Film and Television: The Villain's Life Begins with Joy of Life

In the 72nd year of the Qingli reign, in the capital city of the Qing Kingdom, at Guangxin Palace.

In the afternoon, sparse shadows slanted through the window. Li Yunrui leaned against the soft couch, her fingertips holding a white jade teacup, the steam rising from it, her eyes displaying a half-smile.

As Zhou Cheng stepped into the hall, this beautiful scenery came into view.

"Oh~ Isn't this Prince Cheng, the one who says 'Why don't they eat meat porridge?' Instead of dealing with those idle gossips, what brings you to your aunt's desolate place?"

Zhou Cheng ignored the teasing and walked directly to the opposite side of the soft couch, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup.

The clear tea liquor reflected his handsome face, which had lost its childishness.

Several months ago, he had already undergone the coming-of-age ceremony, been granted the title of Prince Cheng, and officially moved out of the palace to establish his own residence and headquarters.

Li Yunrui's address of him as Prince Cheng was not entirely a joke.

"Of course I miss the tea in my aunt's palace," he said, taking a sip and looking up. "And of course, I miss my aunt even more."

Li Yunrui chuckled softly and gently set the teacup down.

"You're as eloquent as ever."

She waved her hand, signaling the surrounding servants to retreat to a distance.

Once everyone was out of sight, she said:

"Aren't you worried at all about those recent rumors that are clearly being spread intentionally to smear your reputation?"

"Why should I be in such a hurry? If someone wants to talk, then let them talk!"

Zhou Cheng said casually.

The rumors that Li Yunrui mentioned were basically about his deeds.

Several years ago, the saying "Why not eat meat porridge?" spread like wildfire from the capital to the entire Qing Kingdom, and was even used as a literary allusion to the Northern Qi and other small countries.

The conversation subtly portrayed him as a spoiled and foolish prince who was ignorant of the hardships of ordinary people.

Since it concerns the prince's reputation and the royal image, rumors are strictly controlled in the capital. They are usually suppressed as soon as they begin to surface.

However, recently, for some reason, with the weakening of controls, rumors have not only spread more rampantly, but have even been embellished and fabricated into many absurd stories.

Li Yunrui shook his head.

"Since you, the person involved, aren't in a hurry, I have nothing to say. In that case, tell me, what brings you here?"

Zhou Cheng did not answer immediately, but said:

"Can't I come visit my aunt if there's nothing wrong? What a waste of my filial piety!"

"Filial piety?"

Li Yunrui seemed to have heard a funny joke:

"I haven't seen any filial piety, but I've certainly seen greed and lust in you over the years. Of all you brothers, you're the most diligent, shamelessly asking for money or people, not afraid of gossip! Tell me, what do you want this time?"

Zhou Cheng stopped rambling and, holding his teacup, said seriously:

"I've heard that my father intends to go to Mount Dadong to offer sacrifices at the temple next year. According to custom, a member of the royal family must be sent there to supervise the construction this year. I'd like to request this assignment, and I hope my aunt can help me."

"Repair a temple?"

Li Yunrui paused, somewhat surprised: "Da Dong Mountain is a desolate wilderness, and building a temple there is an extremely arduous task that requires enduring wind and rain. With your personality, would you really choose to suffer like that?"

Zhou Cheng met her gaze.

"I've heard that Mount Da Dong is rich in spiritual energy, a treasure trove for cultivation. I'm going there to practice martial arts!"

Li Yunrui was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Martial arts? Don't make your aunt laugh! With your mediocre skills, you don't need to cultivate?"

His Majesty forbade you to practice martial arts in your youth, and now that you're older and your body is more established, what good would it do to practice again? I'm not a fool, don't try to fool me with this nonsense!

Zhou Cheng gently shook his head:

"Aunt should know that I never lie."

Although I have only recently begun practicing martial arts, I collected martial arts classics from all over the world in my early years, studying them day and night, and have long accumulated a solid foundation in martial arts theory. Now I only wish to find a suitable place to put my thoughts into practice. Mount Dadong is just what I need.

Li Yunrui's smile faded, and she glanced at him suspiciously before her eyes darkened.

"You know I don't believe anyone can be completely truthful. Since you've come to me for help, I want to hear the truth!"

That's the truth.

[Negative emotions from Li Yunrui +23!]

"Fine, then don't say anything."

After a few breaths, she leaned back lazily, her fingertips brushing against her temples.

"But I can roughly guess... 'The most important affairs of the state are sacrifice and war.' As the representative of the royal family, you will certainly gain some prestige among the court, the public, and the imperial relatives by overseeing the temple's construction. However—"

She changed the subject...

"With your reputation for being 'unconventional and ignorant,' even if I were to recommend you, it would be difficult to gain widespread support. To succeed, you'll need to curry favor with everyone involved. Right now, the internal treasury is overwhelmed with affairs, countless eyes are on me, and even I am stressed out. Why should I use my connections for you?"

Li Yunrui raised her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, as if she really had a headache.

Zhou Cheng put down his teacup and walked behind her. He placed his fingers on her temples and began to massage them gently.

Feeling the warm touch of my skin against my fingertips, and the rich yet dangerous fragrance lingering around my nose,

He leaned down, brought his voice close to his ear, and whispered...

"I will not let my aunt work for nothing. I can exchange a secret for her."

"secret?"

Li Yunrui's eyelids twitched slightly, and a disdainful smile had just appeared on his face when he heard Zhou Cheng say:

"My father once said in private that whoever marries my cousin Wan'er will be able to take over the Imperial Treasury from my aunt..."

[Negative emotions from Li Yunrui +66!]

Li Yunrui suddenly opened her eyes, her brows furrowed with a cold sharpness, her face devoid of any trace of languid charm:

"Cheng'er, you know, your aunt hates hearing this the most!"

She gave a soft hum and continued:

"Besides, this isn't exactly a secret. You call it a secret, and you've brought it up here, so you must know who His Majesty favors?"

"Auntie is so clever!" Zhou Cheng exclaimed, gently stroking her cheek.

Just as she was about to turn her gaze away, he continued:

"Fan Jian, the Marquis of Sinan, was as close as a brother to the Emperor. He had an illegitimate son in Danzhou named Fan Xian."

Li Yunrui frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said impatiently, "What do you mean by that? Would His Majesty really betroth Wan'er to a country bumpkin? Ridiculous!"

"Fan Xian is not an ordinary illegitimate child."

"An illegitimate child is an illegitimate child, what's the difference?"

Zhou Cheng chuckled: "Isn't my cousin Wan'er also an illegitimate child? Yet, she was still adopted as a goddaughter by Father Emperor and granted the title of Princess."

[Negative emotions from Li Yunrui +110!]

"You!" Li Yunrui sat up straight, slapped his hand away, turned her head, her eyes blazing with anger, "Did you come here specifically to provoke me?"

"Auntie, don't be in a hurry, let me finish."

Zhou Cheng held her hand, brought it close to her ear again, and whispered:

"What makes Fan Xian different is his mother. I've heard that Fan Xian's birth mother is named Ye Qingmei."

Upon hearing the name "Ye Qingmei," Li Yunrui's expression changed, and he abruptly tried to stand up.

The moment she moved, Zhou Cheng pulled her into his arms, his arm around her waist.

Li Yunrui, however, paid no heed to Zhou Cheng's excessive actions and simply gritted her teeth as she uttered the name.

"Ye, Qing, Mei!"

Zhou Cheng wrapped his arms firmly around her from behind, feeling the trembling body in his arms:

"Now, does Auntie think Fan Xian is still 'ordinary'?"

Li Yunrui took a few deep breaths and it took him a while to calm down.

Her voice still carried a chill:

"Cheng'er... I truly underestimated you. You were able to uncover such a secret! If Fan Xian really is that woman's son, His Majesty might actually betroth Wan'er to him!"

"It's good that Auntie believes you. Then Auntie knows what to do?"

"Of course, we should kill him!"

"Uh... I meant repairing the temple."

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Li Yunrui pulled away from her arm, turned around, and looked her up and down as if she were meeting her for the first time.

"Chengcheng, I really don't understand you anymore."

When His Majesty chose teachers for you, it was clearly a gift of integrity to you, yet you allowed your reputation to be ruined, wasting His Majesty's trust.

Now that the Crown Prince and Chengze are growing stronger, what about you? You have neither power nor prestige. Unexpectedly, upon reaching adulthood, you were granted the title of Prince Cheng.

Now that you've established your own government and are making your own way, His Majesty has given you the opportunity to cultivate your own faction, yet you want to go and repair temples, and even come to me for help... What exactly are you trying to do?"

Looking into Li Yunrui's eyes, Zhou Cheng had no choice but to repeat himself again:

"I really just want to practice martial arts."

Prince Cheng was the title bestowed upon the late emperor before he ascended the throne.

To outsiders, his being granted the title of Prince Cheng was undoubtedly a sign that he was favored by the Emperor and a strong signal from Emperor Qing!

But Zhou Cheng understood that it was nothing more than a little trick played by Emperor Qing to incite his three sons to fight each other and balance their power.

Aside from his obsession with territorial expansion, Emperor Qing's only other hobby was playing chess with his son.

However, he had no interest in staying in Kyoto to play the role of a pawn for Emperor Qing's amusement.

Li Yunrui saw his calm gaze, but still couldn't believe it.

She doesn't believe anyone can be honest.

After gazing at her for a moment, she waved her hand as well:

"Fine. If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. News of Fan Xian is of utmost importance to me. Auntie really has to thank you this time."

Zhou Cheng wrapped his arms around her waist.

"How does Auntie plan to thank me?"

Li Yunrui's red lips curved into a charming smile, her eyes suddenly becoming captivating, and she proactively wrapped her arms around his neck, her breath sweet as orchids:

"You can thank your aunt however you wish."

Li Yunrui is insane!

Zhou Cheng slowly withdrew his hand from inside the magnificent palace dress.

Li Yunrui's breathing was slightly erratic. After regaining her composure, she glanced at him sideways, her tone laced with sarcasm:

"Little rascal, you've gotten much bolder this time."

Zhou Cheng smiled nonchalantly, took her hand and gently kneaded it:

"Cheng'er does want to get to know Auntie better, but alas, he is still young and weak, and not fully developed. He is afraid that Auntie will find something to use against him, causing him to behave poorly and lose face. However, it will be soon, at most a year..."

Li Yunrui chuckled, pushed him away, and tidied her slightly messy hair and clothes.

"roll!"

[Negative emotions from Li Yunrui +33!]

......

After leaving Guangxin Palace, Zhou Cheng boarded a sedan chair in the Prince's residence.

The curtains were drawn, blocking out outside light and prying eyes.

"system."

With a thought, a semi-transparent panel silently appeared before my eyes. The car body swayed slightly, but the panel remained firmly in mid-air, displaying every detail clearly.

【attribute】

Power: 12

Physical condition: 12

Spirit: 15

Speed: 11

Coordination: 11

【Skill】

Martial Arts (Hundred Refinements True Qi, exclusive to Joy of Life, already designated): Lv9 (3141592/5000000)

"This experience is progressing at an increasingly rapid pace!"

Zhou Cheng looked at the martial arts experience bar on the panel and was filled with emotion.

A martial arts level of Lv9 corresponds to the realm of a ninth-rank master.

The maximum level is the limit of martial arts in this world, which is also known as the Grandmaster.

At the imperial banquet that year, Emperor Qing was furious, which not only activated the system's basic ability to absorb negative emotions, but also unlocked the attribute panel and experience conversion function.

The attribute panel goes without saying, while the experience conversion feature allows you to specify a skill and convert negative emotion values ​​into skill experience proportionally.

"Martial arts level nine, I should be equivalent to a ninth-rank master who has dispelled their cultivation and is starting over..."

Experience conversion only allows him to gain cultivation experience at the corresponding level; it cannot directly increase the strength of his true qi.

In the past, opportunities to learn martial arts were hard to come by, and I only broke through to level nine in martial arts last year.

Currently, his true qi level, or actual strength, is only around the seventh rank.

While he was deep in thought, the experience bar had already advanced a little further.

Zhou Cheng knew that someone was having negative feelings towards him again. However, these negative feelings were too mild, and since they weren't from a character in the story, he had blocked them with his settings.

"I guess this is a form of crowdfunding for my training."

Zhou Cheng thought so.

Indeed, the rumors that Li Yunrui mentioned, which were widely circulated in Kyoto and even among the general public and damaged his reputation, originated from his own secret efforts.

These rumors are what allow them to accumulate millions of negative emotional points over several years.

Upgrading martial arts skills requires no more than 1,000 for level one, doubles for level two, and so on for level three. Breaking through from level eight to level nine already requires 500,000, and from level nine to level ten, the cost skyrockets to 5 million.

With such an astronomical number of negative emotions, if one only relies on collecting a few points of negative emotions from daily trivialities, one can only linger at a low level even if one spends one's entire life on it.

So he came up with a solution: to rely on the spread of rumors to collect negative sentiments from the public.

The phrase "Why not eat meat porridge?" was a joke to the wealthy and powerful, but it was enough to stir up emotions in the ears of countless people struggling to survive.

In this world, the poor ultimately make up the majority.

One point, two points... The people's contempt and anger towards King Cheng, who dared to say "Why don't they eat meat porridge?", flowed like a sea.

As his story spread from Kyoto to the rest of the country and even to foreign lands, the negative emotions he gained began to surge wildly.

A few years ago, when it was only popular in Kyoto, the annual income was only a little over ten thousand.

Now, with the increasing number of story versions and the wider dissemination, this number has become extremely large.

"The system really works after all!"

Zhou Cheng was secretly delighted.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, breaking through to the Grandmaster level is a certainty; all he needs to do is increase the strength of his true qi.

Even with experience, true qi cultivation is not something that can be achieved overnight. In addition, Fan Xian's trip to the capital was imminent, which is why he thought of Mount Dadong.

The primordial energy of the world in Joy of Life is essentially nuclear radiation.

Mount Dadong was the site of the nuclear war before the restart of civilization. Its radiation was intense, and its cultivation efficiency far exceeded that of ordinary people. Emperor Qing broke through to the Grandmaster level in Mount Dadong by taking advantage of the favorable timing and location.

Everything he said to Li Yunrui was true.

My sole purpose in wanting to go to Da Dong Shan was to learn martial arts.

As for selling Fan Xian's information to Li Yunrui in advance, it was simply to add an extra layer of insurance.

"Fan Xian, Fan Xian, don't blame me. It's the system's decision to give you the deadline to enter the capital... I hope your aunt can pull some strings..."

The sedan chair moved forward smoothly. Zhou Cheng closed his eyes, and the faint light on the panel gradually faded from his consciousness.