“Host, you can’t keep acting like before…” Xiaoxiaohei had clearly grown much smarter.
Fang Zhiyi waved his hand and said, “I know, I know. I won’t do anything this time, alright?”
Xiaoxiaohei looked at Fang Zhiyi with a mix of doubt and suspicion.
Just then, Fang’s father returned home. He glanced at Fang Zhiyi sitting there and let out a soft sigh. “Son, where’s your mother?”
Fang Zhiyi looked up briefly and shook his head. “Don’t know.”
“That old woman’s probably gone to help out at Second Son’s place again. She’s really something…”
Fang Zhiyi’s eyes suddenly rolled back. “She’s gone to help Second Brother’s place again?”
Fang’s father realized he’d slipped up. “Your second brother’s having a hard time alone these days, after all…”
“Oh, so you can’t even take care of your own home, but you’re worrying about someone else’s?” Hu Xiulian walked in at that moment, her two sons trailing behind her.
“Fang Zhiyi, look, your second brother’s family is much better off than ours, and your mother still rushes over there to help, all for free, with no one lifting a finger in return, huh!”
Her face was full of sourness, and the powder on her cheeks flaked off with every exaggerated expression, making Fang Zhiyi’s eyes twitch.
This original host must have had some issues with his eyesight too.
But Fang Zhiyi frowned and said, “That makes sense!”
As he stood up, Hu Xiulian looked smug. “Exactly! Parents are supposed to be everyone’s responsibility, so why is it just our family taking care of them?” Her only demand was to push the elders away.
Then, Fang Zhiyi turned to Liu Wen and Liu Wu. “You two, run an errand for me. Go fetch your Uncle Fang Da and Second Uncle Fang! I want to have a proper talk with them!”
Hu Xiulian wasn’t thrilled about Fang Zhiyi bossing around her sons, but since he seemed to be following her plan, she let it slide.
Liu Wen and Liu Wu didn’t move. Instead, they looked at Hu Xiulian.
Fang Zhiyi frowned. “What? You can’t even run a simple errand?”
Liu Wen said, “Mom, I still have homework to do.”
Hu Xiulian couldn’t hold back anymore. “Listen here, Fang Zhiyi…”
But then Fang Zhiyi pulled a crumpled five-yuan note from his pocket. “Liu Wu, come here!”
Liu Wu’s eyes lit up, and he stepped forward quickly. “Uncle Fang.”
“Take this, run that errand for me, and use the money to treat yourself to something good.” Fang Zhiyi handed the money to Liu Wu and patted his shoulder warmly.
Overjoyed, Liu Wu pocketed the cash and dashed off.
Liu Wen’s eyes went wide, but he’d already claimed he had homework—how could he back down now?
“Liu Wen, you’d better get to your homework quickly, don’t waste time,” Fang Zhiyi said with a smile.
Watching Fang Zhiyi be so generous toward Hu Xiulian’s sons, Fang’s father turned his face away, sighing to himself about how he’d raised such a clueless brat.
“Where’s Fang Xiaolian?” Hu Xiulian suddenly remembered the little girl wasn’t working.
Fang Zhiyi replied, “She got into trouble today, so I’ve grounded her!” He paused. “City people say that if a kid misbehaves, grounding them fixes it.”
Hu Xiulian glanced suspiciously at the closed door of the small room but didn’t push it, now fully focused on waiting for the oldest and second brothers to arrive.
Liu Wu, motivated by the money, ran straight to Fang Da’s place to deliver the news, then headed to the fish pond to find Second Brother Fang. After that, he cheerfully went to the village shop to spend the cash.
Upon hearing the message, the two didn’t think twice and hurried to Fang Zhiyi’s house.
Fang Zhiyi didn’t mince words. Right in front of his parents, he started yelling, “Are Mom and Dad solely my responsibility? I feed them, clothe them, and give them a roof over their heads, and the two of you just pretend not to see it?”
Fang Da and Second Brother Fang exchanged glances.
They had probably guessed what it was about, but they didn’t expect him to get straight to the point, without any pretense, the moment they sat down. Still, it was entirely in character for Fang Zhiyi.
“Third Son, this house belongs to Mom and Dad. They’re used to living here, and you’re staying in it too, so it’s only natural…” Fang Da pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Fang Zhiyi waved him off. “Stop right there. Don’t make it sound like I’ve stolen your inheritance. If you’ve got a problem, then split the house into three shares—one for each of us!”
Hu Xiulian fidgeted frantically, tugging at Fang Zhiyi from behind, but he didn’t even look back.
Then Second Brother Fang spoke up. “This old house is tiny. How can we split it? Third Son, you’re the youngest, so take it. I’m fine living near the fish pond.”
Fang Da chimed in, “Right, I have my own house.”
“Have some shame! The fish pond—whose land do you think that is? And the land you built your house on, was it yours? All I’ve got is this old house, and you still have plenty to say!”
“You…”
“Me what? I don’t want to waste words. Either you take Mom and Dad in, one month each, or you pay up!”
Fang Zhiyi threw the ultimatum out bluntly, and the room fell into a range of awkward expressions. No one found it surprising, though—Fang Zhiyi had pulled stunts like this before.
“Third Son, look…”
“Enough talk!” Fang Zhiyi suddenly stood up. “Otherwise, I’ll kick them out, and then we’ll see what the villagers say! I don’t care about my reputation, but you…”
Fang Da and Second Brother Fang’s faces went pale. It was true—Fang Zhiyi was already notorious, but they still had faces to save. If he went through with it, they’d never hear the end of the gossip.
And knowing Fang Zhiyi, he’d say it and do it without hesitation.
Inside, the mother was silently wiping tears as she went into the bedroom, and the father followed with a heavy sigh.
Fang Xiaolian, who was still reading in her room, saw her grandparents come in. She took her grandmother’s hand to comfort her. The paper-thin walls meant she’d heard everything her father said.
But she didn’t know what she could do. Maybe someday, when she’d made something of herself, she could take her grandparents away.
Fang Xiaolian silently made that vow.
From outside, arguments rose and fell, mostly Fang Zhiyi’s shouts and curses as he pounded the table.
Finally, defeated, Fang Da and Second Brother Fang agreed to give eight hundred yuan each per month for their parents’ support.
Fang Zhiyi had fully adopted the original host’s shamelessness. He stretched out his hand for the cash on the spot. His brothers gritted their teeth and handed it over. As soon as he pocketed the money, he immediately kicked them out.
“Still here? Waiting for dinner?”
Fang Xiaolian knew it was time to head to the kitchen to help, or her stepmother would be upset. She let go of her grandmother’s hand and was about to leave when Fang Zhiyi pushed the door open.
“Dad…” Fang Xiaolian stepped back a few paces.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
