“Cuihua, I never would have guessed that you held such deep feelings for the village headman too…” Chen Liang said with considerable emotion. “Since that’s the case, we shouldn’t delay any longer.”
“The village headman is pining for you just as badly.”
“How about…”
“Why not choose today rather than wait for an auspicious date? Go to the village headman’s house today?”
Liu Cuihua nodded fiercely. “All right, no problem. I’ll go right now…”
“Ah, no, wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“I—I need to wash up and dress properly.”
“All right.”
“Well, Young Master Chen Liang, you’ll have to step outside. I’m about to become Master Li’s woman, while you’re merely Master Li’s servant. You ought to understand the rules.”
Chen Liang immediately said, “Yes, yes, yes. I was being too forward and failed to observe proper etiquette. How about this? I’ll go outside and wait while you take your time washing and dressing. Does that sound all right?”
“Fine.”
Chen Liang went outside and stood by the door.
He waited for a full half hour. Only when Liu Cuihua called for him did he turn around and enter. The instant he stepped inside, his eyes lit up.
Liu Cuihua had changed into a new outfit.
It was a light-colored, soft-silk ruqun. The fabric was smooth and lustrous, embroidered with tiny, delicate flowers, while the skirt fell in neat, graceful folds. In the blink of an eye, she had transformed from a wildflower hidden away in a little mountain village into a true phoenix.
With that outfit and Liu Cuihua’s gentle, alluring features, it had to be said that even compared with the young ladies from the city, she was in no way inferior.
“How do I look? Am I pretty?” Liu Cuihua asked.
Chen Liang did not answer. Instead, he wanted to ask her something.
That fabric was clearly not cheap. Given Liu Cuihua’s family circumstances—or, for that matter, the circumstances of all the villagers in West Slope Village—how could she possibly afford it?
Of course, Chen Liang ultimately did not ask. He already knew the answer perfectly well.
“Well?”
“Am I pretty or not?”
“Does this outfit perhaps not suit the village headman’s tastes? Should I go back and change into another one?”
Chen Liang also knew exactly what she meant by “another one,” so he hurriedly said, “No, no, this is fine. You look exceptionally beautiful. The village headman will definitely like it.”
“Then—that’s good, that’s good!” Liu Cuihua breathed a sigh of relief. A trace of smugness immediately appeared on her face. She had always been confident in her own beauty.
Now that she had received the approval of someone as worldly as Chen Liang, her pride grew even stronger. She was practically unable to wait for the village headman to see her.
“Then let’s hurry,” she said. “We mustn’t keep Master Li waiting.”
“Wait a moment,” Chen Liang said. “Shouldn’t you tell your parents? After all, this is a major decision concerning the rest of your life.”
“There’s no need. I’m old enough to make my own decisions. Besides…I’m seeking my own happiness. My parents don’t know what kind of happiness I want. They’d only interfere and give me foolish advice.”
Chen Liang said, “All right. That’s for the best. Let’s go.”
Chen Liang walked ahead, with Liu Cuihua following behind him.
They had just stepped out of the courtyard when Liu Cuihua suddenly called out for Chen Liang to stop.
“Um, Young Master Chen Liang, there’s something you have to keep secret for me…”
“Oh? What is it?”
“You must know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“You must have heard the rumors around the village, right?”
“No, what exactly are you talking about?” Chen Liang pretended not to understand, refusing to take the bait.
Liu Cuihua grew anxious. After a while, she finally huffed, “Hmph! Now that I’m about to become the village headman’s woman, you’re merely one of the village headman’s servants. I trust that someone as clever as you knows what should and shouldn’t be said.”
“That goes without saying.” Chen Liang immediately replied, “I know perfectly well what can and cannot be said. Besides, you’re getting together with the village headman for the sake of love. Love is stronger than gold, so naturally I’ll offer you both my blessings.”
Only after hearing those words did Liu Cuihua relax.
Following Chen Liang, she made her way to the village headman’s home. They entered through the main door and arrived at the bedchamber, where they saw the village headman, Li Quan.
The village headman, Li Quan, was getting on in years, and his spirits were no longer what they had once been. He was already lying on the bed, half asleep. But when Chen Liang called to him from outside, he sprang up and rushed out.
His gaze lingered on Chen Liang’s face for less than a second before falling upon Liu Cuihua. When he saw her radiant appearance, his breathing caught.
“Cui—Cuihua…”
“M—Master!”
“Cuihua!”
“Master!”
“Cuihua!”
“Master!”
“All right, all right!” Chen Liang reached out and cut them off. “Village headman, Miss Liu, there’s no need for this. Whatever you have to say to each other, you can discuss it inside.”
“Do you still need this humble one to stand guard outside?”
Chen Liang’s interruption put the village headman, Li Quan, in a bad mood. But then he remembered that Chen Liang had gone to the trouble of bringing Cuihua to him, and his irritation faded.
“All right, then. Wait outside while Cuihua and I reminisce.”
The village headman, Li Quan, took Liu Cuihua by the hand and led her inside. Chen Liang had no choice but to wait outside once more.
A sudden melancholy came over him. The mountain wind was fierce, howling as it blew. He had nearly frozen to death while waiting outside Liu Cuihua’s home for half an hour earlier.
Who knew how long he would have to wait this time?
“Sigh. For the happiness of the villagers of West Slope Village, I’ll just have to endure it. Repaying a debt of gratitude isn’t easy.”
With that thought, Chen Liang looked sorrowfully up at the sky. But just as he raised his head, the door that had only just been shut creaked open.
The village headman, Li Quan, stepped out.
Beside him, Liu Cuihua leaned against him like a shy little bird.
Chen Liang glanced at them and realized that his instinctive description was not quite accurate. Liu Cuihua was relatively tall, while the village headman, Li Quan, was broad and stout. At first glance, it was actually difficult to tell who was leaning against whom.
But Chen Liang was quick to read the situation. He hurried forward and said, “Village headman.”
The village headman, Li Quan, looked rosy-cheeked and refreshed, with even a trace of emotion on his face. He took Chen Liang’s hand in both of his and said, “Young Master Chen Liang, I have to say, your talent is truly extraordinary.”
“If it weren’t for your encouragement, this old master wouldn’t have realized what a miserable life he’d been living all these years!”
“With Cuihua, this old master has finally found happiness.”
“And now, I have something to look forward to.”
Liu Cuihua stood beside him, her cheeks flushed as she said sweetly, “Being able to marry Master is Cuihua’s good fortune.”
The village headman, Li Quan, was deeply moved. He took her soft, delicate hand in his and said, “No, having you is my good fortune!”
“Master, you are my good fortune!”
“No, you are my good fortune!”
“Master, you are the one who brings me good fortune!”
Chen Liang immediately interrupted at another inopportune moment. “Village headman, Miss Liu, you are each other’s good fortune. With the two of you together, the villagers of West Slope Village will all share in that good fortune.”
“However, this good fortune has only just begun. You’ll still have to weather hardships and overcome many trials. Village headman, Miss Cuihua, your love is stronger than gold. You must join hands and make it through every obstacle together.”
The village headman, Li Quan’s mindset had now completely changed.
They say it’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to return from extravagance to frugality. Having tasted the sweetness of love, he now found himself hopelessly mired in it, utterly unable to pull free. With a grand sweep of his hand, he declared, “For Cuihua, what’s a mere obstacle? Even if the heavens collapsed, the earth split apart, the seas dried up, and the rocks crumbled, I would still stay with Cuihua!”
“That’s good to hear!” Chen Liang replied with an inscrutable smile.
……
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.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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?”
