The young girl before him was truly captivating.
She possessed the kind of beauty reminiscent of female protagonists from Japanese romance light novels.
Opening the door, stepping aside to let her enter the room, closing it, and sliding the lock into place...
Lu Qing could no longer remember exactly how he had completed this sequence of actions.
In any case, the girl now stood within the confines of this six-tatami room, and it wouldn't be so easy for her to leave anymore.
"Here, dry yourself off," he said, breaking the silence as he handed her a thick towel.
"Thank you..."
The girl's gaze remained fixed downward, whether from shyness or timidity. Even after accepting the towel, she remained frozen by the door, arms crossed over her chest, neither removing her shoes nor drying her rain-soaked hair.
Lu Qing guessed she might be feeling awkward, understandable given the late hour and their situation - a young man and woman alone, both drenched from the rain, with her shoes and socks likely waterlogged, appearing less than presentable to others.
So he thoughtfully tried to ease the tension by asking, "May I see that card?"
"...Mm." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she obediently handed over the "introduction card."
As he took the paper, he retrieved a new pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them on the floor. Then he naturally turned away, giving her some privacy to compose herself.
She stared at his back for a moment, seeming to understand his consideration, and a flash of gratitude appeared in her eyes.
After he turned the corner into the bedroom, she quickly removed her uniform shoes and knee-high socks, stuffing the latter into her shoes. She pulled out some wet wipes from her skirt pocket to clean her hands and toes before carefully stepping into the slippers and following him.
By then, Lu Qing was seated in a chair, carefully examining the card with its messily scrawled message:
[Tianhe Platinum Apartments, Building C, 19th Floor, Unit 1 - this is Lu Qing's address. Mom's gone abroad, your dad's dead. From now on, go to him if you need anything. Let him take care of you.]
"..."
Though brief, the message was rather explosive in its implications.
"What kind of situation is this? Not even a phone number???"
Looking at the message so brief it threatened to collapse the laws of the universe, Lu Qing felt dizzy.
If he wasn't mistaken, he didn't have any sister, did he?
According to his memories, his father had barely come home since he was in third grade. He had only survived thanks to help from the neighbor auntie next door and the very limited living expenses relatives sent each month. He had never had any interaction with younger girls, making this sister's appearance quite mysterious.
However, there was one thing worth pondering.
Before his father was imprisoned...
He had rarely sent a letter home, writing about his life's work in the creative field, warning his son never to follow in his footsteps lest he end up in the gutter, and finally mentioning that "there might be something important to entrust to you in the future, hope you can become independent soon."
"Well well, so all that serious talk was just setup, with the real point being to make a college student figure out how to raise a girl of unknown background?"
"But I barely have any savings left, can't even afford a 5-square-meter apartment in this ridiculously expensive Tianhai City. How am I supposed to raise this child..."
"Great, I haven't solved the problem with my new book yet, the apartment rent is almost due, and now there's this new side quest... no, major main quest... Looks like my wish really did come true."
Lu Qing wailed internally, feeling his difficulties mounting.
Looking back, he saw the girl had somehow appeared behind him, lips pressed tight and head lowered like a child who had done something wrong, not daring to sit down.
"Uh..." His heart jumped as he thought, this is bad.
"It's... it's okay, I'll leave at dawn tomorrow. I won't cause you any trouble."
Su Ling shrank back, maintaining a three-meter distance from him.
In truth, she had already noticed his distress.
After all, showing up at his door at two or three in the morning had not only disturbed his rest but also brought such "terrible news" - an impossible situation for a young man to handle.
At the end of the day, he was just a college student, wasn't he?
Even though Mom had told her to live with him, in his eyes, she must seem like an enormous burden.
She would bring him unimaginable trouble and disruption to his life rhythm - that much was clear from his expression.
Better to leave, even if it meant living on the streets. Hadn't she experienced that before when Mom had forgotten about her? At worst, she'd starve or freeze to death, which was better than dragging this brother down with her.
Or perhaps she could post online asking for help - with her youth and looks, surely many creepy old men would message her, wanting to take her home...
Mm... no, she couldn't accept that after all.
Rather than being toyed with by strangers, better to take her precious thing to the grave.
Nobody had ever truly cared about her anyway. It had always been like this.
Su Ling thought miserably.
"Hey, listen, Su Ling."
Lu Qing's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "Don't rush to make a decision. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."
"Eh..."
The girl hesitated for a moment before nodding obediently, like a homeless kitten in the night.
Seeing her like this, Lu Qing's heart softened. After all, she was someone his father had entrusted to his care. Though he didn't know her true background, getting her settled was necessary.
"Did your aunt tell you anything else besides this? Like... her contact information? And when she's coming back?"
These were the key questions he wanted to clarify after calming down.
If Su Ling's mother was just traveling abroad briefly and leaving her daughter in his care, that would be fine, no problem at all.
But judging by the note... something seemed off.
Sure enough, the girl's tight-lipped response made his heart sink.
Just as he was about to ask more questions, she spoke:
"Mom only said that you're that man's son, and probably inherited that... that kind of bloodline, with your head full of women and perverted thoughts, and you'd probably find some excuse to get me into bed and pregnant on the first night. She told me to get an abortion if that happened. Other than that... she didn't say anything."
Su Ling seemed even more nervous as she said this, instinctively lowering her head further.
"What???"
Lu Qing's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he heard this. Talk about world-class slander and defamation, even bringing genetic inheritance into it! Sorry for being the son of a famous erotic novelist!
And besides, did he really look like the type who would prey on younger girls?!
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Trying to defend himself and correct the girl's prejudiced first impression, he said:
"Look, your aunt has probably never even met me. She probably doesn't know that my dad and I haven't seen each other for many years, so I grew up completely uninfluenced by my father. I lived independently and am a healthy young man with proper values! I am..."
Before he could finish, Su Ling silently raised her hand to point at a half-open standing wardrobe in the corner of the room—
"But brother, that outfit hanging in your closet... isn't that a maid costume?"
......
......

shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]

grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)

ress Kneels to Admit Wrong] [Dealing with Love-Struck Fools] [Forced to the Throne] Ren Tianye transmigrated into a female-oriented novel world, only to find everyone in it was utterly insane. He risked his life to save a young girl from barbarians, but was accused of arriving too late and branded the real murderer. He held a knife to a military officer's neck, demanding the troop tally, but the officer only cared about questioning his wife: "Do you not love me anymore? All these years of affection and time together, they were all a mistake, a mistake!" After seizing Yunji City, the original defending general, to save face with the Empress, knelt on the ground: "You must give Yunji City back to me, or I'll hang myself at the city gate and let everyone know you're a villain!" The young lord of the Duke's mansion, to please a woman, directly ordered a merchant: "The menstrual pads you buy for her must be studded with diamonds. Loving her means giving her the best." Having become a great general, he was about to marry a merchant's daughter, who set a pre-nuptial rule: "I can divorce you anytime. When that happens, you must give me half of your troops and soldiers!" Even the Empress was a severe love-struck fool, who ordered the execution of 70,000 elite troops simply because they stood in the way of her romance. Ren Tianye was speechless. He was done. Let it all burn! This deranged female-oriented novel world! ...

host is extracting the Celestial Bone of the Destiny's Female Lead! The Destiny's Great Villain System has successfully bound!] Mo Tianxiao: "Destiny's Great Villain? Me?" Looking at the radiant Celestial Bone in his hand and the beautiful woman lying on the bed, Mo Tianxiao felt somewhat confused. How could he, a law-abiding citizen, become a villain? Mo Tianxiao: "Fine, villain it is then. With the system here, even a Chosen One isn't unbeatable." [Ding! Detected 18,653 Chosen Ones in this world. Please seize the destiny of all protagonists to become the true Destiny's Great Villain!] Mo Tianxiao: "Seize how many?! What kind of lousy great villain is this? I'm a perfectly good citizen!"