Fang Zhiyi's eyes burned with fury. "You hear me?"
The factory manager frowned. "That doesn’t justify hitting someone without cause!"
Fang Zhiyi smirked. "I don’t care about cause—I care about who’s on my side. That bastard harassed my sister. Are you handling it, or do I have to?"
Horse-Face Man staggered to his feet. "You hit me! I’ll call the police!"
Fang Zhiyi cracked his neck. "Go ahead. I’ll take my punishment, and when I get out, I’ll hit you again."
The factory manager’s voice turned stern. "Young man, this won’t end well for you. Police records tarnish reputations."
Fang Zhiyi spread his arms. "Reputation? Ask around—when has mine ever been good?"
The manager glanced at Fang Wanyun, realization dawning.
"If you’re resigning, just process the paperwork," he muttered, turning to leave.
"Manager, he attacked me—" Horse-Face Man pleaded, still shaken by the slaps. Fang Zhiyi’s threats had cowed him; now his only hope was the manager’s intervention.
"Hold it," Fang Zhiyi snapped. "What about him harassing my sister? What’s that count for?"
The manager paused. "Must you escalate this?"
Fang Zhiyi scowled. "Escalate? It was already escalated. Or are you blind?"
The manager sighed. "If this spreads, how will your sister face people?"
Fang Zhiyi laughed bitterly. "So the victim’s to blame now? Little Shanzi! Call the cops! I admit I hit him—and everyone here will testify! This factory harbors a predator. Mark my words, the whole city will know this place shields degenerates."
Fang Wanyun moved to pull him back, but he shielded her instead.
"If they’re this bold in public, imagine what happens behind closed doors!"
"You—!" The manager was at a loss.
Fang Zhiyi raised his voice. "They say women hold up half the sky—but scum like this drags society down! Am I right?"
"Right!" A female worker stood abruptly. "Call the police! He’s always groping us under the guise of ‘inspections’!"
"Exactly! Report him!"
One voice sparked others.
Horse-Face Man’s face was now an indistinct mess of swelling and redness, his defiance reduced to silent glaring.
The police arrived swiftly. In an era without surveillance, witness testimony was crucial. After gathering statements, Fang Zhiyi and Horse-Face Man were both hauled away.
"Sis, go to the stall first. Mom’s waiting. I’ll catch up later," Fang Zhiyi said breezily.
Fang Wanyun couldn’t speak. For the first time, she felt her younger brother’s protection—but she dreaded the consequences.
The Fang household was tense until Fang Zhiyi walked through the door.
"Thank heavens!" Fang’s Mother rushed to inspect him. Fang Zhiyi grinned. "Relax, I was just being a good Samaritan."
Old Fang snorted. "Samaritan? You’d do better staying out of trouble!" He retreated to his room without another word.
Fang’s Mother whispered, "Don’t mind him. He was pacing earlier, ready to storm the station for you."
Fang Zhiyi chuckled, then noticed Fang Wanyun’s tears.
"At least he’s not rotten to the core," Li Cuixia muttered. Fang Dingbang elbowed her, and she grumbled under her breath.
"Enough gloom! Money time!" Fang Zhiyi announced.
That day’s earnings totaled seventy-two yuan, lifting the family’s spirits.
Fang Zhiyi distributed the cash immediately—everyone except Old Fang and his eldest brother got a share. Old Fang grumbled, "Should’ve paid debts first, not handed out money."
The reminder of Fang Zhiyi’s past gambling debts cast a shadow.
"Take it," Fang Zhiyi insisted. "We’ll earn this much daily—debts will be cleared in no time."
His confidence steadied them. Li Cuixia pocketed her share at once.
Fang Zhiyi sketched new designs while Fang’s Mother enlisted neighbors to sew older styles. The latest creations were kept in-house.
But imitation was inevitable. Soon, knockoffs flooded the market—cheaper, courtesy of Fang Wanyun’s former factory.
Fang Wanyun fumed. "They’re exploiting their factory connections!"
Sales dipped. Without Fang Zhiyi’s relentless innovation, their business might’ve collapsed.
"I’m giving them a piece of my mind!" Fang’s Mother marched toward the door, Li Cuixia at her heels—eager for a fight.
Fang Zhiyi stopped them. "What’s there to argue? No law against copying. You’ll just come back angrier."
After calming them, he tallied their savings. Enough to repay debts, with a little left.
"I’ve got another idea," he said.
The next day, Fang Zhiyi, Fang Wanyun, and Li Cuixia (on leave) set up stalls in different locations. Fang Zhiyi’s sign read:
"Trendy hair ties—all styles, all sizes! Eight for one yuan!"
The bargain drew crowds, especially young women. Though profits were slim, volume soared. His designs outpaced the copycats.
Days later, Little Shanzi found him.
"Fang-ge, I think I found that guy you described."
Fang Zhiyi stiffened. "Seriously?"
Little Shanzi hesitated. "Maybe? You said to look for someone odd but handsome, the type girls notice..."
"Where?"
"Outside the night school, selling junk from a cart."
Fang Zhiyi beamed, clapping Little Shanzi’s shoulder.
That evening, chaos erupted at home: Fang Zhiyi took all their savings without explanation and vanished.
The family’s hearts sank.
"He fooled us all!" Li Cuixia seethed. She’d believed he’d changed—only for him to betray them spectacularly.
Even Fang Dingbang didn’t defend him.
Old Fang exhaled smoke, heavy with disappointment.
Fang Wanyun lowered her head—then lifted it. "Little Brother isn’t that person."
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."
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...
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.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
