Shen Moyan’s blood boiled, and murderous intent surfaced in his eyes.
Those two bastards, Zhao and Qian, were nothing more than a pair of navy commanders who happened to control the entire Yangtze defense line. What did they have to be so arrogant about? They had humiliated him like this, but once he returned from the northern Yangtze fortress complex and accomplished an unprecedented feat, he would have Lu Chaosheng replace the two of them. Then…
As he thought this, a flash of cold light passed through Shen Moyan’s eyes.
When that time came, he would take both their heads.
For now, however, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and cautiously apologize.
“Generals, I have come to present a strategy to the Grand Commander. It concerns the safety of our entire Yangtze defense line.”
“I beg you, Generals, please step aside.”
“Let me pass.”
Zhao and Qian already knew about this matter, so naturally they did not stop him. However, they certainly did not spare him their abuse and insults, either.
“You? Present a strategy? Besides scheming and plotting, what else do you know?”
“If you can actually come up with a strategy, then a sow can climb a tree!”
…
Although the two naval commanders, Zhao and Qian, did not block him, they did not hold back a single insult as they followed Shen Moyan all the way to the Grand Commander’s tent.
When Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan came out, the two finally stopped talking, though they still looked at Shen Moyan, this pretty boy, with considerable displeasure.
Shen Moyan hurriedly knelt on the ground.
“Grand Commander, this is Shen Moyan. I have come to offer a strategy that will force that traitor Ren Tianye to retreat without a fight and preserve the safety of our Yangtze natural defenses.”
Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties. He had a square face, a stern and imposing bearing, and wore armor. His entire body radiated an aura as imposing as a mountain.
At these words, he merely swept Shen Moyan with a cold glance before saying, “You?”
“You have a strategy to offer?”
“Yes, yes. I do, Grand Commander.”
“Heh!” Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan let out a light chuckle. His tone was filled with undisguised detachment, but he still said, “Go on, then. What strategy do you have?”
Shen Moyan drew a deep breath.
“Grand Commander, the reason Ren Tianye dares covet our Yangtze defense line, a natural stronghold, is that he believes he can train a navy capable of matching ours.”
“And the only person Ren Tianye can rely on is Lu Chaosheng, formerly of the northern Yangtze fortress complex. As it happens, Lu Chaosheng and I have known each other for years, and we share a close relationship.”
“If I send him a letter…”
“If I go there in person and persuade Lu Chaosheng, he will certainly abandon Ren Tianye and come serve under you, Grand Commander.”
“When that happens, without Lu Chaosheng, Ren Tianye will be like a tiger without its fangs. With only the two hundred thousand infantry he brought from the capital and the northern frontier, how would he dare engage us in battle before the natural defenses of the Yangtze?”
Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan nodded.
“What you’ve said makes sense. Without Lu Chaosheng, Ren Tianye would indeed be like a tiger without its fangs.”
“Unfortunately, Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou was so incompetent that he handed a naval general of Lu Chaosheng’s caliber over to Ren Tianye. What a pity. What a lamentable waste…”
“However…”
Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan suddenly changed his tone. His voice became stern and cold.
“You claim that you can persuade Lu Chaosheng to come over and serve us? I’m afraid I simply can’t believe that.”
“It is true that you were once Lu Chaosheng’s subordinate, and it is true that you know him. But according to what I’ve heard, you stole Lu Chaosheng’s woman, didn’t you?”
“You and he share a bond?”
“What kind of bond is that?”
“A bond of undying hatred?”
The news that Shen Moyan had registered his marriage with Lu Chaosheng’s woman, Ning Wanqin, had spread far and wide. Everyone among the soldiers in the northern Yangtze fortress complex knew about it.
Even the soldiers along the Yangtze defense line enjoyed discussing it, treating it as entertainment for idle moments. It could be said that Shen Moyan’s notoriety along the Yangtze defense line was in no way inferior to Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s fame.
In fact, among ordinary civilians who knew little about military affairs, Shen Moyan’s name was even more widely known than Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s.
After all, good news rarely travels beyond the gate, while bad news travels a thousand miles.
That was why Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan was able to accurately point out the truth behind the matter.
The two generals, Zhao and Qian, who had disliked Shen Moyan from the start, immediately seized the opportunity to pile on.
“Heh. This is too funny. A pretty boy like you actually dares claim that you and Lu Chaosheng have a good relationship? What kind of relationship do you two have? Are you fellow travelers?”
“If I were Lu Chaosheng, the moment I saw you, I’d kill you first. And you expect to discuss surrender with him? Keep dreaming! Or did you not wake up from your dream yet?”
…
After the three of them took turns tearing into him, Shen Moyan was left speechless. His face flushed bright red. His military ability and mental fortitude were both far too lacking, and for a moment he completely lost his train of thought, stammering and muttering without managing to say another word.
This only made Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s already foul mood even worse.
“Guards, beat him out!”
“If you dare spout such nonsense and disrupt military morale again, I’ll take your head to sacrifice before the battle flag!”
The guards on both sides immediately surged forward.
The two naval commanders, Zhao and Qian, apparently felt that the situation was not chaotic enough. They both charged forward in place of the guards, advancing like ravenous wolves and vicious tigers.
Just as Shen Moyan was about to faint from the overwhelming psychological pressure, a sweet and gentle voice suddenly rang out.
“Wait.”
As the voice fell, the tent flap was lifted.
A young woman wearing a clean, plain-colored dress, her fair face free of makeup, walked in with a bright smile.
“Brother Mengyan…” she called sweetly to Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan before smiling and saying, “He did come here to offer a strategy. Perhaps it might actually be useful. You should at least give him a chance, shouldn’t you?”
Her voice was soft and delicate, like honey melting in the Grand Commander’s ears. The stern expression on Zhou Mengyan’s face instantly melted like snow, replaced by a radiant smile.
“Little Fei, what brings you here?”
“You’re not feeling well again. I told you to rest in the rear camp. Why did you come out?”
“Aren’t you worried that I’ll be concerned?”
As he spoke, Zhou Mengyan had already risen to his feet. In three quick strides, he reached Ruan Fei, warmly took her hand, and led her to sit beside him in the tiger-backed command chair.
His palm instinctively moved to rub her stomach, but he suddenly remembered that there were outsiders in the tent and stopped himself. Even so, the concern in his eyes was practically overflowing.
“Little Fei, you have to listen to me. Don’t go running around, understand?”
“Oh, come on, Brother Mengyan. I’m all grown up now. I’m not still a child like I was when I was little. Could you stop treating me like a baby?”
“I know my own limits.”
“All right, all right!” Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan readily agreed. “My Little Fei has grown up. You’re not a child anymore, so I’ll treat you like an adult.”
The two of them exchanged sweet nothings like a loving married couple. Beneath the tent, Generals Zhao and Qian wore broad, indulgent smiles, watching with the rapt fascination of people reading a romance novel certified by the Tongxin Alliance.
Only Shen Moyan stood there in utter bewilderment.
“Wait, Grand Commander… what about my matter?”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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."
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?”
