Spending a million to buy a house is quite common in this day and age.
After all, in any city where housing prices aren't particularly low, buying a house of over a hundred square meters could easily cost more than a million in total.
Money nowadays really isn't worth as much as it used to be.
But renting a place is an entirely different concept. Buying a house, no matter what, is still an asset. The money spent on rent is purely gone, with absolutely no possibility of getting those funds back.
"Goodness, how luxurious must that place be... I guess even the long-term hotel suites that celebrities stay in are only about that level, right?" Guo Xiaoyan was full of envy, her eyes practically sparkling.
Her only source of knowledge about ultra-luxurious rentals came from entertainment news, where she would see how much money a certain celebrity spent per night staying at a luxury hotel.
Celebrities do have privacy needs, and luxury hotels tend to do a good job in that regard.
But there's actually a specific background to that. Nowadays, tax audits in the virtual economy sector are very strict, which means they can't secretly transfer benefits as easily. So, instead of officially paying a celebrity a massive salary and having to pay hefty taxes on it, it's better to legally spend the money under the guise of business reception expenses.
Who could have imagined that a wealthy person of a similar caliber would appear right beside them in the guise of a college student.
Moreover, to Li Xingya, Su Bai's most important identity right now was her boss.
This couldn't help but strengthen Li Xingya's confidence, making her even more expectant about the prospects of her internship.
A boss who spent money like water proved that the company had plenty of funds. If the boss was stingy, the company's prospects probably wouldn't be great either.
Li Xingya's thinking leaned much more toward this practical side.
How should one put it? Because she had spent a lot of time in work environments, she wasn't really in the same social class as these classmates who spent their days eating, drinking, and having fun. She had to understand the hardships of life much earlier.
However, when talking about the goddess dorm and Jiang U's Mysterious Guy, her roommates cared much more about the extravagant lifestyle revealed behind it all.
If they were all in love with the same man, wouldn't they be at the Ascott... Uh, just thinking about it felt so absurd!
Just how outstanding did a man have to be to pull that off?
"Not to mention anything else, wouldn't his body just give out? When the girls in our class who are dating talk about their boyfriends, they all say they're useless," Guo Xiaoyan complained.
She hadn't actually had any intimate contact with a man herself; she was just repeating what she heard the girls chatting about.
Miss Manicure rolled her eyes. "That's completely normal. Men nowadays are generally just useless!"
"Really? Isn't it a bit unfair to generalize like that? I think it depends on the person..." Guo Xiaoyan said weakly. Her way of thinking was still quite innocent and hadn't been influenced by certain mysterious ideologies.
However, Miss Manicure was clearly a martial arts master in this regard. With a look of disdain, she said, "Let me analyze for you why men nowadays are all useless."
"First are those homebodies who don't like to exercise. Whether they are fat or skinny, their stamina is too poor, so they're useless."
"Then there are those who hit the gym. They might look like they have great bodies, but they actually use steroids, which affects their function in that area, so they're useless."
Guo Xiaoyan interrupted, "Wait, not everyone uses steroids. What about those who do cardio? They surely don't need steroids, right?"
"The ones who do cardio are all middle-aged uncles. They're getting old, so they're useless!"
Good heavens!
To sum up Miss Manicure's philosophy: Men are useless!
No matter how Guo Xiaoyan thought about it, it sounded weird. But she had an agreeable personality, so she just figured, alright, whatever you say goes, and didn't argue back.
Li Xingya, however, used this to think of another layer. While working at the lab, she had accidentally overheard a bit of a phone conversation between Chen Yusheng and Su Bai. The content of their chat was... quite scandalous.
Perhaps because she was a girl and a work partner, Chen Yusheng didn't avoid her too much and just let her hear a bit of it.
According to what Li Xingya heard, Chen Yusheng had teamed up with another girl, yet both were very decisively defeated by Su Bai...
At the time, she thought she had misheard. Maybe they were talking about something proper like playing a video game, and Li Xingya was just having dirty thoughts.
Looking at it now, and comparing it with the gossip spreading around, it might actually be true!
Suddenly, several bizarre images popped into Li Xingya's mind. Her cheeks instantly turned crimson, and she looked like a timid little kitten.
"Xingya, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? I've noticed a lot of people catching colds and getting fevers lately, you need to be careful too!" Guo Xiaoyan reminded her. "I have some traditional Chinese medicine for preventing colds here, do you want to drink some?"
"I, I don't need it, thank you Xiaoyan."
"Hehe, no problem. I got a lot prescribed when I went to the hospital anyway, and I can't finish it all myself. If I leave it too long and it passes its expiration date, it'd be a pure waste. To be honest, once you get used to it, this medicine actually tastes pretty good..."
She was actually enjoying the traditional Chinese medicine prescribed by the school hospital. It had to be said that Guo Xiaoyan was quite a unique character, truly worthy of being the dorm's ray of sunshine...
Speaking of traditional Chinese medicine.
Li Xingya remembered that Su Bai had asked Chen Yusheng back then if he should prescribe her some medicine to help her recover, but Chen Yusheng sternly refused, saying she would improve herself through fitness!
If things had escalated to the point where she needed to rely on fitness to improve herself, then it seemed the boss really was quite formidable...
Leaving aside how other men were, at least the boss was absolutely top-tier in this regard.
A strange feeling couldn't help but well up in Li Xingya's heart.
How should she describe it? Although she was a girl who had faced the realities of society very early on, she had still looked forward to love. It was just that she only thought about it in her heart and wouldn't spend time and energy on it.
Her background was too poor, and her family couldn't offer any help. But she really wanted to settle down in Jiangcheng. It had the bustling feel of a big city, but it wasn't as exorbitantly expensive as a first-tier city. Overall, it was a very livable place.
Even so, as a student from an ordinary second-tier university, she had to put in a lot of effort to build a home here all by herself.
Tonight's dorm room chat managed to stir up a little bit of the young maiden's heart hidden within Li Xingya.
Whenever she thought about how the seemingly cold but actually very kind-hearted Teacher Chen Yusheng was so sweet with Su Bai behind the scenes, and played so wild, Li Xingya couldn't help but swallow hard, her whole body starting to feel hot.
This caused her to not sleep well the entire night. She tossed and turned in bed, and when she got out of bed in the middle of the night to pour some water, she was even complained about by Miss Manicure.
Miss Manicure was just like that. If she needed to stay up late or get up early and make a fuss, her roommates had to endure it. But if a roommate made a slight noise occasionally, she couldn't stand it at all. Li Xingya had long seen through her selfish nature, but there was nothing she could do about it.

rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!

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."

shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”