The old district in the southern suburbs of Jingzhou.
A refurbished blue-brick house was adorned with red silk.
Wang Tongwen had moved his art gallery from Haizhou to Jingzhou.
This was a new beginning.
On opening day, the gallery was bustling with guests.
Nearly all the prominent figures from Jingzhou’s cultural and art circles had arrived.
Lu Chenyuan pushed a stroller, walking through the crowd with Mo Qingli.
Little Lu Shi'an sat inside, wide-eyed, curiously taking in the novel world around him.
Wang Tongwen, dressed in a modernized Tang suit, strode forward to greet them.
He radiated energy, his scholarly demeanor tinged with joy.
“Chenyuan, Qingli, you’re here.” His address for Lu Chenyuan had grown much more familiar.
“Uncle Wang, congratulations.” Lu Chenyuan extended his hand.
“Congratulations, Uncle Wang.” Mo Qingli smiled warmly.
“Please, come inside.” Wang Tongwen’s gaze landed on Lu Shi'an, and he beamed.
The gallery was bathed in soft light, its walls lined with paintings.
The artworks, rendered in warm hues and delicate strokes, depicted ordinary scenes from daily life—
A shaft of sunlight illuminating floating dust, a cat napping on a windowsill, rain-slicked cobblestones after a shower.
The exhibition was titled Rebirth.
The artist was Lou Mengling.
Lu Chenyuan spotted his mother immediately.
She stood at the center of the gallery, dressed in an elegant qipao, her long hair loosely pinned up.
She was conversing with a few art critics, her expression composed and confident.
No longer shackled by the identity of the Lu family’s matriarch, no longer burdened by marital resentment.
She was no longer anyone’s appendage.
She was simply Lou Mengling—a painter who had rediscovered her brush and herself.
“Mom.” Lu Chenyuan approached her.
Lou Mengling turned, her eyes lighting up at the sight of them.
“Chenyuan, Qingli, An’an.” She smiled, scooping Lu Shi'an into her arms.
The little one knew his grandmother well, reaching out to grasp the jade brooch pinned to her chest.
“Oh, my precious.” Lou Mengling laughed heartily.
Mo Qingli watched the scene, a soft smile playing on her lips.
She could tell her mother-in-law had truly been reborn.
That inner peace, nourished by love and self-worth, was unmistakable.
Wang Tongwen naturally took his place beside Lou Mengling.
He didn’t say much—just quietly replaced her tea when it cooled, or stepped in with professional insight when someone posed a tricky question about her work.
Their interactions held no grand declarations.
Only this quiet, steadfast understanding.
Seeing this, Lu Chenyuan felt a weight lift from his heart.
His mother was happy.
And as her son, he could finally rest easy.
He took Mo Qingli’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
She turned to him, smiling.
……
A week later.
A small, private ceremony was held in a closed-off auditorium at Jingzhou University.
Lu Ruoxi and Su Yang were married here.
No media, no extravagant displays.
Just simple flowers and warm lighting.
Only their closest family and friends were present.
Lou Mengling attended as the representative of both families, alongside Su Yang’s mother.
Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli sat in the front row with Lu Shi'an.
Lu Chenxiao, Lu Chenyan, and Lu Chenjin also arrived with their partners.
Lu Qianqian, currently in the Middle East, sent her blessings via video call.
On the screen, she looked tanned and thinner, but her eyes sparkled like stars.
Behind her, a group of children of various ethnicities waved cheerfully at the camera.
From the Mo family, Mo Zhenbang and Lin Shuhan attended in person.
Two other elders with unique ties were also present—
Chen Jingzhi, Lu Ruoxi’s mentor, and Lu Chengsi, her biological grandfather.
Key executives from Yuanlong Tech, including Ren Qian and Lin Yuan, were there as well.
The most striking guests, however, were a few unassuming figures seated in an inconspicuous corner.
Dressed plainly yet exuding quiet authority, they needed no introduction.
Their presence alone was the highest form of recognition.
The wedding march began.
Lu Ruoxi walked down the aisle on Lu Chenyuan’s arm.
She wore a simple white gown, free of embellishments, her makeup understated yet breathtaking in its purity.
Su Yang waited at the altar, his gaze so tender it could melt ice.
From that classroom in Anhe County to the labs of Jingzhou University—
From chasing her shadow to walking beside her—
This journey had taken him ten years.
Today, he had finally arrived.
Lu Chenyuan placed his sister’s hand in Su Yang’s.
“Su Yang, I’m entrusting Ruoxi to you now.” His voice was solemn.
“Brother, you have my word.” Su Yang’s grip on Lu Ruoxi’s hand was firm, his resolve unshakable.
……
After the ceremony, the reception was held in the university’s faculty dining hall.
Lu Ruoxi, holding a glass of juice, led Su Yang to Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli.
“Brother, sister-in-law.”
“Thank you.” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she looked at Lu Chenyuan.
Those two words carried the weight of a lifetime—
The support in Anhe County, the guidance that pulled her from the quagmire of her past, the freedom to choose her own path.
“Silly girl.” Lu Chenyuan’s voice was gentle.
“You’ve earned every bit of this.”
He turned to Su Yang.
“Take good care of her.”
“Always.” Su Yang’s gaze never left Lu Ruoxi.
……
Night had fallen.
At the penthouse of Cloud Peak Residences No. 1, the space had transformed entirely after months of renovations.
The cold, fortress-like emptiness was gone.
In its place stood a true home.
Warm walnut walls, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed with volumes, a plush wool rug strewn with Lu Shi'an’s toys.
The living room’s lighting, personally adjusted by Mo Qingli, cast a soft, inviting glow.
Lu Shi'an was fast asleep in the nursery.
Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli sat together on the sofa, her head resting against his shoulder as she scrolled through a company report on her tablet.
“Qin Ya’s Edge has gained another three points in the European market,” she murmured.
“Stella’s Prometheus just launched Version 3.0, targeting enterprise customization. They’re making aggressive moves.”
“Yuanlong’s Genesis still leads domestically, but international competition is tightening.”
Her tone was calm, merely stating facts.
The business world was a battlefield—complacency wasn’t an option.
Lu Chenyuan nodded silently.
He reached for the remote, dimming the lights further.
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the night sky over Jingzhou glittered with stars.
“Qingli,” he said suddenly.
“Hmm?”
“Do you think Earth is getting… too crowded?”
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
