The night was as dark as ink, and all was dead silent.
The architecture of the Crown Prince's Palace outlined a silent silhouette under the faint light of the stars and moon, with only a few halls still lit.
Gu Chengyin's carriage rolled across the palace roads, finally stopping in front of the courtyard of the side hall where he resided.
The driver was from the Internal Affairs Department, silent and reliable. After Gu Chengyin stepped down, he quietly drove the carriage toward the palace's carriage quarters.
A chilly night breeze blew past. Gu Chengyin took a deep breath of the cold air, slightly dispelling the scent of wine and the aura of scheming from the Cui Estate.
He looked up at the side hall where he lived; the windows on the second floor were pitch black, clearly indicating no one was waiting.
There was still light shining from the Wenli Hall. It was likely the eunuchs on night duty still handling affairs, but Luo Zhao herself should have already rested.
After a moment of thought, Gu Chengyin decided not to disturb her. This was not something that could be explained in just a few words.
Besides, it was late. If Luo Zhao had already fallen asleep, it wouldn't be good to wake her up.
Gu Chengyin stepped into his small courtyard.
The courtyard was not large but elegant and tidy. The female official on night duty, hearing the noise, had already come out with a lantern to welcome him, bowing respectfully. The Marquis has returned.
Yes, there's nothing else. Go and rest, Gu Chengyin instructed.
Yes, Marquis. Hot water has already been prepared; you may use it at any time. The female official complied, hung the lantern under the corridor, and quietly withdrew.
Gu Chengyin walked into the hall alone.
He didn't linger and went straight up to the second floor, returning to his own room.
Pushing the door open, he could faintly see the outline of the room by the dim moonlight filtering through the window and the light from the lantern in the corridor.
The room was not big and simply furnished: a bed, a table, a chair, a wardrobe, and a copper basin stand for washing up.
A faint, fresh breath lingered in the air, mixed with a hint of sandalwood.
Gu Chengyin lit the lamp on the table. The soft halo immediately dispelled the darkness and illuminated the room.
Just as he walked toward the bed, preparing to lie down for a while, his movements suddenly froze.
The quilt on the bed.
It wasn't flat and empty.
Instead, it was bulging into a lump, and faintly rising and falling?
Gu Chengyin stiffened mid-step, his brows slowly furrowing.
Then he reached out, gently pressed on the bulging lump, gave it a slight push, and asked in a low voice:
Gu Xiaoli?
The thing under the covers seemed startled and squirmed a bit.
Immediately after, the corner of the quilt was carefully lifted to reveal a crack, and a furry head poked out from inside.
Gu Chengyin clearly saw a small, drowsy face.
Her soft, short black hair was somewhat messy, and her large, cat-like eyes remained exceptionally bright. She blinked, looking at Gu Chengyin with a bit of bewilderment.
It really was Gu Xiaoli.
Gu Chengyin sighed silently, withdrew his hand, sat on the edge of the bed, and asked with a slight headache:
Why are you here?
Gu Xiaoli seemed not fully awake yet, or perhaps she was a bit unsettled by Gu Chengyin's serious expression.
She blinked her eyes, which were filled with innocence and a sense of matter-of-factness, and answered softly:
Xiaoli... is a personal maid.
She tilted her head, seemingly not understanding why Gu Chengyin would ask such a question. Isn't a personal maid... supposed to warm the master's bed?
Warm the bed?
Gu Chengyin choked on this righteous and confident statement, not knowing how to refute it for a moment.
Personal maids warming the bed—in this era, especially in the palace and noble households, such a custom indeed existed.
But he had never thought this set of rules would be applied to him, let alone to a half-grown child.
Gu Chengyin looked at Gu Xiaoli's pure eyes, and the sense of absurdity in his heart grew heavier.
Who told you this? Gu Chengyin rubbed the space between his eyebrows, trying to find the culprit.
Gu Xiaoli was very honest and immediately answered, The older maid sisters in the palace told Xiaoli.
They said that a personal maid not only has to warm the master's bed but also, whenever the master wants, give the master...
Stop!
Gu Chengyin quickly interrupted the rest, feeling his headache worsen. He had really been careless!
He was only thinking about giving Gu Xiaoli the title of a personal maid, completely forgetting that some rules were entirely unsuitable for her.
Although the world-weary loli was indeed very beautiful, the problem was, how old was she?
By Gu Chengyin's standards, she was absolutely a minor.
If anything really happened, in his previous life, he would be chopped into mincemeat on the street.
Adulthood was the most basic bottom line.
This dangerous misunderstanding had to be corrected immediately!
The expression on Gu Chengyin's face became gentle and solemn. He slowed his tone and spoke in a patient and guiding manner:
Xiaoli, you must have misunderstood my meaning.
Gu Xiaoli shrank into the quilt, revealing only half her head and those big eyes, looking at Gu Chengyin with curiosity and confusion.
When I said personal maid, I didn't mean to treat you as that kind of... servant who waits on people.
Gu Chengyin weighed his words carefully to make his explanation sound reasonable and credible. Actually, I think of you as my younger sister.
Younger sister?
Gu Xiaoli repeated the word, the confusion in her eyes deepening. She felt lost regarding this identity.
Yes, younger sister.
Gu Chengyin spoke smoothly without changing his expression, his tone even carrying a trace of reminiscence and sorrow. Once, I also had a younger sister.
She was about the same age as you, lively, cute, and clever. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen events, we were separated, and we have not been reunited to this day.
Gu Chengyin's gaze fell softly on Gu Xiaoli's face, as if he were looking at another shadow through her.
The first time I saw you, I felt you looked somewhat like her, especially these eyes, so vivid and clear.
So, in my heart, I unknowingly started treating you like my younger sister.
Making you my personal maid was actually just to give you a reasonable identity so you could stay by my side. It was never to have you do such things.
These words were spoken with deep sincerity. Gu Xiaoli listened quietly, her big eyes unblinking.
Although she didn't understand why Gu Chengyin didn't rightfully claim her, even though she wouldn't put up any resistance.
But Gu Xiaoli could feel the earnestness and protectiveness in his tone.
After hesitating for a moment, looking into Gu Chengyin's expectant gaze, she tentatively and softly called out:
Bro...ther?
Gu Chengyin's eyes lit up, and he immediately encouraged her, That's right! So you see, you are not a personal maid at all, but my younger sister!
Warming the bed is a maid's job. How could I let my younger sister do it? Don't you agree, Xiaoli?
He cleverly swapped the concepts, reducing the issue to the fact that a younger sister does not have the duties of a maid.
Gu Xiaoli tilted her head and thought for a moment, feeling like something wasn't quite right.
Younger sister? Maid? Warming the bed? The logic was a bit convoluted.
But seeing Gu Chengyin's affirming gaze, and the sense of closeness brought by the title of younger sister—something different from being a maid.
She still obediently nodded and softly replied, Mhm... it seems so.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
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?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
