Looking at the hung-up phone, Gao Quan couldn't help but awkwardly glance at Ye Liangchen.
Since the call had been on speaker, Li Qingxue’s words had been heard loud and clear by Ye Liangchen.
Sure enough—
Ye Liangchen’s face darkened visibly in an instant.
Gao Quan didn’t know what had happened between them, but judging by Li Qingxue’s current attitude, it was likely that Ye Liangchen had done something to make her dislike him.
It was hard to imagine. Back in high school, they had been so close—how had things deteriorated to this point?
"Brother Liangchen, are you okay?" Gao Quan asked softly.
Ye Liangchen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly toward the sky. "I’m fine. I’ve gotten used to it. Li Qingxue has been deceived into thinking that I, her loyal friend and knight who stood by her for ten years, am some kind of villain!"
"Gao Quan, tell me honestly—am I really a bad person?"
"Of course not," Gao Quan answered without hesitation. At least from what he remembered, Ye Liangchen had only grown out his hair and started wearing earrings. Otherwise, he was the same as always.
Hearing this, Ye Liangchen smiled—a genuine smile this time. "See? Even you can tell I’m not a bad person. Yet Li Qingxue, blinded by someone’s schemes, thinks I’m some kind of monster!"
His voice carried a trace of sorrow as he continued, "No one in this world cares for her or worries about her more than I do."
But it didn’t matter. Soon, everything would return to normal—and then, she’d have no one to blame but herself when he turned cold toward her.
"Come on, don’t you know what I’m capable of? Time will prove everything."
Since Ye Liangchen himself seemed unbothered, Gao Quan didn’t dwell on it.
There wasn’t much anyone else could do about this situation anyway.
It wasn’t like he could just tell Li Qingxue, "Brother Liangchen likes you, and you like him too," and expect her to suddenly fall for him because of his words.
That wasn’t realistic.
"Let’s go. After we eat, I’ll take you around to see some of the sights in the capital. Since you’re here, I’m going to make sure you have a great time."
If Long Aotian could accept the fact that he had been reduced to a ruined man, then Gao Quan’s fate would truly be changed.
But if Long Aotian lost control… well, that would just be destiny.
No matter the outcome, in Ye Liangchen’s heart, Gao Quan would always remain his closest brother.
Taking his brother out for a couple of meals and showing him around some free tourist spots—if it made him happy, then Ye Liangchen would feel better too.
After all, there was a bit of selfishness in his actions.
If everything went well, then all would be fine.
But if Long Aotian chose the extreme path…
At this thought, Ye Liangchen pursed his lips, his gaze flickering as he glanced at Gao Quan before forcing a smile and patting his shoulder.
"Let’s go. I’ll take you around the area first. Later tonight, I’ll introduce you to a good friend of mine."
"Sure, whatever you say, Brother Liangchen. I don’t know my way around the capital, so I’ll follow your lead."
"You trust me that much?"
"What, are you going to sell me off or something?" Gao Quan joked.
"Of course not. The bond between us is higher than the heavens and vaster than the earth."
(Note: The unrelated line about browser cookies has been omitted for coherence.)
"I’ll get you a room later. You’ll stay here for the next couple of days. Tonight, we drink until we drop," Ye Liangchen said with a laugh.
......
That evening, outside the gates of A University.
"Brother Liangchen, are we here to see Class President Li Qingxue?"
Ye Liangchen smirked confidently and shook his head. "No. The friend I’m introducing you to also studies here."
A University was a prestigious institution. The fact that Xue Shaohua had gotten in proved his own capabilities.
That Ye Liangchen had managed to win him over and maintain their relationship only further demonstrated his own excellence.
Once he started his own company in the future, he’d give Xue Shaohua a position—it was the least he could do.
"Brother Liangchen!" Gao Quan suddenly called out.
"What is it? No need to be so jumpy in front of me. Whatever it is, I’ve got your back!"
"Is that Long Aotian over there?"
At the mention of Long Aotian’s name, Ye Liangchen scoffed dismissively.
Last Friday at the mall, he had confronted Long Aotian face-to-face, and the guy hadn’t even been able to muster a single word in response. In the end, Li Qingxue had to step in to bail him out.
What a spineless man.
Turning in the direction Gao Quan was looking, he saw Long Aotian approaching on an electric bike.
"So what if it is him? He’s nothing but a defeated loser."
"But why is Long Aotian in the capital?" In Gao Quan’s memory, Long Aotian was still just a local troublemaker.
"Just dumb luck. That kind of fortune won’t last forever." Ye Liangchen sneered. Even if Long Aotian’s university was better than his own, he still looked down on this pretentious coward who hid behind women.
Long Aotian parked his bike and, spotting Ye Liangchen, chose to ignore him entirely—maintaining his policy of no contact, no interaction.
"He doesn’t even have the guts to face me now." Ye Liangchen chuckled darkly at Long Aotian’s avoidance.
"Brother Liangchen, what’s going on between you two? You don’t seem afraid of him at all anymore."
"Why should I be afraid of him?" Ye Liangchen smirked. "Let me tell you—just last weekend, I cornered Long Aotian in the mall and tore into him. I was simply standing on the side of justice."
"Brother Long..."
A voice, soft as silk and dripping with warmth, suddenly reached them. The sound alone sent a shiver down Gao Quan’s spine, making his legs feel weak.
Turning, he saw a stunningly beautiful face—one that had changed a lot but was still unmistakably the girl who used to follow Long Aotian around.
And Li Qingxue—her transformation was just as striking. With her shoulder-length hair, she radiated an aura of pure, breathtaking elegance.
"Brother Liangchen, it’s Li Qingxue! And Hu Yuying! Didn’t you say she was... yours?"
Ye Liangchen slowly closed his eyes. "Time will prove everything. What’s mine will always be mine."
The moment Li Qingxue and Hu Yuying stepped out of the campus, they spotted Ye Liangchen and Gao Quan.
"They really are together," Li Qingxue murmured to Hu Yuying, explaining that the chubby guy next to Ye Liangchen was Gao Quan—the one who had called her earlier.
Just like Long Aotian, the two girls pretended not to know Ye Liangchen and walked straight toward Long Aotian.
Witnessing Hu Yuying and Li Qingxue sitting on Long Aotian's electric scooter, Ye Liangchen clutched the fabric over his chest tightly and slowly closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch the scene—it made his heart ache!
If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author instead. It might have just been renamed!
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.
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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."
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
