But caring was not possible.
Caring was soft, warm, something that wrapped around a person entirely.
Lin Qingyan could not bring herself to vent her anger on someone who cared about her, because she knew Emperor Luo genuinely meant well.
Yet neither could she confide in someone who cared about her, because she knew what Emperor Luo said might be right.
So she gave no answer.
Instead, she stood up, offered a salute, turned around, and left.
When she stepped out of the warm pavilion, her strides were steady, her back straight—exactly the same as when she entered.
Lyu Fang lifted the door curtain for Lin Qingyan and even noticed that her face still perfectly conveyed indifference.
It was the usual expression of Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master Residence: cold, aloof, as if no one else mattered.
But only Lin Qingyan knew what lay beneath that facade of indifference.
Beneath it was the silence of the entire carriage ride from the warm pavilion back to the Heavenly Master Residence—clutching the hem of her robe the whole way until it was creased with wrinkles.
Beneath it was the silence of every step slower than the last, from descending the carriage all the way to the top of the Silent Heart Tower.
Beneath it was the silence of those brief moments when she sat alone atop the tower, yet could not come up with a single answer.
Would Gu Chengyin marry her?
Lin Qingyan did not know.
She really did not know.
She had spent so many days with Gu Chengyin—from Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master Residence to Little Aunt.
From Junior Preceptor Gu to Chengcheng, from cold distance to knocking him unconscious first and talking later.
Lin Qingyan thought she had finally won Gu Chengyin.
She thought that those entanglements, those kisses—that was the answer.
But Emperor Luo’s words were like a needle, piercing precisely into the corner she least wanted to face.
Gu Chengyin had never said he would marry her.
Not once.
He had said she was the most important person to him, but never that he would wed her.
Those words—Lin Qingyan had waited for them for so long.
Waited until now, until she had given herself to him.
Waited until she thought those words no longer needed to be said—yet she still had not heard them.
So Lin Qingyan was not angry that Emperor Luo had said those words; she was angry that she could not refute them.
So she returned to the Heavenly Master Residence.
She sat alone atop the Silent Heart Tower, suppressing all her anger and grievance deep in her heart.
She used her supreme Golden Core cultivation to crush it all and swallow it down.
After swallowing it all, she found her stomach was full, but her heart was still empty.
And now, Gu Chengyin stood right before her.
His palm pressed against her cheek, his thumb still lingering at the corner of her eye.
His fingers ran through her hair, and she could feel her scalp tingling slightly.
His gaze fell on her face, unwavering, gentle and steady.
Like someone who had finally cupped his most treasured desire in his hands.
Watching carefully, afraid that a single slip would shatter it all.
Gu Chengyin looked at Lin Qingyan’s stunned expression, at her dazed gaze.
At that thin, shimmering layer of moisture in her eyes that had never spilled out.
Then he smiled, his voice soft:
“Little Aunt.”
Gu Chengyin’s voice was so light it was like a feather landing on water—not even a ripple.
But where the feather fell, something beneath the surface silently cracked.
Not shattered—melted.
Like ice dissolving slowly from beneath by warm water; the surface still seemed intact.
But the undercurrent had already worn that thin layer of ice thinner and thinner.
“You still don’t trust me.”
These words were spoken very calmly, as calmly as stating a truth that had been verified countless times.
No accusation, no questioning, no grievance.
Just: I know.
I know you don’t believe in me.
I don’t blame you.
Because I know why you don’t.
Because I never gave you a reason to trust.
Because I never said the words I will marry you.
So it’s natural that you don’t believe me.
This cannot be blamed on you.
Lin Qingyan’s eyelashes trembled violently.
The tremble was intense, like a butterfly whose wings had been caught.
Flapping desperately, trying to fly, but unable to.
Her lips parted slightly, then closed, then parted again.
She wanted to explain, to say that she did trust him, to say that she was just…
But she couldn’t say anything.
Because Gu Chengyin was right.
She did not trust him.
Not that she didn’t trust him as a person, not that she didn’t believe his feelings, not that she doubted she was the most important person to him.
Lin Qingyan believed all of that.
She believed he liked her, believed he cared for her, believed he placed her in the most important spot in his heart.
But she simply could not believe Gu Chengyin would marry her.
The difference between the two was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
Liking meant being together, holding each other tightly in every moment they could.
It meant wrapping his arms around her waist from behind when she curled up under the blanket.
It meant casting aside all reason, kissing her purely on instinct and impulse.
But marriage was a promise—the rest of one’s life.
It meant writing their names into the family tree, carving them into a tombstone.
Their names placed side by side.
Wind could not blow them apart; rain could not scatter them; time could not wear them away.
Liking could be a passing infatuation, a surge of emotion, a moment of passion.
But marriage was a lifetime.
A lifetime of treating this person well, a lifetime of bearing responsibility for this person’s joys and sorrows.
A lifetime of turning “you and I” into “we.”
Would Gu Chengyin marry her?
Lin Qingyan did not know.
She really did not know.
Gu Chengyin looked into her eyes, saw the turmoil and struggle within—that mix of wanting to believe and fearing to believe.
Like a butterfly trapped in a web, flapping desperately but never escaping.
His thumb brushed her cheekbone again.
“Little Aunt, for me, this question is not whether I will marry you.”
Gu Chengyin’s gaze swept over Lin Qingyan’s face, from her eyebrows to the corners of her eyes.
From the bridge of her nose to her lips, tracing every contour inch by inch.
“It is whether you are willing to marry me.”
Not a promise of “I will marry you,” not a guarantee of “you can rest assured I will marry you.”
But something deeper than a promise, heavier than a guarantee, more weighty than any responsibility.
It placed the choice entirely in Lin Qingyan’s hands.
“I will marry you” was from above to below—an offering, a blessing.
It meant I am giving you what you want most.
“Will you marry me?” was from below to above—a plea.
It handed over all initiative to the other person.
Lin Qingyan’s eyes turned red.
Not gradually, but in an instant, flushed completely.
As if something had exploded in her eye sockets, splashing all the blood to the edges.
The moisture that had hovered in her eyes for most of the day finally coalesced into teardrops, sliding from the corners of her eyes.
As if something had struck her deepest chest all at once.
The blow made her entire body go soft.
All her defenses collapsed in that instant.
What remained was only the most primal, most instinctive reaction—one she could not even control.
She cried.
Without a sound, without sobbing. The tears just slipped from the corners of her eyes.
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!
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.
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!
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?"
