So no matter what Gu Chengyin is doing, no matter where he is, no matter how many women are around him.
None of this matters.
Zilu, there is only one thing you need to do.
Xiao Ruxu raised her finger and tapped it on Cui Zilu's chest, directly over her heart.
The tap was so light it felt like touching something fragile.
But to Cui Zilu, it felt as though that tap had struck her very soul, making her whole body tremble.
Support him unconditionally.
Cui Zilu's eyes turned red.
Not from grievance, not from being moved, but from a jumble of pain and warmth and an inability to express what she felt.
As time goes on, as the days grow longer, Gu Chengyin will come to see your worth.
Xiao Ruxu's voice dropped low, as if she were stating something she had long understood.
Because you alone will unconditionally support everything he does.
You alone will unconditionally accept everything about him.
You alone will unconditionally sacrifice yourself to lift him up.
Cui Zilu's tears fell again.
But this time, she did not hide, did not wipe them away, did not bury her head in her knees.
She simply raised her head, looked at Xiao Ruxu, and let the tears stream down her cheeks.
One drop after another fell to the ground, staining small, dark patches.
These patches were like blossoms drenched by rain, blooming upon her heart.
Cui Zilu's lips trembled, her lashes trembled, her fingers trembled, her whole body trembled.
But her eyes, still glistening with tears, red and swollen, began to brighten.
It was as if something deep in the depths of her heart had been awakened, rising irrepressibly into light.
Xiao Ruxu looked into her daughter's eyes and knew she had absorbed it.
Not just heard it, but absorbed it.
Hearing is the work of the ears; absorbing is the work of the soul.
And Cui Zilu's soul, at that moment, had been ignited by Xiao Ruxu's words.
After hearing Cui Zilu's retelling, Xiao Ruxu did not say much more.
She simply reached out and pulled her daughter into her embrace.
Her gaze, however, drifted over Cui Zilu's shoulder to a place far away.
That place was the Divine Capital, where she had long been absent, where Cui Shifan was.
Her husband was currently in the Crown Princess's palace there, paving the way for Cui Zilu's future.
And she was here, laying the foundation for Cui Zilu's future.
The two of them, one at the front and one at the rear, one charging into battle and one securing the home front.
This was a tacit understanding built over decades, requiring no discussion, no communication, not even an exchange of glances.
Xiao Ruxu knew what Cui Shifan was doing, and Cui Shifan knew what Xiao Ruxu was doing.
That was enough.
Her gaze fell on the plaque of the Cheng Lu Academy.
Cheng Lu Academy.
Why was it called Cheng Lu Academy?
Who was Cheng, and who was Lu?
Of course, Xiao Ruxu knew; she knew everything.
She had known from the moment Cui Zilu first mentioned the words “Brother Chengyin” in front of her.
From the moment Cui Zilu said, “I want to do something for him.”
From the moment Cui Zilu said, “I want to build an academy.”
She had not asked why, not asked if it was worth it, not asked if she was sure.
She had simply said, “Alright, Mother will help you.”
Xiao Ruxu's gaze returned to Cui Zilu's face, and she continued gently,
What Gu Chengyin needs most right now is trustworthy talent.
And this is precisely where those other ladies fall short compared to you.
They hold high positions and look down on everyone.
They would never lower themselves to cultivate the talent Gu Chengyin needs.
But, coincidentally, the Cui Clan of Qinghe has never been lacking in talent.
When Xiao Ruxu said these words, her tone carried a natural, matter-of-fact certainty.
A millennium-old noble clan. These four words are not just for show, not just written in the family tree for boasting.
They are composed of blood, sweat, wisdom, and the perseverance of countless late nights burning the midnight oil, generation after generation.
A legacy built up bit by bit.
The talent of a noble clan does not fall from the sky, nor is it poached from elsewhere; it is cultivated from within.
One generation teaches the next, one generation passes it on to the next—those classics, histories, strategies for governing, and wisdom for navigating life.
Like an underground river, they have flowed through the bloodline of the clan for a thousand years, never running dry.
Cui Zilu was a daughter of that underground river; in her veins flowed the most refined blood of the Cui clan over a thousand years.
This was not pride, but fact.
Fact needs no pride, only to be seen.
It was only after Xiao Ruxu's reminder that Cui Zilu realized she was not worthless.
Her advantages had always been there, from the day she was born.
And those advantages were substantial.
So substantial that Cui Zilu had never thought about it before, so substantial that she had never dared to think about it.
Not because she was not good enough, but because she was so good that she herself did not know how good she was.
She should not compete with those other ladies over who was more dazzling, who was more outstanding, who was more worthy of standing by Gu Chengyin's side.
Instead, she should provide Gu Chengyin with what those ladies could not.
Just as Xiao Ruxu had said, none of those ladies could lift Gu Chengyin up.
But she, Cui Zilu, could. She could lift Gu Chengyin up.
Not by standing behind him, not by standing beside him.
But by using the millennium-deep legacy of the Cui clan as a foundation, elevating him to higher places.
She could provide Gu Chengyin with the talent he needed, in any field.
This was the foundation that would allow him to take on any task without fear of having no one to rely on.
How tall a tree can grow does not depend on how lush its branches and leaves are, but on how deep its roots are planted.
Gu Chengyin is a tree, one that is growing wildly, its branches and leaves already blocking out the sun.
But his roots were not yet deep enough, not yet stable enough to keep him standing firm on this land through wind and rain.
And those other ladies, none of them could help him root deeper.
Luo Zhao could not, because she was the Crown Princess; she needed Gu Chengyin to root for her.
Lin Qingyan could not, because she was Jingzhe; her roots were in the Celestial Master's residence, not in the court.
Shangguan Yunying could not, because loyal talent cannot be bought with money alone; it must be cultivated with time and effort.
Only she, Cui Zilu, could.
She could help Gu Chengyin plant an entire forest.
Cheng Lu Academy was the first tree in that forest.
Most importantly, you must not think of monopolizing Gu Chengyin, let alone locking him away.
When Xiao Ruxu said this, a strange smile crossed her face, as if she had seen through something.
Instead, when he is tired and wants to find a place to rest, you should say...
Xiao Ruxu's voice suddenly became very gentle, like a spring breeze, neither cold nor hot against the skin.
But it let you know it had arrived, that winter was over, and everything was awakening.
“Welcome home.”
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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!
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.
