“This…” Zu An was overawed when he saw these words. Isn’t this the clan’s most important technique?

Chu Chuyan blushed. She turned away to avoid his gaze, and said with exaggerated casualness, “I just don’t want that Chen Xuan to kill you. If that happens, I won’t have anyone to treat me anymore.”

Zu An laughed heartily, a huge smile on his face. He put the booklet away. “I’ll definitely treasure such a precious thing properly.”

Chu Chuyan nodded, satisfied at how carefully he stowed it away. “Look it over on your own first. You can ask me about anything you don’t understand. I’ve already studied it before, after all, so I have more experience.”

Zu An patted his chest and said, “Relax! Don’t you know how talented your husband is? There’s no way I wouldn’t understand it! I’ll master it quickly.”

Chu Chuyan stared at him, her mouth falling open.

Wasn’t this guy’s aptitude at cultivation already extremely clear? He was in the Yellow class, for goodness’ sake!

She chose not to say anything, treating it as empty masculine bravado. She’d just find a way to help him out when he needed it.

“Make sure you take good care of this secret manual. You absolutely must not lose it,” Chu Chuyan warned him. After all, she knew how frivolous this fellow normally was.

Zu An scooted over to her with a smile on his face and nudged her slightly. “What’s wrong? Is it because this manual is actually a great Chu clan secret? Aren’t you being a little too careless, allowing someone like me to learn it?” 

Chu Chuyan shrunk back, avoiding him somewhat uncomfortably. “Stop thinking nonsense. You’re the young master of the Chu clan, so you aren’t an outsider. It isn’t out of the question for you to learn it. As long as you… as long as you don’t go out and teach this to other girls.”

Zu An’s eyebrows twitched. “Are you jealous?”

“If you don’t have anything else to say, I’ll take my leave.” Chu Chuyan spun on her heels, her face red. She was clearly not used to talking about such things with him.

“Wait!” Zu An hurriedly grabbed her hand. The smile on his face also gradually faded. “The Chu clan seems quite troubled by this issue of contributions. How much silver do you need? I still have quite a bit. It should be enough to help the Chu clan get through this.”

Chu Chuyan shook her arm subconsciously, but couldn’t shake him off, so she let him have his way. “Keep that money for yourself. The Chu clan hasn’t fallen so far as to require our son-in-law’s personal fortune to bail us out.”

Zu An’s face scrunched up slightly.

Why do these words sound so strange? It’s almost like what those men from the past would say, like ‘I won’t ever use my bride’s dowry’, or something.

Seeing his expression, Chu Chuyan thought that she had somehow hurt his ego. “Don’t think about it too much,” she quickly assured him. “Our Chu clan is still a huge clan. Things have just gotten slightly more difficult now, mostly because our arms business has suffered a huge blow, which is affecting our revenue.

“On top of that, the illicit salt trade has started to get out of hand recently, so our Chu clan is facing difficulties even selling our salt. That’s what’s been causing headaches all around.”

“Illicit salt?” Zu An stared blankly. That term had confused him.

Chu Chuyan explained the situation to him. “According to the court’s decree, after any salt is extracted through boiling, it must be sold to a government agent, who will purchase all of it. The transportation, buying and selling of salt all has to be done through the royal court. Everyone else is prohibited from circulating salt.

“However, illicit salt is inexpensive, so ordinary people would choose to purchase this illicit salt instead, which fuels the illegal trade. Smuggling illicit salt is also extremely lucrative, so there are always eager criminals willing to take part, no matter how many smugglers get caught.”

In the past, she would have never spoken about these things to anyone else, and would have shouldered the responsibility alone. Yet she had just unexpectedly told Zu An everything. Perhaps, because of what they’d gone through together in the dungeon, she had subconsciously decided that he was trustworthy, and that he could help her share this burden.

Zu An couldn’t help but sigh. “The illicit salt is so much cheaper than yours, but their profits are still so high. Can’t you guys just drop the price a bit? That way, there won’t be room for the illegal salt trade to survive, and no one would be willing to take the risk of purchasing illicit salt.”

“If only it were that easy,” Chu Chuyan said, sighing deeply. “Do you think we want to keep the price of salt so high? It’s just that the costs of selling salt legally are so much higher than just selling it illegally, and that’s discounting all the other ways the government abuses their authority. Take the salt permits, for example. We need to pay the authorities 1.5 silver taels for each salt permit, and each permit only allows us to sell around 200 jin[1] of salt. Just securing these permits costs a small fortune.

“Moreover, because there may be a shortage of permits, we would need to purchase some ahead of time. This adds another 2.1 silver taels on top of the base cost of 1.5 silver taels. These are all costs the court has added onto us.

“Other headaches, like the contributions that the court has requested, also drives up our costs.”

“You can now imagine just how high the costs are just to sell salt legally.” Chu Chuyan seemed extremely familiar with all this. “It only costs us ten qian[2] to cook and process the salt. However, after being weighed down by all these extra costs—and taking into account any seasonal fluctuations in price—we can only make a profit if we sell our salt at between one hundred to three hundred qian per jin.

On the other hand, illicit salt doesn’t incur such crazy costs at all. That is why it’s sold at around twenty to thirty qian per jin. Who would ever buy our legal salt?”

Zu An looked at her with a dazed expression. He’d never expected the calm, elegant and otherworldly goddess Chu Chuyan to speak about matters of business in such detail, down to the very finest margins.

“What are you looking at me for?” Chu Chuyan noticed his change in expression as well. Her cheeks started to feel warm.

Zu An gently took her hands in his. “You’ve had to manage the affairs of such a big clan all alone, and for all these years. It must’ve been difficult,” he said solemnly.

Perhaps because of the serious injuries she’d suffered recently, her body, heart and mind all seemed to have softened slightly.

Chu Chuyan’s heart suddenly ached when she heard Zu An’s words. For so many years, she had never spoken about these troubles to anyone else before.

Although she enjoyed cultivation, much of her attention had to be directed towards managing the Chu clan’s businesses.

If it wasn’t because of this, her cultivation might have already reached another level, especially given her aptitude.

Not only that, she had always been fond of reading romance novels ever since she was young. She adored anything related to romance and love, just like any other girl. Yet, in order to make sure others took her seriously, she always put on a cold and haughty exterior. Over time, even she had begun to forget which was her true self.

“It’s no big deal. I’ve already gotten used to it a long time ago.” Chu Chuyan took a deep breath to calm her emotions. Her vision blurred, and she turned away to prevent Zu An from noticing.

Zu An’s voice was heavy with emotion. “It’ll be different from now on. You have me now. I will help you deal with some of your burdens.”

When she noticed his intense gaze, Chu Chuyan suddenly felt her heart tremble. She pushed him away instinctively. “Sorry, I’ve said a little too much today.”

She didn’t wait for his reply. She fled without even turning back once.

Zu An was completely dumbfounded. What’s going on? I’ve already made such a serious vow. Can’t you at least give me a response?!

As he looked at Chu Chuyan’s diminishing silhouette, Zu An began to stroke his chin, in perfect imitation of a domineering CEO from his previous world. Woman, you have succeeded in drawing my interest!

…

When Zu An finally left the study, his stomach suddenly growled. Only then did he realize that no one had called him for dinner.

Qin Wanru definitely didn’t want to see him after what just happened. There was no way she would call him over to dine together.

It seemed that no one else wanted to get caught in the mess either, after witnessing Madam’s anger.

Zu An felt like he’d been completely forgotten.

Since he wouldn’t be able to get anything to eat at home, he figured that he would look around outside instead.

Didn’t Qiu Honglei invite him to meet her? He’d just mooch dinner off of her, then. Besides, he still had to retrieve Shang Liuyu’s seashell.

He retrieved the invitation card from Cheng Shouping. When Cheng Shouping heard that he was headed to Immortal Abode, he was taken aback. “Young master, Madam got mad at you not too long ago! Isn’t it a little inappropriate for you to go out now?”

“If you don’t talk about it and I don’t either, how will Madam know?” Zu An snorted. “Besides, Madam’s anger has already been dealt with. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Even though he spoke casually, Cheng Shouping still wasn’t fully convinced.

Zu An patted Cheng Shouping’s shoulder. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to tag along the next time I went to the Immortal Abode? Look how well this young master treats you! Just follow me, and you’ll get to broaden your horizons.”

His invitation frightened the living daylights out of Cheng Shouping. “Young master, please spare me! I still want to live a little longer!”

Just the idea of facing Madam’s fury left him beyond terrified, let alone the terrible beating he would suffer if the second miss learned of this. He didn’t dare take his chances.

The young master might get away with a light scolding on account of his status, but I’m just a humble servant! I’ll definitely get the shit beaten out of me!

When he saw that Cheng Shouping wouldn’t go no matter what, Zu An didn’t waste any further effort on him. He decided to head out on his own.

As he was about to leave, Jiao Shanhe and the other two guards who were assigned to protect him rushed over. When they learned that he was headed to the Immortal Abode, all three of them advised against it.

“Young master, this really is too dangerous!”

“Indeed! Chen Xuan is still lurking in the shadows and waiting to kill you! The only reason he hasn’t attacked again is because he can’t do anything to you in the academy or in the Chu Estate, and there were guards escorting you on the way back today. We might be able to deal with an ordinary attacker, but Chen Xuan is at the sixth rank! He’s also a slippery character. I fear that we won’t be able to protect the young master if you go out now!”

Zu An ignored his guards’ earnest and well-meaning advice. “Don’t worry. If it comes to that, I’ll protect you guys.”

With that, he strutted out.

Jiao Shanhe, Feng Daniu and Zhou Lujun stared blankly after his departing silhouette.

The young master has been completely bewitched by beauty! He is actually willing to take such huge risks to see that Qiu Honglei!

Lust really does lead to bitter consequences!

His Keyboard system came alive with notifications about incoming Rage points. Zu An didn’t bother to explain himself.

He’d given some thought to the issue of Chen Xuan, and had a plan in mind to settle things once and for all. After all, he wasn’t willing to spend the rest of his life running scared. What he needed to do now was to bait him out.

He was heading to the Immortal Abode precisely because he wanted to give Chen Xuan an opportunity to assassinate him.