When the first batch of students took their exams, Fang Zhiyi felt a bit nervous. After all, it was his first time being a principal. Watching these children walk out of the school with his own eyes, he also felt a sense of melancholy.
Little Hei mocked him, but he didn't argue back.
Fortunately, most of the first batch of students were very determined and did themselves proud. Although their academic grades weren't high, they all shined in their specialty exams, and a few were even recruited in advance.
"Principal, that kid who plays video games took away over a dozen students from his class. Is it really okay not to let them take the exam?" An old-school academic pushed up his glasses. He considered himself open-minded, but he was highly dissatisfied with them skipping such an important exam.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "Let them go. It's just an exam."
Because their children had been admitted to good schools, many parents came specifically to thank Fang Zhiyi. Completely changing his usual money-grubbing demeanor, Fang Zhiyi returned all their gifts.
Fang Chenghan also got into an average school and was currently slacking off.
He felt he had changed, though he didn't know exactly how. However, his admiration for Fang Zhiyi was beyond words. The initial controversies surrounding their school had made everyone remember them, and the results of this exam made the school's reputation soar.
Some people began to seriously consider the feasibility of uncovering a child's natural talents and passions, and the Happy Life School had shown them exactly how to do it.
Ruan Wenkang held his admission letter but couldn't bring himself to be happy. He still lived at the school, spending his free time working part-time to earn money. There were quite a few students like him. During their time at this school, they had experienced despair, followed mostly by hope for the future. But now that it was truly time to leave, they felt lost again.
Especially since their families had no intention of paying for them to continue their education.
Ruan Wenkang decided to start working directly. He had experience, and he had perseverance.
He was determined to realize his dream.
But when he returned to the school exhausted, he was blocked by Fang Chenghan, who had been waiting for a long time.
"Hey, you aren't planning to live in the school forever, are you?"
"Uh... I'll move out once I get my salary." Ruan Wenkang felt a bit embarrassed; he knew that accommodation at the school was always tight.
"Tsk." Fang Chenghan suddenly tossed an envelope to him. Ruan Wenkang caught it subconsciously, and the moment he opened it, he froze.
"My dad asked me to give this to you. Not just you, some others got it too... For a stingy guy, he sure is generous..." he muttered, turning to leave. "Oh, by the way, I booked your ticket along with mine. We'll leave together when the time comes."
On the day the new semester was about to begin, over thirty graduates gathered at the school gate. They wanted to see Fang Zhiyi, but were informed that he wasn't at the school. Only a yawning Fang Chenghan cast a meaningful glance at the somewhat old principal's office.
"Damn, are you really not going out to see them?" Little Hei asked.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "What difference would seeing them make? Rather than wasting time on that, I should figure out how to make money next..." This wave of sponsorships had completely hollowed out the savings he had so painstakingly accumulated.
He had become a pauper once again.
"You really are a good principal," Little Hei nodded in approval.
Fang Zhiyi still wore a crafty look. "You wouldn't understand."
"Only you understand, bah, only you!" Little Hei leaned against the window, watching the students reluctantly leave. Even it felt an unprecedented emotion welling up inside.
The Happy Life School continued to exist. Its scale never expanded, and every year, different problem students were sent here.
Welcoming these troublemakers was the friendly education from their senior peers. The school had cleared out an area behind the original campus, specifically used to isolate some of the little bastards as Principal Fang called them. Many people knew that bloodcurdling sounds would often drift out from that isolation zone. The students who managed to come out of there were incredibly well-behaved. Getting out wasn't simple; they had to pass multiple psychological evaluations and social practice exams.
In other words, they had to make these guys seek forgiveness.
During this time, some reporters wanted to use this matter to stir up hype, but Fang Zhiyi immediately retaliated by publishing the past deeds of these exceptionally special students, causing public opinion to side with the school once again.
After graduating, Fang Chenghan returned to the school once more. Although he voiced his disdain, he still ran around under the title of intern principal, his roars echoing through the school all day long.
Fang Zhiyi had visibly aged quite a bit. The students called him the broke principal behind his back, though of course, this was a joke. Most of them knew that this principal had dedicated his life to the school. To save money, he eventually just moved into the guardhouse to live, doubling as the security guard while he was at it.
"This is the place." A luxury sedan stopped at the school gate.
An old man with graying temples stepped out of the car, squinting as he sized up the school. Quite a few people stepped out of the cars following behind him.
His eyes suddenly locked onto the guardhouse, and upon recognizing the person inside, his mouth broke into a wide grin.
"Old Fang, you still look exactly the same."
Fang Zhiyi coldly raised his head and glanced at him. It was a face he despised.
"If you hadn't forced me away back then, I wouldn't have made so much money. I should thank you for buying this broken-down school." Hong Yanwen laughed heartily, though there was no warmth in his laughter. "I heard you're pretty capable, making a name for the school?"
"Do you have business here or not?" Fang Zhiyi gave him an impatient sidelong glance.
Hong Yanwen chuckled a couple more times. "Of course I do. Remember how you screwed me over back then? Hahahaha, I'm a man who remembers favors, but I also remember grudges. So here I am, ready to acquire this dump of yours."
He looked rather smug, clearly enjoying the thrill of revenge.
"Don't worry, I'll also offer you a price you can't refuse."
Fang Zhiyi stood up, opened the door, and walked out. He stood directly in front of Hong Yanwen. Hong Yanwen felt a jolt of alarm; he hadn't noticed it just a moment ago, but now that the other man was standing right in front of him, that same oppressive aura from the past erupted once again.
"You—you think I'm still afraid of you like before?" Hong Yanwen let out an awkward laugh. "I'm here to notify you! Do you know what I do now? I do big business!"
He sized up Fang Zhiyi's attire; no matter how you looked at it, he was just a destitute old man.
"The tables have turned. Back then, I begged you for sponsorship, but now it's your turn to beg me. If you beg me, I'll consider not going after you. How about it?"
Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath. "I suggest you get the hell out of here. Right now."
"What? Are you going to hit me?" Hong Yanwen stepped forward with a smirk.
"I won't hit you. Rather, hitting you shouldn't be my job. After all, I'm not the avenger here."
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.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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."
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.
