"Give it to your mother? Do you only have a mother? Don’t you have a father?" Old Fang’s words nearly made Fang Zhiyi laugh out loud.
He couldn’t be bothered to play along with the act. Stepping forward, he deliberately hesitated before pulling out the last hundred yuan from his pocket and handing it over. "This was meant for Mother—" Before he could finish, Old Fang snatched the money away, cursing under his breath. "All you ever think about is your mother, your mother! Your mother’s dead!" With that, he kicked Second Son, signaling him to leave.
"And mark my words! I’ll be back when you get your paycheck!" Old Fang brandished a kitchen knife as he walked away.
However, the two didn’t make it far before being tackled by several police officers.
One of the officers seized the knife, his expression icy. "Well, well—armed robbery in broad daylight, and you thought you could just run off?"
Old Fang and Second Son were dumbfounded. Since when had this become armed robbery?
The story went back to Senior Li and Junior Li. Since joining Fang Zhiyi’s small workshop, their income had gradually increased. But Fang Zhiyi had warned them to keep it quiet—after all, they were still employed at the factory, and word getting out wouldn’t look good. So they kept their joy to themselves. At the factory, Fang Zhiyi was just an ordinary technician, but in the workshop, he was the boss. When they saw someone threatening to ruin their livelihood, and heard Fu Chunmei mutter, "If you’re just asking for money, why bring a knife? If this gets reported, it’ll count as armed robbery," Junior Li exchanged a glance with his brother before sprinting off to call the police. They were well aware of Fang Zhiyi’s family troubles, especially his absurd parents.
The police took robbery cases seriously and immediately apprehended the Fang father and son.
After sorting out the truth, the officers detained them for a few days—mostly as a warning. Whether they were demanding money from their son or not, waving a knife around and snatching cash was already a serious offense.
When they were finally released from the station, the two were seething with resentment—and they’d lost two kitchen knives in the process.
By the time they got home, Old Fang’s temper flared again.
Someone was hauling things out of their house. Old Fang charged forward, throwing punches and shouting, "Thieves!"
The man who’d been hit immediately dropped what he was carrying and fought back. More people rushed out from the yard, pummeling Old Fang as he yelled, "Your old man’s getting beaten to death! Are you blind?!"
Second Son stood frozen in place, watching his tyrannical father take a beating—and feeling a faint sense of satisfaction. Another reason he didn’t intervene was that he recognized one of the men: his uncle. They didn’t interact much, but he remembered him. According to his mother, this uncle was a good-for-nothing, a chronic freeloader.
Sure enough, Fang’s Mother stepped in to stop them from beating her husband further. Bloodied and disheveled, Old Fang glared at her, now dressed in gaudy clothes. "What the hell are you doing?!"
Fang’s Mother sneered. "Me? What about you? You went to our son for money? If he gives it to you, what do I get?"
Old Fang finally understood—Fang Zhiyi had tattled on him.
"I’ve had enough. Today, I’m divorcing you! Everything I brought as dowry, everything I bought—I’m taking it all! Second Son stays with you. The Eldest and Third Son come with me!" She’d done the math carefully, especially after hearing Fang Zhiyi mention his promotion and raise. Now that she had financial security, she was determined to stand up for her cash cow—especially since that useless old man had tried to steal her money!
"Divorce? Over my dead body!" Old Fang roared.
Fang’s Mother’s brother leaned down, his face inches from Old Fang’s. "You refuse? How about I beat you once a day until you change your mind? Want to test me?"
Old Fang shrank back, but the thought of his eldest son’s city wages made him shake his head. "No way! Go ahead, kill me if you dare!"
The brother-in-law had no real leverage, so he turned to Fang’s Mother instead.
The farce was temporarily put on hold after the village chief intervened, but the tension in the Fang household was unbearable. Second Son tiptoed around, terrified of making a single mistake that might earn him a beating.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyi submitted his resignation to the factory.
Lin Jianguo tried to persuade him to stay. "Kid, I’ve seen what your parents are like, but you don’t have to quit. I’ll talk to security—next time, we’ll just keep them out."
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "Uncle Lin, there’s another reason I’m leaving. I have a project I want to pursue."
"A project?" Lin Jianguo looked puzzled.
Fang Zhiyi smiled but didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t the right time yet.
Despite Lin Jianguo’s insistence that Fang Zhiyi hadn’t caused any real trouble, he stuck to his decision. That same day, he splurged on a feast in the cafeteria for his coworkers and gave a rousing speech.
"Honestly, I think my brother’s speeches are way better than the factory director’s," Lin Xiaowei said between bites, still showering praise.
Lin Jianguo frowned. "Don’t talk nonsense." His daughter had fully embraced the idea of Fang Zhiyi as her honorary brother, but it also made Lin Jianguo feel a little guilty toward him.
And just like that, Fang Zhiyi walked away from the machinery factory, leaving behind a legend—the man driven to quit by his own parents.
"A tape recorder?" Senior Li frowned, having just arrived after his shift. "What’s that?"
Fang Zhiyi gave a rough explanation and pulled out a sketch. Based on the timeline, similar products would hit the international market within two years—they had to move fast.
"But we don’t have most of the components here," another technician pointed out.
Fang Zhiyi grinned. "Leave that to me."
The next day, he registered a company and bought a train ticket to Guangzhou. At the time, Guangzhou was the country’s biggest hub for import-export trade. If you needed something, you could find it there—it was the city’s golden age.
While he was busy building his business, Fang’s Mother was left in shock. She went looking for her eldest son, only to be told he’d resigned—forced out by his father.
Standing outside the factory gates, she thought about her nice clothes, the monthly allowance, the meals her son had treated her to, and his promise that after his promotion, he’d move her into the city.
Resentment boiled inside her. That useless Fang Zhiyi had thrown away an iron rice job! But since he was nowhere to be found, her anger shifted to Old Fang. If not for him, she’d still be enjoying her son’s filial support—and planning her move to the city!
Third Son also returned empty-handed. Dejected at the thought of no more pool games, no more thrilling movies at the video parlor, no more treating his buddies to feasts, he punched the wall in frustration. It was all that damn father’s fault—and Second Son’s too!
His gaze drifted. His eldest brother had walked him down this path many times, and he’d once joked that there was plenty of scrap metal behind this wall—that if they were ever broke, they could just haul it out and sell it.
Third Son narrowed his eyes.
As soon as Fang Zhiyi stepped off the train and exited the station, someone grabbed him from behind: "Don't move!"
Without even turning his head, he raised his elbow and aimed for the assailant's throat—stopping just short of impact.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
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.
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...
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
