Luo Zhao could feel Gu Chengyin's arm wrapped around her waist.
She could feel his chest pressing against her shoulder, his breath brushing against her neck.
These sensations were like a dense, interwoven net, trapping her whole body tightly within its mesh.
It kept tightening, squeezing so hard that Luo Zhao could barely breathe.
At this point, there was no way she could think about anything else.
Her mind was as if someone had poured a pot of glue into it, everything sticky and murky, unable to turn at all.
Luo Zhao instinctively wanted to push Gu Chengyin away, to curse at him, to demand whether he knew what he was doing.
But her body seemed to have been enchanted by a freezing spell, so stiff she couldn't move even a single finger.
There was no helping it. Right now, she simply had no resistance against Gu Chengyin.
Even though she believed with all her heart that she hated Gu Chengyin, loathed him, and despised everything about him.
Luo Zhao still had to admit that she could not resist Gu Chengyin.
In the end, all she could do was strain to turn her head away, facing her face in the direction farthest from him.
As if, as long as she didn't see his face, none of this was real.
At the same time, she pressed both hands against Gu Chengyin's chest, trying to stop him from getting closer.
But as her palms rested against his chest, she could feel the heartbeat beneath the fabric of his clothes.
It thumped against her palms, beat after beat, mingling with her own heartbeat until she couldn't tell whose was whose.
Although Luo Zhao was pushing with all her might, her strength was nothing more than a tickle in front of Gu Chengyin.
His arm remained steadily fixed around her waist, neither tightening because of her resistance nor loosening because of her struggle.
It simply held her in place within his embrace with exactly the right amount of force.
This level of struggle thrown at Gu Chengyin was like a gentle spring drizzle falling on a boulder, not even leaving a trace behind.
If anything, it only sparked a desire to conquer, though Luo Zhao herself had no idea.
The more she struggled, the more weak and helpless she seemed.
The more weak and helpless she seemed, the more it made one want to bully her.
Her cheeks flushed red from the struggle, her breath came quick and short from nerves, and her body trembled from the resistance.
To a wicked eye, all of this made her look like a blank sheet of paper just begging to be stained.
And on top of that, she was the proud and aloof Luo Zhao, with the weight of her status and bearing amplifying everything.
It only made that urge to conquer burn all the fiercer.
Fortunately, Gu Chengyin was not a wicked man. More precisely, he was not trying to conquer Luo Zhao.
The reason he had suddenly made such an ambiguous move was simply to strike at her weak point.
With one arm around Luo Zhao's waist, he reached out with the other and took the imperial decree.
Then he held the decree up in front of the both of them, posed as intimately as a husband and wife reviewing a document that had just been delivered.
Gu Chengyin spoke again, his voice ringing close by Luo Zhao's ear, so near it was as if he were whispering right against it.
“Your Highness, tell me, what should we do now?”
Luo Zhao had no idea what to do.
Right now, her entire being was enveloped in Gu Chengyin's presence.
It was like an invisible net, closing in from every direction, wrapping her tightly within.
Her nostrils were full of his scent, her skin carried the warmth of his embrace, her ears were filled with the low sound of his breathing.
This feeling was far too familiar.
So familiar that Luo Zhao couldn't help but recall the scene from that night.
That night, he had also been this close to her, so close she could have counted the strands of his hair.
Everything that had happened afterward was like a spark buried deep in her heart.
On normal days, Luo Zhao carefully covered it, afraid to touch it, afraid to think about it.
But at this moment, Gu Chengyin's breath was like a gust of wind, gently blowing.
It scattered the layer of ash that concealed it, revealing the embers still smoldering beneath.
Luo Zhao's mind could no longer think on its own.
All her rationality, all her composure, all the judgment that came with being the heir apparent.
In that instant, they were all scattered to the winds by the overwhelming presence surrounding her.
All she could do was speak on instinct, her voice carrying a softness she herself had not noticed.
“What do we do about what?”
Her voice was so small, as if squeezed out from the very depths of her throat.
Every word carried a tremor, like a candle flame blown by the wind, flickering and unsteady.
Seeing that Luo Zhao had responded, Gu Chengyin continued.
His tone carried a hint of grievance, of injustice, of righteous indignation.
Like a loyal minister who had worked diligently and yet been treated unfairly.
“I am the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor. I have labored with all my heart, teaching and training Your Highness for so long.”
“Yet His Majesty not only fails to reward me, he targets me instead. Is there no justice or law left in this world?”
Gu Chengyin deliberately stressed the words “teaching and training” just slightly harder than the rest, just enough that only Luo Zhao could catch the hidden double meaning.
To the ordinary ear, the term meant simply to instruct and nurture.
But in Luo Zhao's ears, she thought Gu Chengyin was referring to what he had taught her to do that night.
The tips of her ears flushed crimson in an instant, so red they looked ready to drip blood.
But hearing something so utterly absurd finally snapped a bit of Luo Zhao's sanity back into place.
This Red Egg, he was clearly bullying her on purpose, and still putting on the act of a victim.
What diligent service? What painstaking effort? Even Gu Chengyin himself probably didn't believe a word of it when he said it.
And if they were really going to talk about justice and law, Gu Chengyin was obviously the one going too far.
What Grand Tutor would hold the Crown Prince in his arms like this, as intimately as a pair of lovers in the middle of a romance?
Luo Zhao took a deep breath, forcing her voice to sound as steady as she could.
“But Father has bestowed a marriage upon you and my aunt. Isn't that a reward?”
When she said this, she finally gathered the courage to turn her head and meet Gu Chengyin's gaze for a single moment.
Her eyes carried a hint of accusation, a trace of defiance, and a stubbornness that said: don't think you can fool me.
A betrothal arranged by the emperor was an honor of the highest order. Officials across the entire court would beg for such a favor and never receive it.
But this Gu Chengyin, he had received a gift and now pretended it was nothing, even daring to claim it wasn't a reward.
In response to Luo Zhao's rebuttal, Gu Chengyin's expression did not change.
There was no trace of embarrassment at being caught off guard. Instead, he lifted his chin with a look that said, “That's where you're wrong.”
Then he rebutted with all the righteousness in the world: “Of course it's not a reward.”
“Your Highness, even if His Majesty had not arranged the marriage, my aunt would still be mine.”
“Since she was already mine, how could that count as a reward?”
“Besides, everyone in the world knows that Your Highness and I are a match made in heaven.”
“So His Majesty isn't rewarding me at all. In fact, he's harming me.”
Gu Chengyin's tone was so self-righteous, so utterly convinced, that one almost began to doubt their own judgment.
At this point, Luo Zhao was thoroughly dumbfounded. Her lips hung slightly open, her eyes full of bewilderment.
Her wits, already half destroyed by being held in Gu Chengyin's arms, were now gone completely.
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.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
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!
