Out in the western suburbs, without the bothersome "adopted son" around, Fang Zhiyi felt the air itself was fresher. He knew it wouldn't be easy to deal with Nian'an right now, so he simply continued with his own tasks.
"That's the third young man the boss has sent out," said Liu Acai. Ever since becoming what the boss called a "manager," he had started paying more attention to his appearance. He'd just had his face shaved clean by a street-side barber and kept touching it, still unaccustomed to the feeling.
Chen Huaimin, busy counting money, didn't look up. "The boss has his reasons. Don't overthink it. Let me tell you, though, the accounts for your lottery tickets are a complete mess."
Hearing this, Liu Acai turned his head, his gaze landing behind Chen Huaimin with a hint of envy. "You've got it good. Look at your place here, even the breeze smells sweet." He even exaggeratedly sniffed the air, only to be kicked by Chen Huaimin's one good leg.
Chen Huaimin lowered his voice. "Stop fooling around! These young ladies were all brought here by the boss's order. They have a talent for arithmetic. Without their help, I'd be worked to death!"
Liu Acai pursed his lips. "I was just saying I'm jealous. Look at you, always so touchy."
"You think I don't know what's on your mind?" Chen Huaimin knew exactly how mischievous Liu Acai could be.
"I think you..." Liu Acai opened his mouth to curse, but was suddenly interrupted by a clear, crisp voice from behind: "Uncle Acai! Mother says to come home early for dinner. She stewed a chicken specially today."
By the time Liu Acai turned around, his face was already wreathed in smiles. "Alright! I'll be back once I'm done! Tell your mother you two should eat first, don't wait for me!"
The girl happily agreed and ran off. When Liu Acai turned back, the smile hadn't yet faded from his face, and he saw Chen Huaimin staring at him with a look of horror.
"What's wrong with you?" Liu Acai reached up and touched his face again. Was he just too handsome?
Chen Huaimin stammered, "You... can you not smile like that? It's too creepy!"
Liu Acai frowned. "Is it really?"
Chen Huaimin's eyes darted towards the gate, and understanding dawned on him. Who would have thought... this Liu Acai...
The first public toilet in the western suburbs was completed. Fang Zhiyi personally educated the residents living there on hygiene and taught them methods for composting waste. Seeing how confident and convincing he was, several people immediately promised to handle the daily clean-up.
After all, most of those still living in the western suburbs were honest folk, and many had received favors from Fang Zhiyi.
No, favors from the original owner.
Fang Zhiyi's third disciple had also set out. Fang Zhiyi had Chen Huaimin give him a large sum of money, more than the previous two combined. Though Chen Huaimin didn't understand why, he followed the order.
After the young man left, before Chen Huaimin could ask, Fang Zhiyi clapped him on the shoulder. "Good times are coming!"
Chen Huaimin swallowed the question on the tip of his tongue.
Fang Zhiyi looked at his broken leg again. "I'm less busy now. Starting today, I'll teach you some exercises to strengthen your body."
Chen Huaimin remembered the question Fang Zhiyi had asked him that day. He had thought the boss was just making conversation, but he had actually remembered.
"Forget it, boss. I know what shape I'm in..." He started to decline, but Fang Zhiyi wouldn't hear it. "I don't want my chief financial officer unable to even protect the money."
All of Chen Huaimin's reservations vanished with those words. He remembered the day that ungrateful brat had brought people to steal. If the boss hadn't received word in advance, what would have happened to him, living in the storeroom? His own life didn't matter, but the money the boss and the brothers had worked so hard to earn...
Nian'an had exhausted himself to find work as a shop assistant. He had no choice; he couldn't afford to be picky. He was nearly starving.
But seeing how young he was, the shopkeeper took advantage. While others earned three qian of silver a month, he got only one.
"You eat my food, sleep under my roof, that doesn't cost anything?"
Gritting his teeth, Nian'an put on a face of complete obedience.
If he were still in the western suburbs, he, the young master, would never do such work! But thinking of the western suburbs, he still felt nothing but contempt.
At least this way, he had a foothold in the city. Step by step, he believed he could climb back up.
Moreover, he now had something to yearn for. Every time he thought of Lin Yanqing's face, he would grin foolishly, and could even bear the bullying from the older shop assistants.
Little Hei went to check on him several times and reported back to Fang Zhiyi.
"It's strange about this person. Not only did he show no gratitude for the good food and care he received, he even turned around and bit the hand that fed him. Now that he's out, people are playing him for a fool, and he's happy about it."
Fang Zhiyi just smiled without comment. He'd seen his share of odd characters; this one wasn't particularly special.
The first time Nian'an got his wages, he couldn't wait to buy a small gift for Lin Yanqing—an ordinary hairpin. Though it wasn't much, Lin Yanqing accepted it.
"Thank you, Xiao Anzi!" Lin Yanqing called him by the nickname she'd given him.
Nian'an felt a bit uncomfortable. The nickname sounded too much like a eunuch. But if Lin Yanqing called him that, it was fine. If it were anyone else, he'd definitely have words with them.
He now also knew Lin Yanqing's family background. She was the daughter of Lin Kunyuan. The Kunyuan Dye Works almost monopolized the city's cloth dyeing business, making them a wealthy household. It was said they even had connections with the county magistrate.
Nian'an knew Lin Yanqing would surely be a help on his path to turning his life around. So whenever Lin Yanqing looked for him, he would sneak out, even if it meant having his wages docked.
But after this happened a few times, the shopkeeper was displeased. I feed you and house you, and you still skip work every day?
Returning from running an errand for Lin Yanqing, Nian'an learned he had been fired. He refused to accept it. He had only been gone a short while, what right did they have to fire him? He had to get this month's wages.
But he forgot that here, he was just a background-less orphan. When he demanded his wages, the shopkeeper couldn't be bothered with him. It wasn't until Nian'an, imitating Liu Acai, cursed and insulted the man's mother that the shopkeeper finally reacted.
With just one angry shout from the shopkeeper, several older assistants rushed out, pinned Nian'an down, and gave him a thorough beating.
Beaten and battered, he wandered the streets in a daze, cursing the black-hearted shopkeeper under his breath. But after a few curses, his hatred turned towards Fang Zhiyi and the others. He believed if it weren't for Fang Zhiyi, he wouldn't have had to flee in the first place.
Little Hei felt like digging his brain out to see how it was wired, but bound by the laws of this world's natural order, could only think about it.
In his wretched state, he naturally couldn't go see Lin Yanqing. He had to maintain his image in front of her.
Of course, that's what he thought. But after being turned away by yet another shopkeeper, Nian'an wavered. He quickly made up his mind: he would cling tightly to Lin Yanqing's coattails. Even being her servant would be good.
And he'd be close to the object of his affection. Nian'an thought himself very clever.
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."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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.
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...
