Chapter 69: Inventory

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Volume One: First Steps into Another World

Chu Zhongtian, who was nearby, had just picked up his teacup to drink when he was startled by the sudden loud bang of her hand on the table, nearly spilling the tea in his cup. To hide his embarrassment, he cleared his throat and quickly chimed in, "Indeed, Zuan, do you admit your guilt?"

Zuan, secretly disdaining the henpecked man, sincerely replied, "I know I was wrong."

Both Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru were stunned. They had expected him to instinctively argue a bit and had already prepared their follow-up arguments. Who knew he would confess immediately, leaving them unsure how to proceed.

Chu Chuyan and Yue Shan, who were nearby, couldn't help but glance sideways. The man now looked as honest and innocent as could be. Was this truly the same sharp-tongued fellow who had verbally battled a crowd at the Silver Hook Casino?

Qin Wanru paused. She still reprimanded him according to her prepared plan: "Do you know that our Chu family has always had a family rule strictly prohibiting household members from gambling?"

"I didn't know," Zuan lied brazenly, patting his chest as he assured her, "Now that my respected mother-in-law has told me, I know. Please calm down, respected mother-in-law. Don't let it upset your health. I promise never to set foot in such a sordid place again."

What a joke. How foolish would Mei Chaofeng have to be to let him continue winning money at the casino? Such a promise was as good as no promise at all.

Qin Wanru's breath caught. The other party's attitude rendered all her prepared retorts useless. So, she could only glare fiercely at Chu Chuyan: "Didn't you remind him, or were you messing around with him?"

Chu Chuyan hesitated. She didn't expose his lie. "It was my momentary oversight."

She was worried Zuan would receive too severe a punishment, so she decided to take some responsibility for him.

Xue'er, standing nearby, seemed about to speak but stopped. In the end, she said nothing, thinking, *Anyway, that guy will be dead by night, so whatever punishment the Chu family gives him won't matter.*

How could Qin Wanru not see Chu Chuyan's protective intentions? She wondered, *What kind of intoxicating potion has this Zuan fellow given her, that she's speaking up for him so quickly?*

Thinking of the possibility of her precious daughter being led astray, she couldn't help but glare fiercely at Zuan.

Rage value from Qin Wanru: 33!

Seeing this message, Zuan was taken aback. He thought, *Chu Chuyan already said that, and you're still angry with me? That's too unreasonable.*

However, he didn't mind having more rage points. The more, the better.

Chu Zhongtian cleared his throat gently and said in a deep voice, "This matter has become too big; it almost led to a conflict with the local army. Ultimately, you are the culprit..."

Before he could finish, Zuan took out the IOU. "I'm handing over all 7.5 million taels to my in-laws. Anyway, now that Chuyan is my wife, what's mine is hers, and naturally, it belongs to the Chu family too."

Chu Chuyan, who was standing by, had a dark expression. Even though what he said was true, it sounded so jarring.

Qin Wanru let out a heavy snort. "We wouldn't dare accept this money. Our Chu family has always maintained a clean household for generations, never touching dirty money from gambling, prostitution, or drugs. If we really took your money, who knows how outsiders would slander us then. They'd say our Chu family has fallen so low that we need our son-in-law to gamble for money to supplement our household expenses."

Chu Zhongtian also said, "Indeed, we cannot let this ruin the Chu family's centuries-old reputation. You'd better keep it safe yourself. Never mention this matter again."

Xue'er, standing nearby, breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had largely guessed this would be the outcome, she had still been somewhat worried the IOU might actually fall into the Chu family's hands, which would have made subsequent matters quite troublesome. Now that everything was within her plan, things would be easy.

Zuan put the IOU into his bosom, secretly grumbling to himself, *In the end, it's just an IOU that's destined to be hard to collect. If 7.5 million taels of real silver were laid out here, I don't believe you'd be so noble.*

Could the Chu family's annual net profit even amount to this much money?

What are family rules worth in the face of absolute profit?

"What a shame..." Zuan felt a pang of frustration. This IOU was useless in his hands. He didn't have the ability to collect it from the Plum Blossom Gang. At most, he could see if he could collect some interest at the end of each year. But Mei Chaofeng didn't look like a pure-hearted person who would dutifully pay him interest; there would likely be some tricks involved.

"Today's matter must be punished. Otherwise, it will send the wrong message to other Chu family members. They might think gambling is no big deal," Qin Wanru said, pounding the table heavily. "Go to the quiet room and copy the family rules ten thousand times!"

"Ten thousand times?" Zuan's eyes widened in disbelief. "How can I finish copying that many?"

"You're not allowed to leave the house until you've finished copying, lest you go out causing trouble all day." A hint of smugness appeared in Qin Wanru's eyes. *Hmph, don't think I don't know you had Chu Shoubing copy for you last time. Even if you ask him to copy ten thousand times, he won't be able to finish. You'll just have to stay at home quietly every night for the next few days.* "Go on, start copying now."

Zuan left with a bitter expression. Chu Chuyan remained in the room and couldn't help but say, "Mother, isn't ten thousand times too much? When will he ever finish copying that?"

"What, even you're starting to feel sorry for him?" Qin Wanru snorted.

"Of course not!" Chu Chuyan's face flushed slightly. She thought, *That shameless fellow, why would I feel sorry for him?*

Chu Zhongtian, standing nearby, chuckled and said, "Chuyan, don't worry. Your mother has always had a sharp tongue but a kind heart. On the surface, she's punishing Zuan by making him copy so much, but in reality, she's protecting him. Think about it: the Plum Blossom Gang suffered such a huge loss; how could they possibly let it go? If Zuan continues to wander around, it's highly likely they'll lay a trap for him. Then, without evidence, we wouldn't be able to avenge him."

"Now, if he stays safely within the manor copying the family rules, no matter how powerful the Plum Blossom Gang is, they won't be able to enter our Chu family's gates to harm him."

Chu Chuyan suddenly understood. "Father and Mother are truly farsighted; I hadn't thought of that."

Qin Wanru's usually stern face softened into a gentle smile. "Chuyan, your talent is better than ours. What you lack now is just experience and time. Given time, your achievements will surely surpass your father's and mine."

Chu Chuyan smiled faintly, but a hint of sadness flickered in her eyes. *In a few more decades, my youth will be gone, and I'll still be all alone.* As for Zuan, he wasn't even a consideration.

Meanwhile, Zuan rubbed his nose, thinking, *Which little sister is thinking of me now?*

"Young Master-in-law, you're finally back!" A childish voice piped up. Cheng Shoubing, with two buns on his head, happily trotted forward to greet him. He had heard that the young master-in-law had been with Xue'er on this outing and had hoped to coincidentally run into Xue'er. However, much to his disappointment, Zuan was only accompanied by Butler Hong Zhong.

Zuan chuckled and grabbed his collar. "You've come at just the right time. Come copy the family rules with me."

"Huh? Copying again?" Cheng Shoubing's small face immediately crumpled. "How many times do I have to copy this time?"

Zuan smiled and waved his hand. "Not many, not many, just ten thousand times."

"Ten thousand times?" Cheng Shoubing instantly jumped up. *Does the young master-in-law have trouble with math, or does he misunderstand the number ten thousand?*

Hong Zhong led him to the quiet room and said, "Young master-in-law, please don't leave until you've finished copying." After speaking, he turned and left, leaving only Zuan and Cheng Shoubing, master and servant, staring at the entire wall covered in family rules, looking at each other in dismay.

"Young Master-in-law, please spare me. Even if my hand breaks, I won't be able to finish copying ten thousand times!" Cheng Shoubing made up his mind, thinking *This time, no matter what, I won't copy for him.* He still shuddered remembering how he was tricked into copying alone for an entire night last time.

"Between us, who else would help me if not you?" Zuan put an arm around his shoulder and said with a chuckle.

"No, I won't copy!" Cheng Shoubing shook his head like a rattle-drum.

Zuan sighed. He took out a silver note and flicked it. "Ah, I just made a small fortune. I was thinking of rewarding you with this 100 taels if you helped me copy. But if you don't want to, then I'll just find someone else."

Although 7.5 million taels was an IOU, the other 150,000 taels were real cash. His trip to the Silver Hook Casino today had truly been fruitful.

Cheng Shoubing's eyes lit up. He eagerly reached out and snatched the silver note. A fawning smile immediately appeared on his face. "As the young master-in-law's personal attendant, how could I let someone else do such a thing? Of course, I'll do it!"

"Alright, I'll leave it to you. I'm going back to sleep." Zuan yawned. Wandering around today had been quite draining.

Cheng Shoubing, however, frowned deeply. "Young Master-in-law, Young Master-in-law, but I can't copy ten thousand times by myself!"

Zuan rolled his eyes. "Otherwise, why do you think I gave you so much as 100 taels? Can't you use the money to find other attendants in the manor to help you copy?"

Cheng Shoubing's eyes lit up again. But he immediately said, "But then the money I have left will be less, won't it?"

Zuan waved his hand. "The funds have been given to you. I don't care if you copy it alone or hire others to do it; just make sure all ten thousand copies are done." With that, he swaggered away, leaving Cheng Shoubing standing there, utterly conflicted.

On his way back to his room, Zuan began to tally how much rage value he had earned from this trip. Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...

A total of 60,224 rage points!

Zuan was grinning from ear to ear. Recalling the day's encounters, he thought, *It seems I need more antagonists.*

Back in his room, he had just poured a basin of water and was about to wash his face and begin his lottery draw, when a voice suddenly spoke from behind him:

"How did you do it?"

Zuan jumped in surprise. He quickly turned around. The trembling figure of Old Man Mi was standing behind him, having appeared unnoticed.

*This is truly baffling. This guy looks like he could be blown over by a gust of wind, yet he makes absolutely no sound when he walks. Even with my cultivation greatly improved, I couldn't sense his presence at all.*

"How did I do what?" Zuan didn't dare to be slow and quickly asked. For some reason, while he could shamelessly earn rage points from others, he felt an instinctive fear towards this man and dared not provoke him at all.

Why was that?

Zuan thought long and hard but couldn't figure it out.

"The talk in the manor is that you won 7.5 million taels from the Silver Hook Casino in just two hands. How did you do it?" Old Man Mi's small eyes fixed on him, filled with curiosity.

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