Tang Xiaoyu was still fantasizing about how to spend the one million liang when he didn't notice the expressions of the three people at all.
"With this one million liang, I'm going to build roads, really good roads. The roads leading down the mountain should at least be able to support carriage horses."
"Also, I'm going to continue expanding the Taoist temple. I'm going to build a scripture loft and put just one copy of the Tao Te Ching in it. Hey! I'm just that willful."
"And also, also, I'm going to recruit a lot of disciples and make them call me Abbot every day."
"That's right. I can't forget about the commoners and officials of Qingshan Town either. I'm going to build schools for them and repair nice wide roads."
"It's happily decided then. This time, whoever dares snatch these one million liang from me will not only become my enemy, but also the enemy of all the commoners of Qingshan Town."
Tang Xiaoyu had already represented all the commoners of Qingshan Town.
Lu Changchun and the other two were speechless upon hearing his soliloquy: "Is that all you amount to?"
Tang Xiaoyu was unconcerned: "Che, a bunch of shallow people. As the great leader once said: to come from the masses and to go back to the masses."
Sister Lan curiously asked: "Who's that?!"
Tang Xiaoyu solemnly said: "He's the person I most revere and admire. None of you say anything bad about him, or whoever does, I'll fight you to the death."
His willingness to fight to the death was as resolute as iron, leaving no room for doubt.
Lin Qingying smoothed things over: "Alright alright, let's eat first."
"Right, right, right, let's eat."
Tang collected his thoughts: "I won't drink wine this time. I won't eat meat dishes either. For this cultivation journey I have to see it through to the end."
Lin Qingying said: "You're not seriously going through with this, are you?"
"You think I'm joking with you all? Okay, don't worry about me."
"Alright then!"
The few continued chatting over meals.
Tang Xiaoyu asked: "After I left Tianxuan Sect, did you all directly return as well?"
Tang Xiaoyu still wanted to know his position in her heart.
Humans are just like this, always thinking too highly of their position in other people's hearts. They always believe that they would make the other person do things that are incomprehensible yet understandable.
This is to satisfy one's fragile ego, just like when we were young children seeking validation from our parents.
"Of course I returned immediately. There were still many matters of the sect that required my handling!"
Tang Xiaoyu still couldn't help but ask: "Did you look for me after I left?"
"Why would I look for you? I'm not some young maiden. And you're not a child. You had your reasons for leaving. And I have my own matters. As long as I know you're still alive, that's good enough."
Tang Xiaoyu thought to himself: [Old women are indeed more decisive than young maidens.]
Lin Qingying added: "Speaking of which, this makes me mad. Why didn't you come looking for me? Why were you waiting for me to find you? Do you not feel ashamed?"
"To make a woman come looking for you, have you no shame?"
Tang Xiaoyu thought about it and realized she was right. Why would she have to be the one to come looking for him? This is contradictory. Is the one who loves more deeply supposed to contribute more and get hurt more?
Tang Xiaoyu was embarrassed. A flash of inspiration hit him: "Uh... But aren't I here looking for you now!"
Lin Qingying speechlessly said: "Forget it. Don't say anymore or I won't be able to resist hitting you."
Tang Xiaoyu secretly heaved a sigh of relief: [No, this isn't right! How did I get led astray? Something must be wrong here.]
Lu Changchun spoke up: "Xiaoyu! After the meal, let's prepare the songs you'll perform tomorrow."
At this, Tang Xiaoyu perked up: "Right, we need to prepare well."
After spending most of the day, Tang Xiaoyu prepared the music and projection scenes for four songs.
"Xiaoyu, these four songs are too good. You'll definitely get first place tomorrow," Sister Lan excitedly said.
"Of course. I'm the veteran in this area. Everyone else will have to look at my expression."
Looking at Sister Lan, Tang Xiaoyu thought of something else: "Were you two having an affair from early on?" As he spoke, he pointed at Lu Changchun.
"Oh please, what affair. We were childhood sweethearts since little!"
Tang Xiaoyu continued: "Then he married someone else while you watched him carry another woman in the bridal sedan chair?"
Sister Lan curiously asked: "How did you know?"
"That's what the song goes, let me sing it for you."
"Okay."
After Tang Xiaoyu finished singing, Sister Lan cried with gut-wrenching sobs.
[Sigh. Well now, the original owner has been found. When I get back I'll have to properly spread word so I can slip away.]
Tang Xiaoyu walked up to Lu Changchun and patted his shoulder: "I didn't expect that you were the fickle gold-digger!"
Looking up forty-five degrees at the ceiling, Tang Xiaoyu said: "I could have been a scumbag, honest and devoted... But these flaws ruined me."
"Yet you're different. You successfully avoided these flaws. You old scumbag, from today forth we are strangers."
Lu Changchun knew he was in the wrong and didn't dare retort.
In his youth, in order to secure his own future, he married a woman who could provide him help and abandoned his childhood sweetheart Sister Lan.
Tang Xiaoyu then walked up to Sister Lan: "Sister Lan, it's not worth crying over a man like this. You absolutely can't let this old scumbag trick you again."
Sister Lan wiped a tear and choked back sobs: "Xiaoyu, you're right. I can't let him trick me again."
Tang Xiaoyu sinisterly smiled: [Breaking up a couple is as good as making a couple. After all, I don't even have a wife to sleep with. *sigh* How evil. I'm saving stray women here.]
Lin Qingying walked over: "You're becoming wicked now. You can't stand seeing others happy can you!"
"When they're happy, I become unhappy. So I can only make them unhappy too." Tang Xiaoyu righteously said.
Lin Qingying was speechless: "Fine. You win."
Without another word that night, Tang Xiaoyu promptly awoke from his meditation the next morning at dawn.
"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name." Tang Xiaoyu began his morning lesson reciting the Tao Te Ching.
After reciting the entirety of the Tao Te Ching, he bowed to the heavens three times.
Lin Qingying walked over: "So early yet not sleeping, foolishly reciting something there?"
"This is my morning lesson. I must recite daily."
"More rules you set for yourself?"
"Seems so. Just rules I set myself."
"Then go on with your morning lessons. I'm going to sleep more." Stretching out in a yawn, Lin Qingying headed toward her own room.
While leaving, she muttered: "Still, nothing beats sleeping. Meditating and such is too boring."
The plaza of White Tiger City was already jam-packed with people who had come extra early just to vie for the best spots.
"You're here this early too huh, brother?"
"My goddess Xiaowei is coming today. Of course I have to come early and fight for a good spot."
"I'm here for Shuya."
On the other side, a few ladies were discussing the same topic:
"Jiege is coming today and I'm so nervous now!"
"My Fengge is coming too. It'd be wonderful if I could sing a song together with him on stage."
Yet unbeknownst to everyone, the trailblazer in this aspect had already finished preparations and was ready to go on stage.
"Sister Lan, how's my hairstyle? As energetic as before right?"
"Not bad. Same energetic spirit as always."
After getting ready, Tang Xiaoyu couldn't wait anymore: "Let's go, let's go! We have to get there quickly to claim that money!"
Arriving at the plaza full of fluttering banners and a bustling crowd where it was even difficult to walk, a few people said:
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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'!"
