In the past, Li Zhiyan had never experienced anything related to romance between men and women.
His first kiss, even, had been taken by Shen Hongmei just last night, when she had made him sit on her lap.
Then, she taught him how to kiss.
Li Zhiyan knew he would never, ever forget that moment.
And what came after, the madness, made Li Zhiyan feel like his soul had left his body. The Valentino heels by the pillow, the torn stockings—all of it lingered in his heart with indescribable yearning. He swore to himself that one day, he must claim Shen Hongmei's incredible, long legs in those Valentinos and stockings for his own.
Shaking off those thoughts, Li Zhiyan finally entered his rented flat. He was living in an old neighborhood, purely a walk-up, without elevators. According to Lai Feifei, this was a property she'd bought awaiting demolition, but unfortunately, the demolition plans didn't extend to this area, so it ended up sitting there. Most of the other old properties she'd bought had already undergone demolition. Thinking about it, Li Zhiyan couldn't help but marvel at how this booze-drinking "lucky koi" was truly living up to her nickname!
This Shanghai Aunt had absolutely unbeatable luck.
When he got home, a woman in a plaid shirt was cooking in the kitchen.
It was Shang Shunsheng's mother, Zhao Shumin. Li Zhiyan never had a good impression of these two, mother and son.
If Shen Hongmei was a strong, feisty woman—
Then Zhao Shumin was a downright raging shrew.
Shen Hongmei was the type to make her point reasonably, but for those who rubbed her the wrong way, she'd often drop the line, "Your mama is your actual mother."
However, to her own Aunt Shen, she was always gentle. Just earlier in the car, she had stretched her gorgeous legs onto the windshield and talked to him about plenty of deep principles.
Zhao Shumin, though, was completely unreasonable, with tantrums and hysterics as her weapons of choice.
Li Zhiyan had seen her fight with neighbors before—the elderly lady next door had her shirt ripped open by Zhao Shumin, exposing her red lingerie.
But, as much as Zhao Shumin was insufferably shrewish—
Her looks were undeniably exquisite. Even that tacky plaid shirt couldn't hide her beauty, radiating a mature and elegant charm befitting her status as a classic beauty mom.
Zhao Shumin, standing at about 165 cm, also had an incredibly striking F-cup figure.
Shen Hongmei boasted an impressive E-cup.
And the cheeky chatterbox koi, Aunt Lai, measured in at a D-cup, which was no small feat considering her petite 160 cm frame.
But Zhao Shumin, this full-on shrew with an F-cup bust, must have found walking downright exhausting!
To top it off, her perky, round butt was also remarkable.
Li Zhiyan could definitely appreciate her physique.
Still, recalling Zhao Shumin's volatile and screeching personality, Li Zhiyan thought it best to steer clear of her.
She was not someone to mess with; the image of her face-off with the elderly neighbor, complete with tearing undergarments, was enough to make his scalp tingle.
Once back in his room, Li Zhiyan decided to test out the system's [Never Forget] ability.
He looked up a news article online to check his memory.
After glancing at it, he closed his eyes.
To his astonishment, he found that he could vividly recall every single detail of the article.
Even his old teachers' lectures from class came flooding back to him.
Past college entrance exam questions, basketball celebrity stats, the strap of the girl who sat in the front row in middle school…
When Li Zhiyan opened his eyes—
He realized he seemed to have gained an extraordinary ability!
"If that's the case…"
"Doesn't that mean I can learn things at lightning speed?"
Remembering past lessons, Li Zhiyan suddenly blurted out a string of English, fluent and effortless.
"If it's like this, at the very least, I could learn multiple languages and become a translator."
"Someone proficient in rare languages? That's a specialized talent, right?"
Soon after, he found a website and began teaching himself French.
With his superhuman memory, his progress was astounding.
Only when it was past ten in the evening did Li Zhiyan leave his room to use the restroom.
However, seeing the bathroom light on, he decided to sit on the couch in the living room to wait.
"When I have money, I need to rent a place all to myself; this shared living arrangement is just too inconvenient,"
Li Zhiyan thought to himself. After a while, Shang Shunsheng's gaunt and slightly tanned girlfriend walked out.
When she saw Li Zhiyan sitting on the couch, she immediately shouted at him.
"You pervert! What are you doing sitting on the couch?!"
Li Zhiyan: "???"
"The couch is a common area. Why can't I sit here?"
"The couch faces the bathroom. Were you spying on me in there?! I already thought it was creepy how you wander around the house in shorts all day!"
"I'm calling the police!"
"Are you crazy?"
"For fuck's sake, look in the mirror before you accuse someone! See if you're even worth looking at!"
Li Zhiyan wasn't about to put up with Shang Shunsheng's girlfriend's nonsense.
Moments later, Shang Shunsheng himself came out.
"Stop yelling,"
he said, pulling his girlfriend, Liu Yan, behind him.
"Li Zhiyan, from now on, don't walk around the house in shorts and a T-shirt. And knock before coming into common areas!"
"We rented two rooms in this apartment, while you only rented one!"
"If you offend my girlfriend again, don't blame me for using my fists."
Li Zhiyan couldn't help but laugh in fury.
It was 36 degrees outside, and they expected him to wear long sleeves?
"I'm paying rent too. Now you're telling me I have to knock just to step into the living room?"
"And who the hell do you think you are?"
Before coming to Shanghai to work, Shang Shunsheng had been a complete delinquent, regularly getting into fights back in school.
Eventually expelled, he came to Shanghai and somehow found himself a scrawny, dark-skinned girlfriend.
"Screw you and your mother!"
Li Zhiyan's words instantly enraged Shang Shunsheng, who threw a punch directly at him!
Li Zhiyan wasn't one to take a beating lying down. He knew that if he lost this fight today, life here would only get tougher for him!
Reacting quickly, he threw two punches at Shang Shunsheng, then seized an opportunity to grab Shang Shunsheng's neck and squeeze tightly, slamming him to the ground.
In a brawl, moves like the Naked Strangulation were practically unbeatable once you executed them!
Seeing this, Liu Yan immediately decided this wasn't her battle to fight, edging cautiously toward the wall to stay out of it.
At that moment, Zhao Shumin stormed out of the spare bedroom, lunging at Li Zhiyan and holding him in a vice-like grip from behind.
"Let go of my son!"
The ripping sound of fabric filled the air as Zhao Shumin, the raging shrew, tore a hole in Li Zhiyan's T-shirt.