“How can that be?” The man with square-framed glasses frowned. “We agreed on five thousand, so it’s five thousand.”
He pulled a stack of bills from a drawer and tossed them onto the table. Old Man Gao’s eyes gleamed at the sight of the money, and without hesitation, he reached for it—only to be abruptly blocked.
“But first, you’ll need to prove he was the one who hit you. Then, you’ll go to the hospital for an examination. If you’re injured, we’ll pay you fifty thousand, let alone five. But if you’re not…”
Beside him, a young man drove a cleaver into the floor with a thud.
Old Man Gao shuddered. He had targeted this seemingly meek young man precisely because he thought he had no connections. Who knew he had backup?
“Business has been slow lately, so my boys and I could use a long-term meal ticket,” the bespectacled man said, adjusting his glasses.
“What are you trying to do?” Old Man Gao blustered. “Dare to lay a hand on an old man? I’d like to see you try!”
“Who said anything about hitting you, Grandpa? Take the money. But we do things by the book—by the law. Show us the evidence, get checked at the hospital, and we’re good. Fair enough?”
Staring at the five thousand yuan, Old Man Gao swallowed hard, greed flooding his mind again. Take the money first—if things went south, he could always claim he couldn’t walk. They wouldn’t dare harass him at home! His fingers closed around the cash.
“Xiao Wu, if the ‘injured’ party can’t walk, take a few brothers over to show some filial piety. Stay at the old man’s place and lend a hand.”
The young man called Xiao Wu grinned, the blade in his hand glinting coldly. “Sure thing. Just make sure there’s food.”
“Grandpa’s got money. Feeding you won’t be a problem.”
Old Man Gao’s heart leaped into his throat. Reason finally prevailed, and he reluctantly set the money down. “Never mind… It’s not that serious…”
Xiao Wu slammed a palm on the table. “Never mind? You think this is a joke?”
Old Man Gao flinched.
The once-timid young man smirked darkly. “Grandpa, take it. Otherwise, my friends here might lose their temper.”
Old Man Gao picked up the money again, and the bespectacled man promptly snapped a photo before having him escorted out.
Standing outside with the five thousand yuan in hand, Old Man Gao felt his back drenched in sweat. Two men flanked him. “Let’s go, Grandpa. We’ll walk you home.”
Old Lady Gao, unable to bear the cold concrete any longer, had long since gotten up and gone home. The jeers of onlookers didn’t faze her.
When Old Man Gao opened the door, she rushed over eagerly, her eyes crinkling with delight at the sight of the money in his hands.
But then two burly young men stepped inside, scrutinizing her while one filmed everything on his phone.
“What are you doing?” Old Lady Gao snapped.
“Grandpa, this isn’t right. Granny’s clearly fine, yet you extorted five thousand from our buddy?”
Old Man Gao opened his mouth, struggling for a retort, but his wife cut in. “Extort? Who’s extorting anyone? Who saw us do anything?”
Fang Zhiyi’s voice echoed from the stairwell. “I did. And I recorded it.” He held up his phone. Though there were no street cameras, Fang Zhiyi—having set the trap—was well-prepared.
The old couple paled. “You’re in cahoots!”
Fang Zhiyi nodded. “Yep. But you’re the ones committing fraud. The evidence is solid.”
Old Man Gao steadied himself. “So what? Call the cops on me.” At his age, he wasn’t afraid.
Fang Zhiyi bared his teeth in a grin. “Why bother with the police? Hey, print screens of this video and plaster them all over Huai City—especially with their names and address highlighted.”
One of the young men nodded. The old couple’s eyes bulged. Fang Zhiyi added, “And get one of those ad trucks to loop it outside that elite high school!”
The Gaos had a strained relationship with their children, which was why they’d moved back here. But they doted on their precious grandson! Every penny they scrounged or swindled went to him.
“H-how did you know…?” Old Man Gao stared at Fang Zhiyi’s smiling face, a chill running down his spine. “I was wrong. Take the money back.” He thrust the cash toward Fang Zhiyi.
Old Lady Gao bit her lip, reluctant but thinking of her grandson.
Fang Zhiyi patted one of the young men on the shoulder and walked downstairs without another word.
“Hey! You—” Old Man Gao tried to call after him, but two men blocked his path.
“Grandpa, since Granny’s unhurt, consider this a loan.” One produced a photo—Old Man Gao holding the money.
“What?”
The two young men smiled, their grins unsettling. “Company policy—loans can’t be repaid immediately. Minimum one month. We’ll be staying here till then.”
“You wouldn’t dare! I’ll call the police!”
Their smiles widened. “Go ahead. We’ll hand over your fraud video and spread the word ourselves.”
Old Man Gao shut his mouth.
Meanwhile, Xie Xiaoli had been running into the girl with the sports car for days. Their outfits often matched, but the other woman’s were clearly designer, while Xie Xiaoli wore knockoffs. Envy and shame gnawed at her daily.
Then, she overheard two girls whispering that standing next to the other woman made her look like a “before” photo in a before-and-after ad. She snapped. Ignoring her busy shop, she hopped on her e-bike and sped off.
At the neighborhood gate, she “coincidentally” crossed paths with the polished woman in her car.
The woman glanced at Xie Xiaoli’s ride and sighed. “What a shame.” Then she drove off.
Xie Xiaoli burned with humiliation.
Seething, she picked a fight with her useless husband that night. Unbeknownst to her, Luo Chenghui had been stewing too. He’d been added to a group where people gossiped, always sneering at those who pretended to be rich. Feeling targeted, he’d gotten defensive—only to be bombarded with photos of luxury cars and watches. Luo Chenghui retaliated with fake images, got called out, mocked, and kicked from the group.
The couple’s fight escalated, each blaming the other for being useless and wasteful.
Finally, Xie Xiaoli dialed a number. A bald man answered smoothly. “Xing’an Loans, hello?” Jotting down notes, he smiled. “Your name? Age?”
“Xie Xiaoli, 28, right? Got it.”
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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.
