"He said it was something very urgent, told me to give him the money, and that he'd explain when he got back. This..." Fang's Mother said anxiously. "I know my son, he wouldn't lie to me."
Li Cuixia was blunt: "Every time he went gambling before, wasn't it all lies?"
"Ah!"
Xu Nian squatted at the entrance of the night school, digesting the information he had gathered. He'd heard a small workshop selling those little decorations was doing really well lately, but those things had limited production and were too easy to copy.
He picked up the porcelain cup beside him, lost in thought, and took a sip. The tea had gone cold.
"If only this could boil water," he sighed. But the next moment, his eyes widened. Right! Boiling water! He lifted the cup to eye level.
Theoretically, this thing could be made to boil water instantly! It just needed a bit of experimentation!
Xu Nian decided he would save up capital! He was going to make it big!
Then he saw several men standing in front of his stall.
Xu Nian looked up and saw several menacing faces.
"Kid, have you paid the stall fee for setting up here?"
"Stall fee? I..." Xu Nian was just about to explain when suddenly a shout came from beside him: "Beat them up!"
Several people rushed forward. In an instant, the men in front of his stall were pushed aside. A young man walked up to the stall and rested his hand on the edge of the pushcart. "Drag them further away and give them a beating!"
"Got it, Brother Fang! Drag them away!"
"Are you okay?" Fang Zhiyi looked at the young man in front of him.
Xu Nian nodded, feeling a bit dazed. After thinking for a moment, he still asked, "Big brother, are you here to collect the stall fee too?"
Fang Zhiyi waved his hand. "No, I just saw an injustice and stepped in."
"Oh, hello, big brother. My name is Xu Nian."
"Fang Zhiyi."
After exchanging names, they both watched the beating for a good while.
"Selling these broken cups, does it make money?" Fang Zhiyi asked.
Xu Nian shook his head. "Doesn't make much, and as you can see, they're not selling."
Fang Zhiyi nodded, then suddenly locked eyes with him. "So, do you want to make money?"
Xu Nian instinctively hugged himself. "Big brother, I'm a law-abiding citizen."
Fang Zhiyi rolled his eyes. "And I'm a good person! Got any ideas? For making money."
Xu Nian looked at Fang Zhiyi warily and shook his head.
Fang Zhiyi knew what he was worried about. Without further ado, he pulled out the money from his pocket and tossed it onto Xu Nian's stall.
"Big brother, what is this?" Xu Nian was confused.
I had a dream. An awesome old man in the dream told me I'd meet my benefactor when I went out. I met you, so I've decided to invest in you.
"Invest?" Xu Nian looked at the money but didn't take it.
"Yeah, consider it your startup capital. If you make a profit, give me a share. If you lose, it's on me!" Fang Zhiyi looked very casual about it.
Xu Nian was puzzled. "Big brother, we just met. How can you trust me so much?"
Fang Zhiyi waved his hand. "Absolutely! Hey! Finished beating them? Let's go when you're done!"
Xu Nian suddenly asked, "Big brother, where do you live?"
"Don't ask. We'll meet again someday!" Fang Zhiyi left with his men.
"Wait, is the benefactor a cup seller?" Xu Nian watched Fang Zhiyi walk away, then looked at the colorful banknotes. Gritting his teeth, he pocketed them. Since he had this chance, he had to give it a try!
Fang Zhiyi, hiding in the distance, only relaxed after seeing Xu Nian leave.
"I didn't expect you to handle it like this," Little Hei said.
Fang Zhiyi snorted. "What else? Start a business myself? Aren't you afraid I'd fail before even getting halfway?"
That's right. Xu Nian was precisely the male lead of this world. Fang Zhiyi wasn't any protagonist, not even a supporting character. Xu Nian's trajectory was to face setbacks, then strive hard, invent the electric water heater, and gradually build his own business empire.
"Dealt with so many protagonists, finally get to meet one whose coattails I can ride. Why not ride them? This is called getting in on the ground floor!" Fang Zhiyi declared righteously.
"You're just lazy," Little Hei assessed pointedly.
Fang Zhiyi got a fright when he returned home. It was already late at night, and the whole family was sitting there waiting for him.
"You... you're not asleep?" Fang Zhiyi felt a bit guilty.
"Where have you been?" several of them asked almost in unison.
Fang Zhiyi scratched his head. "Went to see a business partner."
"Business partner?" Fang's Father frowned.
Fang Zhiyi nodded. "A big deal. If it works out, our family will never have to worry about food and clothing again!"
Li Cuixia snorted. "Big deal? Gambling again, right?"
Fang Zhiyi said solemnly, "I am sworn enemies with gambling and drugs!"
"Cut the nonsense. Where's the money?"
Fang Zhiyi swallowed. "Invested it."
"Invested?"
"Since when is losing at gambling called investing now?" Li Cuixia asked her husband in confusion.
Fang Zhiyi's interjection was rather ill-timed. "Actually, the nature is pretty similar."
"You brat!"
Fang Zhiyi narrowly escaped a beating. In the family, those who chose to believe him were his mom and second sister. Those who didn't were his dad and sister-in-law. Only his elder brother remained neutral.
"Go to bed early. Stop messing around. As long as your brother has food to eat, you won't starve." After everyone went to sleep, Fang Dingbang stood up and said gloomily.
Fang Zhiyi instinctively looked at his left leg. In the original plot, this very leg was broken.
"Big brother, believe me," Fang Zhiyi said.
Fang Dingbang paused, then nodded. "When you were little and stole eggs to eat, I saw the eggshells in your bed. You told me to believe you, and I did."
Fang Zhiyi felt helpless. So the original owner had completely exhausted his credit before handing the account over to him, right?
Starting from the next day, Fang Zhiyi became busy again. With his second sister and mom handling the stall, he often disappeared. Some things couldn't be explained by words alone; they could only wait for the right day to come.
Fortunately, there were still two people at home who believed in him.
The first time Fang Zhiyi entered Xu Nian's small workshop, seeing the tools hanging everywhere and the half-finished product on the table, his eyes lit up.
Xu Nian also found Fang Zhiyi always rather strange. When asked, he seemed to understand nothing about what Xu Nian was making. But whenever Xu Nian had a problem, an offhand remark from Fang Zhiyi would always clear his thinking. Yet, if asked again, Fang Zhiyi would claim to know nothing.
"Brother Fang, you are my lucky star!" Xu Nian said earnestly.
Fang Zhiyi nodded, thinking to himself, "You are my lucky star too."
With the male lead's halo, Xu Nian's progress was smooth after completing the first product. At Fang Zhiyi's request, he made an extra one. Fang Zhiyi took it home.
The whole family stared at this thing that could boil water just by plugging it in, falling into deep thought.
"So?!" Fang Zhiyi said proudly.
"Third Brother, are you saying you threw all that money in and just came up with this?" Fang Dingbang looked dumbfounded.
"What else?" Fang Zhiyi was also somewhat puzzled. What kind of reaction was this?
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...
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!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
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!
