Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

"Yay! Big brother is the best!"

Upon hearing that there was fish to eat, Wu Meiniang jumped up with joy, her big, dark eyes sparkling with the purest longing for delicious food.

Seeing her greedy look, Li Chengqian couldn't help but pinch her chubby little face.

Good, promising.

Only those who can eat well can accomplish great things.

"Come on, let me show you my special skill."

Li Chengqian, holding Wu Meiniang's small hand, returned to the pond.

He didn't pick up the fishing rods with earthworms on them anymore, but instead took a bare bamboo pole from Xu Xiao.

The bamboo pole didn't even have a fishing line, let alone a fishhook.

No, there's a fishhook.

However, the fishhook was perfectly straight, like a sewing needle that had been bent straight.

Li Cheng-

Qian handed the strangely shaped "fishing rod" to Wu Meiniang with a mysterious expression.

"Here, Meiniang, take this."

Wu Meiniang blinked her big eyes, looking completely bewildered: "Your Highness, what...what is this? There's no hook, no bait, how do you fish?"

"That's what you call a state of mind."

Li Chengqian, with his hands behind his back and gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle, began his lesson in showing off.

"Ordinary people fish with curved hooks and bait, which is to satisfy their appetite and is a low-level approach."

"When I fish, I use a straight hook; I fish for fate and seek a state of mind."

He pointed to the shimmering lake surface, his voice distant and profound.

"This is called 'Jiang Taigong fishing, those who are willing will take the bait.'"

"We're not fishing for fish."

"It's loneliness."

Wu Meiniang nodded as if she understood, though she didn't know what her elder brother was talking about, but it sounded very impressive.

She imitated Li Chengqian, also adopting a profound and mysterious demeanor.

With a blank expression, he held up the straight fishhook and stared intently at the water's surface.

Li Tai, who had just finished fishing and was soaking wet, came over from the side.

He couldn't help but purse his lips as he watched his elder brother and Wu Meiniang acting so strangely.

"Brother, you're lying to people again."

Li Tai muttered to himself, "If this straight hook can catch a fish, I... I'll eat all the mud in this pond!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian's lips curled into a barely perceptible wicked smile.

"Qingque, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."

As he spoke, he secretly made a hand gesture towards the water.

Beneath the surface, a plump koi with two golden whiskers was lazily blowing bubbles.

Suddenly, as if it had received some kind of command, it jolted awake, its fish eyes widening instantly.

next second.

It swung its tail and, like an arrow released from a bow, charged headlong into Wu Zetian's straight fishhook.

"They've taken the bait! They've taken the bait!"

Wu Meiniang felt a sudden weight on her hand, and a tremendous force almost dragged her into the water.

"Ouch!"

"Quick! Big brother! There's fish!"

Li Chengqian walked over unhurriedly, took Wu Meiniang's small hand in his hand, and gave her wrist a slight shake.

"Thump!"

A huge splash of water erupted.

A large koi carp, about half a person's length long, golden in color, and still lively, was forcibly thrown ashore and frantically splashed on the grass.

That scene completely defied Newton's laws.

The fish seemed to have deliberately walked into the hook, as if it had lost its mind.

Li Tai's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

He rubbed his eyes and then pinched his thigh hard.

pain!

Not a dream!

"This...this...how is this possible?!"

The chubby boy looked at the big, fat fish still hopping on the ground, then at the straight fishhook in Wu Meiniang's hand, and his worldview instantly collapsed.

"Big brother...you...are you a god?!"

Li Chengqian put away his fishing rod, his face calm and composed, concealing his achievements and fame.

joke.

This fishpond of mine is a "spiritual spring" that has been upgraded with system points. The fish in it have long been trained to understand human nature.

Let alone using a straight hook, even if you use chopsticks, they would all line up to come and die.

"As I said, we're not fishing for fish, we're fishing for fate."

Li Chengqian patted Li Tai's petrified, chubby face and said earnestly, "Qingque, you still have a lot to learn in the future."

"Come on, don't just stand there, take the fish and clean it up. We'll have a whole fish feast tonight."

Li Tai, as if his soul had been ripped from his body, stood there dumbfounded, picking up the fish that was heavier than him, muttering repeatedly, "A miracle...this must be a miracle..."

Just as Li Chengqian was enjoying the adoring gazes of his younger brother and the future empress, and preparing to begin the next round of "salted fish teaching,"

An aged, yet somewhat otherworldly voice suddenly rang out behind him, like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the joyful atmosphere.

"Your Highness has a refined taste."

Li Chengqian frowned and looked back.

An old Taoist priest, dressed in a Bagua robe, with white hair and beard, and holding a whisk, was standing behind him.

The old Taoist priest had an air of otherworldly wisdom and profound eyes that seemed to see through people's hearts.

It was none other than the current imperial advisor, Yuan Tiangang.

Also Li Cheng-

Qian used the system to summon the "Chief Charlatan".

"Old Yuan? Why aren't you at your observatory? What are you doing here?"

Li Chengqian was somewhat displeased. "Don't you know that I am currently engaged in an important teaching activity?"

Yuan Tiangang paid no attention to the Crown Prince's rudeness; his eyes, which seemed to be able to see through the secrets of heaven, were now filled with an unprecedented solemnity.

He didn't speak, but simply stretched out his withered finger and pointed to the cloudless blue sky above.

"Your Highness."

The old Taoist priest's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine.

"Last night, this humble Taoist observed the celestial phenomena."

"Discover……"

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately.

"The Purple Star, which represents the emperor, has dimmed and is on the verge of collapse."

"Around it, the three stars of Seven Killings, Broken Army, and Greedy Wolf converged, and blood-red light soared into the sky, forming—"

"A decisive victory!"