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Chapter 1213: Nickname Card
Seemingly not noticing his shock, Sang Hong continued, “Your foundation is far too shallow. Our Sang clan can’t compare to those clans with long histories and incredible backing. If you had Yan Xuehen on your side, forget about the fact that she alone is a renowned grandmaster, she has the White Jade Sect behind her. That force wouldn’t be inferior to the great clans in any way.”
He seemed to suddenly think of something and continued, “Right, try not to offend Yun Jianyue. She’s the Devil Sect Master, and her status is special. That wouldn’t be all that beneficial to you.”
Zu An was speechless. He asked, “Uncle, did you drink a bit too much tonight? Aren’t you overestimating me a bit too much?”
The things Sang Hong was saying… It reminded him of when he was little, and he had fantasized about whether he should marry Liu Yifei or Gao Yuanyuan[1]; but in the end, those thoughts ultimately amounted to nothing.
Sang Hong said with a strange expression, “You could even deal with someone like Yu Yanluo, so I believe it’ll be fine.”
Who was Yu Yanluo? Her beauty had shocked the world for so many years. In the past, she had stolen the hearts of countless young masters in the capital. In the past, Sang Hong had able to get a glimpse of her. Then, he had ended up dreaming about her for almost an entire year, only breaking free after a long time.
Even his majesty and King Qi had been tempted, but neither of them had succeeded. As for Cloudcenter Duke, all those in the know had been well aware that he was just a shield Yu Yanluo had created to avoid further trouble.
If even the lover in the dreams of endless men had been done in by Zu An, what woman couldn't he capture?
Sang Hong even thought of something strange; if his own daughter could become a sister to Yu Yanluo and Yan Xuehen, that seemed as if it could create an opportunity for social climbing… But he quickly strangled that thought the moment it emerged. Hmph, my own daughter is the greatest woman in the entire world!
Zu An was speechless. He had been badly burned by those girls today; he really didn’t want to continue discussing such matters anymore. He changed the subject, asking, “What’s the situation in Cloudcenter City like now? How has uncle dealt with my disappearance?”
Seeing as they had returned to the main topic, Sang Hong also recovered his usual cool. He replied, “Xu Yu has already been searching for Yu Yanluo for a long time without any results. He’s starting to give up. The main reason is that the Yu clan’s mines have collapsed, which is much more serious than Yu Yanluo’s escape. He’s been organizing disaster relief while trying to restore the mine. Unfortunately, there have been very few results.”
Zu An sighed and said, “It was such an intense earthquake, I don’t think it can be restored any time soon.”
“That’s true,” Sang Hong said with a nod. “Cloudcenter Duke’s side has been especially peaceful. I’ve heard that he went into seclusion again. He’s remained quiet throughout these troubled times. I can’t help but feel that he’s just holding everything in.”
Zu An was practically sweating buckets as he replied, “Uncle doesn’t need to worry about Cloudcenter Duke’s side; he’s probably really just recovering from his wounds.”
Fortunately, before he saved Yu Yanluo, he had proclaimed to the entire world that he was resting in seclusion using Cloudcenter Duke’s identity. Even after he left, no one suspected anything.
“Oh,” Sang Hong replied. When he heard Zu An’s certainty, he relaxed as well. After all, he didn’t have much of a conflict with Cloudcenter Duke. Even if something did happen, that would be for Xu Yu to worry about.
He thought of something else and said, “Right, tell me about those deathworms. We need to make sure our information matches, so that can be considered your secret mission. That way, you’ll have an excuse if his majesty questions you. Furthermore, we can take this chance to counterattack against Xu Yu. He’s Cloudcenter Commandery’s most powerful official, but even though something so huge happened, he had no idea. He instead has to rely on others to take care of it, which could be considered a huge failure to do his duty…”
Zu An was stupefied as he listened to Sang Hong talk about his subsequent plans. These officials really are formidable and vicious! He was even able to exploit something I never even thought of! Even if Xu Yu doesn’t die, he’s going to have a layer of skin shaved off.
He secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, Sang Hong was fully on his side. Not only did he not have to be scared of having a terrifying enemy like that, Sang Hong would even help him deal with other enemies.
“You’ve worked hard, uncle. Right, has there been any news from the capital? We’ve been away for so long. Little Qien… They don’t have anyone to take care of them. I can’t help but feel a bit worried,” Zu An said. He had initially intended to ask about Zheng Dan, but he couldn't really just ask about his sister-in-law, could he? He could only use Sang Qien as a pretext.
When he remembered that scene from that night, he felt extremely conflicted. Their relationship really was too strange.
Sang Hong felt a hint of gentleness when he heard Zu An ask about Sang Qien. He replied, “Cloudcenter is too far from the capital, and there’s no way we could use a recording mirror to chat about family affairs… But you don’t need to worry. The capital isn’t like other places, and Little Qien has always been quite sharp. With Zheng Dan to help her, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
“That’s good then.” Zu An sighed in relief. He continued, “Uncle can also send back a letter, so they won’t worry about our safety.”
Sang Hong knew Zu An wanted to let them know that he was safe and sound. He said with a smile, “Make sure to be careful out there. No matter how wonderful the outside world is, don't forget the warmth of home.”
“Don’t worry, uncle. I’ll return as soon as possible,” Zu An replied with an awkward smile. Sang Hong was clearly warning him not to be infatuated by the world of sensual pleasures. But Sang Hong was also implicitly stating that he already treated him like a member of his own family, whether it was because of Sang Qien or Zheng Dan…
“That’s good. I’ll try to stall for a bit longer here, but I can delay for three months at most before we have to return to the capital. You must return by that time, or else we won’t be able to convince his majesty,” Sang Hong warned him.
“I understand!” Zu An replied while roughly calculating the time he had. He reckoned three months should be enough time.
The ki stone consumption needed to maintain the recording mirror connection was way too terrifying; not even the Imperial Envoy could sustain it. Sang Hong quickly cut off communications from his side.
Zu An put the recording mirror away. At first, he tried going out and looking around, but after thinking about it, it occurred to him that Yu Yanluo was still upset and probably wouldn’t be willing to meet him. As for the others, seeking them out would just add oil to the flames.
In the end, he just ended up going back to his room. He decided to take the chance to use the system and pull the lottery. Everything that had happened recently made him feel a sense of danger. Having more cards to play at a critical time would be like having additional lives.
He got a bucket of cold water and washed his face. Then, he changed into new clothes. After that, he burned incense and began to pray. After doing all that, he began to play the lottery.
Even though it hadn’t been that long since the last time he pulled the gacha, he had already accumulated 211,020 Rage points. Most of them had been offered up by the various women.
Zu An had a strange expression on his face. Am I really destined to mooch proudly? Looks like angering them isn’t all that bad either…
He then pulled once on the lottery, and the icon on the keyboard moved quickly. Zu An was already prepared to see ‘Thank you for playing’, but in the end, it actually stopped on the R key.
His eyes immediately widened. Single pull luck? Such crazy luck was something he almost didn’t dare to believe!
Looks like all of the preparation I did was pretty useful!
He looked at the description impatiently and saw a line of text:
Congratulations on pulling ‘Nickname Card’!
Zu An was stunned. In the past, regardless of what he had pulled, whether it was the Heiress Ball of Delights or the Poisonous Prick, they all had strange names. Now, seeing such a normal-sounding name just threw him off.
He continued reading.
‘Nickname Card’ description: In a certain era of science and technology, there was a well-known company that had all of its employees select a pseudonym from a novel in place of their own name. Employees would use those nicknames at work to bring leaders and subordinates together, rather than just having the subordinates address their superiors professionally.
However, as the company grew larger and larger and the employees grew greater in number, they all discovered that there weren’t enough fictional names to use. As such, many of them had no choice but to use certain villains and other despicable people’s names. The creator of this tool was precisely one of those people. In order to free himself from the fate of social suicide by having a despicable name, he carefully researched for many years. In the end, he came up with the Nickname Card. However, by the time he succeeded, he had already changed his mind, and didn’t alter his name. Instead, he altered the name of the beautiful colleague he worked with into the name of the girl his own despicable name humiliated. This created a huge commotion, and he ended up being punished by law…
Zu An was stupefied. Why does this sound so familiar? He continued reading.
Item description: One-time use. Write down any person’s name and a nickname on this card. The target’s name will be temporarily changed to that nickname.
Zu An was stupefied.
1. Famous Chinese actresses. ☜