Hu Shaoyou still hadn’t woken up.
Hu Shaoyou’s parents, however, were frantic.
They rushed forward to stop the assault.
“Don’t hit my son! Don’t hit him—he’ll feel the pain!”
“You’re striking him so hard—you’ll hurt him!”
Su Jin’s sobbing abruptly stopped.
She turned to look at Hu Shaoyou’s parents.
Her expression was strange.
Deep in her eyes lurked contempt and disgust, yet her face wore a mask of naïve, profound sympathy.
She said: “Hu Shaoyou is already a dead man. How can a dead man feel pain?”
Hu Shaoyou’s parents fell silent instantly.
But they recovered quickly.
They scrambled to cover their mistake: “He—he doesn’t feel pain, doesn’t feel a thing—we just blurted that out in our panic! But still, don’t defile his corpse like this!”
“Yes, yes! Our daughter-in-law already said she’ll pay—she’ll compensate you! Tenfold, a hundredfold! If you’ve got grievances, take them up with her! Don’t take it out on our son’s body!”
Even Gu Qing pulled on Su Jin’s sleeve.
“Lady Su Jin, I thank you for your sympathy. But Shaoyou is already dead—pursuing this further is pointless. He…”
“Did nothing to wrong me!”
Hearing this, Su Jin couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret.
Ah, this Gu Qing—so sharp and intelligent. If only she could join the Demon-Suppression Bureau, with a bit of training, she’d see through anything.
A pity—this woman clearly held some important purpose for the Duke. So Su Jin said: “Sister speaks so fondly—it seems you and Hu Shaoyou had a very good relationship?”
“Yes. Our relationship was always good.”
Gu Qing answered mechanically. But after she finished, she paused briefly, a trace of confusion flickering across her face, though it soon settled into certainty.
A person like Su Jin knew instantly there was more beneath the surface. She pressed on: “That good?”
“Did you never quarrel?”
“That would make me quite envious, sister.”
“Quarrels… we did have them,” Gu Qing said. “But most were trivial and passed quickly. Only… the last time—that one was rather fierce.”
“The last time?”
Gu Qing wondered how Su Jin could be so curious—especially at a moment like this. But she understood that if she could please Su Jin, the Duke might concede to her request.
So she continued: “Some time ago, my husband met a woman—where, I don’t know—and wanted to marry her in as a concubine.”
“At first, I refused.”
“I lost my parents early, and my relatives are scattered. The Gu family has only me. Using the property my ancestors left behind, I took Shaoyou—who had nothing at the time—into my family as a son-in-law. Before we married, we made a pledge, drawn up in an official document.”
“Shaoyou could never take a concubine.”
“The children we had—one son would be chosen to carry on the Gu family line.”
“Shaoyou broke that oath. I couldn’t allow it.”
“Later, worn down by the arguments, I began to relent. But just as I was about to agree, I found that the woman’s background was unclear—she couldn’t even explain her own origins!”
“So I refused outright.”
“Because of this, Shaoyou and I had a serious conflict—it nearly led to divorce.”
“But not long after, Shaoyou came to me and said he’d been bewitched by a demoness and realized his mistake. He said he’d abandoned that woman and asked to reconcile with me.”
“After that, he treated me better than before—cherished me all the more.”
Hearing this, Su Jin understood the situation fully.
Of course, Ren Tianye also caught the nuances.
He looked again at Hu Shaoyou, still lying on the ground playing dead, and thought: What a son of a bitch—he can really take it. He said to Gu Qing: “I never expected you to be such a magnanimous woman.”
“A fine woman like you, and Hu Shaoyou still wanted a concubine? A man who married into the family, having such delusions?”
“This Duke can hardly stand it.”
Saying this, Ren Tianye walked up to Hu Shaoyou’s “corpse” and slammed a fist down, striking him hard. With a crunch, he cursed: “Hu Shaoyou! With such a good wife—how could you not cherish her?”
He struck a second fist.
He went on cursing: “And you dared to find another woman outside! Absolutely shameless!”
A third fist hit home.
“This Duke has seen much in life, but a man like you…”
Ren Tianye knew well the weight of his own fists.
After all, the coffin was nearly split apart.
But Hu Shaoyou still kept his eyes shut, his deathlike stillness unwavering—Ren Tianye nearly doubted himself.
Still, a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of Hu Shaoyou’s mouth.
Ren Tianye steadied himself.
He sighed and said, “If you weren’t already dead, I would have sought justice for your wife. But since she loved you so deeply, and now that you’re gone, she’ll have to live out her days alone in loneliness…”
“How can this Duke sit idly by?”
“So be it. You’re dead anyway. Leave something behind for your wife—something for her to remember you by in her remaining years.”
Then Ren Tianye bellowed:
“Wang Ming!”
“No—Zhang Shi!”
Zhang Shi burst in: “Your Grace, what do you order?”
Ren Tianye said: “Give this woman, Gu Qing, a keepsake—something to remember her husband by.”
“A keepsake?”
“Correct,” Ren Tianye said. “Something Hu Shaoyou can leave behind.”
“Understood!” Zhang Shi grinned and drew a short knife from his belt.
Hu Shaoyou’s parents, seeing this, turned white with terror and, as if fearless, rushed forward to stop him.
“No, no! You can’t treat my son like this! He died fighting—he shouldn’t be humiliated after death!”
“Impossible! Absolutely not! He defended the city with all his strength—how can you treat him like this?!”
If they hadn’t said that, Zhang Shi might have felt some restraint. But those words lit a fire in him—that bastard Hu Shaoyou had defended Yuancheng against none other than Zhang Shi himself!
He’d made him march back and forth—twice!
And emptied out the granaries, armories, and treasuries!
Mercy?
What mercy?
So Zhang Shi put his full strength into it.
And once Zhang Shi exerted himself, how could Hu Shaoyou’s parents stop him?
…
Crunch!
A cucumber fell.
Wang Ming caught it and muttered: “The City of Source still has fruits this fine. The Gu family is rich—they even plant them right outside their door.”
He glanced inside.
He’d already started building a bonfire outside; he wondered how things were going inside—had they finished yet?
All this waiting was boring him.
But soon, it got interesting.
Inner sobs and screams tore through the house:
“My son—my son…”
“My so—”
Frowning, Wang Ming wondered: What’s all that?
What’s happening?
He was about to go in when a horse galloped up. He looked closely—it was Lu Shuang.
“General Wang Ming!”
Lu Shuang dismounted and said: “Are the Duke and General Zhang Shi inside? I’ve found some information and need to report it to them.”
Wang Ming nodded. “They’re inside.”
“Go on in.”
“Thank you, General Wang Ming!”
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."
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
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.
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
