Liu Aijiu was savoring a book with great relish.
It was his favorite book, his spiritual comfort, called "Destined Love: Marry None but You," which he had specially brought along.
But just then, a shout startled him, and he instantly tensed up, quickly lifting his head to look.
He was terrified that troops from Huai’an City had chased after him.
However, seeing the traveling peddler’s outfit and his sun-dried, weathered face, he immediately knew it wasn’t the case.
His heart, which had been in his throat, settled back down.
After all, he had brought nothing except that book, "Destined Love: Marry None but You," and a bit of loose silver.
He hadn’t even taken the Liu family carriage when fleeing.
He wanted to create the false impression for Ren Tianye that he might still be inside the city.
Ren Tianye wasn’t a god—how could he have discovered it in such a short time!
Steadying himself, he asked, “Do you know me?”
“Master Liu, of course I know you!” the peddler said excitedly. “I used to be from Huai’an City too.”
“At the Hongluan Wenyuan Library, you often gave speeches, taught lessons, and told us to believe in love, that only true love is invincible.”
“Believe in love and you can get everything!”
“You also said that books have their own golden houses, books have their own jade-like beauties; as long as you read the books from Hongluan Wenyuan and believe in their content, you can find a wife!”
He scratched his head sheepishly and added, “I didn’t have money, so I never got a chance to go into Hongluan Wenyuan to hear you speak.”
“I always listened from outside.”
“I really admired you.”
“So I also joined the Huai’an City Mutual Love Alliance.”
Liu Aijiu’s eyes lit up.
So, it turned out this was one of his admirers!
A member of the Huai’an City Love Alliance.
He asked, “Then this time, didn’t the government’s crackdown on the Love Mutual Alliance affect you?”
The peddler said in confusion, “What about the government?”
“I’ve been outside the city this whole time. I haven’t been back to Huai’an City for ages. Anyway, the Huai’an City Love Mutual Alliance didn’t really like me—they thought I embarrassed them.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Liu Aijiu consoled him. “As long as you have a heart that believes in love, you’ll become a key member of the Love Mutual Alliance someday.”
“Besides, from now on, I’ll have your back.”
The peddler was overjoyed: “Thank you, Master Liu!”
“By the way, Master Liu, I’ve always had something I wanted to ask you. Since I finally got the chance today, I was wondering if you’d mind solving a puzzle for me?”
“I don’t mind!” Just then, seeing that the peddler was reinforcing his belief that his path was right, Liu Aijiu felt deeply comforted. Since Yuancheng was close, he even told the carriage driver to stop again.
“Driver, there’s a little stream over there. Go fetch some water. While we wait, I’m going to have a good talk with this young man today.”
“Alright, sir.”
As the driver left to get water, the peddler couldn’t wait to speak.
His first words were: “Master Liu, where’s my wife?”
“Huh?” Liu Aijiu was stunned. “How should I know where your wife is?”
“No, no!” the peddler said, getting anxious. “Master Liu, didn’t you say that books have their own jade-like beauties?”
“Didn’t you say that if you read more Hongluan Wenyuan books and believe in love, you’ll have a happy marriage?”
“I’ve read so many of your Hongluan Wenyuan books—tyrant princes, young lords surnamed Tang—I can almost recite them all.”
“Day after day, I believe in love. I even joined the Huai’an City Love Mutual Alliance. But I still don’t have a wife!”
“So, where’s my wife?”
At this, Liu Aijiu understood.
He had celebrated too early.
This peddler was a bit off in the head.
His face darkened. “When it comes to love, you have to be sincere. No matter if you’re rich or poor, you’ve got to give it your all. Then you’ll find a wife.”
“I did give it my all!” the peddler said, quickly. “For years, I worked like a dog, taking any job, no matter how hard or exhausting.”
“I worked several jobs a day!”
“I saved up a lot of money.”
“And I didn’t spend a single coin on myself.”
“With what my father left me, I saved a full hundred taels of silver!”
“A hundred taels!”
“That’s a fortune!”
“But even this money can’t get me a wife.”
“They either say I don’t own a house, or my jobs aren’t good, or I’m ugly…”
“And the betrothal gifts go up every half year.”
“The old folks say that ten taels used to be enough—at most twenty—but now a hundred taels isn’t enough!”
“No one will marry me!”
“I still don’t have a wife.”
“So I’m asking…”
“Where’s my wife?”
Liu Aijiu no longer wanted to talk to this man. He thought the peddler was mentally ill and wished the driver would hurry back with the water.
He brushed him off. “You still need to wait a bit. With all your hard work, after another eight or ten years, you should be close…”
This sentence infuriated the peddler. Years of pent-up bitterness exploded.
“Wait? Wait my ass!”
“I’m already in my thirties and still single as can be!”
“You want me to wait?”
“Another eight or ten years?”
“You might as well wait till I’m buried before giving me a wife!”
With a fierce gleam in his eyes, the peddler growled, “You’re going to deliver my wife today—otherwise…”
Liu Aijiu was startled but more annoyed. He turned and climbed onto the carriage, muttering under his breath, “This guy’s crazy!”
But no sooner had he stepped onto the carriage than the peddler grabbed him and yanked him down.
The peddler was strong, and Liu Aijiu hit the ground flat on his face. Eyes burning red, the peddler hoisted him up and swung his right hand in a wide arc, landing a slap.
“Slap!”
“Slap!”
“Slap!”
…
After each slap, he yelled one sentence:
“Where’s my wife?”
“Where’s my wife?”
“Where’s my wife?”
“I just want a wife to live an honest life with! You promised, but where’s my wife?”
Liu Aijiu saw stars from the beating and cried out in pain.
This time, he didn’t dare put on airs anymore, since out here in the middle of nowhere, no one was going to stand up for this so-called Master.
He begged for mercy.
But the peddler’s years of suppressed rage couldn’t be stopped. In no time, Liu Aijiu’s face was swollen like a pig’s head.
Finally, the carriage driver came running back.
“Hey, hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
“What’s going on? Why are you beating up my passenger?”
The driver pulled the peddler away and held him back, preventing him from going after Liu Aijiu again.
The peddler roared, “He’s hiding my wife! Why shouldn’t I beat him?”
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.
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
