Erosion of rationality… Zheng Dan was rendered speechless. 

Why doesn’t this fellow go with the flow? Other men would surely try their best to showcase their gentlemanly side, but this guy is acting as if he was afraid that others might somehow miss his perversion!

Despite the unexpected hiccup, Zheng Dan reacted fairly quickly. She put on a natural smile and replied, “Teacher Zu is a gentleman; you aren’t like other men. You’ve saved my life, so there’s no way I would think of you in such a light.”

She felt queasy just saying those words. There was no way one could ever associate the word ‘gentleman’ with Zu An.

“Oh? I never knew I had such a noble side to me.” Zu An touched his face in delight, pleased with Zheng Dan’s words.

“Allow me to propose a toast to Teacher Zu for saving my life.” Zheng Dan raised her wine cup as she looked at him with a gentle smile.

Zu An hesitated. Based on what Chu Huanzhao had said, the Sang clan wasn’t on good terms with the Chu clan. Since the Zheng clan were going to be in-laws with the Sang clan, it should be safe to assume that they were on the same page.

If so, Zheng Dan’s purpose for approaching him was suspicious at best. As narcissistic as Zu An was, he wasn’t utterly blind.

“You didn’t poison this wine, did you?” The multiple assassination attempts he had faced since arriving in this world made him wary of everything. He decided to simply ask outright, since it was in line with his character anyway.

Zheng Dan replied with a smile, “Teacher Zu, you’re jesting with me. You’re a teacher of the academy, as well as my benefactor. How could I possibly dare to poison your wine? If you’re still worried, I can take a sip first.”

With that, she lifted his cup and took a sip before handing it back to him.

Her lips left a slight imprint on the edge of the cup. Zu An narrowed his eyes. 

She really is dropping a lot of hints here. This is obviously a honey trap. But what is her goal? Does she want intelligence on the Chu clan from me? Or does she simply want to snatch me away from Chu Chuyan to satisfy her sense of superiority?

He pondered this for an age, and concluded that he was simply too good-looking. There could be no doubt that Zheng Dan was simply lusting after his body. Yup, that must be the case.

So, Zu An raised his wine cup with a smile and said, “Miss Zheng, surely you’re jesting. How could I possibly suspect you of drugging the wine? Here, let’s have a drink.”

Zheng Dan rolled her eyes. You just said it out loud earlier. You sure are refreshingly shameless, huh?

In order to be safe, Zu An decided only to eat the dishes which Zheng Dan herself had partaken of. With his first mouthful, his eyes widened in wonder. “Miss Zheng, your culinary skills are really top-notch! I’ve never eaten anything as delicious as this before!”

He had never eaten food as good as this before in his entire two lives. His previous world had indeed been filled with delicacies, but as a keyboard warrior, how could he possibly have had the time or the money to grab anything good?

“Teacher Zu, you’re too humble. How could my culinary skills be a match for Chu First Miss?” replied Zheng Dan.

Zheng Dan’s attempt to stir up conflict between his wife and himself was blatantly obvious, but he played along. “My wife? Hah, does she even know how to cook?”

He grabbed his wine cup and downed the alcohol.

The edges of Zheng Dan’s mouth curved upwards with a hint of glee. Her plan was working! Hmph, it’s only because she’s the First Miss of a ducal estate that she’s able to one-up me in everything. How could she possibly be a match for me otherwise?

“With Miss Zheng’s culinary skills, anyone who marries you will truly be blessed for life,” remarked Zu An.

Zheng Dan replied with a smile, “If Teacher Zu is fond of my cooking, I’ll be more than happy to cook for you every day.”

Zu An was a little taken aback by that remark. Aren’t you getting a little too straightforward? It looks like you’re quite the expert at playing romance, huh? Such words could easily stir the hearts of any man.

“You can’t possibly do it for a lifetime. Commander Sang is going to get jealous,” replied Zu An.

Zheng Dan nodded. “It would indeed be inconvenient for me to continue cooking for you after my marriage. However, you can always drop by our estate whenever you’re having a craving. With your knowledge, I’m sure that you’ll become good friends with Sang Qian.”

Zu An was impressed. This woman has been dropping hints and trying to seduce me, but so far, she has been making sure to toe the line and not go overboard. By bringing up her engagement with the Sang clan, she makes herself look like a gentle and virtuous wife. This further stirs a man’s desire to conquer. 

Zheng Dan understood that the key to romance was not to charge ahead blindly; it was about keeping an appropriate distance and slowly reeling the other party in. So, she changed the topic. “Teacher Zu, I have some doubts about one of the questions you came up with during your competition with Teacher Yang. May I ask you to explain it to me once more?”

“You want me to explain it to you?” Zu An couldn’t keep his bizarre expression off his face. A female student having one-to-one remedial lessons at her teacher’s house… I feel like I’ve seen this plotline in adult films before.

“I know that it’s a little brash of me to make a request of you all of a sudden, but I’m quite interested in arithmetic as well. Whenever there’s a question that I’m unable to make sense of, it continues to linger in my mind for days. So, I beg your help to set my mind at ease.” She summoned her most innocent expression and slowly blinked her large eyes at him.

Interested in arithmetic? Wow, I’ve never heard anything more bullshit than that. I’d really feel bad exposing you if you're taking this to such an extent.

Despite his mental retorts, Zu An maintained an amiable expression. “Which question are you having difficulties with?”

“It’s the one about the red eyes and blue eyes. Why would all of the five islanders with red eyes commit suicide on the fifth day?” asked Zheng Dan.

Zu began to explain the question. “This question can be solved using inductive reasoning. Assuming that there’s only one red-eyed islander, he would see that everyone else around him has blue eyes, and through that, he would be able to confirm that the person with red eyes is him. As a result, he would commit suicide on the first night. That’s straightforward enough.

“Moving on. Assuming that there are 2 red-eyed prisoners…  

“On the very first day, the red-eyed islanders will see 1 red-eyed islander and 98 blue-eyed islanders, whereas the blue-eyed islanders will see 2 red-eyed islanders and 97 blue-eyed islanders. At this point, no one can confirm whether they have red eyes or not, so no one commits suicide on the first night.

“However, this, in turn, tells everyone that there’s more than 1 red-eyed islander amongst them. So, on the second day, the red-eyed islanders, who see 1 red-eyed islander and 98 blue-eyed islanders from their perspective, would know that they have red eyes too and commit suicide. On the other hand, the blue-eyed islanders who see 2 red-eyed islanders and 97 blue-eyed islanders are still unable to confirm whether they have red eyes or not, so they don’t make a move. As a result, the 2 red-eyed islanders commit suicide on the second day.

“The same logic applies when there are 3 red-eyed islanders too.

“On the first day, the red-eyed islanders see 2 red-eyed islanders and 97 blue-eyed islanders, whereas the blue-eyed islanders see 3 red-eyed islanders and 96 blue-eyed islanders. No one is able to confirm if they have red eyes, so no one dies the first night.

“On the second day, everyone knows that there is more than 1 red-eyed islander. The red-eyed islanders see 2 red-eyed islanders and are unable to confirm if they have red eyes, and the same goes for the blue-eyed islanders too. So, no one dies on the second night.

“On the third day, everyone knows that there are more than 2 red-eyed islanders. The red-eyed islanders, who only see 2 red-eyed islanders, realize that they themselves have red eyes too whereas the blue-eyed islanders, who see 3 red-eyed islanders, are still unable to confirm if they have red eyes. As a result, the 3 red-eyed islanders commit suicide on the third day.

“Building on this reasoning we have developed, if there are 5 red-eyed islanders, all five of them would realize that they have red eyes on the fifth day and commit suicide together.”

“I see!” Zheng Dan clapped her hands, beaming with delight. “I thought that the question was really tough, but now that you’ve explained it, it all makes sense now. You’re truly amazing!”

“You’re flattering me~” Zu An waved his hands humbly. Your compliment is quite fake, but I’ll take it.

The conversation branched out and flowed smoothly from this common point of interest. The slight awkwardness in the air gradually dissipated as the two of them became more comfortable with one another. In the midst of their conversation, Zheng Dan stood up to refill Zu An’s wine cup, and accidentally knocked his chopsticks onto the floor.

“Ah!” exclaimed Zheng Dan.

She quickly bent down to pick the chopsticks up.

Zu An was about to reach out to pick it up for her when his eyes grew large. In the act of bending over, the fabric around her collar loosened slightly, vaguely revealing a pair of enticing snowy ridges.

At the same time, her robe slipped downward slightly, partially exposing her fair shoulders. 

This woman must be doing it on purpose! Zu An swallowed quickly.

You want to use your beauty against me? Hah! You must know that I’m very vulnerable to people like you!

Zheng Dan’s cheeks reddened slightly. Although such nifty tricks came naturally to her, this was still the first time she was using them on a man. A little embarrassment was inevitable.

After this brief incident, the two of them continued their conversation a while longer, before Zheng Dan finally stood up to take her leave.

Zu An stood up as well. “I’ll walk you out,” he offered.

“Thank you, Teacher Zu.” Zheng Dan nodded in response. She flicked her wrist lightly, and her skirt slipped right underneath Zu An’s feet. She lurched forward.

*Tza~*

The crisp sound of fabric tearing echoed loudly in the air as Zheng Dan crashed to the ground. Half of her skirt was torn off, revealing her smooth legs. Suddenly flustered, she desperately tried to cover herself, but how could a delicate pair of hands be enough to cover such long legs?

Her sudden shyness made her even more alluring. Any man standing in her presence would surely feel duty-bound to protect her.

However, Zu An simply blinked his eyes silently at the beautiful pair of legs before him. 

Does this woman really think that I would miss her flicking her own skirt under my feet? I don’t know what she’s up to, but she really is going all out.