Chapter 32: Grand Ambition

Volume One: First Steps in a New World

Mei Chaofeng let out a hearty laugh. "What did I just say? How could a mere Tan Wei be a match for Old Twelve?"

His wild, arrogant laughter was punctuated by faint sobs from under the desk. He slapped the person directly. "Why are you crying? Tan Wei is dead. Follow me from now on, and I'll make sure you live much more comfortably."

Plum Blossom Thirteen couldn't help but swallow, thinking, *In the future, it would be safer for me to marry an ugly wife. If I want pretty women, I can just find them outside.*

"Report!" At that moment, another gang member ran in, flustered. "Begging to report, Chieftain, our brothers found Lord Twelve's blood-stained clothes near Jackal Valley."

"What?!" Mei Chaofeng shot up, slamming his palm on the table.

Plum Blossom Thirteen instinctively turned his face slightly away; the scene before him was truly an eyesore.

Mei Chaofeng adjusted his trousers, strode to the doorway, and snatched the tattered, blood-stained clothes from the gang member's hand. Seeing the faintly visible embroidered character "Twelve" on them, he exclaimed, "It really is Old Twelve's!"

"Could it be Zu An's doing? I'll go kill him!" Plum Blossom Thirteen, his face full of fury, grabbed a knife and was about to rush out.

"Nonsense! No matter how useless that fellow is, he's still nominally the Chu family's son-in-law. Do you want to die by killing him in the city?" Mei Chaofeng glared at him. "Besides, how could Old Twelve possibly be killed by that good-for-nothing?"

Plum Blossom Thirteen calmed down somewhat. If Zu An were openly killed in the city, even if the Chu family despised their live-in son-in-law, they would certainly retaliate to save face. Not to mention him, even the entire Plum Blossom Gang would be buried alongside them.

That's why their previous attempts had to be covert, using other methods. For instance, when Plum Blossom Twelve initially tricked him out of the city and tied him to a tree to be struck by lightning, it was supposed to be a perfect plan. Who would have thought the fellow wouldn't die?

He suddenly thought of a possibility and couldn't help but say, "Godfather, could it be that Zu An has been playing possum all this time? Otherwise, how could the Chu family's eldest daughter have fallen for such a good-for-nothing?"

Mei Chaofeng waved his hand. "Impossible. I have insider information; that guy is a complete good-for-nothing. As for why Miss Chu chose him as her son-in-law, the reasons are complicated and cannot be explained in a few words."

"If it's not him, then there's only one possibility left," Plum Blossom Thirteen said gravely.

"When did you pick up this habit of speaking in riddles? Spit it out!" Mei Chaofeng snapped.

Plum Blossom Thirteen quickly replied, "I think Zu An has a mysterious master protecting him. Brother Twelve's attempt to lure heavenly lightning to strike him failed, and this time, he was killed after luring Zu An out of the city. Someone must be secretly assisting him."

"A master assisting him?" Mei Chaofeng frowned. "Impossible. You and I both know the details of that spineless good-for-nothing. How could he possibly know any master?"

"But today I saw him with someone from the academy..." He leaned closer to Mei Chaofeng and quietly described the woman he had seen that day.

"Shang Liuyu isn't known for her cultivation, but you're right; she's backed by the academy, after all. And that woman has always been somewhat mysterious; she shouldn't be provoked lightly." Mei Chaofeng thought for a moment, then shook his head. "However, given her temperament, she shouldn't be involved in such matters."

"If it's not the academy, could the Chu family have arranged a protector for him?" Plum Blossom Thirteen asked.

"What kind of 'path' would that good-for-nothing need protecting?" Mei Chaofeng snorted. "However, it is indeed possible the Chu family sent someone to secretly protect him. I'll find time to confirm it with that lord. Before then, we can only use stratagem; we can't resort to force."

Plum Blossom Thirteen chuckled and pulled out an IOU. "I thought this would be useless before, but it turns out to be very handy now. I've already given him a final ultimatum: if he doesn't pay up in three days, even the King of Heaven won't stop us from chopping off his hands."

The gloom in Mei Chaofeng's heart vanished. "You truly are the lad I personally trained, well done! The Chu family has always maintained strict family discipline, strictly forbidding gambling among their children. I'll see if Chu Zhongtian will disgrace himself for the sake of this good-for-nothing son-in-law."

Zu An was unaware that someone was meticulously plotting against him. He asked for directions along the way and finally found the Yu family's residence.

Gazing at the expansive estate before him, the grandeur of its main gate and its scale were somewhat inferior to the Chu family's, but its overall serene elegance was far superior.

"Is Second Master Jian in?" Zu An went to ask the guard at the entrance.

He had already found out that Yu Yanluo's husband's family, the Duke of Yunzhong Commandery, had the surname Jian. Naturally, the young brother-in-law who led the team to the valley earlier also had the surname Jian.

"Who are you?" the gatekeeper squinted at him.

Zu An immediately felt a headache. People say even a seventh-rank official is beneath a prime minister's gate, but are all these guys really so difficult to deal with?

His eyes darted, and he directly slipped a piece of broken silver over. Anyway, it was all loot he had previously plundered from Plum Blossom Twelve.

Upon seeing the silver, the man's expression immediately softened. The stern look on his face gave way to a hint of a smile as he leaned in and whispered, "Second Master is out; he's not at the residence."

Zu An breathed a sigh of relief. The Yu family's internal affairs were clearly fraught with intrigue. That Second Master Jian and Yu Yanluo seemed to be at odds. Since he had previously saved Yu Yanluo, wouldn't coming here now be walking into a trap if he interfered with Second Master Jian's plans?

Therefore, his first task had been to inquire about Second Master Jian's whereabouts. He only truly relaxed after learning he wasn't there. "I want to see your madam," he said.

The gatekeeper chuckled. "There are many men in the world who want to see our madam. I'm afraid this little bit of money won't be enough."

Zu An didn't waste words with him. He directly pulled out the jade pendant Yu Yanluo had given him. "Do you recognize this? I'm a friend of your madam. Go announce me; she'll definitely see me."

Seeing the large "Yu" character on the jade pendant, the gatekeeper's eyes widened. "This humble one was blind to your importance, sir. What may I call you?"

Zu An said impatiently, "What I'm called is none of your business. Just go announce me." He didn't want to leave any information that Second Master Jian might trace.

"Unfortunately, our madam has gone to the neighboring commandery to handle some business," the gatekeeper said with a wry smile.

Zu An was startled. "When will she be back then?"

"At least ten days to half a month, no matter what," the gatekeeper replied after thinking for a moment.

"What a waste of my time," Zu An muttered, turning to leave. He felt a little depressed. Yu Yanluo wasn't here. Had she deliberately given him an empty promise before?

After a few steps, he felt something was off, so he returned to the gatekeeper and held out his hand. "Give me back my silver!"

The gatekeeper instantly looked as if he'd eaten dirt. Was there really such a petty person, asking for silver back after giving it away? If it were anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered, but this guy was clearly the madam's friend, so he dared not offend him.

He reluctantly returned the silver.

Anger value from the gatekeeper: 66!

Zu An thought to himself, *This guy only provides such a small amount of anger value; no wonder he doesn't even deserve a name. I once collected over twenty thousand points of anger value; these fragmented bits really feel unfamiliar now.*

After leaving the Yu family, he spent half a day wandering through Brightmoon City, familiarizing himself with its environment. After all, many decisions needed to be based on sufficient intelligence, and he still knew too little about this world.

He walked and observed, spending most of the day exploring the streets and alleys of Brightmoon City. Although he hadn't visited every single corner, he now had a general idea of the city's layout and the locations of important landmarks. He was no longer completely ignorant of Brightmoon City as he had been before.

As dusk gradually fell, Zu An estimated it was time and returned to the Chu Residence.

He asked a servant and found that Chu Chuyan still hadn't returned. It seemed she hadn't been home for several days, which immediately gave him a headache.

He had originally planned to borrow some money from her to deal with the trouble from the Plum Blossom Gang, especially since she had been quite generous when lending him 300 taels in the ancestral hall earlier.

As for feeling embarrassed asking a woman for money? Not at all. One who "eats soft rice" (lives off a woman) must have the self-awareness to do so. Since he had received so many cold stares and discrimination due to his status as a live-in son-in-law, what was wrong with enjoying the rights that came with it?

In fact, in his previous life, when Zu An watched nature documentaries, he greatly envied the male lions on the African savannah. They did nothing but fight all day, had a large harem, and even the hunting was done by the lionesses in their harem.

Hmm, he decided. Just living off one family was too unambitious. He was going to be the King of Soft Rice!

However, he immediately thought of his disappointing "little brother," and tears of bitterness welled up.

"Why are you crying?" an old voice spoke from behind him.

Zu An jumped in surprise. Turning around, he saw Old Man Mi standing at the doorway. "Why do you walk so silently?"

Old Man Mi ignored his question directly and instead asked, "Are you back from the academy?"

"Yes," Zu An replied. He thought to himself that this wasn't exactly a lie; he had indeed gone to the academy today, just hadn't entered.

"And did you get to know Wei Hongde?" Old Man Mi, hunched over, watched him silently.

Zu An casually replied, "I just went today, haven't had a chance to get to know him yet."

Old Man Mi simply said, "Oh," then reminded him, "Then you need to hurry up."

"I know," Zu An said, feeling a little embarrassed. He thought to himself, *I should find an opportunity to inquire about that person named Feng, just to give him some kind of explanation.*

"Then you should rest," Old Man Mi said, turning to leave.

Just as he reached the doorway, a fiery red figure came running over, like a beautiful flame sprite. "Hey, Zu, why didn't I see you at school today?"

It was naturally the Chu family's second daughter, Chu Hanzhao.

Hearing her words, Old Man Mi abruptly turned around, his gaze on Zu An filled with suspicion.

"You're being disrespectful. Can't you even call me brother-in-law?" Zu An's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly glared at Chu Hanzhao.

Anger value from Chu Hanzhao: 24!

Chu Hanzhao was about to retort but suddenly remembered the bet from that night. She reluctantly called out, "Bro... brother-in-law, why didn't I see you at school today?"

Noticing Old Man Mi's gaze, Zu An gave an awkward laugh. "The school is so big, it's normal that you wouldn't find me."

Chu Hanzhao shook her head. "No, that's not right. I checked all the freshman classes and didn't see you. You couldn't have joined an upper-level class right away, could you?"

Anger value from Mi Lianying: 99!

Noticing Old Man Mi's grim expression, Zu An knew he had probably seen through the lie. Just as he worried Old Man Mi might hit someone, a figure burst in tempestuously:

"You rotten Zu An! We kindly sent you to the academy for training, and you dared to skip class!"