The undergarments and shirt slipped down completely, revealing the girl's beautiful body to Zhou Yi's gaze.
After taking it all in, Zhou Yi quickly turned away.
Who would have thought that Qiao Xi, who appeared so slender, had such a voluptuous figure?
Her chest was so full... Could this be the legendary "youthful face with ample curves"?
Flustered, Qiao Xi gathered her clothes to her chest, covering the exposed view.
Her voice trembled, her face flushed crimson. "I'm sorry, Yi-ge. I only meant to call out to you."
Zhou Yi knew it wasn't intentional, so he simply kept his back turned and replied, "It's fine. Rest well. I'll step out for now."
Qiao Xi let out a relieved sigh, but the image of their brief eye contact lingered in her mind.
She had... been seen completely bare by Yi-ge.
A mix of shyness and an indescribable flutter filled her heart—an entirely new sensation she couldn't quite name.
She buried her face in the pillow after lying down.
Sleep would not come easily tonight.
In just one night, Qiao Xi's affection meter had risen to 67.
......
Zhou Yi slept soundly on the sofa.
The next day was the scheduled visit to the orphanage with Xia Qiuzhi.
Zhou Yi woke up early, while Qiao Xi, having stayed up late, was still asleep.
Not wanting to disturb her, he sent her a message on WeChat:
[Zhou Yi: Xiao Xi, I'm heading out to take care of something and won't be back until afternoon. If you're hungry, just heat up the leftovers from yesterday.]
After thoroughly checking the apartment, Zhou Yi left.
The Star Orphanage was quite far—an hour's drive away.
Xia Qiuzhi arrived before him.
As Zhou Yi approached, he spotted her waiting at the entrance of a narrow path.
Like the idealized "first love" every boy dreams of, she wore a simple white dress and canvas shoes, exuding a youthful, student-like charm. Her large, innocent eyes only added to her delicate beauty.
Her face embodied purity to perfection—even the plainest clothes looked stunning on her.
On the street, she was undoubtedly a breathtaking sight.
Zhou Yi got out of the car and walked toward her.
Spotting him, Xia Qiuzhi waved enthusiastically. "Yi-ge!"
She ran to him, just as she had countless times in the past.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him. "Are you hungry? Let's grab breakfast first. I can tell you haven't eaten yet."
Zhou Yi gave a faint smile. "Alright, let's go."
The warmth and adoration he once had for her were gone—now, his demeanor was cool and distant.
Her heart ached, but she mustered the courage to say, "Yi-ge, I know I was wrong before. I’ll do better."
Zhou Yi merely nodded. "Mm. Let’s go."
Xia Qiuzhi's eyes dimmed, her fists clenching tightly.
After a deep breath, she forced a cheerful expression and smiled again.
"Then let’s go to our usual spot. It’s been so long since we ate there together."
They walked side by side down the path.
This street, lined with small eateries, led to the orphanage—a place brimming with life and nostalgia.
In the past, they had walked this road together in every season, through rain and shine.
"Yi-ge, remember how we used to play hide-and-seek here?"
Xia Qiuzhi brought up old memories, and Zhou Yi recalled their playful days.
"I remember."
"And back then, you were already so tall. When it rained, you’d carry me on your back so my white dress wouldn’t get dirty."
"So you do remember. I thought you’d forgotten everything."
[Xia Qiuzhi’s regret meter +10.]
His words deepened her guilt.
Back at school, she hadn’t noticed, but now, walking this familiar path, the memories rushed back vividly.
She hadn’t forgotten a single thing.
Zhou Yi had carried her down this road countless times.
While the other kids at the orphanage struggled, Zhou Yi worked tirelessly to buy her pretty dresses.
Among their peers, she had always been the pristine, well-dressed princess.
Without Zhou Yi—who bore the hardships for her—would she have lived so comfortably?
From elementary school onward, Xia Qiuzhi and Zhou Yi seemed to belong to different worlds. No one guessed she was from the orphanage—she never looked the part.
Now, she tugged at the hem of his shirt, just like she used to, and cooed sweetly.
"Yi-ge is the best. A-Zhi knows that."
When Xia Qiuzhi acted spoiled, she was as soft and sweet as cotton candy.
If she wanted to win someone over, she always knew how.
At the breakfast shop, the owner greeted her warmly.
"A-Zhi! Back for the holidays?"
"Grandma, two bowls of tangyuan, just like before."
"And who’s this handsome young man with you? A boyfriend?"
"Grandma, it’s Zhou Yi."
The old woman gasped, adjusting her glasses to peer at him.
"Xiao Yi! Back then, your hair was so long I could barely see your face. Who knew you’d grow up so handsome? What were you thinking, hiding like that?"
"Had to keep the admirers at bay," Zhou Yi joked.
The grandma laughed. "Makes sense! With a face like yours, the girls must swarm. Poor A-Zhi would be heartbroken."
Xia Qiuzhi propped her chin on her hand, tilting her head playfully. "Yi-ge would never pay them any attention. He’s mine alone."
Zhou Yi couldn’t help but reflect.
There was clearly affection between them. Xia Qiuzhi did care for the original Zhou Yi.
How could childhood sweethearts share so many years without attachment?
Yet she had been so consumed by others’ opinions—ashamed of her orphanage roots, pretending not to know him in public, even joining in when others mocked his devotion.
In the end, she only pushed him further away.
What was the point?
Regret now was meaningless—too little, too late.
Zhou Yi didn’t respond to her claim.
Pouting, Xia Qiuzhi hooked her pinky around his palm.
"Right, Yi-ge? They don’t matter at all, do they?"
She knew Zhou Yi had become popular.
From what she’d heard, several girls were interested—but none terrified her more than Su Ning.
The campus belle outshone her in looks, academics, and family background.
She was terrified of losing him.
"Why do you assume I’d stay the same? A-Zhi, when you changed, so did I."
Her heart plummeted, panic engulfing her.
Zhou Yi no longer cared to indulge her.
"Yi-ge, I haven’t changed. You haven’t either. We’re still just like before."
"Is that so? That's just what you think."
The proprietress noticed the tension between them and couldn't help but offer a few words of advice. Zhou Yi nodded but remained silent.
Xia Qiuzhi only realized today how difficult it was to win back someone's heart.
As she ate her tangyuan (sweet rice balls), tears rolled down her cheeks.
Xia Qiuzhi wept bitterly, yet Zhou Yi showed no reaction—not even the slightest gesture of handing her a tissue.
It seemed he was determined to play the role of the heartless one to the end.
Zhou Yi glanced at her expression—a face so pitiful it could soften anyone's heart. But he wasn't the original owner of this body.
Without remorse, how could there be any "remorse value"?
He resolved to be even colder, waiting for Xia Qiuzhi to cast aside all her dignity and beg him.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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.”
