Ren Qian was a bit curious.
Or rather, Ren Qian was very curious.
For a man like Lu Chenyuan, who seemed to have everything.
Why did he appear so weary and lonely?
Just then, Lu Chenyuan's phone vibrated.
Very faintly.
But in the quiet seminar room, it was exceptionally clear.
Lu Chenyuan picked up his phone and glanced at it.
For the first time, an extremely complex emotion flickered across his face, which had always been unreadable.
There was helplessness, a hint of a headache, and a trace of... tenderness.
He stood up and walked outside to take the call.
The seminar room was well soundproofed.
But the door wasn't shut completely.
Ren Qian faintly heard his voice.
His voice was very low.
No longer that businesslike, detached calm.
Instead, it carried a coaxing tone she had never heard from him before.
"Qianqian, stop making a fuss."
"Your big brother is busy."
"Be good and go to sleep early."
"Alright, alright, I promise you, I'll come see you this weekend, okay?"
Qianqian?
Was that his sister?
Something stirred in Ren Qian's heart.
So, the man as cool and distant as the moon also had moments of such utterly tender softness.
So, he wasn't without emotion.
He just reserved all his tenderness for his family.
That aloofness of his that kept everyone at arm's length.
That ever-present melancholy.
It all seemed to have an answer now.
He, bearing the weight of a vast family.
Also guarding a willful younger sister.
This "weight of solitude" made that once distant and untouchable silhouette instantly become concrete and vivid.
Ren Qian's heartbeat, traitorously, began to race.
She watched the back of the man standing at the end of the corridor, still on the phone.
For the first time, she felt that moonlight could have warmth.
After finishing the call, Lu Chenyuan walked back.
The expression on his face had already returned to its usual calm.
As if nothing had just happened.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine," Ren Qian shook her head.
She refocused her attention on her computer.
But her peripheral vision uncontrollably lingered on him.
She realized she was starting to care about this man, just a little.
The final presentation of their major project unsurprisingly received the highest score in the room.
Professor Zhao gave them an unprecedented "A+".
"Your report is no longer just a student assignment."
"This is an industry analysis report that could be submitted directly to the decision-making level."
“Especially the idea on industry chain risk hedging proposed by student Lu Chenyuan, which is highly forward-thinking.”
Thunderous applause erupted from below the podium.
Ren Qian stood beside Lu Chenyuan.
Sharing in this glory that belonged to them.
She saw the same faint, polite smile on Lu Chenyuan's face.
Not a trace of pride or smugness.
As if all of this was only to be expected.
After the event dispersed.
The two walked side by side on the tree-lined path of the campus.
"Thank you."
Lu Chenyuan suddenly spoke.
Ren Qian was taken aback.
"Thank me for what?"
"This project. I couldn't have completed it alone without you."
He said it very sincerely.
It was the first time Ren Qian had heard him affirm her so directly.
"You too."
Ren Qian said.
Her face felt a little warm.
"Let's cooperate again if there's a chance in the future."
Lu Chenyuan said.
"Okay."
Ren Qian's heart pounded violently because of this polite remark.
She knew she seemed to have fallen for him, completely.
After that collaboration.
Ren Qian became Lu Chenyuan's only fixed project partner at school.
Whether it was reports for elective courses or various academic competitions.
Wherever Lu Chenyuan was, Ren Qian was sure to be there.
They became the undisputed strongest duo in the Business School.
Their relationship, however, remained purely that of work partners.
Together, they pulled countless all-nighters.
Together, they won award after award.
But there was no unnecessary contact in private.
Ren Qian was content with this state.
Being able to be this close to him, to fight side by side with him.
For her, it was already the greatest luxury.
She was like a star chasing the moon, burning herself brightly.
Just to leave a tiny trace of her own light within that cool, distant radiance.
In their senior year.
They took on an even more complex project with a massive workload.
"I found some help."
One day, Lu Chenyuan said to Ren Qian.
Then, he brought along a somewhat shy-looking junior.
"Lin Yuan, a sophomore."
Lu Chenyuan introduced.
"From now on, he'll be responsible for data collection and organization."
Ren Qian sized up this boy named Lin Yuan.
He was very tall, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses.
He looked very scholarly and very quiet.
The look in his eyes when he gazed at Lu Chenyuan held a light akin to worship.
"Senior Ren Qian, hello."
Lin Yuan nodded to her, his voice soft.
Ren Qian nodded back.
"Hello."
She didn't pay much attention to this junior.
She just saw him as a tool to share the workload.
However, she soon discovered that this Lin Yuan was far more capable than she had imagined.
He was extremely meticulous and thorough in his work.
Any task handed to him was completed beyond expectations.
Moreover, he always did everything in silence.
Not asking many questions, not saying much.
Like the most reliable shadow.
"Where did you find such a treasure?"
Once, Ren Qian asked Lu Chenyuan jokingly.
"His mother was ill. I helped out a little."
Lu Chenyuan said lightly.
Ren Qian understood.
This Lin Yuan was here to repay a debt of gratitude.
No wonder his gaze towards Lu Chenyuan was so different.
Ren Qian looked at Lin Yuan, who was buried in organizing materials.
Then she looked at Lu Chenyuan beside her.
She suddenly felt that Lu Chenyuan was like a planet with its own gravity.
Attracting people like her, like Lin Yuan.
Willingly orbiting around him.
And Lin Yuan would occasionally look up.
His gaze would sweep past Lu Chenyuan and land on Ren Qian.
He watched the tacit understanding between her and Lu Chenyuan as they discussed things side by side.
He watched her eyes, shining with light, whenever she looked at Lu Chenyuan.
Then, he would silently lower his head again.
Burying himself back into the mountain of materials.
Only, Ren Qian never noticed any of this.
Her eyes held only that cool, distant moon.
University days were beautiful, and fleeting.
Soon, Ren Qian faced her postgraduate graduation season.
The air was filled with the melancholy of parting and anticipation for the future.
Ren Qian received offers from several world-leading investment banks.
The treatment was astonishingly generous.
Yet she hesitated to make a decision.
She was waiting.
Waiting for Lu Chenyuan's decision.
At the farewell banquet for their professors, it was noisy and chaotic.
Ren Qian, holding a glass of wine, found Lu Chenyuan sitting in a corner.
He was still like that.
Sitting quietly alone.
As if everything around him had nothing to do with him.
"Happy graduation."
Ren Qian sat down beside him.
"You too."
Lu Chenyuan raised his glass to her.
"Decided where you're going?" Ren Qian asked, feigning nonchalance.
"Back to the Lu Family."
Lu Chenyuan's reply held no surprise whatsoever.
As the eldest grandson of the Lu Family, this was his fate—a destiny he could not choose.
"And you?" he asked in return.
Ren Qian looked at him.
She looked into those eyes of his, which even amidst the glittering lights of clinking glasses still seemed tinged with loneliness.
She finally made her decision.
She would go to the place closest to the moon.
Even if there was no light there that belonged to her.
"Haven't decided yet."
She smiled and drained the wine in her glass.
"But, I think we'll meet again soon."
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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.”
