The words "allowance" directly hit Xie Liu's weak spot, nearly making him jump up. He stammered, "Adjust it again?"
"It must be adjusted!" Wang said firmly. "If I don't adjust it, you won't know how hard it is to earn money, and you'll keep spending recklessly."
"From now on, your monthly allowance will be cut from five wen to three wen."
Xie Liu quickly protested, "No, no, that's too little, way too little. What can three wen even do? I can't even buy a pancake outside occasionally."
Hearing this, Wang grew angrier. "If it's not enough, bring food from home. It's not like you don't know how to cook."
"I knew it. The root of your reckless spending is right here. With a few coins in your hand, you forget your place and squander money without a second thought."
"Your allowance must be cut."
"Three wen, and that's final."
"Starting next month, your monthly allowance will be strictly limited to three wen."
"Only then will you understand that money doesn't come easy."
Xie Liu's face collapsed in despair.
He looked like a criminal sentenced to death, or a fish stranded on the shore, without even a chance to struggle.
"Alright, alright..." Wang saw how utterly disheartened Xie Liu was and tried to console him. "I'm already giving you a decent allowance. As long as you don't spend it, it's absolutely enough."
Xie Liu's mind buzzed.
The words that reached his ears had lost all meaning for critical thinking.
Only instinct remained.
But he sensed something was off.
What did she mean by "as long as you don't spend it, it's enough"?
If you don't spend, of course it's enough.
Not only enough, you could even save it!
"Alright, eat up first. After you're done, get to work. Didn't you say the officers from Pukou City have arrived? Seize this chance to work hard and let them see your diligence. Who knows, they might even give you a promotion."
"The more you earn, the looser our household finances will be."
With that, Wang turned and went back to her room. Xie Liu watched her retreating figure grow blurrier, the confusion in his mind slowly turning into pain.
A dull, throbbing ache.
"Master Xie, Master Xie..."
A subordinate appeared beside him without Xie Liu noticing, until the man called out several times, snapping him back to reality.
"What's wrong?"
"Is there a problem with the sweet potato shipment?"
Xie Liu's face tensed with anxiety.
If even the smallest issue arose and led to a deduction from his monthly pay—even just a few wen—it would be a catastrophe for him.
"No, no..." the subordinate quickly said. "Everything's fine. The sweet potato loading and transport went smoothly. In fact, the officers from Pukou City were quite satisfied."
Whoosh!
Xie Liu let out a long sigh of relief.
Then he asked, "So what's the matter?"
"Why come to me at this hour?"
The subordinate looked mysterious. "Master Xie, let's talk somewhere private."
The two walked one after another out of the courtyard, out of the Xie residence, and into a secluded spot. The area was empty and silent, with a rather eerie feel.
Xie Liu's heart began to pound.
He wondered if this was a plot to rob and kill him.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
To rob him, the thief would need to find something worth taking.
His pockets would soon be emptier than his face. What was there to steal?
"Master Xie, there's a letter for you."
The subordinate finally explained, pulling a letter from his bosom. "Someone asked me to deliver this to you, sir. I was worried it might be exposed, so I hid it for you first."
He paused, then added, "It's a personal letter from General Zhang Shi."
Xie Liu looked confused. "General Zhang Shi?"
"Who's that? One of General Zhou Xiong's men?"
The subordinate sighed in exasperation. "General Zhang Shi is a court official, a general under Duke Ren Tianye. He's currently near our Pikou City."
"Oh."
Xie Liu nodded, his face emotionless.
The truth was, he was just a low-level laborer who couldn't even hold onto his meager wages. He spent his days calculating if he could save an extra coin, so he had no time to worry about the state of the realm.
Let the world collapse if it must.
In the worst case, he'd end up exactly where he was now.
With a little luck, he might even live better.
Still, he was curious about the letter from General Zhang Shi. He tore open the envelope right in front of his subordinate.
Pulling out the contents, he read line by line.
Gradually, an expression of disbelief spread across his face.
It took him a long moment to close the letter.
The subordinate, who clearly hadn't read the contents, eagerly asked, "Master Xie, what did General Zhang Shi say in the letter?"
"Is the Lord Duke really coming?"
"Will our Luofeng Slope fall under the Lord Duke's jurisdiction?"
Xie Liu nodded instinctively, then shook his head. "General Zhang Shi said he wants me to join them..."
"Master Xie!!!" The subordinate's voice shot up an octave, pure joy bursting across his face like fireworks in the night sky. "This is wonderful news! Incredible news!"
"General Zhang Shi is inviting you to join them."
"From now on, your days of happiness are about to begin."
"Happiness?" Those words clearly struck a chord with Xie Liu. He asked eagerly, "Are you sure there'll be happiness?"
"Of course," the subordinate said with conviction. "Master Xie, haven't you heard? Life under the Lord Duke is truly good."
"They crack down on love-brain thinking and govern with discipline for both the people and the army."
"Everyone says that when the Lord Duke arrives, the blue skies will return."
"How could it not be good?"
The moment the subordinate finished, Xie Liu cut in impatiently, "I don't care about all that. I just want to ask..."
"If I join General Zhang Shi's ranks, will the money I earn all go into my own hands, and not to anyone else?"
"If so, I'll surrender immediately."
"Without a second thought."
At his last words, Xie Liu was practically grinding his teeth.
The subordinate was taken aback.
He hadn't heard of such a policy in the Lord Duke's territory, but he was quick to adapt and extrapolate. "Under the Lord Duke, love must be based on equality."
"Master Xie, your situation is far from equal."
"So I'll bet that under the Lord Duke's rule, you'll feel as refreshed as if you've stepped into a whole new world."
Xie Liu suddenly brimmed with enthusiasm.
Equality!
Under the Lord Duke, there would be equality!
Then what was there to hesitate about?
Just then...
From the darkness, a voice like a lion's roar suddenly erupted.
"Xie!!!"
"Liu!!!"
Each syllable blasted through the night like a giant trumpet, shattering the stillness like a bomb dropped into a dead pond.
The peace was broken.
Xie Liu trembled all over from the fright.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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!
