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“This…” Zu An was immediately shocked when he saw these words. Isn’t this the clan’s most important technique?
Chu Chuyan’s face blushed. She turned to the side to avoid his gaze, pretending like she didn’t care at all as she said, “I just don’t want that Chen Xuan to kill you. I won’t have anyone to treat me anymore if that happens.”
Zu An laughed with a huge smile on his face, and then he put this booklet away. “I’ll definitely treasure this type of precious thing properly.”
Chu Chuyan nodded in satisfaction when she saw how carefully he stowed it away. “Look it over on your own first. You can ask me about anything you don’t understand. I’ve already studied it before after all, so I have more experience.”
Zu An patted his chest and said, “Relax! Don’t you know how talented your husband is? There’s no way I won’t understand! I’ll definitely learn it quickly.”
Chu Chuyan: “......”
Wasn’t this guy’s cultivation aptitude already extremely clear? He was even dropped in the yellow class.
She just treated it as a man’s pride and didn’t say anything. She’ll just help him out from the side later.
“Make sure you take good care of this secret manual. You absolutely must not lose it.” Chu Chuyan warned him when she thought about how frivolous this fellow normally was.
“What’s wrong? This manual is actually a great Chu clan secret? Isn’t it a bit too careless to let someone like me learn it?” Zu An nudged over with a smile on his face.
Chu Chuyan shrunk back, avoiding him somewhat uncomfortably. “Stop thinking nonsense. You are Chu clan’s young master, so you aren’t an outsider. It isn’t out of the question for you to learn it. As long as you… as long as you don’t go out and teach this to other girls.”
Zu An’s brows raised. “Are you jealous?”
“I’m leaving if you don’t have anything else to say.” Chu Chuyan turned around with a red face. She was clearly not used to talking about these things with him.
“Wait!” Zu An hurriedly grabbed her hand. The smile on his face also gradually faded. He said with a stern expression, “Chu clan is currently quite troubled with the contributions. How much silver do you need? I still have a bit here on my side. It should be enough to help Chu clan get through this.”
Ch Chuyan subconsciously flung her hand but couldn’t shake him off, so she could only let him have his way. “You should just keep that money for yourself. Chu clan hasn’t gotten to the point where they need their son-in-law’s personal money yet.”
Zu An: “......”
Why do these words sound so strange here? It’s almost like what those men from the past would say, like I won’t ever use my bride’s dowry or something.
Chu Chuyan thought that she had hurt his ego from his appearance. She said in a hurry, “Don’t think about it too much. Chu clan is still a huge clan in the end. The reason why things have gotten a bit difficult is mostly because our arms business has suffered a huge blow, affecting some of our revenue.”
“The illicit salt trade has even gotten a bit out of hand recently, so our Chu clan can’t even sell our salt. That’s why all of us are feeling a bit of a headache.”
“illicit salt?” Zu An stared blankly. He was a bit confused.
Chu Chuyan explained, “According to the court’s decree, after the salt is boiled and extracted, a government agent will purchase all of it. Regardless of whether it is the transport or the buying and selling, all of it has to be done through the royal court. All other salt that is circulated is strictly prohibited.”
“But illicit salt is inexpensive, so ordinary people will definitely want to purchase the illicit salt instead, hence the continued illegal trade. The profits from smuggling illicit salt is also great, so even if some smugglers get caught, there are still countless fugitives waiting to take their places.
She would have never spoken about these things to anyone else and just placed all of the responsibility on her own shoulders. Yet today, she unknowingly told Zu An everything. It was probably because of the dungeon’s experiences that made her subconsciously feel that this person was trustworthy, that he could help her share the burden.
Zu An couldn’t help but release a sigh. “The illicit salt is so much cheaper than yours, but their profits are still so high. Can’t you guys just drop the price a bit? That way, the illicit salt won’t have any room to survive, and who would be willing to take the risk of purchasing illicit salt?”
“How can it be that easy?” Chu Chuyan released a deep sigh. “Do you think we want to keep the price of salt so high? Just the costs of making the official salt is much higher than that of the illicit salt. Let's not even talk about the other ways the government abuses their authority, let’s just talk about the salt permit first. We need to pay the authorities 1.5 taels for each salt permit, while each certificate can only certify around 200 jin of salt. That adds up to a huge amount just in salt permits alone.”
“Moreover, because there might not be enough salt permits sometimes, we need to purchase some ahead of time. This adds another 2.1 taels of silver on top of this base 1.5 taels of silver. These are all costs the court has added onto us.”
“The other headaches like the contributions also increase the costs.”
“You can now imagine just how high the costs are just to sell this official salt.” Chu Chuyan spoke about all of this in an extremely familiar manner. It only costs us 10 coins to get the salt cooked and processed, but after being weighed down by all types of costs, depending on price fluctuations, only if we sell between 100 coins to 300 coins per jin will we be able to run a profit.”
“Meanwhile, illicit salt doesn’t have such crazy costs at all. That is why they can sell them at around twenty to thirty coins a jin. Who would buy our official salt?”
Zu An looked at her with a stupefied expression. He never expected the normally calm and elegant, otherworldly goddess Chu Chuyan would speak about matters of business so clearly, down to the very coins.
“What are you looking at me for?” Chu Chuyan noticed his change in expression as well. Her cheeks couldn’t help but become a bit warm.
Zu An gently held her hands while saying with a serious voice, “You’ve had to manage such a big Chu clan all alone all these years. It must’ve been difficult.”
Perhaps because of the serious injuries she suffered this time, regardless of whether it was her body or mind, both seemed to have become a bit softer than before.
Chu Chuyan’s heart suddenly ached when she heard Zu An’s words. She had never spoken about these years’ troubles to anyone else before.
After all, what she enjoyed was cultivation, yet she couldn’t help but place a large portion of her attention on Chu clan’s businesses.
If it wasn’t because of this, with her aptitude, her cultivation might have climbed up another level.
She had always been fond of reading those romance stories ever since she was young too. She liked those romantic and lovely things just like other girls.
Yet for the sake of others taking her seriously, she always put on a cold and prideful exterior. Over time, even she forgot which was her true self.
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve already gotten used to it a long time ago.” Chu Chuyan took a deep breath. She calmed her emotions, turning to the side to prevent Zu An from seeing her blurring eyes.
Zu An said with a heavy voice, “It’ll be different from now on. You now have me. I will help you deal with some of your burdens.”
When she noticed his burning gaze, Chu Chuyan suddenly felt her heart tremble. She subconsciously pushed him away. “Sorry, I spoke a bit too much today.”
She didn’t wait for his reply after saying this. She ran away without even turning back around.
Zu An was completely dumbfounded. What is going on? I’ve already made such a serious vow, can’t you at least give me a response?!
While looking at Chu Chuyan’s disappearing figure, Zu An began to stroke his chin, imitating those domineering CEOs of his past world. “Woman, you have successfully drawn my interest!”
…
When Zu An left the study, his stomach suddenly growled. Only now did he notice that no one called him for dinner.
Qin Wanru definitely didn’t want to see him after what just happened. There was no way she would call him over to dine together.
The others didn’t want to get caught in the mess after seeing the Madam’s anger either.
Zu An seemed like he had been completely forgotten.
He figured that since he couldn’t get anything to eat at home, he’ll just look around outside.
Didn’t Qiu Honglei invite him? He’ll just mooch dinner off of her then. He still had to get Shang Liuyu’s conch back too.
He got his invitation card back from Cheng Shouping. When Cheng Shouping heard that he was headed to Immortal Abode, this servant was immediately stunned. “Young master, the Madam got made at you not too long ago! Isn’t it a bit inappropriate if you go out now?”
“If you don’t talk about it and I don’t either, how will the Madam know?” Zu An snorted. “The Madam’s anger has already been dealt with as well. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Even though he spoke in an unworried manner, Cheng Shouping still wasn’t fully convinced.
“Didn’t you say that you wanted to tag along the next time I went to Immortal Abode? Look how well this young master treats you! Just follow this young master and broaden your horizons.” Zu An patted Cheng Shouping’s shoulder.
The living daylights were scared out of Cheng Shouping. “Young master, please spare me! I still want to live a bit longer!”
Forget about how badly he would get beaten if the second miss learned of this, just the Madam’s fury alone already left him beyond terrified. He didn’t dare take his chances with this.
The young master might still have his status and get away with some scolding, but I’m just a little servant! I’ll definitely get the shit beaten out of me!
When he saw that Cheng Shouping wouldn’t go no matter what, Zu An didn’t bother paying him any more attention. He just left on his own.
However, Jiao Shanhe and the other two guards who were assigned to protect him immediately rushed over. When they learned that he was headed to Immortal Abode, all of them advised against it.
“Young master, this really is too dangerous!”
“Indeed! Chen Xuan is still lurking in the shadows and waiting to kill you! The only reason he hasn’t attacked again is because he can’t do anything to you in the academy or Chu clan, and there were guards who escorted you back. We might be able to deal with a normal person, but Chen Xuan is at the sixth rank! He’s also so slippery, so I fear that we won’t be able to protect the young master if you leave now!”
When he heard these guards’ earnest and well-meant advice, Zu An didn’t take it to heart. “Don’t worry. If it comes to that, I’ll just protect you guys.”
He immediately strutted out after saying this.
Jiao Shanhe: “......”
Feng Daniu: “......”
Zhou Lujun: “......”
The young master was completely bewitched by beauty! He is actually willing to take such huge risks to see that Qiu Honglei!
Lust really did lead to bitter consequences!
When he saw the Rage points come in from the backend, Zu An didn’t feel like explaining things either.
He already thought about Chen Xuan’s matter. There were only people who lived as thieves every day, how could you live life scared of thieves every day?
He already figured out a way to settle things once and for all. What they needed to do now was precisely to bait him out.
The reason he was heading to Immortal Abode was precisely to give Chen Xuan an assassination opportunity.