Zu An ran towards the bed. “Youzhao? Youzhao?”

He sighed in relief when he saw that her clothes were still on.

He finally got a chance to look at her carefully. Her skin was fair, a light blush coloring her cheeks, and her long eyelashes curled upwards. She looked just like a fine porcelain doll, especially with her moist red lips that were just slightly open. As she breathed in and out, they seemed to be silently tempting him.

He couldn’t really blame Cheng Gang for going crazy. What kind of man was this ridiculously beautiful?

As he ridiculed Cheng Gang in his mind, Chu Youzhao finally opened her eyes slowly. She looked at Zu An in confusion. “Brother-in-law?” Her voice was delicate and lovely.

Shuangyue felt goosebumps all over her body. This man’s voice sounded even sweeter than the courtesan queens in this government brothel! What the hell?

Zu An smelled a sweet fragrance coming from her breath. He frowned at Shuangyue. “What sort of wine did you serve them?”

“There is a little bit of special medicine mixed into the alcohol that acts as an aphrodisiac,” Shuangyue explained. “However, it’s an extremely small quantity, which shouldn’t affect one’s reason. I didn’t expect Cheng Gang to become so daring today, acting this way towards a man…”

She took in Chu Youzhao’s charming appearance, and she stopped mid-sentence. What the heck? Even a woman would throw herself at such a person. Why not a man?

Zu An came to the realization that this was the medicine Qiu Honglei had mentioned earlier on, the one that could deceive men into believing that Shuangyue had slept with them. 

Shuangyue looked worried. “Young master, Cheng Gang is an important person in the capital. How are you going to deal with this situation?”

“You don’t need to worry,” Zu An said, his voice still dark. “I’ll take care of this. Go inform Honglei.”

“Okay.” Shuangyue had planned to do that anyway. She quickly made her way out.

“Brother… in-law, why are you here? Am I dreaming?” Chu Youzhao was still half-drunk.

“Dreaming, dreaming… You were almost taken advantage of by someone else, and you’re still oblivious.” Zu An said, slightly dispirited. He tried to support her up.

Her entire body was limp, though, and she fell straight into his arms as soon as he tried to prop her up.

“Brother-in-law, how can you… do this to me? I’m… I’m going to tell big sis… don’t…” Chu Youzhao lay in his arms, her eyes drifting about. Her cheeks seemed to be burning up.

Zu An’s mouth fell open.

He was mightily confused. Was she still dreaming?

Impatiently, he slammed his palm down on her bottom. “Brat, what the hell have you been learning? What sort of nonsense are you dreaming about?!”

He expected his slap to snap her awake, but she only smiled stupidly and said, “Brother-in-law, why are you hitting me? Is this how you play with my eldest sister too?”

Zu An was truly speechless now. Does this girl still think she’s dreaming?

With no other options available, he picked up the cup of tea next to him. He was about to splash this over her face to wake her up, but as he looked into her perfect face, he felt his determination drain away.

Instead, he helped her drink some of the tea first, then he dipped his finger into the tea and flicked it onto her face.

“Huh… huh?” Chu Youzhao finally seemed to have snapped out of it. “Brother-in-law, is it really you?”

Zu An snorted in annoyance. “You should be thankful that I’m here. If not, you would have been so devastated that you wouldn’t even be able to shed any tears.” 

“Why are you here?” Chu Youzhao couldn’t see Cheng Gang. She suddenly realized that her arms were around her brother-in-law’s neck, and jumped in fright. She quickly pushed him away. “Pervert! Let go of me!”

Zu An was taken aback. What the hell?!

He almost laughed out of anger. He was just about to teach the brat a lesson when the window was smashed open, and a streak of sword ki shot inside. The temperature of the room immediately dropped a few degrees.

Alarmed, he turned around and quickly used his Shining Finger technique to clasp the attacker’s longsword.

He realized who it was just as he was about to retaliate. Her clothes were whiter than snow, and her long hair fluttered about behind her. She looked just like a heavenly goddess.

Both of them exclaimed at the same time.

“It’s you?”

“It’s you!”

“Big sis!” Chu Youzhao quickly ran over to her side and hid behind her. She looked at Zu An guardedly. “Big sis! This… this pervert was bullying me.”

She was about to call him brother-in-law again, but she suddenly realized that he had just taken advantage of her. Why would she still call him that?

“What’s going on?” Chu Chuyan gave Zu An a puzzled look. Even though she was still upset over what had happened that morning, she refused to believe that Zu An would do something like this.

Seeing that she hadn’t immediately accused him of anything, Zu An felt his heart soften. My wife still cares about me.

He rolled his eyes and pointed at Cheng Gang impatiently. “A cross-dresser came to a brothel and got herself drunk until she was lying on the bed like a dead pig. No matter how good her disguise was, even dressed as a man, she still ended up turning on this pervert. He snuck in while she was unconscious and was about to make his move, but I stopped him. This brat has no sense of shame, and still dares to slander her benefactor.”

“Cheng… Cheng Gang?” Chu Youzhao finally noticed the person lying on the floor, and her expression paled.

Chu Chuyan noticed the blood around his crotch, and could roughly piece together what had happened. She turned around to berate her sister. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you in a place like a government brothel?”

Chu Youzhao’s face went deathly pale. She finally realized what a close call she’d just had. Faced with her sister’s anger, she mumbled, “Eldest brother and second brother invited me along. They said that we men of high status had to visit the government brothel. I was afraid that they might grow suspicious, so I tagged along…I came with them to gain some experience. That way, when other guys mentioned the government brothel, I would be able to converse with them.”

Zu An looked out the window. Why hadn’t the Qin brothers reacted after all the commotion in here?

Chu Chuyan was so angry that she laughed. “Even if you were worried about being exposed, you shouldn’t have come to a government brothel! Don’t you know what sort of place this is? I heard that you followed your cousins here and rushed over, yet I was still a step too slow. Thank goodness your brother-in-law was here, or else…”

She suddenly gave Zu An a suspicious look. “Right. Why are you here?”

Zu An laughed in embarrassment. “I was investigating a case, so I followed Cheng Gang here. Why else would an upright and outstanding man like me come to a place like the government brothel?”

Chu Chuyan smiled when she heard that he wasn’t here to play around. However, she still said with a snort, “Hmph, who was it that went for a night out in the Immortal Abode, and even toyed with the courtesan queen Qiu Honglei?”

Zu An wisely remained silent.

Judging from the bitterness in her voice when she mentioned Qiu Honglei, he knew that she was still upset about that morning. 

Chu Youzhao walked over to him, her face red with embarrassment. “Thank you, brother-in-law.”

Zu An chuckled and said, “I don’t deserve that. In a certain person’s eyes, I am but a pervert that’s up to no good.”

Chu Youzhao grabbed his arms and began to shake them. “I’m sorry I wronged you, brother-in-law. You’re the best brother-in-law in the world…”

A mountain of honeyed words came tumbling out of her mouth. Although he knew that she was just trying to get herself out of this sticky situation, for some reason, it still felt rather good to hear.

Zu An was actually rather amazed.

This kid has some skill! She really makes it hard for others to stay angry at her.

Compared to the icy Chu Chuyan and the tomboy Chu Huanzhao, this third sister was awfully good at currying favor with others.

But you’re still trying to pass off as a man right now! A man acting like this is a little bit...

Chu Chuyan frowned. “Enough, enough already! How old are you already? Stop tugging on your brother-in-law’s arms. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

A charming laughter suddenly sounded. “Oh? Chu First Miss is quite the jealous woman. You’re even jealous of your own younger brother.”

All of Zu An’s fine hairs stood on end. Even though he was glad that he had so many close female friends, being caught in between when they fought was absolutely terrifying.

Chu Chuyan whipped around. “Why are you here?”

She connected the dots in her mind. Could she be secretly meeting Ah Zu here?

Her expression immediately turned frosty.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for 404… 404… 404…

“Ah Zu arranged a meeting with me here, of course,” Qiu Honglei said with a smile. She leaned sweetly against his shoulder.

Chu Chuyan’s expression grew colder and colder. Inside, she was like a volcano that was about to erupt at any moment.