"Gu Chengyin?!"
Upon hearing this name, Luo Zhao's eyes widened instantly.
Widened so much that she felt she had never opened her eyes this wide before.
Her mouth opened and closed, then opened again.
Like a fish hauled out of water, desperately gasping its gills but unable to draw in a single breath.
Gu Chengyin. Imperial Son-in-law? Her husband?!
For Luo Zhao, this news was neither entirely good nor entirely bad.
The good part was that she wouldn't have to marry some man she'd barely exchanged a word with.
The bad part was that the man was Gu Chengyin.
The man she hated most, wanted to kill most, and loathed to the bone.
Yes.
The first image that flashed through Luo Zhao's mind upon hearing that Gu Chengyin was to become the Imperial Son-in-law.
Was that Red Egg pinning her to the bed, with her utterly powerless to resist no matter how she fought.
Left with no choice but to endure his bullying, tears of humiliation streaming down her face.
Seeing it that way, liking Gu Chengyin was absolutely impossible!
She wasn't a masochist—how could she possibly like that Red Egg!
It must be that she'd been too swamped with affairs lately, and her mind was playing tricks on her.
But the real crux didn't lie there.
Another name surfaced in Luo Zhao's mind.
Lin Qingyan.
Whether it was Cui Zilu marrying Gu Chengyin, or Emperor Luo wanting to summon Gu Chengyin as the Imperial Son-in-law.
This name was one that could never be bypassed.
Because Lin Qingyan was Gu Chengyin's woman.
Not someone who liked Gu Chengyin, not someone who loved Gu Chengyin.
But the woman who had possessed Gu Chengyin.
Lin Qingyan had already slept with Gu Chengyin, had already made him her man.
Had already left her scent, her warmth, her mark upon him.
If the relationship between these two hadn't reached that stage, it might have been manageable.
Lin Qingyan was merely infatuated, merely pursuing, merely hadn't yet succeeded.
A liking can be abandoned. A pursuit can be halted.
Something not yet obtained, if taken by another, brings grief but not desperate resistance.
But the problem was, Lin Qingyan had already gotten what she wanted.
She had already turned Gu Chengyin into her man, already regarded him as hers.
At this moment, Emperor Luo declaring he would summon Gu Chengyin as the Imperial Son-in-law.
This was practically slapping Lin Qingyan across the face.
Luo Zhao knew Lin Qingyan's temper all too well.
Now, Emperor Luo wanted to take Gu Chengyin.
To take him from Lin Qingyan's side and make him the Imperial Son-in-law.
"F-father... Aunt..."
Luo Zhao swallowed hard, her voice slightly strained:
"Aunt... she won't agree to this."
At this concern, Emperor Luo merely cast a faint glance at Luo Zhao, then said with unruffled calm:
"Zhao'er, have you forgotten something?"
Luo Zhao blinked.
Her mind raced furiously. Forgotten something?
What thing?
What had she forgotten?
Was it something she'd truly forgotten, or something she'd never known in the first place?
Luo Zhao thought for a long while, from Cui Shifan's proposal of marriage to Lyu Fang delivering the imperial decree, from Lyu Fang delivering the decree to being summoned to court.
From being summoned to court to sitting here on this chair, which was a notch lower than the one in the Crown Princess's palace.
But she couldn't think of anything. Her mind was a complete blank.
In the end, she could only reply cautiously:
"Your son is dull-witted. Please enlighten me, Father."
Emperor Luo wasn't particularly surprised by this, and explained with great patience:
"Back then, Gu Chengyin declared his affections in front of the entire court, before all the civil and military officials."
"And you... acquiesced."
Declared affections.
Her and Gu Chengyin.
Luo Zhao recalled that morning court session.
Gu Chengyin, in order to cement his immortal identity, had gambled away her reputation as well.
Before all the officials, not only had he publicly professed his feelings, but he had shamelessly announced that they were already betrothed.
Then every gaze in the hall fell upon her.
Her father was watching her. Xiao Song was watching her. Cui Shifan was watching her. The entire court was watching her.
They were all waiting for Luo Zhao's response.
Waiting for her to refute, to deny, to condemn Gu Chengyin for speaking nonsense.
But she didn't.
She said nothing.
She just stood there, quietly.
No refutation. No denial. No condemnation of Gu Chengyin.
She acquiesced.
And in the eyes of the entire court, her acquiescence was consent.
It was ironclad proof that Luo Zhao and Gu Chengyin were betrothed.
It was hard evidence of an improper affair between the Crown Princess and the Royal Tutor.
When this matter spread, its impact was far greater than Xiao Song's downfall.
Xiao Song's downfall was a matter of the court, a matter among officials, a matter of the great and powerful.
Common people didn't understand it and didn't care.
They only knew some high-ranking official had been dismissed. As for why he'd been dismissed, or what would happen afterward, they couldn't care less.
But Luo Zhao and Gu Chengyin's declaration of affection was different.
This was gossip, a talking point, a story that could be told with animated flair at tea breaks, over wine, and in the streets and alleys.
The domineering Royal Tutor's forced love, the Crown Princess's illicit affair, the forbidden romance between master and disciple—all of it.
Various versions, various tellings, various embellishments and dramatizations sprouted one after another.
Like wild grass—unburnable, uncuttable, springing back to life with every breeze.
Even when the Imperial Household Bureau forcibly intervened, sealing a number of teahouses, arresting a batch of storytellers, and banning a slew of chapbooks.
None of it could suppress the nation's insatiable appetite for gossip.
Because this matter was too explosive, too thrilling, too perfectly aligned with what commoners imagined of the great and mighty.
They didn't need the truth. They needed a story.
And the story of Luo Zhao and Gu Chengyin was more riveting than any chapbook.
Luo Zhao's expression grew complicated.
She remembered now.
She remembered all of it.
That day in court, the words Gu Chengyin had spoken—she hadn't understood them then.
No, not that she hadn't understood. She simply hadn't paid attention.
She'd assumed it was just Gu Chengyin's pretext to solidify his identity and bring down Xiao Song.
So she'd endured it, even though Gu Chengyin had staked her reputation.
But now Luo Zhao realized: every word Gu Chengyin had spoken that day was a trap he was digging for her.
And she, foolishly, had walked right in.
Luo Zhao's fingers clenched tightly within her sleeve.
Her breath grew rapid and disordered, her chest heaving violently.
Her face flushed—not with grievance, but with rage.
The rage of being sold by Gu Chengyin and then counting the money for him.
The rage of wishing she could travel back in time and slap herself.
But in the end, she didn't erupt.
What was done was done. The die was cast. Spilled water could not be gathered back.
Gu Chengyin had declared his affections in court, and she had acquiesced.
This was fact.
The entire court had witnessed it. The whole world knew it. Even the Imperial Household Bureau couldn't suppress it.
Her reputation had already been taken from her by Gu Chengyin long ago.
And back then, she had known nothing.
Still foolishly believing Gu Chengyin was charging into battle for her.
Luo Zhao drew a deep breath, and her lips moved:
"So, in the eyes of the world, the Imperial Son-in-law was already decided long ago."
Luo Zhao wasn't asking Emperor Luo. She was confirming a fact she'd just come to understand.
A fact she should have understood from that very day.
In the eyes of the world, her husband had already appeared.
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.
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?!
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!
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
