“Daughter-in-law…”
Hu Shaoyou’s mother began, “I heard that the imperial court’s men have already entered the city, is that true?”
“Yes, have they entered the city already?” Hu Shaoyou’s father added. “When I came, I saw so many soldiers—they aren’t from Yuancheng. They must be imperial troops, right?”
“Oh no, what are we going to do?”
The two of them instantly wore expressions of deep anxiety.
“Shaoyou wouldn’t listen to advice and insisted on opposing the court. You’re his wife, and you didn’t stop him. Now that he’s lost the battle, the court will surely come to hold us accountable. When that happens, the two of us old folks won’t survive.”
“Ai, you and Shaoyou have doomed your mother and me.”
Hu Shaoyou’s father and mother, speaking turn by turn, quickly laid out the gravity of the situation. Their faces grew even more bitter.
“What sin have we committed? We struggled to raise Shaoyou, and now not only has the young one gone before the old, but he’s dragging us down with him.”
“Old woman, maybe we should pay off the imperial army. If we give them enough money, maybe they’ll spare our lives.”
“But we have no money! The little we’ve saved wouldn’t even cover their expenses. This time… we’re doomed!”
“Shaoyou is dead, and now we’ll die too!”
As if struck by deep grief, tears streamed down the faces of Hu Shaoyou’s parents. Under the chill wind sweeping through the hall, they looked utterly desolate.
Gu Qing’s heart ached at the sight, but she could think of no immediate solution.
She knew that offering money and valuables to the imperial army would bring some degree of leniency, but where could she get such a fortune?
The loans from others and the original four million taels from Yuancheng, plus what was owed for fighting the court—together, it was an astronomical sum.
Her Gu family owned plenty of properties, but even selling everything wouldn’t be enough.
“Daughter-in-law…”
Seeing that Gu Qing remained silent, Hu Shaoyou’s parents spoke again. “Right now, we can only rely on you. You have to come up with the money.”
“That’s right. Without Shaoyou, we have only you. Daughter-in-law, you must provide the money!”
By now, Gu Qing had long understood their intent. Still, when they said it outright, she could only smile bitterly in despair. “But… I don’t have that much money either!”
“Go work! You’re so capable!” Hu Shaoyou’s mother immediately retorted. “You built up such a large business, pushed Shaoyou into the position of Yuancheng’s magistrate, and even perfected the sweet potatoes Yun Jing brought out. With your skills, making money should be as easy as turning your hand!”
“Exactly!” Hu Shaoyou’s father chimed in. “Surely you can’t bear to let the imperial army take out their anger on your mother and me?”
“We’re old and frail. We can’t withstand any ordeal. If the imperial army gives us a good thrashing, we… we’re finished.”
Hu Shaoyou’s parents, whether from their journey or some other reason, looked ragged and pitiful as they arrived, covered in dust. Now, as they spoke, tears streamed down their wrinkled faces, stirring pity.
Gu Qing could not allow the elderly couple to suffer because of this. Besides, she had failed to stop Hu Shaoyou from resisting the imperial army.
She could not escape responsibility.
For the sake of Hu Shaoyou, the man she had loved all her life; for the sake of his parents; and to preserve the Gu family’s legacy of integrity, Gu Qing found no reason to refuse.
She took a deep breath, then spoke with unwavering resolve. “Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, do not worry.”
“The debt Shaoyou incurred is a shared burden between him and me. I will not shirk it, nor will the imperial army allow me to.”
“I, Gu Qing, accept it!”
When she said “accept it,” the words seemed squeezed out one by one from between clenched teeth. For this debt, as immense as a mountain, was no small matter.
With this promise, she condemned herself to a lifetime of darkness, a half-living, half-dead existence.
Hu Shaoyou’s parents’ faces lit up with joy.
Gu Qing had always kept her word. With such a promise, even if the heavens crumbled and the earth cracked, she would never break it.
They began to heap praise on her.
“Ah, though Shaoyou was unlucky, at least he married a good wife.”
“Daughter-in-law, regardless, you are still Shaoyou’s wife. This debt was always yours to bear. So just… work a little harder.”
While Hu Shaoyou’s parents were still coaxing her, a commotion arose outside the door. The two looked up to see a troop of men approaching swiftly.
The leading figure wore lightweight armor that gleamed like silver. His face was handsome and refined, but his eyes carried a deep, unspoken authority that was intimidating beyond measure.
Hu Shaoyou’s parents, unsure who this was but sensing he must be a high-ranking official from the imperial court, trembled as they knelt to the ground.
Gu Qing also knelt, but she immediately guessed the man’s identity.
—Ren Tianye, the Duke of Ren.
Apart from Ren Tianye, she couldn’t imagine who else could make General Zhang Shi, a man who had swept the grasslands and annihilated entire fortresses, obey with such deference.
Yet her despair deepened further.
If even the duke had arrived, the mountain-like debt pressing down on her would gain another shackle. From now on, Gu Qing could not die. She could only live a life less than human, spending a lifetime repaying the debt.
Fortunately, her spirit remained unbroken under the immense pressure. She kowtowed and greeted him formally: “This is Gu Qing, widow of the offending officer Hu Shaoyou, paying respects to the Duke.”
“My husband, Hu Shaoyou, is dead and gone, but the hole he left—including the emptying of the granaries, treasury, and armories, as well as the huge debts borrowed from the surrounding towns—this I, Gu Qing, will bear alone.”
“I will not break my word.”
“I will spend my whole life filling that gap.”
Before she finished speaking, Zhang Shi nearly jumped up in shock.
“What did you say?”
“Not only did you drain Yuancheng dry, but you also borrowed heavily from nearby areas? What did Hu Shaoyou need so much money for? It would’ve been enough for many lifetimes of luxury!”
Zhang Shi was about to grab Gu Qing by the collar, but Ren Tianye reached out and stopped him.
Ren Tianye looked over the kneeling widow, then at the elderly couple beside her. Learning from his guards that they were Hu Shaoyou’s parents, he finally let his gaze fall on the coffin.
Looking at the lifeless Hu Shaoyou, Ren Tianye suddenly felt a stir of suspicion—something was not right.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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?!
] [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!"
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!
