Waste 014

The Emperor's travels were always top secret. There were very few people in this world who could harm him, not to mention he was accompanied by four fiercely loyal imperial guards. And yet, he vanished.

His repeated absences made certain prominent noble families begin to stir with restless ambition, and people speculated wildly about whether the Emperor had met with some misfortune.

Fortunately, the majesty of the royal family still remained, and the imperial guards were not to be trifled with. But they could not hold out against time. With the Emperor missing for so long, rumors spread like wildfire among the common people.

A few bold noble families started making petty moves in the shadows.

Within the imperial palace, several princes began to vie for power both openly and in secret. Having previously been suppressed to the point of immobility, they all saw an opportunity. They scrambled to gather factions, preparing to seize that dazzling throne. The political landscape of Shangjing shifted as noble families picked sides. What started as mutual insults escalated into assassinations, with everyone wanting to rise to power in the chaos.

Shangjing was thrown into chaos.

And once Shangjing fell into chaos, the rest of the world followed.

Fang Congyun, having survived a great disaster, also smelled opportunity.

He was naturally highly ambitious, not to mention he now bore a blood feud. Fang Congyun left his hiding place and began attempting to build his own faction.

Just as he was secretly laying out his plans, he unexpectedly stumbled upon a pursuit and assassination attempt.

A veiled girl was fleeing in panic. She was protected by several fighters, but they were outnumbered by the assassins. One by one, several high-tier fighters were surrounded and killed.

This scene alone allowed Fang Congyun to conclude that this girl must be the precious daughter of some prominent noble family.

He needed an opportunity; he needed the capital to turn his life around.

So Fang Congyun went all out. He dispatched his subordinates. Those who willingly followed him never realized until their dying breath that they were being sent to their deaths.

The assassins' rhythm was disrupted by the sudden appearance of these strangers, and Fang Congyun took advantage of the chaos to rescue the girl.

To his pleasant surprise, his gamble paid off.

This girl was not the daughter of some noble family at all, but the little princess of the royal family! The cliché of a hero saving a beauty caused the princess to secretly give him her heart. After learning of the princess's identity, Fang Congyun was ecstatic. He knew his chance had arrived.

Fate had once again led Fang Congyun back to his own destined path.

However, all of this had little to do with Fang Zhiyi. He led his group of tireless subordinates to find a much better-preserved grand laboratory.

This was also the best ruin that Little Hei could find.

Fang Zhiyi spent more time teaching them some basic knowledge. To his surprise, although these people did not look very smart, their thirst for power was genuine. Ever since Fang Zhiyi demonstrated the power to instantly obliterate an Emperor, they had completely taken Fang Zhiyi's words as their life mottos.

Of course, he never expected a genius or anything of the sort to emerge among them. So Fang Zhiyi adopted the most efficient method: he handled the most complex parts himself, then broke down the other steps, assigning his subordinates to each handle a single step.

In other words, a simple assembly line operation.

Fortunately, with limited conditions, they could not make anything too high-tech anyway.

"The King is missing, and those noble families in Shangjing are beating each other bloody. The opportunity for our Gu family has come!" the head of the Gu family said excitedly.

His son looked at him somewhat blankly. "Father, what can we do?"

"Declare ourselves kings, of course! From now on, Yicheng will be the territory of the Gu family."

Gu Xiaojia grew even more bewildered. "Father, it already is."

The family head choked on his words. That seemed to be true; this remote place had never been highly regarded by the prominent noble families of the affluent regions.

"Ahem, at least we won't have to pay taxes anymore."

"Father, we've never paid taxes either... Have you forgotten? The year before last, you even sent a letter to the King crying about our poverty. The King took pity on us and even rewarded our family with some silver."

"Uh... forget it." The Gu family head felt a bit exhausted. The news from the outside world had made his old bones boil with excitement, but in the end, he found there was absolutely nothing he could do.

The Gu family was nothing like those massive noble families. Even if they wanted to do something, there was completely nothing for them to do.

At last, he suddenly thought of something. "Right, we can increase taxes! Make money!"

The son finally stopped talking.

The family head looked as if he had found the direction to lead his family toward a bright future. "Yes! Starting tomorrow—no, starting today, we will raise taxes across all of Yicheng!"

Gu Xiaojia nodded. He felt it was inappropriate, but he didn't have the heart to crush his old man's confidence again.

While others were busy fighting for the world, seizing power, and dividing authority, his old man was busy fleecing the commoners. This was truly...

Seeing his son's hesitant expression, the family head said with a smug face, "We'll collect some money, and your father will use it to build good relationships with the great families in Shangjing. That counts as participating in this grand event."

Gu Xiaojia suddenly saw the light.

"Learn from this! You will be taking over as the head of the family in the future."

A storm of tax increases began to sweep through Yicheng. Faced with the Gu family's new tax policies, the city's commoners complained bitterly.

Times were already hard enough. If taxes were raised again, how were people supposed to survive?

But the Gu family's lackeys did not care about that. Although they were only low-tier fighters, they were still vastly stronger than ordinary people.

Refusing to pay taxes? They would smash your vegetable stall and then give you a beating.

What was even more outrageous was that the Gu family head had only ordered a tax increase, but his subordinates began adding their own operations. All sorts of tax categories appeared. Vegetable farmers had to pay a stall tax in the morning, a commercial tax at noon, and a management tax in the afternoon. Wanted to leave? Sorry, you had to pay an exit tax to leave the city.

For a time, Yicheng was in complete uproar.

However, when the tax collectors arrived at a certain timber shop, they were questioned by the staff.

The lackeys had no idea where a timber shop got such nerve, especially since the boss was a frail woman.

Peng Huan'er was now pinching every penny, because the Young Master would frequently demand bizarre and unusual items, and sometimes even had to hire fighters for escort missions. Money was being spent like water. She felt the funds in her hands dwindling, forcing her to be frugal. Upon hearing about the tax collection, Peng Huan'er was furious.

She was no longer the ignorant servant girl of the past; she now possessed the fierce aura of a shrewd proprietress.

Just as the fighters were about to get physical, Fang Zhiyi rushed back and handed over the tax money with an apologetic smile.

"Young Master! Why did you pay them? They collected it now, but they'll just come back again later!" Peng Huan'er was enraged.

Fang Zhiyi looked at her and scratched his head in confusion. This girl had changed too much—she even dared to clash head-on with a noble family now?

"It's all because you're always talking about independent thinking and all that," Little Hei muttered.

"It's fine. If they want to collect, just give it to them. Understood?" Fang Zhiyi said.

Peng Huan'er was clearly displeased. "Then you should be more frugal! Every day you're either buying this or hiring people to go somewhere else to buy that. How can our money withstand you squandering it like this?"

In the past, she would never have dared to say such things to Fang Zhiyi.

Fang Zhiyi felt a bit helpless. "The time has not yet come... Trust me, we just have to swallow this grievance for now."

"What time? Young Master, you don't even seem like yourself anymore."