Death Before Success

"How did you get here?" Xia Yu asked Zhu Mei.

"It was Xiangxiang who invited me," Zhu Mei replied with a grin.

Xia Yu couldn't imagine how Xu Youxiang, a fairly intelligent person, could believe Zhu Mei's nonsense.

Although most of it was true, there was still a lot of artistic interpretation.

Forget it; just let her be.

Xia Yu left the house, drove his car, and headed for the airport.

In order to be with An Siyao, Hu Lianglu made a scene and transferred schools from A Fang to Yao Guang. Today was the day Hu Lianglu arrived.

After picking up Hu Lianglu from the airport, Xia Yu returned home.

As soon as the door opened, Hu Lianglu saw the three women playing games on the couch.

She turned her head and stared silently at Xia Yu.

"What are you looking at?" Xia Yu asked rudely.

"You've gotten so many women in just two months since I left?" Hu Lianglu said.

Xia Yu knocked on Hu Lianglu's head: "Don't act like I have anything to do with you, why do I need to explain to you?"

After comparing the gap in strength between herself and Xia Yu, Hu Lianglu had to endure humiliation. She put her luggage away and went to cuddle with An Siyao for comfort.

Xia Yu stood behind the four of them, observing for a while. Xu Youxiang was very enthusiastic towards Zhu Mei, and Zhu Mei was enthusiastic towards both Xu Youxiang and An Siyao. However, An Siyao's reaction was neutral.

As expected, my An Siyao won't be easily bewitched.

Xia Yu was relieved, he returned to his bedroom and played games by himself.

As time passed, it got to evening. Zhu Mei secured the right to stay overnight. The women chattered through dinner and then returned to their rooms.

Zhu Mei came to Xia Yu's room with a jar of honey in her hand.

She dipped her hand in the honey, trying to feed Xia Yu, but he just turned his face away.

Zhu Mei moved her hand, placing the honey in front of Xia Yu, but he still refused this intimate gesture.

"Don't you want me anymore?" Zhu Mei said, tears shimmering in her eyes.

With no choice, Xia Yu had a taste.

As Zhu Mei lay on Xia Yu's back, she worriedly said, "The King of Zone 14 is coming tomorrow."

"He's coming to pick up Zhu Mengbing himself?" Xia Yu was surprised.

"He probably wants to pick me up personally." Zhu Mei, hugging Xia Yu's neck, said, "I don't want to go with him."

"Don't worry, in Zone 1, any king or emperor will have to bow down," Xia Yu was somewhat worried. He worried about how to gracefully handle the situation without losing face in front of the king.

After all, the other party was a king, and some face had to be given.

Zhu Mei stayed with Xia Yu for an hour, then Xu Youxiang came and took her away.

Although Xu Youxiang approved of Zhu Mei's attachment to Xia Yu, she couldn't let the two of them stay together for too long.

Xia Yu played games for a while and then went to sleep.

The next morning, Xia Yu was awakened by Zhu Mei.

Opening his eyes groggily, Xia Yu looked at Zhu Mei: "What's wrong?"

Zhu Mei's face was serious: "Someone's dead."

"Who's dead?" Xia Yu immediately woke up, picturing Zhu Mei with a kitchen knife, massacring the villa in order to monopolize the bear.

"The king," Zhu Mei answered.

"How did the king die?" Xia Yu was amazed.

"Wasn't it you who did it?" Zhu Mei looked into Xia Yu's eyes.

"I don't even know where he is; how could I do it?" Xia Yu refused to take the blame.

"I heard from Li Hua that he was killed at the airport by an assassin with a laptop," Zhu Mei replied.

Xia Yu stroked his chin. He originally wanted to see how the king would lose face, but he ended up dead?

"Wait a moment, let me ask someone," Xia Yu took out his phone and called Yu Ningmeng.

The death of a king is different from that of ordinary people. When an ordinary person dies, the murderer may be blamed, but the death of a king triggers a series of events.

Yu Ningmeng answered the phone, "I'm busy, you have thirty seconds."

"He's dead," Xia Yu replied.

"Who died? Are you guys playing some dangerous game?" Yu Ningmeng asked nervously.

"...The king is dead," Xia Yu recounted what Zhu Mei had said to Yu Ningmeng.

"Hold on, let me ask," Yu Ningmeng hung up, made inquiries, and called back ten minutes later.

"Tell Zhu Mengbing to run away quickly," Yu Ningmeng advised.

"Was it Zhu Mengbing who hired the assassin?" Xia Yu was shocked.

"Probably not, our district doesn't have those connections," Yu Ningmeng explained, "It doesn't matter who did it. What's important is that someone has to take the blame."

After a pause, Yu Ningmeng continued, "Zhu Mengbing is the most suitable candidate. His motive would be coveting the throne. Both the 232nd and 14th district royal families have Zhu family blood. If the king of the 14th district is killed, he will be the only male from the Zhu family left. The 14th district cannot find another illegitimate child among the common people."

"So since he's the only candidate for the throne now, how could there be any trouble?" Xia Yu asked curiously.

"The struggle between the pro-king and anti-king factions in the 14th district is quite intense. The lack of a king in recent years is due to this. This time, the anti-king faction is likely to seize the opportunity to abolish the monarchy," Yu Ningmeng briefly explained.

After hanging up, Xia Yu told Zhu Mei about Yu Ningmeng's speculations.

Zhu Mei looked calm, as she had no particular feelings for her brother Zhu Mengbing. She picked up her phone, warned Zhu Mengbing, and left it at that.

Yu Ningmeng's analysis was very accurate. Five hours later, the 14th district started searching for Zhu Mengbing, but he had already escaped and disappeared.

Later, Xia Yu heard from Yu Ningmeng that they even wanted to use Zhu Mei as a scapegoat for Zhu Mengbing, but the idea was rebutted.

Xia Yu and Zhu Mei remained calm, but Xu Youxiang worried about Zhu Mei for a few days.

A few days later, everything returned to normal, and Xia Yu continued his life of making medicine during the day and playing games at night.

After half a month, some progress was made in the medicine-making process, and Xia Yu took a break for himself.

Resting for a day, he went to Wen Ziying 's body.

Wen Ziying lay on the bed, feeling depressed.

Her new book, which took her three days to write, became popular again.

Xia Yu sighed and comforted Wen Ziying , "Accept and move on."

"What do you mean accept and move on? Why do people read such trash stories? Those are animals talking, like pigs, dogs, and sheep; isn't that ridiculous? The political struggle between those ghostly animals is absurd, isn't it? Why can people analyze all kinds of metaphors and thoughts? I was really just blindly writing!" Wen Ziying wailed.

Xia Yu could only listen silently to Wen Ziying's complaints. Wen Ziying's book "Animal Forest" had been crowned with the title of anti-utopian allegory, stealing the limelight from the death of the king of the 14th district.

"What are you planning to do next?" Xia Yu felt that the mission of collecting star fragments was too difficult.

"What else can I do? I'm out of options!" Wen Ziying complained.

At that moment, the phone rang. After receiving Wen Ziying's permission, Xia Yu answered her call.

It was a call from the publisher, informing Wen Ziying that her book had been selected for the Chen Award.

The Chen Award was the most influential literary prize in this world.

Wen Ziying became even more desperate.