The couple was stunned.
Fang Jianguo spoke up: "Dad... we didn’t know you were coming... And that old woman, I know her—she has no children or family, she’s really pitiful..."
"Hmph, it’s not like I don’t have children, but it seems like I might as well not." Fang Zhiyi picked up a wilted vegetable leaf, his eyes fixed sharply on Fang Jianguo.
Fang Jianguo’s ears turned red. After a moment, he said, "Dad, I’ll go buy you some ready-made dishes." With that, he stood up and left.
Chen Meihua wanted to say something, but seeing Fang Zhiyi’s expression, she kept quiet and lowered her head to eat plain rice. She glanced at the three children: "Eat up."
Fang Zhiyi coughed. "No rush. Wait till your father comes back with meat."
At the mention of meat, the three children exchanged glances.
"Dad, we do eat meat normally..." Chen Meihua said with an awkward smile.
Fang Zhiyi picked up his chopsticks and stirred the vegetable soup. "Listening to you, I’d think I’d been reborn back into my childhood. Do you even know what year it is now? Huh? Eating like this every day?"
Chen Meihua didn’t dare argue with her father-in-law, silently praying he’d leave after just one day.
Fang Jianguo returned with some braised dishes, though they were mostly vegetables with little meat. Fang Zhiyi’s expression remained sour, but seeing the eager looks in the children’s eyes, he didn’t press further.
"Go ahead and eat."
When Fang Jianguo saw his son’s chopsticks reaching toward his grandfather’s plate, he quickly stopped him: "Fang Xiao, can’t you just eat what’s in front of you?"
But Fang Zhiyi pushed the entire plate of braised dishes toward the children. "I’ve been traveling all day—my appetite isn’t great. You eat it."
The youngest, Fang Yue, took a bite first, then her two brothers followed. Fang Jianguo was about to say something when another slap landed on his head.
"Dad? Why’d you hit me?" He clutched his head in shock.
Fang Zhiyi flicked his hand. "Don’t talk while eating. Didn’t I teach you that?"
Fang Jianguo had no choice but to lower his head and eat.
With flavor finally in his mouth, Fang Xiao suddenly thought this grumpy grandfather’s visit might not be so bad after all.
The next morning, Fang Xiao was woken by voices in the living room.
"What? Dad, you’re not going back?" Chen Meihua’s voice rang out.
Fang Zhiyi nodded. "I’m old. Can’t work anymore. Go back and starve?"
Fang Jianguo looked at him, recalling the strength in his slap yesterday—hardly the frailty of someone who "couldn’t work."
"Dad, Meihua and I are busy with work, and we don’t earn much... If you stay here..." He hesitated. Their frequent charitable acts had left them with almost no savings, and life was already tight.
Fang Zhiyi didn’t respond. Instead, he stood up, opened the door, and coughed twice.
"Heartless! Your mother died young, and I raised you single-handedly! Now you’ve got a wife and won’t take care of your own father? Everyone, come see this!"
This tactic was something Fang Zhiyi had learned from a particularly nasty old woman.
Fang Jianguo broke into a cold sweat. He hurriedly shut the door—if the neighbors found out he was mistreating his father, his reputation would be ruined. What would be the point of all his good deeds then?
"Dad!"
Fang Zhiyi paused, then raised his voice even louder. "Oh, so now you’re going to hit your own father too?"
Fang Jianguo panicked. "Stay! Stay as long as you want!" Chen Meihua even rushed to close the windows.
Only then did Fang Zhiyi sit back down, satisfied, leisurely sipping water. Honestly, playing the entitled old man felt pretty good sometimes.
Defeated, the couple sent the children off to school and prepared to leave for work.
Then Fang Zhiyi spoke again: "I want braised pork ribs for dinner."
"Ribs?" Chen Meihuai froze. "That’s so expensive..."
"Give me the money, and I’ll buy them myself." Without waiting for her reply, Fang Zhiyi planted one hand on his hip and held out the other, embodying pure entitlement.
"Um... Dad, I have some money on me, but it’s meant for Uncle Chen. He fell off his bike, and his children aren’t around. I wanted to buy him some groceries..." Chen Meihua decided honesty was best.
Fang Zhiyi nodded as if enlightened, then took a deep breath. "So you’ll help some random old man but not your own father? Heartless! Everyone, come—"
Terrified of being overheard, Chen Meihua hastily pulled out the cash and handed it over to the living nightmare.
Pocketing the money, Fang Zhiyi nodded in approval. "Good. You’re dismissed."
The couple left the house with their heads down, praying the neighbors hadn’t heard the old man’s outburst. Only once they were out of the neighborhood did Chen Meihua complain, "What’s Dad doing? Trying to ruin our reputation?"
Fang Jianguo could only sigh.
"I promised to give Uncle Chen money today, but now Dad took it. What do we do?" Chen Meihua fretted.
Fang Jianguo was at a loss. "I don’t have any either. Aren’t you getting paid in a couple of days? Can’t it wait?"
Chen Meihua bit her lip. "No. I’ll borrow some from a coworker first."
As she hurried off, Fang Jianguo shook his head and headed to work.
Fang Xiao always took his siblings to school. Breakfast was usually thin porridge. He brought a bowl to Fang Zhiyi, who waved it off. "What is this? One piss and you’re hungry again."
The children stayed silent, having witnessed their grandfather’s theatrics earlier.
"I’m going out for breakfast." Fang Zhiyi pulled out the money he’d taken from Chen Meihua. At the door, he turned back. "Well? Come on!"
Fang Xiao, being the eldest, quickly urged his siblings to grab their backpacks—their faded, worn-out backpacks. Fang Zhiyi’s expression darkened at the sight.
For the first time, Fang Xiao knew what it felt like to be full after breakfast. He ate three fried dough sticks, two bowls of soy milk, and a steamed bun—not because he’d asked, but because his grandfather had ordered them, then claimed his "old stomach" couldn’t handle it. The children devoured the food.
Fang Xiao and Fang Yang were growing boys with bottomless stomachs.
Only after they finished did Fang Zhiyi watch them head to school.
Lunch was provided at school, so at least that was covered. Fang Zhiyi sighed. Who’d have thought he’d be worrying about making money in his old age?
After some scouting, he decided: a breakfast stall by the neighborhood gate! Low skill requirement, just needed early hours. Best of all, it’d ensure the kids ate well every day.
That evening, Fang Xiao and his siblings gnawed on the ribs their grandfather had stewed, sucking every last shred of meat from the bones. Fang Zhiyi watched them, then glanced at his silent son and daughter-in-law. He cleared his throat.
"I won’t be freeloading. I’ve decided to lighten your burden."
Chen Meihua and Fang Jianguo were stunned. Their father’s attitude had shifted fast. They’d been dreading the extra expenses, wondering how many good deeds they’d have to cut back on.
"I’m opening a breakfast shop," Fang Zhiyi said leisurely. "But since you’re so broke you can’t afford startup costs, I’ll settle for a stall." He spoke as if granting them a great favor.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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.
