386: Empress, Mom-chan

Then, as if recognizing something, a wide smile bloomed on her face, revealing two little fangs. She opened her arms towards Shang Wan Ning and called out in a milky voice, "Mommy!"

This call lacked pure dependence; there was a hint of testing in the tail end of her voice, exactly the tone Chen Yu used back in the day to swindle incense offerings.

Shang Wan Ning: "..."

She subconsciously took half a step back, her brow furrowed so tightly it could crush a fly.

Let alone being called "Mommy," just this face alone was enough to give her a headache.

Tudor watched from the side and clearly saw it, whispering a reminder, "Your Majesty, the Evil God's eyes hide a sinister aura."

Shang Wan Ning naturally knew this.

This little girl looked well-behaved, but the calculation that flashed in her eyes when she turned around just now, along with the faint aura of evil lingering on her, all indicated that she hadn't lost her innate nature as an Evil God.

This was a little devil wearing the skin of "Little Chen Yu."

Seeing Shang Wan Ning retreat, the little girl's smile faded slightly, and the sinister aura in her blood-red eyes actually grew stronger.

She didn't lunge forward again, but instead slowly walked to the hem of Shang Wan Ning's skirt, reached out a chubby little hand, and gently grabbed a corner of the fabric.

"Does Mommy not like me?" She tilted her little face up, her eyes welling with tears.

"I will be very good and won't cause trouble."

Shang Wan Ning sneered, seeing through the Evil God's ingratiation at a glance.

She bent down and grabbed the little girl's wrist.

"Don't play these tricks with me."

"You are an Evil God, not Chen Yu. Stop learning her tricks of acting pitiful."

The little girl pursed her lips tightly. She didn't let go of the skirt; instead, she gripped it even tighter, like a little kitten that refused to let go once it caught its prey.

Xiao Si paced anxiously in the Sea of Consciousness: "great host, the Evil God has just hatched, don't be too harsh on her!"

"Harsh?"

Shang Wan Ning scoffed.

"Wait until she grows up and turns the Underworld upside down; then you'll know what 'really harsh' means."

She released the little girl's wrist and stood up straight. Looking at this Evil God in the form of a "little Chen Yu" on the ground, she only felt a splitting headache.

Throw her back to the bottom of the Wangchuan River?

But this thing had already hatched, so throwing her back would be useless.

Keep her by her side?

Wouldn't that just be asking for a little troublemaker, and one with a sinister aura at that?

"Tudor."

Shang Wan Ning forcibly suppressed her irritation. "Look at her appearance. Does she look like Chen Yu?"

Tudor nodded honestly, speaking straightforwardly: "The eyebrows, eyes, expression, and even that bit of cleverness are exactly the same as the Prefecture City God."

"Indeed."

Shang Wan Ning rubbed her throbbing temples.

"One Chen Yu in the Underworld is already enough to give me a headache, and now another one comes along..."

Before she could finish, the little girl suddenly stood on tiptoe, reached out, and grabbed her sleeve, her eyes carrying a hint of seriousness: "I am not called Chen Yu. I am called Princess Shang Wugou, and my nickname is Fei Fei."

"Fei Fei?" Shang Wan Ning raised an eyebrow.

"Mm!"

Princess Shang Wugou nodded vigorously, her little face full of pride. "I chose the name myself. Mommy, does it sound nice?" As she spoke, she revealed her two little fangs again and smiled at Shang Wan Ning.

This time, there was no sinister aura or cunning in her smile, only the showing off of a child, which caused Shang Wan Ning's expression to soften slightly.

"It sounds nice, but why the surname Shang?"

"Because Fei Fei likes Mommy! If I want to be Mommy's daughter, I should have Mommy's surname."

Shang Wan Ning curled the corners of her lips. "Mm, you're smart. Knowing how to cling to a powerful figure at such a young age—I like those who know how to read the situation."

She raised her hand and touched Princess Shang Wugou's silver hair with her fingertips; the texture was exactly the same as Chen Yu's white hair. "Since you insist on the surname Shang and recognize me as Mommy, from today on, I am your guardian."

"Oh, a guardian."

Princess Shang Wugou's eyes widened. "Thank you, Mommy. Fei Fei will definitely be good and will never cause Mommy trouble."

"Whether you are good or not depends on your future performance." Shang Wan Ning stopped scrutinizing her, her tone suddenly turning flat, as if she were giving instructions to a subordinate.

"But I must make one thing clear: raising a god is very expensive."

"Money?"

Princess Shang Wugou tilted her head, her little brow furrowing into a knot, her fingers subconsciously picking at Shang Wan Ning's skirt. "Is it those shiny stones by the Wangchuan River?"

"I've seen them at the bottom of the river; the ghost messengers use them to trade for food."

She had stayed at the bottom of the river for decades, only thinking the stones looked nice without delving into their purpose. Now, hearing the words "expensive," her little face was full of confusion.

Shang Wan Ning scoffed and turned to look at Tudor in the corner. "Tudor, tell Wugou about the hard currency of the Underworld. Don't let her think I'm joking with her."

Tudor understood and cooperated with Her Majesty to continue deceiving the Evil God, even intentionally inflating the numbers: "Replying to the Little Highness, the general currency of the Underworld is incense points. Clothing, food, housing, transportation, and the Yin energy magic treasures used for cultivation all require trading with incense points."

"Ordinary Wandering Souls have to work for two hours in the Netherworld just to earn fifty incense points for a day's rations."

He paused and emphasized his tone: "For a divine descendant like the Little Highness, the purity of Yin energy required daily is high; it costs at least five million incense points a day."

Princess Shang Wugou listened with her little mouth slightly agape, her eyes glazing over: "Five million, that's so much."

She didn't understand how long "two hours of brick moving" was, but she understood the weight of the words "expensive."

So it turns out that being Mommy's daughter requires spending so much incense.

This was exactly the effect Shang Wan Ning wanted. She spoke slowly, as if teaching a junior a lesson, but in reality, every word was calculated: "It's good that you know it's a lot. I am the Netherworld Empress; the Underworld's incense points must be used to pay salaries to meritorious officials, and for the daily maintenance of the Bridge of Helplessness and repairing core areas, so they cannot be moved casually."

Changing the subject, a coaxing expression appeared on her face, just like a black-hearted boss tricking a child into working: "But you are a god; you are born smarter than Wandering Souls and learn things quickly."

"Instead of waiting for me to provide for you, it's better to work and earn incense points yourself. This is called independence. In the future, if word gets out, it will also show that our Fei Fei is capable."

"Independence?" Princess Shang Wugou repeated, nodding her little head quickly, her eyes shining.

"Does that mean earning money to support myself so Mommy doesn't have to worry?"

"Very smart."

Shang Wan Ning patted her little head twice to show approval, a flash of cunning in her eyes: "Since it is working to earn money, you must follow the rules."

"You are a minor god, so the wages you earn must be handed over to your guardian for safekeeping—which is me."

"I will keep them for you to prevent gods with ulterior motives from cheating you, and also to keep you from learning bad habits if you have too much money, like secretly buying dirty things from the Underworld Market to eat."

Princess Shang Wugou had puppy eyes: "Then... can I have pocket money?"

"Of course."

Shang Wan Ning smiled gently. "Seeing that you are young, I will give you one hundred incense points a week as pocket money; it's enough to buy snacks and toys. More than that is useless. If children have too much money, they easily become greedy, which is not a good thing."

Xiao Si screamed in the consciousness: "great host, this is daylight robbery!"

"The lowest-ranking Wandering Souls in the Underworld earn two hundred incense points a day for moving bricks, and Fei Fei is an Evil God! One hundred a week is too little; you are even blacker than the black-hearted ghosts in hell."