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Chapter 1: The Debt and the Sale (Part 1) Emma Craven discovered that her life was over at exactly 2:37 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday, while trying to untie an impossible knot in her shoelace. The kitchen p...

She'd braced for a long wait before catching Qin Zheng. Instead, the moment Li Funing went to bed, the ghost delivered himself. Ling Wu went on high alert, yellow talisman clutched in her hand. What w...

Ever since that trench-coat silhouette outside the restaurant — so achingly like him — Shen Miaomiao had been jumpy as a cat. The way she looked at Lu Chen had changed. Before: the editor from hell. N...

Once Volume Two was underway, Shen Miaomiao pushed her workaholic spirit to its absolute limit. Ever since the pitch meeting approved the new book as the company's number-one flagship project, the pre...

The alarm went off at 6:12 a.m. Not 6:15, as Fábio had intended, because he’d set it incorrectly the night before—too nervous to get anything right, including his own fingers. He sat up in bed and sta...

Chapter 4: The Debt and the Sale (Part 4) Emma adjusted her posture, squared her shoulders, and took her first real step down the ground-floor corridor. The black-and-white marble beneath her sneakers...

When the game of an advanced civilization invaded and the apocalypse broke out, the world's population was cut in half in under ten years. The land humans could inhabit kept shrinking. To preserve hum...

Chapter 3: The Debt and the Sale (Part 3) His voice was exactly what she had imagined the voice of someone who read five-year contracts for fun would sound like: controlled, slightly ironic, and dange...

“Purification does not require taking my clothes off!!” The words were barely out of Xi Yan's mouth when Jiang Chen seized his hand and pressed it flat against the sculpted planes of his abdomen. Xi Y...

Yan Yu lay back down on the bed, his right hand guided by Gu Huaizhi's to reach the wound below. Applying his own ointment under Gu Huaizhi's gaze — just imagining what this round of “bedside care” wo...

Ling Wu had meant to reform this Qin Zheng. As it turned out, the man took neither the carrot nor the stick. Looked the picture of a well-read gentleman, yet petty to the bone. No wonder he died young...

Yan Yu's pale eyes flew wide open in shock. He couldn't understand why Gu Huaizhi would say that. Before he could ask, the man closed in and closed a hand around his throat. “I don't need your explana...

Chapter 15: The Kitchen and the Blood (Part 3) “Right. Okay. I… I can deal with this. I think. As long as you keep not eating me. Metaphorically and literally.” This time, the corner of Nicco’s mouth ...

Marina Lopes had known Alexander Monteiro for nine years. Nine years of meetings, crises, launches, late nights, terrible machine coffee, and excellent coffee from actual cafés. Nine years of watching...

Since Yunshu had only meant to help the scholar, and no real harm had come of it, Ling Wu was prepared to let her go. But Yunshu refused to leave. She wanted to tag along to the Li residence and see t...

The café was called Grão Verso. Fábio discovered it on his second day as an intern, when he got off the subway ten minutes early and decided to walk around the block instead of heading straight to the...

Zhu Wenxing braced himself on the entryway shoe cabinet, legs like water. The bandage on his right hand had been freshly rewrapped. Shoes changed, he ducked straight into the bathroom to wash up. As i...

Never had Ling Wu imagined that one day she'd get to see those storybook illustrations performed live, right before her eyes. It all started at noon, right after the two of them had finished enjoying ...

They had played too long and nearly forgotten the actual business at hand. With the Shen-Li wedding drawing near, Yunshu asked Ling Wu when they would go to the Li residence. She wanted to see the sch...

The timing was perfect. Zhu Wenxing waited half an hour in the parking lot across from the Verian before Wen Tingxuan finally appeared. On his arm was the girl from last time, in a striking red dress ...

Back on Mount Kunlun, Ling Wu slept for three days and three nights straight. Perhaps she had truly worn herself out; she did not dream at all. When she woke, she felt refreshed and clear-headed. As i...

Qin Zheng glanced at the rabbit lantern, then at Shen Ci's fleeing back, and shook his head, laughing. He'd likely provoked some young miss again. Setting the lantern aside, he took up his brush and w...

Zhu Wenxing kicked Li Feiyang out of the car and drove home at a hundred and twenty. He lay in the bathtub, smoking, the bandage on his right hand long since dried and soaked through again, past the p...

Zhu Wenxing dragged his exhausted, aching body back to the wreck of a "home." Two days without food, he swayed as he poured himself a glass of water and washed the pills down his throat. Bitter. He wo...

Three minutes later—no one knew what Luna had said—Victor stood where he’d been left, hollow-eyed and lost. Luna had turned, gotten into the car, and the car pulled away from the airport. Daisy didn’t...

Victor had barely stepped through his own front door when his mother’s call came in. He stared at the caller ID, brow knitting, and only answered after a few seconds. Mida’s voice came through. “Victo...

The storm clouds hung ink-black and terribly low. The instant lightning tore the sky open, the rain came down in sheets, slapping against Zhu Wenxing's face. His white shirt clung to him, cold and sti...

In Room 404 of Huaqing University. Jiang Muyao lay sprawled in her chair, staring at the freshly refreshed [Satisfaction: 99.8] on her phone's backend, on the verge of a cardiac event. "Damn it!" The ...

"I saw it all..." Gu Qing sniffled, shoving her glowing phone screen in Jiang Muyao's face. Pinned at the top of Huaqing University's anonymous forum sat a red-hot thread, its views outpacing the numb...

Valdieri House, the Small Sitting Room At Celestina's words, Rain's arms tightened around the cat without her meaning to. Her plan, coming here, had been to get it over with quickly. And now she sat o...

"Push it in deeper... no good, it's too tight, it won't go in!" "Stop wiggling, hold it steady! I'm about to burst over here!" "Ow, ow, ow... gently! Not so fast—my lower back really can't take it!" "...

Day had barely broken when the black sedan Fu Jingchen sent was already blocking the gate of the side courtyard. Lawyer Chen stood by the car door in a neatly pressed gray suit, holding last night's u...

Chapter 5: The Debt and the Sale (Part 5) The corridor curved gently to the left and suddenly opened into a wider area: the entrance to the kitchen, judging by the distant scent of dried herbs and the...

The two stopped at first contact and fought to no decision, to the deep disappointment of everyone watching. Military academy students, young and hot-blooded—competitive to the bone was only natural. ...

When she reached Qingchen's room, he was sitting on the couch fully robed, eyes clear—looking for all the world like he'd been awake for quite a while. Ling Wu carried in a plate piled with almond cri...

At dusk, Qingchen led Ling Wu back and reached out to tear the notice from the board. A swarm of servants materialized on the spot, hoisted up a sedan chair, and bore the two of them off to the Shen r...

To say Xu Yan was devastated at seeing Shen Li walk out of Shi Wei's room would be an understatement. What was this? Yesterday they were "just childhood friends," and now they're sleeping together? Th...

"Let's just see how big your appetite really is." When Fu Jingchen said this, I expected him to throw his chair over and storm out, the way the novel wrote it. Instead he tossed his lighter onto the c...

Chapter 2: The Debt and the Sale (Part 2) That night, the family home was filled with a heavy silence. Her mother cried in the bathroom with the faucet running. Her brother pretended to study, but Emm...