Thirsty. Parched.
That was the only feeling Jiang Nian had upon waking up.
He instinctively reached for the bedside table, wanting to grab some water.
But his hand found nothing.
That reminded him that he was no longer in Jinyun Xiandu in Zhejiang Province, but back in his hometown.
So he got out of bed, walked over to the water vat in the outer room, lifted the bamboo lid, grabbed the gourd dipper, scooped up some water, and downed it in one go. Then he scooped another dipperful into the basin and splashed his face.
The bracing chill jolted him wide awake in an instant.
Then he looked around and saw that the outer room was a complete mess.
The leftovers from last night’s dinner still sat on the table, uncleared.
Empty Moutai bottles were scattered casually on the floor.
Jiang Nian pulled out his phone to check the time—five in the morning.
He glanced back at the left inner room, where Jiang Hongye and Uncle Zhao—aka Chubby Xiao—were sprawled out on the bed, snoring away.
He peeked to the right.
Uncle Zhao’s wife, their daughter, and his own mother were all sleeping soundly in there.
Clearly, they’d all had a great time drinking and chatting last night.
“With the way they’re going, though, they probably won’t wake up until seven or eight. Might as well tidy up first.”
Jiang Nian muttered to himself, then gently closed the doors to both inner rooms and started cleaning up the mess in the main room.
He worked quickly and efficiently, and before long, the place was spotless again.
And because he used his internal energy, he made very little noise, so he didn’t wake anyone up.
Looking at the room, now back to its tidy, clean state,
Jiang Nian felt satisfied. Then, after a moment’s thought, he figured he might as well make use of the time—so he pushed open the door and went outside to practice martial arts.
It was still snowing, but not as heavily as before.
Meanwhile, after a full day and night of wind and snow,
the yard was buried under a thick layer of snow, almost up to Jiang Nian’s knees.
There was clearly no way to practice in these conditions, so Jiang Nian cleared the yard first, then stood in the falling snow and began his training.
But no sooner had he started than a new problem arose.
Namely, the noise he made while practicing was way too loud.
The continuous thunderous vibrations of his Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound echoed nonstop.
Back in Jinyun Xiandu, he could just head up the mountain and solve the problem entirely.
But here at home…
“I’ll just have to control it.”
Jiang Nian murmured to himself.
And so, he began deliberately restraining his internal energy. At first, it felt terrible—he had all this power with nowhere to put it, and it was frustrating as hell.
But as time went on, he slowly discovered that practicing this way actually seemed pretty brilliant!
Because he was holding back his internal energy, preventing it from releasing outward and forcing it to circulate internally instead,
the energy started making full cycles through his body.
Once or twice, it was barely noticeable.
But after seven or eight times, with enough repetitions, the energy underwent a qualitative change—or rather, it became purified!
Even Jiang Nian himself didn’t notice it.
His exposed skin had turned as red as a glowing piece of iron, steaming.
He was completely focused on his internal energy,
feeling it condense into a dense, solid sphere through cycle after cycle.
It wasn’t until his body sent out a warning—telling him that if he kept purifying it any further, he’d be the first to break down and explode from within—
that Jiang Nian finally stopped.
He extended his palm and aimed it at the tightly packed snow pile in front of him.
Smack!
His palm landed on it. In that moment, the purified internal energy poured out without any reservation.
But oddly enough, the snow pile showed no sign of change at all.
“Hmm?”
Seeing this, Jiang Nian was slightly puzzled.
He was just about to figure out what was going on,
when—
BOOM!
Without any warning, like a bomb going off, with a deafening roar, the snow pile suddenly burst apart, sending snow flying everywhere.
The noise startled everyone sleeping inside.
“What the hell was that?”
Jiang Hongye shot up in bed, alarmed.
He quickly threw on some clothes and rushed out the door, running right into his wife, who had also hurried out.
Jiang Hongye was the first to ask: “What exploded?”
His wife shook her head: “I don’t know—it sounded like it came from outside.”
“Come on, let’s go check it out.” Jiang Hongye urged, taking the lead outside.
The others followed.
And there, in the dark but now-cleared yard, under the dim yellow light, stood Jiang Nian—his head covered in chunks of snow, the ground around him in shambles, looking completely baffled.
Clearly, all that commotion had been caused by him!
“What did you do—set off a firecracker in the snow?”
Chubby Xiao poked his head out from behind and asked.
Jiang Nian’s mouth twitched: “You… you could say that…”
He hadn’t expected his internal energy to be this powerful.
Not only did it blow that packed snow pile to smithereens in one go,
but it also had a delayed effect—on the outside, you couldn’t even tell he’d done anything!
“Wait—delayed effect, invisible on the outside?”
“Isn’t that exactly what Dark Force is?!”
Jiang Nian suddenly realized something was off.
He stared at his hand in surprise. All he’d wanted to do was reduce the noise from his training, but somehow, he’d stumbled upon the correct way to apply Dark Force?!
Jiang Nian was overjoyed. After sending his parents and Uncle Zhao back inside, he resumed his practice.
Time flew by, like a shuttle on a loom.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Jiang Nian mastered Dark Force.
During those three days, Jiang Nian lived a full and satisfying life.
When he wasn’t training,
he spent time with his parents, chatting and keeping them company.
Or he’d experiment with new applications for Dark Force and internal energy.
And through that experimentation, he actually discovered another use for internal energy—
healing!
After multiple attempts, he found that without activating Dark Force, he could still penetrate the skin and channel internal energy into someone else’s body, controlling it from within.
So Jiang Nian often used the excuse of giving his parents massages to secretly treat them with his internal energy.
And he had to admit—this stuff was incredibly potent.
After just five or six sessions, he had already eliminated one-tenth of the chronic ailments plaguing his parents!
At this rate, by the time his holiday ended and he returned to the film set, he’d have basically cured them completely.
That brought Jiang Nian great comfort.
Because he hated the thought of his parents suffering day in and day out, tormented by pain and illness—
especially when he wasn’t there with them.
That was something he just couldn’t accept.
Besides all these daily routines,
Jiang Nian also made quite a splash yesterday, on the first day of the New Year.
As everyone knows, the first day of the Lunar New Year is the day for paying respects to ancestors at their graves.
In the past, Jiang Nian’s family didn’t have a car, so they had to swallow their pride and hitch rides with relatives.
But now, Jiang Nian had a car—and not just any car, but a top-of-the-line 2011 Range Rover Vogue Supercharged Edition.
The moment it pulled up to the roadside,
it drew the eyes of every relative present—amazed, envious, and jealous all at once!
It wasn’t surprising, really. After all, everyone had been struggling together, and even if someone caught a lucky break and made a little money, the gap between them was never that big.
But Jiang Nian?
He’d been gone for just two years, and now he was back driving a car worth four or five million yuan!
That was a height that many of them couldn’t reach even after two or three lifetimes of hard work.
They were bitter.
They couldn’t help but think: Why does Jiang Nian’s family get to be so wealthy?
And so, the day after the grave-visiting—on the second day of the New Year, when families traditionally visit relatives—
the threshold of Jiang Nian’s house was practically worn down!
All the relatives had heard that Jiang Nian’s family had struck it rich, and they all came flocking.
This situation left Jiang Nian’s parents completely flustered—they had no idea what to do.
After all, in previous years, only the relatives they were close with would come by.
But this year, it seemed like everyone—whether they were on good terms or not—had shown up.
Thankfully, Jiang Nian was a sharp one. The moment he noticed his parents’ unease and anxiety, he stepped in and took charge.
Otherwise, on this otherwise happy day, something was bound to go wrong.
And that was just the beginning.
With so many people around, the house naturally became chaotic.
Kids were running wild, playing and causing a ruckus.
Adults were gathered in groups, chatting about everything under the sun, poking around here and touching things there.
But Jiang Nian was clever. He’d anticipated that coming home for New Year might not be as ordinary as it seemed.
So yesterday, he and his parents had already hidden away most of the things he’d bought, leaving only a few odds and ends out to keep up appearances.
After all, you can’t be too careful—having someone accidentally leave with something they picked up on autopilot might be a minor issue, but the real worry was someone causing trouble in all the chaos.
Jiang Nian didn’t care about these people—he wasn’t afraid of burning bridges.
But his parents? That was a different story.
And as the conversations went on,
eventually, the topic inevitably landed on Jiang Nian himself.
Like many relatives,
they loved asking young people what they did for a living,
how their industry was doing,
how much money they’d made recently—
all so they could puff themselves up and get a little ego boost in the process.
But because Jiang Nian’s profession as an actor was pretty much common knowledge, and because he’d come back this year in a Range Rover,
they didn’t dare ask.
If they did, it’d just turn into Jiang Nian’s show-off session.
So they cleverly shifted the topic to Jiang Nian’s education.
To be fair, this was indeed a sore spot for Jiang Nian.
As a former top student, if it hadn’t been for that mess back in 2009, he’d probably be studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the country—or even abroad.
But unfortunately, fate had other plans. The wave of layoffs had shattered Jiang Nian’s dream of college.
Still, it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
After all, if he’d gone to university, he might not be where he was today—living the high life.
And just as Jiang Nian was handling all the questions from his relatives,
suddenly—
Beep beep—
A car horn sounded from outside the yard.
But this time, it wasn’t one of Jiang Nian’s relatives.
Because the car parked outside was a million-yuan Porsche Panamera!
Seeing this, Jiang Nian, who was standing in the yard, felt a little puzzled. The road was plenty wide—they weren’t blocking anyone. So he stepped forward to see what was going on.
However, before Jiang Nian could get close, the passenger door of the Porsche Panamera swung open.
A tall, fox-faced woman with chestnut-colored hair, wearing Valentino shoes and dark sunglasses, stepped out of the car.
Spotting Jiang Nian, she took off her sunglasses, her lips curling upward: “Long time no see, Jiang Nian. Happy New Year.”
“Sister Mi?”
Recognizing the visitor, Jiang Nian’s face lit up with surprise.
He quickly walked over: “What are you doing here?”
Yang Mi looked at him curiously: “Didn’t I just say? Happy New Year. I came to give you some New Year’s greetings, of course.”
“Huh?!!”
At those words, Jiang Nian might not have been stunned—but his parents and relatives certainly were.
Because they all recognized Yang Mi, and that’s exactly why they were absolutely shocked that she’d come to give Jiang Nian New Year’s wishes!
This was a real, genuine superstar!
For a moment, the previously noisy scene fell into complete silence.
No one spoke. They just stared blankly ahead.
They watched as Yang Mi, after exchanging pleasantries with Jiang Nian, walked gracefully to the back of the car, popped the trunk, and pulled out six beautifully wrapped gift boxes: “I came in a hurry, so I didn’t prepare much—these are my gifts.”
“Haha, that’s so kind of you! A gift would’ve been enough—you didn’t have to come in person!” Jiang Nian laughed, reaching out to take them.
But Yang Mi moved her hand aside: “Who said these are for you? These are specially for your parents. Where are Auntie and Uncle?”
Seeing Yang Mi looking for them,
Jiang Hongye and Jiang’s mother, who had been frozen in the crowd for a good while, finally snapped out of it and quickly stepped forward.
Jiang’s mother spoke nervously: “Um… h-hello, Miss… Miss Star?”
“Giggle, Auntie, you’re too formal. I’m Jiang Nian’s boss—just call me Yang Mi.” Yang Mi said cheerfully, then lifted the gift boxes: “Where should I put them?”
“No need, no need—give them to me, I’ll hold them.” Jiang Hongye quickly offered.
Yang Mi didn’t stand on ceremony and said graciously: “Alright, then I’ll trouble you, Uncle. Sorry for not calling ahead—I hope I’m not disturbing you all?”
“No, no, not at all! We’re thrilled that you could come.” Jiang’s mother took over, her face beaming with warmth.
Then she looked at Jiang Nian, who was just standing off to the side smoking like some slacker without a care in the world, and her temper flared: “Jiang Nian! Jiang Nian! What are you standing around for? Hurry up and play host!”
Hearing that, Jiang Nian rolled his eyes in exasperation: “Mom, what’s there to host for her? Just grab her a folding stool and let her sit.”
“Cut the crap. Don’t make me slap you on the happiest day of your life!” His mother’s face dropped—she was dead serious.
Jiang Hongye next to her also looked none too pleased.
Seeing this, Jiang Nian looked at the snickering Yang Mi, then at his mother, and let out a resigned sigh, stubbing out his cigarette: “Yes, ma’am. Right this way, Boss Yang.”
With that, Jiang Nian was about to lead Yang Mi into the house.
But just then—
Beep beep beep—
“Um, excuse me—is this Jiang Nian’s house?”
A Mercedes-Maybach was parked on the road behind them, and Zhang Yuxin stuck her head out of the passenger window, looking at them with obvious curiosity.
Everyone froze.
Before they could even react,
behind the Maybach, a Buick GL8 appeared quietly, and Chen Qiao’en popped her head out: “Same question—is this Jiang Nian’s house?”
Everyone: “???”
Yang Mi: “???”
Jiang Nian’s heart sank: “Oh crap—this is about to get ugly!”
