"You..." Fang Fengqi wanted to curse right then and there. He was unwilling to curse at Fang Zhiyi, who was, after all, his imperial father, but facing Teng Shuchang, he threw caution to the wind.
However, what met him was a hard slap to the face from Fang Zhiyi.
The resounding smack made even Teng Shuchang flinch. Looking at Fang Fengqi, who had fallen to the ground, he inexplicably felt that Fang Zhiyi was going a bit too far.
"Get out of my sight! Dexiang! Throw him out! Throw him out! I never want to see him again from this day forward!"
Fang Fengqi's eyes cleared up a bit after taking the slap, while Dexiang stood there at a loss for what to do.
"Today, in front of General Teng, I am telling you: I would rather pass the throne to General Teng than give it to you!"
Teng Shuchang waved his hands repeatedly. "I couldn't possibly, I couldn't." He suddenly remembered his own business, but Fang Zhiyi remained highly agitated. "You've learned to challenge your own father, haven't you? With General Teng as my witness today, from now on, I am not your father, and you are not my son! Dexiang! Kick him out!"
With red eyes, Dexiang helped the Crown Prince up and glanced back at Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi glared at him. "What are you looking at? Do you think I'm joking? I never take back my words! Tell him to get lost! Never let me see him in the palace again! If you ever appear before me, I'll beat you to death!"
Fang Fengqi clutched his face, glaring at Fang Zhiyi with deep hatred.
The guards stationed at the door blocked Dexiang and the prince. Teng Shuchang watched the emotionally wrought Fang Zhiyi kick over a palace lantern nearby, then waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to make way.
"Your Majesty, he is your son after all..."
"I have plenty of sons!" Fang Zhiyi was still fuming. "Which emperor doesn't have a few sons? What's the big deal?"
"True, true..." Teng Shuchang could hold back no longer. "Um, our ruler has written me a letter."
Hearing this, Fang Zhiyi's eyes lit up. "Is it to pass the throne to you? I knew it! Men, prepare the abdication..."
Teng Shuchang hurriedly covered Fang Zhiyi's mouth. "No, no, no."
Fang Zhiyi looked a bit deflated. "Setting everything else aside, the first moment I saw you, I thought you were fit to be an emperor. How is it not you? Does your king want to come and rule himself? That works too..."
Looking at this absurd emperor before him, Teng Shuchang smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Your Majesty, our King's intention is for you to continue being the emperor, with me temporarily assisting you."
"Huh?" Casting his image aside, Fang Zhiyi plopped down on the floor cross-legged. "No, what are you people thinking? You won the war, yet you still want me to be the emperor. Wasn't the war fought for nothing then?"
Teng Shuchang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he still carefully crouched down beside him. "The main issue is that the people of the Li State do not accept us." He looked at Fang Zhiyi's face. "After all, they don't understand the painstaking efforts of our Great Mang, so we must trouble you to continue sitting in this seat."
Fang Zhiyi gave him a sidelong glance and, after a moment, yelled impatiently, "Fine, fine. So what do I need to do?"
Teng Shuchang looked at Fang Zhiyi and said, pausing after each word, "Issue an imperial edict. Tell the citizens of the capital to stop causing trouble. This is for their own good. If it weren't for me keeping things under control, your capital would have already become a river of blood."
His words carried a heavy threat, but Fang Zhiyi seemed completely oblivious to it.
"Those unruly peasants, right? They have absolutely no sense of propriety." Fang Zhiyi thought for a moment. "Alright, I'll write you an edict right now."
"Not for me, for the common people."
"Sure, sure, whatever works." Fang Zhiyi waved his hand, scrambling up from the floor and heading straight for the desk.
Watching his back, Teng Shuchang suddenly felt that the people of the Li Dynasty were truly a bit pitiful, being stuck with such an emperor.
But that was none of his business; what they wanted was the hearts of the Li Dynasty's people.
"The Emperor issued an edict?"
"Yes, telling us to behave ourselves and go about our business, and not to make trouble for the bandit army of the Mang State."
"The Emperor is truly... foolish!"
After the imperial edict was issued, the entire capital fell into a strange atmosphere. Some gnashed their teeth, some cursed the Mang State, and some wept in silence.
But Fang Zhiyi was the Emperor of the Li Dynasty after all. They could rebel against the Mang army, but they still had to give Fang Zhiyi some face.
What happened next placed a heavy boulder upon everyone's hearts.
Accompanied by Teng Shuchang, Fang Zhiyi announced the news that from now on, they would co-rule with the Mang State.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was a trick by the Mang State. They merely wanted Fang Zhiyi to be a puppet emperor, yet Fang Zhiyi seemed completely indifferent to it.
Soon, a new imperial court was assembled. It included former officials as well as newly promoted, unfamiliar faces. However, everyone acted with extreme caution. They knew the current situation was delicate. The Emperor had become a puppet controlled by others; if they made a mistake, how could things end well for them?
There was only one exception: a man named Xie Wanyuan. Because of his unyielding and upright nature, Xie Wanyuan had offended the previous emperor before Fang Zhiyi even ascended the throne and was dismissed from office. Due to his excellent reputation, Teng Shuchang sent people to find him and pulled him back into the court, knowing that such a person could better stabilize public sentiment.
Facing Fang Zhiyi's demand to levy taxes, Xie Wanyuan stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, for whom is this tax being levied?"
Fang Zhiyi sat casually, without the slightest semblance of seriousness. "It's being collected for military expenses, of course. Need you even ask?"
"Then may I ask Your Majesty, for whose army?"
Fang Zhiyi picked his ear. "For my Great General Teng's army, naturally."
Teng Shuchang glanced at Fang Zhiyi and nodded in approval.
"May I ask Your Majesty, why should the people of our Li Dynasty give their taxes to the army of the Mang State?"
Xie Wanyuan's voice was neither servile nor overbearing, yet it revealed a stubborn resolve.
Teng Shuchang's expression darkened.
Fang Zhiyi looked at Xie Wanyuan. "Because... Guards!"
Two soldiers walked in. They first glanced at Teng Shuchang, and only after Teng Shuchang nodded did they cup their hands in salute to Fang Zhiyi.
"Drag him out! Acting like you've been drinking fake wine all day! I asked you to figure out a way to collect taxes, not to come running to me asking this and that."
The two soldiers grabbed Xie Wanyuan by the arms, but Xie Wanyuan's mouth still didn't stop. "Your Majesty! The masses may pay taxes to the Li Dynasty, but they must not pay taxes to a bandit army..."
"You motherf..." Fang Zhiyi jumped up, searching for something on the desk. He finally grabbed the imperial seal and was about to throw it. Fortunately, Teng Shuchang, sitting to the side, was quick-witted and hurriedly stopped him. "Absolutely not, absolutely not."
"What the hell is this! He doesn't know what's good for him at all," Fang Zhiyi cursed under his breath.
Teng Shuchang found it somewhat amusing, and the anger ignited by Xie Wanyuan just now dissipated quite a bit. "Lord Xie is straightforward by nature, which I admire. He just can't wrap his head around it for the moment. Your Majesty shouldn't hold it against him."
Fang Zhiyi, however, suddenly turned to look at him. "Let me ask you something."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
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?!
