Chapter Summaries

Zhou Cheng acquired the Film and Television Villain System and was transported to Joy of Life after it mistook his startled reaction for confirmation. He arrived in the Qing palace as a child, where Noble Consort Li reassured him before a banquet and his first meeting with Emperor Qing.

• Zhou Cheng complained that a drama's protagonists had defeated its villain and the system bound itself to him.
• The system assigned Zhou Cheng missions to become a Grandmaster before Fan Xian entered the capital and to defeat Emperor Qing and take the throne.
• Zhou Cheng asked about the consequences of failure, learned that lost time would reduce his real-world lifespan, and was transported after the system registered his response as confirmation.
• Zhou Cheng found himself in the Qing palace in a child's body as palace maids prepared him for the temple-rites banquet.
• Noble Consort Li comforted Zhou Cheng and told him to follow the attendants' guidance when he met Emperor Qing.

At a state banquet honoring the Divine Temple, Zhou Cheng sat beside his brothers and used his blunt honesty to tease Li Yunrui. He left the princes stunned after claiming all the cherries from their tables for himself.

• Zhou Cheng took his seat near Emperor Qing’s place at the banquet, between the Eldest Prince and the Second Prince.
• Zhou Cheng sampled the fruit and pastries while the Second Prince watched him uneasily.
• Li Yunrui chided Zhou Cheng for eating freely at a state banquet, and he replied that he was unafraid because Emperor Qing was absent.
• Zhou Cheng praised Li Yunrui’s beauty and offered her cherries, which she declined before sending her fruit platter to him.
• Zhou Cheng offered cherries to the other princes, then ordered the platters from their tables brought over, leaving them startled.

At Emperor Qing’s banquet, the Eldest Prince received a military appointment and impressed the court with a spear dance, while Cen Dansheng was asked to choose between tutoring the Second and Third Princes. Zhou Cheng’s joking answers made the hall laugh, but Emperor Qing steered him away from his expressed wish to pursue martial service.

• Zhou Cheng dismissed his attendants after joking with them, then watched Emperor Qing arrive and open the banquet.
• Emperor Qing appointed Li Chengru to assist with the Western Army, and Li Chengru performed a spear dance for the court.
• Emperor Qing asked Cen Dansheng to tutor one prince, and Cen Dansheng began questioning the Second Prince and Zhou Cheng about their ambitions.
• Zhou Cheng said he wanted to practice martial arts and defend the frontier, but Emperor Qing urged him toward scholarship and future civil service.
• Cen Dansheng asked the princes how they would share a rare fruit, and Zhou Cheng joked that he would eat the flesh while his brother took the pit.
• Asked what he would do for a starving commoner, Zhou Cheng said he would hurry away, prompting laughter as Emperor Qing’s smile disappeared when ministers pointed at his son.

Zhou Cheng failed to avoid becoming Cen Dansheng’s pupil after Emperor Qing rejected his protest and ordered him to study. Months later, now Prince Cheng, he visited Li Yunrui to ask for help securing an assignment at Great Eastern Mountain so he could cultivate martial arts.

• Cen Dansheng chose Zhou Cheng as his pupil, despite praising the Second Prince’s virtues.
• Zhou Cheng asked Emperor Qing to let him pursue martial arts instead, but the emperor rebuked him and ordered him to study under Cen Dansheng.
• Emperor Qing appointed Zhang Xu to teach the Second Prince, while Zhou Cheng realized his status as a child could not protect him from imperial power.
• Zhou Cheng’s system unlocked negative-emotion harvesting, an attribute panel, and experience conversion after he provoked Li Yunqian.
• Months later, Zhou Cheng visited Li Yunrui and dismissed her concerns about rumors portraying him as foolish and arrogant.
• Zhou Cheng asked Li Yunrui to help him obtain the assignment overseeing repairs at Great Eastern Mountain, claiming he wanted to cultivate martial arts there.

Zhou Cheng used his knowledge of Fan Xian and Ye Qingmei to persuade Li Yunrui to help him oversee the repairs at Great Eastern Mountain. After leaving her palace, he checked his system and reflected that his level-nine martial arts experience had not yet restored the strength of his true qi.

• Zhou Cheng asked Li Yunrui to help him secure the role of overseeing the temple repairs at Great Eastern Mountain, claiming he wanted a place to practice martial arts.
• Zhou Cheng told Li Yunrui that Fan Xian was the son of Fan Jian and Ye Qingmei, and Li Yunrui reacted with shock and said Fan Xian should be killed.
• Li Yunrui questioned Zhou Cheng's motives, but he insisted that he genuinely wanted to practice martial arts and leave the capital's political games behind.
• Li Yunrui agreed that Zhou Cheng's information was valuable and offered to thank him, then ordered him to leave after he teased her.
• In his sedan chair, Zhou Cheng checked his system and saw that his martial arts had reached level nine, though experience conversion had not increased his true qi's strength.

Zhou Cheng used the negative emotions stirred by rumors about him to strengthen his martial arts and traveled from the Capital to Great Eastern Mountain to improve his True Qi. When assassins ambushed his convoy, he exposed their leader as Zhang Li and ordered him crippled, while suspecting a larger plot behind the attack.

• Zhou Cheng reflected that rumors he had secretly spread had earned him millions of negative emotion points, and he planned to cultivate at Great Eastern Mountain before Fan Xian arrived in the Capital.
• In early summer, Zhou Cheng left the Capital with several dozen guards, believing Emperor Qing had allowed the journey to watch his actions.
• Zhou Cheng detected an ambush through the system's negative emotion notifications and sent Chen Quan ahead to investigate.
• Chen Quan defeated the attackers and captured their leader, whom Zhou Cheng identified as Zhang Li.
• Zhou Cheng ordered Chen Quan to cut out Zhang Li's tongue and cripple his limbs, but Zhang Li shouted that he worked for the Second Prince before Chen Quan silenced him.
• Zhou Cheng told Chen Quan to continue the journey and privately suspected someone had leaked his route and used the Second Prince as a scapegoat.

Zhou Cheng reached Great Eastern Mountain and spent half a year in seclusion, using its violent energy to break through to Grandmaster. After unlocking the system lottery, he decided to deal with the Chen brothers, Emperor Qing’s spies, and summoned them into his hall.

• Zhou Cheng suspected the Crown Prince and Li Yunrui had orchestrated the ambush, then set aside the Capital’s intrigue to focus on Great Eastern Mountain.
• After nearly a month of travel, Zhou Cheng arrived at the Divine Temple and withdrew into a secluded hall.
• Half a year later, Chen Quan and Chen Bao worried that Zhou Cheng had stopped training and discussed their uncertain future as his guards.
• Zhou Cheng completed his breakthrough to Grandmaster after two months of seclusion, and the system unlocked its lottery function.
• Zhou Cheng decided to remove Emperor Qing’s influence at his side and released his Grandmaster presence, prompting the Chen brothers to break into the hall.

Zhou Cheng revealed his Grandmaster breakthrough to Chen Quan and Chen Bao, who swore loyalty to him, then tested his power and reflected on his weaknesses. He traveled to Danzhou to seek Fan Xian’s overlord true energy and ended the chapter in the city after locating Count Sinan’s Residence.

• Zhou Cheng overpowered Chen Quan and Chen Bao, revealed that he had become a Grandmaster, and gave them the choice to serve him or Emperor Qing.
• Chen Quan and Chen Bao swore to follow Zhou Cheng unto death.
• Zhou Cheng demonstrated his sword qi by cleaving a vast trench through the sea, then assessed his control and the limits of his hundred-forged true qi.
• Zhou Cheng sparred with Chen Quan and Chen Bao and continued training his true qi control.
• Zhou Cheng secretly sailed from Great Eastern Mountain toward Danzhou, intending to obtain the overlord true energy from Fan Xian.
• Zhou Cheng found Count Sinan’s Residence, settled into an inn, and spent a day exploring Danzhou before visiting.

Zhou Cheng confronted Fan Xian in the Fan Residence and demanded the Overlord True Energy manual, revealing power on a Grandmaster’s level. Wu Zhu pursued Zhou Cheng to a bamboo grove, where their fierce battle continued as Fan Xian followed them.

• Fan Xian worried to Wu Zhu about the repeated assassination attempts and wondered who in the Capital wanted him dead.
• Zhou Cheng entered Fan Xian’s room disguised as the Ghost-Faced Man and demanded the Overlord True Energy manual.
• Fan Xian attacked Zhou Cheng with poison, but Zhou Cheng’s true qi domain scattered it and threw Fan Xian across the room.
• Wu Zhu fought Zhou Cheng with an iron spike and staff until Zhou Cheng retreated from the residence to draw him away.
• Fan Xian followed them despite Wu Zhu’s instruction to stay, and Zhou Cheng and Wu Zhu continued fighting in a bamboo grove.

Zhou Cheng used his hostage-taking to force Fan Xian to hand over the original Overlord True Energy manual, exploiting Fan Xian’s concern for his household. Fan Xian agreed but questioned whether Zhou Cheng would keep his promise once he received it.

• Zhou Cheng finished his brutal fight with Wu Zhu, while Fan Xian arrived and saw the devastation in the bamboo grove.
• Zhou Cheng revealed that he had taken one of Fan Xian’s maids hostage and demanded the Overlord True Energy manual.
• Fan Xian ordered Wu Zhu to capture Zhou Cheng, but Zhou Cheng warned that a fight at the Fan Residence would endanger its people.
• Fan Xian agreed to provide the manual if Zhou Cheng released the maid and answered questions, but Zhou Cheng demanded the original and rejected the conditions.
• Fan Xian asked how Zhou Cheng would guarantee he would keep his word after receiving the manual.

Zhou Cheng trained with Wu Zhu and answered Fan Xian’s question about Ye Qingmei’s death, then returned to Great Eastern Mountain for Emperor Qing’s temple rites. Emperor Qing arranged for Zhou Cheng to marry into the Ye Family, drawing him into the struggle among the imperial factions.

• Zhou Cheng took the genuine “Overlord True Energy” manual in exchange for releasing Fan Xian’s maid, then returned the next day to ask Wu Zhu to train with him.
• Fan Xian agreed to Wu Zhu sparring with Zhou Cheng, and over two months Zhou Cheng improved his cultivation while Fan Xian watched and trained harder.
• Before leaving Danzhou, Zhou Cheng told Fan Xian that Ye Qingmei had been ambushed and killed by the person closest to her, prompting Wu Zhu to insist he would never have betrayed her.
• Zhou Cheng returned to Great Eastern Mountain, confirmed with Chen Quan and his brother that all was well, and resumed his seclusion ahead of Emperor Qing’s temple rites.
• After the rites, Emperor Qing summoned Zhou Cheng and arranged for him to marry a daughter of the Ye Family; Zhou Cheng accepted and accompanied the imperial party back to the Capital.

After returning to the Capital, Zhou Cheng confronted Li Yunrui over the assassination she had arranged and forced her into a sexual encounter. The chapter ended with Li Yunrui shaken but proposing that they now rise and fall together.

• At the palace banquet, Emperor Qing praised Fan Jian and announced his intention to marry Lin Wan'er to Fan Xian, prompting Li Yunrui to leave in anger.
• Zhou Cheng went to Guangxin Palace, where Li Yunrui admitted she had failed to have Fan Xian killed.
• Zhou Cheng accused Li Yunrui of arranging the assassination against him, and she confessed to sowing discord between the princes.
• Zhou Cheng seized Li Yunrui and sexually assaulted her, threatening to expose them both if she resisted.
• Afterward, Li Yunrui recovered her composure and told Zhou Cheng that they were now bound to rise and fall together.

Zhou Cheng and Li Yunrui discussed Fan Xian's impending arrival in the Capital and her plan to have him assassinated. Zhou Cheng refused to involve his imperial guards and suggested ways to eliminate Fan Xian later, leaving Li Yunrui furious when he proposed using Wan'er to dissolve her engagement.

• Li Yunrui urged Zhou Cheng to pursue greater power, but he argued that Emperor Qing alone would decide the succession.
• Zhou Cheng warned Li Yunrui that Fan Xian might take control of the Imperial Treasury and block her access to its funds.
• Li Yunrui revealed she planned to use the Crown Prince's connections to send Overwatch Council assassins after Fan Xian.
• Li Yunrui asked Zhou Cheng to lend his two eighth-rank guards, but he refused because they were Emperor Qing's spies.
• Zhou Cheng advised Li Yunrui to wait for others to target Fan Xian and then try to dissolve his engagement to Wan'er.
• Zhou Cheng suggested Wan'er could appeal to the Empress Dowager, and Li Yunrui angrily accused him of trying to harm her.

Zhou Cheng persuaded Li Yunrui to help him investigate Fan Xian, then considered how to build an intelligence network of his own. He went to the Drunken Immortal Residence to approach the Northern Qi Shadow Network.

• Zhou Cheng suggested that Fan Xian might call off his engagement to Lin Wan'er, and Li Yunrui agreed to lend him people to investigate Fan Xian if he could make it happen.
• Li Yunrui refused the Crown Prince's request for an audience, and Zhou Cheng told Li Chengqian that an unnamed man secretly sought Li Yunrui's guidance by painting her portraits.
• Zhou Cheng ordered Chen Bao to find Teng Zijing's family and bring them to Prince Cheng's Residence, then decided to recruit a personal intelligence network.
• Zhou Cheng disguised himself as a wealthy young gentleman and entered the Drunken Immortal Residence with Chen Quan, intending to contact the Northern Qi Shadow Network.

Zhou Cheng revealed his identity as Prince Cheng to secure a meeting with the newly crowned Top Courtesan, Si Lili, at the Drunken Immortal Residence. Si Lili arrived and began playing the zither for him.

• Manager Hong welcomed Zhou Cheng and offered to arrange the establishment’s finest wine, music, and girl.
• When Zhou Cheng asked for Si Lili, Manager Hong explained that she only received guests whose artistic works impressed her.
• Zhou Cheng told Manager Hong he was Prince Cheng, the one associated with the saying “Why Not Eat Meat Gruel,” and ordered her to summon Si Lili.
• Si Lili learned that Prince Cheng had requested her and hurried to prepare before going to his Heaven-Class room.
• Zhou Cheng dismissed Chen Quan, spoke with Si Lili about her talents, and asked her to play the zither.
• Si Lili tuned the zither and began playing as Zhou Cheng listened with his eyes closed.

Zhou Cheng let Si Lili go after revealing that he knew she was a Northern Qi spy and proposing a wager to win her cooperation. At the Drunken Immortal Residence, he chose Sang Wen from a group of pipa players and remained alone with her.

• Zhou Cheng saw through Si Lili's attempt to get him drunk and refused to force her when he could not compose a poem.
• Zhou Cheng revealed that he knew Si Lili was descended from Qing's former imperial family and wanted to borrow her network, then let her leave and wagered that she would seek his protection.
• Zhou Cheng ordered Si Lili to bring him the residence's pipa players, and Manager Hong arrived with six or seven women.
• Zhou Cheng asked each woman for her name, chose Sang Wen to stay, and sent the others and Manager Hong away.
• Zhou Cheng watched Sang Wen alone in the quiet private room.

Zhou Cheng listened to Sang Wen perform at the Drunken Immortal Residence, then used Li Hongcheng’s arrival to have him pay for Sang Wen’s departure and invite Zhou to a future poetry gathering. Li Hongcheng left worried that Zhou Cheng might enter the succession struggle, while Zhou Cheng remained in the private room.

• Zhou Cheng asked Sang Wen to sit beside him, then let her move to a stool and perform “Moonlit Night on the Xunyang River” on her pipa.
• Li Hongcheng arrived after the performance, greeted Zhou Cheng as his third cousin, and explained that he had learned Zhou was at the residence from its manager.
• Zhou Cheng told Li Hongcheng he planned to take Sang Wen home and asked him to cover the bill, which Li Hongcheng agreed to put on his account.
• Zhou Cheng asked Li Hongcheng to invite him to a future poetry gathering, and Li Hongcheng agreed before leaving.
• Li Hongcheng worried that Zhou Cheng might seek his support in the court struggle and reaffirmed his preference for his household to remain neutral.

Zhou Cheng brought Sang Wen from the Drunken Immortal Residence to Prince Cheng’s Residence, where she learned that he had taken in Teng Zijing’s family and was pursuing plans involving Si Lili. After taking a bath, Zhou Cheng had Sang Wen help him undress and scrub his back, and he teased her for her inexperience.

• Zhou Cheng told Sang Wen he intended to take her into his residence as a concubine, and she agreed to leave with him.
• Zhou Cheng brought Sang Wen to Prince Cheng’s Residence and explained that Si Lili was a Northern Qi spy he had left alone for now because he had other plans for her.
• Chen Bao told Zhou Cheng that Teng Zijing’s mother and son had been brought to the residence and placed under guard.
• Zhou Cheng instructed Chen Bao to treat Teng Zijing’s family well and arrange work for them, then led Sang Wen to the Bedchamber.
• Zhou Cheng asked Sang Wen to help him bathe, then teased her when she scrubbed the same spot on his back.

Zhou Cheng spent a month indulging in an easy life with Sang Wen before Fan Xian’s arrival in the Capital brought the Joy of Life storyline into motion. He stopped Li Yunrui from obstructing Fan Xian’s carriage, provoking her fury just as the Emperor summoned her.

• Zhou Cheng pulled the nervous Sang Wen into his residence, and she gradually settled into a carefree life with him.
• After a month, Chen Bao reported that Fan Xian’s convoy was nearing the city, and Zhou Cheng ordered his guards to prevent palace servants from stopping it.
• Zhou Cheng went to Guangxin Palace, where Li Yunrui revealed her plan to ruin Fan Xian’s reputation and keep him from marrying Wan'er.
• Zhou Cheng told Li Yunrui that his guards had sent her palace servants away, and she angrily smashed an orchid and threatened him over the Imperial Treasury.
• A eunuch announced the Emperor’s verbal decree summoning Li Yunrui, and she demanded that Zhou Cheng explain himself when she returned.

Zhou Cheng explained to Li Yunrui why Emperor Qing had reprimanded her for trying to obstruct Fan Xian, then advised her to wait for others to act against him. At Count Sinan's Residence, Fan Jian told Fan Xian about Ye Qingmei's legacy, their engagement, and the likely palace forces behind the assassination attempts.

• Zhou Cheng told Li Yunrui that Emperor Qing had taken Lin Wan'er to the Divine Temple to arrange a meeting with Fan Xian, and warned her not to act rashly against the emperor's plans.
• Fan Xian returned to Count Sinan's Residence, reunited with Fan Ruoruo, and went to meet Fan Jian after being summoned to the study.
• Fan Jian revealed that Ye Qingmei had already invented glass, soap, and white sugar, and that her businesses had become part of the Imperial Treasury; he also discussed Fan Xian's engagement to Lin Wan'er.
• Fan Xian questioned Fan Jian about the assassination attempts, and Fan Jian argued that Liu Ruyu lacked the power to hire high-ranking assassins.
• Fan Jian suggested that palace forces were behind the latest attempt and named Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Second Prince Li Chengze as plausible suspects, while saying Prince Cheng Li Chengcheng was less likely to act.