By this time, Fang Zhiyi had returned to the imperial court. His mental state was noticeably much better. He said nothing in response to the probing gazes of the court officials, simply standing there and waiting to clock out.
It wasn't that he liked going to work, but rather that he wouldn't get paid if he didn't. He couldn't just go mooching off his brothers every day, after all.
Fortunately, the old emperor seemed to be intentionally giving him the cold shoulder, not sparing him a single glance the entire time. This left Fang Zhiyi feeling quite satisfied.
It would be even better if his title as Crown Prince could be revoked someday.
Xu Ruyi seemed like a different person today. Not only had she prepared a table full of food, but she also wanted to drag Fang Zhiyi into having a couple of drinks. Fang Zhiyi completely ignored her, turning around and heading straight to Prince Xiang's estate. After a month of spending time together, the two brothers had become much more harmonious. Prince Xiang had long since set up a banquet waiting for him.
"Eldest brother, you don't think he won't be able to hold on, do you?" Prince Xiang picked his teeth, feeling a bit uneasy. "With the old man's personality, he treats whoever he catches like a beast of burden. Although the third brother is capable, I'm afraid..."
Fang Zhiyi stuffed a chopstick full of food into his mouth. "Just relax. Among us brothers, the third brother is the most resilient. Don't be fooled by how well he gets along with everyone; that kid is more suited to be emperor than either you or me."
"Bullshit emperor. It's not a job for a human being." Prince Xiang raised his wine cup and clinked it against Fang Zhiyi's.
"So you don't think I'm just putting on an act anymore?"
"I didn't know before, did I? I used to think you were just pretending to be busy all day, but as it turns out... sigh."
"Anyway, as long as one of the other three can hold on, I'll be free."
"I think it's risky. If even the third brother can't hold on, then the fourth and fifth... In the end, you'll probably still have to take the throne. I'll just stick to leading troops and fighting battles."
"Jinx."
Seeing Fang Zhiyi growing increasingly distant from her, even Xu Ruyi began to panic.
This matter couldn't be hidden forever. She had to come up with an idea to make Fang Zhiyi willingly wear the cuckold's hat.
But nowadays, Fang Zhiyi was either wandering aimlessly all day or not returning home at night. Steeling her resolve, Xu Ruyi tried to enter the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor, only to be denied entry at the gates.
"Crown Princess, please return. His Majesty is resting."
Xu Ruyi gritted her teeth and pleaded, "Eunuch, please help pass on a message for me. Just say that I have come to apologize on behalf of the Crown Prince..."
Zhang Dafu looked her up and down, then shook his head. "Crown Princess, please return."
The Crown Prince's previous remark about Xu Ruyi seeking personal gain for her family had long been noted in the Emperor's mind. How could he possibly see her?
Fang Zhiyi was also very clear about Xu Ruyi's intentions. As the Crown Prince, he couldn't just make a move against the Crown Princess, especially since her father was an old minister of the Emperor. All he needed to do now was wait for Xu Ruyi to expose her own flaws.
However, Fang Zhiyi hadn't expected Xu Ruyi to be so ruthless. After returning from outside, he heard that the Crown Princess had taken a fall, disturbing her vital energy and blood, and was now resting in bed.
Fang Zhiyi was shocked, and then he actually began to admire her a bit.
To be fair, this woman indeed had the audacity to steal a nation, being so ruthless even to herself.
But he didn't care about all that anyway. As long as he continued to slack off, Xu Ruyi would have no way to deal with him. He didn't believe that these various factions would be willing to follow someone who only had the empty title of Crown Prince.
Soon after, Prince Qi arrived with dark circles under his eyes, followed by Prince Xiang, who looked entirely pleased with himself.
Upon seeing Fang Zhiyi, Prince Qi didn't say much. He just shoved a money pouch into Fang Zhiyi's hands. "Eldest brother, save me!"
"Easy, easy." Fang Zhiyi was thrilled.
This was a good business!
Prince Qi quickly discovered that the money was well spent, because Fang Zhiyi not only helped him review memorials and official documents but also personally taught him the techniques of being an emperor. Prince Qi listened in stunned silence; his eldest brother's words couldn't have been spoken without decades of experience working as an emperor.
He also gradually came to believe that Fang Zhiyi truly did not want the throne.
Hearing that his three sons had all mixed together, the old emperor couldn't quite figure it out.
Weren't they supposed to be scheming against each other? How did they suddenly become so close? But after a careful investigation, he finally figured out Fang Zhiyi's little tricks. Thinking that the Crown Prince was actually using this method to make money, the Emperor didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Dafu, what are the annual expenses of the Crown Prince's estate?"
Zhang Dafu thought for a moment and replied with a figure.
"That little? Why have I never heard the Crown Prince mention it?"
"This... I am not too sure."
"Over these years, the Crown Prince has indeed had a somewhat hard life."
Zhang Dafu nodded in agreement.
Xu Ruyi didn't appear for several days in a row. When she finally walked out of her room again, Fang Zhiyi was visibly stunned for a moment.
He didn't know how to put it, but Xu Ruyi seemed to have become prettier.
Although she was already pretty to begin with, but... he just felt that her aura had changed.
"Your Highness." Stepping in front of him, Xu Ruyi bent her knees slightly in a curtsy. Fang Zhiyi nodded and continued walking toward the door. Today was the third brother's last day as regent, and tomorrow he would be taking on a new client. He heard that the fourth brother had some good stuff in his hands; maybe he should figure out a way to trick him out of it?
Just as he was thinking, Fang Zhiyi suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
He turned his head sharply, just in time to see Xu Ruyi turning and walking toward the garden, with Xiaocui following behind her with her head lowered.
Fang Zhiyi looked at her back suspiciously.
He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something wasn't quite right.
Not long after he left, Xu Ruyi also left the estate, taking her maid Xiaocui and heading in the direction of the Xu family.
Prince Qi was indeed just as Fang Zhiyi had predicted. After getting used to it, he could barely manage, though he had also become much more haggard. When the Emperor announced that the fourth brother, the Prince of Chu, would take over as regent, Prince Qi even felt a bit of a sense of loss.
To this, Prince Xiang, standing beside Fang Zhiyi, cursed, "Sick in the head."
He had now clarified his own goal, which was to ride out on the battlefield. Wasn't that much better than staying in a study?
The old emperor still ignored Fang Zhiyi, not even summoning him once. This caused much discussion among the court officials. Some guessed that Fang Zhiyi must have angered the Emperor and completely fallen out of favor, but others found it strange: why would the Emperor give him the cold shoulder yet not strip him of his Crown Prince title?
Fang Zhiyi didn't care about any of this. Just like before, the Prince of Chu, having suffered some hardship, followed behind his two older brothers to ask Fang Zhiyi for help. Fang Zhiyi was happy about this, but he also noticed something was wrong: the official documents in the Prince of Chu's hands had clearly increased significantly.
"This is..."
"Damn, what is this stuff? You even took the backlogged cases from the Ministry of Justice? Fourth brother, is there something wrong with your head?"
The Prince of Chu stammered for a long time, his face turning red. "Imperial Father said that managing the state requires a comprehensive approach..."
Prince Qi frowned. "Isn't this just messing with people?"
Fang Zhiyi laughed. "It is messing with people... It seems the old man knows about me helping you guys out."
None of the princes were fools. At Fang Zhiyi's words, their brows furrowed tightly.
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."
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.
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
