Yi Family.
Yang Man looked at the muddle-headed Yi Chuxue, and it was hard for her to mask the exhaustion in her heart.
"Yi Bing, you're here?"
"Mother, how's Third Sister doing?" Yi Bing asked.
Yang Man sighed and said, "I really don't know what Yi Fan, that guy, did to your little sister, actually scaring her so much that she's like this now."
Yi Chuxue sat in the corner of the room, hugging her knee and muttering something under her breath, portraying a frightened appearance.
Yi Bing looked at Yang Man and asked, "Mother, is Chuxue really Father's daughter?"
Yang Man abruptly turned her head and looked at Yi Bing, "Yi Bing, what are you thinking? Of course, Chuxue is your father's daughter."
Yi Bing nodded and said, "Yi Fan said that Chuxue was born from an affair between you and someone else. He also said that Li Anya was killed because she discovered Mother, you and someone else's secret affair."
"Yi Fan that guy… Damn it, no wonder, no wonder your father keeps on looking at me that way." Yang Man couldn't help feeling really agitated, and she didn't know what to do.
Yang Man clenched her fists and thought to herself: Before, she had asked Yi Xun to invite someone to take a look at Chuxue, but Yi Xun used the excuse that Yi Chuxue's situation was the same as Yi Huo and Yi Bing's and that she couldn't be saved, so no doctors were called over. Yang Man had originally thought it was a bit strange, but now she finally understood. Even if Yi Xun didn't believe Yi Fan's words, he definitely had some doubts.
Yi Bing looked at Yang Man and said, "Mother, it's not true, is it?"
"Of course not, Yi Fan clearly has a grudge against me for not treating him well, so he just blurted out something without speaking. Too bad your father… What kind of person does he think I am." Yang Man said unhesitatingly.
Yi Bing sighed and said, "Looking at Father's attitude, I think he believed it."
Yang Man closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She secretly thought: Cutting the weeds without destroying the roots, will give a second chance at life once the spring breeze blows again. If she'd known earlier, she shouldn't have been so merciful, but now that Yi Fan has made it big, even if she wanted to do something about it, she wouldn't be able to.
Shenghuang College.
Zhuang Qian excitedly caught up to Zhuang Hao, "Elder Brother, how has your relationship with Qi Shaorong been lately!"
Zhuang Hao took a deep breath and said, "Not great, but not bad either."
"Elder Brother, don't be discouraged, as long as you foster the spirit to continuously pester Qi Shaorong and never give up, stay close to him and deal with those who harbour improper intentions towards Qi Shaorong, then I believe, Elder Brother, that eventually you and Qi Shaorong will be able to become a pair." Zhuang Qian said.
Zhuang Hao: "…"
"Zhuang Hao, long time no see. A-Hao, I haven't seen you come to school in a while." Tang Tianying said, heading towards Zhuang Hao.
Zhuang Hao nodded at Tang Tianying and said, "Long time no see."
Zhuang Qian shrunk his neck with somewhat of a guilty conscience. Tang Tianying, this guy, also seems to have some improper thoughts towards Qi Shaorong.
Tang Tianying looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "A-Hao, how's your relationship with Fourth Young Master Qi lately!"
Zhuang Qian looked at Tang Tianying and said half-jokingly, "Fourth Prince, you didn't come find me to scout out the enemy, did you."
Tang Tianying: "…"
"A-Qian, the Fourth Prince was just joking. Fourth Prince, you were joking when you said that you liked Qi Shaorong, right?" Zhuang Hao stared at Tang Tianying and asked.
Zhuang Qian: "…" Did Big Brother listen to his suggestion? Was he planning on dealing with someone who had improper thoughts towards Qi Shaorong?
Tang Tianying nodded awkwardly and forced a smile, saying, "Yes!"
Tang Tianying lowered his head and thought to himself: He had always thought that Zhuang Hao this guy was cold and detached, and wasn't interested in mundane affairs [1]. So it turns out that this guy actually gets jealous so easily, he really misjudged him.
Tang Tianying looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "A-Hao, I heard that you and Chen Yuan had a falling out with each other. You've been friends for many years, what misunderstanding can't you two resolve?"
Zhuang Hao took a deep breath and said, " Who let him… Nevermind, I'm not talking about it anymore."
Tang Tianying: "…"
"By the way, A-Hao, did you know, Allure Cosmetics has made some big movements recently." Tang Tianying said, turning around the topic of the conversation.
Zhuang Qian was surprised and said, "Fourth Prince, you actually care about these kinds of things? Only those girls with a lot of money and nowhere to spend it will care about makeup and cosmetics!"
Tang Tianying shrugged and said, "I personally don't really care, but those women at the palace are always chatting about it beside my ears all day. Even if I don't care, I can't do anything about it!"
Zhuang Qian looked at Tang Tianying and said, "So what's up with Allure Cosmetics?"
"Look at this, Allure Cosmetics recently distributed these leaflets."
"It says that in order to thank all the customers for their support towards Allure Cosmetics, we've specially released an earth-shattering new product, Goddess's Tears."
[T/n: Wait, sorry, I've always been confused by this, but when a word/name ends in an 's' and I want to indicate that it possesses something, in this case, "Goddess", would it be Goddess's or Goddess'? They both look kind of weird to me tbh.]
"Our chief apothecary spent over 60 years developing this Goddess's Tears. We've conducted research on more than 3,500 kinds of spiritual flowers, ran thousands of tests and experiments, and this miraculous liquid was finally developed successfully after all our painstaking efforts."
"This cosmetic toner can delay aging, restore youthfulness, lighten dark spots and remove scars, and beautify and nourish the skin… Its efficacy is equivalent to ten times that of the juice from the Xueyan flower."
"This product will be available for sale in the Imperial Capital starting in a month. There is a limited stock of one hundred bottles, and one bottle can be obtained for 200,000 gold coins."
"200,000 gold coins for one bottle, looks like Allure Cosmetics is finally shedding their pretense and are just blatantly scamming people out of their money now. I think that when the moment comes, they won't even be able to sell a single bottle." Zhuang Qian said.
Tang Tianying shook his head and said, "Them not being able to sell a single bottle definitely won't happen. Some cosmetics shops have already launched trial samples, and it's said that the results are very outstanding. Several of my father's concubines have said that they must buy it when it comes out, they're even afraid that they'll miss the chance to buy it."
Zhuang Qian: "…Are those mothers of yours stupid [2]!"
Tang Tianying, "It's not just them, many of the teachers at Shenghuang College are also very interested in it."
"Although 200,000 gold coins isn't a small amount, for all the wealthy people in the Imperial Capital, 200,000 isn't a big deal." Zhuang Hao said.
"Elder Brother, don't you have a lot of money! How about you buy a bottle and give it to Fourth Young Master Qi!"
Zhuang Hao looked at Zhuang Qian and said, "I'll see when the time comes." As if Qi Shaorong needs him to give it to him?
Zhuang Qian: "..."
Qi Shaorong's laboratory.
Qi Heng looked at the leaflet in his hand and said, "Young Master, don't you think that what you've written here is a little too exaggerated?"
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said disapprovingly, "No it's not! A-Heng! Let me tell you! If you want to make a lot of money, then you have to be good at speaking pretty words freely. If you don't talk about how good the product is, how will you be able to sell the products! What's more, our products are really good anyway, it's not a big deal if it's a little exaggerated."
"Nowadays, who doesn't talk big! There's even a small noodle shop hidden in the corner of the Imperial Capital that dares to claim they have the best noodles in the world, compared to those guys, we shouldn't be too modest either."
"But Young Master, it says here on the leaflet that our chief apothecary spent over 60 years developing this Goddess's Tears, we've conducted research on more than 3,500 kinds of spiritual flowers, ran thousands of tests and experiments, and this miraculous liquid was finally developed successfully after all our painstaking efforts. But in reality, you took five days to develop it, and you only studied around a hundred or so spiritual flowers." Qi Heng said.
Qi Shaorong said, "As the saying goes, one minute on the stage is worth ten years of practice. Although I only spent five days developing the Goddess's Tears, it's also a result of my decades of hard work."
Qi Heng looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Young Master, you're only 16 years old! Decades of hard work is stretching it."
"I'm almost 17." Qi Shaorong said.
"Only 17? You're still younger than me!" Zhuang Hao said, walking in.
Qi Shaorong turned his head and looked at Zhuang Hao. He was annoyed as he said, "Zhuang Hao, how did you get in here?"
"I avoided all those traps you set up." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong, "…Zhuang Hao, it's not good to break into other people's houses."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "We're already so familiar with each other, I only came in here to take a look."
"Just how familiar are we?" Qi Shaorong said, displeased.
"When we were inside the secret dimension, didn't you want to take off my pants? Doesn't that count as being familiar with each other?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong, "…Zhuang Hao, are you sick?"
"You're the one who's sick, I'm obviously older than you, but you're always complaining that I'm too young." Zhuang Hao said with a bad temper.
Qi Shaorong, "…You and I are different"
"Different? How?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His mind was turning rapidly: This Young Master was reborn! Yet Zhuang Hao, this stinky boy, still wants to compare himself with him.
"Zhuang Hao, you have to know that the length of one's life depends on age, but the breadth of life depends on the things that you've done during that limited lifetime, the things that you've done, let me tell you! The time that you use to sleep in and laze around, I use to study and acquire knowledge, so although I'm only 16 years old, it's the same as having lived for seventy years already, do you understand!"
Qi Heng moved close to Qi Shaorong and said, "Young Master, you don't seem to have stopped sleeping in though."
Qi Shaorong: "…" Aiya, he's really not afraid of god-like opponents, he's more afraid of pig-like teammates.
"A-Heng, did you receive a bribe from this guy or something? Have you forgotten who's the one who gives you your allowance?" Qi Shaorong said irritatedly.
Qi Heng: "…"
"Qi Shaorong, do you know how many people are eyeing your Allure Cosmetics Store currently? The only reason why no one has made a move yet is because they still haven't figured out the exact in and outs of Allure Cosmetics, so all the various forces are only watching the situation for now. Once they can't resist anymore and make a move, you'll be in danger." Zhuang Hao said, frowning,
Qi Shaorong closed his eyes and said, "Someone has already made a move."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "So in this case, do you still have to show yourself in the forefront then?"
Qi Shaorong glanced at Zhuang Hao and said, "Of course! Since they want to know so badly, I'll let them know."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Don't you know that you're walking on the edge of a cliff here?"
Qi Shaorong turned his head, looked at Zhuang Hao, and said, "I know, but what else can I do? I want to make a lot of money, I don't want to live an ordinary life, I don't want to be looked down on by people. If I don't take risks, how can I get rich, how can I become an extraordinary person!"
Footnotes:
Wasn't interested in mundane affairs: Literally "not eating the food of common mortals"ーplacing oneself above the common populace; to be above worldly material attractions; detached.
Mothers: Tang Tianying refers to his father's concubines as his "little mothers".