“A weasel paying a New Year’s visit to a chicken—clearly up to no good.” Su Ze grew wary. The woman before him had a history of conflict with him. He had once sent her to the police station, so why was she now giving a phone to little Akizuki?
“A chicken? You’re more like a duck!” Situ Jiajia scoffed, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Don’t overthink it, okay? What could I possibly want from you? With your looks…” Situ Jiajia glanced at Su Ze’s strikingly handsome face and swallowed hard, “Well, you’ve got something going on, but just a little. I’m not interested in you.”
Su Ze took the cigarette from his mouth and rolled his eyes. “Then why did you just swallow your saliva? Don’t get any ideas about me. Messing with a minor is a death sentence.”
“You’re such a legal illiterate. At most, you’d get ten years. Only those under fourteen could face the death penalty, and you’re seventeen. You probably couldn’t even sue me.” Situ Jiajia also rolled her eyes and turned to Uesugi Akizuki. “Do you want it or not? My arm’s getting tired.”
Situ Jiajia had her reasons for giving Uesugi Akizuki the phone. She wanted to ship the couple, and subtle hints would do the trick. The secret technique of the Rakshasa could only deduce the broad strokes; the finer details remained hazy.
As long as she acted with discretion, she wouldn’t be discovered. Moreover, she had obtained a mysterious object from a beggar-like old mystic, something that seemed to obscure the workings of fate, making the Rakshasa’s technique even harder to detect.
Uesugi Akizuki stared at the phone, torn. She knew it would make it easier to contact Su Ze, but Su Ze seemed reluctant to let her take it.
Su Ze noticed the longing in her eyes. He took the phone, examined it, and confirmed it was just an ordinary device with no issues. He then handed it to little Akizuki. “Take it.”
Situ Jiajia asked, somewhat unrealistically, “Shouldn’t you pull out a hundred thousand from your pocket, toss it to me, and say domineeringly, ‘I never owe anyone favors. Since my woman likes it, I’ll buy it.’?”
Su Ze was speechless. “If you’re giving it away, why should I buy it?”
“Besides, this phone probably costs less than ten thousand. Why would I spend a hundred thousand on it? Am I out of my mind, or do I have too much money?”
“You must have read too many domineering CEO novels.”
“Who carries a hundred thousand in cash in their pocket?”
Seeing Su Ze’s matter-of-fact attitude, she felt a bit lost. “Is he really this shameless?”
It wasn’t that he was shameless; it was just that Su Ze was too pragmatic. She had indeed read too many domineering CEO novels.
But Su Ze, a man who exuded dominance in battle and was incredibly handsome, should have fulfilled at least some of her fantasies.
Even though Su Ze’s words were reasonable and realistic, why did they still give her a sense of shamelessness?
Su Ze smiled faintly. “I can be shameless, but I can’t be broke.”
Situ Jiajia was stunned.
What she didn’t know was that Su Ze’s seemingly joking remark was his heartfelt truth. He had been scarred by poverty as a child.
He had experienced three days of drinking tap water in a park to stave off hunger. He had stolen food with his younger brother, only to be beaten for it. Later, he stopped his brother from joining him and stole alone.
Even as a thief, he had principles. He only stole food, never money, and he kept track of which families he had stolen from.
At fifteen, he ventured into a mysterious realm, fought for money, and then repaid every family he had wronged.
From a young age, he understood the importance of money far better than his peers.
So he wouldn’t waste it, nor would he be foolish enough to spend a hundred thousand on a phone worth less than ten thousand, just to show off in front of little Akizuki, who had little understanding of money.
“By the way, what’s your deal? When you ran into me last time, it wasn’t just because you were into me, was it?” Su Ze suddenly asked.
“My deal? You’re already checking my background?” Situ Jiajia tilted her head. “Then I’ll check yours too. Let’s grab our household registers and head to the civil affairs bureau. After we register, I’ll give you a thorough background check.”
“…” Su Ze was speechless. Talking to this woman was exhausting. He was already unserious, but she matched him perfectly. He had met his match.
Little Akizuki listened to their back-and-forth, utterly confused. She understood every word, but when put together, it was like listening to gibberish.
Though she had gained more common sense and wasn’t as naive as before, this kind of divine dialogue still overloaded her brain.
Su Ze shrugged, deciding not to engage further. “Thanks for the phone. We’ll be going now.”
Hand in hand, Su Ze and little Akizuki walked down the empty street. The warm sunlight, like a smiling angel spreading its wings, embraced the silver-haired boy and the wine-red-haired girl, a match made in heaven.
The trees on either side of the road cast dappled shadows. Su Ze sneakily reached behind the girl and tapped her shoulder. Little Akizuki turned around, puzzled, but saw no one. As she turned back, Su Ze pinched her soft, pale cheek, amused by her reaction, and chuckled warmly.
The girl stared at the boy in confusion. His smile was like sunlight breaking through after rain, warm and flowing into her heart.
Somehow, as if infected by his warmth, the little red-haired shrine maiden in her red-and-white miko outfit also smiled under the gentle orange light. Her amber eyes met the boy’s as he pinched her cheek, and she smiled back, her expression innocent and pure.
“Kiss! Kiss!” Situ Jiajia whispered excitedly, her blood pressure rising as she recorded the scene on her phone.
Unfortunately, the two walked further and further away, disappearing from her sight without any further progress.
Her eyes burned with frustration, and she gritted her teeth so hard that her phone creaked under her grip, the screen cracking.
It felt like she was ready for something, but then it just didn’t happen. What could she do? She was nothing!
After calming down for a while, Situ Jiajia smiled faintly. As long as that phone was in Uesugi Akizuki’s hands, everything was set!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
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.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
