"What are you looking at?" Shen Mengjie asked softly, glancing at her slightly reddened hand.
Long Aotian shook his head. "Nothing. Just thought that person's silhouette looked familiar, but I can’t quite remember where I’ve seen them before."
Shen Mengjie also turned her gaze toward the fading figure. "There are so many people in the world, and countless silhouettes look alike. If it really was someone you knew, they would’ve greeted you just now."
"You’re right."
Long Aotian withdrew his gaze and looked at Shen Mengjie’s hand. "Let’s head back first. Get some ointment for that burn—it shouldn’t be serious."
With that, he stood up to pay the bill.
As they walked, Shen Mengjie gave Long Aotian a strange look.
"If you have something to say, just say it. That hesitant expression of yours is making me anxious."
"I promised to give you advice today, but I ended up ruining it myself. Did it… affect your mood?"
Long Aotian chuckled. "What are you talking about? How would that affect me? Besides, you got burned too."
"Actually, your analysis of that girl’s personality earlier was spot on in some ways. It gave me an idea."
That girl was such a good person—not as fragile as she seemed. She was brave, determined to change.
How many people dared to take that step?
But his little girl had done it, and so far, she was doing well.
If the characters in a storybook were fixed NPCs, then his little girl had already broken free from her predetermined path.
The life she was striving for now was likely the one she truly wanted.
Maybe it wasn’t as dazzling as the original story.
But Long Aotian firmly believed she would make her life wonderful in her own way.
Besides, she had him by her side. He might not be extraordinary, but at the very least, he could protect her and keep her happy. That was enough.
After hearing his words, Shen Mengjie’s expression grew even more peculiar. "You know, you’re a really strange person."
"Strange? How so? I think I’m more of a lucky person."
"That’s exactly what’s strange. Who goes around calling themselves lucky?"
"In this vast, colorful world, meeting someone and getting to know them—I really do think I’m lucky."
Shen Mengjie shook her head and scoffed. "If luck like that really exists, why have I never experienced it?"
"You will."
Shen Mengjie paused. "What?"
"I said you will. When you’re upset, haven’t there always been people willing to lend you a hand?"
"Long Aotian." Shen Mengjie suddenly stopped walking, shedding her usual carefree demeanor as she looked at him with rare seriousness. "In your eyes, what kind of person am I?"
It was strange. She’d always claimed not to care about others’ opinions, yet she desperately wanted to know how Long Aotian saw her. She was too conflicted...
She’d asked him this before but never got a real answer.
She considered herself proud and strong-willed—always had been.
But around Long Aotian, that pride and strength felt fragile.
Her upbringing had taught her from a young age to read people, to see through their hidden motives.
So she’d always navigated effortlessly around men with ulterior motives, getting whatever she wanted.
Did she want money? Not necessarily. Maybe it was the thrill of victory, the joy of manipulating others, the satisfaction of holding them in her palm.
She thought her life was a mess. Maybe she’d once wanted to change, but in the end, she’d given in.
Long Aotian thought carefully before answering. "You’re someone who’s flippant yet impossible not to love and hate at the same time."
Hearing this, Shen Mengjie glanced at him, a faint smile playing on her lips as she murmured, "Actually, I’m a bad woman."
"Yeah, you’re definitely frustrating."
By then, they’d reached the small pharmacy where Wan Ning had once bought ointment for him.
"Let’s go in."
The burn wasn’t serious. Some ointment would help reduce the swelling.
"Thank you."
Long Aotian handed her the tube. "No need for thanks. Just stop being sarcastic with me every time we meet."
Shen Mengjie looked slightly ashamed. "I’ll try."
"‘Try’? What kind of answer is that? Is teasing me that fun?"
"You’re the one who always bullies me." Shen Mengjie lowered her eyes and kicked a pebble on the ground.
Long Aotian was baffled. "Who’s bullying you?"
"You used to scold me all the time, even knocked me on the head. I’m a grown woman, yet you made me feel like a kid..."
Long Aotian burst out laughing, remembering now. He had scolded her before—he just hadn’t expected her to hold a grudge this long.
"And I never once got the upper hand. You never let me win!"
"Fine, I’ll let you win next time."
"That’s so half-hearted!"
"Wow, you’re really something. If I don’t let you win, you complain. If I do, you say I’m being insincere..."
"You’re so blunt! Isn’t this how girls usually are?" Shen Mengjie couldn’t understand. If she’d said this to anyone else, they’d have taken it as her being playful and sweet-talked her.
She truly couldn’t figure this man out. But the more she couldn’t, the more she wanted to understand. And the closer she got, the more she felt an inexplicable pull...
Long Aotian shook his head. At least his little girl wasn’t like this. She always went along with him.
Even when he teased her and she found out, she’d just say, "Long-ge, you’re so mean. I’ll never believe you again!" Yet she always trusted him in the end—a silly, kind-hearted girl.
Seeing the faintly doting smile on Long Aotian’s face, Shen Mengjie pursed her lips, her eyes flickering as she tentatively asked, "Long Aotian, have you ever thought about what you’d do if you and your girlfriend disagreed on something and ended up fighting?"
"Then it’d definitely be my fault. I’d let her have her way." Long Aotian answered without hesitation.
Having a treasure like his little girl was his luck. When the cage opened and she flew back to him, right or wrong, it would always be his fault.
"No two people in this world are perfectly matched. Lasting relationships take compromise. Mutual effort makes it beautiful. I understand my little girl, so I’m willing to be patient and accommodating. She’s the one who gives my life meaning..."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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.
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
