The sound of his wife’s palm hitting the table startled Chu Zhongtian, who was in the midst of sipping his tea. He gave an involuntary jerk, nearly causing his tea to spill. In order to conceal his awkwardness, he cleared his throat and went along with his wife. “Indeed! Zu An, do you know what you’ve done wrong?”

Zu An inwardly scoffed at Chu Zhongtian for being a henpecked husband, but he replied with all the sincerity he could muster, “I know that I’ve done wrong.”

Both Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru were taken aback by Zu An’s response. They had expected him to rebut them, as he had done many times before, and they had even thought of how to counter his rebuttals. Zu An’s unexpected act of yielding took the wind out of their sails, leaving them scrambling to find an appropriate way to continue the conversation.

Chu Chuyan and Yue Shan exchanged surprised glances. This show of obedience from Zu An was startling. Was this really the fellow who had dominated everyone else in the casino with his sharp mouth earlier?

Qin Wanru pondered for a moment before deciding to go ahead with the script she prepared earlier. “Don’t you know that our Chu clan has rules forbidding our members from gambling?”

“I was unaware until you just mentioned it,” Zu An lied without even batting an eyelid. He thumped his chest and confidently reassured her, “Mother-in-law, please quell your rage. Don’t let your anger harm your body. I promise never to walk into that sort of vile and depraved place in the future.”

Just how dumb must Mei Chaofeng be to allow him to enter the casino and continue winning their money? This promise was basically a no-brainer!

Qin Wanru’s righteous anger deflated even further. Zu An’s oddly earnest attitude had robbed her of her chance to use her prepared lines. She turned to glare at Chu Chuyan instead. “You should have warned him then! How could you go along with him?”

Chu Chuyan hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she decided not to expose Zu An’s lie. “It was my negligence.”

She was worried that Zu An would be too severely punished, so she decided to carry some of the blame for him.

Snow was tempted to speak up, but she held her tongue in the end. I’m going to take this fellow’s life later anyway, so it doesn’t matter whether the Chu clan punishes him or not.

Needless to say, Qin Wanru clearly saw through Chu Chuyan’s attempt to cover for Zu An. Just what kind of sorcery has Zu An cast on my daughter to make her speak on his behalf so soon?

It was as if her precious daughter had been stolen from her! She glared sharply at Zu An.

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 33 Rage points!

Zu An was stunned by this sudden notification. Even Chu Chuyan has already spoken up on my behalf, yet you’re still angry at me? Aren’t you being too unreasonable?

That being said, he was more than happy to receive additional Rage points. It was his key to growing stronger, after all.

Chu Zhongtian coughed lightly before interjecting with a deep voice, “This matter was blown way out of proportion. We nearly got into a fight with the local guards. In the end, the main culprit who started this is still you…”

Before he could finish his words, Zu An took out the promissory note and presented it to his parents-in-law. “Allow me to offer this seven-and-a-half million silver taels to the two of you. Chuyan is my wife, which makes me her man. Naturally, anything I own belongs to the Chu clan too.”

Black streaks appeared on Chu Chuyan’s face. While the words Zu An had said were true, they sounded oddly jarring.

Qin Wanru huffed in response. “We could never accept your money. Our Chu clan prides itself on its incorruptibility. We have and will never touch dirty money earned through drugs, prostitution, and gambling. If we do take your money, outsiders will start gossiping about how our Chu clan has fallen so far that we need our son-in-law to gamble in order to help with our finances.”

“Indeed. We can’t ruin the good reputation the Chu clan has built up over several centuries over this. Keep your money well, and don’t ever bring up this matter again,” added Chu Zhongtian.

At this, Snow heaved a sigh of relief. Even though she had guessed that this would be the case, she hadn’t been able to shake her worry that the promissory note would somehow fall into the hands of the Chu clan. It would have been terribly difficult to clean up the situation in that case. It was heartening to see that things were still going according to plan.

Zu An stuffed the note back into his robe. In the end, you’re just turning it down because it’ll be hard to collect the money. If seven-and-a-half million silver taels were laid out right before your eyes, I reckon that you wouldn’t be able to remain so ‘incorruptible’.

How much could the Chu clan possibly earn in a year? What are mere family rules, in the face of absolute profits?

What a pity…

Zu An was troubled by this outcome. He knew that the promissory note was useless in his hands, since he didn’t have the ability to demand that the Plum Blossom Sect repay its debt. At most, he could only try to claim the annual interest.

Mei Chaofeng, however, was obviously not an honest person. It was extremely naive to expect him to fork out the interest on his own. It was a given that he would try all sorts of tricks to avoid payment.

“You have to be punished for what happened today. If not, we’ll be sending out the wrong signal to the other clan members. Your actions today might leave them with the wrong impression that it’s no big deal to visit the casino!” Qin Wanru slammed her fist on the table as she spoke. “Head to the Reflection Room and copy our family rules ten thousand times!”

“Ten thousand times?” Zu An’s eyes popped in disbelief. “How am I supposed to finish copying that?”

“You’ll be grounded in the estate until you finish copying the family rules, lest you go around stirring trouble again,” said Qin Wanru with a gleeful glint in her eyes.

Hmph, don’t think that I’m unaware that you got Cheng Shouping to copy the rules on your behalf the previous time. Now that you have to copy it ten thousand times, you won’t be able to finish it even if you recruit him to help. With this, you’ll have no choice but to remain in the estate obediently for the next few nights.

“You’re dismissed. Head to the Reflection Room right away and start copying.”

At Qin Wanru’s orders, Zu An had no choice but to depart with a bitter look on his face. After he was gone, Chu Chuyan couldn’t help but ask, “Mother, isn’t ten thousand times too many? How long would it take for him to finish copying all of that?”

“Why? Are you sympathizing with him now?” Qin Wanru sniffed.

“When did I start?” Chu Chuyan’s face reddened a little. Why in the world would I sympathize with that shameless fellow?

Chu Zhongtian interjected with a soft chuckle, “Chuyan, you need not worry. Your mother might have a sharp mouth, but she’s a softie inside. It might look like she’s punishing Zu An, but in truth, she’s protecting him. Just think about it. Would the Plum Blossom Sect let him off after suffering such a huge loss at his hands? If Zu An continues gallivanting around the city, it would only be a matter of time before they made a move on him. If we don’t have any evidence against them on hand by then, we won’t be able to exact vengeance for him.

“However, if he remains in the estate obediently, no matter how many connections the Plum Blossom Sect pulls, they wouldn’t be able to bypass our guards to harm him.”

Chu Chuyan’s eyes widened with understanding. “I didn’t know that you put so much thought into it. I should have considered it more.”

A gentle smile finally emerged on Qin Wanru’s stern face. “Chuyan, you’re far more talented than any one of us here. All you lack is just experience and time. In time to come, you’ll eventually surpass the two of us.”

Chu Chuyan let her lips curve up in a smile, but her eyes shone with a hint of sorrow. By that time, my youth would be gone, and I’d still be all alone.

Zu An wasn’t even a consideration for her.

… 

“Achoo!”

Zu An rubbed his nose as he wondered which young lass was thinking about him.

“Young master, you’re finally back!” a young voice called out as Cheng Shouping rushed over, the two buns on his head bouncing away. 

He heard that the young master had gone out with Snow this time, and he was hoping to bump into her if he rushed over in time. To his disappointment, the only person beside Zu An was the butler, Hong Zhong.

A sinister smile curled Zu An’s lips as he grabbed Cheng Shouping by his collar and said, “You came at a good time. Let’s head off to copy the family rules together.”

“Again?” Cheng Shouping’s face crumbled immediately. “How many times do we need to copy them this time around?”

Zu An waved his hands casually with a smile, “Don’t worry, it’s not much. Just ten thousand times.”

“Ten thousand times?” Cheng Shouping recoiled in horror. Is our young master bad at math? Or does he have a different understanding of what ‘ten thousand’ means?

Just like that, the horrified Cheng Shouping was dragged all the way to the Reflection Room in the company of Zu An and Hong Zhong. Once they arrived at their destination, Hong Zhong said, “Young master, please do not leave the Reflection Room until you’re done copying the family rules.”

He left right after that, leaving Zu An and Cheng Shouping to stare at one another.

“Young master, please spare me. I can’t possibly copy the family rules ten thousand times!” Cheng Shouping was determined not to help Zu An this time around, no matter what the latter said. He was still traumatized by how he had been tricked into copying the family rules all alone for the entire night the previous time.

“C’mon. Who else is going to help me if not you?” Zu An wrapped his arms around Cheng Shouping’s shoulders and nudged him with a smile.

Cheng Shouping shook his head adamantly. “Hmph, I refuse!”

Seeing this, Zu An sighed deeply before taking out a banknote. “Huh, I was still thinking of rewarding you with a hundred silver taels if you were to help me with this task. However, since you aren’t willing to do so, I’ve no choice but to look for someone else then.”

While the debt note of seven-and-a-half million silver taels hadn’t been cashed out yet, he did manage to take away a-hundred-and-fifty thousand silver taels from the casino earlier. Looking at it this way, his trip to the Silverhook Casino had still been fruitful.

Cheng Shouping’s eyes lit up. His hand shot out to swipe the banknote, and he smiled obsequiously. “As the study companion of the young master, how can I possibly allow someone else to wait upon you? It’s only normal for me to do it.”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you then. I’ll be heading off to sleep now.” Zu An yawned. It seemed his short walk outside had been quite draining.

A tight knot instantly formed on Cheng Shouping’s forehead. “But young master, I can’t possibly copy them by myself ten thousand times!”

Zu An rolled his eyes and replied, “Why do you think I gave you a hundred silver taels? Don’t you know how to use it to buy the help of the other study companions in the estate?”

Cheng Shouping’s eyes lit up for a second. A moment later, however, he frowned. “But wouldn’t that leave me with less money for myself?”

Zu An shrugged casually. “I’ve already given you the money. It’s up to you whether you want to copy it on your own or get others to help you; you just have to finish copying the family rules ten thousand times.”

After saying those words, he strutted away gleefully, leaving Cheng Shouping behind to struggle with his options.

On the way back to his residence, Zu An began calculating the amount of Rage points he had earned. Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands… 

Holy crap! I managed to get 60,224 Rage points!

A bright smile broke out on Zu An’s face. On the basis of what happened earlier, it was much better to play the antagonist than the protagonist.

He reached his small residence, and was just about to wash his face and prepare to draw the lottery when a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“How did you manage to do it?”

Zu An jumped three feet into the air. He hurriedly turned around to take a look, and saw the feeble Old Mi appear behind him.

What the hell! This fellow looks as if he would crumble at the slightest gust of wind, but he walks around without making a sound at all. Even after I’ve raised my cultivation by so much, I’m still unable to sense his presence at all!

“What do you mean by that?” Zu An quickly replied, not daring to throw his weight around in front of Old Mi. He was able to act fearlessly before others to earn Rage points, but for some reason, he was well and truly intimidated by Old Mi. It seemed folly to provoke the old gardener.

Why is that so?

Zu An turned the question over in his head, but was unable to come up with an answer.

Old Mi eyed Zu An with small beady eyes filled with curiosity. “The entire estate has been talking about how you managed to win seven-and-a-half million silver taels from the casino. How did you manage to do it?”