Translator: Pika
Pei Mianman began her demonstration.
She had been born beautiful. Paired with the gracefulness of this technique, she didn’t look like she was displaying a martial art at all. Instead, it looked as if she was dancing.
This truly was a splendid and wonderful performance; it was as if a goddess had appeared in the world of mortals.
Zu An couldn’t hold back a sigh. What the heck was I even watching before? Those period-costume dramas have nothing on this! Those court dancers all look so stupid in comparison.
If the dance performances had been anywhere near this level, then everyone’s eyes would have been glued to their screens.
Zu An’s eyes tracked Pei Mianman’s movements back and forth. He felt as if his own heart was pounding along with her dance.
Pei Mianman explained the technique while demonstrating. When she was done, she looked over at him and noticed his stupefied expression. Her anger flared immediately. “I’m done. How much of it do you remember?”
You have successfully trolled Pei Mianman for 233 Rage points!
“I remember all of it,” replied Zu An subconsciously.
“All of it?” Pei Mianman’s brow immediately furrowed. It had been in a moment of anger that she said that she would only show it to him once. How could anyone have learned it from just a single demonstration? When she first began to learn this, she had only managed to get a rough idea of it after it was demonstrated to her three times.
“Yup.” Zu An wiped the corners of his mouth to check for drool. Thank god I didn’t embarrass myself by drooling.
As for the Entangling Feathersilk Art, he really wasn’t lying.
After eating those Marrow Cleansing Pills, his brain felt incredibly sharp. His memory and other mental faculties seemed to be working amazingly well. He only needed to see things once in order to learn them, regardless of what he was studying.
Sigh, if I’d had this type of ability in my previous life, I could’ve just picked whichever Tsinghua University or Peking University to enroll into![1]
“Show it back to me, then!” Pei Mianman sneered. No wonder so many people hate this guy. No one likes a man who boasts.
“Okay.”
Recalling her earlier movements, Zu An began to display the Entangling Feathersilk Art back to her.
He got through the better part of his demonstration before stopping suddenly with a cry of dismay.
Pei Mianman had been completely shocked when she saw him perform the Entangling Feathersilk Art flawlessly. When he stopped abruptly, she finally sighed in relief. I guess this guy still forgot some parts of it in the end.
However, reaching this point in such a short amount of time was already quite exceptional.
She was just about to praise him when he suddenly spoke. “I should’ve said that I don’t remember any of it, so that you would teach it to me while holding my hand. That would have been a perfectly legitimate reason for skinship! Is it too late now to say that I don’t remember everything?”
Pei Mianman’s eyes began to narrow slowly.
Zu An chuckled in embarrassment when he saw her expression turn cold. He didn’t dare go too far after what happened earlier.
He performed the rest of the technique right away.
“What do you think? Did I get any section wrong?” Zu An asked in a hurry.
Pei Mianman’s red lips moved slightly, but no words came out.
After a long while, she finally exhaled. “There were no mistakes.”
Not only were there no mistakes, it had simply been perfect. She couldn’t find a single flaw no matter how much she tried to nitpick. This fellow was actually this talented!
Pei Mianman was blown away. No wonder that proud and arrogant Chuyan chose him as her husband! She must have known that he was an unpolished gem from the start.
As to why the academy placed him in the Yellow class after their evaluation, that’s probably due to the Chu clan’s involvement behind the scenes.
Chuyan is usually so pure and innocent. Who knew that she was actually this two-faced!
You got me completely fooled!
“What’s wrong?” Zu An asked, curious about her constantly-changing expression.
“Are you working together with Chuyan to deceive me?!” Black flames suddenly rushed out from Pei Mianman’s entire body. A ring of black flames surrounded the two of them, and she seemed ready to burn him to ashes any second.
Zu An’s face drained of color when he felt the terrifying heat. His entire body immediately went taut in preparation for a possible attack. “How am I deceiving you?” he said, swallowing in fear.
“The two of you keep pretending to the rest of the world as though the Chu clan thoroughly dislikes you, deceiving me to the point where I foolishly formed an alliance with you. Is Chu Chuyan laughing behind the scenes?” Pei Mianman’s willowy brows shot upwards. The fierceness in her eyes wasn’t feigned—it was true killing intent.
“You saw for yourself how I am treated in the estate! That Qin Wanru criticized me so much, she almost chased me out! When did I deceive you?” Zu An had an innocent look on his face. He didn’t know why she would suddenly get so angry.
“You told me you wanted my help pursuing Chu Chuyan, and that you’d help me look for her accounting book in return, but your relationship with her doesn’t seem to be that bad!” Pei Mianman couldn’t shake her doubts.
“The two of us really weren’t that close in the beginning! I am the young master only in name—she doesn’t treat me like a real husband at all. Our relationship only started to warm up after our experiences in the dungeon, where Shi Kun and his experts hounded us all over the place. Even so, we are still far from being considered a real husband and wife!”
“Is that true?” Pei Mianman finally relaxed a little.
“Of course it is!” Zu An carefully moved her hand away from him. “It seems this best friend of hers hasn’t done much for me though. You said you would help me grow closer to Chuyan, but I haven’t seen you put in any effort! In the end, I figured it’d be faster if I did it myself.”
“How could you have the nerve to say this? What about that accounting book you agreed to locate for me, then? You still haven’t found a thing!” Pei Mianman said hatefully.
Zu An chuckled in embarrassment. “You could’ve at least done something. Anyway, my standing in the Chu clan is really too low right now. I don’t have access to what you’re looking for.”
Pei Mianman huffed angrily. Her gaze was suddenly drawn to something off to the side.
“Hm? Your sword doesn’t look too bad.”
She was a bit surprised to see that the Tai’e Sword had stuck itself deep into the ground as if it was tofu.
Just as she was about to examine it, Zu An hurriedly interrupted her. He was worried that she might discover something she wasn’t supposed to know. “Um... aren’t you worried about the sudden elemental fluctuations drawing the attention of the guards in our estate?” he remarked.
The first time they’d met, in Chu Chuyan’s room, Pei Mianman didn’t resort to using her black flames in that life-or-death struggle precisely because she had been afraid of alarming the clan’s experts.
Now, though, Pei Mianman had recklessly escalated the situation, and she was sure to have alarmed the guards this time.
Sure enough, Pei Mianman grew flustered. “It’s all your fault!”
After spitting him with a glare, she disappeared into the night, her toes tapping lightly against the ground as she made her escape.
Besides anger, there had been something else mixed into the final look that she had given him. As Zu An pondered it over, and a slight smile slowly spread across his face.
Why in the world did I suddenly kiss her?
Stranger than that was how she didn’t even show much of a reaction... no, her reaction was actually pretty big...
Yue Shan, commander of the Chu clan’s guards, finally rushed over with a group of guards. When they arrived, they saw Zu An staring intently into a mirror. “Young master, did an enemy intrude here?” the commander asked him anxiously.
“Nope,” Zu An said in a carefree manner.
The guards took their time searching the area, but their efforts proved fruitless—there was no trace of an intruder. Yue Shan couldn’t hold back his curiosity any further. Just as they were about to leave, he asked, “Young master, why do you keep looking in the mirror?”
The other guards shared his confusion. Why is a man like you staring into a mirror so late into the night? So awkward.
“I am trying to figure out if I really am too handsome. Otherwise, why would so many girls end up liking me?” Zu An replied. His mind seemed far away.
It had been Shang Liuyu at first, then Chu Chuyan, and then Qiu Honglei and Pei Mianman. All of them had come forward with all sorts of items and skills as soon as they learned that he was being targeted by Chen Xuan.
How could he not feel cocky about his appearance?
Yue Shan’s mouth hung open. He turned around without another word. All of the guards followed suit.
Sorry for disturbing you, we’re out of here.
Why do I suddenly feel like throwing up?
Those guards all wore strange expressions as they departed.
When he noticed the stream of Rage points coming in, Zu An couldn’t hide his disdain for their pettiness. This was purely jealousy at work.
...
Early the next morning, Zu An was still fast asleep, when he was suddenly awoken by a pounding on the door.
“Who is it?!”
Zu An was feeling terribly cranky. Which idiot is pounding on my door so early in the morning?
He turned his body to the other side, ignoring it. The door was suddenly kicked wide open.
“Lazy-ass brother-in-law, the sun’s already shining on your butt. Wake up already!” Chu Huanzhao’s uniquely sweet yet unruly voice came through.
When he spied the broken door bolt, Zu An’s face darkened. “Girl, would it hurt you to be a bit more lady-like? I’m really worried that no one will want to marry you in the future.”
“It’s none of your business even if no one wants to marry me!” Seeing him still wrapped in his blankets, Chu Huanzhao threatened him, “Hurry and get up already! I’m going to pull off the covers if you still don’t get up!”
Her hands reached for his bedding as she spoke.
Zu An gave a start, and said in a panic, “I’m not wearing anything! If you want to remove the covers then go for it!”
“Pervert!” Chu Huanzhao instantly pulled her hands back, as if she had been shocked by electricity.
Zu An was left speechless. I’m the one sleeping peacefully here, while you’re the one barging into my room, so how am I the pervert?!
Chu Huanzhao’s face was tinged with red. “Why aren’t you going to school today?” she asked, turning away from him.
“Who told you?” Zu An was a bit shocked.
“Big sis told me.” Chu Huanzhao gave an angry huff. Earlier, her older sister had told her Zu An wasn’t going to school that day, and that she didn’t have to wait for him. She had come running for confirmation right after that.
“Yeah, I have some important matters to take care of today.” Zu An got up and began to put on some clothes. There was no way he could fall asleep again after being disturbed like this.
“Tsk, what sort of important matters could you possibly be dealing with?” When she heard the sounds of him putting on his clothes, Chu Huanzhao’s little face slowly grew redder and redder. Idly, she began to wonder what her brother-in-law looked like without his clothes on.
She was horrified as soon as this thought appeared in her mind. “Pui, pui, pui!” she spat.
“What the heck are you doing?” Zu An asked curiously.
“Nothing! If you’re not going then whatever, I’ll go by myself!” Chu Huanzhao immediately fled in a cloud of guilt, as if Zu An might find out what she was thinking if she stayed even a second longer.
Zu An was baffled. Why had this girl suddenly gotten all flustered? The minds of younger girls were really a mystery to him.
Soon afterwards, Chu Chuyan informed him that the silver was already being prepared, and that he could start making plans.
Zu An took some time to think the matter through. “I’ve only met that Wang Yuanlong fellow once. I should drag Chu Yucheng along, to act as a go-between. The two of them already have a good relationship.”
Chu Chuyan had no objections. The third branch of the Chu clan was also in charge of the salt business, after all.
Zu An got Chu Yucheng to reach out to Wang Yuanlong. By noon, the three of them had already met up at the Immortal Abode.
Wang Yuanlong couldn’t help but sigh in admiration when he saw the figure of Qiu Honglei behind the beaded curtains. “I really respect Brother Zu... If not for you, I would never have gotten the chance to admire Lady Qiu’s beautiful zither playing up close.”
Zu An laughed heartily. “You’re giving me too much credit. I don’t really have any other skills, I just happen to be good with girls, haha~”
1. These are the two top universities in modern-day China.
😉