The first day of the banquet was nothing more than this.
One representative after another took the stage to speak, and after that, the performances began.
Some people exchanged business insights with each other.
Some swapped business cards, hopeful for future collaborations.
And then there were those... who focused solely on devouring the food.
Take Gu Yan’s table, for example.
"Qingqiu, have a little something. You didn’t eat dinner—don’t starve yourself," Gu Yan said with a tone of concern as he placed a few small cakes on Leng Qingqiu’s plate.
Honestly, humans are such complicated creatures.
If Qingqiu ate too much, it wouldn’t do. But if she ate too little, he’d worry about her going hungry.
Leng Qingqiu, for her part, was hesitating—would eating too much in such a formal setting be unseemly?
Yet, the sweet aroma of the desserts lingered temptingly under her nose.
She licked her lips lightly and cleared her throat. "Then... I’ll just have a small taste."
"Mm-hmm."
Gu Yan nodded with a smile.
Alright, now let’s see what’s happening on the other side.
Gu Yan’s gaze drifted toward a certain direction.
Meanwhile.
Gu Zihua was frozen in silence, unable to comprehend, unable to think.
Why hadn’t Gu Yan followed the script he’d laid out?
Why was Gu Yan living so well now that he wasn’t acting like a lovesick fool anymore?
How was this fair?
It didn’t make sense, did it?
How could things turn out like this?
His expression darkened as he glared at Gu Yan’s table. At such a high-class event, all they were doing was stuffing their faces?!
Disgusting. You don’t deserve to be the family head!
I won’t let you take that position!
But...
Gu Zihua lifted his wine glass and took a small sip.
But his influence had already crumbled. His former allies had all betrayed him.
How could he possibly manipulate the voting now?
It was impossible!
Was he really going to have to watch Gu Yan ascend to the position of the Gu Family head step by step?
No. Seeing him succeed would be worse than death.
Just then.
"Zi... Zihua-shaoye..."
A soft, joy-filled voice reached Gu Zihua’s ears.
Thud.
At the sound of that voice, his heart seemed to stop for a moment.
His grip on the wine glass trembled ever so slightly.
His expression stiffened unnaturally. That voice... it was...
Gu Zihua turned his head rigidly, only to see Xuehua—dressed beautifully tonight—gazing at him with hopeful eyes.
His own eyes darted around, searching for someone else. When he didn’t spot that person, he relaxed slightly.
Then, forcing a smile, he said, "Xue... Xuehua."
Xuehua didn’t notice anything amiss.
Her heart was already overflowing with happiness.
The weeks of restraint seemed to burst forth all at once.
"Zihua-shaoye, I can finally talk to you again."
Gu Yan, you’ve failed.
"Finally... what do you mean, ‘finally’?"
"Xuehua, what happened to you all these days?"
Gu Zihua couldn’t bring himself to look directly at her.
Whether it was guilt or something else, he didn’t know.
Xuehua shook her head, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She stepped forward and threw herself into his arms. "It was Gu Yan’s demand, but now everything’s fine."
Gu Yan’s demand?
A wave of nausea rose in Gu Zihua’s chest as he looked down at Xuehua clinging to him.
She seemed exactly the same as before.
And yet, for some reason, he felt nothing but disgust.
Especially...
He pushed her away, his expression strained, his eyes suppressing something dark. "Xuehua, listen to me. This is a banquet hall. You’re a maid. I’m a young master of the Gu Family."
"Eh...?"
Xuehua stumbled back, stunned. "W-what do you mean...?"
She seemed to realize she hadn’t explained her agreement with Gu Yan yet, so she opened her mouth to clarify.
But before she could speak, Gu Zihua took another step back. "What I mean is, Xuehua, don’t get so close to me."
"It’ll cause misunderstandings."
The moment those words left his mouth—
Thud.
Xuehua’s face paled. Her heart twisted painfully as she stared at Gu Zihua in disbelief. "Zi... Zihua-shaoye... what are you saying...?"
She tried to speak again, her eyes pleading. "No, no, shaoye, Gu Yan said—"
The mention of "Gu Yan" seemed to trigger something in Gu Zihua.
His face twisted in fury. "Don’t you dare mention him to me again!!!"
"!!!"
Xuehua froze, clamping her mouth shut in fear. The person before her now was so unfamiliar, so cold. Her face turned deathly white. "Zi... Zihua-shaoye...?"
Gu Zihua took a deep breath, his gaze icy as he stared at her. "Xuehua, there’s no future for us. After all these days, you’ve probably been... used by Gu Yan in ways I don’t even want to imagine."
Eh...?
What... what is Zihua-shaoye saying?
Xuehua’s mind went blank.
No... Zihua-shaoye wouldn’t be like this...
Then—
A curious voice cut in from the side. "Zihua-shaoye, who is this woman?"
At the sound of that voice, Gu Zihua’s expression softened.
Xuehua’s, however, stiffened completely.
She turned toward the voice.
There, walking toward them, was a woman with wavy golden hair. She naturally looped her arm through Gu Zihua’s.
And Gu Zihua didn’t resist—instead, he answered gently, "Just a family maid."
"Oh, a family maid." Alice nodded, then deliberately rested her head against Gu Zihua’s shoulder. "Zihua-shaoye, this place is so boring. Take me for a walk around the estate, won’t you?"
"Mm."
Gu Zihua affectionately ruffled Alice’s hair before leading her away.
Not once did he glance back at Xuehua.
Her mind was empty. Her ears rang.
She stood there, numb, watching as Gu Zihua walked away from her.
Xuehua couldn’t understand. Why would he say such cruel things?
She hadn’t... done anything with Gu Yan.
She had worked so hard... just to be with him...
So why...?
Her vision blurred as she stared at Gu Zihua and Alice’s retreating figures.
Plip. Plip.
Tears streamed down her cheeks unchecked.
How... could things turn out like this...?
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]
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.
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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.”
