In the academy.
In the classroom where Dongfang Zhixia was, it was still morning self-study time. Unlike other universities that enforce mandatory reading aloud or recitation, here, as long as you show up in the morning and sign in, it counts as completing morning self-study.
This is one of the few relatively lenient aspects within the academy.
After all, in the eyes of many stubborn old fogies, time must be seized tightly, otherwise studying will fall behind, you'll be left in the dust, you'll lose at the starting line, your life will be a failure...
For fck's sake, you'll find every reason under the sun except looking at the reasons within yourself.
Oh, so you're saying that by getting up half an hour earlier every morning than those young masters and heiresses, reading some books, memorizing some vocabulary, you've won at the starting line?
Sorry, kid, I'm about to leave you in the dust.
You win at the starting line? Go walk the horse, you'd make people laugh their heads off. You're just a workhorse who happened to study for a couple of years on the way, and you really think you're something special?
Tired is tired. When you're tired, you should rest properly, not listen to nonsense like "look at others who are even more tired than you," blah blah blah... I warmly greet your horse, some people are dead, why don't you go die?
Your life won't be ruined just because you lack this little bit of "overtaking on the curve" time for recitation in the morning. On the contrary, you'll waste a whole day's good mood and energy by pointlessly occupying that time.
The Great Sea City Aristocratic Academy understands this point very well, or rather, the "parents" behind it understand it very well.
They don't want their children foolishly wasting time there, learning nothing, and still "winning at the starting line"... Hah, go ahead, win at the starting line. I'll be waiting for you at the finish line.
It's just that most people can't see the current reality clearly, choosing to muddle along, drifting through half a lifetime, only to realize it's too late when they finally wake up.
In this regard, Ye Cheng is exceptionally "outstanding"...
Exploitation?
Sorry, can't exploit even a little bit. Under pressure? Just lie flat, run away, slack off.
You're right, I'm an unhardworking waste, a hopeless thing, society's trash... So, are you done? If you're done, I'm going to change my lying position.
What you say makes a lot of sense, but what if I just don't take the pressure?
"Excellent new-era youths" like Ye Cheng who don't take pressure are rare these days... Ah... Coincidentally, there's another such "excellent youth" who doesn't take pressure in the Student Council President's class, crowned by Ye Cheng with the title of "talented girl"!
"Mmm~~~"
The little secretary lay on the desk looking dazed, as if not fully awake. Her slightly chubby cheeks were pressed against the desk, forming a "plump" curve that looked soft and tempting to poke.
As for why the little secretary was so sleepy... it was because she was busy holding a grudge.
The little cake, along with the hidden snacks, her hard-earned "nest egg" accumulated over time, had been completely wiped out after Ye Cheng's arrival.
Gone, nothing was left. The little secretary looked at the trash can at home with teary eyes, a pitiful sight. She had protected nothing, boohoo, little cake, potato chips, biscuits, I will avenge you!
Starring "The Incompetent Little Secretary"... Li Meng.
All night long, the little secretary's mind was filled with the image of Ye Cheng's evil expression while eating her snacks.
"Ah, this cake is so soft, so delicious, these chips are so crispy, these little cookies..."
"Wahhh, you big bad guy, give me back my stuff, wahhh..."
In the dead of night, the little secretary, unusually, didn't cling to the Council President beside her for a nibble. Instead, she gritted her teeth, hugged her little blanket, secretly wiped her tears, and swore to defeat a certain big bad guy to avenge her little cookies, little cake, and little chips!
The king descended from heaven, furious and ferocious!
The utterly furious little secretary, in a fit of rage, raged... and then stayed up all night. Now she was sleepy. Her usually pretty, dazed almond eyes had become straight lines, looking utterly lazy.
Under normal circumstances, Dongfang Zhixia would definitely have noticed the little secretary's unusual state.
But right now... the Council President's mind was elsewhere, in another place.
The little secretary and the Council President were inseparable. Since the little secretary was dragged along to class, she naturally sat next to the Council President.
While the little secretary lay drowsily on the desk, in stark contrast was Dongfang Zhixia beside her, holding her phone, squinting her eyes, and glancing towards the classroom door from time to time.
"This guy... still not here?"
Dongfang Zhixia vaguely sensed something was wrong.
The bodyguard responsible for delivering the roses and meeting Ye Cheng hadn't reported back to her yet. According to her orders, as soon as Ye Cheng received the roses, he would report back immediately.
She had given Ye Cheng a full half hour, from 7:30 to 8:00, but half an hour had passed, and there was still no news from the bodyguard...
Did Ye Cheng stand her up?
No... that idiot isn't that bold.
Dongfang Zhixia had just considered one possibility but immediately dismissed it. With Ye Cheng's personality, it was unlikely he would go back on his word unless he wasn't afraid of being chopped into mincemeat.
Unless...
"Buzz!"
Her phone vibrated. Dongfang Zhixia pulled her thoughts back and looked at the message on her screen. It was from the bodyguard assigned to meet Ye Cheng.
"Miss, he didn't show up!"
Dongfang Zhixia squinted her eyes as she read it. "Alright, I understand."
"Shen Qinghan..." Dongfang Zhixia muttered the young lady's name, seemingly deep in thought.
In Dongfang Zhixia's view, the only person in the entire school who could keep Ye Cheng in check was Shen Qinghan, and of course... herself!
Aside from her and Shen Qinghan, no one else could possibly pressure Ye Cheng. Don't be fooled by Ye Cheng's constant act of being poor and hapless; he's not someone easy to bully. He had previously made life miserable for Li Yong, the "King of Screwing Over His Dad," who was always shouting "My father is Li Erhe!"
How could he possibly be a pushover?
Remember, Ye Cheng's classic motto is "The strong must mercilessly humiliate the weak!" With that kind of disposition, how could he ever be bullied?
It's a good thing Ye Cheng isn't some rich young master, otherwise he'd definitely have that arrogant "Celestial Dragon" face, looking at everyone with a "What are you looking at? Yeah, I'm looking at you, so what?" kind of smug, nouveau-riche expression.
He's all about keeping it real!
You don't actually think that if Ye Cheng had money, he'd go around doing good deeds, do you?
No way, no way, don't tell me someone actually thinks Ye Cheng is a good person?
Say it with me again... The strong must mercilessly humiliate the weak!
Precisely because she knew what a slacker Ye Cheng was, Dongfang Zhixia quickly identified the "suspect," the one who prevented Ye Cheng from keeping the appointment.
Who else in the entire academy besides the young lady could have such means?
It's just that Dongfang Zhixia hadn't expected her first offensive and provocation to fail so quickly. The young lady seemed more troublesome than she had imagined. However... the more challenging, the more excited she became.
Now this is interesting. Winning too easily would be quite dull.
The club president put her phone away, planning to go catch Ye Cheng later, but only when there were fewer people around. Otherwise, public opinion might shift against her.
Currently, the court of public opinion at school was in Dongfang Zhixia's favor. Everyone knew about Ye Cheng's rather... unique "confession" during the opening ceremony. Well... although it was a bit strange, in the eyes of the vast majority,
Ye Cheng saying he wanted to be Dongfang Zhixia's dog was practically no different from a love confession. Because of that statement, many even speculated whether Dongfang Zhixia might have some peculiar kinks, like a little whip...
Of course, aside from these rather odd negative rumors, the other prevailing narratives were quite favorable.
For instance, that Ye Cheng was her lapdog... and yet was also entangled with some self-righteous guy. The school's gossip had now split into two factions. It was rather absurd, but these people had even started some kind of vote.
Something about supporting so-and-so...
How boring.
So, Dongfang Zhixia went back and had her people cast a few hundred votes. She could have rigged even more, but that would have been too obvious.
What was originally a 40-60 split turned into an 80-20 after Dongfang Zhixia stuffed the ballot box, completely crushing the young lady!
Dongfang Zhixia was born with a competitive streak. In everything she did, she had to be number one!
She didn't want just an advantage or a narrow win; she wanted absolute domination!!!
Besides, she was already ahead. She was merely "expanding her lead a little bit." Round it off, and it's basically like she didn't rig anything at all. This was all her own doing!
Meanwhile.
In another classroom.
The young lady stared silently at the empty seat beside her. On the desk lay the eraser Ye Cheng had been carving during the last class yesterday, a ruler still stuck in it—an unfinished operation.
She turned her head away, withdrawing her gaze. Seeming to remember something, she narrowed her eyes, her voice cool and clear.
"Dongfang Zhixia?"
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...
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!
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.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
