"Brother Chen, are you okay?" Gao Quan asked with concern as he noticed the dark circles under Ye Liangchen's eyes.
Yesterday, Brother Chen had already shown signs of being off.
They thought he might feel better today.
But unexpectedly, it seemed even worse.
The dark circles under his eyes were almost as prominent as those of a panda on TV.
Ye Liangchen put away his phone and shook his head helplessly.
Last night, he had been waiting for a message from Li Qingxue on QQ.
He thought about how, during the day, he had torn up the love letter and thrown it in the trash.
Then he ignored her for the entire day.
According to the way things unfolded in his dream, Li Qingxue should have taken the initiative to ask him what was wrong, why he had suddenly stopped paying attention to her.
Last night, Ye Liangchen had stared at his phone, waiting for a message from Li Qingxue.
But to his surprise, he waited until three or four in the morning, and still, no message came.
That's why he was in such poor shape today.
But it didn't matter. Li Qingxue wouldn't hold out for long. Once she slowly realized that he was no longer by her side, she would start to remember how good he had been to her.
Then she would regret it and come to her senses.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "It's nothing, I just stayed up late last night."
"Is it because of the pressure from studying lately?"
At this point, a thought suddenly popped into Gao Quan's mind: "Brother Chen, did you give up on confessing to Li Qingxue because of the gap in your academic performance?"
As the class monitor, Li Qingxue's grades had always been in the top five of the entire school.
Meanwhile, Ye Liangchen's grades were mediocre at best, and there was still a noticeable gap between him and Li Qingxue.
Was Brother Chen worried that, given his current academic performance, he might not be able to get into the same university as Li Qingxue, which was why he decided to give up on confessing to her?
Because he didn't want to hold Li Qingxue back.
But at the same time, he didn't want to truly give up.
So he secretly studied at night, hoping to improve his grades through hard work?
Ye Liangchen glanced at Gao Quan. This guy really had a knack for overthinking things.
But there was no helping it. To outsiders, his feelings for Li Qingxue seemed as if they were carved into his very bones.
Suddenly giving up on her would make people think either that he felt unworthy of her and had no choice but to step back, or that he was just trying a different tactic to get her attention.
Even Li Qingxue herself might think the same way.
So it was no surprise that Gao Quan would come up with such an idea.
They were only seeing the surface, while he was already operating on a whole different level.
Some things couldn't be explained, no matter how hard he tried.
Time would prove everything.
But Gao Quan's words did give him a reminder.
The college entrance exam.
In his dream, it was thanks to Hu Yuying's tutoring and his own exceptional performance that he managed to get into the university that both Hu Yuying and Li Qingxue had their hearts set on.
But with his current grades, there was still a significant gap between him and their dream university.
The key issue was that after being reborn, he had forgotten most of what he had learned in high school.
It was time to figure out a way to improve his academic performance.
Thinking this, Ye Liangchen took a deep breath and looked at Gao Quan: "The pressure from studying has been a bit overwhelming lately."
"But there's always a way to solve it. Come on, Brother Chen will treat you to breakfast today!"
With that, he patted Gao Quan on the shoulder, straightened his posture, and confidently walked toward the cafeteria.
After all, he was a reborn individual. Something as trivial as studying wasn't going to defeat him.
Just as he entered the cafeteria, he saw Hu Yuying standing in line, buying breakfast for Long Aotian!
The calm he had just managed to regain instantly vanished, replaced by burning anger.
He scanned the cafeteria for Long Aotian's figure.
Once he spotted Long Aotian's back, he glared at him fiercely.
Doesn't Long Aotian know how poor Hu Yuying's family is? How dare he make her spend money on his breakfast! Long Aotian, you're truly despicable!
If looks could kill, Ye Liangchen's glare would have annihilated Long Aotian hundreds of times over.
But looks couldn't kill, so Ye Liangchen clenched his fists and slowly walked toward the counter where Hu Yuying was standing in line.
He decided to bite the bullet today and pay for Hu Yuying's breakfast.
But he would remember this debt. Once he grew stronger, he would make Long Aotian pay it back tenfold!
You like having women buy things for you, huh? Fine, I'll buy you a thousand fried dough sticks and watch you eat every single one!
No—ten thousand!
If you dare to spit any out, I'll beat you up!
With these thoughts running through his mind, he arrived by Hu Yuying's side.
"Yuying, let me pay for your breakfast."
Hearing this, Hu Yuying turned and gave Ye Liangchen a puzzled look. "No, thank you."
"Please, let me." Ye Liangchen knew about Hu Yuying's difficult family situation.
She lived with her elderly grandparents, who no longer had any source of income.
Hu Yuying lived frugally, and sometimes even took on part-time jobs during holidays to make ends meet. She worked so hard!
Yet Long Aotian, this scoundrel, had the audacity to make her buy him food.
What he was eating wasn't breakfast—it was Hu Yuying's blood and sweat. How could he stomach it?
In his dream, he hadn't known about this at first. It was only later that he realized how much Hu Yuying had struggled.
He had felt so much regret and remorse!
Now that he knew the truth, he couldn't just stand by and watch Hu Yuying be treated this way.
"No, really, you don't need to. Just pay for your own." Hu Yuying sidestepped, avoiding any contact with the boy in front of her.
"Let me do it. Your family's situation isn't great. The money you spend on breakfast could cover your living expenses for several days!"
"I'm doing this for your own good. Please don't refuse."
Hearing this, Hu Yuying couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. Noticing that many people in the cafeteria were now looking her way, she instinctively wanted to lower her head.
"My little follower doesn't need your concern." Long Aotian pulled out his meal card and paid for the breakfast himself.
Afterward, he glanced around the room.
Everyone who had been ready to watch the drama quickly averted their eyes.
Long Aotian's actions were a clear message to everyone: Hu Yuying was under his protection.
At this moment, Long Aotian suddenly felt grateful to the author for writing him as an unapproachable delinquent, a villain.
It really came in handy.
Then he turned to Ye Liangchen. "Don't you think you're being too much?"
"Are you just going to stand there? Are you planning to eat while standing?" This last remark was directed at Hu Yuying.
Hearing Long Aotian's words, Hu Yuying pursed her lips and nodded.
Then she carried her tray back to her seat in the cafeteria.
Watching Long Aotian's retreating figure, Ye Liangchen mustered his courage and said, "How am I being too much? You don't care about Hu Yuying, you just want to bully her. Why can't I care about her?"
But his voice was so soft that not only did Long Aotian not hear him, even the cafeteria lady serving food just asked curiously, "Young man, what are you saying? Speak up if you want to order something!"
Ye Liangchen closed his eyes and exhaled. "Two eggs, two cups of soy milk, and six buns. How much is that?"

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! ...

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!