Some cooked while others assisted.
The small sunroom was filled with laughter and cheerful voices.
It had been so long since the three of them had gathered together, and the joyous chatter never ceased.
Shen Mengjie sat quietly to the side, unfamiliar with the trio and feeling somewhat out of place due to her own disheveled state.
"Alright, it's time to eat!"
Hu Yuying lifted the lid of the pot and glanced at Shen Mengjie, speaking softly, "We’re making dumplings this afternoon. Would you like to join?"
Shen Mengjie paused for a moment, then looked at Long Aotian before nodding. "Sure."
"Ah~ I’m so full! Sister’s cooking is the best. Before the New Year, all the restaurants were closed, and I had to survive on instant noodles for days. Now, just the smell of them makes me sick!"
Lin Wanning sighed dramatically, her expression brimming with contentment.
Then she turned to Long Aotian. "Brother, I can’t finish this."
"If you couldn’t finish it, why did you take so much?"
"It was just so delicious—I thought I could handle it!" Lin Wanning stuck out her tongue playfully, her usual cold and elegant demeanor completely gone. She was even more coquettish than Li Qingxue now.
"Don’t do this next time!" Long Aotian scolded lightly as he held out his bowl.
Back and forth, his bowl was soon filled again.
Rubbing his stomach, Long Aotian muttered, "If I keep eating like this, my abs will disappear..."
There was no scheming, no pretense—just genuine warmth as they revealed their truest selves to one another.
After the simple yet heartwarming meal, Long Aotian took charge of washing the dishes.
"Let me help," Shen Mengjie offered quietly.
Compared to the others, she had done nothing, and she felt a little embarrassed.
"Did you eat enough?" Long Aotian didn’t let her take over.
Shen Mengjie nodded softly. "I’m full."
"Then go join them in making dumplings. Try to relax a little."
"Nothing in life is insurmountable. Sometimes, if you let go, you might find a new perspective. When your mood lifts, even temporary hardships will pass."
"My mood is fine," Shen Mengjie replied, turning her head away.
"But you’re too tense."
"It’s like riding an electric bike—if you’re too focused on rushing forward, you’ll miss the scenery around you."
"Slow down and take in the beauty along the way."
Hearing Long Aotian’s slightly lecturing tone again, Shen Mengjie chuckled faintly, but the deep sorrow in her eyes remained.
"Some things aren’t temporary. They’ll stay with me for life." Her voice was heavy with resignation.
"Still, I should thank you. If you hadn’t been willing to help me back then, I really wouldn’t have known what to do."
Long Aotian stacked the clean dishes and shook the water off his hands. "No need. If it weren’t for you that night, I might’ve ended up sleeping in the bathroom."
At the mention of that night, Shen Mengjie’s expression shifted slightly before she smiled. "Then you really should thank me."
"Otherwise, you might’ve been ‘collected’ by Ye Liangchen and his crew!"
"Ugh!" Long Aotian shuddered at the memory of Ye Liangchen and Xue Shaohua trying to pull his pants down in the restroom. "Stop—that’s too gross to think about!"
If Shen Mengjie hadn’t taken him away that night, the consequences would’ve been hard to predict.
Especially with the way Xue Shaohua had been looking at him—utterly unsettling.
Seeing Long Aotian’s disgusted expression, Shen Mengjie’s mood inexplicably lightened. "Just be careful around them. That night, I saw them book a room together. Who knows what they were up to, but it couldn’t have been anything good..."
With that hint, Long Aotian fully grasped her implication.
His expression darkened further, confirming his suspicions about their… unconventional preferences.
Satisfied that he understood, Shen Mengjie headed back to the sunroom and joined the dumpling-making.
"Mengjie, come sit closer. It’s warmer by the stove," Hu Yuying suggested, noticing how far she was sitting.
"It’s fine. The room is warm enough here." As she spoke, her hand unconsciously drifted away from her abdomen. "You all have such a great bond."
"Of course! From the moment we met, it felt like we were destined to be sisters—closer than real ones," Li Qingxue boasted proudly.
Having even one or two true friends in life is a rare and precious thing.
Time stretches long, and though they’d only just met, it felt as if they’d already spent a lifetime together.
This feeling often lingered in Li Qingxue’s heart...
"Where’s Long Aotian?" Hu Yuying asked, peering through the glass window.
"I’ll go check." Lin Wanning stood and walked outside.
She found Long Aotian cleaning the electric bike and crept up behind him.
Just as she was about to startle him, he flicked water onto her face as if he’d known she was there all along.
The weather had warmed slightly, but the water was still icy.
"Brother, I missed you."
She spread her arms, waiting for him to pull her into an embrace.
Seeing the ring on her sister’s finger filled her with envy—but she already had so much. This was enough.
"My sister can’t stand being away from you for even a second. What kind of love potion did you give her?"
Long Aotian patted her back gently. "I’m sorry we couldn’t be there for your matches. You did amazing every time."
For someone who had escaped loneliness, facing it again was never easy.
Especially for someone as sensitive as Lin Wanning.
Earlier, she hadn’t said much—just complained about surviving on instant noodles before the New Year.
But Long Aotian understood the ache of being alone.
He had felt the same when he first arrived in this world.
Hearing his words, Lin Wanning’s smile faded as she buried her face in his chest, her voice tinged with quiet complaint. "I missed you all… so, so much."
"Every time I stepped on stage, my heart was pounding..."
Long Aotian soothingly stroked her long hair.
When they returned to the sunroom, Lin Wanning’s cheeks were slightly flushed.
"Brother was washing the bike. He’ll be back soon."
...
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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?!
