Every single virtue, he remembered.
Every single detail, he remembered.
Every single word, he meant with all his heart.
It wasn’t that I was sincere back then—it's that I am still sincere now.
He had always been sincere. She just never noticed.
Shangguan Yunying sat in Gu Chengyin’s embrace, listening as he counted her virtues one by one, and her tears fell one drop at a time.
Every line, every sentence, every word—not one was wrong.
Shangguan Yunying remembered it all too clearly. The more she regretted it now, the clearer every detail of that night became.
But what she hadn’t expected was that Gu Chengyin remembered it just as vividly.
Not only did he remember the words he had spoken to her, even the tone and the voice were nearly identical.
He loved me so deeply.
Yet I didn’t choose him.
Why?
Why had she been so foolish back then?
Why hadn’t she seized such a perfect opportunity?
Shangguan Yunying’s fingers clenched inside her sleeve until her knuckles turned white, and her lips were pressed so tightly that they lost all color.
She stood like a frail sapling that had weathered wind and rain for a long time—swaying, but its roots still gripping the soil, refusing to fall.
She didn’t know how long she had wept, or how long Gu Chengyin had spoken.
She only knew that when Gu Chengyin finished, her tears were still falling, yet her heart held no more grievance or panic.
Only something so warm it made her want to cry and laugh at the same time.
Gu Chengyin ended with the same conclusion he had made that night at the Shangguan residence, word for word.
“I believe that any normal man, if he spends enough time with you, would find it hard not to grow fond of you, or even to admire you—unless he is blind and heartless, or simply not a man at all.”
This time, Shangguan Yunying did not reply. She merely gazed at Gu Chengyin with gentle affection, the love in her eyes so thick it seemed ready to spill over.
Like a cup filled to the very brim, surface tension stretched to its limit—one more drop and it would overflow.
Her eyes curved into crescent moons, the corners of her mouth lifted high, and her entire face radiated four big words: I am so happy. She couldn’t hide it even if she tried.
Her fingers loosened from their clenched state, then relaxed completely, and finally came to rest over her own heart.
There, a heart was beating.
Fast—so fast it felt like it might leap out of her chest, straight into his hands.
Even though she had already made her decision, she had still felt a lingering unease.
Not from regret, but because Gu Chengyin already had Lin Qingyan now.
And if he so wished, he could have Cui Zilu at any moment as well.
So Shangguan Yunying’s anxiety had been about how Gu Chengyin would treat her after she made her choice.
But now, she was no longer uneasy.
Because she was certain now—no matter what kind of person she became,
she would always be the one Gu Chengyin loved most.
Including the person she was now. And truly, the one who had been wrong all along—
no, the one who had been making mistakes all along—was her, Shangguan Yunying.
Gu Chengyin had never done anything wrong. Even the hypnosis of Luo Zhao
had been a helpless act taken when there was no other choice.
That couldn’t be blamed on him!
She could only blame herself for being too foolish, for taking too long to see the truth.
Gu Chengyin watched Shangguan Yunying like this, and the amusement in his eyes deepened.
Although he had indeed intended to win more favor before she spoke her heart,
this time he was sincere. Since Shangguan Yunying was genuinely devoted to him,
he would naturally be genuinely devoted to her in return.
But his voice suddenly changed, and he shifted his tone:
“Later, because the situation was unclear, I said we needed to face things more soberly.”
Gu Chengyin’s voice dropped, his gaze fixed on Shangguan Yunying’s face as he said earnestly:
“But that was then. This is not then anymore.”
“So, Yunying...”
Gu Chengyin’s words trailed off.
A soft, delicate finger lightly pressed against his lips.
Gu Chengyin was briefly startled, then looked at the woman before him.
Shangguan Yunying sat in his arms.
Her eyes curved into beautiful crescents, filled with gentle yet unwavering resolve.
Her voice was as soft as a night breeze brushing against a zither’s strings, every word clear and distinct, just as it had been that night.
“Gu Chengyin.”
Once again, she called his full name so naturally.
“I understand what you mean.”
“The me from then understood. The me now understands too.”
Shangguan Yunying’s tone was calm and clear-sighted. Now she finally saw through everything:
“It’s just that back then, I was His Highness’s chief female attendant, and you were His Highness’s trusted deacon.”
Her voice suddenly shifted.
Not mournful, not nostalgic—like she was stating a fact she had long accepted.
“And now, I am still His Highness’s chief female attendant, but you are no longer that Deacon Gu from before.”
Her voice grew very soft, soft as a falling leaf.
But that leaf did not fall to the ground—it landed on her heart.
Shangguan Yunying spoke the truth. She was still the chief female attendant, but Gu Chengyin was no longer the Deacon Gu she had needed to guard against.
He was the Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent, the future Minister of Rites, the core of the crown prince’s faction, Lin Qingyan’s man, and the one Cui Zilu wished to marry.
And she was still just the chief female attendant.
From beginning to end, she was Luo Zhao’s chief female attendant.
She belonged to Luo Zhao, not Gu Chengyin.
“But love did not scatter with the wind.”
“It should have come to fruition that night.”
Shangguan Yunying leaned forward slightly, the distance between them now close enough to feel each other’s breath.
Her voice suddenly turned a little choked.
Not from sadness, but because she was thinking of that night.
Under the moonlight, the Shangguan residence, the courtyard, her and him.
No Luo Zhao, no Lin Qingyan, no Cui Zilu, no Gu Xiaoli.
Only Gu Chengyin and Shangguan Yunying.
Shangguan Yunying remembered the sound of Gu Chengyin saying “I truly do like you.”
She remembered her own blushing, racing heart, and how that night she could have had him—yet chose to let go.
She remembered that night she had regretted countless times, that night she revisited in her deepest hours every single time.
“I have already missed too many chances.”
Shangguan Yunying’s tears fell again.
But this time, she didn’t wipe them away, didn’t hide, didn’t bury her face in his chest.
She simply lifted her head, looked at him, and let the tears stream down her cheeks, drop by drop.
They landed on Gu Chengyin, leaving small, darkened marks on his clothes.
Her lips trembled, her eyelashes trembled, her fingers trembled, her whole body trembled.
But her eyes never blinked, staring straight at Gu Chengyin.
As if to say: Look at me. Listen to me. This is what I need to say.
These words are important. You must not miss a single one.
“So... I don’t want to be the chief female attendant anymore.”
Shangguan Yunying’s voice suddenly became very calm, calm like she was stating a decision she had already made.
A decision that needed no one else’s approval, only hers alone.
“I just want to be Shangguan Yunying.”
“Your Shangguan Yunying—and only yours.”
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!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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?!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
