The Imperial Tutor's Teachings

Coming next: No One Is Obligated to Be a Gold-Digging Man. Please add it to your collection!

[Powerful, scheming imperial tutor and regent gong x seemingly harmless, clever, calculating emperor shou]

In the eighth year of Jiasheng, the emperor died. The imperial tutor, Shen Heng, enthroned the young crown prince, Song Nanqing, and became regent to assist the boy ruler. The emperor honored him as his "adoptive father," and for a time, Shen Heng held unrivaled power over the court.

Song Nanqing's childhood in the imperial palace was made up of the canings Shen Heng gave him when he misbehaved, the times Shen Heng held his hand as he wrote memorials, and the warmth of Shen Heng's embrace during late-night thunderstorms. To him, the regent was both teacher and father. He taught Song Nanqing how to rule and how to judge and employ people. In private, he helped him comb his hair, put on his dragon robe, and make pastries, taking care of everything himself.

As the years passed, more and more voices at court urged the emperor to take power in his own hands, marry, and choose an empress. Rumors spread that the regent was monopolizing power and leading the young ruler astray, and that he deserved to die for it.

In his private chambers, Song Nanqing lay across the regent's lap, eating osmanthus cakes fed to him by Shen Heng. His gaze drifted over a series of portraits as his fingers crept over Shen Heng's knee and hooked around his belt. Looking at the notorious regent, Shen Heng, he said:

"Teacher, I think none of these people would make as good an empress as you."

Shen Heng's gaze darkened. He caught Song Nanqing's fingers and said, "Looks like you need to be taught a lesson."

Outside the window, begonias swayed in the breeze, their pink blossoms scattering across the ground. Dew dampened the moonlight and soaked their clothes.

To survive as an emperor who had to walk on eggshells, and to seize power, it didn't matter whether Song Nanqing used The Strategies of the Warring States or Ten Arts of Seduction. As long as he could manipulate people's hearts, that was enough.

The next morning at court, Song Nanqing sat upright on the dragon throne. Faced with flood- and plague-stricken regions in desperate need of capable officials, he tilted his head toward Shen Heng. "Surely, if Adoptive Father goes, you can quell the disaster and restore peace to Great Sheng."

Shen Heng, clad in black robes, accepted the decree with clasped hands. In the letter he sent before departing, every character was written with force, the ink bleeding through the paper: "You sounded far more pleasing last night than when you called me Adoptive Father today. How does Your Majesty intend to repay me when I return?"

Song Nanqing threw the letter to the ground and shouted angrily at Shen Heng's retreating figure, "Come back alive first, then we'll talk!"

Shen Heng was better at being an emperor than he was, but when it came to love, the winner was still anyone's guess.

Song Nanqing thought he had love all figured out, but he hadn't counted on meeting Shen Heng.

Snow fell thickly outside. The firelight glimmered in their eyes as Shen Heng's burning palm gripped the back of Song Nanqing's neck. When Song Nanqing tilted his head up, he met Shen Heng's fervent, possessive gaze.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say you loved me most? Now that you've found out I'm your blood brother, you want to run away? Which of the things you've said, Qingqing, was true?"

The fire burned bright, but Song Nanqing felt cold all over. "You knew all along. You knew, and you still..."

Shen Heng curved his lips, his composure frightening. "You dared to deceive me. Are you really afraid of a little blood relation?"

[Before You Read]

1. Fictional setting, with basic political intrigue.

2. The gong and shou are not related by blood. Not at all.

3. No angst.

Coming soon: No One Is Obligated to Be a Gold-Digging Man

[Kept-Man Romance]

Older financial tycoon daddy gong x flirtatious, gold-digging social butterfly brat shou

At a prestigious art school already crowded with people who seemed blessed by the heavens, Yu Qingnian was the unattainable beauty everyone admired. Luxury cars took turns driving him around, and he was decked out in understated luxury from head to toe. Barely in his twenties, he had already swept up international awards and given countless world-tour concerts. Rich, handsome, and talented, this trust-fund kid had it all. He was like the brightest diamond sparkling at the top of a pyramid. Of course, some people called him pretentious because even his tissue box was a luxury item.

But everyone agreed on one thing: he definitely had a great dad.

That's right, he did. The only catch was that this dad was his sugar daddy.

The campus heartthrob, the piano prodigy who had made a name for himself at a young age, the refined dreamboat adored by countless girls, was an entirely different person at home.

At night, in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of a high-rise apartment overlooking the river, Yu Qingnian collapsed helplessly onto the white cashmere rug. His fingers still twitched, unconsciously clutching the cuff of the man's trousers. He hadn't even swallowed what was in his mouth when the cruel man used his flushed, beautiful face as a tissue. Spots of liquid marked his soft cheeks, and his lips glistened.

Yu Qingnian was lifted into the man's arms. After sitting on Lu Zhao's lap and catching his breath, he swung his feet and said, "I've spent all my allowance for this month. Give me another three hundred thousand."

"It's only the fifth. What did you buy?" Lu Zhao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lu Zhao! I've been with you since I was eighteen, and now you interrogate me over a little spending money? Money is where love is. Don't you love me anymore?"

Of course, he wasn't really looking for love in this relationship. It was all just a way to make money. As a model gold-digger in his early twenties with assets worth tens of millions, he always lived by one truth: "I don't pander to men or women. I pander to money."

Lu Zhao was indeed a very generous sugar daddy. He had taken Yu Qingnian from a poor high-school student who had just come of age and turned him into a social butterfly whose every strand of hair was worth more than gold. But as time went on, Lu Zhao's need for control grew stronger and stronger. Yu Qingnian realized that if he didn't escape soon, he might really never get away.

A model gold-digger knew to leave once he'd made enough. Getting tangled up only slowed down his money-making.

So he kept making outrageous demands, each tantrum worse than the last. Strangely, Lu Zhao showed no sign of throwing him out. If anything, he seemed even more eager to indulge him.

After Yu Qingnian was caught selling yet another bag Lu Zhao had bought him on a secondhand marketplace, he tugged at the tie wrapped around his wrist and thought, "I have to escape this controlling psycho! Even if he buys me a hundred more bags, I won't stay."

Anyone who gets in the way of his money deserves to go to hell!

By chance, Yu Qingnian discovered that the person responsible for buying his secondhand bag and getting him caught by Lu Zhao was none other than Lu Zhao's pitiful, sickly first love.

Yu Qingnian no longer felt in a hurry to break up.

So his first love is coming back to the country! An old flame is showing up at the door! If I don't pretend to love you to death, act like a helpless little white flower, and score a huge breakup payment, then my name isn't Yu Qingnian!

Theme: Stay true to yourself even in turbulent times