ALWARFC Chapter 35

The wind stirred the curtains, and the sunlight slanted onto the white dining table. The guests sat quietly on either side of the long table, enjoying breakfast; even the top star, who usually jumped around the most, was silent.

This strange phenomenon puzzled  Assistant Director Chen Kang, who was recording the footage. He almost wanted to ask the kitchen if today’s meal was particularly delicious since the top star and the best actor had two bowls of rice!

Su Weisheng, having eaten to seventy percent fullness, put down his chopsticks and casually asked, “How was last night’s lesson?”

The two “students” recalled the nightmare of the previous night, their faces contorting simultaneously.

Su Weisheng didn’t wait for an answer and glanced over to see Su Ran making continuous eye gestures at Xie Wei, who nodded firmly at Su Ran, as if to say they would follow the original plan.

Just one night of lessons, and these two had not only gone from arch-enemies to brothers-in-arms but also formed an alliance in their suffering? Interesting.

Su Weisheng leisurely tapped the table to remind them: “If you have any thoughts, just say it.”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

Su Ran cleared his throat, quickly running through the lines he had prepared in his mind.

He and Xie Wei had already had a private discussion early in the morning. After experiencing the brutal, hellish lessons, they decided they couldn’t let things continue to develop like this. While their acting skills might improve, their lives would be at risk. They had to join forces to protest to Su Weisheng, appealing to his emotions and reasoning. In short, this insane course had to be canceled!

Fueled with the camaraderie of fighting alongside his teammate, the top star passionately made their demands to Su Weisheng: “Great-grandfather, Xie Wei and I have discussed it. Although the course seems to show rapid improvement in a short time, it is actually extremely detrimental to our physical and mental health. This kind of behavior is like pulling up seedlings to help them grow. No matter what, we will not enter the dream again!”

He paused and then emphasized his determination to Su Weisheng: “Even if you hammer us to death, Xie Wei and I will not attend the class again!”

The great-grandson truly had commendable courage. Su Weisheng applauded him in appreciation and then turned to ask Xie Wei, “Is this how you feel, too?”

“Great-grandfather, you don’t need to waste your breath. Xie Wei feels the same way!” Su Ran boldly took up the cause for his teammate, passionately saying, “If it’s just me protesting, you can consider me a weak-willed failure. But if even Xie Wei can’t accept this devilish training, it shows the course has a problem!”

“Right, Xie Wei?” With a brotherly attitude, Su Ran signaled Xie Wei to respond, looking as if they were about to win a victory.

Xie Wei was burying his head in his meal. When he felt Su Weisheng’s piercing gaze on him, he almost couldn’t swallow the soy milk in his throat.

Just as the two little brats were about to stage a palace coup, Su Weisheng lazily said, “Yeah, tell me your thoughts. If your thinking is the same as Su Ran’s… I can’t always make the final decision by myself, right?” He chuckled shortly and then said to Su Ran meaningfully, “If the course itself isn’t the problem, and you are, I’ll just hammer you to death, you little good-for-nothing.”

Finally, there’s hope!

The opportunity to overthrow the feudal patriarch is right before us. Su Ran wasn’t afraid at all and couldn’t contain his excitement as he urged his teammate, “Xie Wei, speak up. We’re just waiting for you to express your stance!”

Xie Wei put down his glass of water, lifted his head with a determined expression, looked around at everyone, and smiled. His relaxed tone carried a hint of surprise, “Who said I didn’t want to attend the course? Su Ran, if you don’t want to attend the course yourself, don’t drag me along. I’ve been stuck in a bottleneck for a long time, and now I finally have such a great opportunity for a breakthrough. How could I give it up?”

Su Ran was shocked and even dug his ears to ensure he wasn’t hearing things. He was completely bewildered when he saw Xie Wei acting as if nothing had happened. “What the hell did you say? Xie Wei, what did you just say?”

Realizing he had been betrayed again, Su Ran cried angrily, “You, traitor! I should never have trusted you!”

Unlike Su Ran, Xie Wei wasn’t stubborn. Realizing that this path was blocked, he chose to give up directly. A wise man knows when to retreat. He didn’t need to take another meaningless beating. He pretended not to hear the top star’s angry accusations and turned his head nonchalantly to Su Weisheng, saying, “Great-grandfather, last night’s training was really effective. As an actor who had never taken a role in a historical drama before, I was able to learn basic swordsmanship in a short time. It’s simply incredible!”

As he wiped his mouth and stood up, Xie Wei said, “I’ve had enough to eat. You all continue. I’m going to practice swordsmanship; I can’t just sit around wasting time.” Best Actor Xie showed a deep obsession with swordsmanship and quickly disappeared without a trace.

Su Ran watched his nimble movements and was completely dumbfounded. “He… has he already started adapting?”

Song Qing finished the last bite of his meal, got up to leave, and casually patted Su Ran on the shoulder, “Keep it up, ironhead bro.” Even his husband had already learned to kneel, but Su Ran’s head was still so stubborn. Truly, he’s worthy of being the great-grandfather’s grandson, amazing.

Su Ran: “…”

The completely defeated great-grandson admitted defeat, raised his hands to cover his head, and said pitifully, “Great-grandfather, you can go ahead, but please don’t hit my face. It would be too embarrassing to appear on the live broadcast tonight with a pig’s head face…”

After waiting for a long time without the huge hammer falling, he looked up dazedly, only to see Su Weisheng still leisurely fiddling with his phone. The white jade hammer hung obediently at his waist, with no intention of swinging it down.

Su Weisheng didn’t look at him and asked, “How’s your swordsmanship training, which your father and the others taught you?”

Su Ran answered honestly, “I roughly remember the basic combos, but I’m not yet proficient in wielding them.”

“If you completely master it within a month, we’ll consider today’s account settled.” Su Weisheng was rarely so agreeable.

The great-grandson looked at him in surprise. After confirming that the great-grandfather wasn’t joking, he breathed a long sigh of relief. However, the confusion in his eyes didn’t fade. After hesitating for a while, he couldn’t help but ask: “Great-grandfather, I still don’t understand. I’ve clearly said I won’t act anymore, so why do you still want me to continue entering my dreams?”

Su Weisheng raised his eyebrows slightly. “Do you want to hear the truth?”

“Of course!”

“As long as I’m around, you naturally won’t want to act again. But I can’t guarantee that after I leave this place, you won’t continue acting, and even worse, make horrible films based on me and using my name.”

Su Weisheng bluntly said, “I just need you to enter the dream and repeatedly simulate the scenes in your play in a virtual setting. This month is enough to see the results. Either you truly learn to perform with genuine emotions from now on or give up acting altogether so that after I’m gone, you won’t disgrace me.”

After speaking, he got up and left.

The more Su Ran listened, the more wrong it seemed. “…I have a feeling that you never expected me to learn. You just want me to completely give up acting through entering dreams, right?”

Su Weisheng smiled faintly and left without looking back, leaving only one sentence: “The Su family bloodline has an indomitable resilience, but over these hundreds of years, whether it’s completely diluted in you, I don’t know. You can figure it out yourself.”

The great-grandson stared blankly at the departing figure of his great-grandfather, tall and upright, with the moral integrity of pine and bamboo. He was a legendary figure of the Su family and a myth passed down through the ages in this world.

Why did he originally want to film “The Legend of the High Priest”? Because he wanted to promote his ancestor to the whole world, to show off to everyone that he had such a predecessor, and he was confident that he also shared the same blood and could portray his ancestor’s elegance.

He failed.

Unwilling to give up and stubborn, he found countless excuses: the script wasn’t good enough, the filming had problems, he hadn’t undergone systematic training in acting. In the end, all excuses boiled down to one sentence—next time, he would definitely do it well.

But he finally had a new opportunity, entering dreams. Yet, under the cruel tempering and the slaps of three devilish old men, he chose to retreat out of humiliation…

What to do next?

Should he, as his great-grandfather said, endure a month, prove to him that he no longer wanted to act, and make him let go?

Wouldn’t that mean he was admitting he was a good-for-nothing?

Su Ran hesitated, unable to make a decision. He unconsciously walked out of the dining hall to the garden just in time to see Xie Wei practicing swordsmanship. He practiced slowly, but as a beginner for only one night, he was already more proficient than Su Ran.

Even the love-crazed maniac he looked down on had begun to adapt to the course. And what about him?

Su Ran gritted his teeth, returned to his room to retrieve his small wooden sword, and started practicing intently in the garden.

He wanted to learn, to practice, and even to reshoot “The Legend of the High Priest” in the future. He wanted to prove that he just lacked an opportunity. Given this chance by his great-grandfather, he was determined to turn the tide!

On the second floor, in front of the French windows.

Su Weisheng was eating fruit and looking down. On the left and right, Su Ran and Xie Wei were practicing hard, sweating profusely, yet competing against each other, unwilling to take a break. The “Course Protest Brotherhood” that had just been established in the past half day instantly disintegrated.

Although there were only two students, it was obvious that neither wanted to be the last.

Bai Songyin, who was next to him, peeked repeatedly in amazement and gave Su Weisheng a thumbs up. “Great-grandfather, your tactics of provocation and comparison are brilliant. Having him compete with a fellow student to motivate him is much more effective than hammering him to death!”

One was a double award-winning actor with extraordinary status in the entertainment industry; the other was a top idol always in the spotlight. Both were accustomed to being admired, adored, and respected on stage. But in the hands of their great-grandfather, they were like two small puppets that could be manipulated at will.

Amazing, truly amazing.

Su Weisheng finished the cherry in his hand, wiped the moisture off his fingertips, and looked deeply at his great-grandson, whose cheeks were flushed with exhaustion but still persevering. He smiled faintly and said, “I never thought he couldn’t do it, nor did I think he was a good-for-nothing. He just lacked the opportunity to be pushed forward.”

Beep, beep, beep—the phone notification sound kept ringing.

He picked it up and took a look. The homepage was filled with countless fan notifications and news updates; even the “Gossip Squad” constantly mentioned him.

Jiang Yimian posted this news in the morning, and it has now spread all over the Internet.

Jiang Yimian’s signed novel website, Yueshu Literature, had changed ownership and quickly went into bankruptcy. Fortunately, Jiang Yimian’s “Haunted Soul” had already sold the publishing rights before the incident, so it was not affected.

However, the film adaptation of “The Rise of the Cannon Fodder Comparison Group” from the prophecy option B by [Lucky Money, You’d Better Behave] was rather unfortunate. During the negotiation period for the film rights, the company had an incident, and this book was directly left in limbo.

Two of the three things that Su Weisheng had predicted had already come true.

【Gossip Squad】

EscapeStar: @Lucky Money, You’d Better Behave Grandmaster is awesome!!! [voice breaking]

AAA Construction Brother Zhang: Whoa, is it really happening for such a large site like Yueshu Literature to go down? Grandmaster lives up to his name; I’m impressed.

Qingxi: What you said is just stating the obvious. Su Anyao’s fans were still licking “The Rise of the Cannon Fodder Comparison Group” as if it were some ultimate treat. Now, with Grandmaster’s prophecy out, Weibo almost got flooded by her fans. I couldn’t even finish cursing them all. Now they’re dumbfounded, right?

EscapeStar cursed again: More than Su Anyao, I hate that top star great-grandfather-grandson duo. At a time like this, they’re still trying to ride the wave. It’s just shameless!

Qingxi: What does it have to do with them?

EscapeStar: Yueshu Literature collapsed, and Jiang Yimian escaped unscathed, even posting on Weibo thanking his great-grandfather for helping him choose the film company. Now, the marketing accounts are jumping on the bandwagon, saying that the great-grandfather can predict the future. Some are even stirring the pot, asking who is better, the top star great-grandfather or Grandmaster Xuan. It’s obvious that the Su Ran family bought this publicity. Yuck!

Below, a group of people were cursing the top star great-grandfather-grandson duo for shamelessly riding on Grandmaster Xuan’s coattails.

Su Weisheng, who was promoting his own hype, fell into deep thought.

Lucky Money, You’d Better Behave: Maybe the top star great-grandfather really can predict the future?

As soon as he sent this message, a group of people immediately crowded around, affectionately calling him Grandmaster Xuan, practically worshiping him as a god. Their previous hostile attitude towards the top star great-grandfather-grandson duo was completely different.

His main account’s black fans were actually his side account’s true fans, especially EscapeStar, who was not only the head of the great-grandfather’s black fan group but also an uncritical supporter of Grandmaster Xuan. This feeling was truly amazing.

EscapeStar: Grandmaster Xuan, you mustn’t believe it. That great-grandfather-grandson duo can’t possibly have this ability. They are just riding on your coattails for hype. There’s no need to be so kind to them!

Su Weisheng asked curiously: Why are you so sure?

EscapeStar: @Su Ping said so. He is the true direct descendant of the Su family High Priest. If it weren’t for internal issues in the Su family recently keeping him busy, he would have already been online debunking the top star great-grandfather-grandson duo.

Su Weisheng raised the corner of his eye, highly interested.

He himself didn’t know that there was still a “direct bloodline” out there. EscapeStar really believed in Su Ping.

Lucky Money, You’d Better Behave: Are you sure? What if there’s a communication error and he’s lying to you? You swore a heavy oath. If there’s a mistake, you will have eighteen babies in one go.

Su Weisheng joked.

EscapeStar was very certain: There’s no mistake; I believe him! If there’s really a mistake, I’ll have eighteen babies with Su Ping together. Anyway, I have the confidence to swear this!

Good. Su Weisheng nodded in satisfaction and took a screenshot of this statement, hoping the young one wouldn’t regret their oath when it came true.

EscapeStar’s head was as stubborn as Su Ran’s.

Others in the group sensed a bit of subtlety. Qingxi even privately messaged EscapeStar: 【Star, don’t you think there’s more to what Grandmaster Xuan said?】

EscapeStar was straightforward: No, do you think you’re being too sensitive?

Just when Qingxi was about to analyze if there was a problem with Grandmaster Xuan, he was instantly at a loss for words: “…” You die, just die quickly.

【App upgrading…】 A mechanical voice echoed in Su Wei-sheng’s mind.

Soon, the voice became lively: 【Upgrade completed. Hello, I am the spirit of the app. Please name me.】

“Finally, a human service.”

Su Weisheng immediately became interested. He thought for a moment, took out his name book, and flipped through it. “You are the spirit of the Underworld Lord, not mine. So, instead of choosing names like ‘Zhaocai’ that would benefit me, I should pick a name that would suppress the Underworld Lord, which would be more advantageous to me.”

Suppressing his superior for personal benefit—this logic flowed smoothly.

Su Weisheng quickly decided, “I’ll call you ‘bug’!”

—He liked finding bugs to make money.

【Name not accepted.】 The spirit of the app firmly rejected this name.

Su Weisheng ignored this completely and continued the topic forcefully: “Bug, what new functions do you have after upgrading?”

Bug: “…”

The spirit of the app reluctantly accepted this name.

A mass of white mist rose from Su Weisheng’s hand, followed by a Q-version paper figure no bigger than a palm, with black hair, red eyes, and a white suit. The little figure wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses and made a gentlemanly bow to Su Weisheng, speaking in a gentle and unhurried voice, “Hello, my new master. I am your artifact spirit…bug.” The name was still spoken with hesitation at the end.

Su Weisheng didn’t intend to appreciate the paper figure’s beauty and quickly corrected it vigilantly: “You said it wrong; your master is the Lord of the Underworld. You have to suppress him; it has nothing to do with me.”

The paper figure: “…”

Su Weisheng reminded, “You haven’t told me what new function you have.”

Bug quickly adjusted its state and said seriously, “As a reward for completing the commission, you can propose a new function to me. If it is logical, I will develop it immediately.”

After Bug’s upgrade was completed, the underworld live stream room opened automatically.

[Days without the livestream felt like years; seeing the stream start immediately makes me want to cuddle with the High Priest!]

[I cuddle! Let me cuddle! Quickly let me cuddle.jpg]

[Stop howling, Su Tiao this scumbag will only read the barrage when he needs us. He directly blocked the barrage now, hehe]

[Scumbag! Scumbag!]

Su Weisheng refreshed the barrage and was hit in the face with a screen full of 【scumbag】, then turned to bug and asked: “Can you develop a new feature to ban these ghosts from sending barrage messages? Too noisy, I don’t want to see it.”

Barrage: ???

Damn it! Su Tiao, you really are a scumbag. Not only do you not want to see our messages, but you also want to take away our only pleasure! The nagging ghost souls started sending barrage messages even more fiercely.

Bug: “I’m sorry, but forbidding ghost souls from sending barrage messages is inhumane. The system has automatically rejected your request.”

[Hahaha Su Tiao, you have your day too!]

[I’m dying of laughter, just keep sending, just keep sending, send countless barrage messages to sting your eyes!]

Su Weisheng frowned and threatened calmly: “A useless artifact spirit does not need to appear and be an eyesore.”

The paper figure pushed up the silver-rimmed glasses frame. It quickly changed its tune seriously: “However, it is my duty to alleviate your worries, so I suggest introducing a new feature within the rules. For example, ghost souls can send messages, but only they can see them, and other ghost souls can’t see them. This way, we can prevent the ghost souls from interacting on the barrage.”

Being able to adapt to circumstances is Bug’s excellent quality.

The barrage was already criticizing the artifact spirit too much, but unexpectedly, there are even more shameless things in this world.

Because Su Weisheng thought the function wasn’t complete enough, he added another condition to the barrage’s visibility only to the sender: “If ghost souls want others to see their barrage, they can recharge the underworld app’s monthly membership using their burial items. Ghost souls with membership can interact with each other.”

[?]

[???]

[Damn it, Su Tiao, you really are heartless!!!]

[Dammit, when I was alive, you raided my house. Now that I’m dead, you’re even taking my burial items?]

[Su the Skinner!!!]

[I give up. Su the Skinner’s wealth was squandered by his descendants, so he’s using this despicable method to earn it back.]

【System Notification: Your message is only visible to yourself. If you want to interact with others, please recharge your membership.】

Ghost soul: “…” Dammit, this new function went live really quickly.

That afternoon, Su Weisheng’s great-grandson was lying exhausted on the sofa in the living room, resting. In a daze, he saw his great-grandfather carrying gold and silver porcelains into the study. He rubbed his eyes and then rubbed them again. He really wasn’t mistaken; they were antiques!

“Great-grandfather, where did you get these?” The great-grandson was shocked.

Su Weisheng locked his spoils in the cabinet and slowly said, “Earned from the nagging ghost souls. There are quite a lot of talkative ghost souls these days.”

Great-grandson: ???

Underworld barrage: [Some Su-surnamed capitalist, don’t push us too far!!!]

However, despite such complaints, many talkative ghost souls began recharging memberships despite their reluctance. Those ghost souls who didn’t have enough burial items were both jealous of other ghosts’ happiness and resentful of their descendants for not being filial enough to burn more burial items.

Among them, Old Jiang, who was the closest to Su Laijin and his descendants, had the most resentment.

At this moment, he sat cross-legged on a chair, complaining, “My foolish sons and grandsons only know how to burn paper money all day. How come they don’t know to burn some antiques? Their father down here is almost broke and can’t even afford a membership!”

Su Laijin tried to console him, “What’s the use of a membership? Sending barrage messages to gain presence in front of my father won’t bring you any joy. On the contrary, there’s a high risk of catching his attention. You’ll know the pain when his little hammer comes down on you…”

“No, I must recharge. I must gain presence in front of the High Priest!” Old Jiang, who had been proud all his life, couldn’t stand the humiliation of not being a member due to lack of money.

Perhaps it was because of his intense resentment that he managed to reach out to his son in a dream without the High Priest’s help that night.

Jiang Qiao was asleep, dreaming of being favored by the Star Lord and becoming a divine messenger. He smiled contentedly in his dream. Suddenly, the dream’s portrait of the Star Lord changed its style and turned into his father.

Old Jiang started scolding as soon as he appeared: “You unfilial son, hurry up and burn some antiques for your father! Your father is in a rush to recharge the membership for the High Priest!”

Jiang Qiao, who was inexplicably scolded out of the blue: ???

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