Chapter 36: Exchange

Chapter 36: Exchange

In the end, this woman had never really taken him seriously before! Clearly, as the trash son-in-law of the Chu clan, she didn’t think that his name was worthy enough to be remembered. She only knew him as the ‘useless husband of my close friend’.

But again, that was only to be expected. The gap between the two of them was like the clouds in the sky and the dirt on the ground. It was understandable why she wouldn’t be bothered to remember his name.

“My name is Zu An. Get it deep inside your head!” Zu An snapped angrily. Just because it was understandable didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to get angry over it! To think that he thought his dashing appearance and eloquent speech had left this beautiful woman with a lasting impression of him!

“Yes yes, I remember it now,” Pei Mianman replied with gritted teeth. After the intense physical brawl they had, it was hard for her not to remember his name. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t that the question I should be asking you?” Zu An harrumphed in response.

Pei Mianman’s complexion darkened. “You said that we can cooperate with one another. I would like to hear what thoughts you have in mind.” She flicked her finger lightly, and a spark of flame began dancing on her fingertip.

“You are here to find something, right?” Zu An asked.

“Indeed.” Pei Mianman knew that he must have seen her earlier actions, so it would be meaningless to deny it now.

“Judging from your look, I’d say that you haven’t found what you’re looking for yet. I can help you,” Zu An said.

Had Zu An said this in the past, she would have only laughed her head off, thinking very little of his offer. However, he actually managed to curb her in the physical brawl earlier. Given so, it would be foolish to continue viewing him lightly. “What do you want?”

Zu An replied, “Since you’re Chu Chuyan’s close friend, you should know of my awkward position in the Chu clan. The two of us are only a couple in name. So, I want you to help me become the Chu clan’s real son-in-law. In return, I’ll help you find what you need.”

Pei Mianman was taken aback for a moment before she burst into laughter. “I didn’t think that you would be eyeing her. But again, Chu Chuyan is indeed a gorgeous beauty. Even a woman like me is moved by her charms. Very well, it’s a deal then!”

“You agreed to it so easily?” Zu An was a little surprised by how candid her acceptance was, such that he began doubting her sincerity.

“Are you worried that I’d renege on this agreement once you release me?” Pei Mianman scoffed coldly. She raised her hand up before him. “If not for the fact that your offer has moved me, you would have been reduced to ashes by now.”

It was only then that Zu An noticed the black flames lingering on her fingertip, and he jolted in shock. This woman was actually a fifth rank expert! It was no wonder why he almost lost his life to her!

Pei Mianman exclaimed coldly, “It must have been very exhilarating for you to take advantage of your wife’s close friend, right? Hurry up and let go!”

Seeing how her finger was about to prod him, Zu An hurriedly released her before backing to the corner.

Pei Mianman quickly tidied up her messy clothes. She noticed that she was cloaked in layers of dusted fingerprints. Just thinking about the physical contact they had with one another turned her face chilly, and she wondered if she should just kill this man here.

Noticing the menacing look on her face, Zu An quickly changed the topic, “What are you looking for?”

Pei Mianman hesitated for a moment before replying, ‘An accounting book.”

“What accounting book?" Zu An was a little surprised. He didn’t think that she would go through so much effort just for a mere accounting book.

However, instead of answering his question, she chuckled softly and said, “I’ll tell you more once you gain some standing in the Chu clan.” Her first thought was to not honor the alliance between them. However, thinking about how she had infiltrated the Chu clan twice thus far but hadn’t found any clues to the accounting book yet, she felt that having this man as an insider wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

But of course, the prerequisite was that this man had to be qualified to participate in her plans first.

Pei Mianman suddenly recalled something, and she looked at him with eyes narrowed with doubt. “You haven’t told me what you’re doing here in the middle of the night.”

Zu An laughed awkwardly. “Would you believe me if I tell you that I’m here for a stroll?”

Pei Mianman rolled her eyes. It was then that she suddenly noticed a silk cloth peeking out from Zu An’s chest. “Hm? What’s this?”

Zu An tried to stop her, but she was too fast that the item he was hiding was snatched away in an instant.

Pei Mianman looked at the female undergarment in her hand and began trembling uncontrollably in laughter. “You snuck here in the middle of the night just to steal your wife’s undergarment? I have never felt more disdain for anyone in my entire life.”

Zu An felt his face heating up. He quickly rushed forward to snatch the undergarment back into his arms. “It’s none of your business!”

Pei Mianman looked at him with an increasingly bizarre gaze. “As expected of the man who climbed into his sister-in-law’s bed on his wedding night. I thought that you wouldn’t be this brazen, but it turns out that there’s no limit to your shamelessness.”

Based on what he was hearing right now, it would appear that Pei Mianman wasn’t the one who tossed him onto Chu Huanzhao’s bed. If so, who else could be the culprit?

Zu An went along with Pei Mianman’s remark. “Well, compared to sisters-in-law, I find the close friends of my wife much more appealing.”

Pei Mianman maintained her usual graceful smile, but a dangerously sharp glint flashed across her eyes. “There are plenty of men who have flirted with me over the years, but none of them has ended well. If you aren’t afraid, you can give it a try too.”

Zu An shook his head. “Forget it then. I already had a taste of it earlier anyway.”

“What did you say?” Pei Mianman’s face darkened.

You have successfully trolled Pei Mianman for +256 Rage!

“Nothing much. I’m saying that we should quickly leave this area after the commotion we made. Otherwise, it’ll be bad if we alarm the others from the Chu clan.” Zu An glanced at Pei Mianman in disappointment. Despite her open and flirtatious appearance, she wasn’t the type who could take a joke.

“Makes sense,” Pei Mianman nodded in agreement. “Let’s end it here today. However, if I were to hear any rumors floating around in the future, you should know that I wouldn’t hesitate to sever your tongue.”

Zu An immediately covered his mouth. “Don’t worry, the only ones who know about what transpired here are you and me.”

Pei Mianman harrumphed coldly. “You better forget everything that happened today.”

Following that, she leaped out of the window. However, before taking her leave, she suddenly turned around. Under the moonlight, her figure looked more entrancing than ever. “Speaking of which, what kind of skill did you use earlier? Why did your strength suddenly surge?”

Zu An was equally confused by that too. “I don’t know either. Perhaps it’s a manifestation of my potential in the midst of a crisis.”

“If you aren’t willing to speak, so be it. Miser.” Pei Mianman harrumphed before her beautiful silhouette vanished in the midst of the night.

Zu An smiled bitterly to himself. He really had no idea how it happened, though it wasn’t a good time for him to be brooding over this. Fearing that someone would head over after hearing the commotion, he quickly ran back to his room.

Once he was in the safe confines of his room, he took out a bottle and swallowed the pill inside.

He had learned from his previous lesson, and he had no intention of allowing history to repeat itself. The effects of the Heiress Ball of Delights were limited by time, and once the effects were over, the sudden onslaught of pain and frailty was so unbearable that it could really take his life.

The bottle of pills he was consuming right now wasn’t the Faith in Brother Spring he drew from the keyboard. Rather, it was the recovery medicine he obtained from Ji Dengtu prior to him heading off to the Wolf Valley.

“Could it be a scam from that fellow though?” Zu An was a little worried, but considering that he was, after all, a divine physician, he shouldn’t be so underhanded as to tamper with his medicine. Besides, as the father of someone as pure and kind as Ji Xiaoxi, surely he couldn’t be that evil of a person?

Zu An was worried that he might have raised a flag for disaster, but after swallowing the medicine, he could feel a warm surge suffusing his body, nourishing his deficiencies and wounds.

Seeing this, Zu An was finally able to put his heart at ease. He had to admit that Ji Dengtu’s medicine was indeed formidable. While it wasn’t as incredible as Faith in Brother Spring, which could instantaneously heal a person back to his peak condition, its effectiveness appeared to be on par with it, just that the rate of recovery was a little slower.

As expected of the medicine from a divine physician!

It was then that the effects of the Heiress Ball of Delights began to wear off. Due to the slow recovery of the pill, Zu An began to feel aching pain all over his body.

“This really is an incredible item.” Paying no heed to the pain, Zu An stared at the ‘Heiress Ball of Delights’ in his hand. If not for this item, he would have lost his life earlier on.

He didn’t think that it was that impressive when he used it to deal with the Wailing Whip previously. After all, he had only experienced its pain immunity effect back then. This was the first time he was testing out its ridiculous death immunity effect, and it was really as overpowered as it sounded.

It was no exaggeration to say that he would have already died ten times over earlier had it not been for the Heiress Ball of Delights. Just thinking about how he wasted it once on a mere bet made him feel great self-reproach. What a huge waste that was! He only had one use of it left, and who knew how long it would take before he drew an item like this again?

It was also then that Zu An suddenly remembered the requirement for the activation of this item. The other party must be a woman richer than him in order for the item to take effect. With this in mind, he couldn’t help but feel relieved that Yu Yanluo wasn’t around today. If he had received that 10,000 gold taels from her, there would probably be very few women in the world who were richer than him. He wouldn’t be able to count on it anymore.

It looks like I shouldn’t receive my compensation for the time being.

Zu An couldn’t help but feel conflicted within. Was he actually doomed to living the life of a poor?

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +3 +3 +3…

Zu An was stunned. Did he offend Madame Chu again somehow? She seemed to get angry far too often. Could this be the effect of hormonal imbalance caused by premature menopause?

Meanwhile, in a room inside the duke’s estate, Chu Zhongtian poured a cup of tea for his wife before asking, “I heard that you punished Zu An to copy the family rules for a hundred times. Isn’t that a bit too much?”

QIn Wanru harrumphed coldly. “That fellow will never become anything great if we don’t push him hard! Do you know what he did today? He actually played truant! No, that’s not right. I received news from the academy that he didn’t even step through the gates of the academy! Isn’t this ridiculous?”

Chu Zhongtian nodded in agreement. “That fellow has indeed gone overboard. However, you need to take his circumstances into consideration too. He is a person with low self-esteem, and having to marry into our Chu clan must have placed great pressure on his shoulders. I heard that there are many people in the estate who looks down on him. If you punish him so harshly, wouldn’t you just breed ill-will in him? If so, we could really face great disturbances in the family in the future.”

Qin Wanru glared at her husband grudgingly. “It’s all your fault! Otherwise, Chuyan wouldn’t have to choose such an inept man as her husband. I can’t do much for her as her mother, but the least I can do is to help her keep her husband in line. Even if Zu An has no talent for cultivation, it isn’t a bad idea for him to study hard and learn management skills so that he can take on some responsibilities in the future. At the very least, people won’t make our Chuyan out to be a laughingstock.”

“Wanru, does this mean that you have accepted him as Chuyan’s husband?” Chu Zhongtian couldn’t help asking.

“Pui!” Qin Wanru spat out coldly. “If you had just given me your approval, I’d have driven that fellow out of our clan in a heartbeat."

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