Fang Zaozao's gaze was icy. "Speak properly. Wasn't that a loan you wanted yourself?"
"It was you who got me the loan!"
Fang Zaozao immediately turned to leave.
"Stupid woman! What nonsense are you spouting! Don't offend people!" Zhang Xi grew anxious.
Sure enough, his words worked better than anything else. Li Juan immediately changed her tone. "Please, just help us. Lend us some money. Aren't you Xiao Li's godmother after all?"
Fang Zaozao turned her head to stare at her, then glanced at the debt collectors, feeling somewhat shocked and suspicious. She had just received her father's call and hadn't expected it to be true. "It's not impossible for me to help... Write an agreement."
"What agreement?"
"That Zhang Xiaoli will live with me from now on."
Li Juan was stunned, then instantly became unwilling. "On what grounds! He's my son!"
Fang Zaozao looked at her. "On the grounds that you pretended not to see when he was being beaten. On the grounds that you're willing to be a slave to your husband's mistress and drag your son along. On the grounds that a mother like you doesn't even consider her son's welfare. On the grounds that you're just using him to cover up your own wretchedness!"
Looking at Li Juan's pale face, Fang Zaozao felt a sense of vindication. "Are these reasons enough? You don't deserve to be his mother."
"In your dreams!" Li Juan flailed her arms wildly, but Fang Zaozao dodged.
"I'll pay off your debt for you, and throw in an extra ten thousand. That means I'll cover this child's tuition, living expenses, everything. Or would you rather watch him rot in the mud just like the two of you?"
Li Juan faltered, but after only a moment she shook her head. No, she couldn't lose her son! The son was hers! Even if he rotted alongside her, he was still her son! Her son should rot right there with her!
"Mr. Zhang, your wife disagrees. What about you?" Fang Zaozao looked at Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi only thought for a brief moment before nodding. His reasoning was practical: that brat was just a freeloader anyway. Wasn't it great that some sucker was willing to raise his son for him? If his son made something of himself in the future, surely he wouldn't dare deny his own biological father?
"Stupid woman! Sorry, I didn't mean you. If you keep acting crazy, believe me, I'll beat you to death!"
Li Juan paused, but at this moment she clearly knew what she wanted.
"No, impossible. You wanted to steal my son from the very beginning! I won't agree!" Li Juan pointed at Fang Zaozao. "I'm telling you, don't even think about it. He's my son."
She turned to look at the debt collectors, her mind overheating, and suddenly blurted out: "So what if we owe you money? Take my son as collateral! I'd rather give him to you than to this wicked woman!"
Zhang Xiaoli looked at his mother in shock, his young heart suffering a severe blow.
Unexpectedly, the debt collectors exchanged glances. "Are you insane? We're here to collect a debt, legally. Although we beat your husband, that's just a common dispute because he ran off owing money. At worst, he'd get a talking-to. Do you know how heavy the sentence is for trafficking children?"
Zhang Xi also roared in anger: "Madwoman! Are you itching for a beating?!" He grew anxious, especially after hearing Fang Zaozao mention she could give extra money. He actually rushed over and grabbed Li Juan by the hair.
Feeling the pain, Li Juan's rationality gradually returned.
In the end, an agreement was reached. Fang Zaozao took Zhang Xiaoli back next door. The debt collectors left satisfied with their money. Zhang Xi went out elated, cash in hand. Only Li Juan sat in the empty house, her face full of panic.
"Gone, it's all gone."
"Sis, where did you get so much money?" Fang Wanwan had been listening nervously at the door. She was puzzled; she knew what her sister was like. How could she be willing to spend so much money on a child?
Fang Zaozao looked at the sleeping Zhang Xiaoli and curled her lip. "What money do I have? That was from our dad."
"Him?" An image of their father appeared in Fang Wanwan's mind. Impossible, right?
"By the way, why didn't he come?"
"Don't know. He always says he's busy. Whatever." Although Fang Zaozao was also somewhat puzzled, looking at her sister, she didn't say anything more.
A gambler can never turn his life around—this saying fit Zhang Xi perfectly. For him, there were ways to gamble with one yuan and ways to gamble with ten thousand. He lost everything overnight.
He returned home full of frustration and saw his listless wife, immediately flying into a rage.
"It's all your fault, you jinx!"
Fang Wanwan was already up; she had to work today. The sounds from next door made her pause, her expression turning complex. She glanced back at her sister's room and Zhang Xiaoli's, and made up her mind.
Even though Li Juan might get her killed in the future, she couldn't just stand by and watch someone die, could she?
Li Juan sobbed quietly. Looking at Zhang Xi sleeping on the bed, her heart was a turmoil of mixed feelings.
Their door was knocked on. Li Juan was startled—were debt collectors here again? But when she tremblingly opened the door, it was Fang Wanwan standing there.
Fang Wanwan looked at Li Juan's bruised and swollen face, feeling a wave of emotion. "Sister Li, I brought you some breakfast." She peeked into the room, then said, "Sister Li, you should get a divorce if it's time. It's not like you can't support yourself."
But she never expected that her kindness would seem like hypocrisy to Li Juan. "I don't want your false sympathy! Give me back my son!"
Fang Wanwan took a step back. "Xiaoli will always be your son. We're just helping you take care of him for now, given your family's situation..."
"I don't need your help! Give my son back!" Li Juan looked at the young woman before her, the resentment in her eyes almost uncontrollable. "How can you be so vicious! You steal my son, and now you want to ruin my marriage! You want my family destroyed!"
Fang Wanwan was stunned. "Sister Li, you know how things were for Xiaoli at home..."
"So what? He's my son! He should die in our home if he has to!" Li Juan made a move to rush forward but felt a sharp pull on her hair.
Li Juan turned her head and saw a face that made her shudder.
"You really embody the phrase 'bully the weak, fear the strong.'" Fang Zaozao showed no mercy, slapping her across the face. This was the first time she had laid a hand on this pitiful woman.
Li Juan let out a howl.
Fang Zaozao pointed at her. "If you ever dare bare your teeth at my sister again, I'll burn your whole house down!" But then she paused. "Oh, I forgot. Your 'whole family' is just you now. Your husband doesn't want you. Your son doesn't like you either."
No physical pain could match the damaging power of those words.
Li Juan immediately broke down completely.
Fang Zaozao didn't waste more words on her, grabbing her sister and leaving.
"I knew you'd be like this. Have you forgotten how she treated you? No memory at all?" She was angry.
But Fang Wanwan said earnestly, "But... she really is pitiful. Even though she might harm me in the future, I still can't just stand by and watch..."
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...
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
