The next day.
On a street in Jianghai.
A figure who seemed out of place with the surrounding crowd walked down the street.
She curiously observed her surroundings, occasionally stopping to marvel at things that were entirely new to her.
For example, at this moment, she was completely captivated by a pristine white wedding dress displayed in a transparent shop window.
Ning Qian seemed to recall a memory from her childhood, when her senior brother, Xiao Lin, had draped a white cloth over her head and told her he would come to marry her someday.
Unable to resist, she reached out and pressed her hand against the window, staring intently at the wedding dress.
Senior brother... where are you now?
Do you still remember our promise? As she thought about it, the corners of her lips curved into a slight smile, and her eyes took on a shy, dreamy expression.
Just then.
A familiar voice reached her ears: "Huh... I remember you... Ning Qian?"
Ning Qian snapped out of her reverie, quickly hiding her smile as she turned toward the source of the voice.
There stood Gu Yan, holding a shopping bag filled with groceries, with Old Gao trailing behind him.
The two seemed to be out shopping for food.
Gu Yan stood there, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The young master of the Gu Family had left quite an impression on her that night.
So she nodded in response: "What a coincidence."
As she spoke, her gaze fell on the grocery bag in Gu Yan's hand, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Her expression seemed to ask—why would a young master from a prominent family need to buy groceries himself?
As if reading her thoughts, Gu Yan chuckled and said, "Are you wondering why I'm out buying groceries?"
"Haha... it's because I haven't cooked for my dear wife in a while, so I'm planning to make her a meal tonight."
"But as for you, Miss Ning..."
He glanced at the wedding dress in the window and asked with a meaningful tone, "Do you like that dress?"
"I never expected the esteemed Ning Qian from Dragon King Mountain to be curious about such things..."
"Wait a minute, I recall that the young master of Dragon King Palace, Xiao Lin, also trained on Dragon King Mountain."
"Could it be that you, Miss Ning..."
Upon hearing this, Ning Qian's eyes flickered with panic. She instinctively retorted, "Young Master Gu, don't read too much into it."
"I'm just curious about these beautiful things because it's my first time coming down the mountain."
"I don't have those kinds of feelings for my senior brother, so please don't misunderstand!"
Ning Qian spoke quickly, as if trying to dismiss Gu Yan's strange assumptions.
However, her unnatural expression betrayed her true feelings.
Hearing her response, Gu Yan's eyes flickered with a hint of something unspoken, though he outwardly sighed in relief and replied, "Phew~ That's a relief."
"I was worried you really had feelings for your senior brother."
As he spoke, the corners of his lips curled slightly, and he casually added, "After all... Brother Xiao Lin seems to be getting along quite well with Miss Shen Wan'er of the Shen Family~"
Ning Qian thought she had successfully deflected the conversation.
But Gu Yan's latter words immediately froze her expression.
Wh... what?
Miss Shen Wan'er of the Shen Family?
Who is she?
Is Senior Brother Xiao Lin... dating her?
Why? How could that be? Didn't Senior Brother promise to come marry me in the future? How could he be with another woman?
No! That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Gu Yan deliberately waved his hand and prepared to leave: "Well, in that case, I'll see you next time~"
However...
Whoosh!!
"Wait! Hold on!"
Ning Qian suddenly reached out and grabbed Gu Yan's wrist. He looked at her with a puzzled expression: "Miss Ning, what's wrong?"
Ning Qian herself didn't know why she had suddenly grabbed Gu Yan.
Perhaps it was because his words had left her utterly shocked.
But...
No, how could she not trust her senior brother?
Young Master Gu had no evidence...
She couldn't just take his words at face value. She had to find her senior brother and see for herself!
She released Gu Yan's wrist, her expression gradually calming as she apologized, "I'm sorry... it's nothing."
Ning Qian clasped her hands in a polite gesture and then quickly walked away.
Gu Yan watched her retreating figure, a glint of something unreadable in his eyes.
Perfect, now all that's left is to wait for things to unfold.
Hehehe~~~~~ I can't wait to see your reaction when the time comes~
Gu Yan couldn't help but smirk: "Let's go, Old Gao."
Shopping for groceries while setting up a trap—what could be more satisfying than that?
Next up... hmm, it's time for the Jianghai High School arc.
Gu Yan recalled the original plot.
[The Night] might be the world's nightmare, but it wasn't without its fervent followers.
Among them was an organization called [Black Flame].
They were fanatical devotees of the Night King, and their leader urged all who wished to follow the Night King to join them in bringing chaos and disaster to the world.
And so... the original plot's [Jianghai High School Demonic Cultivator Invasion Incident] was born.
At that time, the story's turning point came after Leng Ling'er's death, which caused the Night Organization to act more frequently.
[Black Flame] noticed that the Night King had finally returned after five years.
And so... these fanatics began launching demonic attacks across the world, hoping to draw the Night King's attention by carrying out large-scale atrocities.
Soon, Jianghai High School became their target.
In the original story, the demonic cultivators from Black Flame infiltrated the school and, one morning, launched an attack on Jianghai High School, intending to kill everyone in the building and ignite a wave of crime in Jianghai City.
Then, the plot followed a familiar pattern. Since Xiao Lin happened to know a beautiful teacher at Jianghai High School, he disguised himself as a security guard and snuck in.
In the process, he got caught up in the incident and met Deng Feng, the heir to the Black Tortoise Gate. The two became brothers.
Together, they thwarted the evil plans of these madmen.
From then on, Deng Feng became Xiao Lin's most reliable shield!
However, because Leng Qingqiu discovered that Deng Feng had become associated with Xiao Lin, she decided to torment both of them and make them experience the pain of losing loved ones one by one.
So, she first killed the other members of the Black Tortoise Gate.
Later, before each of the villains controlled by Leng Qingqiu were killed, their most frequent last words were...
[Someday, everyone around you will die one by one. This is the curse that the great one has placed upon you... hahahaha!!!]
And indeed, the later plot confirmed this.
Whether it was the female lead, the second female lead, the third female lead, or the second and third male leads, once they became involved with Xiao Lin, their family members, loved ones, and friends were killed one by one before their eyes, all orchestrated by Leng Qingqiu's subordinates.
Truly, Leng Qingqiu in her dark form was terrifying. No wonder the protagonists could only achieve a mutual destruction with her after exhausting all their efforts.
But in this lifetime, Leng Ling'er was still alive, so how the plot would unfold was something Gu Yan couldn't predict.
After finishing his thoughts, Gu Yan had a rough plan in mind.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the story to begin!