Rebirth of the Willing Bait

[New upcoming stories: "Auditioning at Eighteen, Accidentally Bound to a Veteran Actor's Comeback System" and "Holding the Emperor Hostage." Blurbs are below. If you're interested, please add them to your collection.]

Everyone says Weng Shao is greedy and unscrupulous, willing to sleep with his enemy to climb the ladder. They also say he and his enemy are a pair of beasts in human clothing, working hand in glove, and that they'll inevitably turn against each other for profit.

Weng Shao thought so, too. Until Pei Xingze died horribly at the hands of kidnappers while saving him. Only then did Weng Shao realize that the one who seemed the most coldhearted had actually loved the deepest.

*

When he opens his eyes again, Weng Shao has returned to twenty years earlier, to the day his birth was exposed and his biological parents treated him like dirt.

Looking at his own flesh and blood, who put on a sanctimonious face and scolded him as a wolf-hearted, disloyal and ungrateful white-eyed wolf, Weng Shao laughs.

In his youth, he naively believed that giving his all would earn his family's approval. Instead, once they had squeezed every last bit of value out of him, they kicked him out without a second thought.

Now that he has been lucky enough to get another chance, he'll fight for whatever he wants. As for the Weng family, he might as well use them as bait to lure in his target.

With a new life, Weng Shao will get his revenge, make his fortune, and ensnare the man he wants. Since the world calls him insatiably greedy, he might as well have it all.

*

But Weng Shao never expected that, when he appeared before Pei Xingze like prey, took advantage of the situation, laid his plans step by step, and finally lured him in, a wealthy couple would block his doorway before he could enjoy the fruits of victory.

"Son, we've finally found you."

Weng Shao: "???"

*

Only after his biological parents come looking for him does Weng Shao learn that he isn't actually the Weng family's biological child.

Now that the truth is out, his wealthy biological parents, overjoyed to have found their son, give him whatever he wants to make up for lost time.

They hear that Weng Shao likes mansions, so they buy him a plot of land and tell him to build whatever mansion he wants.

Weng Shao: "?"

They hear that Weng Shao likes luxury cars, so they buy his favorite sports car brand and set up a dedicated production line to make custom models for him.

Weng Shao: "??"

Even when Weng Shao wants to be with Pei Xingze, his parents find a matchmaker and personally bring betrothal gifts to the Pei family.

Pei Xingze: "..."

Old-school melodrama, wealthy-family business rivalries and tangled grudges. Self-indulgent writing.

*

Upcoming story: "Holding the Emperor Hostage." If you're interested, please add it to your collection (づ￣3￣)づ╭??~

My next story will be "Holding the Emperor Hostage." If you're interested, please add it to your collection (づ￣3￣)づ╭??~

Yin Shuhuai, a max-level life-simulation player, stays up all night gaming and dies suddenly. He transmigrates to an alternate ancient world with his game account and becomes a fatuous, incompetent puppet emperor.

At the end of the dynasty, the realm is in turmoil. The various lords are all trying to expand their power, and no one takes the little emperor, who controls only a small corner of the realm, seriously. The little emperor seizes the opportunity to sell official posts and titles, amassing wealth like crazy, while secretly farming and building infrastructure. He works hard to ensure his people have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, while also enriching their food and entertainment. He doesn't care in the least when the officials and noble clans accuse him of living in extravagance, favoring eunuchs, and indulging in bizarre technical pursuits.

--Until someone sets their sights on him.

An army of one hundred thousand besieges the capital. The ambitious Duke of Yan, Shentu Yang, strides into court with his sword and threatens the emperor into relocating the capital, intending to hold the emperor hostage and command the lords.

Faced with Shentu Yang's wolfish ambition, the assembled officials either bow and pledge their loyalty or rage and denounce him for his treason. Only the little emperor, sitting on the Dragon Throne, looks at the arrogant Duke of Yan through the slight sway of his twelve-strand coronation beads, his expression almost a smile. He is as motionless as a clay statue.

Below the steps, Shentu Yang holds his sword and looks up at the emperor. Their eyes meet. Shentu Yang curls his lips and thinks contemptuously, The little emperor may be incompetent, but he certainly has a beautiful face. What a waste to use him as nothing but a clay statue.

*

After being "held hostage" and forced to move the capital, the emperor continues indulging his extravagant tastes. He loves fine residences, music and dance, delicious food, beautiful clothes, fine horses, archery and horsemanship, lantern festivals, fireworks, and opera [Note 1]... He lives in such excess that people condemn him for it.

Until the common people and soldiers, too, get to eat dishes cooked in iron pots, use weapons made of repeatedly refined steel, sleep on heated brick beds in the cold of winter, wear winter clothes padded with cotton, and eat vegetables grown in glass greenhouses. When they fall ill or are injured, palace women officials and eunuchs treat and bandage them. In their free time between work and training, they can watch performances by palace dancers and musicians. Even their children can attend government schools...

Within decades, the emperor's good name spreads across the land. The four corners of the realm submit, and the people pledge their hearts to him.

Only the ambitious Duke of Yan scowls and complains every day: "You promised to let me hold the emperor hostage and command the lords. Instead, the emperor is holding me hostage and commanding the whole realm, and now you're so busy with state affairs that you ignore me day and night..."

Before he can finish, the incomparably handsome emperor, without even lifting his eyes, beckons him with a finger. "Issue an edict: The Duke of Yan will spend the night in the palace."

The Duke of Yan stops complaining at once.

A true man born between heaven and earth cannot spend his life languishing beneath others [Note 2]... unless his food and lodging are covered!

[Note 1] Quoted from Zhang Dai's "Epitaph Written by Myself."

[Note 2] Quoted from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Theme: You must always rely on yourself.