Chapter 56: A Lower-Tier Steed  

Pika

A furious blush consumed Chu Chuyan’s cheeks. Countless people had praised her beauty over the years, but most of them did it in an indirect manner. This was the first time someone had so directly and passionately complimented her, and it left her a little self-conscious.

Meanwhile, Qin Wanru’s frown only deepened. This fellow sure has a slippery tongue. The more I look at him, the more hateful he becomes.

Chu Zhongtian coughed lightly. “It’s impolite to speak at the dining table,” he reminded Zu An.

Zu An decided to rein himself in for now, and the five of them continued their meal in silence. It didn’t take long for them to finish up, and the servants quickly entered with saltwater for them to gargle their mouths with while they whisked away the plates and utensils.

Zu An was puzzled at this new development. Food was usually sent to his room, but today, he had been called over to the main table to eat together with the rest of the family. Was this a sign that he was starting to be accepted by them?

While he was pondering this, Chu Zhongtian suddenly spoke up. “Chuyan, how was your trip to Luling?”

Zu An was taken aback. Were they going to talk business in his presence? Had they truly stopped viewing him as an outsider?

“I investigated the matter, and it appears the goods were intercepted by the Blackwind Stockade. I swept the area with my men, but it was as if they had vanished from the face of the world. I couldn’t find a single trace of them,” replied Chu Chuyan.

The Blackwind Stockade? Zu An fell into deep thought.

Two days ago, when he met Yu Yanluo in a mountain valley outside the city, he had also stumbled across a group of people who identified themselves as bandits from the Blackwind Stockade. Just thinking of this matter really infuriated him. Yu Yanluo had simply left him empty promises, then performed a vanishing act. Truly, the more beautiful a woman, the more scheming she was.

Chu Zhongtian sighed deeply. “That’s the unique trait of the Blackwind Stockade. They are always able to sense danger and flee beforehand. As soon as we dispatch an army, they hike deep into the Hidden Dragon Mountain to seek refuge. We can’t possibly dispatch an army to escort our goods every single time. This is really a tough nut to crack.”

He paused for a brief moment. “I heard that the Blackwind Stockade assaulted the Yu clan’s convoy a while ago, and quite a few of their men lost their lives. We could work together with the Yu clan to deal with this poisonous tumor.”

Qin Wanru snorted. “I think you’re just interested in Yu Yanluo, aren’t you?” she said coolly. “The Yu clan already has enough problems to deal with. How could she possibly spare the attention to help us deal with the Blackwind Stockade?”

Chu Zhongtian’s face immediately reddened. He pulled his wife’s sleeves and said, “It’s not what you’re thinking. Besides, the kids are still around...”

Qin Wanru turned her head away, coldly ignoring her husband.

A knowing smile graced Zu An’s lips. It seemed like his father-in-law had courted Yu Yanluo in his younger years. Well, he could relate to that. She was indeed unbelievably beautiful.

Chu Chuyan broke the awkward atmosphere by clearing her throat, and she continued her report. “Our arms business is currently suffering. The pollution of the spirit creek means that our clan has lost our greatest advantage when it comes to weapon-crafting. In addition, the Yuan clan has found a fairly formidable runemaster to enchant their items. The weapons they forge now are not so far below ours in quality, and they’re cheaper too. They have already eaten into quite a bit of our market share. At this rate, even the foundations of our business might be shaken.”

Zu An processed the information he had just heard. He remembered the slight bluish glow he’d seen coming from a formation inscribed on Yu Yanluo’s carriage—that was probably the work of a runemaster. Runemasters were probably capable of adding functions to items, so naturally, weapons that were inscribed with runes tended to be more powerful than ordinary ones.

If only that darned academy stopped preaching propriety and started teaching more practical knowledge, I wouldn’t have been so bored out of my mind.

In truth, Zu An had misunderstood the Brightmoon Academy. It was deemed to be the best academy within the nearby municipalities for good reason, and the teachers working there were the cream of the crop. The only reason he was learning about propriety and other such drivel was because he was in the Yellow class.

Those in the Yellow class had barely any cultivation talent anyway, so it was meaningless for them to learn much about subjects related to cultivation. As such, they only had one or two lessons each week that touched upon general knowledge relating to cultivation.

On the other hand, the other classes, especially the Sky class, were focused mainly on cultivation and had fewer lessons on other minor subjects.

Qin Wanru frowned at her daughter’s report. “How in the world did the Yuan clan manage to hire a runemaster? When did they find such connections?”

“They don’t have them, but the neighboring Wu clan does. The patriarch of the Wu clan is a duke as well, and they have been interested in snatching up our Chu clan’s market share for quite some time now. I’ve done my own digging, and it seems the Wu clan is secretly backing the Yuan clan in this matter. Otherwise, the Yuan clan wouldn’t have dared to challenge us openly,” replied Chu Chuyan.

“Indeed! That Yuan fellow was really arrogant at school today. He said that he would teach my brother-in-law a lesson during the Clans Tournament!” Chu Huanzhao had had no place in the conversation thus far, but now that a familiar name had finally popped up, she immediately leaped at the opportunity to make her presence known.

Qin Wanru flew into a rage. “The Yuan clan has gone too far! Even a servant or a dog of our Chu clan shouldn’t face such oppression from them!” She slammed her palm onto the table. “Let’s go! We’ll head over to the Yuan Estate to reason with them!”

Zu An sent Qin Wanru a venomous look, not bothering to hide the fact that he’d taken offence at her statement.

“My wife, please calm yourself. Sang Hong has already been appointed as the governor, and without a doubt, he’s looking for a reason to crack down on us.” Chu Zhongtian quickly stood up to restrain his wife. “We all need to calm down and take things slowly, or else we might just worsen our plight.”

Zu An’s eyebrows shot up. Despite the Chu clan’s glamorous exterior, it seemed they were surrounded by threats.

Chu Zhongtian stroked his wife’s back to calm her down. As he did so, he turned to Zu An. “Zu An, Yuan Wendong must have made things difficult for you. Are you all right?”

Before Zu An could respond, Chu Huanzhao butted in, “It wasn’t just Yuan Wendong. Even Hong Xingying wanted to deal with my brother-in-law too! He’s supposed to be a subordinate of our Chu clan, but that damned two-faced scoundrel chose to side with outsiders instead!”

Zu An was touched by how Chu Huanzhao was speaking up for him. At the very least, she doted on him more than his own wife did.

Chu Zhongtian frowned. “Hong Xingying?”

Qin Wanru spoke up. “I know that child. He has a huge ego, and he was really fond of your older sister previously. Naturally, he doesn’t carry any goodwill toward Zu An. As you know, young people tend to find it hard to rein in their emotions.”

Chu Huanzhao wasn’t willing to let the matter go. “But he...”

“All right,” Qin Wanru waved her into silence. “That child is a diligent one, and his father has been loyal to us for many decades. Don’t bring up such minor matters in the future. It’ll only harden their hearts against us.”

Chu Huanzhao’s cheeks puffed up in indignation. You’re afraid of hardening the hearts of Hong Xingying and his father, but what about my brother-in-law?

Zu An, on the other hand, wasn’t particularly fazed. He could understand how a useless drafted son-in-law like him stood below Butler Hong and his son. Cheng Shouping had told him before that Qin Wanru was interested in having Chu Chuyan marry Hong Xingying, and the woman herself seemed to have shown her hand.

He snuck a glance at Chu Chuyan, but her face betrayed no particular emotion. It didn’t seem like she had any interest in Hong Xingying.

Chu Chuyan changed the topic. “I’m more concerned about the Clans Tournament that’s going to be held half a month from now. Everything else can wait.”

Qin Wanru frowned. “Haven’t we won every single tournament thus far? As long as you’re around, who in the Yuan clan could possibly be a match for you?”

Chu Zhongtian shook his head and chimed in, “The Yuan clan are no pushovers. They share the same title as the Chu clan as one of the Four Merchant Powerhouses. It’s only because they lack a noble position that they have not dared offend us, so most of the tournaments we’ve had thus far were mainly just for show. However, now that they have the Wu clan to back them, we can expect them to go all out. In fact, I suspect that the Wu clan might secretly dispatch their own cultivators to participate.”

He paused, then turned to Zu An with a face full of conflict. “Furthermore, with Zu An participating as well, we’ve already lost the first round.”

Zu An was utterly dumbstruck. I was just watching from the sidelines. How in the world did I get sucked in as well?

“Ah, I’m not a cultivator in the first place. Do I need to fight in the Clans Tournament too?”

“According to the rules of the Clans Tournament, every single offspring of the clan must participate. Since you’re the son-in-law of our Chu clan, there’s no way that the Wu clan and Yuan clan will allow you to sit out. Moreover, the governor will most likely step in and denounce any move on our part to shield you from participation. In fact, the main reason why we called you here today is to give up a heads-up so that you can prepare yourself for it,” said Chu Zhongtian.

Chu Huanzhao grew anxious at her father’s words. “Just earlier today, Yuan Wendong proudly declared that he was going to cripple my brother-in-law! If we send him in as well, wouldn’t that be the same as sending him to his death?”

“That works out just fine,” Chu Chuyan answered.

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. Even if you aren’t pleased with me, surely you shouldn’t resort to such means to kill your own husband, right?

Chu Huanzhao shared his horror. She stared at Chu Chuyan in disbelief and murmured, “Sister, you...”

Seeing their expressions, Chu Zhongtian hurriedly cut in. “Let your older sister finish. She wouldn’t say such words for no reason.”

Chu Chuyan took her time to lay out her points. “The most outstanding offspring of the Yuan clan is no other than Yuan Wendong. I heard that he’d recently made a breakthrough to the fifth rank. I don’t fear him, but we don’t have anyone else in the clan who is a match for him, and the Yuan clan wouldn’t be so foolish as to send him against me. In other words, Yuan Wendong is bound to win a single round since no one else will be able to deal with him.

“If so, rather than waste any of our other experts on him, it would be much better to send Zu An to face him. This way, there’s still a chance for the others to win their battles.”

Zu An grasped the point she was making. To have the weakest face the strongest so as to conserve their forces; it was basically the ‘Tian Ji Racing Horse’ strategy.... Pui, what am I saying? I’m not the weakest horse here!

Chu Huanzhao was still troubled by this plan. “Isn’t it still very dangerous for my brother-in-law?”

Qin Wanru’s forehead creased slightly. Isn’t my second daughter a little too concerned about that wastrel today?

“Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for their match to be the very last. If we manage to achieve an overwhelming advantage by then, the final match would be rendered meaningless. If so, we can simply call it off.”

Chu Huanzhao blinked her eyes as she considered her sister’s statement. “What if the victor hasn’t been decided by then?”

Chu Chuyan hesitated, then hurriedly shook her head. “Don’t worry, it can’t possibly be that coincidental.”

Stop planting flags here! You’ll jinx it! Zu An retorted in his mind.

He sighed softly and offered his own take on the situation. “It doesn’t matter if the victor hasn’t been decided by then. As you know, the stars of the show usually make their appearances at the very end. I’ll make sure to pull off a glorious comeback for the Chu clan if it comes down to that.”

It had only taken him a couple of days to transform from an utterly inept human being to a third rank cultivator. With half a month still to go, he should still be able to raise his cultivation by a fair bit. Even if he couldn’t reach the fifth rank, he still possessed the items and other cheats from the Keyboard. With a good strategy, he should still stand a fair chance of winning.

Zu An’s assurances only brought a furrow to Qin Wanru’s forehead. “Zu An, since Yan’er has already chosen you, I shan’t pursue your past anymore. However, can you at least kick your habit of bragging? A man can be weak, but he must possess good virtue. Yuan Wendong has already reached the fifth rank, which means that he can already control the elements. Yet, you still want to fight against him and win? Hah!”

After saying those words, Qin Wanru got to her feet, shook out her sleeves, and left the hall.

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 763 Rage points!

Zu An shrugged leisurely, not bothering with any further explanation.

Qin Wanru seemed deeply prejudiced against him. It was a common saying that mothers-in-law tended to grow on their sons-in-law, but why did it seem like his relationship with Qin Wanru was deteriorating sharply?