on rock-paper-scissors—whoever lost would go first.
"Wanning, this isn’t working." Li Qingxue paused the recording and frowned. "You need to move a little."
"How?"
Lin Wanning hesitated.
She’d performed in competitions before—she had strong stage presence and never shied from the spotlight.
But back then, she’d just stood center stage and sang. Moving naturally on camera? That was new.
Li Qingxue’s eyes suddenly lit up—she was full of ideas. "How about this: walk away from the camera, then turn back with a smile—"
"Huh?" Lin Wanning blinked, then turned to glance over her shoulder at Li Qingxue. "Like this?"
Hu Yuying chimed in softly, "Qingxue, maybe you should demonstrate first?"
"Fine." Li Qingxue handed her phone to Hu Yuying and stepped forward. "Ready?"
"Ready." Hu Yuying aimed the camera while Lin Wanning leaned in to watch.
On screen, Li Qingxue walked forward with light steps. After a few paces, she spun around playfully, strands of hair brushing her fair cheeks. Her lively eyes sparkled as she flashed a peace sign, her smile blooming like a flower.
Watching her, Hu Yuying and Lin Wanning burst into laughter.
Li Qingxue pouted. "Hey! I’m setting an example here—you can’t laugh at me!"
She lunged at them, tickling their sides until they were all breathless with giggles.
After the playful scuffle, they huddled together to review the footage.
The video captured Li Qingxue’s earlier performance—vibrant, youthful, and full of life, as if all the beauty in the world had gathered around her in that moment.
Li Qingxue grinned at her own reflection, only to snap back when she noticed the other two watching her with amused smiles.
Realizing she’d been caught, she feigned indignation. "Oh, so you’re making fun of me now?"
"Wanning’s turn next—then it’s my turn to laugh at you!"
Knowing she wasn’t actually upset, Lin Wanning stood and recreated the move.
She walked forward, then turned gracefully. The soft sunlight melted the usual coolness from her delicate features, leaving only radiance. Her lashes lifted gently, her eyes warm as autumn water, and her lips curved into a tender smile...
Once the clip played back, all eyes turned to Hu Yuying.
"My... my turn." Hu Yuying took a quiet breath, grateful no strangers were around to witness her nerves.
"Here I go."
After a few steps, she turned slowly, slender fingers tucking wind-tossed hair behind her ear. Her lips parted in a faint, enchanting smile—both coy and sweet.
Three takes, three distinct styles—each lovely.
With the right outfits, the results would’ve been even better.
They propped the phone on the bench and tried filming all three together, but it didn’t turn out as well as when one of them held the camera.
"If only Long Aotian were here," Li Qingxue murmured absently, then froze, sneaking a glance at Hu Yuying and Lin Wanning.
Neither reacted—as if it were obvious. If Long Aotian were here, everything would fall into place.
"What’s wrong, Qingxue?" Hu Yuying asked gently, noticing her dazed look.
Meeting her smile, Li Qingxue shook her head. "Nothing."
"Let’s go find him?" Lin Wanning suggested. She hadn’t seen him all day.
"Mm." Hu Yuying nodded.
With both in agreement, Li Qingxue had no choice but to follow.
From a distance, they spotted a crowd gathered by the roadside, watching a crane at work in the alley.
At the front stood a man with arms crossed, posture straight, eyes fixed on the machinery as he spoke to someone beside him.
Even without hearing the words, his expression said it all: See that? That crane? I called it in...
That man could only be Long Aotian.
"Qingxue, Wanning... is that crane really that fascinating?" Hu Yuying whispered. Back in Haivan City, Long Aotian had often paused to stare at excavators or bulldozers.
Sometimes, he’d stop mid-step, unable to tear his eyes away—or if he did, he’d glance back repeatedly, as if tracking where the machines were headed...
Li Qingxue and Lin Wanning shook their heads. They didn’t get it either. They were far prettier than any construction vehicle, yet Long Aotian had never stared at them like that.
Hu Yuying pulled out her phone, snapped a photo of him, and sent it.
Then she kept watching.
Long Aotian patted his pocket, swiped his screen open, skimmed the message—then went back to the crane.
A beat later, he checked his phone again, scanned his surroundings, and sighed. After a conflicted glance between the crane and the trio, he finally walked toward them.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
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.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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?!
